Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 4, Verse 29
अपाने जुह्वति प्राण प्राणेऽपानं तथाऽपरे।
प्राणापानगती रुद्ध्वा प्राणायामपरायणाः।।
प्राणापानगती रुद्ध्वा प्राणायामपरायणाः।।
apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ prāṇe 'pānaṁ tathāpare
prāṇāpāna-gatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ
also searched as "apane juhvati pranam prane 'panam tathapare"
Translation
Others, with restricted diets, are devoted to the control of breath. Some sacrifice the inward breath in the outward breath; similarly, others sacrifice the outward breath in the inward breath. Some others, stopping the flow of both the inward and outward breaths, sacrifice the inward and outward breaths.
Vāṇi's rendering
Some offer breath into breath — the outward into the inward, the inward into the outward — mastering both.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अपानेapāne | into the downward, incoming breath |
| जुह्वतिjuhvati | they pour as an offering |
| प्राणम्prāṇaṁ | the outgoing breath |
| प्राणेprāṇe | into the outgoing breath |
| अपानम्apānaṁ | the incoming breath (sandhi: prāṇe + apānaṁ) |
| तथाtathā | likewise, in the same way |
| अपरेapare | others (sandhi: tathā + apare) |
| प्राणापानगतीprāṇāpāna-gatī | the moving of the outward and inward breaths |
| रुद्ध्वाruddhvā | having checked, having held still |
| प्राणायामपरायणाःprāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ | wholly given to the mastery of breath |
| अपरेapare | still others |
| नियताहाराःniyata-āhārāḥ | those whose food is measured |
| प्राणान्prāṇān | the breaths, the life-currents |
| प्राणेषुprāṇeṣu | into the breaths themselves |
| जुह्वतिjuhvati | they offer |
| सर्वेsarve | all of them |
| अपिapi | indeed, even (sandhi: sarve + api + ete) |
| एतेete | these |
| यज्ञविदःyajña-vidaḥ | knowers of offering |
| यज्ञक्षपितकल्मषाःyajña-kṣapita-kalmaṣāḥ | their stains worn away by offering |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 29 mean?
It names breath itself as an offering. Some pour the outgoing breath into the incoming, some the reverse, some hold both still — and some eat little, offering the life-currents into the life-currents. Krishna counts all of them among those who know what sacrifice is. The fire has moved inside the body.
What does apane juhvati pranam prane 'panam tathapare teach us?
That discipline need not be dramatic to be real. Prāṇa going out, apāna coming in — Krishna takes this ordinary rhythm and calls its mastery a yajña. Nothing is thrown into a flame. What is given up is the scattered, unwatched quality of your own breathing, and with it, restlessness.
Is pranayama necessary to practise the Gita?
Krishna offers it as one road among many in this chapter, not as a requirement. Some offer their senses, some their wealth, some their study, some their breath. What matters is that something of yours is genuinely given. Choose the offering your life can actually sustain, and keep it.
Why does Krishna mention people who eat sparingly here?
Because measured food and measured breath are the same discipline in two forms. Niyata-āhāra is not punishment of the body; it is the refusal to let appetite run unwatched. Krishna places such a person beside the breath-master without ranking them. Both have stopped being carried, and started steering.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is listing sacrifices, and this one has no altar and no fire. Only breath. The yogi turns the offering inward: what goes out is poured into what comes in, what comes in into what goes out, until the two meet and the flow steadies. Nothing is burned but restlessness. Arjuna hears that even breathing can be an offering — that the most involuntary thing in a body can be made deliberate, and given away. You are breathing now without having chosen to. Choose it once, and watch how much of you follows the breath into stillness.