CHAPTER 4 Haṭha-yoga Mastered

His Holiness was exhausted when He retired for the night on 22^nd May 1931, the day He was initiated into saṁnyāsa. As was usual, He fell asleep almost the moment He shut His eyes. That night He had a dream that He could vividly recall even decades later. In it, He found Himself on the amazingly scenic summit of a tall, ice-clad mountain. Though the mountain was icy, He felt no cold. In front of Him, at a distance of about twenty feet, He saw a huge, crystal Śivaliṅga. A torrent of water was falling on it in a column from above. He could not see the source of the water. He could hear the chanting in chorus of the Vedic Rudra- praśna but no chanter was visible. Suddenly, there was a great flash of light and from the liṅga, Lord Śiva manifested.

The Lord appeared as possessed of one face and two arms. He was extremely fair and radiant. His hair was matted and was tawny in hue. On beholding Śiva, His Holiness was so struck with awe that He stood unmoving. The Lord smilingly looked at His Holiness and raised His right hand in a gesture of blessing. His Holiness felt a great power entering into Him. Automatically, He began to chant ‘om’ mentally. Śiva gestured to Him to sit down. A seat of deer skin with an ochre cloth spread on it appeared where His Holiness was standing. He did namaskāra and, strictly in obedience to the Lord’s wish, sat down even though Śiva was standing.

The Lord came near Him. A big tiger skin appeared on the ground and Śiva sat on it. He positioned His legs in the padmāsana and told His Holiness to do the same. While His Holiness knew even earlier how to adopt the padmāsana, Śiva’s approach was particularly graceful and His Holiness imitated it as best as He could. Then Śiva assumed the siddhāsana. In response to the Lord’s directive, His Holiness copied Him. With His hands, the Lord corrected His Holiness’s posture. The correction consisted in adjusting the left heel to be in better contact with the perineum.

Padmāsana

Siddhāsana

Prānāyāma

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.

{The Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā defines the jālandhara and uḍḍiyāna bandhas thus: “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 uḍḍiyāna-bandha. It is the lion that kills the elephant of death.” About when these two bandhas should be practised during prāṇāyāma, it is said therein: “The bandha named jālandhara should be practised at the close of inhalation. The uḍḍiyāna should be practised towards the end of retention and the start of exhalation.” The commentary Jyotsnā explicates that the uḍḍiyāna-bandha should be adopted before the retention of breath is concluded and exhalation is commenced. This description of these bandhas and the specification of when they are to be practised during prāṇāyāma tally with those contained in some minor Upaniṣads, such as the Yogaśikhā-upaniṣad and Yogakuṇḍalī-upaniṣad.}

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 (inhalation), kumbhaka (retention) and recaka (exhalation). 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. As a result of prānāyāma, the mind becomes fit for fixed attention. Just as the impurities of ores are burnt by the furnace-blast, the faults of the organs are singed by the restraint of prāṇa.” 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.

“When breath is active, so is the mind. When breath is still, the mind is calm. As a result of prānāyāma, the mind becomes fit for fixed attention. Just as the impurities of ores are burnt by the furnace-blast, the faults of the organs are singed by the restraint of prāṇa.”

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.

{About sūryabhedana, ujjāyī, sītkārī, śītalī and bhastrikā, the Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā says:

Now, sūryabhedana is spoken of. Seated in a firm āsana on a comfortable seat, the yogin should slowly draw in air from outside through the right nostril. He should retain it to the limit till he feels it right from the hair on his head to the tips of his toe nails. Then, he should slowly exhale the breath through the left nostril.

Now, ujjāyī is described. Having closed the mouth, one should draw in air slowly through both the nostrils such that it is felt to be sonorous from the throat to the heart. Then, the breath should be retained as in sūryabhedana and exhaled through the left nostril. This eradicates the defect of phlegm in the throat and intensifies the fire of digestion.

Now, sītkārī is presented. One should inhale through the mouth, making a hissing sound (by placing the tongue between the teeth). Exhalation should be only through the nostril. By practising thus, one becomes attractive like the god of love.

