Yoga, Nadis, etc.

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>From the book Talks here are some things Sri Bhagavan had to say

about Yoga, Nadis, etc.:

 

23rd June, 1935:

 

Sri Bhagavan said that sushumna is the name mostly

mentioned in scriptures. Other names also occur;

e.g., para, atma, amrita.

 

It is also stated that sushumna becomes leena

(merged in para).

 

So it may be said that para is the terminology of

jnana, whereas sushumna is that of Yoga.

 

24th June, 1935:

 

Mr. T.K.S. Iyer, a devotee, was speaking of the

chakras.

 

Sri Bhagavan said:

 

Atman (the Self) alone is to be realized.

Its realization holds all else in its compass.

Sakti, Ganapati, siddhis, etc., are included in it.

Those who speak of these have not realized the Atman.

Atman is in the heart and is the Heart itself.

The manifestation is in the brain.

The passage from the heart to the brain might be

considered to be through sushumna or a nerve with any

other name. The Upanishads say pare leena -

meaning that susumna or such nadis are all comprised

in para, i.e., the atma nadi. The yogis say that the

current rising up to sahasrara (brain) ends there.

That experience is not complete.

For Jnana, they must come to the Heart.

Hridaya (Heart) is the alpha and omega.

 

23rd to 28th January, 1939

 

The questioner asked:

 

Is the jivanadi an entity or a figment or the

imagination?

 

Sri Bhagavan replied:

 

The yogis say that there is a nadi called the

jivanadi, atmanadi, or paranadi. The Upanishads speak

of a center from which thousands of nadis branch off.

Some located such a center in the brain and others in

other centers. The Garbhopansishad traces the

formation of the foetus and the growth of the child in

the womb. The jiva is considered to enter the child

through the fontanelle in the seventh month of its

growth. In evidence thereof it is pointed out that

the fontanelle is tender in a baby and is also seen to

pulsate. It takes some months for it to ossify.

Thus the jiva comes from above, enters through the

fontanelle and works through the thousands of nadis

which are spread over the whole body. Therefore the

seeker of Truth must concentrate on the sahasrara,

that is the brain, in order to regain his source.

Pranayama is said to help the yogi to rouse the

Kundalini Sakti which lies coiled in the solar plexus.

The sakti rises through a nerve called the Sushumna,

which is imbeddedd in the core of the spinal cord and

extends to the brain.

 

If one concentrates on the Sahasrara there is no doubt

that the ecstasy of samadhi ensues. The vasanas,

that is the latentcies, are not however destroyed.

The yogi is therefore bound to wake up from the

samadhi, because release from bondage has not yet been

accomplished. He must still try to eradicate the

vasanas in order that the latencies yet inherent in

him may not disturb the peace of his samadhi.

So he passes down from the sahasrara to the heart

through what is called the jivanadi, which is only a

continuation of the Sushumna. The Sushumna is thus a

curve. It starts from the solar plexus, rises through

the spinal cord to the brain and from there bends down

and ends in the heart. When the yogi has reached the

heart, the samadhi becomes permanent.

Thus we see that the heart is the final center.

 

Some Upanishads also speak of 101 nadis which spread

from the heart, one of them being the vital nadi.

If the jiva comes down from above and gets reflected

in the brain, as the yogis say, there must be a

reflecting surface in action. That must also be

capable of limiting the Infinite Consciousness to the

limits of the body. In short the Universal Being

becomes limited as a jiva. Such reflecting medium is

furnished by the aggregate of the vasanas of the

individual. It acts like the water in a pot which

reflects the image of an object. If the pot be

drained of its water there will be no reflection.

The object will remain without being reflected.

The object here is the Universal Being-Consciousness

which is all-pervading and therefore immanent in all.

It need not be cognized by reflection alone;

it is self-resplendant. Therefore the seeker's aim

must be to drain away the vasanas from the heart and

not let the reflecting medium obstruct the Light of

Eternal Consciousness. This is achieved by the search

for the origin of the ego and by diving into the

heart.

This is the direct method for Self-Realization.

One who adopts it need not worry about nadis,

the brain, the Sushumna, the Paranadi, the Kundalini,

pranayama or the six centers.

 

6th April 1937:

 

Later Sri Bhagavan continued:

 

The intricate maze of philosophy of different schools

is said to clarify matters and reveal the Truth.

But in fact they create confusion where no confusion

need exist. To understand anything there must be the

Self. The Self is obvious. Why not remain as the

Self? What need to explain the non-self?

 

Take the Vedanta for instance:

They say there are 15 kinds of prana.

The student is made to commit the names to memory and

also their functions. The air goes up and is called

prana; goes down and is called apana; operates the

indriyas and is called something. Why all this?

Why do you classify, give names and enumerate the

functions, and so on? Is it not enough to know that

one prana does the whole work?

 

The antahkarana thinks, desires, wills, reasons, etc.,

and each function is attributed to one name such as

mind, intellect, etc.

Has anyone seen the pranas or the antahkaranas?

