Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.42
॥
Devanāgarī
दक्षिणायनमित्युक्तं पिङ्गलायामिति श्रुतिः । इडापिङ्गलयोः संधिं यदा प्राणः समागतः
Transliteration (IAST)
dakṣiṇāyanamityuktaṃ piṅgalāyāmiti śrutiḥ | iḍāpiṅgalayoḥ saṃdhiṃ yadā prāṇaḥ samāgataḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
दक्षिण-अयनम् इति उक्तंdakṣiṇa-ayanam iti uktaṃit is called the southern path
पिङ्गलायाम् इति श्रुतिःpiṅgalāyām iti śrutiḥ'in pingala' — so the testimony
इडा-पिङ्गलयोः संधिंiḍā-piṅgalayoḥ saṃdhiṃwhen prana has reached the junction
यदा प्राणः समागतःyadā prāṇaḥ samāgataḥof ida and pingala
Translation
"It is called the southern path, 'in pingala' — so the testimony. And when prana has reached the junction of ida and pingala…"
Version
b7cb50e90a46 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Sandhi, "junction, joining," is named; and this word, in Indian usage, means twilight — the point of the day where day meets night. Hence too sandhya, the evening and morning prayer, performed precisely at the junction. Transposed inward, the junction is the point where breath runs neither on the right nor on the left.
Worth noting is that in all these teachings special significance is given to the transition, not to the state. Not noon and not midnight, but twilight; not the inbreath and not the outbreath, but the interval between them. Various explanations are given for why this is so, and it is worth citing the one that seems most intelligible. In a transition, what was before has ceased and what is new has not yet begun; and in precisely this interval a person is occupied with neither the one nor the other.
This observation is drawn from everyday life and is available to anyone. Thought ordinarily flows without interruption, and a person does not notice its flow; but in the instant between two occupations, when one has ended and the other has not begun, it sometimes suddenly grows quiet. The Vaishnava side does not rely on intervals, and it is worth saying why. The interval is brief and not in our power: to wait for it is to depend on chance.
Its own means is arranged the reverse way: not to seek the empty instant, but to fill all the others. The Gita says "remember Me at all times" (8.7), and the Bhagavatam bids one repeat the Name satata, "continuously"; with this arrangement, the question of intervals falls away by itself.