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February 2012 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami---

Mantra Pranayama

After a four month stay in Chennai, India I am planning to

come to USA
by middle of February. Thanks to the good efforts of
Roxana Letechipia
who attended my last Teacher Training Program at LMU,
Los Angeles, I
will be teaching three programs in Mexico City during the
last week of
February. There will be two weekend workshops and a
week long
certificate program, “Core Vinyasa Krama Yoga”. My next
newsletter may
have a few Spanish words.

MANTRA PRANAYAMA

Considerable amount of literature is now available on

Pranayama (from
ancient and contemporary yogis), an important anga of
Yoga, even
though a smaller and smaller number of Hatha yogis do a
smaller and
smaller number of pranayamas. In fact according to
Brahmananda who
wrote an important commentary of Hathayogapradeepika,
Hatha yoga is
indeed Pranayama. Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras succinctly
gives the
parameters of pranayama along with the benefits.
Hathayoga pradeepika
and several other hatha yohga texts talk about a variety of
pranayamas
with different ratios in considerable detail and as I said
enough
literature is available on pranayama. However since it is
also the
anga prior to the antaranga or meditation, parts of yoga
pranayama has
been used to prepare oneself for meditation. If in
pranayama you can
introduce some noble thoughts for meditation like an
uplifting mantra,
bhava thought or an image such pranayamas are called
sagarbha
pranayama or pranayama pregnant with lofty ideas. Sri
Krishnamacharya
in his “Nathamini's Yoga Rahasya” says that sagarbha
pranayama is
several times more beneficial; more than the mechanical
pranayama done
generally by hatha yogis.
Sagarbha pranayama done with pranayama mantra from
the vedas, which
also includes the potent gayatri as a part of it, has been in
vogue
since the vedic times. Sri Krishnamacharya in his yoga
work
“Nathamuni's Yoga Rahasya” gives a number of
instructions for doing
pranayama towards the end of the first chapter. He
commends the use of
Pranava and the pranayama mantra with gayatri while
doing pranayama
practice. Usually pranava (OM), the most potent mantra
and the mother
of all mantras, as a stand alone mantra is used by
renunciates like
consummate yogis and advaitins. And the gayatri
impregnated vedic
pranayama mantra is used by householders and others in
all pranayama.
In fact Manu in his famous Manusmriti says that the
pranayama mantra
which consists of prnava, the seven vyahritis, the gayatri
and the
head or siras portion should be recited while holding the
breath in
Kumbhaka three times to be called as pranayama. Sri
Krishnamacharya
also emphasizes the need to meditate on the meaning of
the mantras
like the suggestion of Patanjali in YS.

Most people who do ritualistic pranayama in India use the

pranayama
mantra referred to earlier. Manusmiti says as follows

“sa vyahritim sa pranavaam

gayatriim sirasa saha
trifpateth ayataf pranah
pranayamassa uchyate”

Here is the translation“Pranayama is that in which the

seven vyahritis
(bhuh bhuvaha...) each preceded by pranava (OM) then
the gayatri, then
the siris are (silently) recited.”

It should be chanted (silently) while holding the breath

(kumbhaka).
When it is done three times it is called panayama. The
pranayama
mantra is 64 syllables and takes about 20 seconds to
chant, more or
less. The verse quoted above says three times and some
interpret it as
chanting the mantra three times while holding the breath,
but
generally it is chanted once and three such pranayamas
will make one
bundle of pranayama. If you try to do the chant thrice in
one go it
would taken a minute and holding the breath for one
minute could be a
real challenge to most and so most people stick to the
earlier
option.

What about the duration for inhalation and exhalation? Sri

Krishnamacharya says in Yoga Rahasya that it should be
vishamavritti
indicating that the time duration for inhalation exhalation
and breath
holding would vary. So many go by the 1:4:2 ratio.

One may inhale for 5 seconds then chant the mantra

during internal
holding for 20 seconds and then exhale for 10 seconds.
The breath
holding after exhalation is considered a hathayoga
practice and many
orthodox people who do pranayama as part of the Puja or
Japa ritual
dispense with bahya kumbhaka and the bandhas. The
quickie pranayama is
three times but it is recommended that on should do 10
times the
samantra pranayama. (Contrast this with the hathayoga
approach of
going up to 80 times mantraless pranayama).

