Upaniṣads · Jābāladarśana 6.13
॥
Devanāgarī
सम्पूर्णकुम्भवद्वायोर्धारणं कुम्भको भवेत् । बहिर्विरचनं वायोरुदराद्रचेकः स्मृतः
Transliteración (IAST)
sampūrṇakumbhavadvāyordhāraṇaṃ kumbhako bhavet | bahirviracanaṃ vāyorudarādracekaḥ smṛtaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
सम्पूर्ण-कुम्भ-वत् वायोःsampūrṇa-kumbha-vat vāyoḥlike a full vessel, of the wind
धारणं कुम्भकः भवेत्dhāraṇaṃ kumbhakaḥ bhavetholding — that is kumbhaka
बहिः विरचनं वायोःbahiḥ viracanaṃ vāyoḥoutward release of the wind
उदरात् रेचकः स्मृतःudarāt recakaḥ smṛtaḥfrom the belly — is called rechaka
Traducción
"Holding the wind like a full vessel — that is kumbhaka; releasing the wind outward from the belly is called rechaka."
Versión
fc972813bc1c · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Definitions are given, and in the first stands a comparison explaining the word itself: kumbhaka is from kumbha, "pot, jar." A person during retention is likened to a full vessel: everything within, nothing entering or leaving from outside. The image of the vessel is one of the most frequent in Indian books, and it is worth saying how different schools use it, for here it is telling.
The nondualist reading uses it thus: the space within the pot seems separate from the space outside, but the partition is clay, and when the pot is broken, there is no division. So too the soul, separated by the body, upon the body's destruction, turns out to be that same unity. The Vaishnava objection to this image deserves citing, for it is precise.
Space is not alive. It does not know, does not want, and does not remember; and hence its division by a partition truly makes no difference from its being undivided. But the soul knows, wants, and remembers. And if its separateness were merely a partition, then with the fall of the partition, knowledge, will, and memory would also vanish — that is, the very one for whose sake everything was done would vanish.
It has its own image for the same point too, discussed when reading the Yoga-kundalini: not the space in the pot, but a lamp in the pot. Break the pot, and the light does not vanish, but scatters, remaining light; and, more importantly, the lamp remains a lamp. The difference between the two images is not one of cleverness, but of what is placed within: emptiness or fire.