Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.48
॥
Devanāgarī
सदा रसनया योगी मार्गं न परिसंक्रमेत् । एवं द्वादशवर्षान्ते संसिद्धिर्भवति ध्रुवा
Transliteration (IAST)
sadā rasanayā yogī mārgaṃ na parisaṃkramet | evaṃ dvādaśavarṣānte saṃsiddhirbhavati dhruvā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सदा रसनया योगीsadā rasanayā yogīalways, by the tongue, the yogi
मार्गं न परिसंक्रमेत्mārgaṃ na parisaṃkrametshall not go around the path
एवं द्वादश-वर्ष-अन्तेevaṃ dvādaśa-varṣa-antethus, at the end of twelve years
संसिद्धिः भवति ध्रुवाsaṃsiddhiḥ bhavati dhruvāattainment becomes certain
Translation
"Always, by the tongue, shall the yogi not go around the path; thus, at the end of twelve years, attainment becomes certain".
Version
dd0722b86777 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The final term is named: dvadasha-varsha-ante, "at the end of twelve years." Let us add up everything the book has counted: six months of cutting, six months of stretching, three years, another three, six months of churning — and there is twelve years. Twelve years is, incidentally, a usual term: this is the length of a full apprenticeship in these traditions, and this is the length of great austerity in the stories.
Let me speak of this term without mockery and by its substance. Twelve years is neither little nor much: it is a term in which a man truly can change himself, whatever he devotes it to. A craftsman becomes a master in twelve years; and any undertaking given twelve years bears fruit.
The question, then, is not the term, but the object: what these years are spent on. The Vaishnava side speaks of terms less and more cautiously, and, as a rule, does not name them at all; and this, I think, is more honest. For a term can be promised where a mechanism is at work: so many repetitions — such a fruit. But where the will of another decides, no term can be named: one can only do one's own part and wait.
It is worth adding that dhruva, "certain, firm," stands here again attached to something unverifiable; and the worth of this word was discussed when reading the twenty-fourth line.