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Thinking of the supreme-being through disciplining of breath/101
mean infatuation for body; it means preparing the body for meditation. We don't have to dry-up our body; rather we have to keep the body always prepared for attainment of self. A very good formula is 'Shareermadyam Khalu dharma sadhanam'. Body is but the door to enter into religion. And, Pranayam makes the body completely dedicated and attuned for meditation.
'Pranayam' is mainly related to breath. Breath, i.e., beginning of life, foundation-stone of life. A child may be mute or even handicapped by birth. It can also be blind by birth, but no one can get life without breath. The action of breath is in reality the process of life. That is why just as body-restraint is necessary for a good life; so is the breath-restraint. 'Pranayam' is a mode of breath-restraint. 'Pranayam' is comprised by the actions of taking the breath in, stopping it and releasing it. Inhaling is 'poorak' (filling), keeping of the breath in 'Kumbhak' (storing), and exhaling is 'rechak' (purgation).
man.
A
All these three modes of Pranayam are related to common Not only with man, but with the entire existence. The lower the speed of one's breath, the longer is his life-span. Have you seen how does a dog breathe? How fast does it breathe ? In a minute, it breathes nearly thirty times. A rabbit breathes even more; it breathes 38 times in a minute. The more the frequency of breath in a creature, the shorter is his life-span. rabbit, supposedly, lives for eight years. A dog lives for thirteenfourteen years. Darwin says that man evolved in slow motion. The breath gets such a motion that taking of breath is not even felt. The turtle takes only five-six breaths in minute. The performance of 'pranayam' bears a great similarity with the consciousness of the turtle. Restraint of breath promotes restraint of body too. By controlling the speed of breath, a person can also decelerate the speed of his vices. This is the discipline of yoga.
'Pranayam' brings about a live transfusion of consciousness in the entire arterial cycles, in the nerves. The energy to work is enhanced. It have also found that even the fibres of knowledge are cleaned by it.
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