Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.38
॥
Devanāgarī
कुण्डलीबोधकं पुण्यं पापघ्नं शुभदं सुखम् । ब्रह्मनाडीमुखान्तस्थकफाद्यर्गलनाशनम्
Transliteration (IAST)
kuṇḍalībodhakaṃ puṇyaṃ pāpaghnaṃ śubhadaṃ sukham | brahmanāḍīmukhāntasthakaphādyargalanāśanam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कुण्डली-बोधकं पुण्यंkuṇḍalī-bodhakaṃ puṇyaṃawakening Kundali, holy
पाप-घ्नं शुभ-दं सुखम्pāpa-ghnaṃ śubha-daṃ sukhamdestroying sin, giving benefit, pleasant
ब्रह्म-नाडी-मुख-अन्तः-स्थ-brahma-nāḍī-mukha-antaḥ-stha-standing within the mouth of the Brahman-channel
कफ-आदि-अर्गल-नाशनम्kapha-ādi-argala-nāśanamdestroying the bolt of phlegm and the like
Translation
"Awakening Kundali, holy, destroying sin, giving benefit, pleasant, destroying the bolt of phlegm and the like, standing within the mouth of the Brahman-channel".
Version
f9371a5177ef · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The promises have changed kind: power is awakened, sin is destroyed. In the line, though, is one physical and good image: argala, "bolt, latch," made of phlegm, standing at the mouth of the channel. This image is worth dwelling on. The obstacle is called not darkness, not ignorance, and not sin, but a bolt — a thing that must be slid aside; and moreover a bolt made of phlegm, that is, of coarse and sticky matter.
All this description stays within the bodily and is thus honest: it says thickness and stagnation are the hindrance, and that forceful breathing breaks them up. It is worth recalling, though, another image of an obstacle, discussed when reading Rudra-hridaya (37): granthi, "knot." There the hindrance is not a bolt but a knot, and it is tied by attachment, not by phlegm.
The difference between the two images is the difference between two understandings of the matter. A bolt is slid aside by force; a knot is only tightened by force. And so the path that sees a bolt in the obstacle works with the body, while the path that sees a knot works with attachment — and unties it, as was said there, by the single method there is: attachment to another.
It is worth adding that the word brahma-nadi, "the Brahman-channel," is another name for sushumna; and its "mouth" is the very mukha, "mouth," spoken of when reading the fourteenth line.