Original language of Yoga Suutra

[Dmitri]

On Mon, 4 Dec 2000 11:41:02 -0000, Vidyasankar Sundaresan
<vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>pracchardana = expulsion, vidhaara.na = retention. These are
>clearly related to praa.na. What else could one suppose to be
>expelled and retained here? Recall that breath control is a
>significant part of any Yoga technique.
>
In techniques of praa.nayama retention of praa.na  is denoted with
kumbhaka, expulsion -- with recaka. And inhalation --puuraka--
would have been mentioned as well, but it is not.

>For YS I. 34-39, the nominative noun is supplied by sUtra I.
>33. It is citta-prasaadanam (making the mind clear).

cittaprasaadana is neuter,
vi.sayavatii (I.35) is a feminine adjective, same for jyotismatii (I.36).
It seems that there is some other noun missing.

>Note that in I. 31, zvAsa-prazvAsa, i.e. shortness of breath,
>is listed as one outcome of citta-vik.sepa. Taking deep breaths
>(pracchardana and vidhaara.na) is the way of calming the mind
>when this happens.

When I experience shortness of breath, the advice to take a deep breath
is useless. When deep breath (like in pra.nayama) is an option,
zvaasa is absent already.  Matsyaasana works much better for zvaasa.
That is another, empirical, point against interpreting
pracchardana and vidhaara.na as expulsion and retention of breath.

Best regards, Dmitri.