CHAPTER XII

PRANA

1. It is a well known fact today that the Cosmic Life Force surrounds and interpenetrates every condition and every atom and that the Life force can be drawn within our bodies with the breath we breathe. Every act can be according to that Life Force. Every thought we think can be in harmony with
2. Note that it is said that this Life Force may be drawn in “with the breath we breathe.” It is not the mere act of breathing that draws into the body of man this Cosmic Life Force. Unless definite attention to it accompanies our physical breathing it is not definitely It is a life force which is so much finer than our physical air that it is not affected by mere physical processes any more than one might draw electricity into his being by the mere act of physical breathing. Of course there is a certain amount of electricity, or what we call electricity, that is taken into the system by every act and, likewise, with the Cosmic Life Force which is sometimes called Prana. If you will notice, everything toward which your attention is directed registers an impression on the mind. In turn, this impression is developed into an idea and the idea expressed in words. This is a sort of mental breathing, is it not? Well, there is an inner attention, a deep longing you call it, to be perfect in every department of your being. When the outer attention is linked with this inner attention or when it looks always toward the perfection of the Universe, as does what Seneca called the “eye of the soul,” then there is drawn into man’s being the elements of the Cosmic forces around and about us. The mystics have always taught that attention is the secret of success in dealing with the Cosmic forces. Deep, sincere, abiding attention to the surrounding spiritual ethers, a completely relaxed body and an all-absorbing interest and complete openness of mind are the necessary attitudes in order that one may realize this “inner breath” as it is called. This is “soul breathing” or letting the Self expand into its native ethers, the interpenetrating life force or spiritual ethers, as Steinmetz called it, until through the act of attention it is drawn within the whole being of man.
3. This Life Force being Cosmic must interpenetrate all elements. This is, in reality, the force that stimulates all cellular growth, allows it to expand and become the growth of the body as well as the growth of plants. In fact, it is incorporated with all growth of every description and is the sustaining element of life. It becomes that which imbibes life as well for, like every other force, it is both positive and negative and acts and reacts within itself, just as whirling currents of air act and react within themselves. One might say that the air breathes, or moves and, at the same time, is acting within itself and upon
4. The method of consciously appropriating the universal Cosmic Life Force, or Prana, is commonly called Pranayama. One might call it Prana-breathing or the practice of consciously breathing the Cosmic Life Force. The exact procedure is difficult to define and it would take too much time and space to give the entire technique of the Pranic The technique for starting the operation is proper breathing, then one may with care and sincerity find his own method for the balance of the process. As we have said above, attention is the one fundamentally important practice in the process—attention to the highest source of energy existing, that all-surrounding presence that you call God. The mind must be without strain and whatever method best relieves the mind of strain would be the next step in right procedure. In fact, the Prana or spiritual substance is so fine and sensitive that it is deflected by the least force. Did you ever try to catch a piece of lint or down floating in the air? Every tense or quick movement to grasp it only drove it away but a quietness that was like letting it come between your fingers of its own volition was the proper technique for grasping it. That is as nearly an illustration as one could give. It is also like trying to remember something you have forgotten. If you make strong mental effort you do not remember but, if you let the mind rest, become quietly reflective, then the idea comes quickly within the mind. So with the Prana, it is breathed into the nature through quietness and confidence. Every phase of the mind must be free and the body completely relaxed. One must have a sense of complete freedom and complete expansion as if the cells of the body were actually moving out from each other until they almost stood apart. This practice may be continued until one forgets the sense of physical limitation altogether, then one is in the most perfect state mentally and physically to receive this Universal Substance into his whole being. It then has access to every cell of his being; it becomes the sustaining and invigorating element of life and especially of the human body. This method of control causes the body to keep young and vibrant.

