Man is a divine spirit that is linked with matter by intelligence. Man is also said to be the spark of the Divine Flame (Swara, Isvara or God). His descent into the world of matter is to gain mastery of the senses and knowledge of form. He gains such creative mastery through service, love, and the knowledge of the ancient wisdom, of rules, morality, and ethics. Man is the only free agent in nature; all beings to pass human stage. His progress is not doing what he likes but like a musician, he should play in harmonious accord with all. In manifestation, the spiritual man unfolds his consciousness and the matter evolves from simplicity to complexity. (Ordinarily, man is the measure of all his experiences. What he does not experience is measured in other terms.) This is an outline of the philosophy of tatwas (Tatvas) taught in the spiritual unfoldment and the evolution of matter through the functioning of intelligence. Ancient sages taught this ancient wisdom to man by words, life they lived, and illumination.
There is a vast difference between the manifested form and that which is manifested through the form, and then we know that we shall not die with the body. When man knows the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear, having severed himself from his physical nature becomes immortal. Immortality is attained when man transcend his apparent nature and finds that subtle eternal and inexhaustible essence which is within him.
SWARA (Isvara – God)
The primeval current of life-wave is the same which in man assumes the form of inspiratory and expiratory motion of the lungs, and this is the all-pervading source of the evolution and the involution of the universe. The book goes on: “It is the Swara that has given form to the first accumulations of the divisions of the universe; the Swara causes involution and evolution; the Swara is God Himself, or more properly the great Power (Mahashwara).” The Swara is the manifestation of the impression on matter of that power which in man is known to us as the power that knows itself. It is to be understood that the action of this power never ceases. It is ever at work, and evolution and involution are the very necessity of its unchangeable existence.
PURPOSE OF CREATION
The purpose of creation is to serve, to love, and learn the law and rules of manifestation.
PURPOSE OF THE SPARKS OF THE DIVINE FLAME (Solar Logos)
To cooperate in His labor (Activity), channel of His life (Wisdom), and administrator of His Will.
SPIRIT
This is the anandamaya kosha, literally the coil of bliss of the Vedantins. With the power of psychic perception, the soul knows the existence of this entity, but in the present stage of human development it has hardly made its presence directly felt in the human constitution. The characteristic difference between the soul and the spirit is the absence of the “I” in the latter. (There is a Vedic teaching entitled Upanishads* which explain and elaborate the meaning of Spirit. The essence of the work is quoted and shown at the end of this article.)
SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION
Spirituality is an evolution of the world within oneself so that it embraces the entire world outside. The mind is cleansed and sees what the world really is. Religion is re-union of the soul with the spirit; not factions warring against each other without knowing whom or what they are fighting for.
EVOLUTION
The days and nights follow each other in eternal succession, and hence eternal evolution and involution. We have thus five sets of days and night: (1) Parabrahma, (2) Brahma, (3) Daiva, (4) Pitrya, (5) Manusha. A sixth is the Manwantara day, and the Manwantara night (pralaya). The days and nights of parabrahma follow each other without beginning or end. The night (the negative period) and the day (the positive period) both merge into the susumna (the conjunctive period) and merge into each other. And so do the other days and nights. The days all through this division are sacred to the positive, the hotter current, and the nights are sacred to the negative, the cooler current. The impressions of names and forms, and the power of producing an impression, lie in the positive phase of existence. Receptivity is given birth to by the negative current.
1. Parabrahaman is the Cosmic Logos.
2. Brahman is the Solar Logos.
3. Daiva (Devas, Creator of Form) is Divine
4. Petrya (Pitris) is the Father of Mankind.
5. Manusha is man; to think.
The evolution of the tatwas is always part of the evolution of a certain definite form. Thus the manifestation of the primary tatwas is with the definite aim of giving what we may call a body, a Prakritic form to the Swara (Iswara). In the bosom of the Infinite Parabrahma, there are hidden innumerable such centers. One center takes under its influence a certain portion of the Infinite, and there we find first of all coming into existence the akasa tatwa. The extent of this akasa limits the extent of the Universe, and out of it the Iswara is to come. With this end comes out of this akasa the Vayu tatwa. This pervades the whole Universe and has a certain center that serves to keep the whole expanse together, and separate as one whole, from other universes (Brahmandas).
TATWAS (TATVAS/BHUTAS/ELEMENTS)
The tatwas are the five modifications of the great Breath. Acting upon prakriti, this Great breath throws it into five states, having distinct vibratory motions, and performing different functions.
No theory of the life of the Universe is at once so simple and as grand as the theory of breath (Swara). It is the one universal motion, which makes its appearance in maya by virtue of the unseen substratum of the Cosmos, the parabrahma of the Vedantins. The most appropriate expression for Swara in English is the “current of life”. The Indian Science of Breath investigates and formulates the laws, or rather the one Universal Law, according to which this current of life, this motive power of Universal Intelligence, running along the wire of thought, governs evolution and involution and all the phenomena of human life, physiological, mental and spiritual. In the whole length and breadth of this universe there is no phenomenon, great or small, that does not find its most natural, most intelligible, most relevant explanation in the theory of the five modes of manifestation of this universal motion: the five elementary tatwas
The tatwas, are the modifications of Swara. In the book: “In the Swara are the Vedas and the shastras, and in the Swara is music. The entire world is in the Swara; Swara is the spirit (God) itself.” The proper translation of the word Swara is “the current of the life-wave”. It is that wavy motion which is the cause of the evolution of cosmic undifferentiated matter into the differentiated universe, and the involution of this into the primary state of non-differentiation, and so on, in and out, forever and ever. From whence does this motion come? This motion is the spirit itself. The word atma* used in the book, itself carries the idea of eternal motion, coming as it does from the root at, eternal motion; and it may be significantly remarked, that the root at is connected with the roots ah, breath, and as, being. All these roots have for their original the sound produced by the breathing of animals.
*Atman life, breath goes to all pervading and immortal prana. Om remembers they deeds. Let the four lower selves burn to ashes (or etherealized), that the soul may attains to freedom. Death is nothing more than casting off of worn out garment. To perceive the atman, the heart must be pure and freed from every unworthy selfish desire; the thought must be indrawn from all external object, the mind and body under control, whole being calm and serene.
These are the forms, and the modes of motion, of the five ethers. Of the five sensations of men, each of these gives birth to one, thus:
(1) Akasa, Sonoriferous ether, Sound;
(2) Vayu, Tangiferous ether, Touch;
(3) Taijas,Luminiferous ether, Color;
(4) Apas, Gustiferous ether, Taste;
(5) Prithivi, Odoriferous ether, Smell.
In the process of evolution, these co-existing ethers, while retaining their general, relative forms and primary qualities, contract the qualities of the other tatwas. This is known as the process of panchikarana, or division into five.
One molecule of ether, consisting of eight atoms, has four of the original principle ethers, and one of the remaining four. The following table will show the five qualities of each of the tatwas after panchikarana:
Sound Touch Taste Color Smell
(1) H ordinary … … ... ...
(2) P very light cool acid light blue acid
(3) R light very hot hot red hot
(4) V heavy cool astringent white astringent
(5) L deep warm sweet yellow sweet
H Ham Akasa
P Pam Sky Blue Air
R Ram Red Burning heat
V Vam White as the moon Water
L Lam Prithivi Earth
It is said that the subtle tatwas exist now in the universe on four planes. The higher of these planes differ from the lower in having a greater number of vibrations per second.
Secondary Qualities of Tatwas
(1) Space - This is a quality of the akasa tatwa. The vibration of this ether is shaped like the hole of the ear, and that in the body thereof are microscopic points (b indus). It follows that the interstices between the points serve to give space to ethereal minima, and offer them room for locomotion (avakasa).
(2) Locomotion - This is the quality of the vayu tatwa. Vayu is a form of motion itself, for motion in all directions is motion in a circle, large or small. The vayu tatwa itself has the form of spherical motion. When to the motion which keeps the form of the different ethers is added to the stereotyped motion of the vayu, locomotion is the result.
(3) Expansion - This is the quality of the taijas tatwa. This follows the shape and form of motion which is given to this ethereal vibration. Suppose ABC is a lump of metal: If we apply fire to it, the luminiferous ether in it is set in motion, and that drives the gross atoms of the lump into similar motion. Suppose (a) is an atom. This being impelled to assume the shape of the taijas, vibration goes towards (a’), and then takes the symmetrical position of (a”). Similarly does every point change its place round the center of the piece of metal? Ultimately the whole piece assumes the shape of A’B’C’. Expansion is thus the result.
(4) Contraction - This is the quality of the apas tatwa. As has been remarked before, the direction of this ether is the reverse of the agni, and it is therefore easy to understand that contraction is the result of the play of this tatwa.
(5) Cohesion - This is the quality of the prithivi tatwa. It will be seen that this is the reverse of akasa. Akasa gives room for locomotion, while prithivi resists it. This is the natural result of the direction and shape of this vibration. It covers up the spaces of the akasa.
(6) Smoothness - This is a quality of the apas tatwa. As the atoms of any body in contraction come near each other and assume the semi-lunar shape of the apas, they must easily glide over each other. The very shape secures easy motion for the atoms. This, I believe, is sufficient to explain the general nature of the tatwas. The different phases of their manifestation on all the planes of life will be taken up in their proper places
Current of the Great Breath
Into these five ethers, as now constituting the objective phase, works on the current of the Great Breath. A further development takes place. Different centers come into existence. The akasa throws them into a form that gives room for locomotion. With the beginning of the vayu tatwa these elementary ethers are thrown into the form of spheres. This was the beginning of formation, or what may also be called solidification. These spheres are our Brahmandas (Universes). In them the ethers assume a secondary development. The so-called division into five takes place. In this Brahmic sphere in which the new ethers have good room for locomotion, the taijas tatwa now comes into play, and then the apas tatwa. Every tatwic quality is generated into, and preserved in, these spheres by these currents. In process of time we have a center (Sun) and an atmosphere (Prana and Manas). This sphere is the self conscious universe. In this sphere, according to the same process, a third ethereal state comes into existence. In the cooler atmosphere removed from the center another class of centers comes into existence. These divide the Brahmic state of matter into two different states. After this comes into existence another state of matter whose centers bear the names of devas or suns.*
*According to the book The Gnosis and the Law, the assistance to man of Elohims, Devas, Archangels and angels begin here when man comes also into existence. Elohims and Devas are creator of forms. Sun provides prana and Archangels and angels transmute it.
SCIENCE OF BREATH
In The Science of Breath the symbol for inspiration is sa, and for expiration ha. It is easy to see how these symbols are connected with the roots as and ah. The current of life-wave spoken of above is technically called Hansachasa, i.e., the motion of ha and sa. The word Hansa, which is taken to mean God, and is made so much of in many Sanskrit works, is only the symbolic representation of the eternal processes of life – ha and sa. The primeval current of life-wave is, then, the same which in man assumes the form of inspiratory and expiratory motion of the lungs, and this is the all-pervading source of the evolution and the involution of the universe.
The book goes on: “It is the Swara that has given form to the first accumulations of the divisions of the universe; the Swara causes involution and evolution; the Swara is God Himself, or more properly the great Power (Mahashwara).” The Swara is the manifestation of the impression on matter of that power which in man is known to us as the power that knows itself. It is to be understood that the action of this power never ceases. It is ever at work, and evolution and involution are the very necessity of its unchangeable existence. The Swara has two different states. The one is known on the physical plane as the sun-breath, the other as the moon-breath.
