hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté
Prāṇa as prajāpati you move within the wombs; you are born repeatedly - says the praśna upaniṣad (chapter 2).
If someone wished to gain better clarity of prāṇa, then the praśna upaniṣad is a good source.
In kaśmir śaivism the movement of the breath is looked at ( identifed) in 3 different ways.
- prāṇa śakti
- ātma śakti
- prabhu śakti
With prāṇa śakti, the movement of breath takes place automatically - part of the autonomic nervous system. We are breathing but do not pay much attention to it. An example would be our breath in sleep - all going on automatically. Or during a conversation no one notices the breath, or when being entertained, this prāṇa śakti is on auto pilot.
With ātma śakti we are managing the breath coming in and going out. We decide how deep, how long to hold the breath, all that. Some call this conscious breathing. This method is the basis for many upāyae-s or techniques , found in the āṇavopāya¹ approach.
With prabhu śakti the movement is by the grace of the Supreme. The prāṇa enters the madhyā-nādī some call the suṣumnā, the central or principle nerve (nādī ).
The breath is one vehicle that brings the possibility of experiencing the Supreme. In the vijñāna bhairava It is said that the breath goes in and out in a crooked way i.e. kuṭilākṛti¹ (bent , crooked, curled).
What does this mean ? It suggests to me that the energy flow is not symmetrical. Some times the breath is short, some
times long, some times deep sometimes shallow. It is not smooth and regulated.
Well who cares?
It is by the regulation of breath that kuṇḍalinī śakti straightens Herself and one enters into the sacred space (kṣetra)
of the transcendent ( some call parāparā)
praṇām
words
- āṇavopāya
āṇu अणु = fine , minute , atomic is known as 'atom' - which is another name for the individual jiva. This upāya is the means whereby the āṇu or
the individual jiva uses his own kāraṇa-s or instruments i.e. senses, prana and manas for self-realization. It includes disciplines concerning the regulation
of prana, japa, concentration, meditation, etc.
- kuṭilākṛti + kuṭilā -bent , crooked, curled + kṛti - doing yet also is a meter. We can think of the breath as a 'meter' of in and out.
This kṛti is kind of anuṣṭubh meter consisting of two pādas of twelve syllables each and a third pāda of eight syllables.
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