Upaniṣads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 3.16
॥
Devanāgarī
भिन्ने तस्मिन्घटे चैव दीपज्वाला च भासते । स्वकायं घटमित्युक्तं यथा दीपो हि तत्पदम्
Transliteración (IAST)
bhinne tasminghaṭe caiva dīpajvālā ca bhāsate | svakāyaṃ ghaṭamityuktaṃ yathā dīpo hi tatpadam
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
भिन्ने तस्मिन् घटे च एवbhinne tasmin ghaṭe ca evawhen, however, that pot is broken
दीप-ज्वाला च भासतेdīpa-jvālā ca bhāsatethe flame of the lamp shines
स्व-कायं घटम् इति उक्तंsva-kāyaṃ ghaṭam iti uktaṃone's own body called a pot, thus
यथा दीपः हि तत्-पदम्yathā dīpaḥ hi tat-padamas the lamp is that highest place
Traducción
"But when that pot is broken, the flame of the lamp shines; one's own body is called a pot, and as the lamp is that highest place".
Versión
fdf93b71c49d · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The simile is explained: the pot is the body, the lamp is the highest. It is worth dwelling on this explanation, for it raises a question the book does not notice. If the pot is the body, then "to break the pot" means to die. And it would follow that the light spreads only after death, and that everything described in three chapters is a preparation for that.
One can read this more gently: to break means to cease being a closed body, that is, to cease identifying oneself with it. Commentators usually read it this way. But even on the gentle reading, one thing remains worth noting. In this image, the body is a hindrance: it closes off the light.
The Vaishnava side departs here, and departs by substance, not by wording. For her the body is not a pot closing off the light, but an instrument of service, discussed when reading the second chapter (2.28); and so it is not broken, but used: served with the hands, sung with the tongue, walked to the temple with the feet. The difference between "the body closes off" and "the body serves" is, I think, the most practical of all that exists between these teachings. From the first it follows that one must be rid of the body; from the second — that it must be occupied. And the second is achievable today, while the first only someday.