Pran and Pranayam

Author(s): Niranjananand Saraswati Swami
Publisher: Yoga Publication Trust

Page 9

myself into five parts, who supports and sustains this body." The deities did not believe him. Indignantly, Prana began to withdraw from the body. Instantly, all the other deities found themselves withdrawing too. When Prana again settled in the body, the deities found that they had assumed their respective places. Convinced of Prana's superiority, all now paid obeisance to Prana.
Prana is the vital force that sustains not only the body, but also creation at every level. The seers of India have always known what modern science has been trying to fathom: the existence of a primeval force, its nature, potential, and how to harness it. Every yogic science - mantra, yajna, austerities, different forms of concentration and meditation - is aimed at awakening and enhancing this vital force within the unit of the individual or the wider universe.
The Sanskrit word prana is a combination of two syllables, pra and na, and denotes constancy, a force in constant motion. Prana exists in sentient beings as the energy that drives every action, voluntary and involuntary, every thought, every level of the mind and body. Scientific research describes prana as a complex multidimensional energy: a combination of electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic, photonic, ocular, thermal and mental energies.
Prana also exists in the insentient world, causing motion, growth and decay at this level. Prana is, indeed, the basis of manifested creation. It is the force that emerged out of the 'original willing' of the primal consciousness to bring about creation. The Chhandogya Upanishad (1:11:5) says:
सर्वाणि ह वा इमानि भूतानि ।
प्राणमेवाभिसंविशंति प्राणमभ्युज्जिहते ॥ In prana all moveable and immoveable beings merge (during dissolution) and rise out of prana (during creation).
In the individual being, prana pervades the entire being, projecting itself in what the yogis called pranamaya kosha - a level of existence subtler than the physical. The existence