उपनिषद् · Jābāladarśana 3.12
॥
देवनागरी
येन केन प्रकारेण सुखं धैर्यं च जायते । तत्सुखासनमित्युक्तमशक्तस्तत्समाश्रयेत्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
yena kena prakāreṇa sukhaṃ dhairyaṃ ca jāyate | tatsukhāsanamityuktamaśaktastatsamāśrayet
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
येन केन प्रकारेणyena kena prakāreṇaby whatever manner
सुखं धैर्यं च जायतेsukhaṃ dhairyaṃ ca jāyatecomfort and firmness are born
तत् सुख-आसनम् इति उक्तम्tat sukha-āsanam iti uktamthat is called the comfortable sitting-posture
अ-शक्तः तत् समाश्रयेत्a-śaktaḥ tat samāśrayetlet the incapable resort to it
अनुवाद
"By whatever manner comfort and firmness are born, — that is called the comfortable sitting-posture; let one incapable [of the rest] resort to it."
संस्करण
dadded855d73 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Here is the line that cancels the obligatory nature of the whole preceding section, and it deserves being appraised at its full worth. It is said: yena kena prakarena, "by whatever manner." Not "one of the eight named," but any.
Two conditions are set, and both are human: sukham ("comfortable") and dhairyam ("firm"). That is, that it not hinder and that it not collapse. And it is added for whose sake this is said: ashaktah, "the incapable."
Worth examining is what has happened here. The book has described eight postures in detail, down to the position of the ankles — and itself declares that a person unable to manage this need only sit comfortably. This is, in my view, the best thing in the third khanda, and it is worth saying why. A teaching that leaves no way out for the weak cuts off the majority; a teaching that leaves a way out preserves rigor for the strong and does not drive the rest to despair.
The Vaishnava side does the same, and makes it a rule. The Gita, having laid out the whole ladder of concentration in the sixth chapter, answers Arjuna's question about one who has fallen away: he does not perish, "neither here nor in another world is there ruin for one who does good" (6.40); and what was begun will continue in the next birth from the point where it broke off (6.43). This answer deserves being known by anyone who undertakes something difficult. It is not said "you will start over" and not said "it is lost"; it is said that what has been accumulated is not lost, and this alone is what makes long labor possible.
As for the rule "sit however is comfortable" itself, it is, it should be noted, an exact repetition of the Yoga-sutra (2.46): sthira-sukham asanam — and there too not a single posture is named by name.