Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.17
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मात्सञ्चालयेन्नित्यं शब्दगर्भां सरस्वतीम् । यस्याः सञ्चालनेनैव योगी रोगैः प्रमुच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmātsañcālayennityaṃ śabdagarbhāṃ sarasvatīm | yasyāḥ sañcālanenaiva yogī rogaiḥ pramucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मात् सञ्चालयेत् नित्यंtasmāt sañcālayet nityaṃtherefore shall he always move
शब्द-गर्भां सरस्वतीम्śabda-garbhāṃ sarasvatīmSarasvati, pregnant with sound
यस्याः सञ्चालनेन एवyasyāḥ sañcālanena evaby whose movement itself
योगी रोगैः प्रमुच्यतेyogī rogaiḥ pramucyatethe yogi is freed from diseases
Translation
"Therefore shall he always move Sarasvati, pregnant with sound — by whose movement the yogi is freed from diseases".
Version
70cdd53a2889 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Sarasvati is called shabda-garbha, "pregnant with sound"; and this name deserves examination, because it links the bodily to speech. Garbha means "womb, embryo, that which is within"; it is said, then, that in this channel sound is carried, as a child in the womb. Sarasvati is the goddess of speech, and her name is given to the channel that, by this charting, runs along the tongue. The connection here is not abstract: the tongue is the organ of speech, and what is done to the tongue affects the voice.
The promise given is modest and physical: rogaih pramuchyate, "is freed from diseases." Not from the cycle, not from death, but from ailments; and the next line will list which. This modesty does the book credit and is worth noting. Every time these treatises speak of a bodily technique, a bodily result is promised; the great promises are saved for the end. The mixing of these two kinds of promise is the very source of the usual confusion: a bodily technique is passed off as a path to God, and then people wonder why God is not found, though the stomach is fine.
The Vaishnava side does not mix the two kinds and says simply: the healthier the body, the less it hinders; but health is not the goal, for there are many healthy people, and not every one of them remembers Him.