Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.30
॥
Devanāgarī
हित्वा सैन्धवपथ्याभ्यां चूर्णिताभ्यां प्रकर्षयेत् । पुनः सप्तदिने प्राप्ते रोममात्रं समुच्छिनेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
hitvā saindhavapathyābhyāṃ cūrṇitābhyāṃ prakarṣayet | punaḥ saptadine prāpte romamātraṃ samucchinet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
हित्वा सैन्धव-पथ्याभ्यांhitvā saindhava-pathyābhyāṃhaving abandoned, with rock-salt and myrobalan
चूर्णिताभ्यां प्रकर्षयेत्cūrṇitābhyāṃ prakarṣayetground fine, shall he stretch it out
पुनः सप्त-दिने प्राप्तेpunaḥ sapta-dine prāpteagain, when the seventh day arrives
रोम-मात्रं समुच्छिनेत्roma-mātraṃ samucchineta hair's breadth shall he cut
Translation
"Having abandoned [it for a time], shall he stretch it out with rock-salt and myrobalan, ground fine; again, when the seventh day arrives, a hair's breadth shall he cut".
Version
b70198c9d27a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Two remedies are named: saindhava, "rock salt," and pathya, otherwise haritaki — a fruit most famous in Indian medicine. Both substances are chosen with sense, and this must be granted. Salt prevents healing by adhesion and disinfects; haritaki is honored in ayurveda as astringent and healing, and is used to treat wounds in the mouth.
That is, the cutting is accompanied by care of the wound; and the seven-day interval between incisions is the term of healing. All this again is conscientious craft, applied to a matter that should not be done. A word must also be said about the word pathya itself. It means "useful, suitable, fitting for the sick" — from pathin, "path": that which is along the way, appropriate. And in ayurveda this names not only this fruit, but suitable food during illness in general.
This word, I think, deserves remembering beyond medicine too. Pathya is what is fitting now, and for this particular person; and the distinguishing of the fitting from the unfitting by state is, in essence, the same as what is called adhikara, discussed when reading the first chapter (1.12). The Vaishnava side applies this distinction to everything: to food, to rules, to what one says to whom. What suits the sick does not suit the healthy, and the reverse; and an instruction given without distinguishing states harms more surely than it helps.