Upanishads · Varāha 5.51
॥
Devanāgarī
यत्र कुण्डलिनी नाम परा शक्तिः प्रतिष्ठिता । यस्मादुत्पद्यते वायुर्यस्माद्वह्निः प्रवर्धते
Transliteration (IAST)
yatra kuṇḍalinī nāma parā śaktiḥ pratiṣṭhitā | yasmādutpadyate vāyuryasmādvahniḥ pravardhate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत्र कुण्डलिनी नामyatra kuṇḍalinī nāmawhere the one named kundalini
परा शक्तिः प्रतिष्ठिताparā śaktiḥ pratiṣṭhitāthe supreme power, is established
यस्मात् उत्पद्यते वायुःyasmāt utpadyate vāyuḥwhence the wind is born
यस्मात् वह्निः प्रवर्धतेyasmāt vahniḥ pravardhatewhence the fire increases
Translation
"Where the supreme power, named kundalini, is established; whence the wind is born, whence the fire increases…"
Version
24f23f43ca78 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The power is named directly para shakti, "the supreme power," and this deserves attention. In the teaching set out by this chapter, the highest turns out to be not consciousness and not selfhood, but power, lying at the base of the body. That is, before us is no longer Vedanta, but Tantra; and the difference between the two approaches deserves stating, for it runs through all later Indian literature.
Vedanta proceeds from consciousness: the chief thing is that which knows. Tantra proceeds from power: the chief thing is that which acts. The Vaishnava side stands between them, and it is worth saying exactly how.
It acknowledges that He has shakti, and its teaching of powers is worked out in detail: sandhini (being), samvit (knowledge), hladini (delight), discussed when reading the Dig-darshini-tika. But for it power is never primary: it is a power belonging to someone, and the Vishnu Purana states the relation directly — shakti-shaktimator abhedah, "power and its possessor are not different," but power itself is not the possessor. That is, light is inseparable from fire and yet is not fire.
On such a reading, "the supreme power" is an incomplete expression: every power belongs to someone, and having called it supreme, one has not yet named the Supreme. Let us add that the present verse confirms exactly this: the power is named shiva-sthana, the place of Shiva — that is, still someone's.