The Universal Life Force

Prana: The Universal Life Force

Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Zinal (Switzerland), September 1981

In the physical body we have two types of energies. One is known as prana and the other is known as mind or consciousness. That means, in every organ of the body there should be two channels supplying energy. Modern physiology describes two types of nervous systems - the sympathetic and the parasympathetic, and these two nervous systems are interconnected in each and every organ of the body. In the same way, every organ is supplied with the energy of prana and the energy of mind.In yoga, the concept of prana is very scientific. When we speak of prana, we do not mean the breath, air or oxygen. Precisely and scientifically speaking, prana means the original life force.Prana is a Sanskrit word constructed of the syllables pra and an. 'An' means movement and 'pra' is a prefix meaning constant. Therefore, prana means constant motion. This constant motion commences in the human being as soon as he is conceived in his mother's womb. Prana is therefore a type of energy responsible for the body's life, heat and maintenance.

Nadis, chakras & the distribution of prana

According to yoga, tantra and the science of kundalini, prana is supposed to originate in pingala nadi. Within the framework of the spinal cord, there are three channels known as nadis in yoga. One is called ida, another is pingala and the third is sushumna. Ida nadi represents the mental energy, pingala represents prana or pranic energy and sushumna represents spirit or spiritual awareness. These three nadis originate in mooladhara chakra, which is situated at the perineum or cervix. Pingala nadi flows to the right from mooladhara and continues to cross ida at each chakra all the way up to ajna.There are six chakras through which pingala nadi passes. The first one is mooladhara chakra from which it originates. The second is swadhisthana where the nadi crosses to the left. The third is manipura chakra where the nadi crosses to the right. And the fourth is anahata where the nadi crosses to the left. The fifth is vishuddhi where the nadi crosses to the right and the sixth is ajna where the nadi terminates from the right. Similarly, ida nadi also crosses at each chakra but in the reverse order. Every sincere yoga aspirant should have a clear understanding of the pathway of these three major nadis.Pingala nadi is the distributing channel for prana in the body, and from each chakra the pranas are disseminated to every organ of the body. From swadhisthana the pranic energy is distributed to the genito-urinary system. Manipura chakra supplies prana to the digestive system and anahata supplies the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. From vishuddhi, distribution takes place to the ears, eyes, nose and throat, and ajna chakra is the distributor of energy through which man's brain is fed.

The fuel of life

Prana is not merely a philosophical concept; it is in every sense a physical substance. Just as radioactive or electromagnetic waves exist even though we can't see them, in the same way, in this physical body, there are pranic waves and a pranic field. Now, each of us has a certain quantity of prana in our physical body and we utilize this in the course of our day to day activities throughout life. When our prana diminishes, sickness sets in, and when we have plenty of prana, every part of the body is in perfect health. If we have an excess of prana, it can be transmitted to others for healing or magnetism.The inner prana can be stimulated by the practice of pranayama and thereby increased to a greater quantum. The brain requires maximum prana, and for the practice of meditation, it needs an increased supply. It is for this reason that we practise pranayama before commencing our meditation practice. If we are not able to supply plenty of pranic fuel to the brain, the mind becomes very restless and disturbed.When the brain is receiving a deficient supply of prana, you suffer from nervous depression or nervous breakdown. Then the whole body perspires, there is trembling in every organ, you can't stand, your mind is unsteady and you are constantly thinking negative thoughts. You can't even sleep and you don't want to talk or think. This state indicates that the brain is only receiving a very small quantity of prana.

Increasing prana

You should not think that just by practising a little pranayama you are sending a lot of prana to the brain. The process of supply and assimilation of prana into the brain is very complicated. The brain is a subtle instrument and it can only be enriched by the subtle form of prana and not the gross form. Therefore, when you practise pranayama, you will have to convert the prana into a subtle force.Deep breathing alone is not enough to stimulate prana. By breathing deeply, you stimulate your respiratory system and the blood circulation, but if you could examine the brain at that time, you would see that it is least affected. However, when you practise pranayama with concentration, as shown by scientific studies, the brainwaves undergo a significant change and the limbic system is also positively influenced.

