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    The Science of Pranayama
    The Science of Pranayama
    The Science of Pranayama
    Ebook191 pages2 hours

    The Science of Pranayama

    By Sri Swami Sivananda

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    Table Of Contents

    PUBLISHERS' NOTE

    INTRODUCTION

    CHAPTER ONE

    Prana and Pranayama

    Sub-Pranas and Their Functions

    The Colour of Pranas

    The Length of the Air-Currents

    The Centering of the Prana

    The Lungs

    Sushumna

    Kundalini

    Shat-Chakras

    Nadis

    Purification of Nadis

    Shat-Karmas (The Six Purificatory Processes)

    Dhauti

    Basti

    Neti

    Nauli

    Kapalabhati

    CHAPTER TWO

    The Meditation Room

    The Five Essentials

    The Place

    The Time

    The Adhikari

    Dietetic Discipline

    Yogic Diet

    Mitahara

    Purity in Food

    Charu

    Milk Diet

    Fruit Diet

    Articles Allowed

    Articles Forbidden

    A Kutir For Sadhana

    Matra

    Padmasana (Lotus Pose)

    Technique

    Siddhasana (The Perfect Pose)

    Technique

    Svastikasana (Prosperous Pose)

    Samasana (Equal Pose)

    Three Bandhas

    Arambha Avastha

    Ghata Avastha

    Parichaya Avastha

    Nishpatti Avastha

    CHAPTER THREE

    What is Pranayama

    Pranayama (According to the Gita)

    Pranayama (According To Sri Sankaracharya)

    Pranayama (According to Yogi Bhusunda)

    Control of Breath

    Varieties of Pranayama

    Three Types of Pranayama

    The Vedantic Kumbhaka

    Pranayama for Nadi-Suddhi

    Mantra During Pranayama

    Exercise No. 1

    Exercise No. 2

    Exercise No. 3

    Exercise No. 4

    Deep Breathing Exercise

    Kapalabhati

    The External Kumbhaka (Bahya)

    Easy Comfortable Pranayama (Sukha Purvaka)

    Pranayama for Awakening Kundalini

    Pranayama During Meditation

    Pranayama While Walking

    Pranayama in Savasana

    Sitkari

    Sitali

    Bhastrika

    Bhramari

    Murchha

    Kevala Kumbhaka

    Pranic Healing

    Distant Healing

    Relaxation

    Relaxation of Mind

    Importance and Benefits of Pranayama

    Special Instructions

    APPENDIX

    Concentration on Solar Plexus

    Pancha Dharana Prithvi Dharana

    Ambhasi Dharana

    Agneyi Dharana

    Vayavya Dharana

    Akasa Dharana

    Story of Yogi Bhusunda

    The Inner Factory

    Yogic Diet

    Sivananda's Pranayama

    Kundalini Pranayama

    Questions and Answers

    GLOSSARY
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherYoucanprint
    Release dateMar 27, 2017
    ISBN9788892656567
    The Science of Pranayama

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      Book preview

      The Science of Pranayama - Sri Swami Sivananda

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

      INTRODUCTION

      CHAPTER ONE

      Prana and Pranayama

      Sub-Pranas and Their Functions

      The Colour of Pranas

      The Length of the Air-Currents

      The Centering of the Prana

      The Lungs

      Sushumna

      Kundalini

      Shat-Chakras

      Nadis

      Purification of Nadis

      Shat-Karmas (The Six Purificatory Processes)

      Dhauti

      Basti

      Neti

      Nauli

      Kapalabhati

      CHAPTER TWO

      The Meditation Room

      The Five Essentials

      The Place

      The Time

      The Adhikari

      Dietetic Discipline

      Yogic Diet

      Mitahara

      Purity in Food

      Charu

      Milk Diet

      Fruit Diet

      Articles Allowed

      Articles Forbidden

      A Kutir For Sadhana

      Matra

      Padmasana (Lotus Pose)

      Technique

      Siddhasana (The Perfect Pose)

