Pranayama Manages Tendencies of Pranamaya Kosha to Determine Destiny

[In the last lesson] we were considering the annamaya kosha (food sheath) because we are dealing with pranayama. Pranayama… works from the pranamaya kosha (sheath formed of prana) and for the pranamaya kosha. It is not just respiratory breathing…. Therefore, it is called pranayama because of the kosha…. In esoteric physiology it is called pranamaya kosha….

It is imperative that we understand the… pranamaya kosha in relation to the other four koshas…. Last time we saw that the annamaya kosha is our manifestation… that has all of our identity… and identification references….[1] That is the aspect by which we can claim, “I know myself,” and [by which] others also know us. That’s why it is an identity and identification reference. … Our manifestation gives us a functional role in life….

The pranamaya kosha underlies the annamaya kosha. However, it permeates the annamaya kosha as well.

What is this pranamaya kosha? Pranamaya kosha has the entire mapping of our destiny. We are born with a destiny for each life. We come with a our [own] destiny. There is a destiny map, a destiny scheme, given by the pranamaya kosha.

To understand this, I might [ask]…, “Why are we like this…, and not like that?” It is because we have been given a scheme, a map…. [It] regulates our life that is given by destiny. In each life we are born with a destiny. In so far as our human manifestation is concerned, mana yoni (source of drive), when we take birth in human form, we come with a destiny. That is not the case of… subhuman creatures.

The… pranamaya kosha gives us a tendency body. It gives us a scheme of tendencies that regulates our manifestation.[2] The pranamaya kosha is the regulator. It also gives the scheme…, the road map…, the plan, for what we are going to be, [or] manifest in life…, our expressed profile, our expressed identity. That is pranamaya kosha.

The pranamaya kosha is called a tendency body. We are all born with tendencies. We go by our tendencies. Tendencies regulate the conduct of our life. It is very difficult to set aside our tendencies…. We are born with some tendencies, propensities.

The varieties [of tendencies] are enormous. If we [ask] what the human tendencies and propensities are, it’s very difficult to standardize them. There are many bodies of tendencies and propensities.

In yoga psychology, [the tendencies] are described as the shat (six) chakras. What are the chakras? They operate our manifestation…. We are almost slaves of what the pranamaya kosha offers us. We are almost bound to the scheme of pranamaya kosha — except in case of yoga, where you can access this pranamaya kosha.

Pranayama can work on our pranamaya kosha. Therefore…, the pranayama, and pranic practices, can really alter…, or at least modify, our destiny to a great extent. We are not total victims…, or slaves, of our destiny, provided we have some sadhanas (practices) which circumscribe [restrict] the pranamaya kosha.

As we have seen earlier in adhyatma (pursuit of Self) sadhana, there are the gross (sthula), subtle (sukshma), and causal (karana) bodies (sharira).[3] The pranamaya kosha… can help us access the [destiny] with which you have [been born]. By adhyatma sadhana, by the parama-artha (highest means), and by yoga, one can really modify destiny to some extent. Destiny will be, to some extent, handled by yogic practices.

Pranayama has very powerful measures: pranayama dahair (burns) doshan (defects) is what the scripture says. Pranayama can really burn out our defects. So, if we want to work on the tendency body, pranamaya kosha is the only gateway.

The pranamaya kosha has six chakras. Let’s try to understand a little bit about these six chakras that are the tendency bodies. [They are] the anatomy of our tendencies, the structure of our tendencies. What are these tendencies?

Muladhara Chakra — Food, Sleep, Sex, & Fear Tendencies +8.15

Svadishthana Chakra — Individual Tendencies +16.25

Manipuraka Chakra — Food-Generated Tendencies of Mind & Consciousness +22.00

Then comes the Manipuraka Chakra. The Manipuraka Chakra does not have much to do with tendencies. It has to do with our intakes. It refers more to the time and space that we are [now] in. [Within] these food-generated tendencies, food means not only edible food [eaten] at meal time, but all food that [feeds] your senses. You don’t take food for your eyes…, or food for your intelligence at the dining table.

