Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.2
॥
Devanāgarī
तयोरादौ समीरस्य जयं कुर्यान्नरः सदा । मिताहारश्चासनं च शक्तिश्चालस्तृतीयकः
Transliteration (IAST)
tayorādau samīrasya jayaṃ kuryānnaraḥ sadā | mitāhāraścāsanaṃ ca śaktiścālastṛtīyakaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तयोः आदौ समीरस्यtayoḥ ādau samīrasyaof these, first, over the wind
जयं कुर्यात् नरः सदाjayaṃ kuryāt naraḥ sadāvictory shall a man always achieve
मित-आहारः च आसनं चmita-āhāraḥ ca āsanaṃ camoderate food and posture
शक्ति-चालः तृतीयकःśakti-cālaḥ tṛtīyakaḥmovement of power — the third
Translation
"Of these, first shall a man always achieve victory over the wind: moderate food, posture, and third — the movement of power".
Version
9fc07a4f3f31 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The order of work is chosen: breath first, not habits; and three means are named. This order is worth understanding. It is hard to fight tendencies directly, for one must fight with that very mind which they themselves have infected. But breath is a bodily matter, and can be acted on from outside.
Three means are named: mitahara, "moderate food"; asana, "posture"; shakti-chala, "movement of power." The order among them, too, is worth noting. First — food, second — how one sits, and only third — the exercise proper. That is, before any subtleties is placed what a man does three times a day and cannot live without.
This order is the same in Vaishnava practice, and the Gita speaks of it in almost the same words: "for one who is moderate in eating and movement, moderate in action, in sleep and in waking, yoga carries away suffering" (6.17). The word yukta, "fitted, harnessed," stands there with each item. It is worth adding that this whole book, for all its subtlety, begins with the meal and with how to sit; and in such treatises this is a mark of conscientiousness. One who begins with the lofty usually ends in mere talk.