Now śītalī is spoken of. One should inhale air through the tongue (kept protruding and curled to resemble a bird’s beak). Kumbhaka should be done as in sūryabhedana. Then, the wise one should slowly exhale the air through the two nostrils.

Now bhastrikā is spoken of. Having properly adopted the padmāsana and kept the body and the neck erect, the wise man should close his mouth and forcefully exhale through the nostril such that there is sound from the heart and throat to the skull. Then, he should rapidly inhale air up to the region of the heart. He should repeatedly exhale and inhale in this fashion.}

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. Then, 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.

{The Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā describes the mūla-bandha thus: “Pressing the perineum with the heel, one should contract the anus and draw up apāna. This is called mūla-bandha.”}

His Holiness performing prāṇāyāma during pūjā

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 Śiva’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.

{Having most kindly blessed me with all the aforesaid details in May 1975 at Sringeri, His Holiness said, “I had no words to express my gratitude to Bhagavān for having extraordinarily graced me in spite of my being so unworthy and that too on the very day of my new life. I did not have an iota of doubt that the Lord would ever take care of and guide me. All I needed to do was not give room to egoism.” I asked Him, “Did the mental chanting of the Praṇava persist spontaneously after Your Holiness woke up?” He responded, “No. The Lord had, by His blessing, initiated the chanting and given me an understanding of how natural, uninterrupted and delightful it can be. I felt that the Lord intended that I should practise such chanting to the extent of it becoming effortless. Accordingly, I began to engage voluntarily in mental Praṇava-japa within a minute of my awakening. By Bhagavān’s grace, within a year, such japa became as effortless and uninterrupted as in the special dream. It continued even in dreams and while I conversed.”}

“I had no words to express my gratitude to Bhagavān for having extraordinarily graced me in spite of my being so unworthy and that too on the very day of my new life. I did not have an iota of doubt that the Lord would ever take care of and guide me. All I needed to do was not give room to egoism.”

On that and the next several days, the senior Jagadguru personally familiarised His Holiness with the performance of āhnika and other duties. He also initiated His Holiness into mantras such as the Śrīvidyā. His Holiness regarded it as inappropriate to take any more of His Guru’s time by reporting His experiences to Him and so abstained from doing so till later.

His Holiness performing āhnika

On the night of 23^rd May, His Holiness had a dream in which the Lord 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.

{Mahaṛṣi Patañjali has described kevala-kumbhaka thus in his Yogasūtrās: “The fourth (kevala-kumbhaka) is that which follows when the spheres of the external and internal are transcended.” After detailing the practice of prāṇāyāma in which kumbhaka and recaka are respectively four and two times the pūraka, the Yogatattva-upaniṣad presents and eulogises kevala-kumbhaka thus: “Thereafter, he acquires the capacity to restrain his breath for as long as he wishes. From such stoppage of breath, there accrues the attainment of kevala-kumbhaka. On his attaining kevala-kumbhaka, which is not associated with inhalation and exhalation, nothing in the three worlds is difficult for him to achieve.”}

During that dream and the ones on the succeeding five nights, the Lord demonstrated numerous yogāsanas and kriyās such as nauli. There was no repetition. He performed the āsanas very swiftly but with unmatchable grace and with each step unmistakably clear. No human adept could have performed even a quarter of the number of āsanas in the same time. He did not name any āsana. Also, He did not direct His Holiness to do any āsana before passing on to the next. However, whenever He performed one, His Holiness automatically understood whether this was just for His information or for His practice later. Such was the impact of and imprint created by the Lord’s teaching that even decades later His Holiness was in a position to vividly recall the Lord’s demonstration of any āsana that He wished to see.

During that dream and the ones on the succeeding five nights, the Lord demonstrated numerous yogāsanas and kriyās such as nauli. No human adept could have performed even a quarter of the number of āsanas in the same time.