There are so many kinds of food for our mind, intelligence, emotions, senses, psyche, and consciousness. It’s not just our biological being which is fed at the dining table. [There are] so many forms of food that we need, and… have to take. We are exposed to so many things which depend upon… time, space, and situation….

Today’s generation of people have a lot of food coming through the cyber world…. The computer can become a food for modern, contemporary man. This kind of food was not there two hundred or three hundred years ago. Today, children are born with some tendencies for the computer. We see that, for the… newest generation, which has a tendency for computers, [technology] will come sooner or later because we are eating the computer process…, and technology. It is all food that comes to our intelligence… and our senses.

Imagine if we had existed a millennium ago. Then we would not have had… the stimulation to our intelligence and senses that we have today. It was a different era a thousand years back. It depends upon our time and situation.

These are food-generated tendencies. The tendencies come from this life — from what we see. Today, if you see a beautiful car, you start developing a tendency for a limousine. If you see a wonderful gadget, you start developing a tendency for that gadget. This has not come from our past life because the gadget [might] not… [have existed] while we were in our last incarnation.

That car was not there, perhaps, in our last incarnation [because there might not have been any] cars at all in our last incarnation…. [Although] cars became [prevalent] in the 1930s, there are many who are born before the 1930s. So a car tendency cannot have come from the last life. It comes from this life. That is called the Manipuraka Chakra, the food-generated tendency, a wonderful concept that describes… the tendency body in us.

The Manipuraka Chakra is in the abdominal region. Not only our edible food goes to the abdomen. All these foods of every aspect of our psyche, consciousness, and senses go to the belly… to generate tendencies.

Adhyatma Sadhana (Spiritual Practice) Addresses Current Life

We develop certain tendencies which are tendencies of our present life. Almost all of them — very few of them — will be from a past life. Most of them will be from the present life. That is why it is the Manipuraka Chakra, the food-generated chakra. Food is eaten in this life.

Food that we ate in our last life has contributed for our Svadishthana Chakra and Muladhara Chakra.[7] The food that we ate in our previous manifestations have become… inputs for our Muladhara Chakra and Svadishthana Chakra.

However, the food that we are eating today…. [It’s] not just food at the dining table, but every kind of food for our psyche, consciousness, and senses. [The Manipuraka Chakra includes] stimulation… that depends on the present time and space situations.

The Manipuraka Chakra can also be modified. The Manipuraka Chakra needs to be modified in the spiritual process. You can’t say, “I won’t attend to this.” You will have to attend to that also. You will have to reform there, too. You will have to organize that, too. You will have to set it right. You’ll have to… redress those tendencies also. Yoga does it. Adhyatma does it. Spiritual practices do it. That is the Manipuraka Chakra.

Anahata Chakra—Tendencies of the Heart +27.20

Then comes Anahata Chakra. Anahata Chakra are tendencies of the heart. In modern life most of us totally suppress the tendencies of the heart. We prematurely decide on our profession, or lifestyle, at an age when we are not mature. We decide our profession when we are fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen, which is unfortunate. That’s why most of us are messing with the mathematics of life.

We have a passion, a stimulation, so we opt for certain professions. [When] we want to go for that profession which is very lucrative, that has good prospects, we decide our profession in our modern academy. When do we decide on our professional courses in academics? When… we are not really mature, at the tender age of the mid-teens, fifteen or sixteen, we decide, “I will become this. I will become that. I want to become a pilot…, an engineer…, a professor…, a lawyer,” and then carry out that pursuit…. Often it happens in our life that we mismanage [it]. Then, towards the end of life, or when we are in a helpless, hapless condition, we think, “I [chose] wrong.”

