The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
The gross and subtle bodies above described are vitalised and held together as an organism by Prāna, which is evolved from the active energy (Kriyā Shakti) of the Linga Sharīra. Prāna, or the vital principle, is the special relation of the Ātmā with a certain form of matter which by this relation the Ātmā organises and builds up as a means of having experience.¹ This special relation constitutes the individual Prāna in the individual body. The cosmic all-pervading Prāna is not Prāna in this gross sense, but is a name for the Brahman as the author of the individual Prāna. The individual Prāna is limited to the particular body which it vitalises, and is a manifestation in all breathing creatures (Prānī) of the creative and sustaining activity of the Brahman, who is represented in individual bodies by the Devī Kundalinī.
All beings, whether Devatās, men, or animals, exist only so long as the Prāna is within the body. It is the lifeduration of all.² What life is has been the subject of dispute in India as elsewhere.³ The materialists of the Lokāyata school considered life to be the result of the chemical combinations of the elements, in the same manner as the intoxicating property of spirituous liquors results from the fermentation of unintoxicating rice and molasses, or as spontaneous generation was supposed to occur under the influence of gentle warmth. This is denied by the Sāngkhya. Though Prāna and its fivefold functions are called Vāyu, Life, according to this school, is not a Vāyu in the sense of a mere biomechanical force, nor any mere mechanical motion resulting from the impulsion of such Vāyu.
1 “Hindu Realism,” p. 84. See my volume on “Life”.
2 Kaushītakī Upanishad, 3-2.
3 See my volume on “Life”.
According to the view of this school, Prāna, or vitality, is the common function of the mind and all the senses, both sensory (Jnānendriya) and motor (Karmendriya), which result in the bodily motion. Just as several birds when confined in one cage cause that cage to move, by themselves moving, so the mind and senses cause the body to move while they are engaged in their respective activities. Life is, then, a resultant of the various concurrent activities of other principles or forces in the organism.
The Vedāntists agree in the view that the Prāna is neither Vāyu nor its operation, but deny that it is the mere resultant of the concomitant activities of the organism, and hold that it is a separate independent principle and “material” form assumed by the universal Consciousness. Life is therefore a subtle principle pervading the whole organism which is not gross Vāyu, but is all the same a subtle kind of apparently unconscious force, since everything which is not the Ātmā or Purusha is, according to Māyāvāda Vedānta and Sāngkhya, unconscious or, in Western parlance, “material” (Jada).¹ The gross outer body is heterogeneous (Parichchhinna) or made up of distinct or well-defined parts. On the other hand, the Prānamaya self which lies withiu the Aunamaya self is a homogeneous undivided whole (Sādhārana) permeating the whole physical body (Sarvapindavyāpin). It is not cut off into distinct regions (Asādhārana) as is the Pinda, or microcosmic physical body. Unlike the latter, it has no specialised organs each discharging a specific function. It is a homogeneous unity (Sādhārana) present in every part of the body, which it
1 See Commentary on Taittirīya Upanishad, edited by Mahādeva
Shāstrī, and Appendix C, by Dr. Brojendra Nath Seal, to Professor B. K. Sarkar’s “The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology,” where some further authorities are given.
ensouls as its inner self. Vāyu¹ which courses through the body is the manifestation, self-begotten, the subtle, invisible, all-pervading, divine energy of eternal life. It is so called from the fact of its coursing throughout the universe. Invisible in itself, yet its operations are manifest. For it determines the birth, growth, and decay, of all animated organisms, and as such it receives the homage of all created being. As vital Vāyu it is instantaneous in action, radiating as nerve force through the organism in constant currents. In its normal condition it maintains a state of equilibrium between the different Doshas² and Dhātus,² or root principles of the body. The bodily Vāyu is divided, as are the principles called Pitta² and Kapha,² into five chief divisions according to the differences in location and function. Vāyu, known in its bodily aspect as Prāna, the universal force of vital activity, on entry into each individual is divided into tenfold functions (Vritti), of which five are chief. The first or breathing, bear the same name (Prāna) as that given to the force considered in its totality—the function whereby atmospheric air with its pervading vitality, which has been first drawn from without into the bodily system, is expired.³
On the physical plane Prāna manifests in the animal body as breath through inspiration (Sa), or Shakti, and expiration (Ha), or Shiva. The male principle of Prāna throws out, and the female principle draws in, in accordance with the nature of Shakti as Shabdabrahman
The gross and subtle bodies above described are vitalised and held together as an organism by Prāna, which is evolved from the active energy (Kriyā Shakti) of the Linga Sharīra. Prāna, or the vital principle, is the special relation of the Ātmā with a certain form of matter which by this relation the Ātmā organises and builds up as a means of having experience.¹ This special relation constitutes the individual Prāna in the individual body. The cosmic all-pervading Prāna is not Prāna in this gross sense, but is a name for the Brahman as the author of the individual Prāna. The individual Prāna is limited to the particular body which it vitalises, and is a manifestation in all breathing creatures (Prānī) of the creative and sustaining activity of the Brahman, who is represented in individual bodies by the Devī Kundalinī.
