Krishnan Kartha's answers to questions in socialnetworks are compiled and published here by alumni of Winter Schools on Indian Culture & Spirituality held every year during the Christmas week at Madhuvanam ashram, Trivandrum in South India.Reports from weekly sathsangs held at Madhuvanam, Trivandrum in South India are also added
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Malabar Christian College, Calicut get_together
A get together of alumni of Madhuvanam WInter School and other interested people was organised at Malabar Christian College on 3rd March 2013 by alumni from Calicut. Apart from winter school students, Sri Gopinath, periodicals editor Mathribhoomi, Sri Chandra Haasan, one among the five voracious readers in Kerala, Sri Noushad, teacher from Perambra and Babu Mash from Mokeri Govt College also participated in the live discussions. Sri Noushad was present in the two day get together at the residence of Ms Aswathy Nair held two years back.
The first prominent question came from Babu Mash of Mokeri Govt College. he asked why there is an untouchability to the word 'spirituality' among the wise and why do they deviate often?
Krishnan Kartha gave the following answer.
It is because the word spirituality is one of the most misused words. Often spiritualists and preachers regard materialism as some thing inferior. When an ideology professing materialism and ruling out religion came to popularity, the grievance of the religious people icreased. We must go to the root of the problem to solve it. Once the root is observed, the problem evaporates.. The dialectical materialism came into being when the so called religion and spirituality was harming people like anything. Rich became richer and poor became poorer.. Religion had become an aide to the rich since sins could be easily compounded with donations of money. Then naturally, the theory of materialsm was welcomed by people.The spiritual aspect of the emergence of materialistic thought is this. It was the need of the nature to save itself.
But the ideology, though born in industrially advanced soils, it had to be taken , for its up binging, to soils where agriculture was the main occupation. We can see that the ideology got firm roots in economies with predominance of primary sector, viz agriculture and allied operations. They are directly connected with soil. This is the spiritual side of the growth of materialism. The matter and spirit has such a dichotomy. Seemingly polar but essentially united. ...... "
Krishnan Kartha further stated the following:
It is interesting to find that seeds of religious thought are born in agrarian economies while they grow in industrial economies... The dichotomy works like that.You may doubt whether the seeds of material thought would grow in industrially developed economies, yes, they will. After the primary growth in agrarian economies, the materialistic thought will certainly grow in industrially developed societies, due to the presence of a vast population with unrest. But , if you examine the history, you can learn that the established religion may hinder the growth of materialism in such society with secondary and tertiary economies. The establishment takes up a tooth and nail fight against materialism through positive and preventive measures. Positive measures include correctional administration in the religious institutions, reformations, etc while the preventive measures include heresy hunts and oppression of heterodoxy etc
The materialism and the connected ideologies are becoming forgotten words in places where the ideology had a regime. On the other hand, the spirituality becomes untouchable in places where pseudo religious establishments affected normal life badly. This is natural and ideal. So there need not be any lamentation over the fact that the word spirituality is by passed.. some use values,, some use goodness etc etc. J.Krishna Moorthy ised to avoid the term 'God' for the same reason..
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Rebirth : Question from Fr Jose Mariadas
12/07/2009 Fr. Jose
Re-birth
I heard that In Budhist tradition when a Lama is re-born, at times, ther can be two or more Lamas. "Splitted incarnation"? Can the same be happened in the case of any person?
05/10/2009 leslie
Please answer this.
IT is an interesting question.Mr Krishnan may be urged to answer it.Doesn't he look into the forum these days ?
05/10/2009 Krishnan Kartha
Sorry Father Jose Mariadas , for the delay. Pt 1
I am very sorry that I saw the question this morning only.
It may be looked upon as an absurdity that Lamas are split into many in rebirths.As a matter of fact, Buddhism denies rebirth as a belief. It is interesting to note that Gautama Buddha himself had talked about his previous births! But still both Theravadins and Mahayana buddhists reject the belief. At the same time, in Tibet, Lamas are believed to be reborn and they are provided with signs of testimony to confrm such an occurance too. (You may please note here that the Tibetan Buddhism is Vajrayana (Vehicle of Thuderbolt) which has early roots in Indian Tantra. So Vajrayana might be accommodating rebirth!. )
Now coming back to the philosophy and the truth.
