Key of Knowledge

SR No.: 006702
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 1204
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 486

YOGA.
465
haling a large quantity of the vital breath from the atmosphere, and (2) by employing it for energizing, the nervous centres of the spinal column and brain which control the whole system. The lung capacity increases with practice, but it also requires certain other aids. The food must be pure, wholesome and non-irritating, so that the body should acquire purity and elasticity. Smoking and drinking must be given up with animal diet, as they actually produce the very conditions which it is the aim of Yoga to remove. Along with the regulation of diet, certain purificatory exercises in breathing have also to be practised for rendering the nerves supple and light. This generally takes a few months, at the end of which sufficient control is obtained to will the prâna to any particular part of the body. This enables the Yogi to get rid of many kinds of disease from his system.
Rhythmical breathing is also a powerful ally in gaining control over the vital forces of the body. The Yogi declares that rhythm pervades the universe. In all vibrations is to be found a certain rhythm, so that all cosmical movements and manifestations of force are rhythmical. Our bodies are as much subject to the law of rhythm as are the notes of music, or the feet of a poem. Says the author of "The Hatha Yoga" :
"You have heard how a note on a violin, if sounded repeatedly and in rhy'thm, will start into motion vibrations which will in time destroy a bridge. The same result is true when a regiment of soldiers crosses a bridge, the order being always given to break step'on such occasion, lest the vibrations bring down both the bridge and regiment. These manifestations of the effect of rhythmic motion will give you an idea of the effect of rhythmic breathing.