Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.29
॥
Devanāgarī
नाडीजलोदरं धातुगतदोषविनाशनम् । गच्छतस्तिष्ठतः कार्यमुज्जाय्याख्यं तु कुम्भकम्
Transliteration (IAST)
nāḍījalodaraṃ dhātugatadoṣavināśanam | gacchatastiṣṭhataḥ kāryamujjāyyākhyaṃ tu kumbhakam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नाडी-जल-उदरंnāḍī-jala-udaraṃdropsy of the channels
धातु-गत-दोष-विनाशनम्dhātu-gata-doṣa-vināśanamdestroying disorders lodged in the tissues
गच्छतः तिष्ठतः कार्यम्gacchataḥ tiṣṭhataḥ kāryamdone by one walking and standing
उज्जायी-आख्यं तु कुम्भकम्ujjāyī-ākhyaṃ tu kumbhakamholding called "victorious"
Translation
"Destroying dropsy of the channels and disorders lodged in the tissues; done by one walking and standing — the holding called "victorious"".
Version
56e8459b9565 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Of ujjayi something is said that is said of none of the other techniques: it can be done gacchatah tishthatah, "walking and standing." This matters. All the others require a posture, a place, silence, and a set hour; this one requires nothing but a narrowing of the throat, and so it is available amid one's affairs.
This detail, I think, matters more than all the promised benefits, and here is why. Everything requiring a separate hour, a separate place, and a separate position is done rarely and abandoned first; what can be done along the way gets done. The Vaishnava side makes this consideration the very foundation of its whole practice and says so directly. Repetition of the Name requires neither place nor hour nor purity nor posture; and the Bhagavatam says the Name works "whenever, wherever, and in whatever state it is uttered" (2.1.11 and many others).
Hence the whole argument against paths requiring conditions. It is not that those paths are false, but that conditions are rarely present; and a means good only under conditions is, for most people, a means that does not exist. Separately, a word must be said about dhatu, "tissue, constituent of the body." In ayurveda there are seven: chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, semen; and "disorder in the tissues" is a precise expression, not a general one.