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A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19.s8: Prāṇa and its Control

A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19.s8

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Prāṇa and its Control

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The mind (*citta*), which naturally transforms itself into its states (*vṛtti*), does so for two reasons, which are said to be like its two seeds. One of these is the vibration (*parispanda*) of *prāṇa*, and the other, strong and deep-rooted desires and inclinations which construct (*dṛḍha-bhāvanā*)¹. When the *prāṇa* vibrates and is on the point of passing through the nerves (*nāḍī-saṁsparśanodyata*), then there appears the mind full of its thought processes (*saṁvedanamaya*). But when the *prāṇa* lies dormant in the hollow of the veins (*śirā-saraṇi-koṭare*), then there is no manifestation of mind, and its processes and the cognitive functions do not operate². It is the vibration of the *prāṇa* (*prāṇa-spanda*) that manifests itself through the *citta* and causes the world-appearance out of nothing. The cessation of the vibration of *prāṇa* means cessation of all cognitive functions. As a result of the vibration of *prāṇa*, the cognitive function is set in motion like a top (*vīṭā*). As a top spins round in the yard when struck, so, roused by the vibration of *prāṇa*, knowledge is manifested; and in order to stop the course of knowledge, it is necessary that the cause of knowledge should be first attacked. When the *citta* remains awake to the inner sense, while shut to all extraneous cognitive activities, we have the highest state. For the cessation of *citta* the yogins control *prāṇa* through *prāṇāyāma* (breath-regulation) and meditation (*dhyāna*), in accordance with proper instructions³.

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¹ ^1 *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha*, v. 91. 14.

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² ^2 I have translated *śirā* as veins, though I am not properly authorized to do it. For the difference between veins and arteries does not seem to have been known.

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³ ^3 *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha*, v. 91. 20–27.

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Again, there is a very intimate relation between *vāsanā* and *prāṇa-spanda*, such that *vāsanā* is created and stimulated into activity, *prāṇa-spanda*, and *prāṇa-spanda* is set in motion through *vāsanā*. When by strong ideation and without any proper deliberation of the past and the present, things are conceived to be one’s own—the body, the senses, the ego and the like—we have what is called *vāsanā*. Those who have not the proper wisdom always believe in the representations of the ideations of *vāsanā* without any hesitation and consider them to be true; and, since both the *vāsanā* and the *prāṇa-spanda* are the ground and cause of the manifestations of *citta*, the cessation of one promptly leads to the cessation of the other. The two are connected with each other in the relation of seed and shoot (*bījāṅkuravat*); from *prāṇa-spanda* there is *vāsanā*, and from *vāsanā* there is *prāṇa-spanda*. The object of knowledge is inherent in the knowledge itself, and so with the cessation of knowledge the object of knowledge also ceases¹.

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¹ > *samūlaṃ naśyataḥ kṣipraṃ mūla-cchedād iva drumaḥ.* > *saṃvidaṃ viddhi saṃvedyaṃ bījaṃ dhīratayā vinā* > *na sambhavati saṃvedyaṃ taila-hīnas tilo yathā* > *na bahir nāntare kiṃcit saṃvedyaṃ vidyate pṛthak.* Yoga-vāsiṣṭha, V. 91. 66 and 67.

