52. प्राणायामपरायणः Prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇaḥ

One who was intent on prāṇāyāma

Prāṇāyāma is the fourth limb of Sage Patañjali’s aṣtāṅga-yoga (eight-limbed yoga). (The first three are yama, niyama and āsana, dealt with under nāmas 105, 44 and 76 respectively). Prāṇāyāma means regulation of the breath, spoken of as, “When firmness in posture is accomplished, there follows prāṇāyāma, which consists of the cessation of the (natural) inward and outward flow of breath.”¹³⁴ It is a very important aid to mind control since the activity of the mind and breath are closely linked.

Prāṇāyāma can involve pūraka (inhalation), kumbhaka (retention), recaka (exhalation) and three bandhas namely jālandhara, uḍḍīyāna and mūla. These bandhas are described as follows: “Having contracted the throat, the chin should be held firmly at the chest. This is the bandha called jālandhara. It destroys old age and death. The abdomen above and below the navel should be drawn against the back. This is the uḍḍīyāna-bandha. It is the lion that kills the elephant of death. The bandha named jālandhara should be practised at the close of inhalation. The uḍḍīyāna should be practised towards the end of retention and the start of exhalation, that is before the retention of breath is concluded and exhalation is commenced. Pressing the perineum with the heel, one should contract the anus and draw up apāna. This is called mūla-bandha.”¹³⁵

Having been taught prāṇāyāma and various forms of restraint of prāṇa by Lord Śiva Himself in dreams, His Holiness diligently practiced and perfected them.

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[As briefly described under nāma 10, His Holiness had a series of seven dreams starting on the night of His saṁnyāsa, in which He saw Lord Śiva demonstrating the various aspects of haṭha-yoga to Him. In the first two of these dreams, the Lord demonstrated prāṇāyāma in its various aspects, some details of which are presented below.]

Once the Lord and His Holiness were seated in the siddhāsana, the Lord demonstrated how to perform prāṇāyāma. Exhaling the air within, He began to smoothly inhale through the left nostril. On the completion of pūraka (inhalation), He blocked both His nostrils with His fingers and lowered His chin to His chest to form the jālandhara-bandha. At the close of kumbhaka (retention), His Holiness saw Him deeply pull in and upward His abdomen to adopt the uḍḍīyāna-bandha. His body smoothly rose to about a foot above the ground. Raising His head, He exhaled smoothly through the right nostril. As He did so, His body gradually descended to the ground. He then repeated the process by inhaling through the right nostril and exhaling through the left nostril.

By seeing the position of the Lord’s fingers on His nostrils and by observing His midriff, His Holiness could judge when Śiva was engaged in pūraka, kumbhaka and recaka. As His Holiness had been spontaneously chanting the Praṇava (Om) in the dream, He discerned, with the number of Praṇavas as basis, that the Lord’s kumbhaka lasted four times His pūraka, while His recaka was twice His pūraka. He made this determination during the Lord’s second round of prāṇāyāma. Having demonstrated the practice of prāṇāyāma in the siddhāsana, the Lord did it in the padmāsana.

After this the Lord cited three passages, the combined import of which is, “When breath is active, so is the mind. When breath is still, the mind is calm.¹³⁶ As a result of prānāyāma, the mind becomes fit for fixed attention.¹³⁷ Just as the impurities of ores are burnt by the furnace-blast, the faults of the organs are singed by the restraint of prāṇa.¹³⁸” As His Holiness heard the Lord’s words, the understanding that automatically dawned on Him was, “When the mind is agitated, breathing is not slow and rhythmic. On the other hand, the breathing is gentle and rhythmic when the mind is calm. This common observation suggests that there is a relationship between one’s mental state and breathing. Not only does one’s mental state influence one’s breathing, the converse is also true. Breathing is a gross manifestation of the activity of prāṇa. The correlation is fundamentally between the activities of the mind and prāṇa. By controlling prāṇa, the mind can be controlled. Through the control of breath, the practitioner of prāṇāyāma checks the activity of prāṇa and thereby that of the mind. Prāṇāyāma is a great purifier.” The Lord remained silent for the few moments during which all this spontaneously registered in His Holiness’s mind.

Thereafter, Śiva demonstrated how prāṇāyāma can be done with breathing being suspended after exhalation rather than after inhalation. Finally, He showed His Holiness the various kinds of restraint of prāṇa like sūryabhedana, ujjāyī, sītkārī, śītalī and bhastrikā in such a way that His Holiness could clearly understand and distinguish them.