AKASA TATWA
After being subjected to the negative phase of parabrahma, Prakriti (matter), which follows parabrahma like a shadow, has been saturated with evolutionary receptivity; as the hotter current sets in, changes are imprinted upon it, and it appears in changed forms. The first imprint that the evolutionary positive current leaves upon Prakriti is known as akasa. Then the remaining ethers come into existence. These modifications of Prakriti are the ethers of the first stage.
The word akasa is generally translated into English by the word ether. Unfortunately, however, sound is not known to be the distinguishing quality of ether in modern English Science. Some few might also have the idea that the modern medium of light is the same as akasa. This seems to be a mistake.
The vibrations of akasa, the soniferous ether, constitute sound; and it is quite necessary to recognize the distinctive character of this form of motion. The experiment of the bell in a vacuum goes to prove that the vibrations of atmosphere propagate sound. Any other media, however, such as the earth and the metals, are known to transmit sound in various degrees. There must be some one thing in all these media which gives birth to sound – the vibration that constitutes sound. That something is the Indian akasa. But akasa is all-pervading, just as the luminiferous ether.
Why is not sound transmitted to our ears when a vacuum is produced in the bell-jar? The fact is that we must make a difference between the vibrations of the elements that constitute sound and light, etc., and the vibrations in the media which transmit these impressions to our senses. It is not the vibrations of the ethers – the subtle tatwas – that cause our perceptions, but the ethereal vibrations transferred to different media, which are so many modifications of gross matter – the Sthula Mahabhutas.
The akasa is the most important of all the tatwas. It must precede and follow every change of state on every plane of life. Without this there can be no manifestation or cessation of forms. It is out of akasa that every form comes, and it is in akasa that every form lives. The akasa is full of forms in their potential state. It intervenes between every two of the five tatwas, and between every two of the five principles.
It will be easy to see that all four states of terrestrial matter exist in our sphere. The gaseous (Vayava) is there in what we call the atmosphere; the igneous (taijas) is the normal temperature of earth life; the liquid (apas) is the ocean; the solid (prithivi) is the terra firma. None of these states, however, exists quite isolated from the other. Each is constantly invading the domain of the other, and thus it is difficult to find any portion of space filled up only with matter in one state. The two adjacent tatwas are found intermixed with each other to a greater degree than those that are removed from each other by an intermediate state. Thus prithivi will be found mixed up to a greater extent with water than with agni and vayu, apas with agni than with vayu, and vayu with agni more than with any other. It would thus appear from the above, according to the science of tatwas, which the flame and other luminous bodies on earth are not in the terrestrial taijas (igneous) state. They are in or near the solar state of matter.
VAYU TATWA (Tangiferous ether)
Different centers come into existence. The akasa throws them into a form that gives room for locomotion. With the beginning of the vayu tatwa these elementary ethers are thrown into the form of spheres. This was the beginning of formation, or what may also be called solidification.
It will be understood that these ethers produce in gross media vibrations similar to their own. The form, therefore, into which the auditory vibrations throw the atmospheric air, is a true clue to the form of the ethereal vibration. And the vibrations of atmospheric air discovered by Modern Science are similar. Now we come to the tangiferous ether (vayu). The vibrations of this ether are described as being spherical in form, and the motion is said to be at acute angles to the wave (tiryak). Such is the representation of these vibrations on the plane of the paper. The remarks about the transmission of sound in the case of akasa apply here too, mutatis mutandis.
That portion of the solar akasa that is the immediate mother of the Earth, first gives birth to the terrestrial Vayu. Every element is now in the state of the Vayu tatwa, which may now be called gaseous. The Vayu tatwa is spherical in shape, and thus the gaseous planet bears similar outlines. The center of this gaseous sphere keeps together round itself the whole expanse of gas.
The vayu tatwa, among others, performs the functions of giving birth to, and nourishing the skin; the positive gives us the positive, and the negative the negative skin. Each of these has five layers: (1) Pure Vayu, (2) Vayu Akasa (3) Vayu-agni, (4) Vayu-apas, (5) Vayu-prithivi.
These five classes of cells have the following figures:
1. Pure Vayu - This is the complete sphere of the Vayu.
2. Vayu-Akasa - The sphere flattened by the superposition of the circle and dotted: A microscopic examination of the skin will show that the cells of the skin have this appearance
3. Vayu-Agni -The triangle is superposed over the sphere, and the cells have something like the following shape ( see article).
4. Vayu-Apas - Something like an ellipse, the semi-moon superposed over the sphere:
5. Vayu-Prithivi - This is the result of the superposition of the quadrangular Prithivi over the spherical Vayu:
TAIJAS TATWA (Luminiferous ether)
The luminiferous ether is supposed by Modern Science to be matter in a most refined state. It is the vibrations of this element that are said to constitute light. The vibrations are said to take place at right angles to the direction of the wave. Nearly the same is the description of the taijas tatwa given in the book. It makes this tatwa move in an upward direction, and the center of the direction is, of course, the direction of the wave. Besides, it says that one whole vibration of this element makes the figure of a triangle.
Similarly, bone, muscle and fat are given birth to by the prithivi, the agni, and the apas. Akasa appears in various positions. Wherever there is any room for any substance, there is akasa. The blood is a mixture of nutritive substances kept in the fluidic state by the apas tatwa of Prana.
The luminiferous ether is present just as much in a darkened room as in the space without. The minutest space within the dimensions of the surrounding walls themselves is not void of it. For all this, the luminosity of the exterior is not present in the interior. Why? The reason is that our ordinary vision does not see the vibrations of the luminiferous ether. It only sees the vibrations of the media that the ether pervades. The capability of being set into ethereal vibrations varies with different media.
Let us turn to another key. If the words we utter bear the color of the agni tatwa – anger, love, lust – our prana is colored red, and this redness turns upon ourselves. It may burn up our substance, and we may look lean and lank and have 10,000 other diseases. Terrible retribution of angry words! If our words are full of divine love and adoration, kindness and morality, words that give pleasure and satisfaction to whoever hears them – the colors of the prithivi and the apas – we become loving and beloved, adoring and adored, kind and moral, pleasing and pleased, satisfying and ever satisfied. The discipline of speech itself – the satya of Patanjali – is thus one of the highest practices of Yoga.
APAS TATWA (Gustiferous ether)
The gustiferous ether (apas tatwa) is said to resemble in shape the half moon. It is, moreover, said to move downward. This direction is opposite to that of the luminiferous ether. This force therefore causes contraction.
Speech
The power (Sakti) of speech (Vak, Saraswati/Susumna) is one of the most important goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. The apas tatwa is the chief ingredient of prana that goes towards the formation of this organ. Therefore the color of the goddess is said to be white. The vocal chord with the larynx in front forms the vina (musical instrument) of the goddess.
Atmospheric air passing over these chords in the act of breathing sets these chords in vibration, and sound is the result. Ordinarily these chords are too loose to give any sound. The apas tatwa, the milk-white goddess of speech, performs the all-important function of making these chords tense. As the semi-lunar current of the apas tatwa passes along the muscles of these chords, they are as it were shriveled up and curves are formed in the chords; they become tighter. The depth of these curves depends upon the strength of the apas current. The deeper these curves, the tenser are the chords. The thyroid serves to vary the intensity of the voice thus produced. This will do here, and it is enough to show that the real motive power in the production of voice is the apas tatwa or Prana.
As will be easily understood, there are certain ethereal conditions of the external world that excite the centers of the apas tatwa; the current passes along the vocal chords, they are made tense, and sound is produced. But the excitement of these centers also comes from the soul through the mind. The use of this sound in the course of evolution as the vehicle of thought is the marriage of Brahma (the Vijana mayakosha, the soul) with Saraswati, the power of speech as located in man.
PRITHIVI TATWA (Odoriferous ether)
The odoriferous ether (prithivi) is said to be quadrangular in shape. This is said to move in the middle. It neither moves at right angles, nor at acute angles, nor upwards, nor downwards, but it moves along the line of the wave. The line and the quadrangle are in the same plane.
Everything in the human body that has more less of the cohesive resistance is made up of the prithivi tatwa. But in this the various tatwas work imprinting differing qualities upon the various parts of the body. Suppose now that a man is given to walking. The prithivi tatwa of the feet gains strength, and the yellow color pervades the whole prana. The centers of the prithivi all over the body begin to work more briskly; agni receives a mild and wholesome addition to its power, the whole system tends towards healthy equilibrium, neither too hot, nor too cold, and a general feeling of satisfaction accompanied with vigor, playfulness, and a relish of enjoyment is the result.
PRANA (Truti, Atom)
Prana is made up of innumerable little points. These points are also called as trutis, and these trutis that appear on the terrestrial plane as atoms (anu or paramanu). They might be spoken of as solar atoms. These solar atoms are of various classes according to the prevalence of one or more of the constituent tatwas.
Every point of Prana is a perfect picture of the whole ocean. Every other point is represented in every point. Every atom has for its constituents, all the four tatwas, in varying proportions according to its position in respect of others. The different classes of these solar atoms appear on the terrestrial plane as the various elements of chemistry.
The spectrum of every terrestrial element reveals the color or colors of the prevalent tatwa or tatwas of a solar atom of that substance. The greater the heat to which any substance is subjected the nearer does the element approaches its solar state. Heat destroys for the time being the terrestrial coatings of the solar atoms.
Prana is that state of Tatwic matter which surrounds the sun, and in which moves the earth and other planets. It is the state next higher than matter in the terrestrial state. The terrestrial sphere is separated from the solar Prana by an akasa. This akasa is the immediate mother of the terrestrial vayu whose native color is blue. It is on this account that the sky looks blue.
The Prana changes into akasa, which gives birth to the terrestrial Vayu, the rays of the sun that fall on the sphere from without are not stopped in their inward journey. They are refracted, but move onwards into the terrestrial sphere all the same. Through these rays the ocean of Prana, which surrounds our sphere, exerts upon it an organizing influence.
The terrestrial Prana – the earth-life that appears in the shape of all the living organisms of our planet – is nothing more than a modification of the solar Prana. As the earth moves round its own axis and round the sun, twofold centers are developed in the terrestrial Prana. During the diurnal rotation every place, as it is subjected to the direct influence of the sun, sends forth the positive life-current from the East to the West.
During the night the same place sends forth the negative current. In the annual course the positive current travels from the North to the South during the six months of summer – the day of the devas – and the negative during the remaining six months – the night of the devas. The North and East are thus sacred to the positive current; the opposite quarters to the negative current. The sun is the lord of the positive current, the moon of the negative.
The Birth of Prana
The Prana is born from the Atma; it is caused in the atma, like the shadow in the body. The human body, or any other organism, becomes the cause of throwing a shade in the ocean of prana, as it comes between the sun and the portion of space on the other side of the organism. Similarly, the prana is thrown as a shade in the macrocosmic soul (Iswara) because the macrocosmic mind (manu) intervenes.
