[INDOLOGY] Help with a simile

[Ananya Vajpeyi]

udghāṭayet kapāṭaṃ tu yathā kuñcikayā haṭhāt |
kuṇḍalinyā tathā yogī mokṣadvāraṃ vibhedayet ||

Just as one might throw open the palace gates by forcibly turning the key,
So must a yogī break open the portals of mokṣa with the force / power of
his (awakened) kuṇḍalinī.

Jim I think haṭhāt here is like Hindi "zor se", and kapāṭa is like kivāḍ (a
baḍā, bhārī double darvāzā). It's just easier in Hindi:

जिस तरह कोई चाबी को ज़ोर से घुमाकर घर (या महल) के किवाड़ खोलता है
उसी तरह योगी अपनी कुण्डलिनी शक्ति के प्रभाव से मोक्ष के द्वार खोल पाता है

I trust you are on the very verge of what the verse describes... the
kuṇḍalinī is key, so to speak.

Yours,

AV.


On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 2:50 AM Richard G. Salomon via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Or maybe the trick is to understand *haṭhāt *not as "force (open)," but
> rather in the sense of "necessarily, inevitably" (so MW). Thus the simile
> refers to the infallibility of the kuṇḍalinī yoga, rather than to its power.
>
> Rich Salomon
>
> On Fri, May 14, 2021 at 2:12 PM Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear Jim,
>>
>> Perhaps try thinking of a heavy medieval lock opened by a very large
>> metal key, requiring rather a lot of force to turn or slide, depending upon
>> the type of lock being used. Maybe my imagination is too influenced by
>> images of huge Tibetan locks and keys that served also as lethal weapons.
>> Might not some old Indian locks be preserved in one or another of the
>> palace museums?
>>
>> best ever,
>> Matthew
>>
>> Matthew Kapstein
>> Directeur d'études, émérite
>> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris
>>
>> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
>> The University of Chicago
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
>> James Mallinson <jm63 at soas.ac.uk>
>> *Sent:* Friday, May 14, 2021 3:44 PM
>> *To:* Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
>> *Subject:* [INDOLOGY] Help with a simile
>>
>> Dear colleagues,
>>
>> I wonder if anybody can help me understand a simile in a *haṭhayoga*
>> text I’m editing, the *Vivekamārtaṇḍa*. Verse 34 reads:
>>
>> udghāṭayet kapāṭaṃ tu yathā kuñcikayā haṭhāt |
>> kuṇḍalinyā tathā yogī mokṣadvāraṃ vibhedayet ||
>>
>> My incomplete translation is as follows: “The yogi should use Kuṇḍalinī
>> to break open the doorway to liberation in the same way that one might use
>> a *kuñcikā* to force open a *kapāṭa*.” I had been translating *kuñcikā*
>> as “key” and *kapāṭa* as “door”, but this isn’t altogether satisfactory.
>> A key does not force a door to open. But I am unable to think of what this
>> *kuñcikā* and *kapāṭa* might be. I am aware that a * kapāṭa* is usually
>> a double door (I think of saloon doors in cowboy films) but what then is
>> the *kuñcikā*? Of course it is quite possible that it is just a rather
>> sloppy simile.
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Jim
>>
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>
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-- 
*Ananya Vajpeyi*
https://www.csds.in/ananya_vajpeyi
http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/people/profile/ananya-vajpeyi
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