Yoga breathing

The royal road or the knowledge of the mind.
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alchemy, ancient manuscript, concentration, concrete methods, human temperaments, meditation, mental barriers, patanjali, psychology, raja yoga

The earliest literature of India is the Vedas. These consist mostly of hymns in praise of nature gods, such as fire, wind, etc. Excepting in some of the hymns of the later parts of the work (probably about 1000 B.C.), there is not much philosophy in them in our sense of the term.

It is here that we first find intensely interesting philosophical questions of a more or less cosmological character expressed in terms of poetry and imagination. In the later Vedic works called the Brahmafnas and the Aranyakas written mostly in prose, which followed the Vedic hymns, there are two tendencies, viz. one that sought to establish the magical forms of ritualistic worship, and the other which indulged in speculative thinking through crude generalizations.

This latter tendency was indeed much feebler than the former, and it might appear that the ritualistic tendency had actually swallowed up what little of philosophy the later parts of the Vedic hymns were trying to express, but there are unmistakable marks that this tendency existed and worked. Next to this come certain treatises written in prose and verse called the Upanishads, which contain various sorts of philosophical thoughts mostly monistic or singularistic but also some pluralistic and dualistic ones. These are not reasoned statements, but utterances of truths intuitively perceived or felt as unquestionably real and indubitable, and carrying great force, vigour, and persuasiveness with them. It is very probable that many of the earliest parts of this literature are as old as 500 B.C. to 700 B.C.

Buddhist philosophy began with the Buddha from some time about 500 B.C. There is reason to believe that Buddhist philosophy continued to develop in India in one or other of its vigorous forms till some time about the tenth or eleventh century A.D. The earliest beginnings of the other Indian systems of thought are also to be sought chiefly between the age of the Buddha to about 200 B.C. Jaina philosophy was probably prior to the Buddha. But except in its earlier days, when it came in conflict with the doctrines of the Buddha, it does not seem to me that the Jaina thought came much in contact with other systems of Hindu thought. Excepting in some forms of Vaishnava thought in later times, Jaina thought is seldom alluded to by the Hindu writers or later Buddhists, though some Jains like Haribhadra and Gunaratna tried to refute the Hindu and Buddhist systems.

The non-aggressive nature of their religion and ideal may to a certain extent explain it, but there may be other reasons too which it is difficult for us to guess. It is interesting to note that, though there have been some dissensions amongst the Jains about dogmas and creeds, Jaina philosophy has not split into many schools of thought more or less differing from one another as Buddhist thought did.

aranyakas, philosophical questions, philosophical thoughts, poetry and imagination, upanishads, vedas, vedic hymns

There are four collections or Samhitas, namely rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda and Atharva-Veda. Of these the rig-Veda is probably the earliest. The Sama-Veda has practically no independent value, for it consists of stanzas taken (excepting only 75) entirely from the rig-Veda, which were meant to be sung to certain fixed melodies, and may thus be called the book of chants. Read more »

atharva veda, book of spells, demon world, fire god, god indra, history of sanskrit literature, religious sacrifices, rigveda, rig veda, sama veda, soma sacrifice, spells and incantations, yajur veda

The hymns of the rig-Veda were almost all composed in praise of the gods. The social and other materials are of secondary importance, as these references had only to be mentioned incidentally in giving vent to their feelings of devotion to the god. The gods here are however personalities presiding over the diverse powers of nature or forming their very essence. Read more »

agni, devotion, joy and sorrow, priests, puranas, rig veda, vedic gods

It will however be wrong to suppose that these monotheistic tendencies were gradually supplanting the polytheistic sacrifices. On the other hand, the complications of ritualism were gradually growing in their elaborate details. Read more »

creation of the world, demon, devotion, dignity, eternity, fulfilment, magical results, rituals, sacrifice, vedas, virtue

There seems to be a belief in the Vedas that the soul could be separated from the body in states of swoon, and that it could exist after death, though we do not find there any trace of the doctrine of transmigration in a developed form. Read more »

correct knowledge, doctrine of transmigration, hymns, karma, manas, rig veda, rita, sacrifices, shatapatha brahmana, soul of man, two fires

