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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
<< Canto 11, General History >> << 14 - Lord Kṛṣṇa Explains the Yoga System to Śrī Uddhava >>
<< VERSE 32-33 >>
śrī-bhagavān uvāca sama āsana āsīnaḥ sama-kāyo yathā-sukham hastāv utsaṅga ādhāya sva-nāsāgra-kṛtekṣaṇaḥ prāṇasya śodhayen mārgaṁ pūra-kumbhaka-recakaiḥ viparyayeṇāpi śanair abhyasen nirjitendriyaḥ
WORD BY WORD
TRANSLATION
| The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Sitting on a level seat that is not too high or too low, keeping the body straight and erect yet comfortable, placing the two hands on one’s lap and focusing the eyes on the tip of one’s nose, one should purify the pathways of breathing by practicing the mechanical exercises of pūraka, kumbhaka and recaka, and then one should reverse the procedure (recaka, kumbhaka, pūraka). Having fully controlled the senses, one may thus practice prāṇāyāma step by step.
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PURPORT
| According to this procedure, the hands are to be placed palms upward, one on top of the other. Thus, one may practice prāṇāyāma through mechanical breath control in order to achieve steadiness of the mind. As stated in the yoga-śāstra, antar-lakṣyo bahir-dṛṣṭiḥ sthira-cittaḥ susaṅgataḥ: “The eyes, which generally see externally, must be turned inward, and thus the mind is steadied and fully controlled.”
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