Conscious and unconscious breathing

The brain can be split into two parts- the frontal brain and the posterior brain. The posterior brain is the instinctive brain which we have inherited through animal incarnations. The frontal brain is the seat of total consciousness. When you breathe without awareness, the breath is registered in the posterior brain, but when you are aware that you are breathing and you are consciously witnessing the whole process, then it is registered by the conscious brain, the frontal brain.This difference seems to be very simple, but its effect is very great. Throughout life, you breathe unconsciously, just like animals, children and most other people do, excepting for the few who have started practising yoga. Now, in every case, the pranic flow is being registered in the posterior brain as if in a computer. The moment you become aware of your breathing and you begin to conduct and control the breath in a particular fashion, immediately the frontal brain registers the influence. This fact has been revealed by scientific experiments and has led us to the following conclusion. Conscious breathing has an entirely different effect on the brain than unconscious breathing. Through unconscious breathing we are definitely able to feed the whole body with prana, but we cannot supply the brain with sufficient prana for its evolution and growth.

Conducting prana to the brain

In order to alleviate sicknesses of the brain, in order to develop the latent capacities of the, brain or to initiate evolution of the brain, we cannot just depend on the way we have been breathing in the past. This is precisely the reason why the different forms of pranayama are practised.When you practise pranayama, the pranas are stimulated in the lower region of the body, but you must have a means of forcing the pranic energy up. Somehow, you have to create a negative force which will push the pranic energy up through the spinal cord. For this reason pranayama should be practised in coordination with specific bandhas. The three bandhas which are incorporated into the practice of pranayama are jalandhara bandha, uddiyana bandha and moola bandha. They create a negative force like the ejecting force used to extract water from a well. There are two forces used for pumping water- the sucking force and the ejecting force. When we practise pranayama with the bandhas, we put an ejecting force into action.So, through pranayama you generate prana in the lower region of the body, then in order to conduct it up to the brain you must first practise moola bandha, then uddiyana bandha and finally jalandhara bandha. Moola bandha is contraction of the perineum, uddiyana bandha is contraction of the abdominal muscles and jalandhara bandha is the locking of the chin against the sternum. Prana is then conducted to the brain with the help of the subtle circulatory system.The network of vessels through which the blood circulates is not just an arrangement of hollow tubes. It is a generator and distributor of prana as well. These vessels become charged and polarized as the bloodstream circulates throughout the body. It is as though the whole arterial and venous circulatory trees become magnetized. The flow of blood through the vessels generates a bio-magnetic force just as a forceful flow of water is used to generate hydro electricity. This is how prana shakti is able to permeate and enliven even the most distant cells and tissues of the body.Under normal conditions a certain quantum of prana is circulating, and this is responsible for our present level of health. However, the importance of pranayama is to enable us to consciously generate a higher voltage of prana and this greater quantum of prana can then be directed into the higher centres of the brain, via the cerebral blood vessels and the cerebrospinal fluid circulating and irrigating the brain's sleeping centres. In this way, pranayama brings a higher reality, experience and dimension to its practitioner. It boosts the level of consciousness by activating and awakening the dormant centres and capacities of the left and right hemispheres of the evolving brain.Now, another means of conducting prana to the frontal portion of the brain is by the practice of shambhavi mudra. Shambhavi mudra is centralizing the pupils of the eyes at the point between the two eyebrows. This practice is also known as mid-eyebrow centre gazing. When you practise shambhavi mudra, the pranas are sucked up by force to irrigate the frontal area of the brain.

Rejuvenation of the brain

In order to charge the brain with sufficient prana, you will have to practise pranayama very systematically. Pranayama is not just a matter of breathing in and breathing out in a particular way. Kumbhaka, retention of breath, is the actual definition of pranayama. Inhalation and exhalation are just a process. In all the ancient yoga texts, kumbhaka has been highly praised, and today scientists are acknowledging what the texts have claimed.Retention of breath is done at two points. Firstly, when you have filled your lungs, you hold the breath inside, and secondly, when you empty your lungs, you hold the breath outside. Both forms of kumbhaka are important and they are so powerful that they can completely rejuvenate the whole brain.

Prana vidya

In order to develop prana shakti, certain practices have been formulated in many parts of the world. In India, our ancestors developed the science of prana which we call prana vidya. This is a very ancient and effective science which is still practised in India today.Some people are born with excess prana, and they are able to transmit that prana out of the body to other people. Although you may not have sufficient prana to be able to do this, you can definitely awaken your own prana and conduct it to any part of the body that requires it. Wherever sickness occurs in the body, there is a deficiency of prana. If you can supply more prana to that part of the body, the process of healing becomes quicker.I will describe one practice of prana vidya which is not very difficult. While practising pranayama, visualize pingala nadi within the spinal cord. As you inhale, follow the structure of pingala and feel the prana traversing every chakra and finally merging in ajna chakra. In the same way, feel the prana descending within pingala nadi. The colour of pingala is red. So as you inhale and exhale, imagine breathing along a red path. At the end of each inhalation, practise kumbhaka at ajna chakra.In order to practise this ascending and descending of prana, you have to perfect ujjayi pranayama. Practise sending prana up and down the spinal cord through pingala nadi 40 times. Then start distributing prana from ajna chakra with exhalation. You can send it to any part of the body you choose. If there is a problem with your fingers or your feet or any other part of the body, start sending prana there from ajna chakra. Either with the help of the breath or with the help of your mind, try to push your prana to the affected part of the body. Before long, you will find that healing is taking place.