Briefly the prana is the shade of Manu caused by the light of the Logos, the macrocosmic center. The suns are given birth to in this shade, by the impression of the macrocosmic mental ideas into this shade. These suns, the centers of Prana, become in their turn the positive starting point of further development. The manus throwing their shade by the intervention of the suns give birth in those shades to planets, etc. The suns throwing their shades by the intervention of planets give birth to moons. Then these different centers begin to act upon the planets, and the sun descends on the planets in the shape of various organisms, man included
The Coming in of Prana
How does this prana maya kosha – this truti of the macrocosm – come into this body? Briefly, “By actions at whose root lies the mind”, says the Upanishad***. It is evident that by these actions change is produced in the general relative nature of the prana, the solar, positive life-matter and the rayi, the lunar, negative life-matter. It is hardly necessary to say that the mind – the human free will – lies at the root of those actions that disturb the tatwic balance of the life-principle. Hence, “The prana comes into this body by actions, at whose root lies the mind.”
The Macrocosmic Appearance
This prana is found in the macrocosm as the ocean of life with the sun for its center. It assumes two phases of existence: (1) the prana, the solar, positive life-matter, and (2) the rayi, the lunar, negative life-matter. The former is the northern phase and the eastern; the latter is the southern phase and the western. In every Moment of Terrestrial life, we have thus the northern and southern centers of prana, the centers from which the southern and northern phases of life-matter take their start at any moment. The eastern and western halves are there too. At every moment of time – i.e., in every truti – there are millions of truti – perfect organisms – in space. This might require some explanation. The units of time and space are the same: a truti.
Take any one truti of time. It is well known that every moment of time the tatwic rays of prana go in every direction from every point to every other point. Hence it is clear enough that every truti of space is a perfect picture of the whole apparatus of prana, with all its centers and sides, and positive and negative relations. To express a good deal in a few words, every truti of space is a perfect organism. In the ocean of Prana that surrounds the sun there are innumerable such truti.
It is a condition of earth life that the positive and negative currents, the prana and the rayi, be equally balanced. Therefore, when the two phases of life matter are equally strong in this elliptical truti, the tatwic rays that come from it to the earth energize gross matter there.
The moment that the balance is disturbed by the tatwic influence of the planets, or by some other cause, terrestrial death ensues. This simply means that the tatwic rays of the truti that fall on earth cease to energize gross matter, although they do fall there all the same, and although the truti is there all the same in its permanent elliptical abode. In this posthumous state, the human truti will energize gross matter in that quarter of space whose laws of relative, negative and positive predominance coincide with that state. Thus, when the negative life matter, the rayi, becomes overly strong, the energization of the truti is transferred from the earth to the moon. Similarly it may pass to other spheres. When the terrestrial balance is restored again, when this posthumous life has been lived, the energization is transferred to the earth again.
Current of Prana
The current of Prana works forward and backward, in and out. The cause of this lies in the momentary of the being of Prana. As the year advances, every moment a change of state takes place in the terrestrial prana, on account of the varying strengths of the solar and lunar currents. Thus every moment is, strictly speaking, a new being of Prana. As Buddha says, all life is momentary.
The moment that is the first to throw into matter the germ that will develop the two centers is the first cause of organized life. If the succeeding moments are friendly in their tatwic effect to the first cause, the organism gains strength and develops; if not, the impulse is rendered fruitless. The general effect of these succeeding moments keeps up general life; but the impulse of any one moment tends to pass off as the others come in. A system of forward and backward motion is thus established.
One moment of Prana proceeding from the center of work goes to the farthest ends of the gross vessels – nerves and blood vessels – of the organism. The succeeding moment gives it, however, the backwards impulse. A few moments are taken in the completion of the forward impulse, and the determination of the backward one. This period differs in different organisms. As the Prana runs forward, the lungs inspire; as it recedes, the process of expiration sets in.
Prana moves in this system of nadi.
As the sun passes into the sign of Aries in the Macrocosm, the Prana passes into the corresponding nadi (nerves) of the brain. From thence it descends every day towards the spine. With the rise of the sun it descends into the first spinal chakra towards the right. It thus passes into the Pingala. It moves along the nerves of the right side, at the same time passing little by little into the blood vessels. Up to noon of every day the strength of this Prana is greater in the nervous chakra than in the venous. At noon they become of equal strength. In the evening (with sunset), the Prana with its entire strength has passed into the blood vessels. From thence it gathers up into the heart, the negative southern center. Then it spreads into the left side blood vessels, gradually passing into the nerves.
At midnight the strength is equalized; in the morning (pratasandhia) the prana is just in the spine; from thence it begins to travel along the second chakra. This is the course of the solar current of prana. The moon gives birth to other minor currents. The moon moves 12 odd times more than the sun. Therefore, while the sun passes over one chakra (i.e., during 60 ghari – day and night), the moon passes over 12 odd chakra. Therefore we have 12 odd changes of prana during 24 hours. Suppose the moon too begins in Aries; she begins like the sun in the first chakra, and takes 58 min. 4 sec. in reaching the spine to the heart, and as many minutes from the heart back to the spine.
The Places of Manifestation
The Paramount Power appoints its servants telling, ‘Rule such and such villages’, so does the Prana. It puts its different manifestations in different places. The apana vayu or lower abdomen (this discharges faeces and urine) is in the Payu (anus) and the upastha. The manifestations of sight and hearing (Chakahus and Srotra) are in the eye and ear. The prana remains itself, going out of mouth and nose. Between and about the navel (the places of prana and apana), lives the Samana (gastric fire). It is prana that carries equally all over the body the food and drink that is thrown in the fire. Hence are those seven lights (by means of prana, light of knowledge is thrown over color, form, sound, etc.) “In the heart is of course this atma (the pranamaya kosha) and in it, of course, the other coils. Here there are a hundred and one nadi. Of these there are a hundred in each. In each of these branch nadis there are 72,000 other nadi. In these moves the vyana. “By one (the Susumna) going upward, the udana carries to good worlds by means of goodness, and to bad ones by means of evil; by both to the world of men.”
“The sun is, of course, the macrocosmic prana; he rises, and thereby helps the eyesight.
The Power that is in the earth keeps up the power of apana. The akasa (the ethereal matter) that is between heaven and earth, helps the samana. “The ethereal life-matter (independent of its being between heaven and earth) which fills macrocosmic space, is vyana. “The taijas – the luminiferous ether – is udana (throat, vocal cord, raises prana from the lower spine to the brain); hence he whose natural fire is cooled down approaches death. “Then the man goes toward the second birth; the organs and senses go into the mind; the mind of the man comes to the Prana (its manifestations now ceasing). The prana is combined with the taijas; going with the soul, it carries her to the spheres that are in view.”
1. Apana is the vital breath that cast out of the human system all that is not wanted there (apa – away; an to breathe)
2. Samana is the vital breath that control digestion and assimilation (sam – together; and an to breathe)
3. Vyana is the vital breath which governs circulation in the body.
4. Udana is the vital breath which direct vital current of the body upwards to their sources to the higher center of the heart and brain. (ud – up; and an to breathe)
The different manifestations of Prana in the body, and the places where they manifest themselves have been dwelt upon. But other statements of interest appear in this extract. It is said that this atma, this prana maya kosha, with the other coils of course, is located in the heart. The heart represents the negative side of life, the rayi. When the positive prana impresses itself upon the rayi – the heart and the nadis that flow from it – the forms of life and the actions of man come into existence. It is therefore, properly speaking, the reflection in the heart that works in the world, i.e., is the proper lord of the sensuous and active organs of life. If this being of the heart learns not to live here, the sensuous and active organs both lose their life; the connection with the world ceases. The being of the brain that has no immediate connection with the world, except through the heart, now remains in unrestrained purity. This means to say that the soul goes to the suryaloka (the Sun).
“The akasa, the vayu, the agni, the prithivi, the apas, speech, sight and hearing – all of them say clearly that they are the sole monarchs of the human body.” The principal prana, he whose manifestations all these are, tells them:” Be not forgetful; it is I who sustain the human body, dividing myself into five.” If the five manifestations of Prana with all their minor subdivisions revolt against him, if each begin to assert its own lordship and cease to work for the general benefit of the lord paramount, the real life, misery makes its sad appearance to harass the poor human soul.
“But the manifestation of prana, blinded by ignorance,” would not “put forth” in the admonitions of their lord. “He leaves the body, and as he leaves, all the other minor pranas leave it too; they stay there as he stays.” Then their eyes are opened. “As the bees follow the queen bee in every posture, so does prana; these, speech, the mind, the eye, the ear, follow him with devotion, and thus praise him.”
The Nadis
1. The Ida is also technically called Ganga; the Pingala, Yamuna; the Susumna, Saraswati; the conjunction is called Prayaga.
2. Let the Yogi sit in the posture called padmasana, and perform pranayama*.
3. The Yogi must know the puraka ( inhalation), the rechaka (exhalation), and the third Kumbhaka (retention) for obtaining power over the body.
4. The puraka causes growth and nourishment, and equalizes the humors; the Kumbhaka causes stability, and increases the security of life.
5. The Rechaka takes away all the sins. He who practices this reaches the state of yoga.
6. In the Kumbhaka hold the air in as much as possible; let it go out by the moon and in by the sun.
7. The sun drinks the moon, the moon drinks the sun; by saturating one with the other, one may live till the moon and the planets.
8. The Nadi flows in one’s own body. Have power over that; if it is not let go through the mouth or nose, one becomes a young man.
9. When the mouth, nose, eyes and ears are stopped by the fingers, the tatwas begin to take their rise before the eyes.
10. He, who knows their color, their motion, their taste, their places, and their signs, becomes in this world equal to the god Rudra.
11. He who knows all this, and reads it always, is freed from all pain and gets what he desires.
12. He, who has the knowledge of breath in his head, has fortune at his feet.
13. Like the One in the Vedas, and the sun in the Universe, is the knower of the Science of Breath to be honored. He who knows the Science of Breath and the Philosophy of the Tatwas, knows not even millions of elixirs to be equal to it.
14. There is nothing in the world that will release you of the debt of the man who gives you the knowledge of the word [Om] and of breath.
15. Sitting in his own place, with measured food, and sleep, let the Yogi meditate** upon the highest Atma [whose reflection the Breath is]. Whatever he says will come to pass.
*Pranayama
Pranayama is deep expiration and inspiration. The drawing of deep breaths in and out has to some extent the same effect as running and other hard exercise. The heat that is produced burns down certain elements of disease, which if it desirable should be burnt. But the practice in its effects differs for the better from hard exercise. In hard exercise the susumna begins to play, and that is not good for physiological health. Pranayama, if properly performed, however, is beneficial from a physiological as well as from a mental point of view. The first effect that is produced in pranayama is the general prevalence of the prithivi tatwa. It is unnecessary to remind the reader that the apas tatwa carries the breath lowest down, and that the Prithivi is the next. In our attempt to draw deeper breaths than usual, the prithivi tatwa cannot but be introduced, and the general prevalence of this tatwa, with the consequent golden tinge of the circle of light round our heads, can never fail to cause fixity of purpose and strength of attention. The apas tatwa comes in next. This is the silvery hue of innocence that encircles the head of a saint and marks the attainment of paravairagya.
**Suggested Steps to Meditation
1. Awareness of the breath.
2. Awareness of the imperfect vehicles of consciousness.
3. Dwell on loving kindness.
4. Meditate on the cause and condition of manifestation.
Faith
Enlightenment
Love beyond self
Purification
Concentration
Devotion
Invocation/Decree
5. Meditate on that before manifestation.
PINGALA (The eastern channel) AND IDA (The western channel)
A pingala is a nadi or channel of energy starting from the right nostril then moving to the crown of the head and thence downwards to the base of the spine. Pingala means tawny or reddish. Ida is a nadi or channel of energy starting from the left nostril then moving to the crown of the head and then descending to the base of the spine. It is also called Chandra nadi or channel of the lunar energy.
