Spiritual Message for the Day – Pranayama by Sri Swami Krishnananda

Baba Times Digest© | 17 December 2014 16.54 EST | New York Edition

The Practice of Pranayama

Divine Life Society Publication: The Importance of Asana and Pranayama by Sri Swami Krishnananda

If one has activities of a distracting nature, if one is a busybody, if one is always compelled to move about or if one has no time to sit - one cannot practice pranayama in that case because the agitation of the physical body will tell upon the pranas. It would be very dangerous and unwise to meddle with the pranas, even in the interest of bringing harmony to them, if the body is restless or exhausted, or is unwilling to yield. If the body is not amenable, the pranas will not be amenable. Thus, from our daily physical conduct, social behaviour and emotional moods, we can have an indication of the extent to which we can sit for pranayama. Tensions are quite the contrary, or the opposite, of the requisites in pranayama.

After having gained a sufficient mastery in asana  one should take to a serious practice of pranayama. One should not take to alternate breathing, etc., in the beginning. What is advised in the beginning is only deep inhalation and deep exhalation, which itself is a great achievement.

Most people do not breathe in or breathe out in a systematic or harmonious manner on account of distractions in the mind. The distraction of the prana is an indication of the agitation of the mind. The more are the desires in the mind, the more is the restlessness of the prana. There is an arrhythmic flow of the prana with heaves of wave emotions, which has to be brought down by calm and quiet pondering. Deep breathing is the only possibility for a beginner – not sideways and alternate breathing.

In fact, the breathing practice should not be done after any kind of exhausting work. For example,  it should not be combined with physical exercises because these physical exercises – or vyayama, as they are called are exercises which extrovert the prana, drive the prana out of the system, whereas pranayama is the opposite process which drives the prana inside. Therefore, we should not do two contrary activities. It is said that even yoga asanas should not be combined with physical exercises, for the same reason – because the purpose of yoga asanas is to tend the prana inwards for toning the system, whereas the purpose of physical exercises is to drive the prana out. We feel relaxed and do not feel tired after we practise asanas.

The purpose of this system called pranayama is to cleanse the nervous system through which the prana flows. Generally, when the prana flows in the usual manner, there is a so-called normalcy maintained, but the system is not cleansed due to a peculiar reason. We have, for instance, water flowing through a pipe. If water flows through a pipe in one direction only, and we allow the water to flow in the same direction for months, it can be seen that some sand or silt becomes deposited inside the bottom of the pipe, and this silt is not disturbed by the flow of the water due to its getting accustomed to the intensity of the flow. We can clean the pipe by running the water back and forth, again and again, repeatedly, with force.

Likewise, this alternate system of breathing called pranayama is something like driving water back and forth through the pipe for the purpose of cleansing the pipe – called the nerves or the nadis. Usually this alternate breathing is not practised. People breathe only in a single, linear fashion. Hence, though there is a flow of prana, the silt is there; the nerves are not cleansed. There is some kind of deposit which is not observed and which is the cause of various kinds of difficulties in the physiological system. The purpose of the bringing about of this cleansing through pranayama is, of course, obvious. It needs no mention that it should keep the body flexible and malleable, so that there will be no ache or feeling of fatigue in the body.

The quick feeling of exhaustion and fatigue in the system is due to the presence of some dross in the body. It may be due to continuous overeating or eating at wrong times; or, it may be due to eating the wrong food, which is not required by the system, and so on. It may be due to constipation, etc. There are umpteen causes for the toxic matter getting deposited in the system. Thus, there is always a feeling of unhappiness in the body. Always people complain something is wrong. It is quite understandable.

The prescription given here is to avoid these feelings by various means of purification. In this process of purification called asana and pranayama, the implication of the canons of yama and niyama is already there. As we go higher and higher, as we take further steps, at every step there should be a simhavalokanam, as they call it – a retrospection of the previous stages that we have passed through so that there cannot be, or need not be, or should not be a forgetfulness of what has happened in the past. This is to be remembered always. We are going to effect a greater purification with a greater intensity and tenacity of practice and not entirely newer types of purification.

In the earliest of stages there should be only deep inhalation and deep exhalation. The next higher stage is where we breathe alternately, and simultaneously try to hold the breath until a point of suffocation is reached, and do not go beyond that. But, the main or central purpose is to stop the breath in kumbhaka. The ultimate aim of pranayama is to stop the breathing. Alternate breathing is not the end, or aim; it is only a beginning. What is the intention behind stopping this breath? What do we gain out of it? This is a very great subject which is not only biological and psychological, but also philosophical.

The breathing process is a great obstacle to concentration of mind. The svasa and prasvasa processes, what we call respiration – inhalation and exhalation – are constant goads that keep the mind restless. The mind is trying to keep quiet and focus itself in what is called meditation, the aim of yoga. But these pranas push it from behind as well as from the front. They are like two brothers. One pushes from the front, the other from behind; one pulls from the top, another pulls from below. They are the prana and apana, as they are called. They cannot allow the mind to keep quiet. We cannot concentrate. No meditation is possible – no focusing, no attention, nothing of the kind – as long as this breathing process continues, because the constant pushing of the pranas hampers our attempt at concentration. That the retention of the breath is simultaneous with focusing, or concentration of mind, can be seen in daily practice where we are sometimes able to stop the breath spontaneously, without knowing it, when we are gazing at an object intently. Suppose there is a snake charmer, and he brings a snake with its hood raised. We stare at it and our breath stops – not because we are deliberately stopping the breath but because our mind is so much concentrated on what is happening there.

When we are compelled to concentrate the mind on a given objective, function or task that we are doing, the breath stops. It is very clear that the breath must stop if the mind is to concentrate; otherwise, there is no concentration.

Inasmuch as the intention of yoga is deep meditation – the absorption of the subject with the object, the embracing of the subject and the object together in a fraternal embrace of union – inasmuch as such a tremendous concentration is called for,  we can imagine why the yoga shastras lay so much emphasis upon the regulation of the breath. When the pranas do not cooperate with the intentions and aspirations of the mind, the intentions and aspirations fail.

Hence, these two should go together. The attempt at the concentration of the mind and the subdual of the movement of the pranas – both these should go together harmoniously, so that the rajas in the mind as well as the rajas in the prana are put down in order that the level of sattva be raised, which is the same as concentration of mind.

Excerpts from: Pranayama  - The Importance of Asana and Pranayama by Sri Swami Krishnananda

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