Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.22
॥
Devanāgarī
स्वप्नेऽपि न लभेत्तस्य नित्यं द्वादशजप्यतः । य इमां पञ्च लक्षाणि जपेदपि सुयन्त्रितः
Transliteration (IAST)
svapne'pi na labhettasya nityaṃ dvādaśajapyataḥ | ya imāṃ pañca lakṣāṇi japedapi suyantritaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
स्वप्ने अपि न लभेत् तस्यsvapne api na labhet tasyaeven in sleep, does not obtain it
नित्यं द्वादश-जप्यतःnityaṃ dvādaśa-japyataḥfrom constant twelvefold repetition
यः इमां पञ्च लक्षाणिyaḥ imāṃ pañca lakṣāṇiwho this five hundred thousand times
जपेत् अपि सु-यन्त्रितःjapet api su-yantritaḥshall recite, even well-disciplined
Translation
"Even in sleep does he not obtain it — from constant twelvefold repetition. Who shall recite this five hundred thousand times, even well-disciplined…**
Version
f00c95948f26 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Numbers are named: twelve times daily, and five hundred thousand in total. It is worth doing the arithmetic, because the count here is instructive. Five hundred thousand repetitions at twelve a day is a term of one hundred and fourteen years; evidently something else is meant — either twelve rounds, or a different count.
This inconsistency is usual in such books and comes from the fact that numbers were copied for centuries and got confused. It is worth saying a word, though, about large numbers as such, for they are constant in this literature. Five hundred thousand, nine hundred thousand (Tripuratapini 73), a hundred and eight thousand — all of them mean not so much an exact count as a long term: as much as it takes, over the years.
The Vaishnava side holds a count, and holds it precisely: a set number of rounds daily, discussed when reading the first chapter (1.54). The difference is that her count is daily and bearable, not a grand, frightening total. This difference, I think, matters in a practical sense too. The number "five hundred thousand" is off-putting; the number "sixteen rounds a day" is achievable. And any task marked out by days gets done, while one marked out by a total gets postponed.
Separately, a word must be said about suyantrita, "well-disciplined," literally "well-rigged," from yantra, "apparatus, instrument." The man is named with a word from machinery: the disciplined one is one who is tuned, as an apparatus is tuned.