starts with reading scriptures, knowing their meaning and seeing their
truths reflected in one's own life. This also includes the teachings of a
wise master or guru. It continues and deepens through the self-culture
of asana and pranayama practice where one has to be able sensitively
to verify differences in actions and make adjustments. Later on one
learns to watch the mind itself and its movements and ultimately to
keep it stable and quiet. But even here there is danger, for when mind
and senses are controlled, the ego itself, like a cobra, raises its hood
and hisses. The ego can become inflated, even intoxicated with its own
prowess in mind control. Only the next petal of yoga, concentration
(dharana), which I will look at in chapter 5, will release the knowl
edge that can truly be called wisdom.
I said earlier that much of human life depends upon exchange; we
exchange labor, money, goods, emotions, and affections. This system
of exchange also operates within us. In modern terms you might call
this form of internal cooperation a feedback system, or interpenetra
tion of one level by another, or of one bodily system by another in mu
tual support and interdependence. The whole body, what we called in
chapter 3 the physical sheath (annamaya kosa), is in reality also pene
trated by energy and mind, which are the second and third sheaths. All
three levels are dependant on the food we eat, the water we drink, and
the air we breathe. Look at the liver for instance. It is a vital organ, so
we nourish it with food, but we also enrich it with prana provided we
manipulate it properly through extension, contraction, and inversion.
This rejuvenating action cannot happen unless the mind also goes
there. When we act by applying the mind, the avenue of blood circu
lation changes too. Through prana, even the chemical properties of the
hlood can change. Do not think, therefore, that asana pertains only to
the physical sheath. There is a total involvement between the three
sheaths of body (annamaya kosa), energy (pranamaya kosa), and mind
(manomaya kosa).
The techniques of yoga give you the opportunity to capture l"llcr�y
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