The four petals of the lotus of the heart have four divisions. Each division has two principal ramifications, and each ramification again ramifies into others. The two openings either way are one a vein, and one an artery, the four opening into four chambers. The right part of the heart again, with all its ramifications, is called Pingala, the left Ida, and the middle part susumna.
Those nadi that proceed to the outlets of the body perform the most important functions of the body, and they are said to be the ten principal ones (ten gates, and others say eleven gates including the navel) in the whole system. These are:
(1) Ghandari nadi located behind the ida nadi. Regulate sight, goes to the left eye;
(2) Hastijihiva located in front of ida, regulate sight, goes to the right eye;
(3) Pasta goes to the right ear;
(4) Yashawani goes to the left ear;
(5) Alamhusha, or alammukha goes to the mouth. This evidently is the
Alimentary canal;
(6) Kuhu goes to the generative organs;
(7) Shankini goes to the excretive organs;
(8) Ida is the nadi that leads to the left nostril;
(9) Pingala is the one that leads to the right nostril. It appears
that these names are given to these local nadi for the same
reason that the pulmonary manifestation of prana is known by
the same name;
(10) Susumna is explained below.
SUSUMNA
What is susumna? One of the names of susumna is sandhi, the place where the two – Ida and Pingala – join. It is really that place from which the Prana may move either way – right or left – or, under certain circumstances, both ways. It is that place which the Prana must pass when it changes from the right to the left and from the left to the right. It is therefore both the spinal canal and the cardiac canal. The spinal canal extends from the Brahmarandhra, the northern center of Prana through the whole vertebral column (Brahmadanda). The cardiac canal extends from the southern center midway between the two lobes of the heart.
The influence of this terrestrial Prana develops two centers of work in the gross matter that is to form a human body. Part of the matter gathers round the northern, and part round the southern center. The northern center develops into the brain; the southern into the heart. The general shape of the terrestrial Prana is something like an ellipse. In this the northern focus is in the brain; the southern in the heart. The column along which the positive matter gathers runs between these foci. The line in the middle is the place where the eastern and western – right and left – divisions of the column join.
The column is the medulla oblongata the central line is also susumna, the right and left divisions the Pingala and Ida. The rays of Prana that diverge either way from these nadis are only their ramifications, and constitute together with them the nervous system.
It is nervous force that manifests itself in various forms, in the system of blood vessels. The blood vessels are only the receptacles of nervous force. Hence, in the nervous system, the real life of the gross body is the true Ida, Pingala and susumna. These are, in such a case, the spinal column, and the right and left sympathetic, with all their ramifications throughout the body.
Now, of these the one is the susumna; the rest are divided half and half over the two halves of the body. So we read in the Kathopnishat, 6th valli, 16th mantra: “A hundred and one nadi are connected with the heart.
Of these one passes out into the head. Going out by that, one becomes immortal. The others become the cause in sending the life principle out of various other states.” This one that goes to the head, remarks the commentator, is the susumna. The susumna then is that nadi whose nervous substratum or reservoir of force is the spine. Of the remaining principal nadis, the Ida is the reservoir of the life force that works in the left part of the body, having 50 principal nadi. So also has the right part of the body 50 principal nadi. These go on dividing as above. The nadi of the third degree become sas minute as to be visible only by a microscope. The ramifications of the susumna all over the body serve during life to carry the prana from the positive to the negative portions of the body, and vice versa. In case of blood these are the modern capillaries.
NERVOUS SYSTEM
The nervous plexus of the modern anatomists coincide with these centers. From what has been said above it will appear that the centers are constituted by blood vessels. But the only difference between the nerves and the blood vessels is the difference between the vehicles of the positive and negative prana.
The nerves are the positive, and the blood vessels are the negative system of the body. Wherever there are nerves there are corresponding blood vessels. Both of them are indiscriminately called nadi. One set has for its center the lotus of the heart, the other the thousand-petalled lotus of the brain. The system of blood vessels is an exact picture of the nervous system; it is, in fact, only its shadow. Like the heart, the brain has its upper and lower divisions -- the cerebrum and the cerebellum – and it’s right and left divisions as well.
The nerves going to very part of the body and coming back from thence together with those going to the upper and lower portions correspond to the four petals of the heart. This system, too, has as many centers of energy as the former. Both these centers coincide in position. They are, in fact, the same: the nervous plexuses and ganglia of modern anatomy. Thus, in the author’s opinion, the tantric padma are not only the centers of nervous power – the positive northern prana – but necessarily of the negative prana as well
HEART
In the heart these four divisions are called the right and left auricles and ventricles. The Tantras style these four divisions the four petals of the cardiac lotus, and indicate them by various letters. The positive petals of the heart form the center from which proceed the positive blood vessels, the arteries; the negative petals are the starting points of the negative blood vessels, the veins. This negative prana is pregnant with ten forces: (1) Prana, (2) Apana, (3) Samana, (4) Vyana, (5) Udana, (6) Krikila, (7) Naga, (8) Devadatta, (9) Dhavanjaya, (10) Kurma.
These ten forces are called vayu. The word vayu is derived from the root va, to move, and means nothing more than a motive power. The Tantrists do not mean to give it the idea of a gas. Henceforth I shall speak of the vayu as the forces or motive powers of prana. These ten manifestations of Prana are reduced by some writers to the first five alone, holding that the remaining ones are only modifications of the former, which are the all-important of the functions of prana. This, however, is only a question of division. From the left side positive petal the prana gathers up into a nadi that ramifies within the chest into the lungs, and again gathers up into a nadi that opens into the right side negative petal. This entire course forms something like a circle (chakra). This nadi is called in modern science the pulmonary artery and vein. Two lungs come into existence by the alternate workings of the positive and negative prana of the eastern and western powers.
MIND
The ego takes form when, in the second plane of existence, more than one minor center comes into existence. It is for this reason that the name ahankara has been given to this state of matter. The ethereal impulses of those centers are confined to their own particular domain in space, and they differ in each center. They can, however, affect each other in just the same way as the individualized ethereal impulses of one man are affected by those of others. The tatwic motion of one center of Brahma is carried along the same universal lines to the other. Two differing motions are thus found in one center. The stronger impulse is called the I, the weaker the Thou or the He as the case may be. Then comes manas. Viraj* is the center, and manu the atmosphere of this state. These centers are beyond the ken of ordinary humanity, but they work under laws similar to those ruling the rest of the cosmos. The suns move the virats in the same way as the planets move around the sun.
*Brahma’s Divine Word or consciousness is the integrated mind; Mind (Manu atmosphere) is the differentiated consciousness.
The five stages of the Mind according to Dr. Annie Besant are: 1. Butterfly mind, 2. Confused mind, 3. Idealist mind, 4.Ekagrata or one pointed mind, and 5. Nirodha.
Basic law of the Mind
As you see, so you feel
As you feel, so you think
As you think, so you will
As you will, so you act.
The mind that is free of desire and distraction is able to look and learn all the time. Instead of grabbing, it communes. Out of the Great mind of the universe arise myriads of forms; these are not objects to act on, to grab or mould. A free undistracted and tranquil mind sees them, not as objects but as expressions of the divine mind. It is a state of mind not dependent on anything outside.
The five functions of prana have been given and now will discuss the functions of the Mind. The composition of the manu is similar to that of prana: It is composed of a still finer grade of the five tatwas, and this increased fineness endows the tatwas with different functions.
The following are the five functions of manas, as given by Patanjali and accepted by Vyasa:
- Means of knowledge (Pramana),
- False knowledge (Viparyaya),
- Complex imagination (Vikalpa),
- Sleep (Nidra),
- Memory (Smrite).
All the manifestations of the mind fall under one of the following:
Pramana includes: (1) Perception (pratyaksha), (2) Inference (anumana), (3) Authority (Agama).
Viparyaya includes : (1) Ignorance (avidya, tamas), (2) Egoism (asinita, moha), (3) Retention (raja, mahamoka), (4) Repulsion (tamisra, dwesha), (5) Tenacity of life (abhinwesha, and hatamisra).
The remaining three have no definite subdivisions. The following show that all the modifications of thought are forms of tatwic motion on the mental plane
Pramana (Means of Knowledge)
The word pramana (means of knowledge) is derived from two roots, the predicative ma, and the derivative root ana, with the prefix pra. The original idea of the root ma is “to go”, “to move”, and hence “to measure”. The Prefix pra gives the root idea of fullness, connected as it is with the root pri, to fill. That which moves exactly up or down to the same height with any other thing is the pramana of that thing. In becoming the pramana of any other thing, the first thing assumes certain qualities that it did not have before. This is always brought about by a change of state caused by a certain kind of motion, for it is always motion that causes change of state. In fact, this is also the exact meaning of the word pramana, as applied to a particular manifestation of the mind. Pramana is a particular tatwic motion of the mental body; its effect is to put the mental body into a state similar to that of something else. The mind can undergo as many changes as the external tatwas are capable of imprinting upon it, and these changes have been classified into three general heads by Patanjali.
Pratyaksha (Perception)
This is that change of state which the operations of the five sensuous organs produce in the mind. The word is a compound of “I”, each, and “aksha”, sensuous power, organ of sense. Hence is that sympathetic tatwic vibration that an organ of sense in contact with its object produces in the mind. These changes can be classified under five heads, according to the number of the senses. The eye gives birth to the taijas vibrations, the tongue, the skin, the ear, and the nose respectively to the apas, the vayu, the akasa and the prithivi vibrations. The pure agni causes the perception of red, the taijas-prithivi of yellow, the taijas-apas of white, the taijas-vayu of blue, and so on. Other colors are produced in the mind by mixed vibrations in a thousand varying degrees. The apas gives softness, the vayu roughness, the agni harshness. We see through the eyes not only color, but also form.
It will be remembered that a particular form has been assigned to every tatwic vibration, and all the forms of gross matter answer to corresponding tatwic vibrations. Thus, form can be perceived through every sense. The eyes can see form, the tongue can taste it, and the skin can touch it, and so on. This may probably appear to be a novel assertion, but it must be remembered that virtue is not an act. The ear would hear form, if the more general use of the eye and skin for this purpose had not almost stifled it into inaction. The pure apas vibrations cause an astringent taste, the apas-prithivi a sweet, the apas-agni hot, the apas-vayu acid, and so on.
Innumerable other vibrations of taste are caused by intermediate vibrations in various degrees. The case is similar with the vocal and other changes of vibration. It is clear that our perceptive knowledge is nothing more than a veritable tatwic motion of the mental body, caused by the sympathetic communications of the vibrations of prana, just as a stringed instrument of a certain tension begins to vibrate spontaneously when vibration is set up in another similar instrument.