Since children sometimes as young as 5 were initiated

into vedic
studies, it becomes obligatory for them to do sandhya and
hence mantra
pranayama and silent gayatri chant. But then because
they are young
they may not be taught to do calibrated pranayama.
Usually in course
of time they would learn to do long inhalation and
exhalation say in
nadishodhana. Later they will be taught the whole
vishamavritti
pranayama as explained earlier.

So the mantra is chanted silently in pranayama. But most

people just
chant the mantra without the pranayama--they may
merely touch the nose
but not do the pranayama. So we have one set of people
who do
pranayama without mantras as most hatha yogis do and
another group
especially in India who chant the mantra faithfully but do
not do the
prnayama at all and thus both lose out. It even led the
much revered
previous Sankaracharya of Kanchi to remark that if only
Indians would
hold the breath (kumbhaka) rather than just touch/hold
the nose they
would all become great yogis and spiritual persons.

My Guru also said that when doing any mantra in japa, in

pranayama or
meditation, one should think of the meaning or import of
the mantra.
That makes it lot more powerful and meaningful. What
does this mantra
signify, many times we get initiated into a mantra routine
without
knowing what it means. All yogis know that Patanjali
insists on
contemplating on the meaning of pranava when doing
pranava japa to get
the grace of Iswara.

“Om Bhuh, om bhuvah, om suvah, om mahah, om janah,

om tapah, om
satyam; then the gayatri and then the siras which runs like
this, ”om
apah jyoti rasah amrtam brahma bhurbhuvassuvarom” is
the pranayama
mantra. This mantra appears in Mahanarayana Upanishad,
the last
chapter of Yajur veda. This upanishad also contains
several beautiful
mantras used on a daily basis like the offering to the five
pranas
(before taking food), meditating within the heart etc. I got
the whole
chapter (about 45 minutes of continuous chanting)
recorded some 25
years back by “Sangeetha” and I believe it is available in
some stores
in Chennai, India. You may learn the pranayama mantra—
visit my website
www.vinyasakrama.com/chants and click on the “Learn
Pranayama Mantra
chant” tab.

So what is the meaning of this wonderful pranayama

mantra? Again there
are different interpretations. The conventional meaning for
the seven
vyahritis is seven different worlds starting with the world
we live in
to six other higher worlds. But the word loka is interpreted
in a more
esoteric sense by a few scholars. They say that the words
loka and
look are derived from the same root . And the seven lokas
are the
seven perceptions of the ultimate reality which is Brahman
the pure
non changing consciousness.

So this approach which gels with the advaita philosophy

would be as
follows: According to the Upanishads, Brahman in its
pristine state is
alone and there was no time or space (aksha and
avakasha) in
contention. The Brahman once thought that it should
become many
(bahusyam praja yeyeti). Then in the next stage It deeply
contemplated
as to how it should create the universe and make many
microcosmic
individual consciousness. This state was known as the
stage of tapas
of the Brahman (sa tapo tapyata). Then after deep
contemplation and
planning It created the entire Universe (idam sarvam
asrujata). After
this creation the Brahman entered and permeated the
entire Universe
(tat eva anupravisat) and every being as the individual
Self.

The seven vyahrutis are considered as representing the

seven states of
the same consciousness four at the microcosmic level and
three at the
cosmic level. So when doing pranayama during breath
holding
internally, one would say 'om bhuh', contemplate on the
consciousness,
represented by pranava or 'om during the waking state.
Then as the
second vyahriti 'om bhuvah ' is recited, one would think of
the same
consciousness being aware of the individual dream state.

'om suvah” would refer to the same consciousness

witnessing the deep
sleep stage. Om mahah, the fourth vyahriti is the
consciousness beyond
the three earlier mentioned known amongst the vedantins
as the fourth
state of the mind (turiya) or the yogi's kaivalya state. The
same
consciousness now is identified with the Brahmana that
created the
Universe (Om Janah). Then the next mantra, the sixth
“Om tapah” would
represent the Brahman as one deeply contemplating and
finally the
pristine state of consciousness “Om satyam” the one and
only Brahaman.
With this the abhyasi is able to identify and meditate upon
the same
one Brahaman as seen in different states. The theory that
there is
only one consciousness that exists both at the cosmic and
at the
microcosmic level is the bedrock of the advaita (No two
conciousnesses) viewpoint. So an advaitin while doing
pranayama is
able to reinforce the advaitic conviction.

