उपनिषद् · Yogakuṇḍalinī 2.42
॥
देवनागरी
एवं वर्षत्रयं कृत्वा ब्रह्मद्वारं प्रविश्यति । ब्रह्मद्वारे प्रविष्टे तु सम्यङ्मथनमाचरेत्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
evaṃ varṣatrayaṃ kṛtvā brahmadvāraṃ praviśyati | brahmadvāre praviṣṭe tu samyaṅmathanamācaret
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
एवं वर्ष-त्रयं कृत्वाevaṃ varṣa-trayaṃ kṛtvāthus having performed three years
ब्रह्म-द्वारं प्रविश्यतिbrahma-dvāraṃ praviśyatihe enters the Brahman-doors
ब्रह्म-द्वारे प्रविष्टे तुbrahma-dvāre praviṣṭe tuwhen, however, he has entered the Brahman-doors
सम्यक् मथनम् आचरेत्samyak mathanam ācaretproperly shall he perform the churning
अनुवाद
"Thus, having performed three years, he enters the Brahman-doors; when, however, he has entered the Brahman-doors, — as is proper shall he perform the churning".
संस्करण
428c8a3f9885 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Mathana, "churning," is named, and this word is among the most heavily laden in Indian books. It means the beating of butter from milk: a stick with a rope is turned within a vessel, and by the turning butter comes forth. From the same root is mantha, "a churning-stick," and the famous samudra-mathana, "the churning of the ocean" — the tradition of how gods and demons, taking a mountain for a stick and a serpent for a rope, churned the ocean and obtained nectar.
This tradition, recalled, explains the whole image. Nectar does not lie ready at the bottom: it is churned, and churned long, and first poison comes forth, and only then nectar. This image, I think, is the best of all applied in these books to spiritual labor, and the Vaishnava side uses it constantly. First in the churning halahala, poison, comes forth — that is, all the ill that has accumulated in a man rises before the good; and someone must drink it, and Shiva drinks it.
Hence too the warning that stands, in her books, in describing beginners: do not be frightened if things first grow worse. The stirred-up silt is a sign that the bottom has been disturbed, not that the water has spoiled. It is worth adding that here too the churning stands after entering the doors, not before; that is, the work does not end with attainment, but begins from it.