5. It is a sustaining and invigorating practice that allows the cells and tissues of the body to expand, thereby giving greater oxidation to the body. It is a complete spiritual airing of every cell of the body to the original ethers from which it came. Just as in a ray of light you find the various colors, so in Prana do you find all the elements of life, that is the real essence of all the lesser Prana is not oxygen but is that which gives life to the oxygen, the actual life within the oxygen. It is that which gives force to electricity, consciousness to mind. In other words, it is the reality existing within and standing back of the sustaining all lesser forces. It is called the Spirit of God in the Scriptures. Pranayama—spiritual breathing—allows the proper expansion of all the elements taken into the body for the body’s growth and, because of this expansion, all the elements are oxidized or “aired” as we say when we expose things to the air or sun to become freshened. Just so when the body is relaxed, when the mind and spirit are freed, when the whole nature expands to consciously allow the Prana to interpenetrate throughout the entire being, the whole nature is freshened, revived, refreshed, fed. This is Pranayama or the art of spiritual breathing. But, attention is the fundamental secret of the practice. You even have to give attention to the sun in order to gain the greatest benefit from a sun bath.
6. It is through this practice that certain Yogi are able to suspend animation for certain periods of time. This rests the whole system and renews it for the contact with its origin or source. It is restored and the original life elements are again contacted by the flesh In the same way and, with the same results, they suspend respiration. It is like coming up out of the water into fresh air after one has been submerged for a period. To try to suspend animation and respiration would only be to drown yourself literally. But, to expand yourself and so relax yourself that you begin to consciously sense the life- giving ethers, makes one so much alive, so vitally filled with life, so refreshed and fed that one has no need of the outer breath or the outer activities of the body. He becomes alive from within.
7. Just as this practice vitalizes the body, so it enlivens the mind. The reason men do not think well is because the mind is too tense, too compressed—so to speak—so that it does not function freely. Under the practice of Pranayama the whole nature is expanded and functions more freely and completely. It is like loosening bearings that are too tight on a machine and letting the oil penetrate through it. It then moves more freely. Memory, in this case, comes in from a thousand different sources and one remembers what he was in the beginning. It comes without any effort at all and anything he wants to know comes instantly and easily into his mind. Inasmuch as Prana interpenetrates all, there must be a close relationship between prana and that function of the mind. Prana allows no division in function for it unites all the functions of the individual with the Universal. It is, of course, Universal and opens the way for all activities, thousands and thousands of activities at the time. Prana is an emanating energy underlying all substance. Of course, substance in its original state is energy and energy is What we know as energy and substance are but two aspects of a single primal energy and this primal energy is Prana, or Spirit.

