Upanishads · Yogakuṇḍalinī 1.53
॥
Devanāgarī
पूर्वोक्तेन क्रमेणैव सम्यगासनमास्थितः । चालनं तु सरस्वत्याः कृत्वा प्राणं निरोधयेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
pūrvoktena krameṇaiva samyagāsanamāsthitaḥ | cālanaṃ tu sarasvatyāḥ kṛtvā prāṇaṃ nirodhayet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पूर्व-उक्तेन क्रमेण एवpūrva-uktena krameṇa evaby the order stated before, indeed
सम्यक् आसनम् आस्थितःsamyak āsanam āsthitaḥproperly having settled into the posture
चालनं तु सरस्वत्याःcālanaṃ tu sarasvatyāḥthe movement of Sarasvati, however
कृत्वा प्राणं निरोधयेत्kṛtvā prāṇaṃ nirodhayethaving performed, shall he hold the breath
Translation
"By the order stated before, having properly settled into the posture, and having performed the movement of Sarasvati, shall he hold the breath".
Version
e4696a650b2c · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A connecting line: it is said that everything set forth is done in order — first the posture, then the movement, then the holding. The word krama, "order, sequence," is among the most used in these books and deserves comment. It means "step, pace, stage"; and from it comes kramena, "gradually," discussed when reading Katharudra (11), where it softened the promise "tastes all desires" with the addition "and that gradually."
Order in these sciences is honored no less than the actions themselves. To do all the same things, but out of order, means to do nothing at all; and this distinguishes a science from a heap of techniques. The Vaishnava side holds her own rule of order and calls it the krama-path: first faith, then the company of those walking, then occupation, then purification, and only much later — taste. To skip stages there is not forbidden but declared impossible: not because one will not be allowed, but because it will not work.
Separately, a word must be said about the word samyak, "as is proper, correctly," standing with the posture. It also stands first in the famous Buddhist eightfold path — samyag-drishti, "right view." This word in Indian books means not "well," but precisely "in accordance with what is fitting"; and so it is a word of rule, not of praise.