Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.23
॥
Devanāgarī
पवित्रे नात्युच्चनीचे ह्यासने सुखदे सुखे । बद्धपद्मासनं कृत्वा सरस्वत्यास्तु चालनम्
Transliteration (IAST)
pavitre nātyuccanīce hyāsane sukhade sukhe | baddhapadmāsanaṃ kṛtvā sarasvatyāstu cālanam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पवित्रे न अति-उच्च-नीचेpavitre na ati-ucca-nīcepure, not too high or low
हि आसने सुख-दे सुखेhi āsane sukha-de sukheindeed, a seat giving comfort, comfortable
बद्ध-पद्म-आसनं कृत्वाbaddha-padma-āsanaṃ kṛtvāhaving bound the lotus posture
सरस्वत्याः तु चालनम्sarasvatyāḥ tu cālanamthe movement of Sarasvati
Translation
"On a pure seat, neither too high nor too low, giving comfort, comfortable, having bound the lotus posture, — the movement of Sarasvati".
Version
046de4565ad6 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
About the seat the same thing is said three times: comfortable, comfortable, giving comfort; and this repetition, careless though it is, shows what the author considers important. The word sukha means "comfort, ease, happiness"; it was discussed when reading Tripuratapini (67), where it was explained through the hub of a wheel: su-kha, "with a good hole," that is, turning easily. The requirement of comfort appears less often than it should in descriptions of austerity, and so it is worth noting. Here it is said outright: the seat must be comfortable; and no merit is granted to discomfort.
This rule is expressed even more sharply in Vaishnava practice. Service there must be sukhena anutishthet, "performed with pleasure"; and the Gita, listing kinds of austerity, condemns that which is performed "with self-torment" (17.19), calling it dark. Hence a general measure, useful far beyond yoga: labor that causes suffering does not last long; and everything a man does by force and with self-loathing he will sooner or later abandon — and having abandoned it, will blame not himself, but the undertaking.