Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.59
॥
Devanāgarī
द्वितीयं संशयाख्यं च तृतीयं च प्रमत्तता । आलस्याख्यं चतुर्थं च निद्रारूपं तु पञ्चमम्
Transliteration (IAST)
dvitīyaṃ saṃśayākhyaṃ ca tṛtīyaṃ ca pramattatā | ālasyākhyaṃ caturthaṃ ca nidrārūpaṃ tu pañcamam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
द्वितीयं संशय-आख्यं चdvitīyaṃ saṃśaya-ākhyaṃ cathe second is called doubt, and
तृतीयं च प्रमत्तताtṛtīyaṃ ca pramattatāthe third is negligence
आलस्य-आख्यं चतुर्थं चālasya-ākhyaṃ caturthaṃ cathe fourth is called laziness, and
निद्रा-रूपं तु पञ्चमम्nidrā-rūpaṃ tu pañcamamthe fifth has the form of sleep
Translation
"The second is called doubt, the third negligence, the fourth called laziness, the fifth has the form of sleep".
Version
00c389ad5b6e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Four hindrances are named, and the third and fourth deserve distinguishing, for they blur together in translation but are distinct in Sanskrit. Pramattata — from pramatta, "careless, distracted": not laziness but inattention; the man does not refuse, he simply forgets and grows distracted. Alasya — "sloth, listlessness": the reluctance to rise and begin.
This distinction is sound. Against laziness, compulsion helps; against carelessness it does not: the careless man is not shirking, he simply does not remember. And the remedies for them differ: one needs a rule, the other a reminder.
The fifth, nidra, "sleep," is named apart from laziness; and this too is right. Sleep overcomes even one who wills otherwise; and in books on concentration sleep is counted a special adversary, because it comes precisely when a man has grown still. The Vaishnava side has her own similar list of hindrances; in Rupa Gosvami it is called the six things that ruin devotion, and among them prajalpa, "idle talk," and niyama-agraha — neglect of rules, or, conversely, blind clinging to them.
The second hindrance, samshaya, "doubt," is treated in these books more thoroughly than the rest, and it deserves separate discussion, which we shall do when reading the sixty-first line, where the author names the remedy against all ten.