14. We may more truly say that Prana is one of the elements of Spirit for spirit is not only energy but intelligence and substance. It is more subtle than ether. The Western World is defining ether as Prana, though there is a difference in the subtlety and the activity of Prana and ether. The latter is nascent while Prana is always active. Ether is Prana becoming or coming out toward manifestation. All of the finer forces of nature such as electricity and the other moving elements of creation are divisions and mediums in which and through which Prana works.
15. When the human body or any material form disintegrates it goes back into Prana, first into the various forms of energy and thence back into Universal and primal force. If Prana were constantly received into the whole being of man, the flesh would be eternally quickened, or it would become more and more animated, more and more alive, and the last enemy would be There are those who overcome old age and death with or through an understanding of Prana right along. They rebuild the body with the Pranic influence. This happens in a slight degree every time one goes to sleep or rests but, when one adds conscious attention to the Pranic Presence, completely relaxes in mind and body, the attention breathes the ever-present Prana into and through his whole being; therefore, the greatest degree of renewal of mind and body is attained.
16. You see, intelligence is the primal attribute of being and the activity of consciousness is Prana, or vital force of creation, and substance is the form through which both act. Intelligence, Life, and Substance are the trinity of elements in the first cause as defined by the Western world. Intelligence is its KNOWING aspect. Life is its QUICKENING or vital aspect. Substance is the aspect which has the capacity of FORM. Prana is usually used as embracing both the substance and life elements and they are the vehicles or mediums through which intelligence moves to direct and determine the created
17. This primal intelligence, life, and substance are just God Almighty in action but it must become a conscious fact in every individual. It becomes selective to the individual and is of conscious use to the individual as the individual selects it.
18. The Cosmic Ray of which Millikan speaks is a Pranic wave. They will find nine divisions of the Cosmic ray which are all definitely Pranic in origin. They can be of great benefit if properly used. These nine rays are the emanations of Pranic energy, just as the seven colors are emanations of a ray of pure white light. Creation is only the splitting up and recombining of influences or energies, as we call them, emanating from the Pranic ethers.
19. When we go back to the center of anything, it is pure light and this is the inner light of which Jesus spoke. It is the light of Illumination. The greater man’s spiritual awakening, the greater the light. Have you not noticed that one awakened in joy has a radiance about his countenance? When one is spiritually awake, the light is correspondingly bright. That is why artists paint Jesus with a halo of light about him. Light is life. This is the “light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world” and it is the fire through which the initiates of the occult schools had to walk in order to be eligible to illumination. This light is all about us and is an emanation of the Pranic It is the light which is the beginning and the end of creation. When you can live in the light, as you now live in your sense of body, you will be immortal for the light never dies. I was noticing a report of some kind of light shining in Transjordan although archaeologists were perfectly sure that there was nothing there of an old civilization. Those following the light found and broke into archaeological remains very quickly. That has happened in Persia as well. We have not yet seen it in the Gobi. There is a history, however, that the light always showed in that country. We have a complete history, in fact, that that light showed over the first tower of Babel, a tower that was built of actual stone in the form of a step-pyramid. However, this light is seen only through the Single Eye, such devoted attention that all the senses and faculties of man are pointed in one direction and that direction must be toward what the Scriptures call the “light of His countenance.”
20. This is the light of the New Jerusalem spoken of by John in Revelations. John knew well how to use the Pranic Light. He extended his vision to take in all of it. It is, of course, much beyond what we know as clairvoyance, though clairvoyance is a phase of it and is really a step backward in evolution. It is like living in the borrowed light from another when the true light, the light that lighteth every man, is within
21. We must go forward to that Light and the lower senses which hold us back or away from our birthright will let go. The limited activities direct us away from the unfoldment and use of the Pranic Light by the higher sense. The psychic faculties will fall into line and become valuable instruments when the Pranic Light is unfolded. The Pranic light vibrates way beyond the psychic Furthermore, mediumship and so-called psychic development are not steps toward the unfoldment of the direct Pranic Light.
22. Pranic light can always be called upon to overcome any degrading forces that oppose it, just as light can be brought into play to dispel darkness. It can be the I AM center. The statement, “I am the force of that Pranic Light and I project It and put it forth as all powerful,” will break that condition of the conflicting forces or voices every time. But it must be the voice of the Christ Self, which is the real I AM within each individual. This I AM is not above you or outside of you but at the very center of your being. That was Jesus’ thought when he said, “I have nothing except that which comes in the Name and through the Power of the ” It involves the highest embodiment of Prana.
23. The transfiguration of Christ was when the consciousness of Jesus was merged into the realization that Intelligence, Life, and Substance were in the last analysis ONE and that One was what he called the Father, or primal cause, like all the various colors of the spectrum returning to a pure ray of white light.
24. There is but one Consciousness, One Principle, One Sense. It is only complicated when we deal too much with differentiations or apparently differing functions and attributes. To deal with the mind as functioning in many faculties is only to further dissipate yourself and draw you further and further away from your source. Behold, our God is With that one thought, or attitude, of Pranic forces always being in operation within as well as about us, we become unified, or one with the whole. John said that that which is without is really within. He carried it right to that great Pranic force which always exists and is always active and this action is the One action throughout all creation and all space.