Anumana (Inference)
The word anumana has the same roots as the word pramana. The only difference is in the prefix. We have here anu, “after”, instead of pra. Inference (anumana) is therefore after motion. When the mind is capable of sustaining two vibrations at one and the same time, then if any one of these vibrations is set up and perceived, the second vibration must also manifest itself. Thus, suppose a man pinches me. The complex vibrations that make up the perception of the action of man pinching me are produced in my mind. I recognize the phenomena. Almost simultaneously with these vibrations another set of vibrations is produced in me. I call this pain. Now here are two kinds of tatwic motion, one coming after the other. If at any other time I feel similar pain, the image of the man pinching will be recalled to my consciousness. This after-motion is “inference”. Induction and deduction are both modifications of this after-motion. The sun always appears to rise in a certain direction. The concept of that direction becomes forever associated in my mind with the rising of the sun. Whenever I think of the phenomenon of sunrise, the concept of that direction presents itself. Therefore I say that, as a rule, the sun rises in that direction. Inference is therefore nothing more than a tatwic motion coming after another related one.
Agama (Authority)
The third modification of what is called the means of knowledge (pramana) is authority (agama). What is this? I read in my geography, or hear from the lips of my teacher that Britain is surrounded by the ocean. Now what has connected these words in my mind with the picture of Britain, the ocean, and their mutual relations? Certainly it is not perception, and therefore not inference, which must by nature work through sensuous knowledge. What then? There must be some third modification. The fact that words possess the power to raise a certain picture in our minds is one of very deep interest. Every Indian philosopher recognizes it as a third modification of the mind, but it receives no recognition at the hands of modern European philosophy.
There is, however, little doubt that the color corresponding to this mental modification differs from that corresponding to either perception or inference. The color belonging to the perceptive modifications of the mind is always single in nature. A certain phase of the taijas vibration must always prevail in the visual modification, and similarly the vibrations of other tatwas correspond to our different sensuous modifications. Each manifestation has its own distinctive color. The red will appear as well in the visual as in the auditory or any other vibration, but the red of the visual will be bright and pure; that of the organ of smell will be tinged with yellow; that of the organ of touch with blue, and the soniferous ether will be rather dark.
There is, therefore, not the least likelihood that the vocal vibration will coincide with the pure perceptive vibration. The coal vibrations are double in their nature, and they can only (if at all) coincide with the inferential vibrations; and here, too, they can only coincide with the auditory vibrations. A little consideration will, however, show that there is some difference between the vocal and inferential vibrations. In inference, a certain modification of sound in our mind is followed by a certain visual picture, and both these vibrations retain an equally important position in our mind. We place two precepts together, compare them, and then say that one follows the other. In the verbal modification there is no comparison, no simultaneous consciousness, no placing together of the two precepts. The one causes the other, but we are not at all conscious of the fact. In inference the simultaneous presence for some time of both the cause and the effect brings about a change in the color of the effect. The difference is less great in the vocal as compared with the inferential vibration. Axiomatic knowledge is not inferential in the present, tough it has no doubt been so in the past; in the present it has become native to the mind.
Viparyaya (False Knowledge)
This is the second mental modification. This word also is derived from a root meaning motion: i or ay. “to go”, “to move”. The prefix pari is connected with the root pra, and gives the same radical meaning as pramana. The word Paryaya has the same radical meaning as pramana. The word Viparyaya therefore means “a motion removed from the motion that coincides with the object”. The vibrations of pramana coincide in nature with the vibrations of viparyaya. Certain acquired conditions of the mind imprint on the precepts a new color of their own, and thus distinguish them from the precepts of pramana. There are five modifications of this manifestation.
Avidya (Ignorance)
This is the general field for the manifestation of all the modifications of false knowledge. The word comes from the root vid, “to know”, the prefix a, and the suffix ya. The original meaning of the vidya is, therefore, “the state of a thing as it is”, or expressed in terms of the mental plane in one word,” knowledge”. As long as in the face of a human being I see a face and nothing else, my mental vibration is said to be vidya. But as soon as I see a moon or something else not a face, when it is a face I am looking at, my mental vibration is no longer said to be vidya, but avidya.
Avidya (ignorance) is therefore not a negative conception; it is just as positive as vidya itself. It is a great mistake to suppose that words having the privative prefixes always imply abstractions and never realities. This, however, is by the bye. The state of avidya is that state in which the mental vibration is disturbed by that of akasa, and some other tatwas, which thus result in the production of false appearances. The general appearance of avidya is akasa, darkness, and this is why tamas is a synonym of this word. This general prevalence of darkness is caused by some defect in individual minds, because, as we find from daily experience, a given object does not excite the same set of vibrations in all minds.
The general color of avidya is, as already said, that of akasa, darkness. Otherwise, the agni tatwa prevails in anger. If this is accompanied by vayu, there will be a good deal of motion in the body, prithivi will make it stubborn, and apas easily manageable. Akasa will give a tinge of fear. The same tatwa prevails in love. Prithivi makes it abiding, vayu changeable, agni fretting, apas lukewarm, and akasa blind.
Vikalpa (Fancy)
Vikalpa is that knowledge which the words imply or signify, but for which there is no reality on the physical plane. The sounds of nature connected with its sight have given us names for precepts. With the additions or subtractions of the percepts we have also had additions and subtractions of the sounds connected therewith. The sounds constitute our words. In vikalpa two or more precepts are added together in such a way as to give birth to a concept having no corresponding reality on the physical plane. This is a necessary result of the universal law of visana. When the mind is habituated to a perception of more phenomena than one, all of them have a tendency to appear again; and whenever two or more such phenomena coincide in time, we have in our mind a picture of a third something. That something may or may not exist in the physical plane. If it does not, the phenomenon is vikalpa. If it does, however, we call it Samadhi.
Nidra (Sleep)
This also is a phenomenon of the (manomaya kosha) mind. Indian philosophers speak of three states in this connection: waking, dream, and sleep.
Waking
This is the ordinary state when the principle of life works in connection with the mind. The mind then receives impressions of the external objects through the action of the senses. The other faculties of the mind are purely mental, and they may work in the waking as in the dreaming state. The only difference is that in dreams the mind does not undergo the perceptive changes. How is this? These changes of state are always passive, and the soul has no choice in being subjected to them. They come and go as a necessary result of the working of swara in all its five modifications. As has been explained in the articles on Prana, the different sensuous organs cease to respond to external tatwic changes when the positive current gains more than ordinary strength in the body. The positive force appears to us in the shape of heat, the negative in the shape of cold. Therefore I may speak of these forces as heat and cold.
Dreams
The Upanishad says that in dreamless sleep the soul sleeps in the blood vessels (nadi), the pericardium (puritat), the hollow of the heart. Has the system of blood vessels, the negative center of Prana, anything to do with dreams also? The state of dream, according to the Indian sage, is an intermediate one between waking and sleeping, and it is but reasonable to suppose that there must be something in this system that accounts for both these phenomena. What is that something? It is variously spoken of as the pitta, the agni, and the sun. It is needless to say that these words are meant to denote one and the same thing. Dream is the effect produced on the body by the solar breath in general, and the agni tatwa in particular.
The word pitta might mislead many, and therefore it is necessary to state that the word does not necessarily always mean lull. There is one pitta that Sanskrit physiology locates specifically in the heart. This is called the sadhaka pitta. It is nothing more or less than cardiac temperature, and it is with this that we have to do in sleep or dream. According to the Indian philosopher, it is the cardiac temperature that causes the three states in varying degrees. This and nothing more is the meaning of the Vedic text that the soul sleeps in the pericardium, etc. All the functions of life are carried on properly as long as we have a perfect balance of the positive and negative currents, heat and cold.
The mean of the solar and lunar temperatures is the temperature at which the prana keeps up its connection with the gross body. The mean is struck after an exposure of a whole day and night. Within this period the temperature is subjected to two general variations. The one is the extreme of the positive; the other the extreme of the negative. When the positive reaches its daily extreme the sensuous organs pass out of time with the external tatwas.
Sleep
The dreamy state is maintained as long as and when the cardiac temperature is not strong enough to affect the mental coil. But with increasing positive strength, that too must be affected. The manas and the prana are made of the same materials and are subject to the same laws. The more subtle these materials are, however, the stronger must be the forces that produce similar changes. All the coils are tuned together, and changes in the one affect the other. The vibrations per second of the first one are, however, larger in number than those of the lower one and this causes its subtlety. The higher are always affected through the immediately lower principles. Thus the external tatwas will affect prana immediately, but the mind can only be affected through the prana and not directly. The cardiac temperature is only an indication of the degree of heat in prana. When sufficient strength is gathered up there, the prana affects the mental coil. That too now passes out of tune with the soul. The mental vibration can only work at a certain temperature; beyond that it must go to rest. In this state we have no more dreams. The only manifestation of the mind is that of rest. This is the state of dreamless sleep.
Smrite (Retention, Memory)
Every percept takes root in the mind, as explained above. It is nothing more than a change of the tatwic state of the mind, and what is left behind is only a capacity for sooner falling into the same state again. The mind falls back into the same state when it is under the influence of the same tatwic surroundings. The presence of the same thing calls back the same mental state. The tatwic surroundings may be of two descriptions, astral and local.
The astral influence is the effect upon the individual prana of the condition of the terrestrial prana at that time. If this effect appears as the agni tatwa, those of our concepts that have a prominent connection with this tatwa will make their appearance in the mind. Some of these are a hankering after wealth, a desire for progeny, etc. If we have the vayu tatwa, a desire to travel may take possession of our minds and so on. A minute tatwic analysis of all of our concepts is of the greatest interest; suffice it to say here that the tatwic condition of prana often calls up into the mind objects that have made the objects of perception in similar previous conditions. It is this power that underlies dreams of one class.
In the waking state too this phase of memory often acts as reminiscence. Local surrounding is constituted by those objects which the mind has been accustomed to perceive together with the immediate object of memory. This is the power of association. Both these phenomena constitute memory proper (smrite). Here the object comes first into the mind, and afterwards the act and the surroundings of perception.
Another very important kind of memory is what is called buddhi, literary memory. This is the power by which we call to mind what we have learned of scientific facts. The process of storing up these facts in the mind is the same, but the coming back into consciousness differs in this, that here the act first comes into the mind and then the object. All the five tatwas and the foregoing mental phenomena may cause the phenomenon of memory. Literary memory has a good deal to do with yoga****, i.e., the exercise of free will to direct the energies of the mind into desirable channels. While those impressions that take root in the mind on account of natural surroundings make the mind the unwilling slave of the external world, buddhi may lead it to bliss and freedom.
But will these tatwic surroundings always bring related phenomena into consciousness? No! This depends upon their correlative strength. It is well known that when the vibrations per second of akasa (sound) pass beyond certain limit either way, they do not affect the tympanum. It is, for example, only a certain number of vibrations per second of the taijas tatwa that affects the eye, and so on with the other senses. The case with the mind is similar. It is only when mental and external tatwic tensions are equal that the mind begins to vibrate as it comes into contact with the external world. Just as the varying states of the external organs make us more or less sensitive to ordinary sensation, so different men might not hear the same sounds, might not see the same sights, the mental tatwas might not be affected by percepts of the same strength, or might be affected in different degrees by percepts of the same strength.
The question is how is the variation of this mental tatwic strength produced? The variation is produced by exercise, and the absence of exercise. If we accustom the mind, just as we do the body, to any particular precept or concept, the mind easily turns to those percepts and concepts. If, however, we give up the exercise, the mind becomes stiff and ceases by degrees to respond to these percepts and concepts. This is the phenomenon of forgetting. Let a student whose literary exercises is just opening the buds of his mind, whose mind is just gaining strength enough to see into the causes and effects of things, give up his exercise. His mind will begin to lose that nice perception. The stiffer the mind becomes the less will the casual relation affect him, and the less he will know of it, until at last he loses all his power
Such is a brief account of the manomaya kosha, the mental coil in the ordinary state. The influence of the higher principle (the vijnana maya kosha) through the exercise of yoga induces in the mind a number of other manifestations. Psychic manifestations show themselves in the mind and the prana, in the same way as mental manifestations are seen influencing and regulating the prana.
