Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.21
॥
Devanāgarī
गुरूपदेशलभ्यं च सर्वयोगप्रसिद्धिदम् । यत्तस्य देहजा माया निरुद्धकरणाश्रया
Transliteration (IAST)
gurūpadeśalabhyaṃ ca sarvayogaprasiddhidam | yattasya dehajā māyā niruddhakaraṇāśrayā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
गुरु-उपदेश-लभ्यं चguru-upadeśa-labhyaṃ caand obtained by a teacher's instruction
सर्व-योग-प्रसिद्धि-दम्sarva-yoga-prasiddhi-damgiving success in every yoga
यत् तस्य देह-जा मायाyat tasya deha-jā māyāwhich its, body-born maya
निरुद्ध-करण-आश्रयाniruddha-karaṇa-āśrayāhaving the restrained organs as its support
Translation
"And obtained by a teacher's instruction, giving success in every yoga; whose maya, born of the body, has the restrained organs as its support…**
Version
7270a73f749b · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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It is repeated that the mantra is guru-upadesha-labhya, "obtained by a teacher's instruction"; and in this chapter this is now the third time. Such repetition, in ancient compositions, is always significant: what is feared not to be delivered is repeated. Worth noting, though, is something else — the expression deha-ja maya, "maya born of the body."
That is, delusion here is called arising from the body; and this is a foundational position in books on yoga. The body, with its needs, is, by this reckoning, the source of the deception: hunger, fear, lust, and fatigue create that world in which a man lives. This position is largely true and deserves acknowledgment. Anyone who has observed himself knows that his world changes with the state of his body: to the hungry it is one, to the fed another, to the sick a third.
The Vaishnava side accepts this and adds her own, which is absent here. The body is a source of self-deception, but not a source of the world itself; and by curbing the body, clarity is attained, not truth. With a clear mind one can still look in the wrong direction; and so curbing must be followed by turning, and without it a curbed mind remains the same mind, only sharper.