Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.37
॥
Devanāgarī
शनैः शनैर्मस्तकाच्च महावज्रकपाटभित् । पूर्वं बीजयुता विद्या ह्याख्याता यतिदुर्लभा
Transliteration (IAST)
śanaiḥ śanairmastakācca mahāvajrakapāṭabhit | pūrvaṃ bījayutā vidyā hyākhyātā yatidurlabhā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शनैः शनैः मस्तकात् चśanaiḥ śanaiḥ mastakāt cagradually, and from the crown
महा-वज्र-कपाट-भित्mahā-vajra-kapāṭa-bhitbreaker of the great diamond doors
पूर्वं बीज-युता विद्याpūrvaṃ bīja-yutā vidyāfirst, the science with the seed
हि आख्याता यति-दुर्-लभाhi ākhyātā yati-dur-labhāis proclaimed, hard to attain for ascetics
Translation
"Gradually, and from the crown, — breaker of the great diamond doors. First the science with the seed is proclaimed, hard to attain for ascetics".
Version
7e79026eb3db · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The tongue is called maha-vajra-kapata-bhit, "breaker of the great diamond doors." The image is strong: doors of diamond, that is, unbreakable — and the tongue breaks them. Worth noting is that this same image — doors — is constant in these books; and that the Shri-chakra was called "the gate of liberation" was discussed when reading Tripuratapini (46). It was noted there too that the gate is not the goal: the goal is beyond it.
Here the doors are broken; and this verb, like everything in this chapter, is a verb of violence. Let us compare it with how the same thing is spoken of in other books. In the Isha it says: "a golden vessel covers the face of truth; remove it, O Pushan" (15) — and there the doors are not broken, but asked to be opened. In the Gita: "I shall dispel the darkness of ignorance with the shining lamp of knowledge" (10.11) — and it is He who dispels it, not the one on the path.
The difference is in who unlocks. If the doors are a mechanism, they are broken; if someone is behind the doors, one knocks on them. Separately, a word must be said about yati-durlabha, "hard to attain for ascetics." Not for laymen, but precisely for ascetics; that is, it is said that even the renounced attain this with difficulty. The reservation is honest and confirms everything said about the terms.