S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 0 7 Gejza M. Timčák There is an ‘I’ which comes and goes, and another ‘I’ which always exists and abides. So long as the first ‘I’ exists, the body–consciousness and the sense of diversity or ‘ bheda buddhi‘ will persist. Only when that ‘I’ dies, the reality will reveal itself. Further Maharshi said: “ Ahamkriti [Note: the Ego, ahamkāra ] is not the same as ‘ aham’. The latter is the supreme Reality, whereas the former is the Ego …The supreme Being is unmanifested and the first sign of manifestation is ‘Aham sphurana’ [Note: the light of ‘I’] …That is the original name of the Reality” (Venkataramiah 1968, 500). The described processes still do not resolve the challenges when using the mind for searching for its origin. Thus, it is to be discovered how to get the mind not to work and disturb the silence in chittākāsha , “working space of mind” (Satyananda 1973, 18–19). The key to understanding the process is to execute the recommendation from the Sri Ramana Gita (Ganapati 2016, 15, 2:2). The first point to discover is that on the right sideof the chest bone there is a non-physical area called hrdayamor hrt-ayamor the Heart in short, where the quanta of ‘I’ con - sciousness–impulses ( aham ) appear and expose the rest of the body – all koshas through nādīs (Ganapati 2016, 35, 5: 6–7). As mentioned before, the nādīs are energy cum information channels that penetrate the koshas . The koshas are non-physical structural and functional units of humans described in yoga. The actual practice is to immerseone’s atten - tion intohrdayamand keep it there untilĀtman is realized. This is calledmargana , “quest”. The other method is described asmajjana , “diving deep”, which means to relax the body and mind to such a degree that there would be no attachment to any perceivable process outside or inside the body or mind. Ideally this process is to be practiced so that we “dive into” theHeart-cave . The third method is through prānāyāma , called here as prānārodha , regulation of the flow of prānā , where the incoming and outflowing breath is observed whilst giving our attention also to the meeting point between the exhalation and inhalation – as described also by Laksman Joo (1994, 42) and inVijñāna Bhairava (22, verse 26): “ The energy of breath should neither move out nor enter; when the center [Note: madya ] unfolds by the dissolution of thoughts [Note: nirvikalpa ] , then one attains the nature of Bhairava [Note: the Absolute]” (2002, 22–23). These practices should lead to kumbhaka , “breath retention”, or more exactly kevala kumbhaka , “involuntary breath retention”. InUpadesa Undiyar (Maharshi [undated], 13–16) three verses are important in this regard: By restraining the breath within, the mind will also subside, like a bird caught in a net. This [Note: practice of breath-restraint] is a device to restrain [Note: the mind] . Mind and breath are two branches, which have knowing and doing; their origin is one. When one makes the mind, which has subsided by restraining the breath, go on the one path [Note: of knowing and becoming one with the Self] , its form will die. If this is not giving the desired result, thenprānāyāmapractice is given, “ where the exhalation and inhalation should be one unit of time long and the breath retention after inhalation is to be kept for four units of time. ” (Ganapati 45, 6:7). It is usu - ally an ujjayi type of prānāyāma , where the epiglottis is gently contracted during exhalation and inhalation. The length of the stages of prānāyāmagradually increases through practice and should not be “forceful”. InVijnana Bhairava it is mentioned that “[w]hen the [Note: energy of breath] is retained either outside or inside, at the end [Note: of this practice] the peaceful state [Note: santah ] is revealed by means of shakti ” (2002, 23, verse 27). As shown by Hirai (1974, 69), during Zen meditation the tidal volume increases, but the oxygen consumption decreases, just as the respiratory rate. The prānāyāmamentioned above leads to a similar state, which enables the organism to lower the metabolic rate and prepare it for longer meditation. The Sri Ramana Gita does not mention any mudrasor bandhas , even though they can be useful at the initial stages of theĀtma vichāra practice (Timčák 2020, 41 – 49).
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