On the seventh night, that is, on the night of 28^th May, towards the close of His teaching in His Holiness’s dream, the Lord threw light on the khecarī-mudrā. Sitting in the padmāsana, He stretched out His tongue. In moments, the membrane connecting it with the lower part of the mouth began to give way gradually as if it were being cut with a knife. Simultaneously, the tongue became thinner and longer. Soon, it resembled that of a dog. The Lord turned it upwards. It reached up to the head. His Holiness automatically understood that the normal procedure involved cutting the fraenum, little by little, over a long period and elongating the tongue by shaking and pulling it.

Having transformed His tongue into a thin long one, Śiva directed His gaze to between the brows. He then turned His tongue backwards and inserted it into the cavity at the back of the throat that leads to the nose. Thereafter, the Lord remained motionless and with no perceptible signs of breathing. At that time, His Holiness’s breathing too stopped. He felt something cool and very pleasant to taste descend into the back of His mouth. It greatly invigorated Him. The understanding dawned that this fluid obviates hunger, thirst, weakness and dullness. As the Lord lowered His tongue, His Holiness’s experience ended. The next moment, Śiva’s tongue became normal.

{The khecarī-mudrā has been described and eulogised in the Upaniṣads such as the Yogakuṇḍalī and in haṭha-yoga texts. The Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā says: “The tongue should be gradually lengthened by cutting, shaking and stretching till it reaches the middle of the eyebrows. Then khecarī is successfully accomplished. Turning back the tongue, it should be put into the path of the three nādīs (that is, into the cavity in the roof of the palate). This is the khecarī-mudrā that is also known as vyoma-cakra. He who knows the khecarī-mudrā is free from disease, death, dullness, sleep, hunger, thirst and clouding of the mind.”}

Śiva taught His Holiness nāda-anusandhāna. With His fingers, He closed His nose, mouth and ears. Then He concentrated on the ocean-like sound heard in the right ear. His Holiness comprehended that the Lord was doing so because, without any effort, His Holiness’s attention locked on to such a sound in His own right ear.

Finally, Śiva taught His Holiness nāda-anusandhāna (contemplation on the internal sound). With His fingers, He closed His nose, mouth and ears. Then He concentrated on the ocean-like sound heard in the right ear. His Holiness comprehended that the Lord was doing so because, without any effort, His Holiness’s attention locked on to such a sound in His own right ear. His Holiness also got the feeling that with practice one can focus on this sound even without closing the ears. Soon, His Holiness heard different sounds in succession. Finally, all sounds ceased and He was overwhelmed with bliss. The next moment, His Holiness’s experience ended. The Lord took His hands away from His face. The Lord then raised His right hand in a gesture of blessing and got up. His Holiness promptly prostrated before Him, placing His head on Śiva’s lotus feet. As His Holiness rose, the Lord walked towards the crystal liṅga from which He had manifested. A flash of light preceded His disappearance into that liṅga. At this point, His Holiness’s dream ended. The Lord had not left His seat at the close of the preceding six extraordinary dreams. Hence, when His Holiness woke up at His usual time, He knew that this was the last of this series of dreams.

In the course of the seven dreams, the Lord had demonstrated hundreds of asanas. These included all those described in the authoritative works such as Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā and numerous others not referred to in any text. His Holiness did not think even an expert with a highly supple body would be able to do more than a few of the many āsanas of the latter kind. The Lord demonstrated the various kriyas but not vasti; also, He did not take up the vajrolī-mudra.

