Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.5
॥
Devanāgarī
यावद्वा शक्यते तावद्धारयेज्जपतत्परः । पूरितं रेचयेत्पश्चान्मकारेणानिलं बुधः
Transliteration (IAST)
yāvadvā śakyate tāvaddhārayejjapatatparaḥ | pūritaṃ recayetpaścānmakāreṇānilaṃ budhaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यावत् वा शक्यते तावत्yāvat vā śakyate tāvatfor as long as it is possible, so long
धारयेत् जप-तत्-परःdhārayet japa-tat-paraḥlet him hold, devoted to repetition
पूरितं रेचयेत् पश्चात्pūritaṃ recayet paścātlet him then release the filled [breath]
म-कारेण अनिलं बुधःma-kāreṇa anilaṃ budhaḥwith the sound 'm', the wise one, the wind
Translation
"For as long as it is possible, so long let him hold, devoted to repetition; let the wise one then release the filled wind with the sound 'm'."
Version
a913654e1d00 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A qualification worth attention is added: yavat va shakyate, "for as long as possible." That is, the precise measure of sixty-four is at once softened: hold for as long as you can hold. This qualification appears constantly in instructions of this kind, and is, in my view, the mark of an instruction written by an experienced person. He knows that the measure is given for order, and is performed according to strength.
We have already noted such softenings: "sit however is comfortable" (3.12), "or else, having abandoned this" (5.13). The book, for all its detail, leaves an exit wherever the instruction might prove beyond one's strength. This trait deserves praise, and it is worth saying why.
An instruction without qualifications cuts off; and a person unable to perform it to the letter concludes that the matter is not for him. An instruction with a qualification keeps him in the matter, even at a lower measure. The Vaishnava side stands on this especially firmly, and has arranged its chief rule so that no qualification is needed at all: the Name can be repeated as much and however one likes.
The Bhagavatam says this directly, and, worth noting, with a reference to the age: for the Name "there is no prescription of time, no prescription of place, no rule of purity"; and hence this means is called fit for those who have neither leisure, nor strength, nor an ordered life.