water in the opposite direction, and repeatedly drive the water this way and that
way—both ways—we will find that the silt is disturbed. The silt is stirred up into
activity, and the pipe is cleaned completely. We can clean the pipe by running the
water back and forth, again and again, repeatedly, with force.
Likewise, this alternate system of breathing called pranayama is something like
driving water back and forth through the pipe for the purpose of cleansing the pipe—
called the nerves or the nadis. Usually this alternate breathing is not practised.
People breathe only in a single, linear fashion. Hence, though there is a flow of
prana, the silt is there; the nerves are not cleansed. There is some kind of deposit
which is not observed and which is the cause of various kinds of difficulties in the
physiological system. The purpose of the bringing about of this cleansing through
pranayama is, of course, obvious. It needs no mention that it should keep the body
flexible and malleable, so that there will be no ache or feeling of fatigue in the body.
The quick feeling of exhaustion and fatigue in the system is due to the presence of
some dross in the body—whatever be that dross. It may be due to continuous
overeating or continuous eating at wrong times; or, it may be due to eating the wrong
food, which is not required by the system, and so on. It may be due to constipation,
etc. There are umpteen causes for the toxic matter getting deposited in the system.
Thus, there is always a feeling of unhappiness in the body; it is never happy. Always
people complain something is wrong—either here or there. It is quite
understandable.
The prescription given here is to avoid these feelings by various means of
purification. We have to bring into memory once again the canons of the yamas and
niyamas mentioned earlier. Every succeeding stage implies and involves the
preceding stage, so when we are in the stage of asana or pranayama it does not
mean that we have forgotten what was told to us in the stages of yama and niyama.
Saucha was mentioned as a purifying process, and we were told of many other means
to purify the whole system; and some sort of purification was effected. Now we are
going to effect a greater purification with a greater intensity and tenacity of practice.
As we go higher and higher, as we take further steps, at every step there should be a
simhavalokanam, as they call it—a retrospection of the previous stages that we have
passed through so that there cannot be, or need not be, or should not be a
forgetfulness of what has happened in the past.
When we study a book, it does not mean that when we advance through the pages we
forget the earlier pages; that is not a good study. When we reach the hundredth page
of study, we must close our book and recall what we have read up till that time. If we
have forgotten the first page, second page, or third page because we are at the
hundredth page, it is not a good study. Many students forget what they have studied
earlier, merely because they have advanced. So here, ‘advanced’ does not mean
cancellation of the earlier, but transcendence of the earlier stages by their
sublimation and absorption. Hence, in this process of purification called asana and
pranayama, the implication of the canons of yama and niyama is already there.
This is to be remembered always. We are going to effect greater and greater types of
purification, and not entirely newer types of purification.
Tasmin sati śvāsa praśvāsayoḥ gativicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmaḥ (II.49), says the sutra; and
there are two more sutras which give some idea as to the nature of the practice. In