Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.35
॥
Devanāgarī
केशान्तमूर्ध्वं क्रमति तिर्यक् शाखावधिर्मुने । अधस्तात्कण्ठकूपान्तं पुनर्वर्षत्रयेण तु
Transliteration (IAST)
keśāntamūrdhvaṃ kramati tiryak śākhāvadhirmune | adhastātkaṇṭhakūpāntaṃ punarvarṣatrayeṇa tu
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
केश-अन्त-ऊर्ध्वं क्रमतिkeśa-anta-ūrdhvaṃ kramatiabove the edge of the hair it rises
तिर्यक् शाखा-अवधिः मुनेtiryak śākhā-avadhiḥ munecrosswise — to the branches, O sage
अधस्तात् कण्ठ-कूप-अन्तंadhastāt kaṇṭha-kūpa-antaṃbelow — to the pit of the throat
पुनः वर्ष-त्रयेण तुpunaḥ varṣa-trayeṇa tuagain through three years, however
Translation
"Above the edge of the hair it rises, crosswise — to the branches, O sage; below — to the pit of the throat; again through three years…**
Version
32d2171c639d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The terms mount: six months, another six, three years, another three. Let us add them up: it comes to about seven years of continuous daily practice — and all this merely to prepare the tongue. This term must be spoken aloud, for it is the chief argument against such a path — not a theological one, but a simple one.
Seven years of daily labor over a single part of the body is a price only a man with no family, no job, and no duties can pay. For anyone else this is not a path, but a dream of a path. The Vaishnava side makes this argument constantly, and not as mockery, but as concern. A means requiring seven years and a teacher is, for most people, a means that does not exist; and so her books seek what can be done amid one's affairs.
The Bhagavatam speaks of present-day people directly: short-lived, lazy, unhappy, sickly (1.1.10); and the conclusion drawn from this is not that one must try harder, but that a different means is given. Separately, a word must be said about shakha, "branches," here apparently meaning the branching of the vessels or protrusions of the palate. The word is taken from a tree; and this whole charting of the body, as noted when reading the first chapter (1.49), uses plant images alongside serpent ones.