Controlling speech and breath, and diving deep within oneself—like one who, to find a thing that has fallen into water, dives deep down ---one must seek out the source whence the aspiring ego springs.
V. 28, Reality in Forty Verses
‘Therefore by the practice of merging the ego in the pure Heart which is all Awareness, the tendencies of the mind as well as the breath will be subdued.
V. 24, Reality in Forty Verses: Supplement
(Orig. Yoga Vasishta, 5-78, V. 38)
Dear Devotees,
From the above cited Verses, it is obvious that by controlling speech and breath, Sri Bhagwan does not mean that one should start practicing breath retention of ‘pranayama’ to restrain and control the breath, though Sri Bhagwan Himself has said that it is an aid to Enquiry. Therefore, one may practice breath control a little in the beginning to turn the mind inwards. I SAY THIS, WITH ALL HUMILTY, THAT I FIRST STARTED PRACTICING PRANAYAMA, THEN SOMETIME LATER IT DAWNED ON ME OF ITS OWN ACCORD THAT I SHOULD ASK “WHO AM I?”, AND THEN CAME TO SRI BHAGWAN. Having said this, I wish to say that if one is seized with ardent longing to find the True Nature of His Existence and turns inwards, the breath stops automatically of its own accord. There is no essential need to bring it about by the practice of breath control of ‘hatha-yoga’ or for that matter by any other yogic practices.
Sri Bhagwan says that both mind and breath have a common conscious source, i.e. the Heart or the Self. Hence control of one leads to the control of the other automatically. However, so far as breath control is concerned, Sri Bhagwan recommends watching of the breath with the mind. If one constantly watches the breath—its rising and sinking—it certainly has the effect of stilling the mind. But we should always remember Sri Bhagwan’s Teaching in this context that the stilling of mind brought about by the breath regulation is temporary in its effect. It cannot confer on one Realisation by itself.
Dear devotees, we experience in our everyday life that when some startling news is suddenly broken to us, or when the mind is engaged in some activity with full concentration, the breath stops or slows down automatically of its own accord. So also, as soon as the mind, with ardent and intense longing to know the truth of one’s own existence, turns inwards with full concentration, breath will certainly stop automatically. Breath regulation achieved in this manner is natural and the enquirer does not experience suffocation irrespective of the state and duration of the retention, contrary to the retention brought about by pranayama, in which if unit of time of retention is increased, suffocation is experienced and there is an urge either to exhale or to inhale. On the contrary, if the enquirer’s attention is intensely fixed on the Self, he will not even care to know whether the breath has stopped or not. Therefore, the breath regulation thus brought about by enquiry is rather involuntary. WHAT I MEAN TO SAY IS THAT THE ENQUIRER’S ATTENTION SHOULD INTENSELY REMAIN FIXED ON THE SELF AND REMAIN VIGILLANT AND SHOULD NOT CARE WETHER THE BREATH STOPPED OR SLOWD DOWN OR NOT.
So,Sri Bhagwan says, “One should dive within, controlling speech and breath, with a keen introverted mind”.
SRI SADHU OM’S INSIGHT:
IT WOULD BE WISE TO UNDERASTAND THE VERSE 28, ULLADU NARPADU, THUS BY ADDING ‘WITH A KEEN MIND’ IN ALL THE THREE PLACES, ‘CONTROL THE BREATH WITH A KEEN MIND, DIVE WITHIN WITH A KEEN MIND, AND KNOW THE RISING-PLACE WITH A KEEN MIND’.
Therefore, the V. 24, ( Supplement: Forty Verses on Reality) teaches that by the practice of fixing the mind (attention) in the Heart (Self), the Pure Consciousness, both the destruction of tendencies (vasanas) and the control of breath are accomplished automatically.
Thank You,
Anil