Sūtra 2.50

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 2.50:

स तु बाह्याभ्यन्तरस्तम्भवृत्तिर्देशकालसङ्ख्याभिः परिदृष्टो दीर्घसूक्ष्मः ॥ २.५० ॥

sa tu bāhyābhyantarastambhavṛttirdeśakālasaṅkhyābhiḥ paridṛṣṭo dīrghasūkṣmaḥ || 2.50 ||

50. That, again, is an external, an internal, and a stationary function; it is divided by place, time, and number; it is protracted or subtile.

The Rajamartanda commentary by King Bhoja:

[English translation of the 11th century commentary by Bhoja called the Rājamārtaṇḍa]

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

The “external function” of breath is expiration, or expulsion of the breath outward (recaka). The “internal function” is inspiration or filling in (pūraka). The function of stoppage inside is kumbhaka. Because the vital air at that time remains quiescent or motionless, as water in a jar, (kumbha) therefore that condition is called kumbhaka.

This regulation of breath is of three kinds, according as it is specialised by space (deśa), “time” (kāla), and “number” (saṅkhyā). It is also “protracted” (dīrgha), or “subtile” (sūkṣma). It is especialised by place, as (when we say) “twelve distant from the nose,” meaning as far as twelve fingers from the nose. It is specialised by time, as (when we say) “of the duration of thirty-six instants.” It is specialised by “number,” when (we say) “many times done.”

By these inspirations and expirations the first udghāta is produced, and to know this a numeral figure has to be used. Udghāta is the striking of the head by the wind propelled upward from the navel.

Notes and Extracts

[Notes and comparative extracts from other commentaries on the Yogasūtra]

[The object of this aphorism is to describe the Prāṇāyāma. It is an operation which inclades the three functions of inspiration, quiescence, and expiration. The breath must be drawn in first before it can be retained within; the retention cannot last long, and so after a time there must be an expiration. The first and the third, however, are regulated by the capacity of the lungs, and by the time necessary for the expulsion of a given quantity of air, and cannot be much modified, and the second alone, therefore, concerns the Yogī most, for he can control it to a considerable extent, and hence it is held to be the most important element of the Prāṇāyāma; not unoften, as in the last preceding aphorism, it alone is described as the Prāṇāyāma. The threefold operation is specialized by the time devoted to each operation, by the extent of space from which the breath is drawn, by the number of times it is repeated, by the period for which it has been practised, and by the subtility or grossness of the operation.

The operation of udghāta is mysterious. I cannot find out from any work or person how the internal air is made to strike particular internal organs.]

Having described the three members of the regulation of breath, he, with a view to enunciate a fourth, says