Gorakṣaśataka 42–49: Rhythm, Fire and the Power of Breath

kiṃ cit indicates a small quantity or degree. hṛtpadma, the heart-lotus, is an image within the yogic model of the body.

The bellows explain the name and the alternating movement. I retain Mallinson’s bhastrāṃ as the object of cālayet.

The historical instruction follows fatigue with an inhalation through the solar channel. The contemporary rendering takes up awareness of fatigue, without prescribing a particular response to it.

tarjanībhyām is instrumental dual. The passage excludes the index fingers but does not describe every detail of a hand position.

The compounds are rendered as statements about the breath retention just described. The working text’s kaṇṭhotthitānalaharam names fire arising in the throat; Mallinson’s translation (2012, p. 269) instead refers to removing bile from the throat. For this expression I follow the Sanskrit working text. I understand vajram, “thunderbolt”, as a forceful image of efficacy. The effects attributed to the method belong to the historical text.

The Brahman-channel is understood in connection with Suṣumnā. The three knots and three guṇas belong to the historical explanatory model of the subtle body. Their names are described in the later account of ascent.

Bellows breathing ends at 49ab. 49cd introduces the three bandhas, or locks. The working numbering therefore overlaps a thematic section boundary.