Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.9
॥
Devanāgarī
तयोरादौ सरस्वत्याश्चालनं कथयामि ते । अरुन्धत्येव कथिता पुराविद्भिः सरस्वती
Transliteration (IAST)
tayorādau sarasvatyāścālanaṃ kathayāmi te | arundhatyeva kathitā purāvidbhiḥ sarasvatī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तयोः आदौ सरस्वत्याःtayoḥ ādau sarasvatyāḥof the two, first, of Sarasvati
चालनं कथयामि तेcālanaṃ kathayāmi tethe movement I shall tell you
अरुन्धती एव कथिताarundhatī eva kathitāArundhati indeed is called
पुरा-विद्भिः सरस्वतीpurā-vidbhiḥ sarasvatīby the ancient knowers, Sarasvati
Translation
"Of the two I shall first tell you the movement of Sarasvati. By the ancient knowers, Sarasvati is called precisely Arundhati".
Version
03e44b80f087 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
It is said that Sarasvati is the same as Arundhati; and this equating deserves explaining, for behind it stands a beautiful tradition. Arundhati — the wife of the sage Vasishtha, turned into a star; it is the small star beside the middle one of the seven stars of the Great Bear, and at weddings in India, to this day, the bride and groom are shown it as a model of conjugal faithfulness. This star is small and not visible to every eye; and it is chosen for exactly this reason. To show Arundhati means to show something barely discernible, and the way of showing her entered Indian letters as a device: one points first at the large star nearby, then leads the eye from it to the small one. This device is called arundhati-darshana-nyaya, "the rule of showing Arundhati," and it means: the difficult is spoken of through the easy standing next to it.
This, I think, is the whole explanation for this passage, and it does the author credit. The channel that must be set in motion is named after a barely visible star: it too does not yield at once and is not found directly, but from what is next to it. It is worth adding that this rule holds far beyond yoga and is, in essence, the rule of all teaching. One cannot point directly at the subtle; one points at the coarse nearby and leads the eye.