The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — Mudra and Bandha

Outwitting the Sun

Hatha Yoga Pradipika 3.78

अथ विपरीतकरणी मुद्रा तत्रास्ति करणं दिव्यं सूर्यस्य मुखवञ्चनम्। गुरूपदेशतो ज्ञेयं न तु शास्त्रार्थकोटिभिः ॥

Meaning · English

Now the inverted action, the viparitakarani seal. In it there is a divine practice, the cheating of the sun's mouth. It is to be known through a teacher's instruction, and not through millions of scriptural meanings.

Take the name first. Viparita means reversed or turned upside down. Karani means an action, a thing done. So viparitakarani is the inverted action. Mudra means a seal: a bodily gesture the tradition says closes something in and directs energy. The line begins with atha, 'now'. A new seal is being introduced. The text calls it a divine action. That means an excellent one, set above ordinary exercises. Then comes the odd phrase: it cheats, or deceives, the sun's mouth. The commentary reads the sun as the fire seated at the navel, and the mouth as the place where that fire takes in what it consumes. On the commentary's reading, the seal is a way of tricking that fire out of its usual taking. The line itself does not explain further. The last half is the reason for the teaching's shape. The Pradipika says this is known from a teacher's instruction and not from crores of scriptural meanings, which is to say not from reading, however much of it. The line gives no posture, no count and no timing. It says plainly that a page cannot hand these over. The practitioner is asked to take the name, the claim and the warning as they stand, and to go to a teacher for the doing.

The Pradipika gives no instructions for the body here. The shape taught today is the familiar one: lie on the back, lift the legs and hips, and hold the hips with the hands. It follows what lineages teach, and the wall version is modern teaching. Neither is a method the text spells out. In the body, the weight rests on the shoulders and the backs of the upper arms. The hands and forearms carry the hips, and the elbows stay planted. The neck should not bear load. The legs hang relaxed, because gripping them wastes effort. The belly, front hips and thighs hold the shape lightly. Blood from the legs drains back more easily when they are above the heart. The breath goes in as the legs rise and out as they come down. In between it runs slow and unforced, since a strained breath in an inverted shape only adds tension. Slow breathing gives the mind one plain thing to follow while the body stays still. The tradition's own account is different. It says the inversion tricks the sun at the navel, so the body's fire is turned from its usual course. That is the tradition's account, not physiology. To come out, breathe out, lower the hips with the hands guiding, then the legs. Rest on the back.

The line itself makes two claims. It calls the viparitakarani a divine, excellent action, and it says the action cheats the sun's mouth. That is the whole of what is promised here. It names no cure and no particular result for the body. The neighbouring verses carry the rest of the tradition's claim. The Pradipika says that with steady daily practice the digestive fire at the belly grows stronger, and that the practitioner should therefore be given plenty of food (3.80). These are the Pradipika's claims. The text also insists that none of this comes from reading about it. It comes from a teacher's instruction.

A nurse comes off a twelve-hour shift, lies on the floor with her calves resting up a wall, and stays there a few minutes. The tiredness in her legs eases. People commonly report this, and it fits ordinary sense: with the legs raised, fluid pools less in the feet and lower legs, and lying still and breathing slowly settles the body. That is a gentle rest position, and it is the version closest to what is well understood. The full inversion with the hips lifted is another matter. Mainstream medicine does not claim it as treatment for anything. It does note that being upside down raises pressure in the head and eyes and loads the neck, which is why people with high blood pressure, eye-pressure problems or neck trouble are told to avoid it. The sun's mouth, the navel fire and the cheating of it have no modern counterpart. Digestion and appetite are the nearest loose match, and there is no good evidence that an inversion changes them. The idea belongs to the tradition's account of the body, and it stands as that.

This is not medical advice. A teacher can correct what a page cannot, and the lesson itself says to learn this one with a teacher first. Stop at any pain, dizziness or pressure in the head. Leave it out, or take the gentler wall version only on a doctor's advice, if you have neck or back trouble, high blood pressure, a heart condition, eye-pressure problems, a recent surgery, or if you are pregnant. The same goes for anyone unsure about any of these. Never force the legs up or throw them. Do not let the neck carry the weight, and do not turn the head while inverted. Keep the stay short and comfortable. The old idea of holding on at any cost can hurt someone who follows it literally. Come down slowly, hips first and then legs, and rest on the back before sitting up.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: The Throat Lock · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 3.70
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• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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