Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 3.32
॥
Devanāgarī
मनोमयज्ञानमयान्सम्यग्दग्ध्वा क्रमेण तु । घटस्थदीपवच्छश्वदन्तरेव प्रकाशते
Transliteration (IAST)
manomayajñānamayānsamyagdagdhvā krameṇa tu | ghaṭasthadīpavacchaśvadantareva prakāśate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मनः-मय-ज्ञान-मयान्manaḥ-maya-jñāna-mayānmind-made and knowledge-made
सम्यक् दग्ध्वा क्रमेण तुsamyak dagdhvā krameṇa tuproperly having burnt, in order, however
घट-स्थ-दीप-वत् शश्वत्ghaṭa-stha-dīpa-vat śaśvatlike a lamp within a pot, always
अन्तः एव प्रकाशतेantaḥ eva prakāśateit shines only within
Translation
"Having properly burnt away, in order, the mind-made and the knowledge-made, — like a lamp within a pot, it always shines only within".
Version
5c958ffa3712 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Again the lamp within the pot, discussed when reading the fifteenth and sixteenth lines. Worth noting, though, is that here the image is turned differently: it is said antah eva prakashate, "it shines within" — and nothing at all is said of breaking the pot. That is, here it is said not "break it, so that light reaches outside," but — "it shines within."
This change deserves attention. In the fifteenth line the pot was a hindrance; here it is not: the light burns within, and that is enough. The Vaishnava side accepts this second reading the more willingly, and here is why. If the light burns within, then there is no need to break anything: the body remains, the mind remains, and the light is there. And then attainment is described not as destruction, but as a lamp lit within a whole vessel.
This image, I think, is the best that can be said of a man in whom something exists within. Outwardly he is the same: the same body, the same house, the same work; and within he burns — and this is noticeable not by a broken pot, but by the fact that it has become warmer from him. Separately, a word must be said about shashvat, "always, unceasingly." It stands here with "shines"; that is, the light is described not as a flash, discussed when reading the first chapter (1.67), but as an even burning. And this, I think, is already a description of a state, not of an experience.