Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.4
॥
Devanāgarī
तं मुने सर्वभावेन गुरुं मत्वा समाश्रयेत् । दुर्लभा खेचरी विद्या तदभ्यासोऽपि दुर्लभः
Transliteration (IAST)
taṃ mune sarvabhāvena guruṃ matvā samāśrayet | durlabhā khecarī vidyā tadabhyāso'pi durlabhaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तं मुने सर्व-भावेनtaṃ mune sarva-bhāvenahim, O sage, with one's whole being
गुरुं मत्वा समाश्रयेत्guruṃ matvā samāśrayethaving deemed a teacher, shall he take refuge
दुर्-लभा खेचरी विद्याdur-labhā khecarī vidyāhard to attain is the science of khechari
तत्-अभ्यासः अपि दुर्-लभःtat-abhyāsaḥ api dur-labhaḥhard to attain is the practice of it too
Translation
"Having deemed him a teacher with one's whole being, shall he take refuge in him, O sage; hard to attain is the science of khechari, and hard to attain is the practice of it too".
Version
726507e76cee · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The teacher is spoken of, and the verb with him is the same one discussed when reading Rudra-hridaya (12): samashrayet, "shall he take refuge." Not "shall he listen to," not "shall he learn from," but — take refuge; that is, surrender and place oneself under his protection. Worth noting too is the adverb: sarva-bhavena, "with one's whole being." A teacher is trusted not by half and not for a time; and the word bhava, "state, feeling, being," here means precisely wholeness.
This requirement is always present in books about difficult paths, and it is explained simply: on a path where one can injure oneself, one needs someone one trusts more than oneself. Otherwise, at the decisive moment, a man will listen to himself — and himself he hears worst of all at such a moment. The Vaishnava side holds this requirement too and surrounds it with reservations absent here, worth naming. Before entrusting oneself, one is commanded to test — both teacher testing pupil and pupil testing teacher, and for a long time, by custom a year. This rule is recorded in Jiva Gosvami and repeated in every manual.
This reservation matters, and it defends against what such requirements most often end in. "Surrender with your whole being" without "but first test" is a rule by which the first comer gains power over a man; and the history of all such paths is full of examples of this.