Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 3.15
॥
Devanāgarī
विना चाभ्यासयोगेन ज्ञानदीपस्तथा न हि । घटमध्यगतो दीपो बाह्ये नैव प्रकाशते
Transliteration (IAST)
vinā cābhyāsayogena jñānadīpastathā na hi | ghaṭamadhyagato dīpo bāhye naiva prakāśate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
विना च अभ्यास-योगेनvinā ca abhyāsa-yogenaand without the union of practice
ज्ञान-दीपः तथा न हिjñāna-dīpaḥ tathā na hiso too the lamp of knowledge, not
घट-मध्य-गतः दीपःghaṭa-madhya-gataḥ dīpaḥa lamp dwelling in the midst of a pot
बाह्ये न एव प्रकाशतेbāhye na eva prakāśateoutside does not shine at all
Translation
"And without union with practice, so too the lamp of knowledge [does not shine]. A lamp dwelling in the midst of a pot does not shine outside at all".
Version
f15d7888296d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A second simile is given, and it is even finer than the first: a lamp inside a pot. The light exists, and it burns; but the pot is closed, and outside it is dark. Break the pot — and the light will spread; and it will not increase from the pot's being broken — it was the same all along.
This simile is constant in these books and applied here to knowledge: it exists in a man, and is closed off. Worth noting is its difference from the pot discussed when reading Tripuratapini (108) and Rudra-hridaya (43). There, in the pot was space, and the simile served to prove unity: break the pot, and the space within turns out the same as outside.
Here, in the pot is a lamp; and the simile says something else entirely: break the pot, and it becomes visible. The difference between these two uses of one image is instructive. In the first case one breaks in order for there to no longer be two; in the second — for the light to reach others.
The Vaishnava side prefers the second and explains why. Space in a pot lights no one and is needed by no one; but a lamp carried out from under the pot illumines the room. That is, attainment, in this reading, is not the disappearance of a partition, but benefit for others; and so in her books the one who attains does not depart, but goes to tell others.