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Pranayama, very popular in all the yoga schools everywhere you will see. Asana and Pranayama. Asana are the different yogic postures and Pranayama breathing.
In Patanjali Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Eightfold Yoga. What are they? Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama. So fourth practice in Ashtanga Yoga is Pranayama. Then Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi.
What do they mean? First are the Yama and Niyama, the moral practices. Then Asana, sitting, posture.
Fourth one is breathing, Pranayama. Pranayama means control of the prana. Prana ayama, control of the prana.
Then fifth one is Pratyahara, withdrawing the senses from outside. Sixth one is Dharana, focusing on something. Seventh one is meditation. So meditation is not an easy thing. Meditation is the seventh of the eight limbs of yoga.
And the eighth one is the deepest meditation possible, Samadhi. Anyway, that's Patanjali yoga. So that Pranayama, Shankaracharya refers to here.
First of all, we shall see as we do the basic practice, and then the advanced practice. First the yogic practice and then the Vedantic practice. What is the basic practice?
The yogis discovered one thing. If you want to meditate and calm down your mind, Certain things are helpful, certain things are not helpful. For example, sitting still is helpful. Moving around, not helpful.
So they discovered particular postures for sitting, not just sitting still in any particular posture, like this. There are particular postures, asanas, suitable for meditation. What else did they discover?
For example, we just read Drishti, keeping the eyes fixed. That is helpful for meditation. Keep looking around, not helpful for meditation. What else did they discover? A huge discovery, very big discovery was breath is connected to the mind.
Breath is connected, breathing, breathing in, breathing out is connected to the mind. How? They noticed that when the breathing is agitated, mind is also agitated.
When the mind is agitated, breathing is agitated. You are excited, angry, furious. You see, breathing is faster. Short and jerky and fast. You are tired, exhausted or feeling sick, you will see breathing is heavy.
Slow maybe, sometimes faster, sometimes in fever breathing is shallow and fast. You're concentrated. You will find breathing is even and calm. Automatically.
Now what the yogis thought was, if you want to concentrate and calm down the mind, difficult to fight with the mind directly. Start with the breath and they discovered something remarkable. If you control the breath, mind is controlled. Breathe deeply and evenly and they have techniques for this. A few cycles of that, you will see mind becomes calm.
Even three deep breaths will calm your mind for a while. So breathing is connected to the mind. Catch hold, directly to catch hold of the mind is difficult, subtle.
But you can catch hold of the breath. Catch hold means you can control the breath. You can control the in-breath, you can control the holding of the breath, you can control the release of the breath.
So they developed breathing techniques, proper breathing. And then they discovered not only for meditation, breathing is connected deeply. deeply to the health of the body. You see Pranamaya and Annamaya.
Annamaya is physical body. Pranamaya is the vital body. Breathing is part of the Pranamaya, the vital body. So if you control the breathing and the breathing is proper and healthy, it will have a healthful effect on the physical body.
They discovered different techniques of breathing can cure diseases. And it's not strange because diseases are a feature of the malfunctioning of the vital forces in the body, of the prana in the body, of the flow of prana. So flow of prana cannot be directly controlled, but if you control...
the breathing, the flow of prana in the body is also controlled. The yogis found this out. So they developed a variety of techniques.
Pranayama is a vast subject. Yesterday we had a well-known yogi visiting from India, a master of Hatha Yoga, Pandit Radhesham Mishraji. So he's the master of the Ujjain School of Yoga, a very old school of yoga in India.
So he visited us yesterday and he was telling me that he wrote a book on breathing, 770 pages. He was telling me it hardly sold in a few copies. Nobody is interested.
You would think people are interested in breathing. You think what is there to learn about breathing? I know breathing.
I am breathing all the time. No, you are not. One of the early masters to come out from India to... teach Hatha Yoga in USA.
Iyengar, I think he's lights on yoga probably. Either that book, the three great masters who came in the early part of the 20th century. Iyengar was there, then Krishnamacharya and Pattabhi Joyce. So they formed, they are at the source of the various schools of Hatha Yoga which are popular throughout the West now.
