Cook Until Done

March 3, 2010

COOK UNTIL DONEwww.spiritual-teaching.com

"In continuation of an old question of his with reference to a certain passage in Maha Yoga, the disciple asked Bhagavan whether it was necessary and a condition precedent for a man to watch his breathing before beginning the mental quest 'Who am I?' " Bhagavan: "All depends on a man's pakva (his maturity and fitness). Those who do not have the mental strength [another translation of 'mental strength' is preparedness gained through repeated practice] [1] to concentrate or control their mind and direct it on the quest are advised to watch the breathing, since such watching will naturally and as a matter of course lead to cessation of thought and bring the mind under control. Breath and mind arise from the same place and when one of them is controlled, the other is also controlled. As a matter of fact, in the quest method, which is more correctly 'Whence am I?' and not merely 'Who

am I?'- we are not simply trying to eliminate saying 'we are not the body, not the senses and so on,' to reach what remains as the ultimate reality, but we are trying to find whence the 'I' thought for the ego within us arises. The method contains within it, though implicitly and not expressly, the watching of the breath. When we watch wherefrom the 'I' thought, the root of all thoughts, springs, we are necessarily watching the source of the breath also, as the 'I' thought and the breath arise from the same source." The disciple again asked whether, for controlling the breath, the regular pranayama (of regulated inhalation, retention and exhalation i.e. 1:4:2) is not better.Bhagavan replied: "All those proportions, sometimes regulated not by counting but by uttering mantras, etc., are aids for controlling the mind. That is all. Watching the breath is also one form of pranayama. Retaining breath, etc., is more violent and may be harmful in

some cases, e.g. where there is no proper guru to guide the sadhak (the one performing the spiritual practice) at every step and stage. But merely watching the breath is easy and involves no risk." [2]______________________[1] The word pakva comes from the root "pak" which means fully cooked. Bhagavan used the derivative "pakwigal" which, by implication, means one who has become mature through the "cooking" process of sadhana (spiritual practice). [2] Day by Day With Bhagavan, A. Devaraja Mudaliar, Sri Ramanashramam 2002, p. 55-56.

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