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As a description of *prāṇa* we find in the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha* that it is said to be vibratory activity (*spanda-śakti*) situated in the upper part of the body, while *apāna* is the vibratory activity in the lower part of the body. There is a natural *prāṇāyāma* going on in the body in waking states as well as in sleep. The mental outgoing tendency of the *prāṇas* from the cavity of the heart is called *recaka*, and the drawing in of the *prāṇas* (*dvādaśāṅguli*) by the *apāna* activity is called *pūraka*. The interval between the cessation of one effort of *apāna* and the rise of the effort of *prāṇa* is the stage of *kumbhaka*. Bhuśuṇḍa, the venerable old crow who was enjoying an exceptionally long life, is supposed to instruct Vasiṣṭha in VI. 24 on the subject of *prāṇa*. He compares the body to a house with the ego (*ahaṃkāra*) as the householder. It is supposed to be supported by pillars of three kinds², provided with nine doors (seven apertures in the head and two below), tightly fitted with the tendons (*snāyu*) as fastening materials and cemented with blood, flesh and fat. On the two sides of it there are the two *nāḍīs*, *iḍā* and *piṅgalā*, lying passive and unmanifested (*nimīlite*). There is also a machine (*yantra*) of bone and flesh (*asthi-māṃsa-maya*) in the shape of three double lotuses (*padma-yugma-traya*) having pipes attached to them running both upwards and downwards and with their petals closing upon one another (*anyonya-milat-komala-saddala*). When it is slowly filled with air, the petals move, and by the movement of the petals the air increases. Thus increased, the air, passing upwards and downwards through different places, is differently named as *prāṇa*, *apāna*, *samāna*, etc. It is in the threefold machinery of the lotus of the heart (*hṛt-padma-yantra-tritaye*) that all the *prāṇa* forces operate and spread forth upwards and downwards like the rays from the moon's disc. They go out, return, repulse and draw and circulate. Located in the heart, the air is called *prāṇa*: it is through its power that there is the movement of the eyes, the operation of the tactual sense, breathing through the nose, digesting of food and the power of speech¹. The *prāṇa* current of air stands for exhalation (*recaka*) and the *apāna* for inhalation (*pūraka*), and the moment of respite between the two operations is called *kumbhaka*; consequently, if the *prāṇa* and *apāna* can be made to cease there is an unbroken continuity of *kumbhaka*. But all the functions of the *prāṇa*, as well as the upholding of the body, are ultimately due to the movement of *citta*². Though in its movement in the body the *prāṇa* is associated with air currents, still it is in reality nothing but the vibratory activity proceeding out of the thought-activity, and these two act and react upon each other, so that, if the vibratory activity of the body be made to cease, the thought-activity will automatically cease, and vice-versa. Thus through *spanda-nirodha* we have *prāṇa-nirodha* and through *prāṇa-nirodha* we have *spanda-nirodha*. In the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha*, III. 13. 31, *vāyu* is said to be nothing but a vibratory entity (*spandate yat sa tad vāyuḥ*).

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² *tri-prakāra-mahā-sthūṇam*, VI. 24. 14. The commentator explains the three kinds of pillars as referring to the three primal entities of Indian medicine—*vāyu* (air), *pitta* (bile) and *kapha* (phlegm)—*vāta-pitta-kapha-lakṣaṇa-tri-prakārā mahāntaḥ sthūṇā viṣṭambha-kāṣṭhāni yasya*. I am myself inclined to take the three kinds of pillars as referring to the bony structure of three parts of the body—the skull, the trunk, and the legs.

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¹ *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha*, VI. 24. It is curious to note in this connection that in the whole literature of the Āyur-veda there is probably no passage where there is such a clear description of the respiratory process. *Pupphusa*, or lungs, are mentioned only by name in *Suśruta-saṃhitā*, but none of their functions and modes of operation are at all mentioned. It is probable that the discovery of the respiratory functions of the lungs was made by a school of thought different from that of the medical school.

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² *Ibid.* VI. 25. 61–74.

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In v. 78 it is said that *citta* and movement are in reality one and the same, and are therefore altogether inseparable, like the snow and its whiteness, and consequently with the destruction of one the other is also destroyed. There are two ways of destroying the *citta*, one by Yoga, consisting of the cessation of mental states, and the other by right knowledge. As water enters through the crevices of the earth, so air (*vāta*) moves in the body through the *nāḍīs* and is called *prāṇa*. It is this *prāṇa* air which, on account of its diverse functions and works, is differently named as *apāna*, etc.

