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It is curious to note in this connection that in the whole literature of the Ayur-veda there is probably no passage where there is such a clear description of the respiratory process. Pupphusa, or lungs, are mentioned only by name in Susruta-samhitd, but none of their functions and modes of operation are at all mentioned. It is probable that the discovery of the respiratory functions of the lungs was made by a school of thought different from that of the medical school. 2 Ibid. v1. 25. 61-74. x1] Prana and its Control 259 But it is identical with citta. From the movement of prana there is the movement of citta, and from that there is knowledge (samvid). As regards the control of the movement of prana, the Yoga-vasistha advises several alternatives. Thus it holds that through concen- trating one’s mind on one subject, or through fixed habits of long inhalation associated with meditation, or through exhaustive ex- halation, or the practice of not taking breath and maintaining kumbhaka, or through stopping the inner respiratory passage by attaching the tip of the tongue to the uvula!, or, again, through concentration of the mind or thoughts on the point between the two brows, there dawns all of a sudden the right knowledge and the consequent cessation of prana activities?. Professor Macdonell, writing on prana in the Vedic Index, vol. 11, says, “‘prana, properly denoting ‘breath,’ is a term of wide and vague significance in Vedic literature.” In the narrow sense prana denotes one of the vital airs, of which five are usually enumerated, viz. prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana. 'The exact sense of each of these breaths, when all are mentioned, cannot be determined. The word prana has sometimes merely the general sense of breath, even when opposed to apana. But its proper sense is beyond question “‘ breathing forth,” ‘‘expiration.” But, though in a few cases the word may have been used for “‘breath”’ in its remote sense, the general meaning of the word in the Upanisads is not air current, but some sort of biomotor force, energy or vitality often causing these air currents’. It would be tedious to refer to the large number of relevant Upanisad texts and to try to ascertain after suitable discussion their exact significance in each 2 talu-mila-gatam yatnaj jihvayadkramya ghantikam ardhva-randhra-gate prane prana-spando nirudhyate, Yoga-vdGsistha, v.78. 25. 2 It is important to notice in this connection that most of the forms of prana- yama as herein described, except the hatha-yoga process of arresting the inner air passage by the tongue, otherwise known as khecari-midrd, are the same as described in the sitras of Patafijali and the bhdsya of Vyasa; and this fact has also been pointed out by the commentator Anandabodhendra Bhiksu in his commentary on the above. 3 Difference between prdna and vayu, Aitareya, 11. 4; the nastkya prana, 1. 4. Relation of prdna to other functions, Kausitaki, 1. 5; prana as life, 11. 8; prana connected with vdyu, Il. 12; prdma as the most important function of life, 11. 14; prada as consciousness, 111. 2. Distinction of ndsikya and mukhya prana, Chandogya, 11. 1-9; the function of the five vayus, 111. 3-5; prana as the result of food, 1. 8. 4; of water, VI. 5. 2, VI. 6. 5, VI. 7. 6; pvana connected with Gtman, as everything else connected with prana, like spokes of a wheel, Brhad- ‘Granyaka, 1. 5. 15; prana as strength, ibid. v. 14. 4; prana as force running through the susumnd nerve, Maitri, v1. 21; etc. 17-2 260 The Philosophy of the Yoga-vasistha [cH. case. The best way to proceed therefore is to refer to the earliest traditional meaning of the word, as accepted by the highest Hindu authorities. I refer to the Vedanta-sittra of Badarayana, which may ' be supposed to be the earliest research into the doctrines discussed in the Upanisads. Thus the Vedanta-siitra, 11. 4. 9 (na vayu-kriye prthag upadesat), speaking of what may be the nature of prana, says that it is neither air current (v@yu) nor action (kriyd), since prana has been considered as different from air and action (in the Upanisads). Sankara, commenting on this, says that from such passages as yah pranah sa esa vayuh patica’vidhah prano pano vyana udanah samanah (what is prana is vayu and it is fivefold, prana, apana, vyana, udana,samana), it may be supposed that vayu (air) is prana, but it is not so, since in Chandogya, 111. 18. 4, it is stated that they are different. Again, it is not the action of the senses, as the Samkhya supposes; for it is regarded as different from the senses in Mundaka, 11. 