Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 3.7
॥
Devanāgarī
चन्द्रार्कमध्यमा शक्तिर्यत्रस्था तत्र बन्धनम् । ज्ञात्वा सुषुम्नां तद्भेदं कृत्वा वायुं च मध्यगम्
Transliteration (IAST)
candrārkamadhyamā śaktiryatrasthā tatra bandhanam | jñātvā suṣumnāṃ tadbhedaṃ kṛtvā vāyuṃ ca madhyagam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
चन्द्र-अर्क-मध्यमा शक्तिःcandra-arka-madhyamā śaktiḥpower, midway between moon and sun
यत्र-स्था तत्र बन्धनम्yatra-sthā tatra bandhanamwherever it dwells, there are bonds
ज्ञात्वा सुषुम्नां तत्-भेदंjñātvā suṣumnāṃ tat-bhedaṃhaving known sushumna, its rending
कृत्वा वायुं च मध्य-गम्kṛtvā vāyuṃ ca madhya-gamhaving performed, and the wind, central
Translation
"Power, midway between moon and sun — wherever it dwells, there are bonds; having known sushumna and performed its rending, and the wind central…**
Version
0c38b3becbdd · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
It is said briefly and strongly: yatra-stha tatra bandhanam, "wherever it dwells, there are bonds." That is, the bonds are not in something external, but in the power itself — in the place where it stands. This position deserves examining, for it is both true and dangerous.
It is true in this way. A man is bound not by the world and not by circumstances, but by where his power stands: wherever attention is placed, that is what binds him. Everyone knows this of himself: it is not wealth that binds, but the thought of it; not a person, but attachment to him.
It is dangerous in that from it one can easily conclude that any attachment as such binds, and that to be freed means to attach to nothing. This conclusion is drawn in these books, and the Vaishnava side does not accept it, for the reason discussed when reading Rudra-hridaya (37). A knot is untied not by the absence of attachment, but by another attachment; and a man attached to nothing is not free, but empty — and into that emptiness the first thing to enter will take its place.
It is worth adding that the word bandhana, "bonds," here too is of the same root as bandhu, "kin, relative," discussed when reading Devi (8). One family: what binds and what makes kin. And language here is more precise than doctrines: bond and kinship are one, and the only question is with whom.