Rama Prasad: The Science of Breath & The Philosophy of the Tatwas (Pranayama Yoga)
truth; it excites wonder in the world of unbelievers; it is the support among unskeptical people. 12. The science of the rise of breath is to be given to the calm, the pure, the virtuous, the firm and the grateful, single-minded devote of the guru. 13. It is not to be given to the vicious, the impure, the angry, the untruthful, the adulterer, and him who has wasted his substance. 14. Hear, thou goddess, the wisdom which is found in the body; omniscience is caused by it, if well understood. 15. In the swara are the Vedas and the shastras; in the swara the highest gandharva; in the swara are all the three worlds; the swara is the reflection of the parabrahma. === Notes ~ “In the swara are the Vedas”, etc. Swara is the current of the life-wave. It is the same as the intelligence of the Vedantins. The assertion in this stanza might have two meanings. It might mean that the things described in the Vedas are in the swara, or it might mean that the description itself is there. It might mean that both are there. This is of course an absolute fact. There is nothing in the manifested universe that has not received existence from the Great Breath, which is the Prana of the universe on the highest plane of life.
=== 16. Without a knowledge of the breath ( swara), the astrologer is a hose without its lord, a speaker without learning, a trunk without a head. 17. Whoever knows the analysis of the Nadis, and the Prana, the analysis of the tatwa, and the analysis of the conjunctive susumna gets salvation. 18. It is always auspicious in the seen or the unseen universe, when the power of breath is mastered; they, O Fair One, that the knowledge of the science of breath is somewhat auspicious. === Notes ~ This stanza points to the difference between practical and theoretical occultism. The practice is highly auspicious, of course, but the theory too puts us on the right track,