Upanishads · Varāha 5.30
॥
Devanāgarī
पररन्ध्रा सुषुम्ना च चत्वारो रत्नपूरिताः । कुण्डल्या पिहितं शश्वद्ब्रह्मरन्ध्रस्य मध्यमम्
Transliteration (IAST)
pararandhrā suṣumnā ca catvāro ratnapūritāḥ | kuṇḍalyā pihitaṃ śaśvadbrahmarandhrasya madhyamam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पर-रन्ध्रा सुषुम्ना चpara-randhrā suṣumnā caand sushumna with the highest aperture
चत्वारः रत्न-पूरिताःcatvāraḥ ratna-pūritāḥfour are filled with jewels
कुण्डल्या पिहितं शश्वत्kuṇḍalyā pihitaṃ śaśvatby kundalini, forever covered
ब्रह्म-रन्ध्रस्य मध्यमम्brahma-randhrasya madhyamamis the middle of the aperture of brahman
Translation
"And sushumna with the highest aperture; four are filled with jewels. By kundalini, the middle of the aperture of brahman is forever covered."
Version
7012935d6531 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
What was said in verse twenty-three is repeated: the path is closed, and the coiled power closes it. Worth noting is the word shashvat, "forever, always." That is, the closing is not an accident and not a punishment: it is the ordinary state of a person.
This position is, in my view, honest, and deserves holding onto independent of the teaching of passages. It means: the ordinary condition of a person is closedness; and everything done is done against the ordinary, not in addition to it. The Vaishnava side expresses the same differently, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (4.12): love lies in the heart as nitya-siddha, "eternally ready," but closed; and the matter is not to produce it, but for it to be opened.
Let us add what distinguishes the two teachings within the same image. Here the lock is removed by technique: breath, locks, heat. There the lock is removed by a meeting: company, the Name, grace.
And this difference is not one of the strength of the means, but of who holds the key: in the first case, the one locked in; in the second, another. The latter, without any dispute, agrees better with observation: people, so far as is known, rarely unlock themselves, but are often unlocked by a meeting.