Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.39
॥
Devanāgarī
शनैरेवं प्रकर्तव्यमभ्यासं युगपन्नहि । युगपद्वर्तते यस्य शरीरं विलयं व्रजेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
śanairevaṃ prakartavyamabhyāsaṃ yugapannahi | yugapadvartate yasya śarīraṃ vilayaṃ vrajet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शनैः एवं प्रकर्तव्यम्śanaiḥ evaṃ prakartavyamslowly, so must it be done
अभ्यासं युगपत् न हिabhyāsaṃ yugapat na hithe practice, not all at once, indeed
युगपत् वर्तते यस्यyugapat vartate yasyaall at once, if it is done, whose
शरीरं विलयं व्रजेत्śarīraṃ vilayaṃ vrajetthe body goes toward dissolution
Translation
"Slowly must the practice be done thus, not all at once; whose is done all at once, his body goes toward dissolution".
Version
480a0b895fd7 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A direct and strong warning: for one who does it all at once, shariram vilayam vrajet, "the body goes toward dissolution." The book must be given its due here. It describes a harmful undertaking — and, doing so, honestly warns that haste in it kills.
This warning is always present in such compositions and was discussed when reading the first chapter (1.35, 1.55). But here it stands especially sharply: not "you will hurt yourself," but you will destroy the body. Worth noting is the word yugapat, "at once, simultaneously." It also stood when reading the second chapter (2.5), where it was said that practice and meeting yugapat na eva sidhyati, "do not succeed at once."
One word in two places and two senses: there — that two things cannot be obtained at once; here — that everything cannot be done at once. And in both cases the discourse is about one human trait: impatience. The Vaishnava side counts impatience among the chief hindrances and speaks of it with the words of Chaitanya's Shikshashtaka, where devotion asks for patience, not strength: "more humble than a blade of grass, more patient than a tree." Patience is placed there alongside humility, and this is no accident — one who is impatient is usually one who counts himself entitled to receive.