Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.38
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्याः षडङ्गं कुर्वीत तया षट्स्वरभिन्नया । कुर्यादेवं करन्यासं सर्वसिद्ध्यादिहेतवे
Transliteration (IAST)
tasyāḥ ṣaḍaṅgaṃ kurvīta tayā ṣaṭsvarabhinnayā | kuryādevaṃ karanyāsaṃ sarvasiddhyādihetave
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्याः षट्-अङ्गं कुर्वीतtasyāḥ ṣaṭ-aṅgaṃ kurvītaits sixfold division shall he perform
तया षट्-स्वर-भिन्नयाtayā ṣaṭ-svara-bhinnayāby it, divided into six vowels
कुर्यात् एवं कर-न्यासंkuryāt evaṃ kara-nyāsaṃso shall he perform the placing on the hands
सर्व-सिद्धि-आदि-हेतवेsarva-siddhi-ādi-hetavefor the sake of every attainment and the rest
Translation
"Its sixfold division shall he perform, by it divided into six vowels; so shall he perform the placing on the hands, for the sake of every attainment and the rest".
Version
f34c5faf14bd · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Shadanga and kara-nyasa, "the sixfold" and "the placing on the hands," are named: rites in which the syllables of the mantra are correlated with fingers and parts of the body. Of nyasa it was discussed when reading Tripuratapini (76): its sense is that the body take part in the matter, not the lips alone. Worth noting is that here it is attached to the very technique to which both the blade and the rubbing are attached. That is, in one undertaking rite and surgery are joined; and such a joining is usual in books of this kind.
It explains something important, though. Bodily technique and ritual technique, in these traditions, are not distinguished by kind: both are kriya, "action," and both are expected to act automatically. The Vaishnava side draws a firm distinction here, and this distinction deserves naming. For her, a rite is an address to a person, and so does not act by itself: an offering offered to no one is simply food on a plate. A bodily action, by contrast, acts by itself, regardless of to whom it is addressed.
The confusion of these two kinds is, I think, the root error of all ritual magic. It deals with the deity as with a body: press correctly, and it works. But one cannot deal so with a person: he answers, or he does not.