December 19, 2025
yatra prāṇo hy apānena prāṇenā ‘pāna eva ca
nigīrṇau bahirantaś ca deśakālau ca paśya tau (57)
BHUŚUṆḌA continued:
If one practises kumbhaka (suspension of breath) after exhaling the prāṇa to a distance farther from where the apāna rises (the twelve finger-breadth distance), he is not subject to sorrow any more. Or, if one is able to see the space within oneself where the inhaled breath turns into the impulse for exhalation, he is not born again. By seeing where the prāṇa and the apāna terminate their motions and by holding fast to that state of peace one is not subject to sorrow again.
If one keenly observes the place and the exact moment at which the prāṇa is consumed by the apāna, he does not grieve. Or, if one keenly observes the place and the exact moment at which the apāna is consumed by prāṇa, his mind does not arise again. Therefore, behold that place and that moment at which prāṇa is consumed by apāna and apāna is consumed by prāṇa inside and outside the body. For that precise moment at which the prāṇa has ceased to move and the apāna has not begun to move, there arises a kumbhaka which is effortless: the wise regard that as an important state. When there is effortless suspension of breath, it is the supreme state. This is the self, it is pure infinite consciousness. He who reaches this does not grieve.
I contemplate that infinite consciousness which is the indwelling presence in the prāṇa but which is neither with prāṇa nor other than prāṇa. I contemplate that infinite consciousness which is the indwelling presence in the apāna but which is neither with apāna nor other than apāna. That which is after the prāṇa and the apāna have ceased to be and which is in the middle between prāṇa and apāna — I contemplate that infinite consciousness. I contemplate that consciousness which is the prāṇa of prāṇa, which is the life of life, which alone is responsible for the preservation of the body; which is the mind of the mind, the intelligence in the intellect, the reality in the egosense. I salute that consciousness in which all things abide, from which they emerge, which is all and everywhere and which is all in all and eternal; which is the purifier of all and whose vision is most meritorious. I salute that consciousness in which prāṇa ceases to move but apāna does not arise and which dwells in the space in front (or, at the root) of the nose. I salute the consciousness which is the source for both prāṇa and apāna, which is the energy in both prāṇa and apāna and which enables the senses to function. I salute that consciousness which is in fact the essence of the internal and the external kumbhakas, which is the only goal of the contemplation of prāṇa, which enables the prāṇa to function and which is the cause of all causes. I take refuge in that supreme being.