The image in the verse
Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.70 compares the practitioner floating on deep water to a lotus leaf. It connects this image with air filling the interior. Sivananda offers a more explicit account of air entering the stomach and adds an anecdote about an unusually long period afloat. These details belong to the respective sources.
What the comparison can and cannot establish
The lotus-leaf image makes the passage memorable; it does not demonstrate that the practice is reliable protection in water. Nor does the source’s account establish that air can replace food. This library does not turn either assertion into an instruction or an expected bodily outcome.
A reference within the collection
Plavini is included so that the classical list of eight kumbhakas can be read without a missing name. Its page is deliberately a textual explanation, not a swimming exercise or a method of swallowing air. Compare it with Murchha to see how far some traditional accounts range beyond gentle introductory breathwork. For a practice to use here, return to the complete natural-breath guidance.
Sources and scope
Main edition
Hatha Yoga Pradipika, chapter 2
Passage for this reading
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika, chapter 2
Sanskrit verses 2.44 and 2.70.
Svātmārāma; Sanskrit and Pancham Sinh’s 1914 translation. References on these pages use the Sanskrit numbering.
- The Science of Pranayama
Chapter Four, “Plavini”.
Swami Sivananda; Divine Life Society, sixteenth edition 1997, authorized web edition 2000. Traditional teaching, not clinical evidence.
- Kundalini Yoga
“Pranayama: 5. Plavini”.
Swami Sivananda; Divine Life Society, tenth edition 1994, authorized web edition 1999. Traditional teaching, not clinical evidence.
What this edition covers
An original reference essay comparing the traditional descriptions. It is not a translation of the entire source chapter.
Limits and differences
The prose above identifies material differences. Traditional explanations and promised attainments are attributed to their sources; they are not clinical evidence. Review date: September 11, 2026.