Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.30
॥
Devanāgarī
नागादिवायवः पञ्चत्वगस्थ्यादिषु संस्थिताः । निःश्वासोच्छ्वासकासाश्च प्राणकर्म हि सांकृते
Transliteration (IAST)
nāgādivāyavaḥ pañcatvagasthyādiṣu saṃsthitāḥ | niḥśvāsocchvāsakāsāśca prāṇakarma hi sāṃkṛte
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नाग-आदि-वायवः पञ्चnāga-ādi-vāyavaḥ pañcanaga and the other winds, five
त्वक्-अस्थि-आदिषु संस्थिताःtvak-asthi-ādiṣu saṃsthitāḥare situated in the skin, bones, and the rest
निःश्वास-उच्छ्वास-कासाः चniḥśvāsa-ucchvāsa-kāsāḥ caexhale, inhale, and cough
प्राण-कर्म हि सांकृतेprāṇa-karma hi sāṃkṛteare indeed the work of prana, O Sankriti
Translation
"Naga and the other five winds are situated in the skin, bones, and the rest; exhale, inhale, and cough are indeed the work of prana, O Sankriti."
Version
4d52ca000668 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The chart of functions begins, and prana's very first function is named: inhale, exhale, and cough. This neighboring deserves noting without mockery, for it is telling. Prana, just named the eldest among all the powers, is in charge of coughing.
Here the manner of this thought is visible. Everything that occurs in the body must be ascribed to someone; and the chart leaves no cell unoccupied. Let us say what is good in this, for something is. A teaching that undertakes to explain a cough does not separate the lofty from the base and does not treat the body as something shameful to speak of. It is unified in its subject and consistent.
Let us say too of the weakness already discussed: a fully filled chart gives the impression of knowledge even where none exists. The Vaishnava side reasons little about the body and does not enter into its details; but where it does, it speaks of it with the same directness. The Bhagavatam describes the womb, old age, and decay — without squeamishness and without rapture.
Its purpose in doing so is different, and it deserves naming. The description of the body in its books serves not the governing of it, but distinguishing: so that the reader sees that the subject of the description is not himself. Hence the difference in where the two descriptions end. Here the chart ends in a skill: one who knows the breaths works with them. There the description ends in a question: if all this is not I, then who am I, and whose?