My inference, which is not secondary ( i ve not read anywhere,but still believ to be true) is as follows:-
The five sheaths known as Pancha Koshas get disintegrated and seperated when life leaves a human body. The five sheaths are Anna Maya Kosha (Gross Body), Prana Maya Kosha (Vital energy sheath) Mano Maya kosha (mental sheath) Vijnana Maya Kosha (Sheath of Awareness) and Ananda Maya Kosha (Sheath of experience). The concept of these koshas is classical but the disintegration part , is not.
The disintegration is as follows. Anna Maya kosha is decayed through burial or burnt into ashes by cremation. The Prana maya kosha returns to the Gross Vital field in the universe. Mano maya kosha and the other two are not returning to anywhere.They remain in such independent states and identify themselves with new bodies after some time. The Vijnana and Ananda koshas need not be effulgent in the body into which the related Manomaya kosha enters. It may take some time for the fulfillment or enlghtenment. The password is provided to the manomaya kosha to search into the realms of the Vijnana maya and Ananda Maya koshas after some time. These period is called Maya. Even incarnations have gone through such states. They become known to them on a fine morning.
05/10/2009 Krishnan Kartha
Part 2 on Lamas rebirths
SO when a manomaya kosha assumes a human body the Vijnana and ananda Maya kosha may also accompany it but it may remain low profiled. The key point is the password to login into the realms of Vijnana and Ananda. The mano maya kosha or the mind may have to undertake some steps to get the password. That may be a path of sadhana or even a simple thought or action. This is relative. Never generalised.
AT the same time, the most interesting thing is that OTHER MANO MAYA KOSHAS (MINDS) CAN ALSO AVAIL THE PASSWORD AND ACCESS THE SAID VIJNANA AND ANANDA MAYA KOSHAS OF ANOTHER IDENTiTY.
If Jose Mariadas has gone thorugh stages of experieces and awareness they are stored in the appropriate sheaths mentioned above. Father Jose can get into the reminiscenses of both realms if he becomes capable of doing so, in another birth of his. Not only he but I can also get access into the realm of these two sheaths orinially belonged to Fr.Jose Mariadas.
In order to get this access, continous and severe identification with the present Jose Mariadas' life may be necessary for me. Has it become clear, Father?
Some saints have gone through the passion of Christ. How do they do it? they become identified with Jesus in their Love for Him and both the sheaths of Vijnana (Awareness) and Ananada (Bliss/Experience) becomes open to them. St Francis of Assisi,I think had such experiences.
In many cases I have also understood that the experience is followed by awareness, the Wisdom dawns on the mind of these persons.! Sister Alphonsa had suffered a lot and she identified all those pains with the Passion of Christ, and then the Wisdom of Christ visited her mental realm. This is also not generalised. SImply by putting the body to pain one cannot access the wisdom. But the Love is crucial.This Love creates an identification and then it triggers.
Whether the Mano maya kosha of Jesus is reborn or not, the other sheaths is made available to people who do penance.
The access can be temporary also...................................
05/10/2009 Krishnan Kartha
Part 3 on Lama's rebirth
This can be temporary also.
When X ,because of his devotion for Lord Krishna, contemplates on his lord always, he slowly becomes identified with the Lord himself. (This is easily explained by psychologists, which they claim to end in split personaliety sydrome) More than a mental feeling that X is Krishna, X slowly starts to enter into the sheaths of Awareness and Bliss (VIjnana and Ananda Maya Koshas)of Krishna. He "recollects" the awareness and experience of Krishna. But X is not Krishna physically, since the Anna Maya Kosha is different. X may be soon identified as an avathar or ancarnation of Krishna. The password may be for some sectors of those sheath. It need not be full access.
In India, these stages are known as Saalokya, Sameepya, Saaroopya and Sayoojya. These are the four stages of devotion. When you are in the world of God you are in Saalokya. Your world is full of God only.This leads to Sameepya , nearness to the Lord. Eventually you look like the Lord, Saaroopya. The forms become identical. And in the end, it becomes SAYOOJYA (Yuj means to unite) the oneness.
And I was starting to say that this can be temporary. I shall explain that now.
