अपाने जुह्वति प्राणं प्राणेऽपानं तथापरे । प्राणापानगती रुद्ध्वा प्राणायामपरायणाः ॥
apāne juhvati prāṇaṃ prāṇe 'pānaṃ tathāpare | prāṇāpāna-gatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ ||
Offering prāṇa into apāna, apāna into prāṇa — the breath itself becomes yajna for those devoted to prāṇāyāma.
Word by word (3)
- apāne juhvati prāṇam / prāṇe apānam
- — offer the in-breath (prāṇa) into the out-breath (apāna); offer apāna into prāṇa · Prāṇa = the upward-moving vital breath (inhalation — the life energy that sustains and animates). Apāna = the downward-moving vital breath (exhalation/elimination — the energy that grounds and releases). Juhvati = they offer (yajna vocabulary applied to breath). The image: each breath becomes a yajna — in-breath offered into out-breath, out-breath offered into in-breath. Breathing itself becomes a sacred act of offering.
- prāṇa-apāna-gatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ
- — having restrained the movements of prāṇa and apāna — devoted to prāṇāyāma · Prāṇāpāna-gatī = the movements (gatī = going, movement) of prāṇa and apāna. Ruddhvā = having restrained, having checked (from rudh = to obstruct, to restrain). Prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇa = devoted to prāṇāyāma (prāṇa + āyāma = expansion/extension of breath; parāyaṇa = supremely devoted to). The practice: the rhythm of breath is both the medium and the offering.
- prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ
- — prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ = those devoted to prāṇāyāma (prāṇa = vital breath; āyāma = extension/regulation from ā + yam = to extend/regulate; prāṇāyāma = the practice of regulated breathing as yoga; parāyaṇa = devoted to, absorbed in — para = supreme + ayana = going toward); the term identifies these as committed practitioners, not occasional breathers; prāṇāyāma appears only here in the Gita, confirming the specific yogic practice of breath-regulation as a valid form of yajna
Others devoted to prāṇāyāma — having restrained the movements of prāṇa and apāna — offer the in-breath into the out-breath and the out-breath into the in-breath.
A modern analogy
Breathwork practitioners who treat each cycle of inhalation and exhalation as a complete offering — not mechanical breathing but conscious exchange. Each in-breath is received as gift; each out-breath is released as offering. V29: prāṇāyāma as yajna — the most intimate possible sacrifice, because breath is the medium of life itself.
Take with you
- Prāṇa into apāna / apāna into prāṇa: the breath cycle is a self-sustaining yajna — offering and receiving simultaneously.
- Prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇa: devoted to breath-control — not casual, but as a primary spiritual discipline.
- This verse places prāṇāyāma in the yajna framework: the breath is both the priest and the offering.
- V29 is one of the few Gita verses that explicitly recognizes breath-work as a form of spiritual practice.
V29 introduces prāṇāyāma-yajna — breath-control as offering. The image of offering prāṇa into apāna and apāna into prāṇa describes the pranayama practice where the practitioner works with the two fundamental movements of vital energy: the upward-moving (prāṇa) and the downward-moving (apāna). In kumbhaka (retention), both movements are stilled — the yajna reaches its peak. Shankaracharya: the important point is prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇa — 'devoted to prāṇāyāma.' The devotion (parāyaṇa) is what transforms a physical breathing practice into yajna. Without the inner orientation of offering, prāṇāyāma is just technique. With it, the breath becomes a living sacrifice.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
Others devoted to prāṇāyāma — having restrained the movements of prāṇa and apāna — pour as sacrifice the prāṇa into apāna and apāna into prāṇa. [1]
Others offer as sacrifice the outgoing breath in the incoming, and the incoming in the outgoing — restraining the courses of the outgoing and incoming breaths — devoted to prāṇāyāma. [4]
Others who are devoted to breath-control pour the prāṇa into apāna and apāna into prāṇa, checking the flow of both. [6]
Others — vowed to the breath — pour as sacrifice Into the life-breaths of each other. [7]
Others devoted to prāṇāyāma restrain the movements of the prāṇa and apāna — offering the prāṇa into the apāna and the apāna into the prāṇa. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
All sense-actions, all vital-breath actions — offered into the fire of self-mastery yoga, kindled by knowledge.
Regulate food, recreation, effort and sleep — and yoga becomes the destroyer of all pain.
Whoever teaches this supreme secret among My devotees, with supreme bhakti — comes to Me without doubt.
Instrument, offering, fire, act, destination — all Brahman. One absorbed in Brahman-action reaches Brahman alone.
Whatever you do, eat, offer, give, or practise as austerity — do it all as mad-arpaṇam, an offering to Me.
Sattva, rajas, tamas — three guṇas born of Prakṛti — bind the indestructible ātman in every body.