Uniting with the universal prana

Prana is not only the life force, it is also a very powerful healing force in the body that can even eradicate the most difficult physical problems. Moreover, the prana within us is a part of the universal prana. I am not talking about positive and negative ions now, I am speaking of a metaphysical substance. This is called universal prana and your prana is a part of that. If you can unite yourself with the universal prana, you can draw the required amount of prana whenever you need.In order to tune yourself to this universal prana, you must be able to reach a high state of meditation. When you control the breath, the mind is also controlled and the awareness becomes one-pointed. That one-pointed awareness is comprehended in the mid-eyebrow centre where the point is seen as a light. The light grows in intensity and becomes bigger and bigger until it completely envelops your consciousness. Then there is illumination all around you, and at this point you can connect yourself with the universal prana.It is very difficult for us to attune ourselves to the universal prana because our awareness is very limited. Most of us only know about deep breathing, and we think that by breathing deeply fifty to a hundred times, we will get more and more shakti. Of course we do, but we need a finer form of prana shakti which can be used for awakening the brain.Throughout your body there is a pranic field which is known as pranamaya kosha. You must know how to tune this pranamaya kosha with the universal prana. Your pranamaya kosha can be awakened by practising pranayama correctly, by fasting or eating properly, and by perfecting meditation on the mid-eyebrow centre. Then, when you are able to see that great enveloping light, you become the medium of the universal prana. Thereafter, you can distribute this prana to those who are in short supply.

AGAINST CULTIVATING A MORAL CHARACTER

WHY ARE YOU AGAINST CULTIVATING A MORAL CHARACTER??

OSHO:  FIRST TO CULTIVATE ANYTHING is to become pseudo. Cultivation means you will be creating something around yourself WHICH YOU ARE NOT. Cultivation means you will create a split, cultivation means you will create a facade. Cultivation means you will live in a camouflage: you will be one thing and you will pretend to be something else; you will do one thing and you will say another thing.

Cultivation means you will repress - that's why I am against cultivation. Cultivation does not create true morality; it creates only ugly puritans. It creates only the so-called righteous; it creates people who are pretenders. It creates the attitude of holier-than-thou, that's all. It gives a great ego satisfaction.

And it also creates a prison. When you cultivate something, you are imprisoned in it, because deep down you are just the contrary. For example, you are violent - you can cultivate non-violence. What will be the result? On the surface there will be a thin layer of non-violence, only on the surface; it will not even be skin-deep. Scratch any non- violent man just a little bit and you will find violence arising. Beware of non-violent people; they are the most dangerous people if you scratch them.

If you scratch a violent person he may not be so violent, because he does not carry a long long repressed violence in him; he does not accumulate. He explodes once in a while so there is no accumulation. But the non-violent person, the Gandhian, the so-called religious person, beware of him; he is a dangerous person. He is carrying great explosive forces in himself. Just a little scratch will prove to be a spark and he will explode; he can prove murderous, he can be very dangerous. And when you create non-violence around yourself and inside you are boiling with violence, you live in a prison.

Just look at your so-called moral people - they are living in a prison. And they all have to become diplomatic. They all have to have backdoors to their lives, otherwise they will go crazy. Cultivated morality arouses only two alternatives: one is to go mad - if the person is sincere he will go mad - the other alternative is that he will be a hypocrite. And naturally people choose to be hypocrites rather than going mad, and I cannot condemn them either. That is more intelligent.

That's why you see such hypocrites all over the place around the world. They are everywhere - pretenders. You know them. They live a totally different life behind the walls. They have two lives: their real life is underground. They are living in such inner conflict that they cannot be happy. And the person who is not happy will not allow anybody else to be happy either. These people are sad, they have long faces; they are tense, they live in constant conflict and anguish, and they would like everybody to live like that. Naturally, they will condemn all joy, they will condemn all laughter. They will condemn EVERYTHING that is playful, that is fun. They will reduce you to utter seriousness, and seriousness is illness, it is pathological.

