Pranayam :

Expansion of
Vital Energy

hese words 'breath control' are not good; it is

T
Pranayam never
not a right rendering of the word pranayam.
means breath
Pranayam never means breath control. It
control. It simply simply means the expansion of the vital
means the expansion energy. Prana-ayam: 'prana' means the vital
of the vital energy. energy hidden in breath, and 'ayam' means infinite
Prana-ayam: 'prana' expansion. It is not breath control. The very word control is
somewhat ugly, because it gives you a feeling of the
means the vital
controller; the will enters. Pranayam is totally different:
energy hidden in expansion of vitality; breathing in such a way that
breath, and 'ayam' you become one with the whole's breathing;
means infinite breathing in such a way that you are not
expansion breathing in your own individual way,
you are breathing with the whole.
In deep love, people breathe
together; in hatred never. I have a
feeling that if you are inimical to
somebody, he may be a thousand
miles away.... This is just a feeling
because no scientific research exists
for it, but some day the scientific
research is possible. But I have a very

46
deep feeling that if you are inimical
to somebody, he may be in America
and you may be in India, you will
breathe separately; you cannot
breathe together. Your lover may be
in China, you may be here in Pune
― you may not even have the
address with you where your lover
is ― but you will breathe together.
This is how it should be, and I
know it is that way, but no scientific
proof exists. That's why I say this is
just my feeling. Some day,
somebody will prove the scientific
thing also. Pranayam means: to
breathe with the whole. To breathe
with the whole, to become the
breath of the eternal and the whole
is pranayam. Then you expand.
Then your life energy keeps
expanding with trees, mountains,
sky and stars. Then a moment
comes, the day you become a
Buddha; you have completely
disappeared. Now you no longer
breathe, the whole breathes in you.
Now your breathing and the
whole's breathing are never apart;
they are always together. So much
so that it is now useless to say that
“this is my breath.”
When you breathe in, there
comes a moment when the breath
has completely gone in; for a certain
second breathing stops. The same
happens when you exhale. You
breathe out: when the breath is
completely released, for a certain
second, again, breathing stops. In
those moments you face death, and second you are in tune with death;
to face death is to face the divine. breathing has stopped. Attune
To face death is to face the yourself to become more and more
divine ― I repeat it ― because aware of these stops, these gaps.
when you die, the divine lives in Through these gaps, the divine
you. Only after the crucifixion is enters you like death. “The next
there resurrection. That's why I say step after the perfection of posture
Patanjali is teaching the art of is pranayam, which is
dying. When the breathing stops, accomplished through holding the
when there is no breathing, you are breath....” So when you inhale, hold
exactly in the same stage as you it slightly longer so that the gate
will be in when you die. For a can be felt. When you exhale it,
hold it outside a little longer so that
you can feel the gap a little more
easily; you have a little more time.
“...or stopping the breath
suddenly.” Or, any time, stop the
breath suddenly. Walking on the
road: stop it ― just a sudden jerk,
P atanjali, who
created the whole and death enters. Any time you can
stop the breath suddenly,
science of yoga ― anywhere, in that stopping, death
which is many enters. The more you do these
times, a million stoppages, the gaps, the wider the
times greater than gate becomes.
You can feel it more. Try it.
logic ― alone. It
Make it a part of your life.
could not be Whenever you are not doing
improved; it has anything, let the breath go in...stop
not been it. Feel there; somewhere there is
improved; and I the door. It is dark; you will have to
grope. The door is not immediately
don't see how it
available. You will have to
can be improved grope...but you will find it.
any day. The Whenever you stop the breath,
whole science is thoughts will stop immediately. Try
there, perfect, it. Suddenly stop the breath: and
immediately there is a break and
absolutely perfect
thoughts stop, because thoughts
SEPTEMBER 2009 47

and breaths both belong to life...this
so-called life. In the other life, the
divine life, breathing is not needed.
You live; there is no need to
breathe. And thoughts are not
needed. You live; thoughts are not
needed. Thoughts and breath are
part of the physical world. No-
thought, no-breath, are part of the
eternal world.
Patanjali says these three ―
stopping inside, stopping outside,
stopping suddenly...and there is a
fourth which is internal. That fourth
has been emphasised by Buddha
very much; he calls it anapana sata
yoga. He says, “Don't try to stop
anywhere. Simply watch the whole
process of breath.” The breath
coming in ― you watch, don't miss
a single point. The breath is coming
in ― you keep watching. Then
there is a stop, automatic stop,
when the breath has entered you ―
watch the stop. Don't do anything;
simply be a watcher. Then the
breath starts for the outer journey;
go on watching. When the breath is
completely out, stops; watch that
stop also. Then the breath goes on
coming in, going out, coming in,
going out ― you simply watch.
This is the fourth: just by watching
you become separate from the
breath. When you are separate from
the breath, you are separate from
the thoughts. In fact breath is the
parallel process in the body to
thoughts in the mind. Thoughts
48
P ranayam means: to
breathe with the
whole. To breathe
with the whole, to
become the breath
of the eternal and
the whole is
pranayam. Then
you expand. Then
your life energy
keeps expanding
with trees,
mountains, sky
and stars. Then a
moment comes, the
day you become a
Buddha
move in the mind; breath moves in
the body. They are parallel forces,
two aspects of the same coin.
Patanjali also refers to it, although
he has not emphasised the fourth.
He simply refers to it, but Buddha
has completely focused his whole
attention on the fourth; he never
talks about the three. The whole
Buddhist meditation is the fourth.
“There is a fourth sphere of
pranayam” ― that is, of witnessing
― “which is internal, and it goes
beyond the other three.” But
Patanjali is really very scientific. He
never uses the fourth, but he says
that it is beyond the three. perhaps
Patanjali didn't have as beautiful a
group of disciples as Buddha had.
Patanjali must have been working
with more body-oriented people,
and Buddha was working with
more mind-oriented people. He
says that the fourth goes beyond
the three, but he himself never uses
it ― he keeps saying all that can be
said about yoga. That's why I say
he is the alpha and the omega, the
beginning and the end: he has not
left out a single point. Patanjali's
Yoga Sutras cannot be improved.
There are only two people in the
world who created a whole science
alone. One is Aristotle, in the West,
who created the science of logic ―
alone, with nobody's cooperation.
And for these two thousand years
nothing has been improved; it
remains the same. It remains
perfect.
The other is Patanjali, who
created the whole science of yoga
― which is many times, a million
times greater than logic ― alone. It
could not be improved; it has not
been improved; and I don't see how
it can be improved any day. The
whole science is there, perfect,
absolutely perfect.
- Osho,
Yoga: The Alpha and The Omega
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