Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 7.7
॥
Devanāgarī
नाभिदेशात्समाकृष्य कुण्डल्यां तु निरोधयेत् । कुण्डलीदेशतो विद्वान्मूलाधारे निरोधयेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
nābhideśātsamākṛṣya kuṇḍalyāṃ tu nirodhayet | kuṇḍalīdeśato vidvānmūlādhāre nirodhayet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नाभि-देशात् समाकृष्यnābhi-deśāt samākṛṣyahaving drawn in from the region of the navel
कुण्डल्यां तु निरोधयेत्kuṇḍalyāṃ tu nirodhayetlet him hold it in kundalini
कुण्डली-देशतः विद्वान्kuṇḍalī-deśataḥ vidvānfrom the region of kundalini, the knowing one
मूल-आधारे निरोधयेत्mūla-ādhāre nirodhayetlet him hold it in the muladhara
Translation
"Having drawn in from the region of the navel, let him hold it in kundalini; from the region of kundalini, let the knowing one hold it in the muladhara."
Version
81c837176939 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The descent continues: navel — kundalini — the base. Worth noting is that the movement here is downward, whereas in all the preceding khandas one ascended upward. The change of direction is no accident and is explained by the purpose of this rung. Pratyahara is "withdrawing back"; and attention is drawn from the surface inward and downward, to the center.
The image that suggests itself here, and that these books use, is the image of the tortoise: the drawing-in of its limbs. The Gita uses it, and it is worth citing the verse in full: "but when he withdraws the senses from the objects of the senses on every side, as a tortoise its limbs, then his understanding is established" (2.58). The merit of this image was discussed when reading the fourth khanda (4.17), and it is worth repeating: the tortoise does not sever its limbs and does not lock them away, but draws them in — and in its own time will let them out again.
Let us add here what was not said there. The tortoise draws in its limbs at danger, not constantly. That is, the image describes not a way of life, but a capacity: to be able to withdraw when needed.
Read this way, withdrawal of the senses ceases to be a permanent bolt and becomes what it should be — the skill of not reaching out when there is no need to reach. And the difference between "I cannot look" and "I can choose not to look" is, in my view, the whole difference between prohibition and freedom.