Breath and Time
I’ve been away from the computer for a few days, only to return and find this interesting thread on Breath and Time [on the INO mailing list]. After taking a deep breath and checking the time, I will now toss in a few ideas.
I do think that the Shiva Svarodaya is a nice work. The most useful bit in the book is the assertion that laying on your right side prior to sleep will cause the “Ida” or lunar nadi to activate, thus quieting the mind to allow for a quick passage into sleep.
Once I did ask Mahendranath about the hamsa danda and he merely said, “It’s a toy.” While it can be amusing to be aware or mechanically manipulate the dominate passage of breath through either nostril, this is of limited use in Divine Yoga. We must learn to open the central channel at will. This is most easily achieved by intoning a mantra one received for such a purpose or a bit of concentration for others.
The Shiva Svarodaya has been digested I believe, and the output is merely: hamsa. This is not really a mantra in the sense that most use the word. It is only a crude approximation of the sound produced by the breath going in and out. There is a deep state of “absorption” which one can fall into by the use of mantra, etc. which causes, (in the framework and terminology of this thread) the central channel to open.
One can then “absorb” the true “prana,” “intoxicating odor of the occult,” “supreme substance,” etc. without doing anything or relying on any outward crutch. I have always sought to avoid reference to the “sushumna,” “central channel,” etc., because of people’s tendency to go from simple instruction into a library search of what anyone had ever written regarding the Sanskrit terms. This usually ends in more questions instead of a thoughtful practice and research on the simple. I usually encourage people to first do mantras until they reach a state of complete absorption. So, if we look above, this could be another context to explain the same phenom. There is nothing to be gained in forcing the “pause” between breaths, as in the idea to open the window a bit further. It can stop by itself and also restart.
If in this state, one activates the will or “iccha shakti” to bring the mind to one point, interesting things happen.
It is quite correct that Mahendranath kept no reference material or records of any kind. Everything was routinely burnt or tossed out the window. The pigs which passed by on the street found the various papers, notes and old letters extremely delicious. The exception to this was a copy of the I Ching which he kept and perhaps a couple of other things.
Actually I think a really deep study of the Esoterikos will reveal most of what Mahendranath was getting at. Be sure he told me this repeatedly. I’ve found it the most useful suggestion.
Regards,
Kapilnath