Life is available only to those who are playful. Life is not for the serious; for the serious is the grave. Life is for those who are festive, who know how to celebrate.

I am against cultivating a moral character, because cultivating a moral character does not give you real morality. That's why I am against it. The real morality has not to be cultivated: it comes as a shadow of being more aware. It is a consequence of consciousness.

If your conscience is not a consequence of your consciousness, then your conscience is ugly, dangerous, poisonous. Then your conscience is nothing but the policeman that the society has implanted in you. Then your conscience is nothing but your parental voice, the priests shouting inside you, "Don't do this - do that!" You are not free, you are not a free man: you are controlled from within - a very subtle strategy to control humanity.

The real conscience does not come from the outside: it wells up within you; it is part of your consciousness. I don't say cultivate morality: I say become more conscious - and you will be moral. But that morality will have a totally different flavour to it. It will be spontaneous; it will not be ready-made. It will be moment-to-moment alive, flowing, changing. It will reflect all the colours of life. It will be appropriate to the moment; it will be responsible. You will respond to the situation with full awareness - not because Moses has said to do it, not because Jesus has said to follow it, but because your own God inside feels this is the way to respond. Then you are functioning from the very source of consciousness, and that is true morality. It has not to be cultivated. The cultivated means the false.

That's why I say the real man of character has no character. The real man of character is characterless. The real man of character cannot afford to have a character, because the character means that which you have learnt in the past; character means the past. And you have to respond to the present moment. Your character will come between you and the present. It will force you to behave according to the past pattern, and when you behave according to the past pattern you are never appropriate.

So your so-called moral people are never appropriate, they cannot be. They miss the moment. They function out of the past so they cannot relate to the present. And there is only one life, ONLY one life: to relate to the present.

The so-called moral people cannot go direct in anything; they always go roundabout. They always have to be cautious, because they have to keep their masks; they cannot drop their masks. And one lie leads into another ad infinitum, and slowly slowly a person becomes just a bundle of lies.

The true man of character is authentic, is whatsoever he is. He is utterly nude, naked; he is not hiding. I would like the new humanity to be of those who are brave. Long we have lived like cowards; long long, we have suffered like cowards. It is time now to come into the open, under the sun - to be sincere, to be authentic, to be whatsoever you are. There is NO need to hide, because every other human being is just like you. There are neither saints nor sinners but only human beings.

The whole dichotomy of the saints and the sinners is the by-product of the cultivated character. And you will be surprised that sinners are more innocent than your so-called saints. You will see in the eyes of sinners more the quality of childlikeness, more sincerity, more innocence, more truth, than you will ever find in the eyes of your so- called saints. Their eyes will be cunning - they have to be because cultivation brings cunningness.

I would like a totally different humanity in the world, where saints and sinners have disappeared, where there are only authentic people, open to the wind, open to the rain, open to the sun... open!

This will be hated by the society very much. This will be a great problem for the society, because the open person immediately makes you uneasy if you are closed, because the open person immediately hits at the very root of your being. The open person immediately makes you feel inferior, ugly, false. The open person immediately makes you feel unintelligent, stupid.

That's why Socrates is poisoned - an open person. Not a saint, but a man of tremendous awareness. A sage not a saint. Jesus is crucified - a sage not a saint - because he was not fulfilling the expectations of the society. He was moving with thieves - now saints don't move with thieves. He was moving with socially condemned people: gamblers, drunkards, prostitutes. He was at ease with humanity at large, with everybody. This was not tolerable. The rabbis, the saints of those days, the moralistic people, the puritans, could not tolerate it. He HAD to be crucified.

This has been happening down the ages. Now this has to be stopped! You have crucified enough. And now we have to explode in such a tidal wave on the earth that even if they crucify, they cannot find so many crosses. One Jesus can be crucified, one Socrates can be poisoned....

My effort is to create so many open people that it becomes almost impossible to crucify and to poison them. To give the quality of openness, simpleness, innocence, to SO many people - only then can the quality of this rotten society be changed, can it be made alive.

I am against the cultivated moral character because it is neither moral nor healthy. I am against character because character creates only an armour around you; it is a defence measure, it does not allow you to be open. And a person who is not open lives in a grave.

THE PAGAN ORIGIN OF EASTER

ORIGINS OF THE NAME "EASTER":

The name "Easter" originated with the names of an ancient Goddess and God. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE), a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe.

Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos."  Their names were derived from the ancient word for spring: "Eastre." Eostre's sacred animal was a rabbit, and a symbol of the rebirth of life in the springtime was the egg.

Similar Goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were:

- Aphrodite, named Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus) after the two places which claimed her birth.

- Astarte from ancient Greece

- Inanna from ancient Sumer

- Demeter from Mycenae

- Hathor from ancient Egypt

- Ashtoreth from ancient Israel

 -Ishtar from Assyria

- Kali, from India

- Eostre or Ostara  a Norse Goddess of fertility.

An alternative explanation has been suggested. The name given by the Frankish church to Jesus' resurrection festival included the Latin word "alba" which means "white." (This was a reference to the white robes that were worn during the festival.) "Alba" also has a second meaning: "sunrise." When the name of the festival was translated into German, the "sunrise" meaning was selected in error. This became "ostern" in German. Ostern has been proposed as the origin of the word "Easter".

There are two popular beliefs about the origin of the English word "Sunday."

- It is derived from the name of the Scandinavian sun Goddess Sunna (a.k.a. Sunne, Frau Sonne).

- It is derived from "Sol," the Roman God of the Sun." Their phrase "Dies Solis" means "day of the Sun." The Christian saint Jerome (d. 420 CE) commented:

"If it is called the day of the sun by the pagans, we willingly accept this name, for on this day the Light of the world arose, on this day the Sun of Justice shone forth."

PAGAN ORIGINS OF EASTER:

Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a consort, Attis, who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. Attis was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25.

Gerald L. Berry, author of "Religions of the World," wrote:

"About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill ...Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection."

Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians:

"... used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype, and which the imitation."

Many religious historians and liberal theologians believe that the death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis, many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans. Others suggest that many of the events in Jesus' life that were recorded in the gospels were lifted from the life of Krishna, the second person of the Hindu Trinity, or were taken from the life of Horus, an Egyptian god. Ancient Christians had an alternative explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit deities in advance of the coming of Christ in order to confuse humanity. 4 Modern-day Christians generally regard the Attis and Horus legends as being a Pagan myths of little value with no connection to Jesus. They regard Jesus' death and resurrection account as being true, and unrelated to the earlier tradition.

The ancient Norse year was divided into two seasons: Summer and Winter. Summer began at the festival of Eostre (also know as Ostara), which is close to the Spring Equinox. Winter began at the festival of Winternights, which is close to the Autumn Equinox. Between these two festivals was the festival of Midsummer (known as Lithasblot) at the Summer Solstice, and the festival of Jul (or Yule), at the Winter Solstice. There are other minor festivals that are celebrated in between these four major ones, as listed below.

A point to make out is that many Norse festivals are known as a Blót. The word basically means 'worship' or 'sacrifice' and it was a sacrifice to the gods and the spirits of the land. The sacrifice often took the form of a sacramental meal or feast.

Ēostre or Ostara (Old English: Ēastre], Northumbrian dialect Ēastro, Mercian dialect and West Saxon dialect (Old English) Ēostre, Old High German: Ôstara is a Germanic goddess who, by way of the Germanic month bearing her name (Northumbrian: Ēosturmōnaþ, West Saxon: Ēastermōnaþ, Old High German: Ôstarmânoth, is the namesake of the festival of Easter in some languages. Ēostre is attested solely by Bede in his 8th-century work The Reckoning of Time, where Bede states that during Ēosturmōnaþ (the equivalent of April), pagan Anglo-Saxons had held feasts in Ēostre's honour, but that this tradition had died out by his time, replaced by the Christian Paschal month, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

Old English Ēostre continues into modern English as Easter and derives from Proto-Germanic Austrǭ, itself a descendant of the Proto-Indo-European root h₂ews-, meaning 'to shine' (modern English east also derives from this root).

The goddess name Ēostre is therefore linguistically cognate with numerous other dawn goddesses attested among Indo-European language-speaking peoples. These cognates lead to the reconstruction of a Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess; the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture details that a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn is supported both by the evidence of cognate names and the similarity of mythic representation of the dawn goddess among various Indo-European groups and that all of this evidence permits us to posit a Proto-Indo-European haéusōs “goddess of dawn” who was characterized as a "reluctant" bringer of light for which she is punished. In three of the Indo-European stocks, Baltic, Greek and Indo-Iranian, the existence of a Proto-Indo-European “goddess of the dawn” is given additional linguistic support in that she is designated the “daughter of heaven”.