HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Thu May 17, 2007 8:08 pm (PST)

HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY - Swami Vivekananda

(Delivered at the Home of Truth, Los Angeles, California)

 

According to the Yogis, there are three principal nerve currents; one

they call the Ida, the other the Pingala, and the middle one the

Sushumna, and all these are inside the spinal column. The Ida and the

Pingala, the left and the right, are clusters of nerves, while the

middle one, the Sushumna, is hollow and is not a cluster of nerves.

This Sushumna is closed, and for the ordinary man is of no use, for

he works through the Ida and the Pingala only. Currents are

continually going down and coming up through these nerves, carrying

orders all over the body through other nerves running to the

different organs of the body.

 

It is the regulation and the bringing into rhythm of the Ida and

Pingala that is the great object of breathing. But that itself is

nothing -- it is only so much air taken into the lungs; except for

purifying the blood, it is of no more use. There is nothing occult in

the air that we take in with our breath and assimilate to purify the

blood; the action is merely a motion. This motion can be reduced to

the unit movement we call Prana; and everywhere, all movements are

the various manifestations of this Prana. This Prana is electricity,

it is magnetism; it is thrown out by the brain as thought. Everything

is Prana; it is moving the sun, the moon, and the stars.

 

We say, whatever is in this universe has been projected by the

vibration of the Prana. The highest result of vibration is thought.

If there be any higher, we cannot conceive of it. The nerves, Ida and

Pingala, work through the Prana. It is the Prana that is moving every

part of the body, becoming the different forces. Give up that old

idea that God is something that produces the effect and sits on a

throne dispensing justice. In working we become exhausted because we

use up so much Prana.

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 [ Page : 30 ]

 

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Watch people do their most common actions; these are indeed the

things that will tell you the real character of a great person.

- Swami Vivekananda