The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

THE EQUINOX greatest length of time comfortable is the correct one to adopt; but the head, neck and chest should always be held erect, the aspirant should in fact adopt what the drill-book calls “the first position of a soldier,” and never allow the body in any way to collapse. The “ Bhagavad-Gita” upon this point says: In a pure place, established in a fixed seat of his own, neither very much raised nor very low . . . in a secret place by himself... . There . . . he should practise Yoga for the purification of the self. Holding the body, head and neck erect, immovably steady, looking fixedly at the point of the nose with un- wandering gaze. When these postures have been in some way mastered, the aspirant must combine with them the exercises of Pranayama, which will by degrees purify the Nadi or nerve- centres. These NAdis, which are usually set down as numbering 72,000,* ramify from the heart outwards in the pericardium; the three chief are the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna,7+- the last of which is called “the most highly beloved of the Yogis.” Besides practising Pranayama he should also perform one * Besides the 72,000 nerves or veins there are often 101 others mentioned. These tor chief veins each have 100 branch veins which again each have 72,000 tributary veins. The total (101 + 101 x 100+ IOI X I00 X 72,000) equals 727,210,201, The rorst is the Sushumna. Yoga cuts through all these, except the r1o1st, stripping away all consciousness until the Yogi “is merged in the supreme, indescribable, ineffable Brahman.” Also see “Gheranda Sanhita,” p. 37. The Nadis are known to be purified by the following signs: (1) A clear skin. (2) A beautiful voice. (3) A calm appearance of the face. (4) Bright eyes. (5) Hearing constantly the Nada. + The Sushumna may in more than one way be compared to Prometheus, or the hollow reed, who as the mediator between heaven and earth transmitted the mystic fire from the moon. Again the Mahalingam or 6 gaas, For further see “ The Canon,” p. 119. 84