Satsangatve nissangatvam nissangatve nirmohatvam, nirmohatve niscalatattvam niscalatattve jivanmuktiH.
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Upadesa Sara

Sloka 11

The Source of Power

 What is the relation between the breath and the mind? It is answered thus:

cittavayavas-citkriyayutah
sakhayor-dvayi sakti-mulaka.

 

cittavayavas – the mind and the vital airs;    citkriyayutah – are endowed with knowledge and activising force; sakhayor-dvayi – (they are) the two branches; sakti-mulaka – the root cause of energy

 

The mind and the vital airs are endowed with knowledge and activising power respectively. These are the two branches of the one basic power (of the Lord).

 

 The pranas and the mind are capable of functioning because they are endowed with Consciousness. But they have different powers. The pranas have the power of activising or energizing (kriya sakti). The mind has the capacity of knowing (jnana sakti). The senses perceive the objects and the mind recognizes, knows, or understands them. The mind cannot energize itself or the body. The root of both the powers is ‘Maya’ which is the power of the Lord. Hence Ramana Maharshi explains here that the pranas and the mind are like two branches of the same tree. The source of power for both is the same and hence they are inter-related. This relation can be clearly experienced by each one of us. When our mind is agitated by thoughts of passion, anger, or fear, our rate of breathing increases, and our breath gets heated up. When the mind is somehow quietened, our breathing too becomes normal. Such experiences clearly show us the close relation between pranas and the mind. Therefore, ‘pranayama’ can help in controlling the mind even though the result is not everlasting.

In the method of prana-viksana – observation of the breath, we observe the inflow and outflow of breath without analyzing, interpreting, or judging. The mind gets a preoccupation and no associated thoughts of likes and dislikes arise and so it gets quiet and concentrated.

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