The common literal rendering, ‘to breathe easy have trust be free from fear,’ does not convey the full meaning. “The Sanskrit word for faith is wonderfully expressive. In Journey to Self-Realization, a collection of Yogananda’s talks, we find the following on page 309 under the heading: In Calmness, Intuition Gives Birth to Faith. Pranayama is both the practice and the result of Breath Meditation. This is why Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, the guru of Paramhansa Yogananda, wrote in a song: It is good to keep in mind that all phenomena, personal and cosmic, are actions of the breath. For this reason Breath Meditation is productive of many functions of the life-force sometimes called “kriyas.” These kriyas will vary greatly in scope and intensity, but they will all produce needed changes, some of which will be perceived, and some will not–but the effects will eventually all be perceived by the consciousness refined by meditation. It is the key to life on the cosmic level. Our attention focused on the breath causes its potential to manifest in the way sunlight causes the petals of a flower to open.
(This was the teaching of Zen Master Hogen, as well.) Breath is All. Breath is the substance of which the inner and outer universe is constructed as well as the power within it which causes it to move and live. In our own personal cosmos of the body and mind (including their subtle levels), nothing occurs that is not a movement of prana-breath. Every single movement in the cosmos is a movement of the vishwaprana, the Cosmic Breath. It is life, far beyond the simple movement of the lungs in the bodies of mammals. The breath does not just begin or support life, the breath is the totality of life.
“From Him springs forth the breath of life” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:1:3).
0 kommentar(er)