The passage of the Indian mind from the Brahmanic to the Upanishad thought is probably the most remarkable event in the history of philosophic thought. We know that in the later Vedic hymns some monotheistic conceptions of great excellence were developed, but these differ in their nature from the absolutism of the Upanishads as much as the Ptolemaic and the Copernican systems in astronomy. Read more »

atman, brahman, one god, principle, rig veda, upanishads, vedic hymns

The change of the Brahmana into the Aranyaka thought is signified by a transference of values from the actual sacrifices to their symbolic representations and meditations which were regarded as being productive of various earthly benefits. Read more »

brahmana, brahmins, material substances, meditations, prana, real truth, rig veda, sacrificial rituals, samaveda, symbolic representations, vital functions

The fundamental idea which runs through the early Upanishads is that underlying the exterior world of change there is an unchangeable reality which is identical with that which underlies the essence in man (1). Read more »

brahman, fundamental idea, man and the universe, psychological functions, samhita, upanishads, visible objects, vital breath

There is the atman not in man alone but in all objects of the universe, the sun, the moon, the world; and Brahman is this atman. There is nothing outside the atman, and therefore there is no plurality at all. As from a lump of clay all that is made of clay is known, as from an ingot of black iron all that is made of black iron is known, so when this atman the Brahman is known everything else is known. The essence in man and the essence of the universe are one and the same, and it is Brahman. Read more »

atman, brahman, phenomenal world, upanishads, vedanta, visions

We have already seen that the universe has come out of Brahman, has its essence in Brahman, and will also return back to it. Read more »

gross elements, phenomenal world, primitive elements, prithivi, universe, upanishads

There was practically no systematic theory of causation in the Upanishads. Shankara, the later exponent of Vedanta philosophy, always tried to show that the Upanishads looked upon the cause as mere ground of change which though unchanged in itself in reality had only an appearance of suffering change. Read more »

brahman, causation, chandogya upanishad, fire water, material cause, samkhya, systematic theory, upanishads

When the Vedic people witnessed the burning of a dead body they supposed that the eye of the man went to the sun, his breath to the wind, his speech to the fire, his limbs to the different parts of the universe. They also believed as we have already seen in the recompense of good and bad actions in worlds other than our own, and though we hear of such things as the passage of the human soul into trees, etc., the tendency towards transmigration had but little developed at the time. Read more »

asceticism, charitable deeds, dark half, doctrine of transmigration, good deeds, recompense, sun moon, upanishads, vedic, way of the gods, womb

The doctrine which next attracts our attention in this connection is that of emancipation (mukti). Already we know that the doctrine of Devayana held that those who were faithful and performed asceticism (tapas) went by the way of the gods through successive stages never to return to the world and suffer rebirth. Read more »

asceticism, doubts, emancipation, knowledge of self, nothingness, passions, rebirth, tapas, transmigration, true knowledge, true nature, upanishads, virtues, way of the gods, wise man

It is indeed true that in the Upanishads there is a large number of texts that describe the ultimate reality as the Brahman, the infinite, knowledge, bliss, and speak of all else as mere changing forms and names. The word Brahman originally meant in the earliest Vedic literature, mantra, duly performed sacrifice, and also the power of sacrifice which could bring about the desired result (l). Read more »

brahman, infinite knowledge, monistic, power of sacrifice, shankara, stage of development, upanishads, vedanta, vedic literature, water fire, yoga philosophy

The Vaisheshika is so much associated with Nyaya by tradition that it seems at first sight quite unlikely that it could be supposed to represent an old school of Mimamsa, older than that represented in the Mimamsa sutras. But a closer inspection of the Vaisheshika sutras seems to confirm such a supposition in a very remarkable way. We have seen in the previous section that Caraka quotes a Vaisheshika sutra. Read more »

aphorisms, cognition, demerit, dharma, enumerated, gunas, samskara, sense qualities, sneha, supposition, universality

