Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.41
॥
Devanāgarī
तदा ब्रह्मार्गलं ब्रह्मन्दुर्भेद्यं त्रिदशैरपि । अङ्गुल्यग्रेण संघृष्य जिह्वामात्रं निवेशयेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
tadā brahmārgalaṃ brahmandurbhedyaṃ tridaśairapi | aṅgulyagreṇa saṃghṛṣya jihvāmātraṃ niveśayet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तदा ब्रह्म-अर्गलं ब्रह्मन्tadā brahma-argalaṃ brahmanthen the Brahman-bolt, O brahmin
दुर्-भेद्यं त्रिदशैः अपिdur-bhedyaṃ tridaśaiḥ apihard to break even by the thirty gods
अङ्गुलि-अग्रेण संघृष्यaṅguli-agreṇa saṃghṛṣyahaving rubbed with the tip of a finger
जिह्वा-मात्रं निवेशयेत्jihvā-mātraṃ niveśayetonly the tongue shall he insert
Translation
"Then the Brahman-bolt, O brahmin, hard to break even for the thirty gods, — having rubbed with the tip of a finger, only the tongue shall he insert".
Version
13bbe9921144 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Again argala, "bolt," discussed when reading the first chapter (1.38); and it is said to be durbhedya tridashair api, "unbreakable even for the gods." Worth noting is the structure of the praise: what the gods cannot do, a man does with a finger and a tongue. This turn is constant in such books and is, in essence, their chief promise: by technique one attains what is given to no one otherwise.
Here it is worth speaking of the very cast of this thinking, for it explains this whole class of composition. The world in them is arranged as a locked storehouse: there are bolts, there are gates, there are keys, and one who knows the mechanism will unlock it. The gods do not unlock it not because they may not, but because they do not know the mechanism; and one who knows it is stronger than they.
This position is ancient in Indian books and recurs constantly in tradition: an ascetic who has won power presses upon the gods, and the gods fear him. Hence all the stories of how Indra sends a nymph to distract an ascetic. The Vaishnava side does not understand the world this way, and says so directly. Doors there are not locked and unlocked by technique: they are opened from within, and the Master opens them. And so there are no stories in her books of a devotee terrifying the gods; there they tell of how he asked, and it was opened to him.