History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.272

v7.c94.272

The Manusmṛti contains ²³⁶⁵ a great eulogy of prāṇāyāma in the following words 'even three prāṇāyāmas performed according to the rules prescribed and accompanied by the vyāhṛtis and *praṇava* (the syllable *om*) should be regarded as the highest *tapas* for a brāhmaṇa; just as in the case of metals (like gold and silver) impurities are burnt when they are melted in the blast of a furnace, so blemishes (like passion &c.) of the organs of sense (including the mind) are destroyed by the control of breath; one should extinguish the blemishes (passion, hatred &c.) by prāṇāyāmas, sin by *dhāraṇā*, contact with the objects of sense by *pratyāhāra* and such attributes as are ungodly (viz. anger, avarice, jealousy &c.) by meditation (on brahma). The Y. S. states that from the practice of prāṇāyāma results the dwindling of actions (or kleśas) that envelop enlightenment (which is the characteristic of *sattva*) and the mind of the yogin becomes fit for fixed attention.²³⁶⁶ The Gorakṣaśataka²³⁶⁷ provides 'a yogin always eradicates diseases by āsana, sin by prāṇāyāma and mental disturbance by pratyāhāra'. The Smṛtis state that prāṇāyāmas have great efficacy in destroying sins. Manu XI. 248 (=Vasiṣṭha 26. 4, Baud. Dh. S. IV. 1. 31 and Śaṅkhasmṛti XII. 18–19) states 'sixteen prāṇāyāmas performed everyday for a month together with the *vyāhṛtis* and *praṇava* (om) purify even the murderer of a brāhmaṇa. Manu XI. 199 and 201 prescribe the performance of a single prāṇāyāma as a purification for light lapses or riding an ass or a camel and such incidents as being bitten by a dog, jackal, horse, camel, boar or man. Yāj. III. 305 prescribes the performance of a hundred prāṇāyāmas for the destruction of all sins, of upapātakas (lesser sins described in Yāj. III. 234–242) and of sins for which no specific prāyaścitta is provided. Manu II. 83 (=Vasiṣṭha X. 5 and Viṣṇudharmasūtra 55.83) states 'the one syllable (om) is (the representative of) the highest brahma and prāṇāyāmas are the highest *tapas*'.