The Law of Vasana (Law of Dwelling/Effect)
Karma is the law of action or cause; Vasana is the law of effect. We are accountable for forces sent out disturbing the harmony of the universe.
If anything be set in any particular kind of tatwic motion, internal or external, it acquires for a second time the capability of easily being set in motion, and of consequently resisting a different sort of motion. If the thing is subjected to the same motion for some time, the motion becomes a necessary attribute of the thing. The superposed motion becomes, so to speak, “second nature”. Thus, if a man accustoms his body to a particular form of exercise, certain muscles in his body are very easily set into motion. Any other form of exercise that requires the use of other muscles will be found fatiguing on account of the resistance set up by muscular habits. The case is similar with the mind. If I have a deep-rooted conviction, as some do to this day, that the earth is flat and the sun moves around it, it may require ages to dislodge it. A thousand examples might be cited of such phenomena. It is, however, only necessary in this place to state that the capacity of turning easily to one mental state and offering resistance to another one is what I mean by this stored-up energy. It is variously called vasana or Sansakara in Sanskrit.
The word vasana comes from the root vas, “to dwell”. It means the dwelling or fixing of some form of vibratory motion in the mind. It is by vasana that certain truths become native to the mind, and not only certain so-called truths, but all the so-called natural tendencies, moral, physical, spiritual, become in this way native to the mind.
The only difference in different vasana is their respective stability. The vasana that are imprinted upon the mind as the result of the ordinary evolutionary course of nature never change. The products of independent human actions are of two kinds. If actions result in tendencies that check the evolutionary progressive tide of nature, the effect of the action exhausts itself in time by the repellant force of the undercurrent of evolution. If, however, the two coincide in direction, increased strength is the result.
It is this vasana, this temporary dominion of the opposite that causes false knowledge. Suppose the positive generative current has in any man the strength a, if too it is presented a negative female current of the same degree of strength a, the two will try to unite. An attraction that we term sexual love will then be set up. If these two currents are not allowed to unite, they increase in strength and react on the body itself to its injury; if, allowed to unite, they exhaust themselves. This exhaustion causes a relief to the mind, the progressive evolutionary current asserts itself with greater force, and thus a feeling of satisfaction is the result. This tatwic disturbance of the mind will, as long as it has sufficient strength, give its own color to all perceptions and concepts. They will not appear in their true light, but as causes of satisfaction.
Thus they say that true lovers see all things rose-colored. The appearance of a face we love to see causes a partial running of currents into one another, and a certain amount of satisfaction is the result. We forge that we are seeing a face: we are only conscious of some cause resulting in a state of satisfaction. That cause of satisfaction we call by different names. Sometimes we call it a flower; at others we call it a moon. Sometimes we feel that the current of life is flowing from those dear eyes, at others we recognize nectar itself in that dear embrace. Such are the manifestations of avidya. As Patanjali says, avidya consists in the perception of the eternal, the pure, the pleasing, and the spiritual instead of or rather in the non-eternal, the impure, the painful, and the non-spiritual. Such is the genesis of avidya, which, as has been remarked, is a substantial reality, and not a mere negative conception. This mental phenomenon causes the four remaining ones.
Asmita (Egoism)
Egoism (Asmita) is the conviction that real life (purusha swara) is one with the various mental and physiological modifications, that the higher self is one with the lower one, that the sum of our percepts and concepts is the real ego, and that there is nothing beyond. In the present cycle of evolution and in the previous ones, the mind has been chiefly occupied with these percepts and concepts. The real power of life is never seen making any separate appearance, hence the feeling that the ego must be the same with the mental phenomena. Its plain that avidya, as defined above, lies at the root of this manifestation.
Raga (Desire to Retain)
The misleading feeling of satisfaction above mentioned under avidya is the cause of this condition. When any object repeatedly produces in our mind this feeling of satisfaction, our mind engenders the habit of falling again and again into the same state of tatwic vibration. The feeling of satisfaction and the picture of the object that seemed to cause that satisfaction tend to appear together, and this is a hankering after the object, a desire not to let it escape us – that is to say, Raga.
Pleasure
Here may investigate more thoroughly the nature of this feeling of satisfaction and its opposite: pleasure and pain. The Sanskrit words for these two mental states are respectively sukha and dukkha. Both come from the root khan, “to dig”; the prefixes su and dus make the difference. The former prefix conveys the idea of “ease” and it derives this idea from the unrestrained easy flow of breath. The radical idea of sukha is, therefore, unrestrained digging – digging where the soil offers but little resistance. Transferred to the mind, that act becomes sukha, which makes an easy impression upon it. The act must, in the nature of its vibrations, coincide with the then prevailing conditions of the mental vibrations. Before any percepts or concepts had taken root in the mind, there was no desire, no pleasure. The genesis of desire and what is called pleasure – that is, the sense of satisfaction caused by the impressions produced by external objects – begins with certain percepts and concepts taking root in the mind. This taking root really is only an over clouding of the original set of impressions arising out of evolutionary mental progress. When contact with the external object momentarily removes that cloud from the clear horizon of the mind, the soul is conscious of a feeling of satisfaction that avidya connects with the external object. This, as shown above, gives birth to desire.
Pain & Dwesha
The genesis of pain and the desire to repel (dwesha) is similar. The radical idea of dukkha (pain) is the act of digging where a good deal of resistance is experienced. Transferred to the mind, it signifies an act that encounters resistance from the mind. The mind does not easily give place to these vibrations; it tries to repel them with all its might. There arises a feeling of privation. It is as if something of its nature was being taken away, and an alien phenomenon introduced. The consciousness of privation, or want, is pain, and the repulsive power that these alien vibrations excite in the mind is known by the name of dwesha (desire to repel). The word dwesha comes from the root dwesh, which is a compound of du and ish. Ish itself appears to be a compound root, i and s. The final s is connected to the root su, “to breath”, “to be in one’s natural state”. The root i means “to go”, and the root ish, therefore, means to go toward one’s natural state. Transferred to the mind, the word becomes a synonym of raga. The word du in dwesh performs the same function as dus in dukkh. Hence dwesh comes to mean "a hankering after repulsion". Anger, jealousy, hatred, etc., are all modifications of this, as love, affection and friendship are those of raga. By what has been said above, it is easy to follow up the genesis of the principle of "tenacity of life". Try to assign these actions to their prevailing tatwas.
The general color of avidya is, as already said, that of akasa, darkness. Otherwise, the agni tatwa prevails in anger. If this is accompanied by vayu, there will be a good deal of motion in the body, prithivi will make it stubborn, and apas easily manageable. Akasa will give a tinge of fear. The same tatwa prevails in love. Prithivi makes it abiding, vayu changeable, agni fretting, apas lukewarm, and akasa blind. Akasa prevails in fear; it tends to produce a hollow in the veins themselves. In prithivi the timid man is rooted to the spot, with vayu he runs away, with apas he succumbs to flattery, and agni tends to make one vengeful.
Death
As already said, the two ordinary forms of death are the positive through the brain, and the negative through the heart. This is death through the susumna. In this all the tatwas are potential. Death may also take place through the other nadis. In this case there must always be the prevalence of one or more tatwas. The prana goes towards different regions after death, according to the paths through which it passes out of the body. Thus:
(1) The negative susumna takes it to the moon;
(2) the positive susumna takes it to the sun;
(3) the agni of the other nadi takes it to the hill known as Raurava (fire);
(4) the apas of the other nadi takes it to the hill known as Ambarisha, and so on, the akasa, the vayu, and the prithivi take it to Andhatanusra, Kalasutra, and Maha kala (See Yoga Sutra, pada 111, Aphorism 26, commentary)..
The negative path is the most general one that the prana takes. This path takes it to the moon (the chandraloka) because the moon is the lord of the negative system, and the negative currents, and the negative susumna the heart, which therefore is a continuation of the lunar prana. The prana that has the general negative color cannot move but along this path and it is transferred naturally to the reservoirs, the centers of the negative prana. Those men in whom the two hours’ lunar current is passing more or less regularly take this path.
The prana that has lost the intensity of its terrestrial color energizes lunar matter according to its own strength, and thus establishes for itself there a sort of passive life. Here the mind is in a state of dream. The tatwic impressions of gathered up forces pass before it in the same way as they pass before it in our earthly dreams. The only difference is that in that state there is not the superimposed force of indigestion to render the tatwic impressions as strong and sudden as to be terrible. That dreamy state is characterized by extreme calmness.
CHAKRAS*
Chakras are disk that connect and link the flow of prana with the physical, etheric, emotional, and mental vehicles.
Heart Chakra
Between the left side positive and the right side negative petal is one chakra (disk). This chakra comprises the pulmonary artery, the lungs, and the pulmonary vein. The chest gives room to this chakra, which is positive with respect to the lower portions of the body, in which run the ramifications of the lower chakra, which latter joins the right side positive and the left side negative petals. In the above chakra (in the cavity of the chest) is the seat of prana, the first and most important of the ten manifestations. Inspiration and expiration being a true index of the changes of prana, the pulmonary manifestations thereof have the same name. With the changes of prana we have a corresponding change in the other functions of life. The lower negative chakra contains the principal seats of some of the other manifestations of life. This apana is located in the long intestine, samana in the navel, and so on. Also, udana is located in the throat; vyana all over the body. Udana causes belching; kurma in the eyes causes them to shut and open; krikila in the stomach causes hunger. In short, proceeding from the four petals of the heart we have an entire network of these blood vessels. There are two sets of these blood vessels side by side in every part of the body, connected by innumerable little channels, the capillaries.
According to Prasnopnisat, from the heart chakra, ramify the nadi. Of these there are 101 principal ones (Pradhana nadi).Each of these branches into 100. Each of these again into 72,000.” Thus, there are 10,100 branch nadi, and 727,200,000 still smaller ones, or what are called twig-nadi. The terminology is imitated from a tree. There is the root in the heart. From these proceed various stems. These ramify into branches, and these again into twig vessels; all these nadi put together are 727,210,201 nadi.
The Vedantins take the heart to be the starting point of this ramification. The Yogis, however, proceed from the navel. Thus in The Science of Breath we read: “From the root in the navel proceed 72,000 nadi spreading all over the body. There sleeps the goddess Kundalini like a serpent. From this center (the navel) ten nadi go upwards, ten downwards, and two and two crookedly.” The number 72,000 is the result of their own peculiar reckoning.
It matters little which division we adopt if we understand the truth of the case. Along these nadi run the various forces that form and keep up the physiological man. These channels gather up into various parts of the body as centers of the various manifestations of prana. It is like water falling from a hill, gathering into various lakes, each lake letting out several streams. These centers are :( 1) Hand power centers, (2) Foot power centers, (3) Speech power centers, (4) Excretive power centers, (5) Generative power centers, (6) Digestive and absorbing power centers,(7) Breathing power centers, and (8) the five sense power centers.
