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.Normally the breath flows for a certain length of time more through the rightnostril, then it changes and flows evenly through both nostrils alike for a little whileand then it flows more through the left nostril for the same time as through the right.After this it flows evenly through both and then again more through the right nostriland so on throughout life.When the breath comes through the right nostril it is thepositive or sun breath; when it flows through the left it is the negative or moon breath.The breath is neutral when it flows evenly through both nostrils.All the inbreathingsand outbreathings, while the breath flows through one nostril, make a cycle.Severalof these cycles make another cycle.These larger cycles make up still larger cycles.All these cycles affect the body in different ways.The breath pulsates around man inwaves of varying lengths.The fourfold body is the center of an atmosphere containingbreath currents of varying fourfold curves, swirls, ripples, vortices and densitieswhich are working around the body as the center of their movements.The practice of pranayama consists in part in voluntarily changing the flow fromthe left or the right nostril to the right or the left, as the case may be, before the naturalchange sets in; in voluntarily preventing the flow, and in changing the wave lengths.There are many ways; this is one.The would-be yogi proceeds by closing one nostrilwith a certain finger, then by exhaling through the open nostril for a certain number ofcounts, then by closing with a particular finger the nostril through which the air wasexhaled; then by stopping breathing for a certain number of counts; then by removingthe first finger and by inhaling through the first nostril; then by stopping breathing andholding the inhaled air for a certain number of counts and then by exhaling as before.So the practitioner inhales only through one nostril and exhales through the other, andhas his lungs filled with air when the inhalation stops and has his lungs empty whenthe exhalation ends.The outbreathing and stopping and inbreathing and stopping are continued for the time that has been set by the would-be yogi.These exercises aremostly practiced in some posture different from any usually assumed by Westerners.The object of such exercise is to master one's lower nature and to unite the "lower"with the "higher self," and thereby to gain psychic and "spiritual" powers which willlead to "spiritual" liberation--according to the missionaries.By suppressing andregulating breathing they seek to turn and keep the breath in one or another part of thebody for a time and to get hold of the power of the breath.Then they turn the breathinto certain nerve currents to open special nerve centers as a lotus is opened.As eachof these nerve centers is opened and the force flows through it, the yogi becomesconscious of certain states and realms and becomes acquainted with the gods orpowers that act in the forces playing through him.He enters into states of ecstasy andattains superhuman powers.Finally he reaches the highest state and attains liberation.Such in part is their doctrine.Pranayama, if practiced at all, is safe only for one who is free from vices.He musthave health and be clear in his thinking.He needs courage and strength of character togo on.He must have progressed far already in the practice of "meditation," and mustseek the external means of pranayama only as an assistance in his progress in rajayoga training.Such a person should be the pupil of a sage who has gone through allstages of pranayama and who is able to sense and to observe all that the pupil is goingthrough in the practices.In this way the disciple will be guarded against the manydangers he must encounter.For the result of the regulation and suppression ofbreathing will be that, if the pupil's heart and lungs are not strong enough, he willdevelop a weakness or disease in those organs.If he has not control over himself inthe ordinary affairs of life he will have a nervous breakdown.Unless he has overcomeallurements of the senses, the sights and sounds he may see and hear will mislead himin the astral states.When the gates in his body are opened and astral forces passthrough him, they are likely to burn out or paralyze his nerves if he is not ready.All that the pupil can do by the physical practices of pranayama he can do moresafely by thinking.The path of steady thinking is the only proper way.Pranayama atbest invokes passive thinking to induce active thinking to purify the breath-form; andopens the three inner bodies and the inner side of the four senses, which makes thepractitioner conscious in several astral states and, instead of liberating him, binds himto the phenomena of nature.Pranayama cannot give any knowledge about the TriuneSelf.It can do no more than put one in contact with forces of nature.SECTION 28The system of Patanjali.His eight steps of yoga.Ancient commentaries.Reviewof his system.Inner meaning of some Sanskrit words.The ancient teaching ofwhich traces survive.What the West wants.Different systems of yoga are spoken of in Eastern philosophy.Raja yoga is thatsystem which aims to train the disciple by the regulation of his thinking.Raja yoga inits best sense is a method to clear the mental atmosphere and thereby the psychicatmosphere of the human by a system of thinking.Patanjali unites the Indian systemsof yoga.He is the authority to which most yogis look.He gave a set of rules on thepractice of raja yoga, probably the most valuable which have been transmitted on thesubject.His rules should cover the period from the purification of the morals, through the various stages of thinking, to the attainment of liberation of feeling from nature.But feeling is by him identified as a fifth sense, and he calls the conscious somethingin the body by another name or names.Instead of liberating feeling from nature,Patanjali would chain the doer to nature by dealing with feeling as a part of nature,that is, as a fifth sense, instead of as an aspect of the conscious self, the doer-in-the-body.At best that goes only a short way towards the end, which should be union offeeling-and-desire of the doer, and then union of the doer with the thinker andknower.He treats of eight stages through which one must pass.These stages he callsyama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi.Yama means morality towards others and cutting oneself off from dependenceupon them.It is mastering the desires to be unchaste, to hurt anyone, to speak falselyand to receive what belongs to others.Niyama consists of cleanliness in body andthought, religious observances including the repetition of the name of God, andasceticism.It is a self-discipline irrespective of others.Asana is sitting in a place freefrom disturbance, with the spine straight and the head erect.This posture allows thebreath to flow easily along the spinal cord and to any part of the body to which it maybe directed.These three stages are preparatory and designed to free the would-be yogifrom worldly attachment, to purify, change and strengthen his body and desires, andto bring his body into a condition where he can engage safely in the practices of thefourth stage
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