Pran and Pranayam

SR No.: 009371
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Niranjananand Saraswati Swami
Publisher: Yoga Publication Trust
Publication Year: 2009
Total Pages: 369
Language: Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 11 MB

Page 113

and down, can be made voluntary by the introduction of awareness. It is possible to attain mastery over the breathing process and harmonize the flow of prana and apana, the two principal flows of energy in the body, through breath awareness and control, coordination of the breath with the mantra, and awareness of the pranic movement within the body. Once this harmony and control is attained through the practices of pranayama, it becomes possible to observe and transcend the gunas, and thus attain liberation.
The understanding of pranayama as a process which begins with the breath but culminates in liberation is emphasized by Sri Shankaracharya also. He says in the Aparokshanubhuti (v. 118-120):
चित्तादिसर्वभावेषु ब्रह्मत्वेनैव भावनात् ।
PARTET:
-
PER woelft
ततस्तद्वृत्तिनैश्चल्यं कुम्भकः प्राणसंयमः ।
अयं चापि प्रबुद्धानामज्ञानां घ्राणपीडनम् ॥ Pranayama is the control of all life-forces by realizing naught but Brahman in all things as the mind, etc. The negation of the universe is the outgoing breath. The thought 'I am Brahman' itself is called the incoming breath. The permanence of that thought thereafter is the restrained breath. This is the pranayama of the wise, while the pressing of the nose is only for the unknowing.
Sri Shankaracharya is bringing to attention the fact that while the practices of pranayama do carry a physical component (the 'pressing of the nose' refers to nadi shodhana pranayama), the practitioner who limits himself to this aspect fails to realize the vast scope of pranayama. For pranayama is not merely the science of breath, but the science of universal energy, universal mind, time, space and matter. It is a system through which the vital, pranic energy that
107