How to read/interpret Bhagavad Gita verse 4.29

Spirituality
#1

Hello,

In my studies (practical and theoretical) of pranayama I came across this verse again. I hadn’t read the Gita in many years. One of the many translations of verse 4.29 is:

<< Some others offer the outgoing breath to the ingoing breath and the incoming breath into the outgoing breath; in this way checking the flow of both the incoming and outgoing breaths they arduously practice breath control. Others strictly reducing their food intake off the senses in to their life breath.>>

I’m interested in the first part (not the part about food intake). The first part is about offering prana to apana and apana to prana. How should we read this?

  1. Does it mean we join the prana and apana at the navel by using hatha yoga techniques (bandha’s) and activate manipura chakra?

or

  1. Is this just a way of merging the subtler sensations of the breath to arrive at the spontaneous breathless state (kevala kumbhaka). I.e. something similar to Patanjali’s sutra II-51?

What do you think? What is the meaning of joining prana and apana? For something so widely scattered throughout medieval hatha yoga texts, there is very little explanation offered, both then and now.

And I’m also intrigued by the fact that hatha yoga techniques (such as apana, prana, third eye gazing in verse 5.27, point of the nose tip gazing in verse 6.13) have made their way into such an early document. The Bhagavad Gita is supposed to date anywhere from the 5th century BCE to the 1st century CE. To my knowledge, the earliest tantra dates from the 5th century CE and the earliest hatha from the 9th century CE.

  1. How can the Bhagavad Gita contain references to later techniques?

Any thoughts?

#2

576×502 38.5 KB

Bhagavad Gita verse 4.29:

Sanskrit Text:

apane juhvati pranam
prane ?panam tathapare
pranapana-gati ruddhva
pranayama-parayanah
apare niyataharah
pranan pranesu juhvati

Translation:

Still others, who are inclined to the process of breath restraint to remain in trance, practice by offering the movement of the outgoing breath into the incoming, and the incoming breath into the outgoing, and thus at last remain in trance, stopping all breathing. Others, curtailing the eating process, offer the outgoing breath into itself as a sacrifice.

Commentary:

By definition, the Sanskrit word pranayama (प्राणायाम) means to regulate the vital energy or life force via breath control, generally by making the breathing cycles gradually longer, slower, and quieter.

In the Bhagavad Gita verse referenced above, therefore, when practicing pranayama, join the upward moving prana with the downward moving apana.

Upon completion of a full inhalation of the breath, merge the prana with the apana by holding the breath in suspension.

Upon completion of a full exhalation, join the downward moving apana with the upward moving prana by holding the breath in suspension.

When restraining the breath in this way, the movement of both prana and apana is stopped, and one becomes completely absorbed in the practice.

Additionally, restriction of one's food consumption and regular fasting can assist the yogi in conquering the senses.

Hari OM!

Adityananda

#3

Sounds like bhandas to me. Pranayama is an ancient practice that was written about in the Upanishads, which, as far as I know, pre-date the Bhagavad-Gita.

#4

Namaste Willem,

I think it is important to view this in the context of the entire fourth discourse, which is about the various kinds of offerings or yagnas a person can engaged in on the path to the Divine. It is also important to comprehend that Lord Krishna wants us to understand that through these offerings (yagnas) the mind is purified and led closer to unity with the Divine.

In my humble opinion I see these pranayamas as one of the many offerings one can make to purifiy the body as well as the subtle energies, thus the continuous practice of prana and apana as an offering leads to kumbhaka also as an offering. When the breath is suspended all the vital forces merge into one and are controlled and the yagna is the merging of the senses into One.

On your question about the the date of these texts and which one pre-dates which one: it is open. I think that most of the yoga knowledge we have pre-dates most of the official written books, but I also think it will be impossible to trace them back to their very first origin.

#5

Add the attitude of prayer to anything you do, and you can’t go wrong. Maintain clear consciusness, and discernment, though.

#6

At this late hour (GMT +2), and one not without significance, I feel blessed to be able to have such meaningful conversation in a world full of meaningless fantasies.

Again Pandara said what was needed to be said. I had recieved this impulse to share the wisdom I found in the Upanishads, than I noticed that Asuri did the same. Still, because by chance (I strongly believe there is no such thing but allow me to use the concept just to share what I think of it) the book Yoga in Upanishads got into my hands (it was not hard as it has been on my shelf for decades) I’d further point to the very ones (Upanishads) what deal with the movement of vital forces, and relate to breathing. These are:

[B]Yogatattwa[/B]
[B]Dhyanabindu[/B]
Yogakundalini
Ksurika
[B]Hamsa[/B]
Amrtandanda
Amrtabindu
Mahavakya

I bolded out the ones I am sure they deal with pranayama, that does not mean the others do not, only that I had no sufficint time on my hands to read them. For example, and related to your question Willem, Yogatattwa Upanishad says:

[I]63. Then sitting in a secluded place, he should repeat Pranava (OM) with three Pluta-Matras (or prolonged intonation) for the destruction of his former sins.[/I]
[I]64. The Mantra, Pranava (OM) destroys all obstacles and all sins. By practising thus he attains the Arambha (beginning or first) state.[/I]
[I]65-66. Then follows the Ghata (second State) – one which is acquired by constantly practising suppression of breath. [B]When a perfect union takes place between Prana and Apana, Manas and Buddhi, or Jivatma and Paramatman without opposition[/B], it is called the Ghata state.[/I]

Now, thistranslation is not the most succesful, as it fails to justify the various terms it uses, and thus, the connection between them fades, becoming incomprehensible. Because I have the luck of having a great translation, romanian that is, what not only uses Prana and Apana, Manas and Buddhi, Jivatma and Paramatman but substitutes inhalation-exhalation, mind and intelligence, individual soul(spirit) and universal soul(spirit) - we need not to dwell on if these transaltions are 100% correct or not, but rather on what this succesion evokes in us. The translation I use, has the merit of linking not just the above mentioned pairs, but it also links the couples to each other. Thus, the text of Upanishad teaches not just the need to unite Prana with Apana but the need to realize the union(connection) between inhalation-exhalation and mind-intelligence, and what is more important, inhalation-exhalation and God-soul, to translate it to western terms. That this translation is not arbitrary, is shown also in that part of the Upanishad what equates Brahman to inhalation, Vishnu to retention, and Rudra to exhalation. (Dhyanabindu Upanishad, verse 21)

What this tells me, is that we need to be able to pass a mechanicist conception of the human being, where breathing is the result of the central nervous system. What these ancient texts tell us, but in our materialist age we often fail to recieve, is that the spiritual preceeds the material/ sensorial. It is not the complex biological machine what makes us breath, but the spiritual (divine) acting through the higher principle of Life is what puts our breathing process in motion. When we are asked to realize the union, our task is not that of control, but that of becoming aware of the very sacred and divine nature of breathing, and trough it, to realize our very own divinity. Not by intellectual accept, or the inflation of our ego, but as a personal revelation of truth.

I did dare to include in the quote verse [I]64. The Mantra, Pranava (OM) destroys all obstacles and all sins.[/I]

As for a great part of the world prepares for a certain feast, let this final AUM stand here for our obstacles and errors.

AUM

#7

Dear Pandara, Hubert, Asuri, Adityananda,

Thank you for responding. I will let this sink in for a few days. Sacrificing the breath as if it were an internalised fire ritual (yajna). I’ll get back to you.