Upaniṣads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.12
॥
Devanāgarī
अङ्गुष्ठतर्जनीभ्यां तु हस्ताभ्यां धारयेद्धृढम् । स्वशक्त्या चालयेद्वामे दक्षिणेन पुनःपुनः
Transliteración (IAST)
aṅguṣṭhatarjanībhyāṃ tu hastābhyāṃ dhārayeddhṛḍham | svaśaktyā cālayedvāme dakṣiṇena punaḥpunaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
अङ्गुष्ठ-तर्जनीभ्यां तुaṅguṣṭha-tarjanībhyāṃ tuwith thumb and forefinger
हस्ताभ्यां धारयेत् दृढम्hastābhyāṃ dhārayet dṛḍhamof both hands, shall he hold firmly
स्व-शक्त्या चालयेत् वामेsva-śaktyā cālayet vāmeby his own strength shall he move it left
दक्षिणेन पुनः पुनःdakṣiṇena punaḥ punaḥand right, again and again
Traducción
"With the thumb and forefinger of both hands shall he hold it firmly; by his own strength shall he move it left and right, again and again".
Versión
5155e73073ac · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The continuation of the technique, and in it stands a word worth setting apart: sva-shaktya, "by one's own strength." That is, one must move as far as one's own strength allows, not as much as is prescribed and not as much as one's neighbor can. This reservation is always present in books on bodily exercise, and it is always passed over. And yet in it lies the whole difference between exercise and injury: any bodily undertaking carried beyond its own measure ruins the very thing it was meant to improve.
The measure of "one's own strength," moreover, is different for each person and changes day to day; and so it cannot be prescribed or written down — only felt. Hence too the requirement of a teacher: not because he knows a secret, but because he sees from outside, while the practitioner cannot see himself. The Vaishnava side applies the same rule to spiritual labor as well, and there it is called adhikara, "measure of fitness." Each is prescribed according to his state, not by a common standard; and the Gita says: "better one's own task, poorly done, than another's, well performed" (3.35).
Separately, a word must be said about punah punah, "again and again." It stands constantly in this book and means the same as abhyasa: done not once, not ten times, but day after day; and without this no description is worth anything.