Hearty tendencies are those things which are from our heart. [For] example… there might be a well-recognized, and professionally well established…, engineer, doctor, professor or lawyer… [with] a hearty tendency for painting. This is only identified too late in life.

[When] one is disposed to music…, literature…, art…, or painting, [it can be] totally suppressed in the fervor, and tumult, caused by the professional gravities that one selected at an earlier stage of life. One will have… pursued becoming a highly educated professional… and, then, at some stage in life, when this hearty tendency starts surfacing…, he take up the pursuit of music, or some art form. He doesn’t really get any material success, but his heart is content.

Pursuit of Adhyatma Sadhana Yields Contentment of the Heart

[Although] a professional may be inclined towards music, with a hearty tendency towards music, [when] he pursues music, nobody likes to listen to it. It’s awful, but he enjoys his music. He’s not a performing artist. [Although] nobody likes his paintings…, his heart is content by just pursuing it.

One doesn’t have to succeed. One just has to carry out the pursuit. The pursuit gives contentment of the heart. This is so important to identify in one’s life…. Otherwise, the enormous gravities of our professional pursuits will [trample] the tendencies of our heart. Those are the hearty tendencies of the Anahata Chakra… in the heart region….

There are some people who are utter failures in their material life. They don’t get name, fame, money, recognition, or status, etc. However, they are happy people… because they pursue the call of the heart.

The heart says music. They just do music every day, and then they… brim with contentment…. They are not good artists. Nobody likes their art, but they get a lot of bliss, enjoyment, contentment in the pursuit of their art form… because of their hearty tendency. The most important thing about hearty tendencies is that you don’t have to stand out. You don’t even have to succeed….

If you are not successful in professional life, are you happy? You won’t be happy. You must succeed in your professional life to… have happiness. Here you don’t have to succeed, yet you can be happy. Those who overlook this have a famine of contentment. They might be successful in their life. They might be distinguished. They can be celebrities that the whole world recognizes. Name, fame, money, recognition, and… status will come to them. But they will not be content because the heart is yearning for some pursuit such as literature…, art…, painting…, music…, or philosophy….

Sometimes a professional in the material science field has some kind of inclination towards spiritual religious aspects. Unless he carries out that pursuit of dharma (virtue), upasana (worship), or adhyatma (pursuit of the Self), he won’t be content. Name, fame, money, and recognition… don’t give him contentment.

It is very important to cater the tendencies of the heart. Identify them and just carry out the pursuit. You don’t need any success. Just the… pure pursuit. You don’t need anybody’s appreciation. You don’t need anybody’s recognition, but you have your contentment. If life has to be full of contentment, one must cater to these Anahata Chakra tendencies, or the tendencies of the heart.

Most of us totally overlook our tendencies of the heart. We carry out life because of the gravities of materialism…, will, and volition. [Our] resolute discipline… in our own life crushes this lotus…. Hearty tendencies must be nurtured for contentment.

They must also evolve. That’s why, through adhyatma (pursuit of the Self), one can get bliss, ananda…, to an ananta, infinite, extent. It is because of the secretion of contentment from the heart, the hearty tendencies of the heart plexus, Anahata Chakra. Adhyatma will help you identify your hearty tendencies. Then you will be able to nourish them… [to obtain]… contentment in life up to the brim, Anahata Chakra.

Vishuddhi Chakra—Pursuit of Knowledge Tendency +36.00

Then comes Vishuddhi Chakra. The very nomenclature of Vishuddhi Chakra says it’s something to do with purification. The Vishuddhi Chakra is called saraswata (eloquent). Saraswata means acquired wisdom, or the wisdom that one develops in a lifetime. That is why it is saraswata. One carries out a pursuit in that subject matter [even if it’s not] a subject close to his profession. Yet he carries out the pursuit.

I have seen some people in the corporate world that should be dealing only with commerce, trade, and business… who have the inclination to study the dharma shastra (moral texts). They are inclined to start reading profusely. They become quite authoritative in a realm which is not [related to] their professional realm.