Each chakra, both diurnal and annual, is in fact a circle of 360 degrees, just like the great circles of the heavenly spheres. Through the chakra a course of seven descriptions of life currents is established:
(1) Solar, (2) lunar, (3) Mars, agni, (4) Mercury, prithivi, (5) Jupiter, vayu, (6) Venus, apas, (7) Saturn, akasa.
Along the positive path through the brahmarandhra pass those prana that pass beyond the general effects of time, and therefore do not return to the earth under ordinary laws. It is time that brings back prana from the moon, when he is even the most general, and the least strong tatwic condition comes into play with the return of identical astral positions; but the sun being the keeper of Time himself, and the strongest factor in the determination of his tatwic condition, it would be impossible for solar Time to affect solar prana.
Therefore, only that prana travels towards the sun in which there is almost no preponderance of any tatwic color. This is the state of the prana of Yogin alone. By the constant practice of the eight branches of Yoga****, the prana is purified of any very strongly personifying colors, and since it is evident that on such a prana Time can have no effect, under ordinary circumstances, they pass off to the sun. These prana have no distinct personifying colors; all of them that go to the sun have almost the same general tinge.
*Type of Chakras
Crown Pure Being All elements
Third Eye Knowing of Being All elements
Throat Expression of Being Ether
Heart Loving beyond self Air
Solar Plexus Formation of Being Fire
Lower Abdomen Reproduction of Being Water
Root Physical entity Earth
****YOGA
The whole fight of the soul upon reawakening consists in the attempt to do away with its passive capacity and regain this pristine purity. This fight is yoga, and the powers that yoga evokes in the mind and the prana are nothing more than tatwic manifestations of the psychic force, calculated to destroy the power of the external world on the soul. This constant change of phase in the new unreal finite coils of existence is the upward march of the life current from the beginnings of relative consciousness to the original absolute state.
Yoga is the science of human culture in the highest sense of the word. Its purpose is the purification and strengthening of the mind. By its exercise is filled with high aspirations, and acquires divine powers, while the unhappy tendencies die out.
Ten Fetters to be Transmuted and Sublimated
Delusion
Doubt
Superstition
Lust
Anger
Desire for life – form
Desire for life – no form
Irritability
Pride
Ignorance
Nature herself is a great Yogi, and humanity has been, and is being, purified into perfection by the exercise of her sleepless will. Man need only imitate the great teacher to shorten the road to perfection for his individual self. How are we to render ourselves fit for that great imitation? What are the steps on the great ladder of perfection? These things have been discovered for us by the great sages of yore, and Patanjali’s little book is only a short and suggestive transcript of so much of our past experiences and future potentialities as is recorded in the book of nature.
This little book uses the word Yoga in a double signification. The first is a state of the mind otherwise called samadhi; the second is a set of acts and observances that induce that state in the mind. The definition given by the sage is a negative one, and is applicable only on the plane of the mind. The source of the positive power lies in the higher principle; the soul Yoga (it is said) is the keeping in check of the five manifestations of the mind.
Instead of the soul being tossed by the mental vibrations, it is now time that the mind should vibrate in obedience to the vibrations of the soul. This assumption of lordship is the freedom of the will, and this obedience of the mind to the vibrations of the soul is Yoga. The manifestations evoked in the mind by the external tatwas must now give way to the stronger motion coming from the soul. By and bye the mental colors change their very nature, and the mind comes to coincide with the soul. In other words, the individual mental principle is neutralized, and the soul is free in her omniscience.
The means of strengthening Yoga deserve separate consideration. Some of them help to remove those influences and forces that are antagonistic to progress; others, such as the contemplation of the divine principle, accelerate the process of development of the human soul, and the consequent absorption of the mind in the soul. At present one simply to discover the nature of the blissful samadhi, which is spoken of as being caused by the reflection of the soul in the mind. This reflection simply means the assumption by the mind of the state of the soul.
The mind passes from its own ordinary state to the state of the higher energy of the soul. The greater number of tatwic vibrations per second make their way in the matter of a lower number of tatwic vibrations per second. The English language recognizes this rising up of the mind, this passing out of itself, as elation, and this is the meaning of the word ananda as qualifying the third state of the samprajnata samadhi. The ananda maya kosha takes its name from its being the state of the highest upheaval. Every moment of ananda is a step towards the absorption of the mind as it changes its nature, passing forever into a higher state of consistency. That state which in ananda only appeared in the moment of triumph now becomes part and parcel of the mind. This confirmation of the higher energy is known by the name of Asmita, which may be translated by the word egoism, but means making part and parcel of self.
AIM AND PROCESSES OF YOGA
The whole aim and process of Yoga (SY, p.72) consists in withdrawing the consciousness from without to within for the ultimate mystery of life is hidden in the very heart or center of our being and can be found there and nowhere else. In the case of the Yogi the tendency of the lower mind to run outwards and to keep itself busy with the objects of the outer world must therefore be replaced gradually by a tendency to return automatically to its “centered” condition without effort. The pursuit of Yogic ideals requires in fact more concentration of purpose than that of any worldly aim can, because in the first place the difficulties are greater and in the second place, the sphere of work is inside and the objective is to a great extent unknown and intangible.
The aspirant for Yoga cannot frown upon the wicked because that would tend to arouse hatred and have undesirable repercussions on his own mind. He cannot show sympathy towards them because that would be encouraging vice. The only course left open to him is to adopt an attitude of indifference.
According to the Yogic philosophy it is possible to rise completely above the illusion and miseries of life and to gain infinite knowledge, bliss and power through Enlightenment here and now while we are still living in the physical body. And if we did not attain enlightenment while we are still alive we will have to come back again and again into this world until we have accomplished this appointed task. So it is not a question of choosing the path of Yoga or rejecting it. It is a question of choosing it now or in some future life. It is a question of gaining Enlightenment as soon as possible and avoiding the suffering in the future or postponing the effort and going through further suffering which is unnecessary and avoidable.
SAMADHI
Samadhi, or the mental state induced by the practice of Yoga, has two descriptions. As long as the mind is not perfectly absorbed in the soul the state is called samprajnata. That is the state in which the discovery of new truths follows labor in every department of nature. The second is the state of perfect mental absorption. It is called asamprajnata. In this there is no knowing, no discovering of unknown things. It is a state of intuitive omniscience.
Two questions are naturally suggested at the awakening stage: “If I am these manifestations, which of them am I? I think I am none of them. What am I then? What are these?” The second question is solved in the samprajnata samadhi, the first in the other. Before entering further into the nature of samadhi, one needs to know about habituation and apathy. These two are mentioned by Patanjali as the two means of checking mental manifestation, and it is very important to understand them thoroughly The manifestation of apathy is the reflection in the mind of the color of the soul when she becomes aware of her free nature and consequently is disgusted at the mastery of the passions. It is a necessary consequence of the awakening. Habituation is the repetition of the state so as to confirm it in the mind
Vitarka (Cogitation) Samadhi
Cogitation refers to the spontaneous thought processes that occur in relation to a gross object/form or content of contemplation. Here for the first time we see the influence of the soul in the shape of curiosity (Vitarka). What is this? What is that? How is this? How is that? This is the form in which curiosity shows itself in the mind. Curiosity is a desire to know, and a question is a manifestation of such a desire. But how does man become familiar with questions? The mental shape of curiosity and question will be understood easily by paying a little attention to the remarks I have made on the genesis of desire. The process of the birth of philosophical curiosity is similar to that of the birth of desire. In the latter the impulse comes from the external world through Prana, and in the former, directly from the soul. The place of pleasure in this is supplied by the reflection into the mind of the knowledge of the soul that self and independence are better than nonself and the enslaving cords thereof. The strength of the philosophical curiosity depends upon the strength of this reflection, and as this reflection is rather faint in the beginning (as it generally is in the present state of the spiritual development), the hold of philosophical curiosity upon the mind bears almost no comparison in strength with the hold of desire.
Vichara (Vicara - Reflection) Samadhi
Vicara refers to the movement of the mind away from the gross objects to subtler object of association. Philosophical curiosity is then the first step of mental ascent towards Yoga. To begin with, we place before our mind every possible manifestation of nature, and try to fit in every possible phase of it with every related manifestation. In plain language, it is to apply ourselves to the investigation of all the branches of natural science one by one. This is the natural result of curiosity. By this attempt to discover the relations already existing or possible, essential or potential, among the phenomena of nature, another power is induced in the mind. Patanjali calls this power vichara (Vicara), meditation.
Ananda Samadhi
The locus of joy that was experienced and referenced through the grosser evolutes has its fount here. The third state of this samadhi is what is called ananda, happiness or bliss. As long as there is curiosity or meditation, the mind is only assuming the consistency of the soul. This means that as yet the vibrations of the soul are only making way into the mind; they have not yet entirely succeeded. When the third stage is arrived at, however, the mind is sufficiently polished to receive the full and clear image of the sixth coil. The mind is conscious of this image as bliss. Every man who has devoted himself to the study of nature has been in that coveted state for however short a time. It is very difficult to make it intelligible by description, but some readers are not strangers to it.
Samprajnata Samadhi
Samprajnata Samadhi (SY, p.34) means “Samadhi with Prajna”. The word ‘Prajna’ stands for the higher consciousness working through the mind in all its stages. It is derived from “Pra” which means high, and “Jna” which means to know. The distinctive characteristic of this higher consciousness which unfolds in Samadhi is that the mind is cut off completely from the physical world and the consciousness is centered in one or the other of the set of vehicles beginning with the lower mental body and ending with the Atmic vehicle. The consciousness is free from the burden and interference of the physical brain. There is a “seed” in Samprajnata Samadhi which is called “Pratyaya” in the field of consciousness and the consciousness is fully directed to it. The direction of consciousness is from the center outwards
Asamprajnata Samadhi
Asamprajnata denotes the Purusa being left alone in its self-effulgent nature as the ever-free knower, having discarded its confused identity in the condition of samyoga with nothing more to experience or know for the sake of its liberation. It is also called as Enstasy. This reinforces and clarifies the traditional understanding in classical yoga that it is only in the Supra-cognitive Samadhi [Asamprajnata] that all the vrttis, including the sattvic ones are mastered and that any attachment to or soteriological (theological doctrine of salvation as effected by Christ) dependence on vrtti is finally overcome.
In Asamprajnata Samadhi (SY, p. 34) there is no “Pratyaya” and therefore there is nothing to draw the consciousness outwards and hold it there. During this time he is fully conscious and his will is directing this delicate mental operation in a very subtle manner. The mind is no doubt blank but it is the blankness of Samadhi and not the blankness of an ordinary kind such as is present in deep sleep or coma.
FOUR STATES OF SUBTLE MATTER
We have four states of subtle matter in the universe:
(1) Prana, life matter, with the sun for center;
(2) Manas, mental matter, with the manu for center;
(3) Vijnana, psychic matter, with Brahma for center;
(4) Ananda, spiritual matter, with parabrahma as the infinite substratum.
Every higher state is positive with regard to the lower one and every lower on is given birth to by a combination of the positive and negative phase of the higher.
Prana has to do with three sets of days and nights in the above division of time: (a) Our ordinary days and nights; (b) The bright and dark half of the month which are called the pitrya day and night; (c) The northern and southern halves of the years, the day and night of the devas. These three nights acting upon earth-matter impart to it the receptivity of the cool, negative shady phase of life-matter. These nights imprint themselves on the respective days coming in after it.
