Verse 6.13

Verse 6.13: “There, having steadied himself, and holding the body, the head, and the neck evenly in a line, motionless, with the gaze fixed upon the tip of one’s nose and not looking in the (different) directions. (201)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

Then both the palms automatically rest on the left foot forming a bowl (droṇa), and the shoulders appear to get raised. The head gets sunken between the two raised shoulders and the eyes automatically get half-shut. The upper eyelids get closed while the lower ones get widened, with the result that the eyes remain half-open. The vision partly inside (closed) and partly outside (open) gets directed to and obstructed at the tip of the nose. The vision thus getting handicapped for want of free scope to get out has to steady itself on the tip of the nose in a partially widened condition. It loses all its desires to fix the gaze in any quarter, or to look at some form or shape. The neck gets contracted, while the chin lowers down and fills the pit formed by the collar bones, and while the neck getting stiff presses against the chest. The windpipe (kaṇṭhanalī) gets shrouded and the wheel (physical posture) that gets formed in this way is called “Jalandhara.” Then rises up the navel while the stomach gets flat and the heart expands in the interior. The “Bandha” (Yogic posture) formed above the anus and below navel is called Uddiyan (oḍhīyāna). While these Bandhas and Mudras appear on the exterior of the body as the signs of practice of the Yoga study, the mind’s functions (working) inwardly, are uprooted from their basis.