Sadhana Sangama Trust

PRANA : THE LIFE ENERGY

प्राणस्येदं  वशे  सर्वं   ‍त्रिदिवे   यत्    प्रतिष्ठितम्

मातेव पुत्रान् रक्षस्व श्रीश्च प्राज्ञां विधेहि इति।।

Prayer from Prashnopanishad

In this world everything is under the control of prana. Protect us just as a mother does for her sons and bless us with the splendor and intelligence.

This is our prayer to the Prana devata.

I thought of sharing some points about an important term which we all commonly use in our practices ­– PRANA. Though we all are well versed with this, how about deepening the understanding further?

There is a well-known story from CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD. Once there was a fight between all the sense organs about who is the most important one. All the senses came one by one and gave in detail their importance, but could not come to any conclusion. All along, Prana was observing, keeping a low profile. Seeing their plight, Prana decided to speak and said there is no one as important as him. All the sense organs laughed but Prana kept quiet and slowly started to withdraw from the body. As a result, soon all the senses could not work and slowly started dying. This made them understand that it is Prana which is behind all of them and hence the most important one.

Speaking, listening, seeing, tasting, touching, moving, thinking, contemplating – all of these activities which our body is capable of, is nothing but the manifestation of Prana only.

PRANA

PRANA is made up of two parts PRA + NA. PRA means the first or basic unit and NA means Energy. Prana is the basic energy present in all of us. To understand it well we need to know about the beginning of creation.

To start with there was nothing, not even creation, but only the all pervasive, unmanifested consciousness, PARA BRHAMAN. The whole universe was in it, as potency (potential). Prana remained completely absorbed in it. According to Tantric/Vedic scriptures a desire arose-EKOHAM BAHUSYAM – I am one, let me become many. This desire caused first impulse (spandana) – first moment of becoming from being, the first manifestation of Prana.

Prana was never separate from consciousness, it existed in it as its potency, but now it assumed itself. Thus the Energy and Consciousness began the interactive journey. This interaction caused SHRISHTI (CREATION). As Swami NIRANJANANANDA JI says, this interaction kept on modifying, leading to different levels of existence. Manifestation was in the form of beings, matter, elements, animate, inanimate, male, female and so on.

Both Prana and Consciousness must be present for the life to exist. Prana and consciousness are the two aspects of the existence. Consciousness is being, awareness is knowledge and Prana is becoming, it is manifestation through motion.

Individual Prana, though looks different, is part of the cosmic Prana (MAHA PRANA)

All the five sheaths of Panchkosha are nourished and sustained by the Prana. Here Pranamaya kosha acts like a neutral gear. For changing the gears of a vehicle the stick always passes through the neutral space. Similarly any action anywhere has to have the backing and the force of the Pranamaya kosha (or Prana). So, for any internal or external activity Prana is the power behind.

At birth we are born with a certain quantum of Prana. But during our life the quality and quantity of Prana keeps changing depending upon many things – the most important being the air we breathe and the food we eat. The quality of Prana we get by breathing the air is of higher quality as compared to what we get by eating.

Breath is the external manifestation of Prana. Both are intrinsically related to each other. We can influence the level of Prana shakti with the help of our breath. Breath acts as a vehicle for the Prana.

At the grosser level Breath (air) cannot go beyond the lungs but the Prana is present all over the body. To understand this, simple example of the geyser (in our homes) can be taken. There is a coil surrounding the steel tank which is filled with the water. As soon as we switch it on, the electricity flows in the coil only, but whole of the water in the tank gets heated. Here you can equate electricity with the breath, coil with the lungs and heat energy with the Prana. So just by breathing which fills air in the lungs, Prana all over the body gets activated.

There is a direct relationship between the Breath, Prana and the Mind. By managing your breath you can master the Pranic movement, which in turns takes control of the mind (thoughts). Just as the person flying a kite is able to control its movement, using the thread attached to the kite. Here person, thread and kite represent Breath, Prana and Mind respectively.

We are aware of the term Pranayama. It can be defined in two ways

1) PRANA + AYAMA–EXPANSION OF PRANA

2) PRANA +YAMA –CONTROLLING THE PRANA.

Similarly there is a word SWASHAYAMA..TAKING CARE OF THE BREATH

Friends will be sharing more about the PRANA and its Practical aspects in the next blog. In the meantime I want you to contemplate about these two words (PRANAYAMA and SWASHAYAMA) and their relationship. They are complimentary at one level and totally different ones at another level. Also when a person dies we say breath has stopped, but at the same time we also say Prana has gone out. Think about this till we meet next at SUTRA SAMVAD

-JAI GURUDEV-

Dr Ashok Bhat

New Delhi

6 responses to “PRANA : THE LIFE ENERGY”

  1. Sadhanashree P says:

    In a scenario where prana is simply translated as breath by many , u have wonderfully articulated the clear-cut difference between the two.. this understanding becomes vital for any yoga practitioner as , activating and channelising prana becomes the base of all practices… Without this clarity one gets stuck at the level of the ‘breath’ it is impossible to progress beyond … Thank u for the much needed explanation , Doctorji… Looking forward to knowing more about ‘Prana’..

  2. Savitha says:

    It’s very informative article about prana the most essential vital energy to live and important aspect in sadhana which controls the entire being.

    The relativity of breath-prana-mind is very well explained with good example n narration. The way difference between breath n prana is explained here is just awesome! The ‘ sensitivity of prana ‘ as a part of consciousness helps in expansion of mind and can be achieved by proper breathing technique which in turn is in our hands is a key knowledge. Prana can bring great changes in sadhana n acts as foundation also.

    Thank you Dr Ashok Bhatji for making us to understand prana in its deeper sense with best examples.

  3. M nanda says:

    Iam nanda from hyderbad .Bhatji explained very well.In this explination we know about what is prana what is breath with example.very nice concept .Tq sir

  4. Dilip says:

    I had doubts about Prana.. Thanx well explained.

  5. Meena Pandey says:

    Thank you Doctorji for sharing the knowledge about Prana and also differentiating between Prana and Breath. The example of Geyser is interesting. Waiting for the Pranayama and Shwasayama aspects to be revealed in your next article.

    Jai Gurudev

  6. Jyothi pattabhiram says:

    Profound yet simple description about prana n it’s subtle aspects very relevant to the yoga practioners !Doctorji ,well done .!

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