SIR MONIEE MONIER-WILLIAMS* 13 



According to Swedenborg,* thought commences and 

 corresponds with respiration : 



" When a man thinks quickly his breath vibrates with rapid 

 alternations ; when the tempest of anger shakes his mind his 

 breath is tumultuous ; when his soul is deep and tranquil, so 

 is his respiration." And he adds: "It is strange that this 

 correspondence between the states of the brain or mind and 

 the lungs has not been admitted in science." 



The Hindu belief certainly is that deep inspirations of 

 breath assist in concentrating and abstracting the thoughts 

 and preventing external impressions. But, more than this, 

 five sorts of air are supposed to permeate the human body 

 and play an important part in its vitality. The Hatha-dipika 

 says : " As long as the air remains in the body, so long life 

 remains. Death is the exit of the breath. Hence the air 

 should be retained in the body." 



In regulating the breath, the air must first be drawn up 

 through one nostril (the other being closed with the finger), 

 retained in the lungs, and then expelled through the other 

 nostril. This exercise must be practised alternately with the 

 right and left nostril. Next, the breath must be drawn 

 forcibly up through both nostrils, and the air imprisoned for 

 as long a time as possible in the lungs. Thence it must be 

 forced by an effort of will towards the internal organs of the 

 body, or made to mount to the centre of the brain. 



The Hindus, however, do not identify the breath with the 

 soul. They believe that a crevice or suture called the 

 Brahma-randhram at the top of the skull serves as an out- 

 let for the escape of the soul at death. A Hindu Yogi's skull 

 is sometimes split at death by striking it with a sacred shell. 

 The idea is to facilitate the exit of the soul. It is said that 

 in Tibet the hair is torn out of the top of the head, with the 

 same object. 



In the case of a wicked man the soul is supposed to escape 

 through one of the lower openings of the body. 



The imprisonment of the breath in the body by taking in 

 more air than is necessary for respiration, is the most im- 

 portant of the breath exercises. It is said that Hindu 

 ascetics, by constant practice, are able by this means to 

 sustain life under water, or to be buried alive for long 

 periods of time. Such feats of endurance would be wholly 

 impracticable in the case of Europeans. It seems, however, 

 open to question, whether or not it may not be possible for 

 human beings of particular constitutions to practise a kind of 



* Quoted in Colonel Olcott's Yoga Philosophy, p. 282. 

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