Śivasaṃhitā 5.36

The retention of māruṭa—the vital wind, synonym of prāṇa—is the central technical act of all the practice described in these verses. Nirudhya (“having retained,” participle of ni-rudh, “to contain,” “to obstruct”) indicates that the retention is active, not passive: deliberate pressure is exerted on the respiratory flow to concentrate it in the central channel. The result—seeing the Self’s light—appears yadaiva (“at that very moment”), suggesting immediacy.

Māruṭa—“wind,” “air,” from root mṛ related to movement—is in yoga both the physical breath and its subtle correlate (prāṇa). Bhṛśam—“with force,” “with intensity”—qualifies the retention: it is not a superficial containment but a full kumbhaka, the complete holding that simultaneously implies the closure of the three bandha (mūla, uḍḍīyāna, jālandhara). This forced containment of the three main channels produces the experience of inner light.

The purification of sins (pāpa) as an effect of contemplating inner light is a recurring theme in yogic and tantric texts. Far from moralizing rhetoric, it reflects the understanding that pāpa are densifications of the energy field that dissolve when prāṇa concentrates and the light of consciousness intensifies. The spiritual alchemy of prāṇic retention literally transforms the structure of the inner being.