Upanishads · Varāha 5.53
॥
Devanāgarī
मूलाधारादिषट्चक्रं शक्तिस्थानमुदीरितम् । कण्ठादुपरि मूर्धान्तं शांभवं स्थानमुच्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
mūlādhārādiṣaṭcakraṃ śaktisthānamudīritam | kaṇṭhādupari mūrdhāntaṃ śāṃbhavaṃ sthānamucyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मूलाधार-आदि-षट्-चक्रंmūlādhāra-ādi-ṣaṭ-cakraṃthe six circles beginning with the root support
शक्ति-स्थानम् उदीरितम्śakti-sthānam udīritamare named the place of power
कण्ठात् उपरि मूर्ध-अन्तंkaṇṭhāt upari mūrdha-antaṃfrom the throat upward to the crown
शांभवं स्थानम् उच्यतेśāṃbhavaṃ sthānam ucyateis called the place of Shambhu
Translation
"The six circles, beginning with the root support, are named the place of power; and from the throat upward to the crown is called the place of Shambhu."
Version
cfd9a5de158e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A division is drawn: the lower part is the place of power, the upper the place of Shambhu (that is, of Shiva). This construction is fundamental in Tantra and signifies the meeting of two: the power sleeping below rises to the one above, and their union is the goal. Worth noting that even here, in a teaching least inclined to the personal, the goal is described as the union of two.
This detail is, in my view, quite telling. Were the highest undivided, it ought to be described as one; but it is described as a meeting, and moreover a meeting on the model of marriage — for the power is given a feminine name, and the upper a masculine one. The Vaishnava side gladly points to such constructions and says: even where a teaching denies duality, its language builds on duality, for otherwise fullness cannot be voiced at all.
Let us add what it itself sets at this same place. Its own highest is likewise two, and moreover two on the model of that same relation: Radha and Krishna, shakti and shaktiman. But there is a difference, and it is decisive.
There the power is one's own, sleeping within, and its rise is a work upon oneself. Here the power is His, and the person is neither of the two sides: he enters the relation as a third — as servant, as witness, as participant. And this position, by its reckoning, is more honest: it makes the person neither a god nor his half.