Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.45
॥
Devanāgarī
तेन कुण्डलिनी सुप्ता सन्तप्ता सम्प्रबुध्यते । दण्डाहतभुजङ्गीव निःश्वस्य ऋजुतां व्रजेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
tena kuṇḍalinī suptā santaptā samprabudhyate | daṇḍāhatabhujaṅgīva niḥśvasya ṛjutāṃ vrajet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तेन कुण्डलिनी सुप्ताtena kuṇḍalinī suptāby that, Kundalini, sleeping
सन्तप्ता सम्प्रबुध्यतेsantaptā samprabudhyateheated, awakens
दण्ड-आहत-भुजङ्गी इवdaṇḍa-āhata-bhujaṅgī ivalike a serpent struck by a stick
निःश्वस्य ऋजुतां व्रजेत्niḥśvasya ṛjutāṃ vrajethissing, straightens itself
Translation
"By that, heated, sleeping Kundalini awakens; like a serpent struck by a stick, hissing, it straightens itself".
Version
2b468fd1c1dd · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A simile is given, and it must be said it is not among those that soothe: a serpent struck by a stick. In these books Kundalini is usually likened to a sleeping serpent; here it is added how she is awakened — and it is said plainly: by a blow. Worth dwelling on this, because the image is not chosen by chance, and the book does not hide its sense. A serpent woken this way is not grateful; it hisses and straightens itself, and anyone who has seen this knows what follows.
Hence all the warnings with which books of this kind are full, discussed when reading the seventh line: a power raised in one unready acts not as a helper but as an awakened serpent. The Vaishnava side does not walk this path, and its argument here is simpler than all the others. There are two ways of dealing with a power: to wake it and to turn to its owner. The first is like a blow with a stick; the second, like a request to the master. And one who has the possibility of turning to the master does not take up the stick.
Separately, a word must be said about nihshvasya, "hissing," literally "having exhaled." The same word also means a sigh. This ambiguity is fitting in the description: what comes out of a man at the waking of the power is named by a word that means both the serpent's hiss and the human sigh.