Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 3.3
॥
Devanāgarī
कामेन विषयाकाङ्क्षी विषयात्काममोहितः । द्वावेव सन्त्यजेन्नित्यं निरञ्जनमुपाश्रयेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
kāmena viṣayākāṅkṣī viṣayātkāmamohitaḥ | dvāveva santyajennityaṃ nirañjanamupāśrayet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कामेन विषय-आकाङ्क्षीkāmena viṣaya-ākāṅkṣīby desire, longing for objects
विषयात् काम-मोहितःviṣayāt kāma-mohitaḥfrom objects, deluded by desire
द्वौ एव सन्त्यजेत् नित्यंdvau eva santyajet nityaṃboth alike shall he always abandon
निरञ्जनम् उपाश्रयेत्nirañjanam upāśrayetto the stainless shall he take refuge
Translation
"By desire, longing for objects; from objects, deluded by desire, — both alike shall he always abandon, and take refuge in the stainless".
Version
0b3c2f0bc705 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A circle is described, and described precisely: desire drives one to objects, objects inflame desire. This observation is constant in these books, but here it is set as a closed circle, and rightly so. Anyone who has tried to satisfy desire by obtaining knows: obtaining does not extinguish, it inflames; and this circle does not open on its own.
One is commanded to abandon dvau eva, "both" — desire and objects. Worth noting, though, is that it does not say "abandon and be left with nothing," but — niranjanam upashrayet, "shall he take refuge in the stainless." Again the verb upa-shri, "to take refuge," discussed when reading Rudra-hridaya (12) and the second chapter (2.4, 2.27). That is, the circle opens not by refusal, but by turning to a third.
This, I think, is the one true solution, and the Vaishnava side stands wholly on it. Refusal of desire does not open the circle: the one refusing remains all the while mindful of what he refused, and so stays in the circle, only with the sign reversed. The circle opens with the appearance of a third, to which one takes refuge; and the Gita says exactly this, in the verse cited when reading the first chapter (2.59): taste departs from one who has beheld the Highest — not from one who has clenched his teeth harder.