One of them, I think it was Iyengar, he said, my first interaction with Westerners showed me something interesting. What? They are hardly breathing at all. And remember, that was a long time ago, before our hectic...
hyperactive times. Even at that time, he said, they were hardly breathing at all. They were using only a part of their lung capacity.
They are so tense. The clothes they wear, the posture they hold, and they get into bad habits of breathing. So they are not breathing properly, unless they are taught how to do that.
Breathing is necessary for any kind of physical activity, whether it's sports. Breathing is necessary for living also. It's highly recommended.
But sports and singing and anything, athletics, dancing, all of that, you need to learn breathing all over again. So he would give special emphasis on breathing lessons again. Pranayama has a variety of techniques for breathing, many, many techniques.
So it's a vast science in itself. To make the asanas more effective in Hatha Yoga, they also have pranayama along with them. In fact, these three are very important. Asana, of course, pranayama and bandha.
We also did bandha, the locks. This is the Hatha Yoga. Basic practice of pranayama, they have three terms. Puraka, breathing in.
Kumbhaka, holding the breath. Rechaka, releasing the breath. So breathing in, holding, releasing.
Now the holding can be internal when you breathe in and hold your breath. And the holding can be external. You breathe out and keep it out for a while.
So the technique is this. It's performed in every ritual or before meditation. You can do that. I'm not teaching you.
By the way, one thing is pranayama should be learned from an expert. Pranayama should never be practiced from books or casually like that because it can have dangerous effects. Pranayama is one thing which can have serious side effects if it's not practiced properly, if it's not learned.
from a good yoga teacher. I had a friend who lost his mind because he practiced sophisticated systems of pranayama without the proper routine, diet and discipline. Later on he recovered.
covered but it was a great lesson so there are people who have lost their minds or they have got diseases because they practice pranayama improperly so with that caution what is the technique the basic technique is this is you close the right nostril like this and breathe in four counts mentally you can count one two three four or four ohms oh don't say it mentally then you hold like this for 16 ohms or 16 counts. So 4, 16, then you release with the right nostril for 4 counts. No, 8 counts. So if you breathe in for 8, hold for 16, release for 8. Breathe in for 4, hold for 16, release for 8. 4, 16, 8. The ratio should be like that.
And then you breathe in from the right nostril for four counts, hold for 16 and then release for eight again. So in four counts, hold 16 counts, release eight counts. That's the basic pranayama.
And then they multiply more and more and more. So the breathing becomes longer and deeper. Deeper and deeper.
You can hold for 64 counts. Don't try it. Unless you are an expert in pranayama.
So, this is the basic technique. Breathing in, holding, letting go. That is yoga. What does Shankaracharya have to say about it?
You know well in advance, he is going to say it is Brahman. Let's see what Shankaracharya says. He devotes three verses to it.
Wonderful practice. The Advaitic practice of Pranayama. 118. chitta di sarva bhaveshu brahmatve naiva bhavanat nirodha sarva vritti naam pranayama sa ucyate The restraint of all the modifications of the mind by regarding all mental states like the chitta as Brahman alone is called pranayama. Cessation of the modification of the mind. Chitta vritti nirodha.
That's the goal of yoga which we just discussed. We just discussed this. What are you trying to do in yoga?
Cessation of all the modifications of the mind. The mind, the thoughts which come up in the mind, calm down those modifications. That is yoga, right? You are with me?
Now what he is saying is, the real chitta vritti nirodha is not to shut down the mind. but to regard everything in the universe, everything in the universe, including the mind and the modifications of the mind, as Brahman. So not only no thought, when you have thoughts also, about what? About anything. Those thoughts are also Brahman.
Internal and externally, it is Brahman alone. The chitta, the mind itself is Brahman. When you think of any thought, whatever you think about, that is Brahman.
So every thought that arises in the mind is Brahman. Every object outside is Brahman. Everything there, you yourself are Brahman.
