Chapter 10 - Mastery of Prana
The conscious apprehension and understanding of the three principal centres of pranic life, Ajna Vishuda (between the eyes and near the thyroid), Manipura (solar plexus), and Muladara (at the base of the spine) form a sufficiently broad basis for an extension of direct action of the will upon the whole ethereal body by means of voluntary, conscious direction of Prana.
In the description of yogic breathing exercises (Pranayama), we shall strongly recommend that attention be concentrated upon the air or breath in inhaling, exhaling and retention. If we push the effort of mental concentration a little further, we shall begin to distinguish between two kinds of perception. One is a purely physical sensation of the air breathed in and the other a sensation which in itself is indescribable, but which will be recognized as soon as it is felt. It is a sensation of something that is not air, although it accompanies air and which is very sensitive to the action of the will, which air or breath is not. This something is Prana. You can, for instance, by an act of will, concentrate Prana in the region of the Ajna Chakra (between the eyes), while the air takes its normal course through the lungs. A special and quite indescribable sensation accompanies this action which, at times, is connected with a visual sensation, that of a deep and luminous violet.
Once you have obtained the first reults, you will find that it is also possible to transfer the accumulated Prana either to the region of Vishuda (near the thyroid, at the base of the neck) or to Anhata (in the region of the heart) or to any other Chakra.
When you have familiarized yourself with the disassociation of air and Prana, you may extend the field of your experiences, for instance in exhaling Prana through the fingers, the top of the head, the eyes, out of the organism.
The advantages of the mastery of Prana are not hard to understand. The voluntary direction of a charge of Prana to any part of the organism increases its voltage, so to speak, and thereby its vitality and consequently its power of self-regeneration. In an exceptionally well trained person, this may be sufficient to prevent or to heal all sorts of illnesses, disharmonious conditions of the body. In less well trained persons, the direction of Prana will become a powerful aid to other treatments.
Prana is probably a radiation of a certain wavelength. When once the length and frequency of this wave have been determined, and possibly even reproduced, then Prana will become the most modern theraputic agent and one of the most powerful ones. Prana, moreover, is a conveyor of the will, which thereby is able to exercise direct action in matters which normally are not subject to it. Even organic reflexes like pain can be controlled in this manner. Experience has proven that violent pain, like that caused by neuralgia or colitis is susceptible to control through the action of the will as conveyed by Prana. It acts like an anaesthetic without its drawbacks. In the same manner, it is possible to exercise a curative influence upon an affected organ. The effect is the same as that of conscious auto-suggestion. It has been proven that perfect mastery of Prana direction makes it possible to project the charge of Prana and will outside the limits of the ethereal body. The power of healing is, in this way, consciously acquired.
Modern medicine is more and more inclined to believe what the masters of Yoga have proclaimed many centuries ago, - that to treat merely symptoms of an illness is most often only exchanging one evil for another, one illness for another. It is taking the symptom for the cause, for instance, to ascribe the origin of a disease to a bacillary invasion. The pranic disbalance which engenders unfavourable conditions for the vital processes, at the same time creates favourable ones for the invasion and development of foreign micro-organisms. The microbes are the beneficiaries of this state of affairs, but they are not its cause. As soon as the respective equilibrium is re-established, the conditions for the survival of these foreign bodies are lacking, and they disappear. This is the explanation of the baccillus killing action of conscious and voluntary Prana direction.
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