FOR THE TEACHER

The foregoing lesson received from Mr. Spalding by the India Tour party deals with a subject most vital to every student. It reveals the close relationship which exists in the minds of the Hindoo Scientists of Calcutta University and other Eastern scientists and the religion of the Orient. We are fast approaching the time when walls of difference are to be entirely dissolved and the ultimate union of religion and science will be generally recognized as one and the same thing, though they may often approach a single fact from opposite directions.

Paragraph 1. In the matter of successful living it should be clearly understood that man is not sustained by what he has commonly considered essential. His real supply must necessarily be contained within the movement of forces which operated to create him in the beginning. Within these forces are all the elements out of which the visible creation is formed and it is only through a conscious contact with these original forces that man may hope to successfully live life to its fullest possibilities.

Paragraph 2. The “Cosmic breath” is not a matter of physical breathing but it is a matter of conscious contact with the Life forces that move in the spiritual ethers about us. Breathing is receiving into your nature the elements within the air, and then exhaling what the body does not assimilate. Spiritual breathing is receiving into the consciousness of man that which is within the spiritual ethers and that is brought about through the quiet and deep attention of the mind. People often relate it to physical breathing, but it should not be confused with this process. Whatever you look upon, you receive impressions concerning it into the consciousness and everything you do is an expression of what thus impresses you. By attention to the spiritual ethers you draw their elements into your being and your whole life’s expression is quickened and increased because of the very nature of that which occupies your attention.

Paragraph 3. One should contemplate the permeating presence of all the forces of Being until he becomes as conscious of these forces as he is now conscious of form. This is the secret of developing unlimited power or mastery.

Paragraph 4. Pranic breath is not something mystical or difficult and does not require a lot of instruction. One easily and readily absorbs the sunshine for it is the nature of sunlight to penetrate all objects upon which it shines. More penetrating is the vital energies of the Spiritual ethers. Relaxed, quiet attention is the secret.

Paragraph 5. Physical tension is a contraction of the flesh caused by mental contractions. Mental contractions are caused by studying the apparent limitations of form and environment. A wider view of life frees the mind which in turn frees the body. Give your whole being a good pranic airing every day and watch the increase in every capacity of your being.

Paragraph 6. Suspended animation is not a matter of merely stopping the processes of bodily functions. It is identifying one’s self with a superior action that meets all the requirements of the physical being; then the so-called normal functions are not necessary. The greater always supersedes the lesser and fulfills the needs of the lesser. Do not try to stop eating or breathing or cause the heart to stop. Apply yourself to the Divine presence until you find it quickening your entire being.

Paragraph 7. Vitality or living energy is not the result of food or breath. It is the activity of the life force of the Universe re-animating the being of man.

Paragraph 8. Spirit is the activity of the entire creative machinery of the Universe; it is God in action. This action involves all the elements within the nature of God and, therefore, contains all the elements involved in creation.

Paragraph 9. Death and decay is only a lack of animation from the source of one’s being as is failure and poverty.

Paragraphs 10 and 11. The Universal Cause knows what it is doing and it knows what you should be doing to fulfill its purposes. Constant attentiveness to all the activities of the Spirit is to know and to have the power to do.

Paragraphs 12 and 13. Light is life, but there are higher forms of light just as there are higher forms of ether and energy. Only the individual who practices the Presence of God can know exactly what that light is like, but one who is given to deep meditation often catches a glimpse of it.

Paragraph 14. True clairvoyance—clear vision—is not seeing shapes and forms but is that awareness of mind that sees and knows the pure action of Spirit.

Paragraph 15. Do not wait to do what you call overcoming before you feel worthy to enter the path that leads to illumination. Go into the light and let it burn away that which is false. Drop your faults, diseases, undesirable conditions. Face the light and these conditions are not.

Paragraphs 16 and 17. Pranic light, or Spiritual light, is not something difficult to obtain any more than is physical light. It is always moving toward you and works as quickly through your highest ideals or least needs with infinite swiftness just as physical light flashes instantly through any opening large or small.

Paragraph 18. Reducing everything to oneness simplifies the entire matter of living and spiritual progress.

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