At the very beginning,
Consciousness transforms itself into the life-breath force.
Praksamvit prane bharinata.
Thus says Kalata and his commentary on the Shiva Sutras from the 8th century.
We're going to now explore the Shakti,
The energy of the life-breath force.
And we'll consider a very subtle practice that was given in the ancient Shaivite text,
The Vignana Bhairava Tantra,
On the practice of the breath using the natural mantra,
Hamsa.
Hamsa.
Hamsa is the natural practice of the breath.
This verse 155 from this ancient text says,
As the breath moves out on the exhalation,
It does so naturally with the sound,
Saa.
And so the exhalation naturally makes this mantra sound,
Saa.
And when the breath enters in once again on the inhalation,
It makes the sound,
Haa.
So the inhalation naturally makes the syllable,
Ham,
Or the M,
Mmm,
On the turning,
On the inhalation to the exhalation.
In this way,
There's a ceaseless cycle of the breath.
The inhalation and exhalation in the living being is constantly repeating this natural mantra,
Hamsa.
Hamsa.
Hamsa in Sanskrit can be translated,
I am all this.
I am all of this.
This is the practice we're going to try doing now.
Whether with your eyes open or eyes closed,
Doing the japa,
That is the repetition,
The audible sound of the mantra,
Hamsa,
Can be whispered,
It can be spoken,
Or it can even be just listened to within and thought to connect with the cycle of the breath.
Hamsa is really a practice of consciousness.
So with either eyes open or eyes closed,
We can just focus within on the inhalation,
Haa,
Listening for the subtle sound of breath flow,
Haa,
And then on the exhalation,
Saa.
You can whisper this in concert with the breath,
Or just think the syllables in rhythm with the breath.
Or perhaps you can hear the subtle sound of air flow,
Like wind through a wreathed flute.
Hamsa,
Or more audibly,
Hamsa,
Hamsa.
Hamsa.
Once the awareness connects these sounds or syllables,
Or just the thought of the syllables to the flow of your own breath,
Then it carries this as an activation of consciousness that you take out of the practice and into your day.
This verse says that this mantra is repeated naturally and automatically 21,
600 times every day.
That would be four seconds per breath cycle for 24 hours a day.
And every living being is making this mantra.
This is a practice which activates a higher level of consciousness in connection with our breath.
We do it for just a few minutes in the morning before leaving the house for our activities.
At the end of a yoga practice,
Or perhaps at the end of your regular seated closed-eyed meditation practice,
You can add this practice and then know that you're carrying it throughout your day into all of your activities as an activation of your consciousness,
Connecting to prana,
The breath.
Anytime it can be remembered and invoked and then continued automatically as we breathe.
Thank you for your consideration.
This is Dr.
Paul Van Camp from meditationband.
Com.