This, keeping this knowledge in view, this is the real pranayama. Chittaadi Sarva Bhavanam Everything that arises in your awareness is Brahman. Swami Virajananda, who was president of the order, he used to say, When I look at the world, the entire world, including the body and mind, everything is revealed at once to my awareness.
So either I am all of it or I am none of it. The Ajnani, the ignorant person thinks, I am this much. Where do I stop? I stop at the tip of my finger. I am all inside this is me, outside this barrier of the skin is not me.
Me, not me. Me and you. Different. Now the Jnani thinks, all of this is me, Brahman. Or none of this is me.
The Jnani can say equally, I am not the world, obviously. I am not the body. I am not the mind. I am not the intellect. All of that I am not.
Panchakosha, the Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Vijnanamaya, Anandamaya, I am none of that. I am the witness consciousness of all of these. They are false appearances.
I am the one real consciousness. You can say that. Or the Jnani can say, I am all of them. I am the mind too. I am the breath too.
I am the body too. I am the world. I am the universe too. How? All of them are nothing but pure consciousness with names and forms.
How does that work? The water in the ocean can say that I am not the wave. I am not the bubble.
I am not the spray. I am not the surf. What am I? I am water.
Or the water can say, I am the wave. I am the bubble. I am the surf. I am the spray. Is it not true?
Are you following me? Is it not true? The water is everything? Yes.
And other than the water, is there any wave? Is there any bubble? Is there any surf? Is there any spray? No.
Similarly, you the consciousness are none of this. There are appearances in you, they exist in you, they disappear in you. Or you can say, you the consciousness are all of this. Take the dream example.
Everything you see in the dream, everybody you see in the dream, including yourself in the dream. Every experience that happened in the dream, everything that you ate and you heard and you saw, all of that is false. They're appearances, they're dream.
Or you can say, I alone am all of them. Both are true. What is not true is what seemed in the dream.
What did it seem like in the dream? When you are not aware it's a dream. When you are dreaming the dream.
It seemed like another waking experience. I am this much and they are all separate from me. If at this moment you suddenly sit up on your bed. Then what will you think? Oh, I was dreaming of the Vedanta class.
The Vedanta society and the Swami and the lecturer and me too sitting on the chair and see all of that was my mind. True. So he says, all of this is Brahman. So this is real pranayama.
How do you practice it? He will tell you what is breathing in. Very nice practice.
What is breathing in? What is breathing out? What is holding the breath? In Advaita, not in yoga. See.
119. nishedhanam prapanchasya nishedhanam prapanchasya rechakakhyasamirina rechakakhyasamirana brahmaivasmetiyavritti brahmaivasmetiyavritti purako vayuririta purako vayuririta tata stadvritti naischalyam tata stadvritti naischalyam kumbhaka pranasangyamam kumbhaka pranasangyamam ayam chapi prabuddhanam ayam chapi prabuddhanam He says, now what is breathing in? He says, breathing in. What is breathing out?
What is holding the breath? He says, the negation of the phenomenal world is breathing out. The thought that I am Brahman is breathing in. And holding that thought that I am Brahman is called holding the breath.
This is the pranayama of the enlightened. And the other one is torturing the nose. This is a humorous little mischievous tweak he puts at the end. What the others are doing, this one.
This one. This is torturing the nose, grana peedanam. You're just inflicting suffering on the nose, twisting the nose. So this is the pranayama of the enlightened. It reminds me of a story.
Swami Subodhananda, Khoka Maharaj, who is a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, Dadik disciple, that's his picture there. He used to be in Belur Math. He was simple like a boy, so his name was Khoka.
Khoka means little boy. He was in Belur Math and it was his practice to go to the veranda near Swami Vivekananda's room, upstairs, those who have seen Belur Math, and sit there facing the Ganges, the river, and he would read the Adhyatma Ramayana there. That's the spiritual version. of the Ramayana. So one day he was doing that and this was seen and narrated by Swami Shraddhananda who was the Swami in the the Sacramento Center.
