Upaniṣads · Jābāladarśana 4.17
॥
Devanāgarī
गान्धारायाः सरस्वत्या मध्ये प्रोक्ता च शङ्खिनी । अलम्बुसा स्थिता पायुपर्यन्तं कन्दमध्यगा
Transliteración (IAST)
gāndhārāyāḥ sarasvatyā madhye proktā ca śaṅkhinī | alambusā sthitā pāyuparyantaṃ kandamadhyagā
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
गान्धारायाः सरस्वत्याः मध्येgāndhārāyāḥ sarasvatyāḥ madhyebetween gandhara and sarasvati
प्रोक्ता च शङ्खिनीproktā ca śaṅkhinīis named shankhini
अलम्बुसा स्थिता पायु-पर्यन्तंalambusā sthitā pāyu-paryantaṃalambusa stands, up to the anus
कन्द-मध्य-गाkanda-madhya-gāgoing from the middle of the bulb
Traducción
"Between gandhara and sarasvati is named shankhini; alambusa, going from the middle of the bulb, stands up to the anus."
Versión
8c9f2d8a3589 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The placement moves on to where the passages emerge: for each, its own endpoint on the surface of the body is named. Worth noting is the shift. Until now the discourse was of mutual position — this one between those; now it speaks of destination: this one reaches the anus, that one the ear, a third the big toe.
This description makes the scheme meaningful. The passages turn out to be roads from the center to the openings and extremities; and through them, by this teaching, what is within goes out. The scheme, then, is a map of the connection between the inner and the outer; and working with breath is working on this connection.
The Vaishnava side speaks of the connection between the inner and the outer differently and through a different notion. For it, this connection is described not by channels, but by the indriyas, "senses"; and the chief question is posed not "how does it flow," but "toward what is it turned." The Gita speaks of this through an image worth citing: "as a tortoise draws in its limbs from every side, so too one who withdraws the senses from the objects of the senses is established in understanding" (2.58).
The image of the tortoise is good for containing neither violence nor stopping-up. The tortoise does not lock its limbs and does not sever them; it draws them in, and in its own time will let them out again. The difference between drawing-in and locking deserves being held on to through all the reading that follows. The first is reversible and does not damage the instrument; the second is achieved by force and sooner or later breaks.