Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.33
॥
Devanāgarī
पुनः षण्मासमात्रेण नित्यं सङ्घर्षणान्मुने । भ्रूमध्यावधि चाप्येति तिर्यक्कणबिलावधिः
Transliteration (IAST)
punaḥ ṣaṇmāsamātreṇa nityaṃ saṅgharṣaṇānmune | bhrūmadhyāvadhi cāpyeti tiryakkaṇabilāvadhiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पुनः षट्-मास-मात्रेणpunaḥ ṣaṭ-māsa-mātreṇaagain, only through six months
नित्यं सङ्घर्षणात् मुनेnityaṃ saṅgharṣaṇāt munefrom constant rubbing, O sage
भ्रू-मध्य-अवधि च अपि एतिbhrū-madhya-avadhi ca api etiand to the space between the brows it reaches
तिर्यक् कण-बिल-अवधिःtiryak kaṇa-bila-avadhiḥcrosswise — to the openings of the ears
Translation
"Again, only through six months, from constant rubbing, O sage, it reaches to the space between the brows, and crosswise — to the openings of the ears".
Version
69c2ff8f943a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Another half-year, and the tongue, by the description, stretches to the space between the brows and to the ears. It must be said plainly: this does not happen. However much a tongue is stretched, it does not lengthen by such a measure; what is meant is either exaggeration, usual in eulogistic descriptions, or that the cut tongue turns back into the nasopharynx and is felt to reach there.
The second, it seems, is truer and explains the matter: what is described is not length, but the sensation of arrival. This whole class of description, as noted when reading the first chapter (1.27), is a charting of sensations; and the measures in them — the brows, the crown, the ears — are places where something is felt, not places actually reached. The Vaishnava side points out here what she points out everywhere: nothing follows from a sensation. A man in whose mouth there is a pull toward the palate feels what he feels; and it would be wrong either to deny his sensation or to draw any conclusion from it about God.
Separately, a word must be said about sangharshana, "rubbing." It is of the same root as harsha, "joy, delight," literally "the bristling of hair." This connection in the language is curious: to rub and to rejoice are of the same nest; and, it seems, both go back to what happens to the skin.