Raja Yoga (the Yoga Sūtras with commentary) — trans. Swami Vivekananda (1896)

whole universe is one constantly changing mass of matter, in which we are little whirlpools. A mass of matter enters them, goes round and round, and turns, for a few years, into the body of a man, becomes changed, and gets whirled out in the form of, maybe, an animal, from that it rushes round to get, after a few years, into another whirlpool, called a lump of mineral. It is a constant change. Not one body is constant. There is no such thing as my body, or your body, except in words. It is one huge mass of matter. One point is called moon, another sun, another a man, another the earth, another a plant, another a mineral. Not one is constant, but everything is changing, matter eternally concreting and disintegrating. So it is with the mind. Matter is represented by the ether ; when the action of Prana is most subtle, this very ether, in the finer state of vibration, will represent the mind, and there it will be still one unbroken mass. If you can get to simply that subtle vibration you will see and feel that the whole universe is composed of these subtle vibrations. Sometimes certain drugs have the power to take us, as it were, through our senses, and bring us to that condition. Many of you may remember the celebrated experiment of Sir Humphrey Davy, when the laughing gas overpowered him, and, during the lecture, he remained motionless, stupefied, and, after that, he said that the whole universe was made up of ideas ; for the time being, as it were, the gross vibrations had ceased, and only the subtle \ ibrations, which he called the mind, were present to him. He could only see the subtle

PRANA. ,-

vibrations round him ; e\-erything had become thought ; the v,-hole universe was an ocean of thought, he and everyone else had become httle thought whirlpools.

Thus, even in the universe of thought .we find this unity, and at last, when we get to the Self, we know that that Self can only be One. Beyond motion there is but One. Even in manifested motion there is only a unity. These facts can no more be denied, as modern science has demonstrated them. Modern physics also has demonstrated that the sum-total of the energies in the universe is the same throughout. It has also been proved that this sum-total of energy exists in two forms. It becomes potential, toned down, and calmed, and next it comes out manifested as all these various forces ; again it goes back to the quiet state, and again it manifests. Thus it goes on evolving" and involving through eternity. The control of this Prana, as before stated, is what is called Pranayama.

This Pranayama has very little to do with breathing, except as exercise. The most obvious manifestation of this Prana in the human body is the motion of the lungs. If that stops, the body will stop ; all the other manifestations of force in the body will immediately stop, if this is stopped. There are persons who can train themselves in such a manner that the body will live on, even when this motion has stopped. There are some persons who can bury themselves for months, and yet live, without breathing. But, for all ordinary persons, this is the principal gross motion in the body. To reach

^S lik]A YOGA.