Then the second part of the pranayama mantra is the

gayatri mantra. It
again refers to the ultimate reality as the inner light. Just
as the
sun with its lustrous orb lights the entire world, the
Brahman/Self
lights the entire chitta or the internal world of the
meditator, so
that the chitta vrittis are experienced or 'seen' in the
mind's eye .

The last portion known as the siras or the head, is an

encomium to the
ultimate Brahman. It refers to It as OM., pure
consciousness, the
universal light, the essence of the entire Universe,
immortal
(unchanging), the source of the universe, and is known to
the
individual as the inner Self during the three states of
waking, dream
and deep sleep.

This meaning of the pranayama mantra is vividly brought

to the mind as
the pranayama mantra is recited silently during antah
kumbhaka. Then
it is known as samantraka or sagarbha pranayama.
According to Manu
this samantra pranayama is the greatest
Tapas/meditation.

It is said that those who are well versed in the chakras are
able to
identify the seven vyahritis with the seven chakras in the
body using
the respective bijakshara or seed mantras. Some make an
effort to
visualize the cosmic Brahman in the seven chakras in the
microcosm
itself.

There are other types of mantras used. For instance

saivaites tend to
chant the siva mantras as they hold the breath as
mentioned in the
Tamil Saiva classic “Tirumandiram”. The mantra “sivasiva”
of four
syllables is chanted 16 times during one breath hold
corresponding to
64 syllables as in the pranayama mantra referred to
earlier.

Here is a pranayama for renunciates:

While doing puraka or inhalation the thought would be

that the entire
universe is ultimately drawn into the Brahman. Then while
in
antahkumbhaka the contemplation would be that the
outside Universe and
I are no different from the Brahman. Then while exhaling
the ego “I'
with the entire Universe is discarded as nothing but an
illusion, not
real, not significant. And in bahya kumbhaka one would
contemplate
that pure Brahman alone is real, It alone exists.

Those who believe in the reality of world and the trinity

(Brahma,
Vishnu and Siva), would use pranayama to reinforce their
faith.

Inhaling through the left nostril one should think of the

four faced
Brahma the creator aspect of the trinity and of blood red
hue (rajas
guna) while chanting Om 16 times. Then closing both the
nostrils and
holding the breath in kumbhaka one should think of the
white colored
(satva guna) Hari, the protector/sustainer chanting
pranava 64 times.
Then while exhaling through the right nostril one should
meditate on
Siva of dark color (tamo guna) chanting pranava 32 times.
Then one
should start inhaling through the right nostril for 16 matras
chanting
pranava 16 times and continue the pranayama for a
predetermined number
of times with both mantra and bhava.

Different smritis and very old yoga texts refer to a variety

of
pranayamas with and without mantras. Almost all the
puranas have a
section on yoga which describe different asanas and
pranayamas. (I
think with all this evidence one may say with some
conviction that
Yoga is more than 100 years old). For more information on
pranayama
you may consider referring to my book “Yoga for the
Three Stages of
Life” pages 189 to 211.
Sri Krsishnamacharya's Yoga teachings were unique and
very rich. In
Vinyasakrama asana practice, breath synchronization with
slow
movements is an essential element. One would start the
movement with
the beginning of inhalation or exhalation and complete the
movement
with the completion of that breathing phase. The time
taken in actual
practice may be between 5 to 10 or 12 seconds
depending on one's
capacity and control. If it goes below 5 seconds one
would stop the
practice and rest to regain the vinyasa krama acceptable
breath. My
Guru, Sri T Krishnamacharya would say 'breathe with
hissing sound' (a
la cobra, refer to ananta samapatti in YS) or 'with a mild
rubbing
sensation in the throat'.

In this way, with long deep inhalation and exhalation, the

intercostal
muscles are stretched and toned up and by the time
pranayama is
started the accessory muscles of breathing are well
exercised so that
one has a well oiled breathing apparatus for a very
productive
pranayama practice. And while doing pranayam
introduction of mantras
and bhavas helps to bring the mind to a focus which will
be of
considerable help when one starts the meditation
process. Thus Sri
Krishnamacharya following the tradition of yoga described
in old yoga
texts like the yoga sutras, the puranas, smritis and other
ancient
texts helped to understand and achieve the best of an
outstanding
ancient system called Yoga.

You may access the earlier Newsletter by visiting my

website
www,vinyasakrama.com and clicking on the Newsletter
tab. Any comments
or suggestions please e mail to
in...@vinyasakrama.com

Best wishes

Sincerely
Srivatsa Ramaswami