Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.32
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ वागीश्वरीधाम शिरो वस्त्रेण वेष्टयेत् । शनैरुत्कर्षयेद्योगी कालवेलाविधानवित्
Transliteration (IAST)
atha vāgīśvarīdhāma śiro vastreṇa veṣṭayet | śanairutkarṣayedyogī kālavelāvidhānavit
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ वागीश्वरी-धामatha vāgīśvarī-dhāmathen the abode of the Mistress of speech
शिरः वस्त्रेण वेष्टयेत्śiraḥ vastreṇa veṣṭayetthe head, with cloth shall he bind
शनैः उत्कर्षयेत् योगीśanaiḥ utkarṣayet yogīslowly shall the yogi draw it out
काल-वेला-विधान-वित्kāla-velā-vidhāna-vitknowing the ordinance of time and season
Translation
"Then the abode of the Mistress of speech — the head — shall he bind with cloth; slowly shall the yogi draw it out, knowing the ordinance of time and season".
Version
bc362af7d105 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The tongue is called vagishvari-dhama, "abode of the Mistress of speech," that is, the dwelling of Sarasvati. This name, in a book about cutting, sounds bitter, and it is worth saying why. If the tongue is the abode of the goddess of speech, then the first thing done to it is — cutting; and that with which a man speaks is sacrificed so as to reach the palate with it.
The author, it seems, did not feel this contradiction; but it exists, and it is fitting to point it out. The instrument of speech is spoiled for the sake of a state in which one does not speak. The Vaishnava side departs here decisively and by substance, not by custom. The tongue, for her, is the chief instrument of service — with it one repeats the Name, sings, and partakes of the consecrated; and Rupa Gosvami says directly that of the six urges the urge of the tongue is hardest to restrain, but it is restrained by occupation, not by mutilation.
The tongue, then, in one teaching is subject to cutting, and in the other to occupation. And this, I think, is the best brief expression of the difference between the two methods: one shortens the instrument, the other gives it work. Separately, a word must be said about kala-vela-vidhana-vit, "knowing the ordinance of time and season." The requirement of knowing the time stands here too; it was discussed when reading the first chapter (1.47).