All beings, whether Devatās, men, or animals, exist only so long as the Prāna is within the body. It is the lifeduration of all.² What life is has been the subject of dispute in India as elsewhere.³ The materialists of the Lokāyata school considered life to be the result of the chemical combinations of the elements, in the same manner as the intoxicating property of spirituous liquors results from the fermentation of unintoxicating rice and molasses, or as spontaneous generation was supposed to occur under the influence of gentle warmth. This is denied by the Sāngkhya. Though Prāna and its fivefold functions are called Vāyu, Life, according to this school, is not a Vāyu in the sense of a mere biomechanical force, nor any mere mechanical motion resulting from the impulsion of such Vāyu.
1 “Hindu Realism,” p. 84. See my volume on “Life”.
2 Kaushītakī Upanishad, 3-2.
3 See my volume on “Life”.
According to the view of this school, Prāna, or vitality, is the common function of the mind and all the senses, both sensory (Jnānendriya) and motor (Karmendriya), which result in the bodily motion. Just as several birds when confined in one cage cause that cage to move, by themselves moving, so the mind and senses cause the body to move while they are engaged in their respective activities. Life is, then, a resultant of the various concurrent activities of other principles or forces in the organism.
The Vedāntists agree in the view that the Prāna is neither Vāyu nor its operation, but deny that it is the mere resultant of the concomitant activities of the organism, and hold that it is a separate independent principle and “material” form assumed by the universal Consciousness. Life is therefore a subtle principle pervading the whole organism which is not gross Vāyu, but is all the same a subtle kind of apparently unconscious force, since everything which is not the Ātmā or Purusha is, according to Māyāvāda Vedānta and Sāngkhya, unconscious or, in Western parlance, “material” (Jada).¹ The gross outer body is heterogeneous (Parichchhinna) or made up of distinct or well-defined parts. On the other hand, the Prānamaya self which lies withiu the Aunamaya self is a homogeneous undivided whole (Sādhārana) permeating the whole physical body (Sarvapindavyāpin). It is not cut off into distinct regions (Asādhārana) as is the Pinda, or microcosmic physical body. Unlike the latter, it has no specialised organs each discharging a specific function. It is a homogeneous unity (Sādhārana) present in every part of the body, which it
1 See Commentary on Taittirīya Upanishad, edited by Mahādeva
Shāstrī, and Appendix C, by Dr. Brojendra Nath Seal, to Professor B. K. Sarkar’s “The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology,” where some further authorities are given.
ensouls as its inner self. Vāyu¹ which courses through the body is the manifestation, self-begotten, the subtle, invisible, all-pervading, divine energy of eternal life. It is so called from the fact of its coursing throughout the universe. Invisible in itself, yet its operations are manifest. For it determines the birth, growth, and decay, of all animated organisms, and as such it receives the homage of all created being. As vital Vāyu it is instantaneous in action, radiating as nerve force through the organism in constant currents. In its normal condition it maintains a state of equilibrium between the different Doshas² and Dhātus,² or root principles of the body. The bodily Vāyu is divided, as are the principles called Pitta² and Kapha,² into five chief divisions according to the differences in location and function. Vāyu, known in its bodily aspect as Prāna, the universal force of vital activity, on entry into each individual is divided into tenfold functions (Vritti), of which five are chief. The first or breathing, bear the same name (Prāna) as that given to the force considered in its totality—the function whereby atmospheric air with its pervading vitality, which has been first drawn from without into the bodily system, is expired.³
On the physical plane Prāna manifests in the animal body as breath through inspiration (Sa), or Shakti, and expiration (Ha), or Shiva. The male principle of Prāna throws out, and the female principle draws in, in accordance with the nature of Shakti as Shabdabrahman
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