In some cases after a visitation the whole experience may vanish. The Ego may be the reason. Under such situations "X" may start to become pretentious. Without any base he may make false claims. He will soon be reckoned as a fraud by the society.
This is the reason for different people remembering the key points about the Dead Lamas's life. There may be some questions to be asked to check whether he is the rebirth.More than one person may be able to answer. This makes the Tibetans believe that the Dead Lama is split into many!
In real, the Lama will reincrnate only in one body with his Manomaya, VinjananMaya and Anandyamaya koshas.
In Mahabharath, Dharmadeva is said to born as Yudhishtira and Vidura at the same period. When you study both characters, you can understand how thery were different,justifying my statement about sectorwise access.
05/10/2009 leslie
Wonderful answer.
Thanks a lot to Fr Jose Mariadas for asking the question and Mr Kartha for answering it in detail.
I have read somewhere that St Theresa of Avila too had such experiences. I now understand that the healing power they command might be because of the so called oneness in those two sheaths.
Anyway kudos to Karthaji
05/10/2009 Fr. Jose
Re-birth
Thank you very much Mr. Krishnan Karta. I always wonder at the way you give answers; especially the ease with which you blend different spiritual traditions to make clear what you intend. Once again thank you very much for the answer though much awaited.
Re-birth
I heard that In Budhist tradition when a Lama is re-born, at times, ther can be two or more Lamas. "Splitted incarnation"? Can the same be happened in the case of any person?
05/10/2009 leslie
Please answer this.
IT is an interesting question.Mr Krishnan may be urged to answer it.Doesn't he look into the forum these days ?
05/10/2009 Krishnan Kartha
Sorry Father Jose Mariadas , for the delay. Pt 1
I am very sorry that I saw the question this morning only.
It may be looked upon as an absurdity that Lamas are split into many in rebirths.As a matter of fact, Buddhism denies rebirth as a belief. It is interesting to note that Gautama Buddha himself had talked about his previous births! But still both Theravadins and Mahayana buddhists reject the belief. At the same time, in Tibet, Lamas are believed to be reborn and they are provided with signs of testimony to confrm such an occurance too. (You may please note here that the Tibetan Buddhism is Vajrayana (Vehicle of Thuderbolt) which has early roots in Indian Tantra. So Vajrayana might be accommodating rebirth!. )
Now coming back to the philosophy and the truth.
My inference, which is not secondary ( i ve not read anywhere,but still believ to be true) is as follows:-
The five sheaths known as Pancha Koshas get disintegrated and seperated when life leaves a human body. The five sheaths are Anna Maya Kosha (Gross Body), Prana Maya Kosha (Vital energy sheath) Mano Maya kosha (mental sheath) Vijnana Maya Kosha (Sheath of Awareness) and Ananda Maya Kosha (Sheath of experience). The concept of these koshas is classical but the disintegration part , is not.
The disintegration is as follows. Anna Maya kosha is decayed through burial or burnt into ashes by cremation. The Prana maya kosha returns to the Gross Vital field in the universe. Mano maya kosha and the other two are not returning to anywhere.They remain in such independent states and identify themselves with new bodies after some time. The Vijnana and Ananda koshas need not be effulgent in the body into which the related Manomaya kosha enters. It may take some time for the fulfillment or enlghtenment. The password is provided to the manomaya kosha to search into the realms of the Vijnana maya and Ananda Maya koshas after some time. These period is called Maya. Even incarnations have gone through such states. They become known to them on a fine morning.
05/10/2009 Krishnan Kartha
Part 2 on Lamas rebirths
SO when a manomaya kosha assumes a human body the Vijnana and ananda Maya kosha may also accompany it but it may remain low profiled. The key point is the password to login into the realms of Vijnana and Ananda. The mano maya kosha or the mind may have to undertake some steps to get the password. That may be a path of sadhana or even a simple thought or action. This is relative. Never generalised.
AT the same time, the most interesting thing is that OTHER MANO MAYA KOSHAS (MINDS) CAN ALSO AVAIL THE PASSWORD AND ACCESS THE SAID VIJNANA AND ANANDA MAYA KOSHAS OF ANOTHER IDENTiTY.