The Vaisheshika sutras begin with the ostensible purpose of explaining virtue (dharma) (I.i. 1) and dharma according to it is that by which prosperity (abhyudaya) and salvation (nihshreyasa) are attained. Then it goes on to say that the validity of the Vedas depends on the fact that it leads us to prosperity and salvation. Then it turns back to the second sutra and says that salvation comes as the result of real knowledge, produced by special excellence of dharma, of the characteristic features of the categories of substance (dravya), quality (guna), class concept (samdanya), particularity (vishesha), and inherence (samavayay) (1). Read more »

dharma, effect karma, guna, karma karma, material cause, odour, sutras, water fire

The Nyaya sutras begin with an enumeration of the sixteen subjects, viz. means of right knowledge (pramana), object of right knowledge (prameya), doubt (samshaya), purpose (prayojana), illustrative instances (drishtanta), accepted conclusions (siddhanta), premisses (avayava), argumentation (tarka), ascertainment (nirnaya), debates (vada), disputations (jalpa), destructive criticisms (vitanda), fallacy (hetvabhasa), quibble (chala), refutations (jati), points of opponent’s defeat (nigrahasthana), and hold that by a thorough knowledge of these the highest good (nihshreyasa), is attained. In the second sutra it is said that salvation (apavarga) is attained by the successive disappearance of false knowledge (mithyajnana), defects (dosha), endeavours (pravritti, birth (janma), and ultimately of sorrow (1). Read more »

apta, atman, body senses, chala, dosha, five senses, inference, jalpa, pain sorrow, perception, pleasure pain, right knowledge, self body, sense objects, tarka, testimony

It is difficult to ascertain definitely the date of the Vaisheshika sutras by Kanada, also called Aulukya the son of Uluka, though there is every reason to suppose it to be pre-Buddhistic. It appears from the Vayu purana that he was born in Prabhasa near Dvaraka, and was the disciple of Somasharma. The time of Prashastapada who wrote a bhashya (commentary) of the Vaisheshika sutras cannot also unfortunately be ascertained. Read more »

commentaries, disciple, dissertation, exposition, gautama, kanada, purana, radha, ravana, shaka, shankara, sutras, udayana, vatsyayana

The Nyaya-Vaisheshika having dismissed the doctrine of momentariness took a common-sense view of things, and held that things remain permanent until suitable collocations so arrange themselves that the thing can be destroyed. Thus the jug continues to remain a jug unless or until it is broken to pieces by the stroke of a stick. Things exist not because they can produce an impression on us, or serve my purposes either directly or through knowledge, as the Buddhists suppose, but because existence is one of their characteristics. If I or you or any other perceiver did not exist, the things would continue to exist all the same. Whether they produce any effect on us or on their surrounding environments is immaterial. Existence is the most general characteristic of things, and it is on account of this that things are testified by experience to be existing (1). Read more »

akasha, cosmology, demerit, ear drum, existence, four elements, immaterial, kala, sense of hearing, sense organ, tejas, valid reasons

Samkhya asserts that the teleology of the prakriti is sufficient to explain all order and arrangement of the cosmos. The Mimamsakas, the Carvakas, the Buddhists and the Jains all deny the existence of Ishvara (God). Nyaya believes that Ishvara has fashioned this universe by his will out of the ever-existing atoms. For every effect (e.g. a jug) must have its cause. If this be so, then this world with all its order and arrangement must also be due to the agency of some cause, and this cause is Ishvara. Read more »

atoms, buddhists, existence, fire in the forest, inference, jug, manifest world, teleology

The four kinds of atoms are earth, water, fire, and air atoms. These have mass, number, weight, fluidity (or hardness), viscosity (or its opposite), velocity, characteristic potential colour, taste, smell, or touch, not produced by the chemical operation of heat. Akasha (space) is absolutely inert and structure-less being only as the substratum of sound, which is supposed to travel wave-like in the manifesting medium of air. Atomic combination is only possible with the four elements. Atoms cannot exist in an uncombined condition in the creation stage; atmospheric air however consists of atoms in an uncombined state. Read more »

akasha, elementary substance, four elements, hindus, molecule, vibratory motion, water fire

