Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.70
॥
Devanāgarī
तत्र शीतांशुसञ्जातं द्रवं शोषयति स्वयम् । चलिते प्राणवेगेन रक्तं पीतं रवेर्ग्रहात्
Transliteration (IAST)
tatra śītāṃśusañjātaṃ dravaṃ śoṣayati svayam | calite prāṇavegena raktaṃ pītaṃ ravergrahāt
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत्र शीत-अंशु-सञ्जातंtatra śīta-aṃśu-sañjātaṃthere, from the cool-rayed one, born
द्रवं शोषयति स्वयम्dravaṃ śoṣayati svayammoisture it dries up itself
चलिते प्राण-वेगेनcalite prāṇa-vegenaset in motion by the force of breath
रक्तं पीतं रवेः ग्रहात्raktaṃ pītaṃ raveḥ grahātthe red is drunk up by the seizing of the sun
Translation
"There, moisture born from the cool-rayed one, it dries up itself; set in motion by the force of breath, the red is drunk up by the seizing of the sun".
Version
5409f5d84bf1 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
What happens at the rise is described: heat dries up the moisture that has accumulated at the lunar circle. This whole class of description is built on one pair: moon and sun, moisture and heat, coolness and burning. This pair is constant in books about the body and the world; it was discussed when reading Rudra-hridaya (9), where the world was called agni-soma-atmaka, "consisting of fire and soma."
Worth noting is how consistently this science holds to two principles. Nothing is described through one alone: there is always the warming and the cooling, the drying and the moistening, and health is placed in their balance, disease in the predominance of one. This position, incidentally, is a commonplace of all ancient medical sciences — Greek and Chinese alike; and this is not borrowing but the result of a simple observation: a man is at times cold, at times hot, and is treated with the opposite.
The Vaishnava side builds no theology on this observation, but notes that it too testifies in her favor. The world is everywhere described in pairs; and a teaching that ends by asserting that there are not two comes to this not from observation but against it. Separately, a word must be said about the word graha, "seizure," said of the sun. The same word names an eclipse, and in tradition the eclipse is explained by the demon Rahu seizing the luminary. This word, then, is among those that describe a power as a seizer.