If Jose Mariadas has gone thorugh stages of experieces and awareness they are stored in the appropriate sheaths mentioned above. Father Jose can get into the reminiscenses of both realms if he becomes capable of doing so, in another birth of his. Not only he but I can also get access into the realm of these two sheaths orinially belonged to Fr.Jose Mariadas.
In order to get this access, continous and severe identification with the present Jose Mariadas' life may be necessary for me. Has it become clear, Father?
Some saints have gone through the passion of Christ. How do they do it? they become identified with Jesus in their Love for Him and both the sheaths of Vijnana (Awareness) and Ananada (Bliss/Experience) becomes open to them. St Francis of Assisi,I think had such experiences.
In many cases I have also understood that the experience is followed by awareness, the Wisdom dawns on the mind of these persons.! Sister Alphonsa had suffered a lot and she identified all those pains with the Passion of Christ, and then the Wisdom of Christ visited her mental realm. This is also not generalised. SImply by putting the body to pain one cannot access the wisdom. But the Love is crucial.This Love creates an identification and then it triggers.
Whether the Mano maya kosha of Jesus is reborn or not, the other sheaths is made available to people who do penance.
The access can be temporary also...................................
05/10/2009 Krishnan Kartha
Part 3 on Lama's rebirth
This can be temporary also.
When X ,because of his devotion for Lord Krishna, contemplates on his lord always, he slowly becomes identified with the Lord himself. (This is easily explained by psychologists, which they claim to end in split personaliety sydrome) More than a mental feeling that X is Krishna, X slowly starts to enter into the sheaths of Awareness and Bliss (VIjnana and Ananda Maya Koshas)of Krishna. He "recollects" the awareness and experience of Krishna. But X is not Krishna physically, since the Anna Maya Kosha is different. X may be soon identified as an avathar or ancarnation of Krishna. The password may be for some sectors of those sheath. It need not be full access.
In India, these stages are known as Saalokya, Sameepya, Saaroopya and Sayoojya. These are the four stages of devotion. When you are in the world of God you are in Saalokya. Your world is full of God only.This leads to Sameepya , nearness to the Lord. Eventually you look like the Lord, Saaroopya. The forms become identical. And in the end, it becomes SAYOOJYA (Yuj means to unite) the oneness.
And I was starting to say that this can be temporary. I shall explain that now.
In some cases after a visitation the whole experience may vanish. The Ego may be the reason. Under such situations "X" may start to become pretentious. Without any base he may make false claims. He will soon be reckoned as a fraud by the society.
This is the reason for different people remembering the key points about the Dead Lamas's life. There may be some questions to be asked to check whether he is the rebirth.More than one person may be able to answer. This makes the Tibetans believe that the Dead Lama is split into many!
In real, the Lama will reincrnate only in one body with his Manomaya, VinjananMaya and Anandyamaya koshas.
In Mahabharath, Dharmadeva is said to born as Yudhishtira and Vidura at the same period. When you study both characters, you can understand how thery were different,justifying my statement about sectorwise access.
05/10/2009 leslie
Wonderful answer.
Thanks a lot to Fr Jose Mariadas for asking the question and Mr Kartha for answering it in detail.
I have read somewhere that St Theresa of Avila too had such experiences. I now understand that the healing power they command might be because of the so called oneness in those two sheaths.
Anyway kudos to Karthaji
05/10/2009 Fr. Jose
Re-birth
Thank you very much Mr. Krishnan Karta. I always wonder at the way you give answers; especially the ease with which you blend different spiritual traditions to make clear what you intend. Once again thank you very much for the answer though much awaited.
Why Religion?
30/09/2007 seekerboy has posted in orkut community:
Why is religion important? Why not faith? Why can'
question from sasperilla23 (http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=Al.fEMKHiMsyEaTmCArc4Xvd7BR.;_ylv=3?show=949b15a0cdfed605bacf96360bb29d14aa)
Why is religion important? Why not faith? Why can't we just believe in God and Jesus?
krishnan Kartha answered :
"Your faith in God and His son is good to start with. But you should develop faith in yourself. Christ Jesus tells his people when they are astonished at his miraculous healing of the woman with bleeding and also upon his curse on the fig tree... have faith.. faith can move mountains... .he has not said faith in God. But faith in yourself amounts to faith in God eventually.
religions are there to build self confidence among human beings though they jeoparidse the original task. They make their followers more and more fearful and sinful.But this is the case with all the gatherings of men on earth.
