Pranayama – Breathing Exercises, SRF, Kriya Yoga

Pranayama – prana is the vital force, the force or energy used by Om or the Holy Ghost to run all 3 universes – the gross, subtle and causal.  The word ayama means control.

The most gross manifestations of the working of prana is breathing.  It also includes all other bodily functions.  Similarly it has other functions in the causal and subtle body.

Most people cannot reach the higher functions of the subtle and causal, so we start off with the prana in the gross body and work our ways inwards and higher.

I have repeatedly talked about the causal body, brahmanadi and that one has to be able to withdraw the prana from the limbs and body (making the body numb.  The best example of this was Paramhanasa Yogananda. When he was in Bombay in the 1930’s, he showed how he could die.  There were other physicians there and he had stopped his heard and breathing and was pronounced dead.  When he recovered at will, he was not able to walk or move without assistance. This is because the prana took a long time to descend back into the body.  This is similar to my experience I related about 2 years ago in the blog with Bade guruji, or Vishnutirthji Maharaj).

So,  how does one make the ascent back?  For this we must have a little better understanding of the prana.  The prana is generally impure. What do I mean by impure?  It means that it is all mixed up, intermingled with the workings of the chitta (emotions), intellect and the mind (organ or perception).  The prana is responsible for all of their functions – chitta, intellect and the mind. However, we are not aware of it.  Just like we are not aware of the spark of life that is present in every cell of the body. Or we are not aware of the gas running the car, even though,  we know the car functions.

The great saints of India and Patanjali Bhagwan gave us the easy way.  He saw that it is crucial to have the prana working independently of the chitta, intellect or mind.  Without that independent working, we will not be able to reach the causal body or ascend through the brahmanadi (the staircase to God).  So, he gave us the trick of Pranayama or breathing exercise. 

There are 9 pranayamas.  They can be found in any yoga treatise. It should be learnt and only practiced under the guidance of a Guru. The books describe 8.  The ninth pranayama is kevali or Kriya Yoga. This occurs when the prana is pure and ascends through Brahmanadi.  (see my detailed descrptions elsewhere about Brahmanadi).  So, by practicing pranayama, we are able to slowly achieve pure prana, the activity of prana without the intervention of chitta, intellect or the mind.  These three correspond to manipur, swadhisthana and muladhar chakras.  Once this is achieved, then it is easy for the prana to go in the Brahmanadi and the pranayama becomes Kevali or Kriya Yoga.  This begins to occur around the manipur.

Along with pranayama a few other things are needed to achieve this.

1) Purity of the heart

2) Sincerity to the cause of spiritual progress alone

3) A devoted heart to God and God alone

4) Surrender to God which should be complete.  Not a single thought or emotion that questions

5) Faith (see my blog on Faith to explain what it is).

Thus every part of the 8 divisions or anga of Yoga are crucial to go higher.  Todays experience was a clear experience describing these steps.

I forgot to mention a miracle that happened a few days ago.  I was walking in Royal Farms, in a rush to go to the bathroom. The floors were wet and there were no signs.   I slipped and fell down on my left side.  The miracle was although I fell, it felt like I fell on a tremendous cushion and actually enjoyed falling!  Needless to say there was no injury.  There is a saying in Gujarati, (Rama rakhe tene kaun chakhe?) meaning he who is protected by God, what does he have to worry about?  Maybe this falling was not really a miracle but it is better to believe it is a miracle and make the faith stronger!