Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 3.28
॥
Devanāgarī
सत्कर्मपरिपाकात्तु स्वविकारं चिकीर्षति । कोऽहं कथमयं दोषः संसाराख्य उपागतः
Transliteration (IAST)
satkarmaparipākāttu svavikāraṃ cikīrṣati | ko'haṃ kathamayaṃ doṣaḥ saṃsārākhya upāgataḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सत्-कर्म-परिपाकात् तुsat-karma-paripākāt tufrom the ripening of good deeds, however
स्व-विकारं चिकीर्षतिsva-vikāraṃ cikīrṣatihe desires to make his own change
कः अहं कथम् अयं दोषःkaḥ ahaṃ katham ayaṃ doṣaḥwho am I? how has this fault
संसार-आख्यः उपागतःsaṃsāra-ākhyaḥ upāgataḥcalled the cycle, befallen [me]?
Translation
"From the ripening of good deeds, he desires to bring about his own change: "who am I? how has this fault, called the cycle, befallen me"?"
Version
621dd165b02a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is the line for whose sake it is worth reading the end of this book, and in it are the two questions with which everything begins in a man: ko'ham, "who am I?", and katham ayam doshah upagatah, "how has this befallen me?" Both questions are posed not abstractly, but as a man asks them: first "who am I," then "why is it so for me." Worth noting too is what makes them arise: sat-karma-paripakat, "from the ripening of good deeds."
That is, the question about oneself does not come to order and does not arise from reflection: it ripens, like a fruit, from good done before. And until it has ripened, a man does not ask this question — not because he is a fool, but because the time has not come. This position is one of the foundational ones in Vaishnava books and explains much that would otherwise seem unjust. Why does one hear and catch fire, while another hears the same and does not hear? — Because for one it has ripened, and for the other not; and one cannot rush it, as one cannot rush a fruit.
The Bhagavatam speaks of this in words about shraddha: it is born bhagavat-sevonmukhi, in one turned toward service; and this turning comes from association; and association from what was accumulated before. This chain ends in what a man does not know about himself. Separately, a word must be said about sva-vikaram chikirshati, "desires to bring about his own change." Not "desires freedom," but — to change himself; and this, I think, is more precise. The first thing a man wants, having ripened to the question, is not freedom, but change.