The fickleness of the mob. It happens. "
01/10/2007 Krishnan Kartha
Additions to my answer.
The yahoo answer was not sufficient i feel.So I add here.
The faith is the basis of development or progress.It is purely a mental faculty.
Karl Marx had faith that his manifesto would bare fruit. Though he considered Mind to be an apparent phenomenon of the matter, we should admit that he did have faith in his manifesto.He belived that the state would wither away at a state when man would feel responsible towards his fellow beings and join hands in production,distribution and consumption. If he had no faith he could not have succeeded in his life.
In religion also faith is the basis.Faith develops confidence and confidence creates Love. When you are in Love naturally peace follows.When there is lack of faith, you feel disturbed and feels no love towards anyone. Then hatred occupies the space and it ensues in lack of peace.
So in order to cultivate faith wise people have created religions.In fact they never create any religion.They just said some thing. People around them,out of their lesser state of mental attitude created religion.Chirst was born and died as a jew. He was never a Christian in the communal parlance. But you may see that Jesus was ,perhaps the only Christian.
To become a true Christian you should become none other than Jesus Christ.This means that once you become a true christian,you are one with Christ. But the problem is that the moment you become Christ , mob will be around you. Those who cannot venture to become Christ surround you. These people in turn create another Christianity.This is how religions are created.
All religions proclaim Love as supreme But the so called "religious" people indulge in hating others.
Why is religion important? Why not faith? Why can'
question from sasperilla23 (http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=Al.fEMKHiMsyEaTmCArc4Xvd7BR.;_ylv=3?show=949b15a0cdfed605bacf96360bb29d14aa)
Why is religion important? Why not faith? Why can't we just believe in God and Jesus?
krishnan Kartha answered :
"Your faith in God and His son is good to start with. But you should develop faith in yourself. Christ Jesus tells his people when they are astonished at his miraculous healing of the woman with bleeding and also upon his curse on the fig tree... have faith.. faith can move mountains... .he has not said faith in God. But faith in yourself amounts to faith in God eventually.
religions are there to build self confidence among human beings though they jeoparidse the original task. They make their followers more and more fearful and sinful.But this is the case with all the gatherings of men on earth.
The fickleness of the mob. It happens. "
01/10/2007 Krishnan Kartha
Additions to my answer.
The yahoo answer was not sufficient i feel.So I add here.
The faith is the basis of development or progress.It is purely a mental faculty.
Karl Marx had faith that his manifesto would bare fruit. Though he considered Mind to be an apparent phenomenon of the matter, we should admit that he did have faith in his manifesto.He belived that the state would wither away at a state when man would feel responsible towards his fellow beings and join hands in production,distribution and consumption. If he had no faith he could not have succeeded in his life.
In religion also faith is the basis.Faith develops confidence and confidence creates Love. When you are in Love naturally peace follows.When there is lack of faith, you feel disturbed and feels no love towards anyone. Then hatred occupies the space and it ensues in lack of peace.
So in order to cultivate faith wise people have created religions.In fact they never create any religion.They just said some thing. People around them,out of their lesser state of mental attitude created religion.Chirst was born and died as a jew. He was never a Christian in the communal parlance. But you may see that Jesus was ,perhaps the only Christian.
To become a true Christian you should become none other than Jesus Christ.This means that once you become a true christian,you are one with Christ. But the problem is that the moment you become Christ , mob will be around you. Those who cannot venture to become Christ surround you. These people in turn create another Christianity.This is how religions are created.
All religions proclaim Love as supreme But the so called "religious" people indulge in hating others.
Discouraging pranayama? Shreya Asks
19/08/2008 shreya (http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile?uid=9921229793659283483)
Yoga and pranayama
From your words, I think, that you seem to be discouraging pranayama and yoga.
Am I right? Can I call you Master? Sir,
If yes, why? what are the alternatives? which is the true path?
19/08/2008 Krishnan Kartha
Welcome to the forum.
I am not discouraging any body. If courage is there, one cannot be discouraged! Faith in one's own practises takes him the goal. So a steadfast seeker never swerves from the path he has chosen.