Inference (anumana) is the second means of proof (pramana) and the most valuable contribution that Nyaya has made on this subject. It consists in making an assertion about a thing on the strength of the mark or linga which is associated with it, as when finding smoke rising from a hill we remember that since smoke cannot be without fire, there must also be fire in yonder hill. In an example like this smoke is technically called linga, or hetu. Read more »

asat, assertion, inference, linga, perception, satta, shastra, testimony

It may not be out of place here to mention that in later Nyaya works great emphasis is laid on the necessity of getting ourselves assured that there was no such upadhi (condition) associated with the hetu on account of which the concomitance happened, but that the hetu was unconditionally associated with the sadhya in a relation of inseparable concomitance. Thus all fire does not produce smoke; fire must be associated with green wood in order to produce smoke. Green wood is thus the necessary condition (upadhi) without which, no smoke could be produced. It is on account of this condition that fire is associated with smoke; and so we cannot say that there is smoke because there is fire. But in the concomitance of smoke with fire there is no condition, and so in every case of smoke there is fire. In order to be assured of the validity of vyapti, it is necessary that we must be assured that there should be nothing associated with the hetu which conditioned the concomitance, and this must be settled by wide experience (bhuyodarshana). Read more »

inference, kanada, linga, necessary condition, opposition, smoke fire, validity, valid reason

The problem of negation or non-existence (abhava) is of great interest in Indian philosophy. In this section we can describe its nature only from the point of view of perceptibility. Read more »

cognition, existence, indian philosophy, inference, intuition, manam, negation, notion, visual perception

It is probable that the Nyaya philosophy arose in an atmosphere of continued disputes and debates; as a consequence of this we find here many terms related to debates which we do not notice in any other system of Indian philosophy. These are tarka, nirnaya, vada, jalpa, vitanda, hetvabhasa, chala, jati and nigrahasthana. Read more »

atman, destructive criticism, indian philosophy, intangible, jalpa, real nature, tarka, tautology, vada

Nyaya seeks to establish the existence of Ishvara on the basis of inference. We know that the Jains, the Samkhya and the Buddhists did not believe in the existence of Ishvara and offered many antitheistic arguments. Nyaya wanted to refute these and prove the existence of Ishvara by an inference of the samanyato-drishta type. The Jains and other atheists held that though things in the world have production and decay, the world as a whole was never produced, and it was never therefore an effect. In contrast to this view the Nyaya holds that the world as a whole is also an effect like any other effect. Read more »

atheists, buddhists, existence, inference, order of the universe

We have just said that knowledge arises by itself and that it could not have been generated by sense-contact. If this be so, the diversity of perceptions is however left unexplained. But in face of the Nyaya philosophy explaining all perceptions on the ground of diverse sense-contact the Mimamsa probably could not afford to remain silent on such an important point. Read more »

inference, notion, objective facts, perceptions, senses, validity, virtue

Shabara says that when a certain fixed or permanent relation has been known to exist between two things, we can have the idea of one thing when the other one is perceived, and this kind of knowledge is called inference. Kumarila on the basis of this tries to show that inference is only possible when we notice that in a large number of cases two things (e.g. smoke and fire) subsist together in a third thing (e.g. kitchen, etc.) in some independent relation, i.e. when their coexistence does not depend upon any other eliminable condition or factor. Read more »

cause and effect, existence, infer, inference, rohini, smoke and fire

Analogy (upamana) is accepted by Mimamsa in a sense which is different from that in which Nyaya took it. The man who has seen a cow (go) goes to the forest and sees a wild ox (gavaya), and apprehends the similarity of the gavaya with the go, and then cognizes the similarity of the go (which is not within the limits of his perception then) with the gavaya. Read more »

analogy, cognition, doubt, existence, perception, psychological analysis, remembrance