Long ago, in the 1950s, 60s, up to, he passed away in the 90s, 90s, yes. So, that Swami, he saw this and he narrated it to others. He said that he saw Kokamara sitting upstairs there and reading something, looking up and laughing. Then he's again reading something and looking up and laughing. So this Swami could not restrain his curiosity anymore.
He went upstairs and he asked Maharaj, what are you reading, what are you seeing and why are you laughing? So he said, you know, Shraddha Nandaji's name was Bimal. You know Bimal, I am reading here That the world is false. Jagat Mithya. What does Vedanta teach?
Brahman Satyam Jagat Mithya. Brahman alone is real. The world is false. I am reading that the world is false.
And I look up and I see everything is a mountain of ashes. Then I again read the book. And it says, Brahman alone is real.
And I look up, everything, the river, Calcutta, everything in front of me, everything is Sri Ramakrishna. He saw Sri Ramakrishna as Brahman. Everything is Sri Ramakrishna. When I read, when I have the jnana, the understanding that the world is an appearance, I see everything is a mountain of ashes. Ashes means nothing, valueless, false, appearance.
And I burst into laughter. Again, this book tells me everything is Brahman. And I look up and truly everything is Sri Ramakrishna. Everything is Brahman. That's why I again burst into laughter.
It's the same thing. How does it work? When you look at the rope and the snake. See it as the snake?
False. False. It's not real.
There's no such thing as a snake. See it as the rope? Real. It's a rope.
It's like seeing various jewels, bracelets, necklaces, rings. They are all names and forms. You can see them as different ornaments. Or you can see them as one gold. The difference is, you don't have to do anything to your eyes.
It's not like they put on 3D specs and you see a movie in 3D. You don't have to put on 3D specs. You only have to put on Vedanta specs. Vedanta glasses.
Somebody told me, don't say specs in USA, say glasses. Vedanta glasses. Put on Vedanta glasses and you will see the world as Brahman. Or you will see the world as an appearance.
Both are true. What Shankaracharya is saying, seeing the world as an appearance that is breathing out. Breathe out the world. And then breathe in, I am Brahman.
A vast ocean of existence, consciousness, bliss. Outside and inside, that I am. I am this Brahman that's breathing in. And steady yourself in that knowledge, I am Brahman that's holding the breath.
If you can't hold the breath too long, you have to let it out, world is, I'm breathing out the world. Breathing in, I am Brahman. Stay there.
So, that is Vedantic Pranayama. Non-dual Pranayama. Everything inside and outside is Brahman. A vast ocean of existence consciousness, please.
You see, if Brahman, God is something somewhere else, you have to go there. God is in heaven, you have to go to heaven. Or if God is somewhere else, some other time, not now, some other time, then you have to wait. After death, after samadhi, After the second coming of the Christ, then only I will meet. So you have to wait.
If God is someone other than you, you have to meet God and make friends with Him, God, and have a relationship with God. But Vedanta says, God is here, everywhere and here. If God is here, where do you have to go? God is now, all the time and now, eternal and now. If God is now, what will you wait for?
God is you. Whom do you want to meet and make friends with? That reality which is here and now and you. What do you have to do to get that reality? Nothing, only you need to recognize it.
You need knowledge. Once you realize that, inside and outside, with eyes closed and with eyes open, you see that same reality. This is the teaching of Vedanta. Little difficult to get, but once you get it, it's remarkable. Here you have to get it.
In yoga you have to do something. You have to hold your breath. You have to breathe in, breathe out, hold your breath. That's the technique of pranayama. and that's used for calming the mind.
Remember, it's not a criticism of yoga. Does the yogic pranayama work? Certainly. There's no doubt about it. You try just three rounds of pranayama, your mind will calm down.
But does it give you nirvana? Does it give you moksha? Does it settle all your problems of samsara?
Does it take you beyond suffering? No. Become Swami Vivekananda's Messenger.
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