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Yoga-sūtra with Vyāsa's bhāṣya · 1.34
33 pracchardanavidhāraṇābhyāṃ vā prāṇasya
Translation. Or, by expulsion (pracchardana) and retention (vidhāraṇa, i.e. breath-control, prāṇāyāma) of the breath, [one should bring about stability of the mind].
Grammar check: 3 words pass / 0 flagged / 0 beyond the checkerPāṇini-verified
Every word's claimed grammar is re-derived with vidyut-prakriya, software implementing Pāṇini's rules. Flags are shown, never hidden; some are the text taking epic or Vedic liberties the classical rules do not generate.
Word by word
| surface | lemma | grammar |
|---|
| pracchardanavidhāraṇābhyām | pracchardanavidhāraṇa | pass |
| vā | vā | pass |
| prāṇasya | prāṇa | pass |
How the commentary settled it
Where the verse alone is ambiguous, the reading follows Vyāsa's commentary; the deciding lines are quoted below each decision.
Parse pracchardanavidhāraṇābhyām as an instrumental-dual dvandva comprising two distinct practices, rather than as a single subordinative compound.→ Dvandva, vigraha pracchardanaṃ ca vidhāraṇaṃ ca, in Trtiya Dvi.
ys [1]kauṣṭhyasya vāyor nāsikāpuṭābhyāṃ prayatnaviśeṣād vamanaṃ pracchardanam, vidhāraṇaṃ prāṇāyāmas tābhyāṃ vā manasaḥ sthitiṃ saṃpādayet.
Expulsion is the ejection of the abdominal air through the two nostrils by a special effort; retention is breath-control; by those two, alternatively, one should bring about stability of the mind.
Understand pracchardana here as the deliberate expulsion of abdominal air through the nostrils, not ordinary vomiting.→ Deliberate nasal expulsion of abdominal air by a special effort.
ys [1]kauṣṭhyasya vāyor nāsikāpuṭābhyāṃ prayatnaviśeṣād vamanaṃ pracchardanam
Expulsion is the ejection of the abdominal air through the two nostrils by a special effort.
Take vidhāraṇa as retention understood technically as breath-control (prāṇāyāma), rather than generic restraint.→ Retention identified by the commentary with prāṇāyāma.
ys [1]vidhāraṇaṃ prāṇāyāmas
Retention is breath-control.
Construe prāṇasya with both coordinated practices: expulsion and retention of the breath.→ Objective genitive applying to both expulsion and retention.
ys [1]kauṣṭhyasya vāyor nāsikāpuṭābhyāṃ prayatnaviśeṣād vamanaṃ pracchardanam, vidhāraṇaṃ prāṇāyāmas tābhyāṃ vā manasaḥ sthitiṃ saṃpādayet.
Expulsion concerns the abdominal air, while retention is breath-control; the two are jointly presented as means to mental stability.
Supply the governing predicate ‘one should bring about stability of the mind’ and take vā as marking this pair as an alternative means.→ ‘Or … one should bring about stability of the mind.’
ys [1]tābhyāṃ vā manasaḥ sthitiṃ saṃpādayet.
Or, by those two, one should bring about stability of the mind.
Vyāsa's commentary on this unit
1kauṣṭhyasya vāyor nāsikāpuṭābhyāṃ prayatnaviśeṣād vamanaṃ pracchardanam, vidhāraṇaṃ prāṇāyāmas tābhyāṃ vā manasaḥ sthitiṃ saṃpādayet.
21.34
3viṣayavatī vā pravṛttir utpannā manasaḥ sthitinibandhanī