Have they any real existence?

They are mere conceptions.

When and where will such conceptions end?

 

Consider the following:-

A man sleeps. He says on waking that he slept.

The question is asked: 'Why does he not say in his

sleep that he is sleeping?' The answer is given that

he is sunk in the Self and cannot speak, like a man

who has dived in water to bring out something from the

bottom. The diver cannot speak under water;

when he has actually recovered the articles he comes

out and speaks. Well,, what is the explanation?

 

Being in water, water will flow into his mouth if he

were to open his mouth for speaking. Is it not

simple?

But the philosopher is not content with this simple

fact. He explains, saying that fire is the deity

presiding over speech; that it is inimical to water

and therefore cannot function! This is called

philosophy and the learners are struggling to learn

all this! Is it not a sheer waste of time?

Again the Gods are said to preside over the limbs and

senses of the individual (vyashti).

They are the limbs and senses of Virat (samashti).

So they go on explaining Hiranyagarbha etc.

 

Why should confusion be created and then explained

away?

 

Ah! Fortunate is the man who does not involve himself

in this maze!

 

I was indeed fortunate that I never took to it.

Had I taken to it, I probably would be nowhere-

always in confusion.

 

My purva vasanas (former tendencies) directly took me

to the inquiry 'Who am I?'

 

It was indeed fortunate!

 

18th January 1937

 

Sri Bhagavan said:

 

To resume polemics - the author of Vritti Prabhakara

claims to have studied 350,000 books before writing

this book. What is the use?

Can they bring in Realization of the Self?

 

Vichara Sagara is full of logic and technical terms.

Can these ponderous volumes serve any real purpose?

However some people read them and then seek sages only

to see if they can meet their questions.

To read them, to discover new doubts and to solve

them, is a source of pleasure to them.

Knowing it to be sheer waste, the sages do not

encourage such people. Encourage them once and there

will be no end.

 

Only the inquiry into the Self can be of use.

 

Those familiar with logic, Vritti Prabhakara,

Vichara Sagara or Sutra Bhashya, or similar large

works, cannot relish small works like Truth Revealed

dealing only with the Self and that pointedly too,

because they have accumulated vasanas.

Only those with minds that are less muddy,

or are pure, can relish small and purposeful works.

 

30th September, 1936

 

The questioner asked:

 

What is the Sun Marga? What is the moon marga?

Which of them is easier?

 

Sri Bhagavan replied:

 

Ravi marga (sun marga) is jnana.

Moon marga is Yoga.

They think that after purifying the 72,000 nadis

in the body sushumna is entered and the mind passes

up to the sahasrara and there is nectar trickling.

 

These are all mental concepts.

The man is already overwhelmed by world concepts.

Other concepts and now added in the shape of this

Yoga.

The object of all these is to rid the man of concepts

and to make him inhere as the pure Self -

i.e. absolute consciousness, bereft of thoughts!

Why not go straight to it?

Why add new encumbrances to the already existing ones?

 

24th January 1935:

 

The questioner asked:

 

Which posture (asana) is best?

 

Sri Bhagavan replied:

 

Any asana, possibly sukha asana (easy posture or

the half-Buddha position).

But that is immaterial for jnana,

the path of Knowledge.

 

Questioner:

 

Does posture indicate the temperament?

 

Maharshi: Yes.

 

Questioner:

 

What are the properties and effects of the tiger's

skin, wool, or deer-skin etc.?

 

Maharshi: Some have found them out and related them in

Yoga books. They corrospond to conductors and

non-conductors of magnetism, etc.

But it is all immaterial for the Path of Knowledge

(Jnana Marga).

Posture really means location and steadfastness in the

Self. It is internal. The others refer to external

positions.

 

4th February, 1935

 

The questioner said:

 

There are six centers mentioned in the Yoga books;

but the jiva is said to reside in the Heart. Is it so?

 

Maharshi: Yes.

The jiva is said to remain in the Heart in deep sleep;

and in the brain in the waking state. The Heart need

not be taken to be the muscular cavity with four

chambers which propels blood. There are indeed

passages which support this view.

There are others who take it to mean a set of ganglia

or nerve centers about that region.

 

Whichever veiw is correct does not matter to us.

 

We are not concerned with anything less than

ourselves.

 

That we have certainly within us.

 

There could be no doubts or discussions about that.

 

May 19, 1936:

 

Questioner: Which is the best of the different yogas,

Karma, Jnana, Bhakti, or Hatha?

 

Maharshi: See stanza 10 of Upadesa Saram.

 

To remain in the Self amounts to all these

in their highest sense.

 

In dreamless sleep, there is no world, no ego, and no

unhappiness, but the Self remains. In the waking

state there are all these; yet, there is the Self.

One has only to remove the transitory happenings in

order to realize the ever-present beautitude of the

Self. Your nature is Bliss. Find that on which all

the rest is superimposed and you then remain as the

pure Self.

 

Take care,

 

with Love,

 

Michael L.