Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.5
॥
Devanāgarī
तन्मध्ये नाभिरित्युक्तं योगज्ञैर्मुनिपुङ्गव । कन्दमध्यस्थिता नाडी सुषुम्नेति प्रकीर्तिता
Transliteration (IAST)
tanmadhye nābhirityuktaṃ yogajñairmunipuṅgava | kandamadhyasthitā nāḍī suṣumneti prakīrtitā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत्-मध्ये नाभिः इति उक्तंtat-madhye nābhiḥ iti uktaṃin its middle, the navel is named
योग-ज्ञैः मुनि-पुङ्गवyoga-jñaiḥ muni-puṅgavaby knowers of yoga, O bull among sages
कन्द-मध्य-स्थिता नाडीkanda-madhya-sthitā nāḍīthe passage standing in the middle of the bulb
सुषुम्ना इति प्रकीर्तिताsuṣumnā iti prakīrtitāis proclaimed sushumna
Translation
"In its middle is named the navel, by knowers of yoga, O bull among sages; the passage standing in the middle of the bulb is proclaimed sushumna."
Version
3fbeaad129eb · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Sushumna is named — the chief of the passages, of which discourse will continue to the end of the khanda. The word nadi means "channel, tube, watercourse"; from nad, "to sound, to flow." It should not be translated "nerve" or "vessel": it is not an organ, but a path along which, by this teaching, breath moves.
Sushumna means "most gracious"; it runs along the middle, from the base of the spine to the crown, and is honored as the path by which one ascends. Let us say in advance where all this leads, so as not to lose ourselves in the details of the next twenty lines. The teaching is this: breath ordinarily runs through the two side passages, ida and pingala, and with it the mind is scattered. The middle passage is closed. By practice, breath is brought into the middle one, and then the mind comes to rest of itself.
The design, put simply, is to approach the mind through breath, because breath obeys and the mind does not. The Vaishnava side does not dispute this teaching and does not argue with it; it only does not consider this path the only one, and points to another, where the mind is stopped not by a technique, but by an object. The Bhagavatam speaks of this in a verse worth citing: "the mind attached to the Lord naturally comes to rest, as a river comes to rest on reaching the sea." No technique is named there; what is named is that on which the mind comes to rest.