Sambodhi 1980 Vol 09

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 33

Haribhadra's Synthesis of Yoga
but not his religion. He knows that the man's religion is the real companion from life to life. He gets pleasure in devotion and begins to have a vision of his goal.
Patanjali describes this stage as Prāņāyāma. It simply means the control of the breath if only its literal meaning is taken. But in Sanskrit, Prāņa means not only the breath but also the physical, psychic and spiritual energy. Prāņāyāma therefore means the control of all such energy. The word Ayāma meaning control deserves some attention on our part. It means a willing control, it does not mean inhibition at all. Inhibition generates reactions but control gives command over all the energies and their functions. In sādhanā as well as in the life of the common man, energies play an important role. Most of the problems of abnormalities are due to the lack of control of the energies in man. The energies are like fire: if they are mastered they are useful but if they become the master they play havoc.
If prāņāyāma is well secured it removes all the obstacles and the inner light begins to shine and illumines the mind. This too is a matter of common observation. When a man is self-controlled he is self-stabilized and his mind works efficiently but when his mental and physical energies are diffused, he cannot use even his common sense. Such common experience suggests too that the control of energies is the most important task even in day to day life. For the sādhaka, such a control alone can lead him to spiritual concentration. That is why Patañjali states that Prāņāyāma alone makes the mind steady and also ready for concentration. The art and the beauty of the style of Patañjali lies in the fact that he expresses great and experiential truths along with operational methods very succinctly and still very clearly. The truths reveal themselves as the methods are followed in practice sincerely and correctly and they lead the sādhaka to the next higher stage. Such a sādhanā is self-revelationary and if correctly followed leads him from step to step and from level to level uptil the highest stage.
Vedyasamved yapada and Siddbätma
This term is introduced by Haribhadra in the transitory stage and suggest thereby that unless the sādhaka attains to 'such a resting place where the knowables are known', he cannot progress further. This is an inner state of consciousness wherefrom the sādhaka can know all that is knowable. Even the knowledge of the scriptures is poor guide when compared to such a knowledge gained from an inner resting place. Haribhadra has elaborated on this subject perhaps too much but his purpose seems to