Pārśva-koṇāsana

Pūrṇa-bhujaṅgāsana

{The six kriyās are dhauti, vasti, neti, trāṭaka, nauli and kapālabhāti. These serve to purify the body. The Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā describes their practice thus: “One should slowly swallow, as taught by the Guru, a wet cloth that has the width of four fingers and is fifteen spans long. One should then draw out the cloth. This is the dhauti-kriyā. One should sit in utkaṭāsana in water reaching up to one’s navel with a tube inserted into the anus. Then, one should contract the anus (draw in water and expel it). Such washing is the vasti-kriyā. One should insert into a nostril, a smooth thread that is a span (or more) long and draw it out through the mouth. The siddhas call this neti. One should gaze steadily with a focused mind at a minute object till tears fall. Teachers regard this to be trāṭaka. With shoulders lowered, one should rotate the abdomen to the left and right with the speed of a swift eddy. Siddhas reveal this to be nauli. One should draw in and push out air rapidly like the bellows of a blacksmith. This is called kapālabhāti. It destroys phlegmatic defects.” As described in the Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā, the practice of the vajrolī-mudra begins with gradually inserting a tube into the penis. Having cleared the passage by blowing, one learns to draw water through it. An aim is to be able to draw ejaculated semen back into the penis.}

After the dreams, while His Holiness was able to perform the simple āsanas such as śīrṣāsana in the first attempt, the tougher ones such as gheraṇḍāsana and mukhottānāsana needed effort and practice.

“I began to devote half an hour exclusively for āsanas and kriyās and half an hour for prāṇāyāma. I performed some āsanas, such as śīrṣāsana, sarvāṅgāsana, matsyāsana, paścimottānāsana and ardha- matsyendrāsana, and kriyās such as nauli, on all days.”

His Holiness

Cakrāsana

Sarvāngāsana

Matsyāsana

Śīrṣāsana

Halāsana

Paścimottānāsana

Pūrṇa-śalabhāsana

Śalabha-śīrṣāsana

Dhanurāsana

Pādāṅguṣṭa-dhanurāsana

Yogāsanas demonstrated by Master Logesh

“To the extent that I could accommodate within the available time, I did other āsanas from my repertoire.”

His Holiness

Gaṇḍa-bheruṇḍāsana

Eka-pāda-vāmadeva-vriścikāsana

Dvipāda-vāmadeva-śalabhāsana

Piñca-kokila-vriścikāsana

Padma-vriścikāsana

Tittibhāsana

Upaviṣṭa-koṇāsana

Ūrdhva-kukkuṭāsana

Eka-pāda-viparīta-daṇḍāsana

Mukhotthānāsana

Nauli-kriya

Śavāsana

Omkārāsana

Gheraṇḍāsana

Ardha-matsyendrāsana

As the Lord did not demonstrate vasti, His Holiness never practised it. However, having once witnessed its performance, He knew how to do it. He mastered the other kriyās easily and practised dhauti, neti and nauli regularly.

About His mastering dhauti, His Holiness told me in 1973, “I took a long thin piece of muslin cloth, and swallowed some of it. Then, I gently pulled it out. I did this two or three times. The next day, I swallowed a much greater length. By the fourth day, I could comfortably put as much of the cloth as I wanted into the throat and stomach and slowly pull it out. I found that this kriyā helped to clear any phlegm in the throat.”

Describing His practice of neti, He said, on the same occasion, “I used my index finger to push a soft cloth or thread into a nostril as far as I could. Closing the other nostril, I inhaled in jerks and exhaled through the mouth. By the suction and the guiding force from outside, the thread went well into the nostril and came down to the back of the mouth. In the initial stages of practice, I found the thread going slightly into the wind pipe or gullet and producing a funny sensation. However, I soon learnt the remedy. When the inserted material appeared at the back of my throat, I cleared my throat with a sound. At the same time, I inserted my index finger and thumb into the throat and, grasping the thread, pulled it to make it protrude from the mouth. The pulling should be done slowly to avoid damage to the nasal tissues. Thereafter, I oscillated the cloth or thread by pulling and releasing its opposite ends. This too should be done slowly. After this, I pulled out the thread through the nostril and repeated the whole process through the other nostril. I found this kriyā to be quite useful in clearing the phlegm blocking the nostrils.”