      Technique

      Svastikasana (Prosperous Pose)

      Samasana (Equal Pose)

      Three Bandhas

      Arambha Avastha

      Ghata Avastha

      Parichaya Avastha

      Nishpatti Avastha

      CHAPTER THREE

      What is Pranayama

      Pranayama (According to the Gita)

      Pranayama (According To Sri Sankaracharya)

      Pranayama (According to Yogi Bhusunda)

      Control of Breath

      Varieties of Pranayama

      Three Types of Pranayama

      The Vedantic Kumbhaka

      Pranayama for Nadi-Suddhi

      Mantra During Pranayama

      Exercise No. 1

      Exercise No. 2

      Exercise No. 3

      Exercise No. 4

      Deep Breathing Exercise

      Kapalabhati

      The External Kumbhaka (Bahya)

      Easy Comfortable Pranayama (Sukha Purvaka)

      Pranayama for Awakening Kundalini

      Pranayama During Meditation

      Pranayama While Walking

      Pranayama in Savasana

      Rhythmical Breathing

      Sitkari

      Sitali

      Bhastrika

      Bhramari

      Murchha

      Kevala Kumbhaka

      Pranic Healing

      Distant Healing

      Relaxation

      Relaxation of Mind

      Importance and Benefits of Pranayama

      Special Instructions

      APPENDIX

      Concentration on Solar Plexus

      Pancha Dharana Prithvi Dharana

      Ambhasi Dharana

      Agneyi Dharana

      Vayavya Dharana

      Akasa Dharana

      Story of Yogi Bhusunda

      The Inner Factory

      Yogic Diet

      Sivananda’s Pranayama

      Kundalini Pranayama

      Questions and Answers

      GLOSSARY

      THE SCIENCE OF PRANAYAMA

      by

      SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA

      First Edition: 1935

      © David De Angelis 2017 [all rights reserved]

      PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

      It is needless for us to stress on the merits of the subject or its author, Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. Sri Swamiji already lives in the hearts of the people of the world as an ‘unfailing saviour’. The Swamiji’s method of presenting such intricate Yogic subjects in an inimitable, simple style with convincing assurances in unique and unrivalled. It is authoritative, the more so, because of Swamiji being a combination of an experienced medical practitioner, a full-blown Yogi and a Jivanmukta.

      The practice of Pranayama has been viewed with fear in certain quarters on account of certain limitations, viz., the absolute necessity of the nearness to a perfected Guru, the dietetic restrictions and the like. Sri Swamiji has explained herein in clear terms the vagaries of such fears and has prescribed very simple and safe methods. The book contains suitable lessons for all types of Sadhakas. Those who follow the special instructions given towards the end of the book can be sure of their guaranteed success and safety.

      Pranayama is an important Anga in Ashtanga Yoga. It is equally necessary for all in their daily life, for good health, success and prosperity in every walk of life. How it is so, is explained in these pages. The science of relaxation is a very valuable gift for the readers and would benefit all.

      We are greatly encouraged by the warm reception the previous editions had at the hands of our dear readers and we hope more and more Sadhakas would take up this important aspect of Sadhana in their daily spiritual practices, and feel for themselves the happiness and joy which will naturally lead them to blissful ‘Divine Life’.

