In plain words
This is what they teach in prāṇāyāma. These sādhanas of prāṇāyāma are themselves sādhanas of the Ātma. Yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, samādhi. In this eightfold yoga they spoke of kumbhaka, pūraka and recaka. Pūraka means filling in... So; recaka... letting go. Between these two, holding it for a while. Kumbhaka, they said, is the place between the brows. ‘Fix your sight there and practise dhyāna,’ the yogīs went on saying. That is to say, the seat of the Ātma.
Between Bhakti and karma, Jñāna flows as a hidden stream
‘Fix your sight on that Ātma which is the foundation of all,’ they said. In the natural, worldly, physical world they gave this the name ‘Prayāga’. Prayāga means the place where the three, Gaṅgā, Yamunā and Sarasvatī, meet. Where do these three meet? They meet at the Ātma. Gaṅgā: Śaṅkara gave the name ‘Gaṅgā’ to pure, selfless karma itself. The Yamunā he set down as an upāsana. The Yamunā is the path of Bhakti; Jñāna, the Sarasvatī, is not seen. A hidden stream. Between Bhakti and karma, Jñāna flows as a hidden stream. If we want to go to Prayāga, we take a ticket and travel by train, by car. We cannot go there that way. Some two hundred years ago, when her husband told Mīrā to go away from the house and pushed her out, she spoke to her own mind:
Chalo re man, chalo re man, Gaṅgā Yamunā tīr; Gaṅgā Yamuna nirmal pānī, śītal hove śarīr. (Chalo re …)
There Kṛṣṇa, who is the Ātma, is present. How is He there?
Mora makuṭa pītāmbara śobhe, kuṇḍala rajita śarīr. (Chalo re …)
When the Rāṇā said ‘Go away!’, she did not try for a ticket. That is how pure the feelings of the pure in heart are.