Two systems of Pranayama Practice
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 5 years before Apr 30, 2018
MiBeloved 5 years ago
This morning I got some kriya practice energy from Sri Lahiri Mahasaya. He mentioned a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, which runs like this:
अपाने जुह्वति प्राणं
प्राणेऽपानं तथापरे ।
प्राणापानगती रुद्ध्वा
प्राणायामपरायणाः ॥४.२९॥
apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ
prāṇe'pānaṁ tathāpare
prāṇāpānagatī ruddhvā
prāṇāyāmaparāyaṇāḥ (4.29)
apāne — in exhalation; juhvati — they offer; prāṇam — inhalation; prāṇe — in inhalation; 'pānaṁ = apāṇaṁ — in exhalation; tathāpare = tathā— similarly + apare — others; prāṇāpāna gatī = prāṇa — energizing air + apāna — de-energizing air + gatī— channel; ruddhvā — restraining; prāṇāyāmaparāyaṇāḥ = prāṇa — inhaling + āyāma — regulate + parāyaṇāḥ — intent
Some offer inhalation into the exhalation channels; similarly others offer the exhalation into the inhalation channels, thus being determined to restrain the channels of the energizing and de-energizing airs. (Bhagavad Gita 4.29)
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Two very different systems of breath infusion are listed. The first is based on apāne, which is pushing prana fresh air into apana carbon dioxide. The e ending of apāne is the dative case meaning the preposition in, into.
The second procedure is based on prāṇe, which is pulling apana used air through the prana fresh air which is being compressed into the system. The e ending of prāṇe is the dative case meaning the preposition into or through.
These two methods are the sum total of pranayama practice in terms of breath infusion for converting the subtle body into a yoga siddha form. It begins with the first method which is to compress fresh air into the psyche and force it down into the system so that it mixes with and compresses any residual apana used energy which is in the subtle body.
If done successfully, this causes kundalini to ascend though sushumna nadi. The focus in that preliminary practice is to increase the prana in the system and to let the prana mix with, drive out and compress and disintegrate the influence of the apana carbon dioxide energy. This preliminary practice takes up most of the time the ascetic will spend with pranayama. After some time there will be a break-through. Then an advanced yogi will explain the next process.
In the second stage the ascetic is no longer concerned with compressing prana fresh energy into the subtle body. This happens automatically by virtue of having done the practice for some years consistently.
The attention of the ascetic then shifts to extracting apana carbon dioxide out of the system, out of both the physical and subtle bodies simultaneously. The same breathing practice continues, with the same postures more or less, maybe with a few additional ones, but with the attention of the ascetic on extracting the apana energy. This is a very illusive energy which is difficult to target, difficult to focus on, difficult to grasp, and difficult to draw out of the system.
Alfredo 5 years ago
Very nice, thanks Acharya Ji!
Talking about Shyama Charan Lahiri Baba's lineage, this morning I woke up earlier than usual, and during the practice, alas, while I was chanting the "Om guruve namah" mantra even before it, the presence of Shri Hariharananda was felt very strongly.
It continued to be felt into the practice proper, and then subsided. But, poor me, I can't tell whether this is a figment of my imagination or the real thing!
As per Lahiri Baba, it is a wonder to witness the influence that this Mahayogin has had even today. I have here with me a short biography written by professor Jogesh Chandra Bhattacharya, and the pictures of his eminent sons, Shri Tinkori Lahiri, and Shri Dukori Lahiri, are there, as well as one of his most famous disciples, perhaps besides Swami Shriyukteshwar, and one you are quite acquainted with, Yogiraj Panchanan Bhattacharya.
It is not difficult to discern that all these are Bengali names.
By the way, Yoganandaji's name was Mukunda Lal Ghosh, and Hariharananda's Rabindranath Bhattacharya, being most Bengali Bhattacharyas, Brahmins.
MiBeloved 5 years ago
Alfredo wrote:
Talking about Shyama Charan Lahiri Baba's lineage, this morning I woke up earlier than usual, and during the practice, alas, while I was chanting the "Om guruve namah" mantra even before it, the presence of Shri Hariharananda was felt very strongly.
It continued to be felt into the practice proper, and then subsided. But, poor me, I can't tell whether this is a figment of my imagination or the real thing!
MiBeloved's Response:
Lack of confidence in subtle perception is a dangerous disease. It sponsors and reinforces doubt and discouragement from practice. It is something that one needs to keep to oneself, just as if one caught a deadly strain of pneumonia, one would not be breathing in the face of others, unless one was plumb crazy.
So what should one do with the energy of uncertainty, the doubts, the distrust of the psychic sense of the mind and the fear of miscalculation of the intuition?
One should calibrate it.
How is that done?
By using pen and paper and recording all inspirations and ideas which one got during meditation? Then working with these to see if their compliance leads anywhere. Over time one will develop a sense of ---this type of intuition is unreliable--- and ---this other type is the one which I should follow.
If you do not trust your mind, then calibrate it. Take notations about its intuitions. Then determine to what degree the mind is inaccurate. What other mind can you use but your own? Since you cannot make the mind disappear, you may as well figure the accuracy of it. It is never totally incorrect and it may never be totally correct but you can come up with an average and get the process to advance.
Instead of harboring doubt, make notation, put the suggestions to use and then calibrate the various nuances of intuition.
Alfredo 5 years ago
Thanks...will do!
