________________
and healthy, and fat will be reduced. The voice will become sweet and melodious. There will be lustre in the face, and the eyes will sparkle. The appetite will become keen; excrements and urine will decrease. He will require fewer hours of sleep to rejuvenate him. Accordingly, the Shiva Samhita (3:44) states:
अरोगित्वमदीनत्वं योगिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः॥ The yogi (who has achieved success in kumbhaka) acquires a disease-free and sorrow-free state.
Karmic purging Pranayama gives purity, and the light of knowledge shines forth. There is no purificatory action greater than pranayama. The karma that covers the light and binds one to repeated births becomes ineffective and is eventually destroyed by the perfection of pranayama. The Shiva Samhita (3:49) says:
पूर्वाजितानि कर्माणि प्राणायामेन निश्चितम ।
नाशयेत्साधको धीमानिहलोकोद्भवानि च ॥ The wise practitioner surely destroys all his karma, whether acquired in this life or in the past, through the regulation of breath. Then it adds (3:51):
पापतूलचयानाहोप्रदहेत्प्रलयाग्निना।
ततः पापविनिर्मुक्तः पश्चात्पुण्यानि नाशयेत् ॥ As the fire of annihilation burns away everything, pranayama destroys the multitude of sins. After freeing the yogi of all sins, it then destroys all his virtuous actions.
This describes the state wherein the yogi rises above the play of opposites and rests in his own Self, in supreme contentment.
136