When the Lord finished His demonstration of bhastrikā, His Holiness’s dream ended and He awakened. The time was about two o’clock in the night. His mental chanting of the Praṇava, which had begun when the Lord blessed Him in the dream, persisted throughout the dream, inclusive of when He heard the passages voiced by the Lord. On waking up, He noticed that He spontaneously continued to recite in His mind the Praṇava.

Impelled by some force, He stood up, with His legs somewhat apart. He slightly bent forward and gripped His thighs with His hands. He gradually exhaled and pulled His abdomen towards His back and upwards to adopt the uḍḍīyāna-bandha in a standing posture. Though He could not understand why He was doing all this in the middle of the night, He felt amazed to see the extent to which a deep cavity had formed in the region of His abdomen. After some moments, He gradually exhaled and straightened up.

Directed further by the force, He sat down in the siddhāsana and started to perform prāṇāyāma. He inhaled for a shorter duration than had the Lord. This simplified the practice; however, it was not the result of any decision of His. At the end of pūraka, He adopted not only the jālandhara-bandha but also the mūla-bandha, characterised by the contraction of the anus. He had not identified the Lord’s performance of the mūla-bandha in His dream and was unfamiliar with it.

His Holiness’s having practised the uḍḍiyāna-bandha in a standing posture facilitated His doing it during prāṇāyāma. Though His pūraka was shorter than the Lord’s, as in the Lord’s case, His kumbhaka lasted four times the pūraka and recaka two times the pūraka. Having performed two prāṇāyāmas in the siddhāsana, He did the same in the padmāsana.

Throughout, there was no planning on His part and the mental chanting of the Praṇava proceeded without any interruption. After doing prāṇāyāma in the padmāsana, He lay down and fell asleep. He awoke very fresh, well before sunrise. The dream was crystal clear in His mind. After spending some minutes practising the different kinds of restraint of prāṇa, such as śītalī, His Holiness went for His ablutions. No one knew about His having done prāṇāyāma at night or before daybreak.

That night, Lord Śiva continued His teaching. Śiva first gave a demonstration of kevala-kumbhaka. His breathing stopped all of a sudden and He remained motionless for some time, with His eyes closed. His Holiness began to experience tremendous peace. His breathing too stopped without any reference to the preceding state of inhalation or exhalation. Gradually, the Lord started to breathe again and opened His eyes. As Śiva did so, His Holiness realised that this kumbhaka is superior to and is the fruit of the practice of restraint that considers pūraka and recaka.

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After detailing to a disciple how Lord Śiva taught Him prāṇāyāma in the dreams, His Holiness said, “I initially did prāṇāyāma and the bandhas secretly at about three in the night and then went back to sleep. Subsequently, for some time, I did them privately during my āhnika. It is only after having supposedly learnt them from others that I practised them without being secretive. I believe, I only did as God intended me to.”

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His Holiness went on to tell the disciple, “I performed prāṇāyāma every day with the three bandhas. I did 16 cycles with pūraka, kumbhaka and recaka lasting for 16, 64 and 32 seconds or eight cycles with the timings being 32, 128 and 64 seconds. Over the course of every week, I also briefly accommodated the forms of restraint of prāṇa such as śītalī. After prāṇāyāma, I spent about 15 minutes on stamina and strength building exercises before going for my morning bath.”

Disciple: Did Your Holiness straightaway start doing prāṇāyāma with the retention lasting for over two minutes?

HH: No. Over the course of two weeks, I raised the retention time from about a minute to this. Within a month of practice, I could retain my breath comfortably for five minutes. However, the idea of performing prāṇāyāma regularly with so long a kumbhaka did not appeal to me, for then I could not have done even four cycles within my scheduled half an hour. Though it is many years since I casually retained my breath for five minutes, I shall demonstrate this to you now.

A thought crossed the disciple’s mind whether during such prolonged retention His Holiness would slow down His metabolism and lower His pulse rate. Immediately, His Holiness laughed and said, “You can note my pulse now and in the final minute.” The disciple measured His pulse rate and found it to be 67 beats per minute. Then, His Holiness fully emptied His lungs, pressed His nostrils shut and performed the jālandhara-bandha. His eyes were open and there was a light smile on His face. At the end of the fourth minute, the disciple began counting His pulse and did so till the end of the fifth minute. His pulse rate was just 29 beats per minute. As the disciple withdrew his hand from His Holiness’s wrist, which He had held out to facilitate the measurement, He released the pressure on His nostrils and smoothly took a couple of deep breaths.

D: When did Your Holiness switch from the standard 1:4:2 ratio for the relative duration of pūraka, kumbhaka and recaka to the ratio 1:2:2 that Your Holiness now favours?

HH: That was after my Guru’s return from Kalady (in early 1939). It was He who suggested the new ratio. I considered His hint a sacred directive and implemented it.

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