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But it is identical with *citta*. From the movement of *prāṇa* there is the movement of *citta*, and from that there is knowledge (*samvid*). As regards the control of the movement of *prāṇa*, the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha* advises several alternatives. Thus it holds that through concentrating one's mind on one subject, or through fixed habits of long inhalation associated with meditation, or through exhaustive exhalation, or the practice of not taking breath and maintaining *kumbhaka*, or through stopping the inner respiratory passage by attaching the tip of the tongue to the uvula¹, or, again, through concentration of the mind or thoughts on the point between the two brows, there dawns all of a sudden the right knowledge and the consequent cessation of *prāṇa* activities².

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¹ > *tālu-mūla-gatāṃ yatnāj jihvayākramya ghaṇṭikām* *ūrdhva-randhra-gate prāṇe prāṇa-spando nirudhyate.* *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha*, v. 78. 25.

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² It is important to notice in this connection that most of the forms of *prāṇāyāma* as herein described, except the *haṭha-yoga* process of arresting the inner air passage by the tongue, otherwise known as *khecarī-mūdrā*, are the same as described in the *sūtras* of Patañjali and the *bhāṣya* of Vyāsa; and this fact has also been pointed out by the commentator Ānandabodhendra Bhikṣu in his commentary on the above.

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Professor Macdonell, writing on *prāṇa* in the *Vedic Index*, vol. II, says, "*prāṇa*, properly denoting 'breath,' is a term of wide and vague significance in Vedic literature." In the narrow sense *prāṇa* denotes one of the vital airs, of which five are usually enumerated, viz. *prāṇa*, *apāna*, *vyāna*, *udāna* and *samāna*. The exact sense of each of these breaths, when all are mentioned, cannot be determined. The word *prāṇa* has sometimes merely the general sense of breath, even when opposed to *apāna*. But its proper sense is beyond question "breathing forth," "expiration." But, though in a few cases the word may have been used for "breath" in its remote sense, the general meaning of the word in the Upaniṣads is not air current, but some sort of biomotor force, energy or vitality often causing these air currents³. It would be tedious to refer to the large number of relevant Upaniṣad texts and to try to ascertain after suitable discussion their exact significance in each case. The best way to proceed therefore is to refer to the earliest traditional meaning of the word, as accepted by the highest Hindu authorities. I refer to the *Vedānta-sūtra* of Bādarāyaṇa, which may be supposed to be the earliest research into the doctrines discussed in the Upaniṣads. Thus the *Vedānta-sūtra*, II. 4.

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9 (*na vāyu-kriye pṛthag upadeśāt*), speaking of what may be the nature of *prāṇa*, says that it is neither air current (*vāyu*) nor action (*kriyā*), since *prāṇa* has been considered as different from air and action (in the Upaniṣads). Śaṅkara, commenting on this, says that from such passages as *yaḥ prāṇaḥ sa eṣa vāyuḥ pañca 'vidhaḥ prāṇo pāno vyāna udānaḥ samānaḥ* (what is *prāṇa* is *vāyu* and it is fivefold, *prāṇa*, *apāna*, *vyāna*, *udāna*, *samāna*), it may be supposed that *vāyu* (air) is *prāṇa*, but it is not so, since in *Chāndogya*, III. 18. 4, it is stated that they are different. Again, it is not the action of the senses, as the Sāṃkhya supposes; for it is regarded as different from the senses in *Muṇḍaka*, II. 1. 3. The passage which identifies *vāyu* with *prāṇa* is intended to prove that it is the nature of *vāyu* that has transformed itself into the entity known as *prāṇa* (just as the human body itself may be regarded as a modification or transformation of *kṣiti*, earth). It is not *vāyu*, but, as Vācaspati says, "*vāyu-bheda*," which Amalānanda explains in his *Vedānta-kalpataru* as *vāyoḥ pariṇāma-rūpa-kārya-viśeṣaḥ*, i.e. it is a particular evolutionary product of the category of *vāyu*. Śaṅkara's own statement is equally explicit on the point. He says, "*vāyur evāyam adhyātmam āpannaḥ pañca-vyūho viśeṣātmanāvatīṣṭhamānaḥ prāṇo nāma bhaṇyate na tattvāntaram nāpi vāyu-mātram*," i.e.