Medical practitioners can be quite knowledgeable in dharma, quite knowledgeable in adhyatma [through]… enormous reading about the subject matter. They read a lot. They study a lot. They read and study dharma shastra, yoga shastra, Vedanta shastra. They study… profoundly and become quite knowledgeable in that realm. It’s a knowledge pursuit. Whatever knowledge pursuit you carry out… can be something totally different than your professional pursuit….

Very significantly, if you see the letters of the Vishuddhi Chakra, they are all vowels, sixteen vowels, from a to aha. These are the sixteen vowels [including semi-vowels]. There is there is no literature…, language…, or knowledge pursuit without vowels. All subjects of knowledge…, all literature, [uses] words. Words mean a minimum of one vowel.

As I said the other day, can you utter a word which has no vowel at all…?[8] There is no word without a vowel. As a matter of fact, every word — in whatever realm — invariably has a minimum of one vowel…, [or] multiple vowels.

Saraswata sadhana (practice) means the pursuit of knowledge — scriptural knowledge, theoretical knowledge, knowledge that comes through books, or knowledge that comes through words. All fundamentally require vowels. That’s why the Vishuddhi Chakra has all of the vowels. That is saraswata chakra. That also gives you a lot of contentment. You may not really stand out. You may not really become distinguished. Yet, if you just pursue knowledge…, you get contentment in life. That is the Vishuddhi Chakra.

Ajna Chakra — Will, Volition, & Resoluteness Tendencies +40.00

Then comes the Ajna (Agnya) Chakra. The two-lettered Ajna Chakra in the Bhrumadhya region, between the eyebrows…, gives one will, volition, and resoluteness for any pursuit. Whether professional or non-professional, you need to have will, volition, resoluteness, and decidedness. Otherwise, your pursuit will be in disarray. The circumstances will really spoil your pursuit. You need some kind of resoluteness, decidedness, and will. That is given by the Ajna Chakra.

If the Ajna Chakra is weak, then someone is weak in decidedness, decisiveness, and resoluteness. If somebody is strong in Ajna Chakra, then that strong force will be available. Unless you have a strong force of will, volition, and resoluteness, you will not succeed in any endeavor. The Ajna Chakra gives you that power. You set right that power. You need to set right your determination.

What is the point in being a very determined, resolute, dictator? The whole world will detest you. So we need to reform our resoluteness, decidedness, and decisiveness. It’s not just having it. It must be managed. It must be organized. It must be redressed.

Ajna Chakra kriya (action) access helps us set right our will, volition, resoluteness, etc. They need to be cultured. That’s how we have… decisiveness tendencies in our life. There’s a tendency backing. If we don’t have that tendency backing, then we will not be so resolute, so well-decided….

Pranayama Manages the Chakras — Six Tendencies of Pranamaya Kosha +42.25

The main product of pranayama is the work on our tendency body — to identify the tendencies, shape the tendencies, set right the tendencies, organize the tendencies, manage the tendencies, and do the housekeeping of tendencies.

Just having good tendencies is not sufficient. We have to do the housekeeping. Like in a well equipped kitchen with kitchenware, if the kitchen is a mess then the kitchen apparatus doesn’t come in handy…. Housekeeping will make our kitchen very productive. [Even when] the same resources are available in the kitchen, if everything is a mess, then it is not productive.

Similarly these tendencies are to be identified…, and arranged. There must be a housekeeping…, conservation …, and hospitality process to set them right and make necessary provisions, etc. Yoga does that conservation of the tendency body….

There are six sets of tendencies that even modern psychology doesn’t speak about. They just speak about subconscious tendencies. But there are tendencies behind one’s making. There is a tendency body which is in the anatomy of the six chakras. This is esoteric, not exoteric, anatomy. It will not be visible in any scan, or MRI….

