3.1 The Basic Fabric of Creation

(continued from previous issue)

They are summarised as under in the table :

Control over Pranas including two Upa-Pranas - Devadatta and Dhananjaya - comes under the usual realm of Pranayama in which we control breathing. The set of practices in which we gain mastery over Samana comes under the heading Kriyas (including Sat Kriyas of Hatha Yoga) and Bandhas. Uddiyana Bandha controls the digestive forces. Gaining mastery over Apana and thereby on Varistha Prana is accomplished in Kriya Yoga by learning to pull up Apana and to offer it as oblation to Prana. Mula Bandha is one of the bandhas used for this purpose.
Kriya Yoga is used extensively by Yukteshvar Giri tradition in Varanasi. This has been spread widely by Swami Yogananda who established the Self-Realisation Fellowship in Los Angeles, USA, and Yogoda Satsañg in Ranchi, Jharkhanda.

Gaining mastery over the sense of touch, Vyana and thereby of Varistha Prana, is accomplished by the yoga techniques of deep relaxation, ùavasana and yoga nidra. Mudras also help in invoking the Vyana and bringing control over its movements.

Udana and its control are the subject matter of what is popularly known as Kundalini Yoga.

It is evident from the above description that Pranayama, in its most generalised understanding covers a wide spectrum of Yoga techniques. However, the conventional and popular definition of Pranayama is to gain mastery over Varistha Prana through Prana by controlling breath. The main bulk of the rest of this book presents this aspect of Pranayama while brief mention and description of other aspects of Pranayama is also included for a better comprehension.

Bridging the body and mind

The body-mind problem has been the most intriguing one for centuries. How does the unseen subtle mind connect itself with the gross physical body?
Link between the Subtle and the Gross

For a modern man in this hi-tech era where wireless transmission is a common place event, movement of a Sputnik or Robot or a Space craft on the moon through remote control is no more intriguing as it was a few decades ago.

The Upanisadic seers and Yoga masters had the knowledge as to how the mind works through Prana that controls and governs various functions in the physical body. Neuro-biologists have found certain areas in the brain, by the triggering of which (by electric signals through remote control) different emotions like laughing, anger, pace, etc., can be invoked. Stimulating hypothalamus can set up a series of reactions throughout the body to prepare the body for a ‘fight or flight’ reaction. Unseen magnetic forces can move physical objects. Similarly, the mind changes the Pranic distribution and thereby affects various functions in the gross physical body. Mind and Prana, structurally or basically, are not different from each other. As seen earlier, Prana manifests itself as mind, intellect and ego as it gets subtler. Hence there is an intimate connection between mind and Panca Pranas. When mind is disturbed, the Prana also gets disturbed which shows up as breathing haphazardness or imbalances.

The imbalance in breathing disturb the physiological functions and become pathological. Modern disease as asthma, hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), migraine, hyperacidity etc., are the results of such imbalances. Such diseases disturb the Panca Pranas, mind and Prana in turn, and the feedbacks continue aggravating the disease status. This vicious circle can be cut by either pharamacological interventions or Yoga Techniques.

(to be continued in the next issue)