Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.28
॥
Devanāgarī
इडया वेदतत्त्वज्ञस्तथा पिङ्गलयैव च । नाभौ निरोधयेत्तेन व्याधिभिर्मुच्यते नरः
Transliteration (IAST)
iḍayā vedatattvajñastathā piṅgalayaiva ca | nābhau nirodhayettena vyādhibhirmucyate naraḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
इडया वेद-तत्त्व-ज्ञःiḍayā veda-tattva-jñaḥby ida, one who knows the truth of the Veda
तथा पिङ्गलया एव चtathā piṅgalayā eva caand likewise by pingala
नाभौ निरोधयेत् तेनnābhau nirodhayet tenaat the navel, let him hold, by that
व्याधिभिः मुच्यते नरःvyādhibhiḥ mucyate naraḥa person is freed from diseases
Translation
"One who knows the truth of the Veda, by ida and likewise by pingala, let him hold at the navel; by that a person is freed from diseases."
Version
28229dee3e6a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The technique is repeated with reference to the navel, and the chart continues. Worth noting is the description of the practitioner: veda-tattva-jna, "one who knows the truth of the Veda." This description is unexpected in a list of breathing techniques: it would seem that holding breath in the belly requires no knowledge of the Veda.
But it is no accident here, and recurs constantly through this book: the practitioner is each time called knowing, subdued, instructed. Behind this stands a position deserving direct statement: the technique is not separated from the person. The same practice, performed by different people, is a different act; and the book, naming at each technique who performs it, thereby asserts this.
This position is, in our day, forgotten more than any other. Techniques are taken out of the way of life in which they lived and sold separately — as a medicinal herb might be sold without saying what it is for and to whom. The Vaishnava side sets against such separation its own notion of adhikara, "qualification": not every means suits everyone, and fitness is determined not by prohibition, but by state.
Let us add that, for it, the adhikara for its chief means — repetition of the Name — is held to be universal; and precisely for this reason it can allow itself strictness elsewhere. Where a means exists for everyone, there is no need to tailor all the rest to each person.