. . . if his consciousness is established in the central vein in that force, which is the energy of life (prāṇan), then he remains always the same.
In this excerpt from the Shiva Sutras: The Supreme Awakening, Third Awakening, verse 44 (Shiva sutras 3.44), Swami Lakshmanjoo explains that when consciousness is established in the center of that internal consciousness (āntarī saṁvit), and in the center of that central breath (madhyaṁ prāṇa), the yogi remains always the same.
See footnotes for the different stages when that movement (flux) of prāṇa (prāṇa vṛitti) enters into the body.
44. nāsikāntarmadhyasaṁyamāt,
kimatra, savyāpasavyasauṣumneṣu //
If his consciousness is established in the central vein in that force, which is the energy of life (prāṇan), then he remains always the same. For him, there is no difference in traveling in prāṇa, apāna, or suṣumnā.
If his consciousness is attached to the life force (force of kuṇḍalinī), then it does not matter to him how he journeys in this world. He may travel in any of the three veins, yet he always remains the same. He may travel in ordinary breathing in the right vein (dakṣiṇā nāḍi) or in the left vein (vāmanāḍī), or he may travel in prāṇana śakti the central vein (madhyanāḍī). These three veins īḍa, piṅgalā, and suṣumā are predominant in all seventy-two thousand veins.39
In this sūtra, the word nāsikā means “that energy of breath that gives life and removes the stiffness in your body.” When your body dies and you leave this physical frame, your body becomes rigid. The flexibility it used to have no longer exists. The arms and legs can no longer be easily moved. This is because the life force (prāṇaśakti) has left this body.
But for he whose consciousness is established in the center of that internal consciousness (āntarī saṁvit), and in the center of that central breath (madhyaṁ prāṇa), which is predominant in the whole of the body in each and every being,
the supreme energy of that being, who is Lord of Lords and who is one with the supreme cognition, is only the energy of awareness. It is all-knowing, all-acting, and completely glorious. (Kālikākrama)
When he puts his consciousness into the formation of that awareness (tat saṁyamāt) by being aware in the continuity of his being, then what can we say about him? This person is established in, and glorified by, that supreme samādhi where, for him, there is no external state of dualistic consciousness (vyutthānaḥ). This is also said in Vijñānabhairava:
Subjective knowledge and objective knowledge is the same for all living beings, except there is one difference for yogīs. In both kinds of knowing, yogīs always remain aware. (Vijñānabhairava 106)
This is the difference between yogīs and ordinary people.
_____________
39. The first start manifestation of prāṇana, the vibrating breath of life, is cit (consciousness). The second start is spanda (vibration). The third start is prāṇa. When that movement (flux) of prāṇa (prāṇa vṛitti) enters into the grossness of a body, then it moves through the many subtle channels existing in the body. There are 72,000 principal veins and these are gross. Actually, there are more than 72,000 veins.
In the Svacchanda Tantra, these 72,000 veins are compared to the veins in the leaf of the Chinār Tree. Just like the veins in that leaf, so also in the body of prāṇa there is only one central vein, from which are projected thousands of smaller secondary channels. As the threadlike veins in the leaf of a Palāśa tree completely pervade that leaf, so do those innumerable subtle channels completely pervade (vyāptaṁ) this body.
|| End of text for sūtra 44 ||
(source: Shiva Sutras: The Supreme Awakening, by Swami Lakshmanjoo)
All Content is subject to Copyright © John Hughes.