Gaudapada’s work is divided into four chapters: (1) Agama (scripture), (2) Vaitathya (unreality), (3) Advaita (unity), (4) Alatashanti (the extinction of the burning coal). The first chapter is more in the way of explaining the Mandukya Upanishad by virtue of which the entire work is known as Mandukyakarika. The second, third, and fourth chapters are the constructive parts of Gaudapada’s work, not particularly connected with the Mandukya Upanishad. Read more »

advaita, ananda, atma, deep sleep, dream state, extinction, mandukya upanishad, oneness, prana, shivam, theories of creation

This ajnana rests on the pure cit or intelligence. This cit or Brahman is of the nature of pure illumination, but yet it is not opposed to the ajnana or the indefinite. The cit becomes opposed to the ajnana and destroys it only when it is reflected through the mental states (vritti). The ajnana thus rests on the pure cit and not on the cit as associated with such illusory impositions as go to produce the notion of ego “aham” or the individual soul. Read more »

aham, antahkarana, appearance, brahman, ego, illumination, intelligence, jiva, luminosity, madhava, manifestations

Pramana is the means that leads to right knowledge. If memory is intended to be excluded from the definition then pramana is to be defined as the means that leads to such right knowledge as has not already been acquired. Right knowledge (prama) in Vedanta is the knowledge of an object which has not been found contradicted (abadhitarthavishayajnanatva). Except when specially expressed otherwise, prama is generally considered as being excludent of memory and applies to previously unacquired (anadhigata) and uncontradicted knowledge (1). Read more »

memory, mental state, perception, previous moments, right knowledge, vedanta

The inner experiences of pleasure and pain also are generated by a false identification of antahkarana transformations as pleasure or pain with the self, by virtue of which are generated the perceptions, “I am happy,” or “I am sorry.” Read more »

antahkarana, false identification, inference, inner experiences, manifestation, perception, pleasure and pain, vedanta

Vedanta says that when a duly qualified man takes to the study of Vedanta and is instructed by the preceptor - “Thou art that (Brahman),” he attains the emancipating knowledge, and the world-appearance becomes for him false and illusory. Read more »

attainment, karma, right knowledge, selfish desires, vedanta, vedas, worldly enjoyments

That eternal immutable existence which transcends the turiya and all other states is the unconditioned Absolute, the supreme Brahman or Para-brahman, without Prakriti (nishkala) or Her attributes (nir-guna), which, as being the inner self and knowing subject, can never be the object of cognition, and is to be apprehended only through yoga by the realization of the Self (atmajñana), which It is. For as it is said, “Spirit can alone know Spirit.” Being beyond mind, speech, and without name, the Brahman was called “Tat,” “That,” and then “Tat Sat,” “That which is.” For the sun, moon, and stars, and all visible things, what are they but a glimpse of light caught from “That” (Tat)? Read more »

ananda, brahma, chaitanya, glimpse of light, guna, human speech, kala, rupa, sarada, shakti, shiva, spirit, sun moon, supreme brahman

Shakti is both maya, that by which the Brahman creating the universe is able to make Itself appear to be different from what It really is, and mula-prakriti, or the unmanifested (avyakta) state of that which, when manifest, is the universe of name and form. It is the primary so called “material cause,” consisting of the equipoise of the triad of guna or “qualities” which are sattva (that which manifests) rajas (that which acts), tamas (that which veils and produces inertia). The three gunas represent Nature as the revelation of spirit, Nature as the passage of descent from spirit to matter, or of ascent from matter to spirit, and Nature as the dense veil of spirit. The Devi is thus guna-nidhi (”treasure-house of guna” ). Read more »

brahman, coiled serpent, guna, kundalini, material cause, maya, mula, prana, shakti, spirit and nature, three and a half, triad, universe, womb

The universe consists of a Mahabrahmanda, or grand Kosmos, and of numerous Brihatbrahmanda, or macrocosms evolved from it. Read more »

ajna, akasha, anahata, heavenly bodies, kosmos, macrocosm, meru, microcosm, nirvana, organs of generation, prana, purusha, spinal column, tantra, tapah, vayu