After speaking of neti, His Holiness demonstrated how He did nauli. He stood with His legs separated and His palms pressed against His thighs. Having fully expelled air from the lungs, He deeply pulled in His abdomen. He then controlled His muscles to make the abdominal region resemble a cavity with a vertical tube in the middle. He then made the tube swing from side to side and execute a churning motion. Finally, He restored His abdomen to its normal form and said, “This used to be my favourite kriyā.”

In May 1975, subsequent to hearing His Holiness’s account of the seven dreams, I asked Him, “How many of the āsanas demonstrated by Śiva but not mentioned in books did Your Holiness master?” He said, “Six. Close the door. I will show you one of them and you can see how tough it is.”

This conversation took place in the hall extending from east to west in the upper storey of Sacchidananda Vilas. As directed, I shut the door on the eastern side that led to the stairs. By the time I returned to his Holiness, He had removed His upper garment and was spreading His dhoti on the ground to serve as a mat. He was attired in just an ochre loin cloth. I watched thoroughly spellbound as, step by step, His Holiness assumed an extremely complex, inverted pose. Such was the tight knot into which He tied Himself that it appeared that His body was made of highly elastic rubber and comprised no bones. Having held the final pose for about a minute, He gradually unwound Himself and put on His lower and upper garments.

He then told me, “The first two times that I tried to do this, I failed. The third time I succeeded only partially. On my next attempt, I somehow managed to adopt the final position but became stuck in it. I found that I was just unable to release the knot that bound my hands and legs. I called to mind Bhagavān’s performance of this āsana. In imitation of what He had done, I emptied my lungs and used my middle fingers to release myself a little. The rest was manageable. From the fifth try onwards, I had no difficulty.”

I asked His Holiness, “When teaching me āsanas, Your Holiness had told me, ‘When I was young, I asked Kāśī-svāmin (Śrī Iśvarānanda Sarasvatī, a very dispassionate saṁnyāsin and an adept at performing āsanas who had learnt the Brahmasūtra-bhāṣya from senior Jagadguru and was close to the senior Jagadguru and His Holiness) if I could watch him perform āsanas in order to do them myself. In those days, bairāgīs (dispassionate, wandering mendicants) used to come to Sringeri, stay for a time and go away. I saw them practising various āsanas. My curiosity was aroused and I carefully noted how they performed them. As my body was supple, I did not have difficulty in mastering the āsanas and kriyās that I had observed them do. Further, I enjoyed doing them and so the learning process was expedited. I used to get clarifications whenever necessary to ascertain that what I was doing was right.’ It is now clear to me that Bhagavān had taught Your Holiness. I am, however, unclear as to how to reconcile this understanding with Your Holiness’s earlier statement.”

His Holiness replied, “I have not done any āsana or kriyā that Śiva had not shown me in the dreams. However, I practised the āsanas and kriyās only after learning, as it were, a number of them from Kāśī-svāmin and the bairāgīs. Further, I did come to know the names of āsanas from Kaśī-svāmin and the bairāgīs and, later, from books.”

“I have not done any āsana or kriyā that Śiva had not shown Me in the dreams.”

His Holiness

{When interviewed in the 1980s, Kāśī-svāmin said that when young, His Holiness had approached him and watched him perform the uḍḍiyāna-bandha and āsanas, such as gorakṣa. His Holiness did not do the āsanas in his presence. Regarding the kriyās such as dhauti, Kāśī-svāmin stated that he did not practise them. Presumably, it was only the bairāgīs who did the kriyās that His Holiness referred to.}

I then queried, “What was the reason for Your Holiness postponing doing āsanas and kriyās till having seemingly learnt many of them from humans?” His Holiness said, “I felt that this is what God wanted me to do. Because of this, there was no scope for the Math staff and others to wonder how I was abruptly able to practise haṭha-yoga without having been taught. As for prāṇāyāma and the bandhas, I initially did them 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. As for nāda-anusandhāna, I did it once a week along with my āhnika. I believe, I only did as God intended me to when I started doing prāṇāyāma with the bandhas after the first dream and nāda-anusandhāna after the seventh dream.”

