Pranayama
Teachings of Swami Indrananda Ji
Continuing the Series – Shirley Davies
This article was generated from a talk that Shirley gave at Satsang in May 2011.
In 1897 Swami Vivekananda Ji went to the United States and gave some lectures. One of those lectures was about pranayama.
He asserted that pranayama is not, as many think, about controlling the breath, but about controlling Prana. Yogis believed that the whole universe is composed of two materials, one of which they call Akasa. This is the omnipresent, all pervading existence. Everything that has form, everything that is the result of compounds is evolved out of this Akasa. Perhaps you have been watching the Wonders of the Universe on TV with Prof. Brian Cox. He said the same thing, that all the compounds of life on Earth have come from distant stars and those compounds create all physical forms manifest on Earth. It is the Akasa that becomes air, liquids, solids, the sun, the earth, stars, the body, animals, plants, everything that can be sensed, everything that exists. Akasa itself cannot be perceived, it is so subtle that it is beyond all ordinary perception; it can only be seen when it has taken form. So at the beginning of Creation there is only this Akasa, out of which arises all that which has form, and at the end of the cycle, those forms once more melt back into the Akasa; similarly the next creation proceeds out of the Akasa.
The other material of the universe is Prana. If Akasa is the existence pervading all form, Prana is the manifesting power of the universe. Prana is the force manifesting form, but also energies such as gravity, magnetism, actions of the body such as nerve currents and thoughts. The sum total of all force in the universe whether mental or physical in its original state is called Prana. Modern physics tell us that the force of the universe (prana) changes depending upon the observer; initially being pure potential, to manifesting as a wave or as a particle, depending entirely on the expectation of the observer and when it is not observed at all, it remains potential only. According to Yoga the energy of the universe remains the same throughout, only at the end of a cycle, these energies calm down, becoming once more potential and at the beginning of the next cycle start up again to manifest as another form.
Knowledge and control of this Prana is really what is meant by Pranayama. Since there is only one Power, one Prana, the yogi, having understood Prana perfectly, by learning to control it, understands and controls all things, both manifest and unmanifest. By knowing Prana at one level, the Yogi knows it at all levels, for it is the same unchanging power of the Universe.
How to control the Prana is pranayama. The Yogi learns to control things which are nearest to him, being the most accessible and intimate. The body is the nearest thing, with the mind being even closer. This little wave of Prana which represents our own energies, mental and physical, is the nearest wave of Prana in an infinite ocean of Prana; and knowing that Prana is knowing all Prana. This is how Yogis are able to direct Prana for example, for healing. Beyond the instinctive function of the mind is the power of reasoning. Beyond those levels is the higher plane of superconsciousness, a state of control of Prana beyond physical and mental functions. This is the most subtle of all Prana. To reach the more subtle we must take the help of the grosser, and so slowly travel towards the most subtle until we gain true understanding. The most obvious of all actions in the body is the motion of the lungs. Pranayama really means controlling this motion of the lungs, and this motion is associated with the breath. Not that the breath is producing it; on the contrary It is producing the breath. This motion draws in air by pump action. Prana is moving the lungs and that motion of the lungs draws in air. So pranayama is not breathing, but controlling that muscular power which moves the lungs, that muscular power which is going out through the nerves to the muscles, and from those nerves to the lungs making them move in a certain manner. It is the Prana which we have to control in the practice of pranayama. When this Prana has become controlled, then we shall immediately find that all the other actions of Prana in the body slowly come under our control.
By knowing Prana inside, we know Prana outside. Working to control the Life current inside, we achieve perfect control of everything.
You will find that wherever any organisation is trying to search out anything occult, mystical or hidden it is really this Yoga, this attempt to control Prana. You will find that wherever manifestation of power is developed this is also pranayama. What moves the steam engine? Prana, acting through the steam. What is electricity, but Prana? What is physical science? Pranayama by external means. Prana manifesting itself as mental power can only be controlled by mental means. That part of Pranayama which attempts to control the physical manifestations of Prana by physical means is called physical science, and that part which tries to control the manifestations of Prana as mental force, by mental means, is called Raja Yoga.
Hari Om