At the end of a month of practice of the kind of physical exercises given in this chapter, though you can sit quietly, and the body has become lighter and brighter, so that you can get up like a cat in the morning, you may still find yourself troubled by outside things during concentration or meditation. Noises, for example, may divert you. In that case spare fifteen minutes a day for a month for practice on the following lines. Read more »

hearth, light waves, nostrils, physical exercises, seclusion, senses, sense organs, unexpected change

In the material body, which is called the “sheath of food” (anna-maya kosa), reign the elements earth, water, and fire, which are those presiding in the lower Cakras, the Muladhara, Svadhisthana and Mani-pura centres. Read more »

bone muscle, digestion, excretion, food and drink, gross body, kosa, material body, procreation, semen, sheath, water and fire

The second sheath is the prana-maya-kosa, or sheath of “breath” (prana), which manifests itself in air and ether, the presiding elements in the Anahata and Visuddha-cakras. Read more »

anahata, atma, colour of fire, distension, kundalini, kurma, mula, prana, samana, sarada, universal force, vayu, vital forces

It is said (1) that there are 3½ crores of nadis in the human body, of which some are gross and some are subtle. Nadi means a nerve or artery in the ordinary sense; but all the nadis of which the books on Yoga (2) speak are not of this physical character, but are subtle channels of energy. Read more »

ajna, caduceus, cakra, candra, earth centre, left nostril, meru, moon, mukta, nadi, nectar, physical character, triveni, yamuna

This, then, is the brief outline of the Story of Man’s Physical Evolution, as stated by Western Science, and compared with the Yogi Teachings. The student should compare the two ideas, that he may harmonize and reconcile them. It must be remembered, however, that Darwin did not teach that Man descended from the monkeys, or apes, as we know them now. Read more »

ancestor, apes, brain structure, chimpanzee, civilized man, convolutions, darwin, domesticated animal, hindu, hottentot, human reason, physical evolution, savage, western science

While to many the idea of Metempsychosis may seem new and unfamiliar, still it is one of the oldest conceptions of the race, and in ages past was the accepted belief of the whole of the civilized race of man of the period. And even today, it is accepted as Truth by the majority of the race. Read more »

ancient druids, ancient egypt, ancient inhabitants, cabbala, eleusinian mysteries, empedocles, german philosophers, legendary history, metempsychosis, modern german, ovid, plato, pythagoras, roman mysteries, science and philosophy, universal acceptance

The Yogi Teachings inform us that the Grand Cycle of Man’s Life on the Earth is composed of Seven Cycles, of which we are now living in the third-seventh part of the Fifth Cycle. These Cycles may be spoken of as the Great Earth Periods, separated from each other by some great natural cataclysm which destroyed the works of the previous races of men, and which started afresh the progress called “civilization,” which, as all students know, manifests a rise and fall like unto that of the tides. Read more »

cataclysm, cave dweller, civilization, remnants, rise and fall, seven cycles, yogi

Svadhisthana is a six-petalled lotus at the base of the sexual organ, above muladhara and below the navel. Its pericarp is red, and its petals are like lightning. Read more »

bham, bija, cakra, half moon, makara, navel, saraswati, sexual organ, varuna, yam

Mani-pura-cakra (1) is a ten-petalled golden lotus, situated above the last in the region of the navel. “Fire” evolved from “air” is the Tattva of the cakra. The ten petals are of the colours of a cloud, and on them are the blue varnas - “dam”, “dham”, “nam”, “tam”, “tham”, “dam”, “dham”, “nam”, “pam”, “pham” - and the ten vrttis (vide ante), namely, lajja (shame), pisunata (fickleness), irsa (jealousy), trsna (desire), susupti (laziness), (2) visada (sadness), kasaya (dullness), moha (ignorance), ghrna (aversion, disgust), bhaya (fear). Read more »

agni, auspicious signs, bhaskara, cakra, golden lotus, lord of fire, moha, molten gold, rudra, samaya,