Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.10
॥
Devanāgarī
एवं समभ्यसेन्नित्यं प्राणायामं मुनीश्वर । एवमभ्यासतो नित्यं षण्मासाद्यत्नवान्भवेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
evaṃ samabhyasennityaṃ prāṇāyāmaṃ munīśvara | evamabhyāsato nityaṃ ṣaṇmāsādyatnavānbhavet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एवं समभ्यसेत् नित्यंevaṃ samabhyaset nityaṃthus let him always practice
प्राणायामं मुनि-ईश्वरprāṇāyāmaṃ muni-īśvarabreath control, O lord of sages
एवम् अभ्यासतः नित्यंevam abhyāsataḥ nityaṃthus, from constant practice, always
षट्-मासात् यत्नवान् भवेत्ṣaṭ-māsāt yatnavān bhavetin six months he becomes diligent
Translation
"Thus let him always practice breath control, O lord of sages; thus, from constant practice, in six months he becomes diligent."
Version
ff3d57cf727e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A time-span is named: six months to becoming yatnavan, "diligent, having applied effort." Worth noting is how modest this time-span is in its promise. It is not said "in half a year you will attain"; it is said — in half a year you will acquire a taste for it.
This honesty deserves praise and is not common in such books. Ordinarily much is promised quickly; here it is promised that after half a year the practice will stop being a burden. The time-span itself, besides, is instructive. Half a year of daily effort is a thing that sifts out almost everyone; and anyone who has taken up something long-lasting knows that the first weeks go on enthusiasm, and then comes a stretch when nothing happens and giving up feels most desirable.
The Vaishnava side knows this stretch, and has given it a place in its own ladder. Between bhajana-kriya, "the beginning of doing," and nishtha, "steadfastness," stands anartha-nivritti, "the falling-away of the unneeded" (Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.4.15); and this time is described as the most unpleasant, for here a person sees in himself what he did not know. The rule it gives for this deserves citing, for it is the one thing that helps here: hold to company. This stretch is rarely passed through alone; and hence sadhu-sanga is named, for it, not an ornament but a necessity.