Bija Pranayama

What is japa?

• Though the soul is free from cause and effect, joy and sorrow, it is caught up with the turbulent activity of the mind. The purpose of mantra japa is to check and focus the disturbed mind upon a single point and is linked to a single thought. Mantra is a vedic hymngle point and is linked to a single thought. Mantra is a vedic hymnor misical verse, the repetition of which is japa or a prayer. This has to be done with sincerity, love and devotion, which develops the relationship between man and his maker. When restricted to between one and twenty-four syllables it becomes a seed mantra, the key word which unlocks his soul. The illumined guru, who has earned the grace of god, initiates and gives the key word to his deserving sisya, which unlocks the latter's soul. This is the seed for the sisya to study himself and to get himself initiated into all aspects of yoga.

• The mind takes the form of its thoughts and is shaped so that good toughts make a good mind and evil toughts a bad one. Japa is used to disengage the mind from idle talk, jealous ideas and tale-bearing, so that the mind turns towards toughts about the soul and god. It is the focusing of a wondering agitated mind upon a single tought, act or feeling.

• Mantra are given for repeated continious utterance, with reason. Purpose and object. Constant repetition of a mantra with reflection upon its meaning brings illumination. By such constant repetition and reflection, the thoughts of the sadhaka are churned, cleansed and clarified. He seems his soul reflection in the pool of his mind.

• This japa transforms the sadhaka and transmulates his ego, thereby making him humble. He attains inner quietness and becomes one who has conquered his senses.

• During the practice of pranayaam, repeate the mantra, mentally synchronising its silent flow without moving the mouth or the tongue. This keeps the mind attentive and helps to increase the length of the three processes in breathing – inhalation, exhalation and retention. The flow of breath and the growth of the mind become smooth and steady.

• The practise of pranayama is of two kinds: sabija and nirbija. Sabija pranayama includes the repetition of a mantra and is taught to four types of sadhaka, with varying stages of mental development, mudha, ksipta, and ekagra.

• The mantra should not be repeated quickly in order to complete a cycle of pranayama. It should be rhythmic, pacing the flow of breath equally in inhalation, exhalation and retention. Then the senses are silent. When perfection is achieved, the sadhaka becomes free and pure without the support of the mantra.

• Nirbija pranayama is taught to the fifth type of sadhaka, the one with the highest mental development, known as niruddha. It is done without the support of a mantra, wherein the sadhaka breathes, lives and experiences the state known as 'that thou art'.

• Sabija, like a seed, sprouts thoughts, ideas and visions, while nirbija, which is like a roasted seed, does not. Sabija has a beginnig and an end; it has shape, from and connotations, like lamp and light and light and flame. Nirbija has no conditions, no beginning and no end.

• Sabija pranayama turns the mind and intellect of the sadhaka to the lord, the seed of omniscience and the source of all being. The word that expresses him is the mystic syllable AUM. The lord has been described by patanjali as one who is untouched by the cycles of action and reaction, cause and effect, afficiation and pleasure.

• It is said in the chandogya-upanisad that prajapati brooded on the worlds created by him. From them issued the three vedas - Rg, yajur and sama. From these, when brooded upon, came the three syllables: bhuh, bhuvah and svah. From them, when they had been brooded upon, issued the sylable AUM. As leaves are held together by a branch, so is all speech held together by AUM.

• AUM conveys concepts of omnipotence and universality. It contains everything that is auspicious as well as awe-inspiring. It is a symbol of serenity and mejestic power. AUM is the everlasting spirit, the highest aim. When its connotations are fully known, all longings are fulfilled. It is the surest means of salvation and the supreme help. It connotes the fullness of human life, thought, experience and wordhip. It is the immortal sound. Those who enter and take refuge in it become immortal.

• The Upanisads mention various triads of the soul, worshipped by the use of threefold AUM. In the realm of sex it symbolises the feminine, masculine and neuter sexes, as well as their creator, who is beyond the sexes. With power and light, AUM symbolises fire, wind and sun, as well as the generator of these sources of power and light. In the form of the lord, the symbol is worshipped as brahma, the creator, vishnu, the protector, and rudra, the destroyer, synthesising the forces of all life and matter. As time, AUM stands for the past, the each of time. As thought, it represents the mind, intellect or understanding, and the self or ego. The word AUM also represents the three states of illumination, activity, and inertia, and also anymore who has become free to them, a gunatita.

• The three letters A, U and M, together with the dot over the M, are symbols of man's search for truth along the three paths of knowledge, action and devotion, and the evolution of a great soul into one who has achieved poise of the soul and whose intellect has attained a state of stability – asthita prajna. If he follows the path of attained a state of stability – a sthita prajna. If he follows the path of wisdom, his desires, actions and learning are all under his control. If he follows the path of action goal in life, self study, and then dedicate the fruits of his actions to the lord. If he follows the path of devotion, he will be immersed in hearing the lord's name, meditating upon his attributes, and thinking of his glory. His state is one beyond that of sleep, dream or awakening, for through his body is at rest as if in sleep, his mind is seemingly in a dream and his intellect is fully alert; he is in the forth transcendental state, the turiyavastha.

• One who has realised the manifold meanings of AUM becomes free from the shackles of life. His body, breath, senses, mind, intellect and the syllable AUM are fused together.

• AUM is the word that all the vedas glorify, and all self-sacrifice expresses. It is the goal of all sacred studies and the symbol of holy life. Fire is learnt in dried wood and it can be generated by friction again and again. Even so, the latent divinity in the sadhaka is stirred into manifestation by the word AUM. By rubbing his intelligent awareness against the scared word AUM, he seems the hidden divinity with in himself.

• By meditating upon AUM, the sadhaka remains steady, pure and faithful, and becomes great. As a cobra shed its old skin, so he sheds all evil. He finds the peace of the supreme spirit, where there is no fear, dissolution or death.

• Since the word AUM is one of supreme and mejastic power, its force has to diffused by adding it to the name of a deity, and making the combination into a mantra as a bija for the practice of pranayama, as for instance, eight syllables 'AUM NAMO NARAYANA' or five syllables 'AUM NAMAHSIVAYA' or twelve syllables 'AUM NAMO BHAGAVATE VASUDEVAYA' or GAYATRI MANTRA with twenty – four syllables.

References

The above mentioned information is added from the book called LIGHT ON PRANAYAMA by B.K.S. IYENGAR.