Shloka 29

Devanagari script

अपाने जुद्वति प्राणं प्राणेडपानं तथापरे । प्राणापानगती रुद्ध्वा प्राणायामपरायणा:

Transliteration

apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ prāṇe 'pānaṁ tathāpare | prāṇāpānagatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāmaparāyaṇāḥ ||

Translation

Arjuna dijo: Unos ofrecen el aliento que sale (apāna) en el aliento que entra (prāṇa), y otros ofrecen el aliento que entra en el que sale. Al refrenar el curso de la inhalación y la exhalación, se consagran por entero a la disciplina del control del aliento (prāṇāyāma), buscando el dominio interior mediante la fuerza vital regulada más que por la acción externa.

Word by Word

अपानेin the apāna (down-breath)

जुह्वतिthey offer/sacrifice

प्राणम्the prāṇa (up-breath)

प्राणेin the prāṇa

अपानम्the apāna

तथाthus/likewise

अपरेothers

प्राणापानगतीthe two movements/courses of prāṇa and apāna

रुद्ध्वाhaving restrained/blocked

प्राणायामपरायणाःdevoted to prāṇāyāma (breath-control)

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Arjuna

prāṇa

apāna

prāṇāyāma

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse presents prāṇāyāma as a form of yajña (sacrificial discipline): by consciously regulating and restraining prāṇa and apāna, one turns spiritual effort inward, cultivating self-control and purification rather than seeking merit only through external rites.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the teaching on different kinds of sacrifice, the speaker describes yogic practitioners who treat breath regulation itself as an offering—symbolically ‘pouring’ one breath into the other and restraining both movements—showing that disciplined inner practice is also a valid spiritual path amid the broader discourse on duty and right action.