And now here comes the question of choice. Find out the best for you;the convenient one.And be firm on that. It can be devotion, meditation, wisdom or anything else, even Yoga and Pranayama..
Regarding pranayama, I observe like this; man breathes 21600 times a day, says upanishads.With this much count one can very well become enlightened. By reducing the number you can have short cuts. But it is against the nature. There is a violence. Any violent methods will have its own backfire. When you hold breathe there is sudden change in chemistry of the brain and other parts of the body.This may produce some by-products. This can give you a "high" for sometime, but soon to fall back in to hyper sensuality.So be cautious. That is why Upanishads say, playing with prana is as adventorous and dangerous like trying to tether a mad elephant with a lotus stem.
That is all. I am not discouraging. Be courageous to go ahead in that path.Hence it is called the Raja Yoga, the Royal Path.Fit for kshatriyas, the warriors. It is really a war against mind. The whole meditation is a war against mind. And great warriors have become great contemplatives...
And the Yoga which we see around us as physical exercise.. it is just an exercise.Spirituality is away from it.It calms down the mind and prepares the body fit for spiritual journey.That is not spirituality itself.That is the difference. If you have succeded in any psoture, (asana jaya) you may go ahead and find out new pastures. Good luck.
About calling me names..I am not master. You can call me Krishnan. Master is known by his desciples as a tree is known by its fruits.So desciples are important than the master, I feel. Sri ramakrishna has many desciples.Only one among them became Vivekananda.Through Vivekananda we came to know about Sri Ramakrishna.
ok?
Yoga and pranayama
From your words, I think, that you seem to be discouraging pranayama and yoga.
Am I right? Can I call you Master? Sir,
If yes, why? what are the alternatives? which is the true path?
19/08/2008 Krishnan Kartha
Welcome to the forum.
I am not discouraging any body. If courage is there, one cannot be discouraged! Faith in one's own practises takes him the goal. So a steadfast seeker never swerves from the path he has chosen.
And now here comes the question of choice. Find out the best for you;the convenient one.And be firm on that. It can be devotion, meditation, wisdom or anything else, even Yoga and Pranayama..
Regarding pranayama, I observe like this; man breathes 21600 times a day, says upanishads.With this much count one can very well become enlightened. By reducing the number you can have short cuts. But it is against the nature. There is a violence. Any violent methods will have its own backfire. When you hold breathe there is sudden change in chemistry of the brain and other parts of the body.This may produce some by-products. This can give you a "high" for sometime, but soon to fall back in to hyper sensuality.So be cautious. That is why Upanishads say, playing with prana is as adventorous and dangerous like trying to tether a mad elephant with a lotus stem.
That is all. I am not discouraging. Be courageous to go ahead in that path.Hence it is called the Raja Yoga, the Royal Path.Fit for kshatriyas, the warriors. It is really a war against mind. The whole meditation is a war against mind. And great warriors have become great contemplatives...
And the Yoga which we see around us as physical exercise.. it is just an exercise.Spirituality is away from it.It calms down the mind and prepares the body fit for spiritual journey.That is not spirituality itself.That is the difference. If you have succeded in any psoture, (asana jaya) you may go ahead and find out new pastures. Good luck.
About calling me names..I am not master. You can call me Krishnan. Master is known by his desciples as a tree is known by its fruits.So desciples are important than the master, I feel. Sri ramakrishna has many desciples.Only one among them became Vivekananda.Through Vivekananda we came to know about Sri Ramakrishna.
ok?
Pranaayaama ; use and abuse
03/10/2007 seekerboy
Pranayama Use and Abuse / Pros and Corns
rosebuddhist@yahoo answers asked
What is pranayama?
Is it safe for all? What are the effects on body mind and soul? How to start practising it?
krishnan kartha answered :
I have seen Pranayama to be a very useful technique to upkeep mental and spiritual health.As a bye product the physical health will also follow.But still I have my own reservations about the same,which I will tell in the end.
To introduce,Pranayama is a breathing technique. A technique means a method we develop.It is a manipulated one.Likewise,Pranayama is also an exercise developed by
ancient sages in India.
