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Upanishads · Muktikā 2.52
॥
Devanāgarī
बहिरस्तंगते प्राणे यावन्नापान उद्गतः । तावत्पूर्णां समावस्थां बहिष्ठं कुम्भकं विदुः
Transliteration (IAST)
bahirastaṃgate prāṇe yāvannāpāna udgataḥ | tāvatpūrṇāṃ samāvasthāṃ bahiṣṭhaṃ kumbhakaṃ viduḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
बहिः अस्तं-गते प्राणेbahiḥ astaṃ-gate prāṇewhen prāṇa has set outward
यावत् न अपानः उद्गतःyāvat na apānaḥ udgataḥas long as apāna has not risen
तावत् पूर्णां समावस्थांtāvat pūrṇāṃ samāvasthāṃso long that full, even state
बहिः-स्थं कुम्भकं विदुःbahiḥ-sthaṃ kumbhakaṃ viduḥstanding outward — they know as retention
Translation
«When prāṇa has set outward, and apāna has not yet risen — so long that full, even state, standing outward, they know as retention».
Version
ec6ca483f45a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A second interval is described: after the out-breath, before the in-breath. That is, there are two intervals — one within (after the in-breath), the other without (after the out-breath); and both are called retention. Worth noting the phrase pūrṇā samāvasthā, «a full, even state».
It is strange that full is the name given to an interval in which there is nothing: the air has gone out, and none new has come in. And yet the word is chosen, I think, precisely. Anyone who has observed this knows that the interval after the out-breath is felt not as a lack but as a stillness; and the lack begins later.
That is, «fullness» here refers not to content but to the absence of movement. Add what the Vaishnava side notes at this point, and what makes up its usual objection to this whole chapter. It says: a fullness defined as the absence of movement is a fullness of peace; and the difference between brahmānanda and premānanda was spoken of at Jābāla-darśana (6.35).
Add, however, what it grants: the observation is true. The interval indeed exists, and it indeed is still; the dispute is only over whether this is the ultimate — and the whole difference is that some remain in this stillness, and others listen within it.