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it is *vāyu* which, having transformed itself into the body, differentiates itself into a group of five that is called *vāyu*; *prāṇa* is not altogether a different category, nor simply air. In explaining the nature of *prāṇa* in II. 4. 10–12, Śaṅkara says that *prāṇa* is not as independent as *jīva* (soul), but performs everything on its behalf, like a prime minister (*rāja-mantrivaj jīvasya sarvārtha-karaṇatvena upakaraṇa-bhūto na svatantraḥ*). *Prāṇa* is not an instrument like the senses, which operate only in relation to particular objects; for, as is said in *Chāndogya*, V. 1. 6, 7, *Bṛhad-āraṇyaka*, IV. 3. 12 and *Bṛhad-āraṇyaka*, I. 3. 19, when all the senses leave the body the *prāṇa* continues to operate. It is that by the functioning of which the existence of the soul in the body, or life (*jīva-sthiti*), and the passage of the *jīva* out of the body, or death (*jīvotkrānti*), are possible. The five *vāyus* are the five functionings of this vital principle, just as the fivefold mental states of right knowledge, illusion, imagination (*vikalpa*), sleep and memory are the different states of the mind. Vācaspati, in commenting on *Vedānta-sūtra*, II. 4. 11, says that it is the cause which upholds the body and the senses (*dehendriya-vidhāraṇa-kāraṇam prāṇaḥ*), though it must be remembered that it has still other functions over and above the upholding of the body and the senses (*na kevalam śarīrendriya-dhāraṇam asya kāryam*, Vācaspati, *ibid.*). In *Vedānta-sūtra*, II.

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4. 13, it is described as being atomic (*aṇu*), which is explained by Śaṅkara as "subtle" (*sūkṣma*), on account of its pervading the whole body by its fivefold functionings. Vācaspati in explaining it says that it is called "atomic" only in a derivative figurative sense (*upacaryate*) and only on account of its inaccessible or indefinable character (*duradhigamatā*), though pervading the whole body. Govindānanda, in commenting upon *Vedānta-sūtra*, II. 4. 9, says that *prāṇa* is a vibratory activity which upholds the process of life and it has no other direct operation than that (*parispanda-rupa-prāṇanānukūlatvād avāntara-vyāpārābhāvāt*). This seems to be something like biomotor or life force. With reference to the relation of *prāṇa* to the motor organs or faculties of speech, etc., Śaṅkara says that their vibratory activity is derived from *prāṇa* (*vāg-ādiṣu parispanda-lābhasya prāṇāyattatvam*, II. 4. 19). There are some passages in the *Vedānta-sūtra* which may lead us to think that the five *vāyus* may mean air currents, but that it is not so is evident from the fact that the substance of the *prāṇa* is not air (*etat prāṇādi-pañcakam ākāśādi-gata-rajo-’mśebhyo militebhya utpadyate*), and the *rajas* element is said to be produced from the five *bhūtas*, and the *prāṇas* are called *kriyātmaka*, or consisting of activity.

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Rāma Tīrtha, commenting on the above passage of the *Vedānta-sāra*, says that it is an evolutionary product of the essence of *vāyu* and the other *bhūtas*, but it is not in any sense the external air which performs certain physiological functions in the body (*tathā mukhya-prāṇo ’pi vāyor bāhyasya sūtrātmakasya vikāro na śārīra-madhye nabhovad vṛtti-lābha-mātreṇa avasthito bāhya-vāyur eva*)¹. Having proved that in Vedānta *prāṇa* or any of the five *vāyus* means biomotor force and not air current, I propose now to turn to the Sāṃkhya-Yoga.