      —THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY

      INTRODUCTION

      Today, for quick travel, the material world presents us the Railway, Steamers, Aeroplanes and so forth, but the Yogins claim that by Yogic culture the weight of the body can be so reduced that it can fly over the space to any distance in an instant. They can prepare a magic ointment, which when applied to the soles of the feet, gives them power to traverse any distance on earth within a very short time. By the practice of Khechari Mudra, by applying the elongated tongue to the posterior nasal openings they can fly in the air. By keeping a magic pill in their mouth they can also move in space to any place in the twinkling of an eye. When we are anxious to know the welfare of our own relations in a distant or foreign land, we take recourse to writing letters sending ordinary or urgent cables. But the Yogins claim that they can, by meditation (Dyana), know anything that happens in other parts of the world by a projection of the mind or by mentally travelling the distance which is only a matter of few seconds. Yogi Lahiri, whose Samadhi is still in Varanasi, travelled to London to see the state of health of his superior’s wife. For hearing a friend at a long distance the material world presents us with telephones and wireless receivers, but the Yogins claim that through their Yogic power, they can hear anything, from any distance, even the voices of God and other invisible beings in the firmament. Today when a man is suffering from a disease the material world presents us with doctors, medicines, injections and so forth, but the Yogins claim that by a mere glance or by simple touch or by recitation of Mantras, not only the diseases can be cured but also life can be given to a dead man.

      These Yogins by persistent effort in concentration get different Yogic powers that are known as ‘Siddhis’. Those who acquire these Siddhis, are known as Siddhas. The process through which they obtain Siddhis, is called Sadhana. Pranayama is one of the most important Sadhanas. Through the practice of Asana, you can control the physical body and through Pranayama, you can control the subtle, astral body or the Linga Sarira. As there is an intimate connection between the breath and nerve-currents, control of breath leads to the control of vital inner currents.

      Pranayama occupies a very important place in Indian religion. Every Brahmachari, and every Grihastha also, has to practise it three times every day morning, noon and evening in his daily worship during Sandhya. It precedes every religious practice of the Hindus. Before he eats, before he drinks, before he resolves to do anything, Pranayama should be performed first and then the nature of his determination should be clearly enunciated and placed before the mind. The facts of its preceding every effort of the will is a surety that, that effort will be crowned with success and the mind will be directed to bring about the desired result. Here I may refer to the feat of memory, practised by the Hindu Yogins, under the name of concentration on one hundred things.

      ‘Satavadhana’, wherein one hundred questions are put to a Satavadhani or the concentrator in rapid succession by different persons; some testing the verbal memory of the performer; others testing his power of mental calculation; again some others, trying to test his artistic skill, without giving him, any time for committing the questions to have been put to him. The performer begins, by reproducing the questions, in any order, in respect of those questions, with their answers. This is generally done in three or more turns, in each turn giving only a portion of the answer to each of the questions and then continuing from where he left off in the next turn. If the questions are of the nature of mathematical problems whose solutions are required, he delivers the answers along with the problems, having solved them mentally.

      This faculty of concentration of mind is often exhibited not only with reference to the intellect but also with reference to the five senses. A number of bells may be marked differently and the sounds may be allowed to be studied and made mental note of with the mark given to it. A number of objects of similar shape and colour which are likely to cause deception to the eye of an ordinary man may be shown once to the ‘Avadhani’ with their marks. While he is attending to other things, if a bell were to be struck or one of the objects suddenly exhibited before his sight, he will at once mention the mark of the bell or the number of the object shown. Similarly his keenness of touch is also put to the test. Such feats of memory are due to the training which they receive from the daily practice of Pranayama.

      The Prana may be defined as the finest vital force in everything which becomes visible on the physical plane as motion and action and on the mental plane as thought. The word Pranayama, therefore, means the restraint of vital energies. It is the control of vital energy which tingles through the nerves of persons. It moves his muscles and causes him to sense the external world and think his internal thought. This energy is of such a nature that it may be called the vis viva of the animal organism. The control of this force is what is aimed at by the Yogins by means of Pranayama. He who conquers this, is not only the conqueror of his own existence on the physical and mental plane, but the conqueror of the whole world. For, the Prana is the very essence of cosmic life, that subtle principle which evolved the whole universe into its present form and which is pushing it towards its ultimate goal. To the Yogi the whole universe is his body. The matter which composes his body is the same that evolved the universe. The force which pulsates through his nerves is not different from the force which vibrates through the universe. The conquest over the body does, therefore, mean to him the conquest over the forces of nature. According to the Hindu Philosophy the whole nature is composed of two principal substances. One of them is called the

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