About the number of āsanas He used to perform every day and the number of cycles of prāṇāyāma with the bandhas, His Holiness said, “The number of āsanas varied. Within a few years after saṁnyāsa, I began to devote half an hour exclusively for āsanas and kriyās and half an hour for prāṇāyāma. I performed some āsanas, such as śīrṣāsana, sarvāṅgāsana, matsyāsana, paścimottānāsana and ardha-matsyendrāsana, and kriyās such as nauli, on all days. Apart from these, to the extent that I could accommodate within the available time, I did other āsanas from my repertoire. I ended with five minutes of śavāsana. I required a week to complete one cycle of all the āsanas that I practised. After śavāsana, I took up prāṇāyāma with the three bandhas. I did 16 cycles with pūraka, kumbhaka and recaka lasting for 16, 64 and 32 seconds respectively 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.”

In response to my asking Him whether He had straightaway started doing prāṇāyāma with the retention lasting for over two minutes, His Holiness stated, “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 my mind whether during such prolonged retention He would slow down His metabolism and lower His pulse rate. Immediately, He laughed and said, “You can note my pulse now and in the final minute.” I 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, I began counting His pulse and did so till the end of the fifth minute. His pulse rate was just 29 beats per minute. As I withdrew my hand from His Holiness’s wrist, which He had held out to facilitate my measurement, He released the pressure on His nostrils and smoothly took a couple of deep breaths.

{His Holiness has given the following clarification about guidance and directives received in dreams:

It is certain that all that is seen in a dream is false. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad states, “There are no chariots, horses or paths there.” In the Brahmasūtras, it is said, “But the dream creation is a mere illusion on account of its nature of not being manifest with the totality of the attributes (found in the waking state, such as adequate space, time and circumstances and not being nullified).” Nevertheless, what is encountered in a dream may, uncommonly, form a basis for spiritual practice. In the Yogaśutras, it is said: “Alternatively, the mind reaches the state of steadiness by having as its object of focus a perception had in dream or sleep.” Explaining this, Vācaspati has said (in his gloss Tattvavaiśāradī) that a person may see in a dream an exquisite, well-decorated image of Śiva in a forest. After waking up, the person concerned can recall that image and meditate upon it.

Rarely, a person may have a dream in which he receives initiation from God or the Guru into a mantra. In the Mahābhārata, there is an account of a dream in which Arjuna received instructions from Śiva. Having vowed to slay Jayadratha by sunset the next day, Arjuna was worried about how he could achieve success. When he fell asleep, he had a dream in which Kṛṣṇa came to him and led him on an aerial journey to the summit of the Kailāsa Mountain. There, they beheld Śiva and eulogised Him. In response to Arjuna’s prayer, the Lord directed them to fetch His bow, pināka, and His pāśupata-astra from a celestial lake. When they did so, a brahmacārin emerged from Śiva’s side and taught Arjuna how to discharge the pāśupata arrow. The Lord also taught Arjuna the mantras for invoking the weapon. Arjuna’s memory of the instructions about the use of the pāśupata that he had received much earlier from Śiva was thereby restored. On waking up, he was in a position to invoke with mantras and employ the irresistible pāśupata, if needed.

A dream in which one sees the Guru or God is good and can be viewed as a sign of divine grace. However, one ought not to indiscriminately assume that whatever instruction one has received in the dream is indeed the directive of the Guru or God and blindly carry it out. For instance, it would be a grave error for one to harm another because of having dreamt of being commanded to do so. One should not implement what is contrary to one’s dharma nor give weight to a teaching that is discordant with the actual position of the scriptures and one’s Sadguru.

Rare are the dreams in which one is actually blessed with the instructions of God or the Sadguru. A sceptic who hears of a dream of this kind would, perhaps, dismiss it as a fabrication of the narrator or seek to explain it in some other way such as that the apparently new information acquired is actually based on knowledge unwittingly gained earlier. The extraordinary nature of such dreams and the appropriateness and worth of the guidance received through them are, however, generally unmistakable to the one who has them.}