Upanishads · Varāha 5.61
॥
Devanāgarī
वायूनां गतिमावृत्य धृत्वा पूरककुम्भकौ । समहस्तयुगं भूमौ समं पादयुगं तथा
Transliteration (IAST)
vāyūnāṃ gatimāvṛtya dhṛtvā pūrakakumbhakau | samahastayugaṃ bhūmau samaṃ pādayugaṃ tathā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वायूनां गतिम् आवृत्यvāyūnāṃ gatim āvṛtyahaving closed the course of the winds
धृत्वा पूरक-कुम्भकौdhṛtvā pūraka-kumbhakauhaving held inhalation and retention
सम-हस्त-युगं भूमौsama-hasta-yugaṃ bhūmauboth hands evenly on the ground
समं पाद-युगं तथाsamaṃ pāda-yugaṃ tathāand likewise both feet evenly
Translation
"Having closed the course of the winds, having held inhalation and retention, — [placing] both hands evenly on the ground, and likewise both feet evenly…"
Version
6987a5ce1259 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The bodily posture for the technique is described, and it is worth noting its precision: hands on the ground evenly, feet evenly. The demand for evenness runs through all such descriptions, discussed when reading the seventeenth verse. Let us add what deserves saying about this whole class of instructions, now that we have reached the chapter's end.
Such instructions are too brief to be performable: it is said where to place the hands, and not said what to do with the body meanwhile. We noted, when reading the seventeenth verse, that descriptions served as a reminder for one who had already been shown; and here this is even clearer. That is, the book is not a manual and does not claim to be one.
It is worth saying plainly what follows from this for a reader. One cannot build a practice for oneself out of such verses, and not because it is a secret, but because the information is insufficient: it was never intended to be given in full. The Vaishnava side builds its own preference on exactly this ground, cited more than once.
Its chief means is transmitted by word, and wholly: the name is spoken aloud, and the hearer knows all he needs to know in order to begin. Where hearing alone suffices to begin, the book and the teacher coincide; where the hands must be shown, the book remains a reminder — and anyone reading it without one who has shown him reads only half.