(Swamy Rama Tirtha 1873-1906)
Pranayama literally means "control of breath". The Hindu books on yoga gives eight principal methods of controlling the breath. But Rama will lay before you only one method known as Pranayama, a very important method of controlling the breath. This is a kind of physical exercise. Those who think that this Pranayama has got something mystical, some divine meaning in it, are mistaken. Those who think that the highest Realization culminates in it and that there is nothing higher than it, are mistaken. Pranayama or this control of breath has nothing supernatural in it. It is an ordinary exercise. Just as you go out and take physical exercise, so is this, a kind of exercise of the lungs. There is no real significance in it, nothing mystic about it.
BENEFITS OF PRANAYAMA
It will cure you of many physical diseases. Most of your diseases leave you; consumption, diseases of the stomach, blood diseases, and almost every diseases will leave you if you practise that. We will now see what is that.
METHODS OF PRACTICE
In order to practise Pranayama you must sit in a most comfortable, easy position to sit cross-legged is the most comfortable posture, but this posture will kill you, a West Indian. You may sit in an easy chair. Keep your body straight, back-bone stiff, head-up, chest out, eyes front. Place the right hand thumb on the right nostril, and inhale the breath slowly through the left nostril. Go on inhaling slowly, until you feel at ease, go on inhaling as long as you conveniently can. While inhaling, let not the mind be vacant. While you are inhaling, let the mind be concentrated on the thought that all omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent divinity is being inhaled, that you are drinking divinity, the Godhead, the whole world, the whole universe. Well, when you think you have filled in the air to your best, then close the left nostril, through which you were inhaling, by finger; thus when you stop both strips, let not the breath escape through the mouth; keep the inhaled breath within you in the lungs, in the stomach; in the abdomen; all the activities being filled with air, the air which you have inhaled, and when the breathed air is in you, let not the mind be vacant, let the mind be centered in the idea, in the truth that you are divinity, the Almighty god that fills, permeates and pervades everything, every atom and molecule in the universe
PRECAUTION
Be natural in every part of this breathing process. Make efforts, do your best to lengthen every process, but do not fatigue yourself. Do not work much yourself. If after performing only the firs two processes, say, the inhalation and keeping the breath in your lungs, you feel tired, stop. Stop, you are under no obligation. The next day be more considerate, and while performing the first processes or the second process, try to keep your energies reserved, so that you may be able to continue the remaining processes; be judicious.
BENEFITS OF PRANAYAMA
It will cure you of many physical diseases. Most of your diseases leave you; consumption, diseases of the stomach, blood diseases, and almost every diseases will leave you if you practise that. We will now see what is that.
METHODS OF PRACTICE
In order to practise Pranayama you must sit in a most comfortable, easy position to sit cross-legged is the most comfortable posture, but this posture will kill you, a West Indian. You may sit in an easy chair. Keep your body straight, back-bone stiff, head-up, chest out, eyes front. Place the right hand thumb on the right nostril, and inhale the breath slowly through the left nostril. Go on inhaling slowly, until you feel at ease, go on inhaling as long as you conveniently can. While inhaling, let not the mind be vacant. While you are inhaling, let the mind be concentrated on the thought that all omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent divinity is being inhaled, that you are drinking divinity, the Godhead, the whole world, the whole universe. Well, when you think you have filled in the air to your best, then close the left nostril, through which you were inhaling, by finger; thus when you stop both strips, let not the breath escape through the mouth; keep the inhaled breath within you in the lungs, in the stomach; in the abdomen; all the activities being filled with air, the air which you have inhaled, and when the breathed air is in you, let not the mind be vacant, let the mind be centered in the idea, in the truth that you are divinity, the Almighty god that fills, permeates and pervades everything, every atom and molecule in the universe
PRECAUTION
Be natural in every part of this breathing process. Make efforts, do your best to lengthen every process, but do not fatigue yourself. Do not work much yourself. If after performing only the firs two processes, say, the inhalation and keeping the breath in your lungs, you feel tired, stop. Stop, you are under no obligation. The next day be more considerate, and while performing the first processes or the second process, try to keep your energies reserved, so that you may be able to continue the remaining processes; be judicious.
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Source: In Woods of God-Realization Vol-II by Swamy Rama Tirtha (1873-1906)
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1 comment:
Thank you Pandey for your readings and good comments.
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