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³ Difference between *prāṇa* and *vāyu*, *Aitareya*, II. 4; the *nāsikya prāṇa*, I. 4. Relation of *prāṇa* to other functions, *Kauṣītaki*, II. 5; *prāṇa* as life, II. 8; *prāṇa* connected with *vāyu*, II. 12; *prāṇa* as the most important function of life, II. 14; *prāṇa* as consciousness, III. 2. Distinction of *nāsikya* and *mukhya prāṇa*, *Chāndogya*, II. 1-9; the function of the five *vāyus*, III. 3-5; *prāṇa* as the result of food, I. 8. 4; of water, VI. 5. 2, VI. 6. 5, VI. 7. 6; *prāṇa* connected with *ātman*, as everything else connected with *prāṇa*, like spokes of a wheel, *Bṛhadāraṇyaka*, II. 5. 15; *prāṇa* as strength, *ibid.* V. 14. 4; *prāṇa* as force running through the *suṣumṇā* nerve, *Maitrī*, VI. 21; etc.

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¹ *Vidvan-mano-rañjanī*, p. 105, Jacob’s edition, Bombay, 1916.

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The Sāṃkhya-Yoga differs from the Vedānta in rejecting the view that the *prāṇa* is in any sense an evolutionary product of the nature of *vāyu*. Thus Vijñānabhikṣu in his *Vijñānāmṛta-bhāṣya* on *Vedānta-sūtra*, II. 4. 10, says that *prāṇa* is called *vāyu* because it is self-active like the latter (*svataḥ kriyāvattvena ubhayoḥ prāṇa-vāyvoḥ sājātyāt*). Again, in II. 4. 9, he says that *prāṇa* is neither air nor the upward or downward air current (*mukhya-prāṇo na vāyuḥ nāpi śārīrasya ūrdhv-ādho-vgamana-lakṣaṇā vāyu-kriyā*).

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What is *prāṇa*, then, according to Sāṃkhya-Yoga? It is *mahat-tattva*, which is evolved from *prakṛti*, which is called *buddhi* with reference to its intellective power and *prāṇa* with reference to its power as activity. The so-called five *vāyus* are the different functionings of the *mahat-tattva* (*sāmānya-kārya-sādhāraṇaṃ yat kāraṇaṃ mahat-tattvaṃ tasyaiva vṛtti-bhedāḥ prāṇāpānādayaḥ*; see *Vijñānāmṛta-bhāṣya*, II. 4. 11). Again, referring to *Sāṃkhya-kārikā*, 29, we find that the five *vāyus* are spoken of as the common functioning of *buddhi*, *ahaṃkāra* and *manas*, and Vācaspati says that the five *vāyus* are their life. This means that the three, *buddhi*, *ahaṃkāra* and *manas*, are each energizing, in their own way, and it is the joint operation of these energies that is called the fivefold *prāṇa* which upholds the body. Thus in this view also *prāṇa* is biomotor force and no air current. The special feature of this view is that this biomotor force is in essence a mental energy consisting of the specific functionings of *buddhi*, *ahaṃkāra* and *manas*¹. It is due to the evolutionary activity of *antaḥkaraṇa*. In support of this view the *Sāṃkhya-pravacana-bhāṣya*, II. 31, *Vyāsa-bhāṣya*, III. 39, Vācaspati's *Tattva-vaiśāradī*, Bhikṣu's *Yoga-varttika*, and Nāgeśa's *Chāyā-vyākhyā* thereon may be referred to. It is true, no doubt, that sometimes inspiration and expiration of external air are also called *prāṇa*; but that is because in inspiration and expiration the function of *prāṇa* is active or it vibrates. It is thus the entity which moves and not mere motion that is called *prāṇa*². Rāmānuja agrees with Śaṅkara in holding that *prāṇa* is not air (*vāyu*), but a transformation of the nature of air. But it should be noted that this modification of air is such a modification as can only be known by Yoga methods³.

