Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 6.30
॥
Devanāgarī
वातजाः पित्तजा दोषा नश्यन्त्येव न संशयः । नासाभ्यां वायुमाकृष्य नेत्रद्वन्द्वे निरोधयेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
vātajāḥ pittajā doṣā naśyantyeva na saṃśayaḥ | nāsābhyāṃ vāyumākṛṣya netradvandve nirodhayet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वात-जाः पित्त-जाः दोषाःvāta-jāḥ pitta-jāḥ doṣāḥdisorders born of wind and of bile
नश्यन्ति एव न संशयःnaśyanti eva na saṃśayaḥperish indeed, there is no doubt
नासाभ्यां वायुम् आकृष्यnāsābhyāṃ vāyum ākṛṣyahaving drawn in wind through the nostrils
नेत्र-द्वन्द्वे निरोधयेत्netra-dvandve nirodhayetlet him hold it in both eyes
Translation
"Disorders born of wind and of bile perish indeed, there is no doubt. Having drawn in wind through the nostrils, let him hold it in both eyes."
Version
0860c8e58aab · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Vata and pitta, "wind" and "bile," are named — two of the three doshas, "disorders," of Indian medicine; the third, kapha ("phlegm"), is omitted here. The teaching of the three doshas is the foundation of ayurveda, and a word must be said about it, for it explains this whole section. By this teaching, health is the balance of three principles, and disease their imbalance. Treatment, then, consists not in expelling something, but in restoring measure.
By this understanding, breathing exercises turn out to be medicine quite consistently: they equalize, and equalizing is exactly what treatment is. This consideration deserves citing in the book's defense, for it shows that its promises are not arbitrary: they follow from its own adopted view of disease. There remains, however, a question that a view alone does not settle: do people actually recover? And here no argument replaces observation.
The Vaishnava side does not reject medicine and does not condemn physicians. Its books mention healers without mockery, and the Bhagavatam compares its own effect to a medicine, and hearing to taking a remedy. It adds only what was said when reading the Rudraksha-jabala (2.16): illness in a devotee is not a mark of disfavor, and its books are full of accounts of those who fell ill. Hence the promise "there is no doubt" it would not sign — not because it disbelieves, but because doubt is fitting here.