Pranayama Organizes Tendencies

Pranayama does that conservation, hospitality, and housekeeping of tendencies so that they are well set, well organized, and well arranged. If they are well arranged, they work well. If your kitchen is not well arranged, it doesn’t work well. If your office is not well arranged, it doesn’t work well. It might have… every required gadget available…, but if it’s not well arranged, then nothing is handy. Then you will be uncomfortable…. That’s why we set right our office place, our workplace….

If this is the [infrastructure] with which, and… on which we are going to work, we need to set it right. Pranayama does that. That’s why it is on the pranamaya kosha. Therefore, it is pranayama. We need to regulate… the infrastructure of our manifestation, which is pranamaya kosha….

[1]           Last time we saw that the annamaya kosha is our manifestation… that has all of our identity and identification references: See “Annamaya Kosha Fosters Perception & Cognition +29.55,” Lesson 25: Pranayama (Part 3).

[2]           The… pranamaya kosha gives us… a scheme of tendencies that regulates our manifestation: Vasana was translated as tendency in the discussion about vachika kriya. See “AUM Loosens Vasana Granthi (Knots) in Belly, Chest, Head,” Lesson 19: Vachika Kriya.3 5-30-20. Vasana literally means wishing or desiring, but is used in Advaita Vedanta to convey a latent tendency, a seed of desire, that triggers an urge. However, whereas urge suggests a sudden emotional response that lacks discrimination, a tendency can be modified by discrimination. Thus, Prashant will go on to affirm that pranayama practice can modify tendencies. He will also describe these tendencies (formed by the prior prarabdha karma) as flexible responses that adapt to social interactions at the end of “Muladhara Chakra — Food, Sleep, Sex, & Fear Tendencies +08.00.”

[3]           As we have seen earlier in adhyatma (pursuit of Self) sadhana, there are the gross (sthula), subtle (sukshma), and causal (karana) bodies (sharira): See “Needs of Gross & Subtle Bodies +7.10,” Lesson 13: Japa Benefits Subtle Body 5-16-20.

[4]           These basic tendencies, with reference to adhyatma, as yoga points out, are ahara (food), nidra (dreamless sleep), maithunam (sex), and bhaya (fear): The source text compares humans to animals:

ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam cha samanam etat pashubhir naranam | dharmo hi tesham-adhiko vishesho dharmena hinah pashubhih samanah ||

Food, sleep, fear and mating, these acts of humans are similar to animals. | Of them (humans), dharma is the only special thing, without dharma humans are also animals.|| However, a broader interpretation of these basic tendencies can also be applied to microscopic life: nutrition, rest, reproduction, and self-preservation. [Narayana Hitopadesha 25]

[5]            Clinging to existence is that tendency which Patanjali calls abhinivesha: Abhinivesha is a klesha, a primary cause of suffering. See PYS II.9 Abhinivesha (attachment to life) is found even in wise men.

[6]           The Bhagavad Gita [VI.17] says [one] must have regulated food, awakening and sleeping habits (yukta-ahara-viharasya): svadishthana yuktahara-viharasya yukta-cheshtasya karmasu | yukta-svapna-avabodhasya yogo bhavati duhkha-ha ||

Yoga becomes (bhavati) the destroyer of suffering (duhkha) for him who is regulated (yukta) in eating (ahara: all gathered in) and recreation (vihara: moving about), who is disciplined (yukta) in actions (karma), who is moderate in sleep (svapna) and wakefulness (avabodha). [BG 6.17 ]

[7]           Food that we ate in our last life has contributed for our Svadishthana Chakra and Muladhara Chakra: Prashant did not actually say Muladhara Chakra. He said Manipuraka Chakra, but that would have both contradicted his point, and his next statement that affirmed the role of Muladhara Chakra.

[8]           As I said the other day, can you utter a word which has no vowel at all: See”Four Speeches of Adhyatma +19.40,” Lesson 17: Vachika Kriya (Part 1).