Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.41
॥
Devanāgarī
तदुत्तरायणं प्रोक्तं मुने वेदान्तवेदिभिः । इडायां पिङ्गलायां तु प्राणसंक्रमणं मुने
Transliteration (IAST)
taduttarāyaṇaṃ proktaṃ mune vedāntavedibhiḥ | iḍāyāṃ piṅgalāyāṃ tu prāṇasaṃkramaṇaṃ mune
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत् उत्तरायणं प्रोक्तंtat uttarāyaṇaṃ proktaṃthat is called the northern path
मुने वेदान्त-वेदिभिःmune vedānta-vedibhiḥO sage, by knowers of Vedanta
इडायां पिङ्गलायां तुiḍāyāṃ piṅgalāyāṃ tufrom ida into pingala, however
प्राण-संक्रमणं मुनेprāṇa-saṃkramaṇaṃ munethe passage of prana, O sage
Translation
"That is called, O sage, by knowers of Vedanta, the northern path; the passage of prana from ida into pingala, however…"
Version
7aa5674f0044 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Uttarayana, "the northern path," is the half-year from the winter solstice to the summer, when the sun rises ever farther north. In Indian books it is honored as favorable for death, and the two paths of the departed have already been discussed when reading the ninth line of this khanda. Here this whole reckoning is transposed inward: the northern path is the passage of breath from left to right.
This transposition deserves being appraised, for behind it lies a design, not mere play with correspondences. If the favorable time for departure is not in the sky, but in one's own breath, then a person ceases to depend on the calendar. There is no need to wait for the half-year; one can arrange it within oneself.
This design, it should be said, is an attempt to answer a difficulty the teaching of the two paths creates for itself. People die when it happens; and a teaching that makes salvation depend on the month of death turns out unjust to those who did not die in the right month. The Vaishnava side answers the same difficulty differently, and its answer is simpler. It simply removes the condition, citing the Gita: "one who, at the hour of departure, leaving the body, remembers Me, goes to My being — of this there is no doubt" (8.5), and there nothing is said either of the half-year or of the nostril.
It adds to this an indication of a method, so that the promise does not remain abstract: "therefore, at all times, remember Me and fight" — tasmat sarveshu kaleshu mam anusmara yudhya cha (8.7). This verse deserves holding onto. It is not said "practice, so as to remember in the last hour"; it is said — remember always, and then the last hour will require no special preparation.