उपनिषद् · Jābāladarśana 7.12
॥
देवनागरी
नाभिकन्दे च हृन्मध्ये कण्ठमूले च तालुके । भ्रुवोर्मध्ये ललाटे च तथा मूर्धनि धारयेत्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
nābhikande ca hṛnmadhye kaṇṭhamūle ca tāluke | bhruvormadhye lalāṭe ca tathā mūrdhani dhārayet
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
नाभि-कन्दे च हृत्-मध्येnābhi-kande ca hṛt-madhyeand in the navel-bulb, in the middle of the heart
कण्ठ-मूले च तालुकेkaṇṭha-mūle ca tālukeat the root of the throat, and in the palate
भ्रुवोः मध्ये ललाटे चbhruvoḥ madhye lalāṭe cabetween the brows and in the forehead
तथा मूर्धनि धारयेत्tathā mūrdhani dhārayetand likewise in the crown, let him hold
अनुवाद
"…and in the navel-bulb, in the middle of the heart, at the root of the throat and in the palate, between the brows and in the forehead, and likewise in the crown, let him hold."
संस्करण
31b55c754bd4 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The places of ascent are listed, and they are the very ones called, in later books, chakras, "wheels": base, navel, heart, throat, brows, crown. Worth noting is that the book never uses the word chakra; it simply speaks of places. This detail matters for understanding the age of the teaching. The elaborated doctrine of the six wheels with their petals, syllables, and deities is later; here we have an earlier state, where the points are named but the chart is not yet drawn.
This observation is useful when reading any tradition: elaboration is a mark of lateness. What developed slowly looks simple; what was composed all at once comes out orderly. This rule, however, should be applied cautiously, for simplicity can also come from scarcity.
The Vaishnava side does not teach of wheels in the body, and it is worth saying what it replaces this ascent with. It replaces it with the ladder of relations, discussed when reading the fourth khanda (4.51): calm reverence, service, friendship, parental feeling, conjugal. One ascends not through the body, but through closeness.
The difference here is in what measures the path. There the measure is the place in the body attention has reached; here — how freely a person deals with the One he addresses. And the second measure, for all its vagueness, has the advantage of being unfalsifiable: reverence is easy to feign; closeness is not.