The earth herself thus becomes a living being, having a north pole, in which a central force draws the needle towards itself, and a south pole in which is centered and for which is the shade of the north polar center. It has also always a solar force centered in the eastern half, and the lunar -- the shade of the former – centered in the western half. These centers come, in fact, into existence even before the earth is manifested on the gross plane. So too do the centers of other planets come into existence. As the sun presents him to the manu there come into existence two states of matter in which the sun lives and moves – the positive and the negative.
As the solar prana, after having been for some time subjected to the negative shady state, is subjected in its revolutionary course to the source of its positive phase, manu, the figure of manu is imprinted upon it. This manu is, in fact, the universal mind, and all the planets with their inhabitants are the phases of his existence. At present we see that earth-life or Terrestrial Prana has four centers of force. When it has been cooled by the negative current, the positive phase imprints itself upon it, and earth-life in various forms comes into existence.
Manas: this has to do with manu. The suns revolve round these centers with the whole of their atmospheres of prana. This system gives birth to the lokas or spheres of life, of which the planets are one class. These lokas have been enumerated by Vyasa in his commentary on the Yogasutra (III. Pada, 26th Sutra). The aphorism runs thus: “By meditation upon the sun is obtained knowledge of the physical creation.” On this, the revered commentator says: “There are seven lokas (spheres of existence).”
(1) The Bhurloka: this extends to the Meru;
(2) Antareikshaloka: this extends from the surface of the Meru to the Dhru, the pole-star, and contains the planets, the nakstatras, and the stars;
(3) Beyond that is the swarloka: this is fivefold and sacred to Mahendra;
(4) Maharloka: This is sacred to the Prajapati;
(5) Janaloka;
(6) Tapas loka, and;
(7) Satya loka. These three (5, 6, and 7) are sacred to Brahma.
The book the philosophy of tatwas did not explain the meaning of these lokas. It is sufficient to say that the planets, the stars, the lunar mansions are all impression of manu, just as the organisms of the earth are the impressions of the sun. The solar prana is prepared for this impression during the manvantara night. Similarly, Vijnana has to do with the nights and days of Brahma, and Ananda with those of Parabrahma. It will be seen that the whole process of creation is performed most naturally by the five tatwas in their double modification, the positive and negative. There is nothing in the universe that the Universal Tatwic Law of Breath does not comprehend.
SEVEN SPHERES OF EXISTENCE (The Gnosis and the Law)
The First Sphere
This represents the heart of Creation. The Great Beings who form the Directive Intelligence of this Sphere is known as the Manus of the human race. The Master Who activates Their Will, in the world of men is called the Chohan of the First Ray. It is His service to life to carry the God Ideas and Directives from the Godhead into the mind of these Beings in the Second Sphere. Here is born every idea, plan or blessing which will one day manifest in the physical world. Its inhabitants are Beings whose service to life is to embody these God Ideas and carry them on their outward course to the periphery of the First Sphere. Virtue of God: Faith. Activity of Archangel: Protection.
The Second Sphere
The Celestial Inhabitants of the Second Sphere lovingly received the Cosmic Messengers and the ideas from God’s Heart, assimilate them, clothe them in the form and substance of their own great light and the universal light substance which forms the atmosphere of this sphere and pass them onward to the receptive consciousness and atmosphere of the third realm. The god ideas and patterns of future greatness are molded into form through the use of the creative power of the higher mind force – thus the seed of the Father falls on fertile ground and begins to take definite form in the world of Divine Thought. Virtue of God: Illumination.
The Third Sphere
The God Ideas are ensouled with life and become living, pulsating foci of things to come. This is the realm of Holy Spirit under the direction of that Great Cosmic Representative of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Mahachohan. Until thought is clothed with the life through the feeling nature, it does not become a living vital force as far as expression in the physical world is concerned. The Third Sphere vitalizes all manifestations which will ever externalize on the planet Earth. Virtue of God: Love.
The Fourth Sphere
A group of Beings from the third sphere join the Cherubic and Seraphic hosts as they prepare to pass outward with the living embodied thought-forms into the fourth sphere of conscious life. The great diffusion of spiritual effulgence takes place. The Divine ideas pulsate and absorbed by any receptive consciousness within the fourth sphere. The Fourth Sphere Chohan directs this Fourth Sphere. Here the God ideas, patterns, and designs are received by these Christ Egos and developed by Them through centuries of endeavor and projected by them into the world of men, through their consciousness and through advanced pupils functioning in lines of endeavor similar to those developed and perfected within this realm. Virtue of God: Purity. Activity of Archangel: Perfection.
The Fifth Sphere
The seed ideas of the Father, particularly in connection with scientific discoveries, inventions and medical research are scattered and received by the Representatives Consciousness of those in-charge of this Sphere. Virtue of God: Concentration. Activity of Archangel: Consecration.
The Sixth Sphere
The causative centers of the Christian Religion or the devotional and emotional worship are the particular fount through which the spiritual energies are being released to bless the human race. Here dwell the great Celestial choirs, the Highest Heaven of orthodox thought, and from this beautiful Sphere flows the inspiration of those men and women who have responded to the high calling of the religious leaders and who are leading their sheep to the best of their ability. Virtue of God: Devotion. Activity of Archangel: Ministration.
The Seventh Sphere
The Seventh Sphere holds within itself the etheric pattern of every manifestation of the God Plan which has been lowered rhythmically through the six preceding Spheres, which await expression in physical form. It is the first Sphere above the human Octave of limitation and imperfection into which the soul ascends on its journey back to the heart of God. Virtue of God: Invocation and Decrees. Activity of Archangel: Invocation.
Because of the resistance and refusal of the outer consciousness of man to accept the Divine Plan of God, the etheric realm has not been able to pass on the blessings and glories that have descended from the higher spheres and thus complete the outgoing rhythm of creative endeavor. Any number of the human family may offer his consciousness to the Chohan of the Seventh Ray and ask his individual self may be an outlet for the blessings and perfection contained within it.
Macrocosm the Sun
It was said that the macrocosm, the sun is in the center, the prana the atmosphere of the second principle, and that the ecliptic marks the shape of this principle. It was also mentioned that the individual human principle is only a picture of this macrocosmic whole. It is mentioned again that in the macrocosm virat is the center and manu the atmosphere of second principle. This atmosphere is made of the five universal tatwas, just like prana, the only difference being that the mental tatwas undergo a greater number of vibrations per second than the tatwas of prana, that the individual mind is an exact picture of the macrocosmic mind, the aspect differing with the surroundings of time, just as in the case of prana.
In the Macrocosm there is Brahma
Brahma Vidya is the knowledge of the all pervading Deity. Self knowledge is the theme of the Logos. Just as the body cannot live or act without a soul, similarly, nothing in the created world can exist independent of Brahma who is the basis of existence. In the macrocosm there is Brahma for the center, and vijana for the atmosphere of this principle. As the earth moves in prana, as the sun moves in manu, as the manu (or virat) breathes in vijana, so the soul breathes in the highest atmosphere of ananda. Brahma is the center of spiritual life, as the sun is the center of prana, and virat the center of mental life. These centers are similar in luminosity to the sun, but ordinary senses cannot perceive them because the number of tatwic vibrations per second is beyond their power. The soul of the universe (the vijana maya kosha), with Brahma for its center, is our psychic ideal.
Under the influence of gross matter the mental macrocosm registers the external pictures; it gains the power of manifesting itself in the five ways. Under the Brahma, however, the mental macrocosm (Manu) attains the higher powers under discussion. This double influence changes, after a time, the nature of Manu itself. The universe has, as it were, a new mind after every manwantara. This change is always for the better. The mind is ever spiritualizing and the Manu the more spiritual. A time will come when the present macrocosmic mind will be entirely absorbed into the soul. The same is the case with the microcosm of man.
Thus Brahma is by nature omniscient. He is conscious of a self. The types of everything that was or is to be in the process of time are but so many varying compositions of his tatwas. Every phase of the universe, with its antecedents and consequents, is in him. It is himself, his own self-consciousness. One mind is absorbed in him in the space of fourteen manwantara. The motion of the mental tatwas is so much accelerated that they become spiritual. By the time that this takes place in the Universe the vibrations of the tatwas of prana too are being accelerated under the influence of Manu until the prana itself is turned into the Manu of the next period. And again, while this is being done, the gross matter is similarly developing itself into prana
o0o
***Upanishads signifies “sitting at the feet or in the presence of a teacher”. It may also mean to shatter or destroy fetters of ignorance. The teachings take the form of a dialogue, later adopted by Plato and other Greek philosophers. Upanishad is called “Srutis”, what is heard. Smritis are minor scriptures recorded through memories. The value of the Upanishad does not rest on antiquity but upon the vital message they contain for all times and all people. The collections of Vedas are Rig, Sama, Yajus, and Atharva.
Main Essence
- Upanishad teaches man his identity with the divine. “That Thou Art” and “I am Brahman”. Man learns his true spiritual nature, learns the true path (The Ancient Wisdom) and gain mastery of his lower nature.
- The human goal is to practice discipline and service; and glorify the Solar Logos, AUM. The word is the highest symbol of the Absolute.
- Seek a true teacher by the purity of heart (and the four lower vehicles), clarity of mind (Citta, vritti, Nirodha)(The mind alone is to be realized. There is no difference between the visible and the invisible), and by meditation.
- Teaching is by words, living the spiritual life, and illumination. Living the life and attaining illumination are superior to just studying the words.
- He who is rich in the knowledge of the Self does not covet external power and possession. Live to perform karma.
- To perceive the Self, the heart must be pure from every unworthy selfish desire, and the thought must be indrawn from all external objects.
- The Self is the Lord of the Chariot, the body is the chariot, the intellect is the driver, and the mind the reins. The horses are the senses and emotion, the road over which these horses travel is made up of all external objects which attract and repel the senses. The Self is the enjoyer and the master when He is joined with the body, mind, and senses. The Self is perceived through the heart, intellect, and mind.
- Vedic teaching is one tremendous whole becoming the world, and again the world merging in that whole. It also strives in various ways to define that source, knowing all else is known and without which no knowledge can be well established.
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
Suffering
Ignorance/desire
Termination of suffering
The Eightfold Noble Path
EIGHTFOLD NOBLE PATH
Yama Control and discipline
Niyama Restrain the mind
Asanas Will Power
Pranayama Clearing nadis of impurities and harmonizing the self
Pratyahara Cutting the mind from the senses
Dharana Concentration of the lower mind to the chosen object
Dhayana Dying from the past; focusisng on nada
Samadhi
WISDOM OF ETERNAL LIFE
I. I. Nelson in his book “The Ancient Wisdom in the Modern School” mentioned that Dr. Annie Besant offers a description of the wisdom of eternal life in five statements:
1. One eternal infinite unrecognizable real Existence.
2. From THAT the manifested God, unfolding from unity to duality, from duality to trinity.
3. From the manifested trinity, many spiritual intelligences guiding the cosmic order.
4. Man a reflection of the manifested God and therefore a trinity fundamentally, his inner and real self, being eternal, one the Self of the universe.
5. His evolution by repeated incarnations, into which he is drawn by desire, and from which he is set free by knowledge and sacrifice becoming divine in potency as he had been in latency.
References:
1. Rama Prasad: Nature's Finer Forces & The Science of Breath (Pranayama Yoga)
2. The Upanishads translated and commented by Swami Paramananda
3. The Gnosis and the Law