Why ?Upanishads (if you are not Indian,this means Sanskrit texts which are part of Veda) say that man breathes 21000 times a day.It was found that prolongation of breathe provides longevity.The life of a person is possibly fixed on the number of respiration, and that might be the reason for the sages having found that the prolongation of breathe results in longevity.
The sages observed that the life of a tortoise which breathes very slowly lives longer than a rabbit which breathes heavily. Thus they resorted to control of breath techniques.But the practice also brought our many other results such as mental peace, control of senses,physical health,digestion,beauty etc.
Now we may go to the sources of yoga in the pre-Patanjali period. (Patanjali was the sage who codified yoga in his work "Yoga Sutra")The upanishads say that one has to be careful with pranayama.It is like tieing a mad elephant with
creepers of lotus.So we have to be very careful with the technique.Many practitioners and online learners of yoga think that pranayama is just a breathing technique.
My reservations are these.Man can become enlightened and be free from misery with his normal 21000 times breathing. This is natural.Any other sort of cut shorts are violating the order of the nature.It amounts to violence towards the surroundings. The "high" as the result of pranayama,if not properly managed, can just be the "high" attained in the process of asphysxia. 03/10/2007 seeker
second part of KK's answer on Pranayama
Meditation brings about natural breathless state which is termed as KEVALA KUMBHAKA in yoga.This is natural breathless state. Our body itself produces O2 out of the nascent oxygen available within the body.This release sort of energy which is identified as bliss by human beings.This end can be achieved by meditation step by step.
Now coming back to the orinigal question.
Pranayama is a technique which normally includes conscious prolongation of inhalation, retention, and exhalation of the breath .There can be simple pranayama without the retention also. Prana normally means the breath, but more
accurately signifies the 'vital energy force' that permeates the
universe.Chinese call it the "Chi"."
Ayama is 'extension' or 'expansion'. Thus, the word pranayama can be understood as the extension or expansion of prana.The word pranayama is thus comprised of two roots: prana and ayama.
The pranayama needs steadiness of body.For this you may resort to yogic postures known as ASANAs.Though asana is not a prerequisite of pranayama,to start with a sound posture is always beneficial. You had better learn asanas from a yoga teacher in person.
It is reported that Pranayama is beneficial in treating a range of stress related disorders.However, I must agree that the practice of pranayama develops a steady mind, strong will-power, and sound judgement.This sound judgement is the right perception conceived by Buddha.Not the intellectual judgement.
A rightly discriminated,practical way of Pranayama should be adopted,by closely monitoring the increase of ease and absence of discomfort at every step.
The most important fact is that Patanjali never started with Pranayama but had put YAMA,NIYAMA,and ASANAS before proceeding to the fourth state which is pranayama. Trying to attempt 4th step by by-passing first second and third
step is dangerous.You may search "Yama,Niyama" for results on these aspects.
To start with you may take up deep breathing with mental chanting of OOOOO without chating "M" .Inhale deeply 03/10/2007 seeker
Thirs part of KKs answer on Pranayama
To start with you may take up deep breathing with mental chanting of OOOOO without chating "M" .Inhale deeply and slowly exhale while chanting OOO part of AUM.Never chant M but patiently listen to your own system chanting that.DO this in a fixed time everyday.Initially you mady adopt the following guidelines.
! ) Sit in a comfortable position.
2 ) Relax your body parts
3 ) Close your eyes.
4 ) Take a deep breath slowly, till your lungs are full.
5 ) Now breath out slowly in the same nostril,till your lungs are empty.
7 ) Repeat it for 5 times. 05/10/2007 seeker
rosebuddhist has chosen the answer as the best one
Asker of the question in yahoo answers. rosebuddhist has chosen KK's answer as the best one and left a note as below:-
"The answer is wholesome. I would put up more questions since I sincerely hope that they will eb answered.Thanks Mr.K."
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmPe0IYN5_nEtzCi46hBfb3qxQt.;_ylv=3?qid=20071002201902AAMTdH2
Pranayama Use and Abuse / Pros and Corns
rosebuddhist@yahoo answers asked
What is pranayama?
Is it safe for all? What are the effects on body mind and soul? How to start practising it?
krishnan kartha answered :
I have seen Pranayama to be a very useful technique to upkeep mental and spiritual health.As a bye product the physical health will also follow.But still I have my own reservations about the same,which I will tell in the end.
