Upaniṣads · Mahā 2.49
॥
Devanāgarī
रागद्वेषौ सुखं दुःखं धर्माधर्मौ फलाफले यः करोत्यनपेक्ष्यैव स जीवन्मुक्त उच्यते
Transliteración (IAST)
rāgadveṣau sukhaṃ duḥkhaṃ dharmādharmau phalāphale yaḥ karotyanapekṣyaiva sa jīvanmukta ucyate
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
राग-द्वेषौ सुखम् दुःखम्rāga-dveṣau sukham duḥkhamattraction and aversion, joy, sorrow; liking and disliking, happiness, suffering
धर्म-अधर्मौ फल-अफलेdharma-adharmau phala-aphaledharma and adharma, fruit and fruitlessness; the righteous and the unrighteous, fruit and absence of fruit
यः करोति अनपेक्ष्य एवyaḥ karoti anapekṣya evawho acts without regarding them at all; who performs, taking none of them into account
सः जीवन्मुक्तः उच्यतेsaḥ jīvanmuktaḥ ucyatehe is called liberated while living; he is named free while yet alive
Traducción
“Who acts without any regard for liking and disliking, happiness and suffering, the righteous and the unrighteous, fruit and fruitlessness — he is called liberated while living.”
Versión
22a96a48a796 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
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The eighth mark — of the motive for action, and it demands careful reading.
It is said: he acts without regarding even dharma-adharma. Read crudely, this looks like a licence not to distinguish good from evil.
It cannot be read so, and here is why. The key word is anapekṣya — “not taking into account”, that is, not making it the consideration for whose sake one acts. The speech is of motive, not of conduct.
The ordinary man does good for the sake of merit and shuns evil from fear of consequences. The liberated man keeps no such ledger — yet neither has he any occasion to act ill, for ill is done from greed, fear or anger, and none of these, by 2.44, takes him any more.
The Bhagavad-gītā says the same and in the same turn of phrase: act without having the fruit in view. The action remains; the calculation vanishes.
The test is simple: whoever cites this verse to excuse a bad deed had precisely the fruit in view.