Upanishads · Varāha 5.58
॥
Devanāgarī
बाह्यस्थविषयं सर्वं रेचकः समुदाहृतः । पूरकं शास्त्रविज्ञानं कुम्भकं स्वगतं स्मृतम्
Transliteration (IAST)
bāhyasthaviṣayaṃ sarvaṃ recakaḥ samudāhṛtaḥ | pūrakaṃ śāstravijñānaṃ kumbhakaṃ svagataṃ smṛtam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
बाह्य-स्थ-विषयं सर्वंbāhya-stha-viṣayaṃ sarvaṃevery external object
रेचकः समुदाहृतःrecakaḥ samudāhṛtaḥis called the exhalation
पूरकं शास्त्र-विज्ञानंpūrakaṃ śāstra-vijñānaṃthe inhalation is comprehension of scripture
कुम्भकं स्व-गतं स्मृतम्kumbhakaṃ sva-gataṃ smṛtamretention is remembered as entered into oneself
Translation
"Every external object is called the exhalation; the inhalation is comprehension of scripture; retention is remembered as entered into oneself."
Version
0a6af461cd65 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is an excellent verse, worth singling out: the breathing exercise is interpreted allegorically. Exhalation is the releasing of the external; inhalation is the taking in of scripture; retention is the holding of what has been taken in. That is, the three parts of the technique are applied to the three parts of the teaching, and the technique itself becomes an image.
This detail matters and deserves being voiced. It shows that even within a purely craft-oriented composition lived an understanding that the bodily is a sign; and that the real doing is not accomplished in the lungs. Let us add what the Vaishnava side finds of its own in this verse.
The middle term is named shastra-vijnana, "comprehension of scripture"; that is, one inhales not air, but what has been heard. This is, literally, its own shravana, "hearing," set in the place of the inhalation; and a better image for it could not, in my view, be devised. A person does not produce the air he breathes: he receives it; and just so he does not produce what he comes to know of God.
Let us add what follows further from the image, and what it develops. After the inhalation must come retention, that is, holding; and after holding, again exhalation. That is, what has been heard does not remain within the person, but goes forth — and goes forth already as speech.
Hence its three principal engagements stand in this very order: shravana (to hear), manana (to hold), kirtana (to speak); and its whole practice is, in substance, breathing, only with what has been heard.