The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 8/Notes Of Class Talks And Lectures/Pranayama
First of all we will try to understand a little of the meaning of
Pranayama. Prana stands in metaphysics for the sum total of the energy
that is in the universe. This universe, according to the theory of the
philosophers, proceeds in the form of waves; it rises, and again it
subsides, melts away, as it were; then again it proceeds out in all
this variety; then again it slowly returns. So it goes on like a
pulsation. The whole of this universe is composed of matter and force;
and according to Sanskrit philosophers, everything that we call
matter, solid and liquid, is the outcome of one primal matter which
they call Akasha or ether; and the primordial force, of which all the
forces that we see in nature are manifestations, they call Prana. It
is this Prana acting upon Akasha, which creates this universe, and
after the end of a period, called a cycle, there is a period of rest.
One period of activity is followed by a period of rest; this is the
nature of everything. When this period of rest comes, all these forms
that we see in the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars, all these
manifestations melt down until they become ether again. They become
dissipated as ether. All these forces, either in the body or in the
mind, as gravitation, attraction, motion, thought, become dissipated,
and go off into the primal Prana. We can understand from this the
importance of this Pranayama. Just as this ether encompasses us
everywhere and we are interpenetrated by it, so everything we see is
composed of this ether, and we are floating in the ether like pieces
of ice floating in a lake. They are formed of the water of the lake
and float in it at the same time. So everything that exists is
composed of this Akasha and is floating in this ocean. In the same way
we are surrounded by this vast ocean of Prana -- force and energy. It
is this Prana by which we breathe and by which the circulation of the
blood goes on; it is the energy in the nerves and in the muscles, and
the thought in the brain. All forces are different manifestations of
this same Prana, as all matter is a different manifestation of the
same Akasha. We always find the causes of the gross in the subtle. The
chemist takes a solid lump of ore and analyses it; he wants to find
the subtler things out of which that gross is composed. So with our
thought and our knowledge; the explanation of the grosser is in the
finer. The effect is the gross and the cause the subtle. This gross
universe of ours, which we see, feel, and touch, has its cause and
explanation behind in the thought. The cause and explanation of that
is also further behind. So in this human body of ours, we first find
the gross movements, the movements of the hands and lips; but where
are the causes of these? The finer nerves, the movements of which we
cannot perceive at all, so fine that we cannot see or touch or trace
them in any way with our senses, and yet we know they are the cause of
these grosser movements. These nerve movements, again, are caused by
still finer movements, which we call thought; and that is caused by
something finer still behind, which is the soul of man, the Self, the
Atman. In order to understand ourselves we have first to make our
perception fine. No microscope or instrument that was ever invented
will make it possible for us to see the fine movements that are going
on inside; we can never see them by any such means. So the Yogi has a
science that manufactures an instrument for the study of his own mind,
and that instrument is in the mind. The mind attains to powers of
finer perception which no instrument will ever be able to attain.
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Raja-Yoga/Prana
Pranayama means the control of Prâna. According to the philosophers of
India, the whole universe is composed of two materials, one of which
they call Âkâsha. It is the omnipresent, all-penetrating existence.
Everything that has form, everything that is the result of
combination, is evolved out of this Akasha. It is the Akasha that
becomes the air, that becomes the liquids, that becomes the solids; it
is the Akasha that becomes the sun, the earth, the moon, the stars,
the comets; it is the Akasha that becomes the human body, the animal
body, the plants, every form that we see, everything that can be
sensed, everything that exists. It cannot be perceived; it is so
subtle that it is beyond all ordinary perception; it can only be seen
when it has become gross, has taken form. At the beginning of creation
there is only this Akasha. At the end of the cycle the solids, the
liquids, and the gases all melt into the Akasha again, and the next
creation similarly proceeds out of this Akasha.
By what power is this Akasha manufactured into this universe? By the power of Prana. Just as Akasha is the infinite, omnipresent material
of this universe, so is this Prana the infinite, omnipresent
manifesting power of this universe. At the beginning and at the end of
a cycle everything becomes Akasha, and all the forces that are in the
universe resolve back into the Prana; in the next cycle, out of this
Prana is evolved everything that we call energy, everything that we
call force. It is the Prana that is manifesting as motion; it is the
Prana that is manifesting as gravitation, as magnetism. It is the
Prana that is manifesting as the actions of the body, as the nerve
currents, as thought force. From thought down to the lowest force,
everything is but the manifestation of Prana. The sum total of all
forces in the universe, mental or physical, when resolved back to
their original state, is called Prana. "When there was neither aught
nor naught, when darkness was covering darkness, what existed then?
That Akasha existed without motion." The physical motion of the Prana
was stopped, but it existed all the same.
At the end of a cycle the energies now displayed in the universe quiet
down and become potential. At the beginning of the next cycle they
start up, strike upon the Akasha, and out of the Akasha evolve these
various forms, and as the Akasha changes, this Prana changes also into
all these manifestations of energy. The knowledge and control of this
Prana is really what is meant by Pranayama.
In modern Science, Akasha and Prana are known as Space and Time and the concept was used extensively by Albert Einstein in his Theory of Relativity. Einstein proved that everything in this universe not only exists in space but also in time and bends the universe based on its potential. Earth is revolving around Sun not because of gravitation alone but high bend in Space-Time graph by Sun. So, every entity in the universe is Scient(from Akasha) and Potent(From Prana), bigger is the scient of an entity, bigger is the potential or vice-versa and entire cosmos also called Brahman/God is infinite and hence Omniscient and Omnipotent. Why people worship and remember and follow in masses the perfected messengers or Avatars like Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Swamis etc., even after so many years from when they had left the earth, as these powerful consciousnesses not only bend space through their psychic yogic powers when they existed, but also their upcoming time, hence they attract masses.
Swami Vivekananda, late in the year l895 wrote in a letter to an
English friend, "Mr. Tesla thinks he can demonstrate mathematically
that force and matter are reducible to potential energy. I am to go
and see him next week to get this new mathematical demonstration. In
that case the Vedantic cosmoloqy will be placed on the surest of
foundations. I am working a good deal now upon the cosmology and
eschatology of the Vedanta. I clearly see their perfect union with
modern science, and the elucidation of the one will be followed by
that of the other." (Complete Works, Vol. V, Fifth Edition, 1347, p.
77).
Akasha/matter is just another name of one static Shiva/Shava/Nirguna Brahman, the seer from whom the entire universe manifests. While the Prana is another name of dynamic Shakti/energy/Saguna Brahman which regulates the appearance and disappearance of matter in the Akasha. Prana appears from Akasha, within Akasha and for Akasha. In modern science, they are called electron/Prana/energy and nucleus/Akasha/matter. Just like in a nucleus, electrons revolve around the nucleus and are responsible for atom's properties, attributes etc.,, inside every human body, Prana/Triguna Prakriti moves in cycles in and out and allows the self/Purusha to manifest his/her characters based upon his Akasha(i.e. static brain) and its mind, ego and Karmas. This can be seen if one wears microscope and will find that the universe is nothing but combination of atoms/Akasha and their motion/Prana.