The Life Force-"Prana"

Prana is the vital force (not merely oxygen, nitrogen, and mixture of gases) within us, the energy that gives us life. This physical body experiences life through the inhaling and exhaling of breath. The key Sruti statement is, "He who knows Prana knows Vedas." The Vedanta Sutras state: "Breath is Brahman for the same reason." The totality of all manifested energy in the universe is known as prana. It is the culmination of all of nature's forces. It is the culmination of all the underlying forces and abilities that exist all around us and within men. 

Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism are some of Prana's manifestations. Our self, the centre or common source, is the source of all forces, powers, and prana. In this sense, the self is referred to as pure consciousness, which is not any material energy in scientific sense and all inclusive.  Prana describes all mental and physical powers together. It is force, from the highest to the lowest plane of existence. Everything that is alive, in motion, or has a working is simply a manifestation of Prana. Another form of Prana is Akasa, or Ether. The mind and will are connected to the Prana, and the individual being is connected to the one single existence (termed as “Supreme being”) through the will. 

You will know the key to mastering the small waves of Prana that flow through the mind and become the overall Prana. Because he has command over all forms of power in the cosmos, the individual (called Yogi in Indian tradition) who becomes an expert in knowing this secret will not be afraid of any power.

What is essentially referred to as a person's instinctive capacity to use their Prana is known as their power of personality. Some people have greater success, impact and passion in life than others. It is all because of this Prana's resilience. These individuals, naturally, subtly wield the same power that the Yogi employs on a conscious level through the exercise of will. Unbeknownst to them, there exist others who appropriate this Prana and use it for ill intentions, using fictitious names.  The heart's systolic and diastolic actions, which pump blood into arteries during inspiration and expiration during breathing, as well as food digestion, urine and faecal matter excretion, semen, chyle, chyme, gastric juice, bile, intestinal juice, saliva, eyelid closure and opening, walking, playing, running, talking, thinking, reasoning, feeling, and willing, are all examples of Prana's work. Connecting the physical body and the astral realm is known as prana.

As soon as the thin thread-link Prana is severed, the astral body and the physical body split apart. So called “Death” occurs. Withdrawn into the astral body is the Prana that was operating in the physical body. However, the event death is not a single time act rather it is a simultaneous procedure, we can discuss it in some future column.

During the cosmic destruction (Pralaya), this Prana stays in a subtle, unmoving, unmanifested, and undifferentiated state. Then Prana moves and acts upon Akasa, bringing forth the various forms, after the vibration is set up. The essential five elements theory in Indian creation system is actually transformation of one single existence through five different processes. There are no distinct five elements, viz, Byom or Akash (Ether), Marut or Vayu (Air), Teja or Agni (Fire), Apas or Neer (Water), Kshiti or Prithvi (Soil), rather one single breath of the one existence or consciousness transforms itself to these five stages to express itself. That expression is never ending and ever changing.

Prana is the force behind the action of the breath in the lungs, the life force behind the breath itself, the force behind the train and steamer engines, and the force behind airplane flight.  You may have started off with a very hazy understanding of the term "Prana," but I think you now have a thorough understanding of it. All the body's movements and the many nerve impulses that go through it can be effectively controlled by managing your breathing. Through breath control, or the control of Prana (popularly known as “Pranayama”), you can rapidly and effortlessly grow and control body, mind, and self. 

In terms of the physical body, this life takes the form of the inhalation and exhalation of breath. These two concepts are diametrically opposed. We consider them to be one. The term "breathing" refers to the process of breathing, although there are two aspects to it: the inward and outward breath. All energies have polarities, existing in two opposing poles. It would not exist otherwise. Like magnetic poles, the opposing poles produce energy through their tension and harmony. 

Incoming breath is completely different from outgoing breath, and outgoing breath is completely different from incoming one. The coming in is like birth, and the leaving out is like death, all at once. Both events occur simultaneously: we are born when we take a breath and die when we exhale. Both birth and death occur in the same instant. This polarity represents life energy rising and falling.