The two oblations, exhalation and inhalation, which are carried equally — that is Samāna. The mind, verily, is the sacrificer. The Udāna is the fruit of the sacrifice, because it conducts the sacrificor every day to Brahman.

Breath is the continuous sacrifice. Exhalation (ucchvāsa) and inhalation (niḥśvāsa) are the two oblations (āhutī) offered to the vital fire.

Samāna — the equalizing breath — carries (nayati) equally (samam) these two. It is the hotṛ (priest who offers), the one who maintains balance.

Manas — the mind — is the sacrificer (yajamāna), the one who performs the sacrifice. It is the mind that directs the breath, that intends, that sustains the practice.

Udāna is the fruit (phala) of the sacrifice. Each day, in deep sleep, udāna conducts (gamayati) the sacrificer (the mind/jīva) to Brahman — the repose in the Self. Sleep is a small death (sveda-mṛtyu), a foretaste of the great death and of liberation.

For the yogī: the practice of prāṇāyāma is the sacrifice (yajña) that produces as fruit the knowledge of Brahman.