Upanishads · Varāha 5.40
॥
Devanāgarī
भावयेदूर्ध्वगत्यर्थं प्राणापानसुयोगतः । एष योगो वरो देहे सिद्धिमार्गप्रकाशकः
Transliteration (IAST)
bhāvayedūrdhvagatyarthaṃ prāṇāpānasuyogataḥ | eṣa yogo varo dehe siddhimārgaprakāśakaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
भावयेत् ऊर्ध्व-गति-अर्थंbhāvayet ūrdhva-gati-arthaṃlet him conceive, for the sake of upward movement
प्राण-अपान-सु-योगतःprāṇa-apāna-su-yogataḥby the good union of prana and apana
एषः योगः वरः देहेeṣaḥ yogaḥ varaḥ dehethis yoga in the body is the best
सिद्धि-मार्ग-प्रकाशकःsiddhi-mārga-prakāśakaḥilluminating the path to perfection
Translation
"Let him conceive this, for the sake of upward movement, by the good union of prana and apana; this yoga in the body is the best, illuminating the path to perfection."
Version
b72bee815282 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Worth noting is the verb bhavayet, "let him conceive," from bhu in the causative: "to make it so that it becomes." This word, in yogic literature, denotes the work of imagination: to conceive with effort, until what is conceived becomes real for the one conceiving. This technique is legitimate and known to anyone: a person who vividly imagines a lemon feels his mouth pucker.
Let us add what deserves saying of this technique in substance, for half of all such descriptions rest on it. Imagination truly does act on the body: this is verified and beyond dispute. But from the fact that a conception acts, it does not follow that what is conceived exists; and this, in my view, is the chief thing a reader of such books must keep in mind.
Here the Vaishnava side sets its own distinction, one of the most important in its practice. It distinguishes bhavana, "conception," and dhyana, "contemplation of the real." The first is the mind's work on an image the mind itself has built; the second is a turning toward what exists apart from the mind.
And its test is this: what is conceived obeys the one conceiving, while the real does not. Hence it insists that the contemplated form be taken from scripture, not invented; and of the fact that a self-made image is an image of oneself, discussed when reading the Gopala-tapani.