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Upanishads · Saubhāgyalakṣmī 3.7
॥
Devanāgarī
सप्तमं भ्रूचक्रमङ्गुष्ठमात्रम् । तत्र ज्ञाननेत्रं दीपशिखाकारं ध्यायेत् । तदेव कपालकन्दवाक्सिद्धिदं भवति
Transliteration (IAST)
saptamaṃ bhrūcakramaṅguṣṭhamātram | tatra jñānanetraṃ dīpaśikhākāraṃ dhyāyet | tadeva kapālakandavāksiddhidaṃ bhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सप्तमं भ्रू-चक्रम् अङ्गुष्ठ-मात्रम्saptamaṃ bhrū-cakram aṅguṣṭha-mātramthe seventh — the eyebrow circle, the size of a thumb
तत्र ज्ञान-नेत्रं दीप-शिखा-आकारं ध्यायेत्tatra jñāna-netraṃ dīpa-śikhā-ākāraṃ dhyāyetthere let him meditate on the eye of knowledge, shaped like a lamp's flame
तत् एव कपाल-कन्द-वाक्-सिद्धि-दं भवतिtat eva kapāla-kanda-vāk-siddhi-daṃ bhavatiit itself is the skull-bulb, giving power over speech
Translation
"The seventh — the eyebrow circle, the size of a thumb; there let him meditate on the eye of knowledge, shaped like a lamp's flame. It itself is the skull-bulb, giving power over speech."
Version
ed3299b492e9 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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It is worth noting the comparison: dīpa-śikhā-ākāram, "shaped like a lamp's flame." This image is constant in yogic books, and it is worth saying why the flame in particular is chosen. A lamp's flame is remarkable for not flickering in still air; and the Gītā took the same image for a concentrated mind: yathā dīpo nivāta-stho neṅgate sopamā smṛtā, "as a lamp standing in a windless place does not flicker — such is the likeness given for the [mind] of one absorbed" (6.19).
It is worth noting that there the comparison is applied to the mind, and here to a place; but the image is the same. Let us add the promise: vāk-siddhi, "power over speech." We examined it when reading the Hayagrīva (2.p5) and said what is reasonable in this promise.
Let us repeat briefly: there is empty speech — that with which one speaks without intending to fulfill — and there is weighty speech, behind which stands a life; and the second comes true more often not because it works magic but because the speaker answers for it. That is, "power over speech" is the precise name for what happens to a person who has stopped lying: his word begins to hold. Let us add the word jñāna-netra, "eye of knowledge"; and it is worth noting that it is called netra, that is, an eye, and not light. An eye is what one looks at something else with; and so even here, in the description of the inward, the language presupposes an object outside the one looking.