Bg. 4.29 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

अपाने जुह्वति प्राणं प्राणेऽपानं तथापरे । प्राणापानगती रुद्ध्वा प्राणायामपरायणाः । अपरे नियताहाराः प्राणान्प्राणेषु जुह्वति ॥ २९ ॥

Verse text

apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ prāṇe ’pānaṁ tathāpare prāṇāpāna-gatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ apare niyatāhārāḥ prāṇān prāṇeṣu juhvati

Synonyms

apāne — in the air which acts downward ; juhvati — offer ; prāṇam — the air which acts outward ; prāṇe — in the air going outward ; apānam — the air going downward ; tathā — as also ; apare — others ; prāṇa — of the air going outward ; apāna — and the air going downward ; gatī — the movement ; ruddhvā — checking ; prāṇa-āyāma — trance induced by stopping all breathing ; parāyaṇāḥ — so inclined ; apare — others ; niyata — having controlled ; āhārāḥ — eating ; prāṇān — the outgoing air ; prāṇeṣu — in the outgoing air ; juhvati — sacrifice.

Translation

Still others, who are inclined to the process of breath restraint to remain in trance, practice by offering the movement of the outgoing breath into the incoming, and the incoming breath into the outgoing, and thus at last remain in trance, stopping all breathing. Others, curtailing the eating process, offer the outgoing breath into itself as a sacrifice.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

29. Others, dedicated to controlling the breath, stopping the movement of prāṇa and apāna, offer the prāṇa into the apāna. Others, controlling eating, offer the senses into the prāṇas.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

29. Others, dedicated to controlling the breath, stopping the movement of prāṇa and apāna, offer the prāṇa into the apāna or offer the apāna into the prāṇa. Others, controlling eating, offer the senses into the weakened prāṇas.

Purport

This system of yoga for controlling the breathing process is called prāṇāyāma, and in the beginning it is practiced in the haṭha-yoga system through different sitting postures. All of these processes are recommended for controlling the senses and for advancement in spiritual realization. This practice involves controlling the airs within the body so as to reverse the directions of their passage. The apāna air goes downward, and the prāṇa air goes up. The prāṇāyāma-yogī practices breathing the opposite way until the currents are neutralized into pūraka, equilibrium. Offering the exhaled breath into the inhaled breath is called recaka. When both air currents are completely stopped, one is said to be in kumbhaka-yoga. By practice of kumbhaka-yoga, one can increase the duration of life for perfection in spiritual realization. The intelligent yogī is interested in attaining perfection in one life, without waiting for the next. For by practicing kumbhaka-yoga, the yogīs increase the duration of life by many, many years. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, however, being always situated in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, automatically becomes the controller of the senses. His senses, being always engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, have no chance of becoming otherwise engaged. So at the end of life, he is naturally transferred to the transcendental plane of Lord Kṛṣṇa; consequently he makes no attempt to increase his longevity. He is at once raised to the platform of liberation, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (14.26) : māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate “One who engages in unalloyed devotional service to the Lord transcends the modes of material nature and is immediately elevated to the spiritual platform.” A Kṛṣṇa conscious person begins from the transcendental stage, and he is constantly in that consciousness. Therefore, there is no falling down, and ultimately he enters into the abode of the Lord without delay. The practice of reduced eating is automatically done when one eats only kṛṣṇa-prasādam, or food which is offered first to the Lord. Reducing the eating process is very helpful in the matter of sense control. And without sense control there is no possibility of getting out of the material entanglement.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Others who are expert in prāṇāyama offer the upward prāṇa into the downward apāna. At the time of fully inhaling, they merge the prāna with the apāna. At the time of fully exhaling (recaka) they offer the apāna into the prāṇa. [Note: This refers to the practice of pūraka, in which the inhalation is prolonged, and recaka, where the exhalation is prolonged. Kumbhaka is stopping the breath after either inhaling or exhaling.] At the time of kumbhaka, they stop the movement of both prāṇa and apāna, and become completely absorbed in the practice of prāṇāyāma. Others, desiring to conquer the senses, control the eating process; that is, they eat little. They offer the senses (prāṇān) into the prāṇas which are subsisting on restricted eating. When the prāṇas become weak, the senses, being dependent on the prāṇas, become incapable of grasping the sense objects, and become merged in the prāṇas.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

Others, of three types, are dedicated to controlling the breath. Some offer the praṇa which goes up, into the apāna, which moves down. This means that they make the prāṇa merge with the apāna through pūraka (inhalation). Others offer the apāna into the prāṇa. This means they make the apāna merge with the prāṇa through recaka, while exhaling. Having stopped the movement of prāṇa and apāna, of exhaling and inhaling, by kumbhaka, by holding the breath, they remain in that state. The movement of prāṇa is exhaling the internal air through the nostrils. The movement of apāna is inhaling the external air through the nostrils. Stopping both exhalation and inhalation is called kumbhaka. There are two types. One can fill the lungs with air and then hold the breath, or exhale completely and then hold the breath. Others, practicing restricting the regular intake of food, offer the senses (prāṇān) into the prāṇas. This means that the senses become no longer capable of grasping sense objects, since they depend on the prāṇas to function, and the prāṇas have withered up due to restriction on food. They thus disappear in the prāṇas like drops of water sprinkled on a hot piece of iron.

Surrender Unto Me

This are technical forms of practicing 'astanga‑yoga'(or the 'pranayama' section or the 'breath control' section). They are all meant to be sacrifices or offerings of one kind or another to the Lord. But people don't generally think of them like that. Here Krsna is going to explain them in the context of transcendental knowledge in a moment. Here Krsna begins to sum‑up all these types of sacrifice,their purpose and their result.