Breath is Life 11 



of breathing have become familiar with the terrr 

 Yoga breathing, yet it is so completely misunder- 

 stood that it oftener excites a smile than serious 

 attention; but this is another instance where the 

 precious pearl truth is in sight, and unseeing eyes 

 confound it with a worthless pebble. 



All the ridicule, misunderstanding, and depre- 

 ciation of this cult are in reality due to the fact 

 that few expositors of Yoga breathing have ex- 

 plained either in their writings or verbally to pupils 

 the rationale upon which it is based. Reticence 

 on this vital point is due to one of two reasons: 

 either ignorance, or the belief that the age was not 

 yet prepared to be entrusted with a Truth of Life 

 which was till recently guarded in India as a most 

 sacred mystery. But in our day and generation, 

 Occidental peoples accept nothing blindly; all must 

 know the "Why?" and "Wherefore?" We 

 find the answer in the profoundly scientific teachings 

 of Hindu physiology, founded upon the inspira- 

 tional truths preserved to us in the Tantrik phi- 

 losophy, and in those sacred Sanskrit writings, the 

 Upanishads. 



Only the arrogant egoism of Western civiliza- 

 tion has made it possible that enlightened minds 

 could read the Upanishads as they have done for 

 years and overlook the significant facts they con- 

 tain with reference to the union of breath with life. 

 These facts are the foundation for the deepest, 