1.3. The passage which identifies vayu with prana is intended to prove that it is the nature of vayu that has transformed itself into the entity known as prana (just as the human body itself may be regarded as a modification or trans- formation of siti, earth). It is not vayu, but, as Vacaspati says, “‘vayu-bheda,” which Amalananda explains in his Vedanta-kalpa- taru as vayoh parinama-ripa-karya-visesah, i.e. it is a particular evolutionary product of the category of vayu. Sankara’s own state- ment is equally explicit on the point. He says, “‘va@yur evayam adhyatmam apannah patica-vyitho visesatmanavatisthamanah prano nama bhanyate na tattvantaram napi.vayu-matram,” i.e. it is vayu which, having transformed itself into the body, differentiates itself into a group of five that is called vayu; prana is not alto- gether a different category, nor simply air. In explaining the nature of prana in 11. 4. 10-12, Sankara says that prana is not as in- dependent as jiva (soul), but performs everything on its behalf, like a prime minister (raja-mantrivaj jivasya sarvartha-karanatvena upakarana-bhiito na svatantrah). Prana is not an instrument like the senses, which operate only in relation to particular objects; for, as is said in Chandogya, v. 1. 6, 7, Brhad-aranyaka, tv. 3. 12 and Brhad-aranyaka, 1. 3. 19, when all the senses leave the body the prana continues to operate. It is that by the functioning of which the existence of the soul in the body, or life (jiva-sthiti), and the passage of the jiva out of the body, or death (jivotkranti), are possible. The five vdyus are the five functionings of this vital XII] Prana and its Control 261 principle, just as the fivefold mental states of right knowledge, illusion, imagination (vikalpa), sleep and memory are the different states of the mind. Vacaspati, in commenting on Vedanta-sitra, II. 4. 11, says that it is the cause which upholds the body and the senses (dehendriya-vidharana-karanam pranah), though it must be remembered that it has still other functions over and above the upholding of the body and the senses (na kevalam sarirendriya- dharanam asya karyam, Vacaspati, ibid.). In Vedanta-sitra, 11. 4. 13, it is described as being atomic (anu), which is explained by Sankara as ‘“‘subtle” (saksma), on account of its pervading the whole body by its fivefold functionings. Vacaspati in explaining it says that it is called ‘‘atomic” only in a derivative figurative sense (upacaryate) and only on account of its inaccessible or indefinable character (duradhigamata), though pervading the whole body. Govindananda, in commenting upon Vedanta-siitra, 11. 4. 9, says that prana is a vibratory activity which upholds the process of life and it has no other direct operation than that (parispanda-rupa- pranandanukilatvad avantara-vyaparabhavat). This seems to be something like biomotor or life force. With reference to the relation of prana to the motor organs or faculties of speech, etc., Sankara says that their vibratory activity is derived from prana (vag-adisu parispanda-labhasya pranayattatvam, 11. 4.19). There are some passages in the Veddnta-siitra which may lead us to think that the five v@yus may mean air currents, but that it is not so is evident from the fact that the substance of the prana is not air (etat prandadi-pancakam akasadi-gata-rajo-’msebhyo militebhyautpadyate), and the rajas element is said to be produced from the five bhitas, and the pranas are called kriyatmaka, or consisting of activity. Rama Tirtha, commenting on the above passage of the Vedanta- sara, says that it is an evolutionary product of the essence of vayu and the other bhitas, but it is not in any sense the external air which performs certain physiological functions in the body (tatha mukhya-prano pi vayor bahyasya siitratmakasya vikaro na sarira- madhye nabhovad vrtti-labha-matrena avasthito bahya-vayur eva). Having proved that in Vedanta prana or any of the five va@yus means biomotor force and not air current, I propose now to turn to the Samkhya-Yoga. The Samkhya-Yoga differs from the Vedanta in rejecting the view that the prana is in any sense an evolutionary product of the 1 Vidvan-mano-rafjani, p. 105, Jacob’s edition, Bombay, 1916. 262 The Philosophy of the Yoga-vdsistha [cH. oo we nature of vayu. Thus Vijfianabhiksu in his Vija#anamrta-bhasya on Vedanta-siitra, 11. 4. 10, says that prana is called vayu because it is self-active like the latter (svatah kriyavativena ubhayoh prana- vayvoh sajatyat). Again, in 11. 4.9, he says that prana is neither air nor the upward or downward air current (mukhya-prano na vayuh napi sarirasya irdhv-adho-vgamana-laksana vayu-kriya). What is prana, then, according to Samkhya-Yoga? It is mahat-tattva, which is evolved from prakrti, which is called buddhi with reference to its intellective power and prana with reference to its power as activity. The so-called five va@yus are the different functionings of the mahat-tattva (samanya-karya-sadharanam yat karanam mahat-tattvam tasyaiva vrtti-bhedah pranapainadayah; see Vijnianamrta-bhasya, 1.4.11).