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¹ Gauḍapāda's *bhāṣya* on the *Śaṃkhya-kārikā*, 29 compares the action of *prāṇa* to the movement of birds enclosed in a cage which moves the cage: compare Śaṅkara's reference to *Vedānta-sūtra*, II. 4. 9.

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² *Rāmānuja-bhāṣya* on *Vedānta-sūtra*, II. 4. 8.

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³ See the *Tattva-muktā-kalāpa*, 53–55, and also *Rāmānuja-bhāṣya* and *Śruta-prakāśikā*, II. 4. 1–15.

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The Vaiśeṣika, however, holds that it is the external air which according to its place in the body performs various physiological functions¹. The medical authorities also support the view that *vāyu* is a sort of driving and upholding power. Thus the *Bhāva-prakāśa* describes *vāyu* as follows: It takes quickly the *doṣas*, *dhātus* and the *malas* from one place to another, is subtle, composed of *rajo-guṇa*; is dry, cold, light and moving. By its movement it produces all energy, regulates inspiration and expiration and generates all movement and action, and by upholding the keenness of the senses and the *dhātus* holds together the heat, senses and the mind². Vāhaṭa in his *Aṣṭāṅga-saṃgraha* also regards *vāyu* as the one cause of all body movements, and there is nothing to suggest that he meant air currents³. The long description of Caraka (I. 12), as will be noticed in the next chapter, seems to suggest that he considered the *vāyu* as the constructive and destructive force of the universe, and as fulfilling the same kinds of functions inside the body as well. It is not only a physical force regulating the physiological functions of the body, but is also the mover and controller of the mind in all its operations, as knowing, feeling and willing. Suśruta holds that it is in itself *avyakta* (unmanifested or unknowable), and that only its actions as operating in the body are manifested (*avyakto vyakta-karmā ca*).

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¹ *Nyāya-kandalī* of Śrīdhara, p. 48.

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² *Bhāva-prakāśa*, Sen’s edition, Calcutta, p. 47.

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³ Vāhaṭa’s *Aṣṭāṅga-saṃgraha* and the commentary by Indu, Trichur, 1914, pp. 138, 212.

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In the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha*, as we have already seen above, *prāṇa* or *vāyu* is defined as that entity which vibrates (*spandate yat sa tad vāyuḥ*, III. 13) and it has no other reality than vibration. *Prāṇa* itself is, again, nothing but the movement of the intellect as *ahaṃkāra*⁴.

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⁴ *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha*, III. 14.

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*Prāṇa* is essentially of the nature of vibration (*spanda*), and mind is but a form of *prāṇa* energy, and so by the control of the mind the five *vāyus* are controlled⁵. The Śaiva authorities also agree with the view that *prāṇa* is identical with cognitive activity, which passes through the *nāḍīs* (nerves) and maintains all the body movement and the movement of the senses. Thus Kṣemarāja says that it is the cognitive force which passes in the form of *prāṇa* through the *nāḍīs*, and he refers to Bhaṭṭa Kallaṭa as also holding the same view, and *prāṇa* is definitely spoken of by him as force (*kuṭila-vāhinī prāṇa-śaktiḥ*)⁶. Śivopādhyaya in his *Vivṛti* on the *Vijñāna-bhairava* also describes *prāṇa* as force (*śakti*), and the *Vijñāna-bhairava* itself does the same¹. Bhaṭṭa Ānanda in his *Vijñāna-kaumudī* describes *prāṇa* as a functioning of the mind (*citta-vṛtti*).

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⁵ *Ibid.* v. 13, 78.

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⁶ *Śiva-sūtra-vimarśinī*, III. 43, 44.

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¹ *Vijñāna-bhairava* and *Vivṛti*, verse 67.

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