To introduce,Pranayama is a breathing technique. A technique means a method we develop.It is a manipulated one.Likewise,Pranayama is also an exercise developed by
ancient sages in India.
Why ?Upanishads (if you are not Indian,this means Sanskrit texts which are part of Veda) say that man breathes 21000 times a day.It was found that prolongation of breathe provides longevity.The life of a person is possibly fixed on the number of respiration, and that might be the reason for the sages having found that the prolongation of breathe results in longevity.
The sages observed that the life of a tortoise which breathes very slowly lives longer than a rabbit which breathes heavily. Thus they resorted to control of breath techniques.But the practice also brought our many other results such as mental peace, control of senses,physical health,digestion,beauty etc.
Now we may go to the sources of yoga in the pre-Patanjali period. (Patanjali was the sage who codified yoga in his work "Yoga Sutra")The upanishads say that one has to be careful with pranayama.It is like tieing a mad elephant with
creepers of lotus.So we have to be very careful with the technique.Many practitioners and online learners of yoga think that pranayama is just a breathing technique.
My reservations are these.Man can become enlightened and be free from misery with his normal 21000 times breathing. This is natural.Any other sort of cut shorts are violating the order of the nature.It amounts to violence towards the surroundings. The "high" as the result of pranayama,if not properly managed, can just be the "high" attained in the process of asphysxia. 03/10/2007 seeker
second part of KK's answer on Pranayama
Meditation brings about natural breathless state which is termed as KEVALA KUMBHAKA in yoga.This is natural breathless state. Our body itself produces O2 out of the nascent oxygen available within the body.This release sort of energy which is identified as bliss by human beings.This end can be achieved by meditation step by step.
Now coming back to the orinigal question.
Pranayama is a technique which normally includes conscious prolongation of inhalation, retention, and exhalation of the breath .There can be simple pranayama without the retention also. Prana normally means the breath, but more
accurately signifies the 'vital energy force' that permeates the
universe.Chinese call it the "Chi"."
Ayama is 'extension' or 'expansion'. Thus, the word pranayama can be understood as the extension or expansion of prana.The word pranayama is thus comprised of two roots: prana and ayama.
The pranayama needs steadiness of body.For this you may resort to yogic postures known as ASANAs.Though asana is not a prerequisite of pranayama,to start with a sound posture is always beneficial. You had better learn asanas from a yoga teacher in person.
It is reported that Pranayama is beneficial in treating a range of stress related disorders.However, I must agree that the practice of pranayama develops a steady mind, strong will-power, and sound judgement.This sound judgement is the right perception conceived by Buddha.Not the intellectual judgement.
A rightly discriminated,practical way of Pranayama should be adopted,by closely monitoring the increase of ease and absence of discomfort at every step.
The most important fact is that Patanjali never started with Pranayama but had put YAMA,NIYAMA,and ASANAS before proceeding to the fourth state which is pranayama. Trying to attempt 4th step by by-passing first second and third
step is dangerous.You may search "Yama,Niyama" for results on these aspects.
To start with you may take up deep breathing with mental chanting of OOOOO without chating "M" .Inhale deeply 03/10/2007 seeker
Thirs part of KKs answer on Pranayama
To start with you may take up deep breathing with mental chanting of OOOOO without chating "M" .Inhale deeply and slowly exhale while chanting OOO part of AUM.Never chant M but patiently listen to your own system chanting that.DO this in a fixed time everyday.Initially you mady adopt the following guidelines.
! ) Sit in a comfortable position.
2 ) Relax your body parts
3 ) Close your eyes.
4 ) Take a deep breath slowly, till your lungs are full.
5 ) Now breath out slowly in the same nostril,till your lungs are empty.
7 ) Repeat it for 5 times. 05/10/2007 seeker
rosebuddhist has chosen the answer as the best one
Asker of the question in yahoo answers. rosebuddhist has chosen KK's answer as the best one and left a note as below:-
"The answer is wholesome. I would put up more questions since I sincerely hope that they will eb answered.Thanks Mr.K."
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmPe0IYN5_nEtzCi46hBfb3qxQt.;_ylv=3?qid=20071002201902AAMTdH2
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