Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.42
॥
Devanāgarī
एवं वर्षत्रयं कृत्वा ब्रह्मद्वारं प्रविश्यति । ब्रह्मद्वारे प्रविष्टे तु सम्यङ्मथनमाचरेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
evaṃ varṣatrayaṃ kṛtvā brahmadvāraṃ praviśyati | brahmadvāre praviṣṭe tu samyaṅmathanamācaret
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एवं वर्ष-त्रयं कृत्वाevaṃ varṣa-trayaṃ kṛtvāthus having performed three years
ब्रह्म-द्वारं प्रविश्यतिbrahma-dvāraṃ praviśyatihe enters the Brahman-doors
ब्रह्म-द्वारे प्रविष्टे तुbrahma-dvāre praviṣṭe tuwhen, however, he has entered the Brahman-doors
सम्यक् मथनम् आचरेत्samyak mathanam ācaretproperly shall he perform the churning
Translation
"Thus, having performed three years, he enters the Brahman-doors; when, however, he has entered the Brahman-doors, — as is proper shall he perform the churning".
Version
428c8a3f9885 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Mathana, "churning," is named, and this word is among the most heavily laden in Indian books. It means the beating of butter from milk: a stick with a rope is turned within a vessel, and by the turning butter comes forth. From the same root is mantha, "a churning-stick," and the famous samudra-mathana, "the churning of the ocean" — the tradition of how gods and demons, taking a mountain for a stick and a serpent for a rope, churned the ocean and obtained nectar.
This tradition, recalled, explains the whole image. Nectar does not lie ready at the bottom: it is churned, and churned long, and first poison comes forth, and only then nectar. This image, I think, is the best of all applied in these books to spiritual labor, and the Vaishnava side uses it constantly. First in the churning halahala, poison, comes forth — that is, all the ill that has accumulated in a man rises before the good; and someone must drink it, and Shiva drinks it.
Hence too the warning that stands, in her books, in describing beginners: do not be frightened if things first grow worse. The stirred-up silt is a sign that the bottom has been disturbed, not that the water has spoiled. It is worth adding that here too the churning stands after entering the doors, not before; that is, the work does not end with attainment, but begins from it.