I would like to have some explanation about these two passages of the Prashnopanishad, from the fifth sloka of the third question: ‘In the anus and the genital organs, the descending breath is established. In the eyes, ears, mouth and nose, the ascending breath. In the middle part, the equalizing breath, because it distributes the food with equality. The seven flames come from Him.’
Yoga, particularly hatha yoga, speaks about two forms or kinds of forces. These two forces are known as prana and apana. Prana has the ascending motion and apana has the descending motion. Therefore, apana mostly resides in the lower organs of the body and prana resides in the upper portion of the body, the eyes, etc. This is the normal behaviour of the pranic and apanic forces, in all living beings, particularly human beings.
This prana and apana should not be confused with the prana and apana which are two of the five prana vayus of the pranic body. According to the activities in the body, there are five forms of pranic forces. They are known as prana, apana, udana, samana and vyana. These five forms of prana are responsible for various functions in this physical body, like digestion and excretion. When a specific prana assumes a particular duty it creates a force, and this force assists the relevant physical system like the hands, feet, digestive system. I am not talking about these five functions.
In the Prashnopanishad, the ascending and the descending breath, or the ascending and descending prana or force, should be known as prana and apana, which is indicated in the hatha yoga texts. The process of equalizing these ascending and descending breaths takes place in the centre of the body, in the nabhi or navel region. This process is known by various names, but mostly they call it equalizing the breath or reversal of the breath.
In the fourth chapter of the Gita there are three verses on this, but the expression is different. There it is said, ‘Sacrifice prana into apana, and apana into prana.’ Sacrifice here has the same meaning, as when you put a little grain into the havan or yajna fire as an oblation. This is a metaphoric expression. It only means that prana and apana should merge with each other. Whether you merge the prana into apana, or merge apana into prana, it means the same thing because in both cases, you will have to reverse the natural direction of prana and apana. The direction of prana is upward, and the direction of apana is downward.
There are certain practices for this, which are indicated in the hatha yoga system, like uddiyana bandha, in combination with jalandhara bandha and moola bandha. By doing jalandhara bandha, you prevent prana from moving upwards, and by the practice of moola bandha you prevent apana from descending to the bottom. By the practice of uddiyana bandha, you suck apana and prana to the centre, because uddiyana bandha creates a process of suction and this affects the behaviour of prana and apana, both.
If you want to try this, I can give you a technique – practise uddiyana bandha where you take a big vessel of pure water and you squat, inserting a tube into your anus like a catheter. Submerge the tube and the lower portion of your buttocks in the water, and then practise uddiyana bandha. You will find that water is being sucked in. This is one of the shatkarmas of hatha yoga. It is called basti, which can be practised with and without water. First you practise with water; this is called jala basti – suction of water into the intestine. This suction can only be done, when the force is changing its direction. When the force is descending you are urinating, defecating, delivering a baby or you are ejaculating semen – this is called the lower or natural tendency of apana. When this force is reversed, ejaculation stops and the water can be drawn in through the anus or through the urinary organ, which is known in yoga as vajroli mudra.
In hatha yoga, there are two mudras related to this practice.
One is called vajroli mudra, and the second one is called sahajoli mudra. Sahajoli mudra concerns females, and vajroli concerns males. You prepare a small catheter of pure silver and then you bend it at the end and insert it into the urinary passage. Then you submerge the catheter in pure water and practise uddiyana bandha and nauli kriya. Practise it once, then raise the catheter and close it with your finger. Wait for a few seconds and then urinate that water which you have sucked in. In this way, the period of retention of water in the bladder is increased gradually from a few seconds to a few minutes. There is a tendency to evacuate because you feel very uncomfortable, but gradually you can overcome that feeling by using your willpower.
After you practise this for a long time, you take another substance called melted butter and follow the same process. Then after that you take a little bit of thick butter, which in India we call melted ghee. It has a greater density than butter. Next you suck oil, amaroli, sesame oil and finally you suck in mercury. When you suck in mercury, keep it in a plate. When you are able to suck the mercury into your urinary system through that catheter, it means you have set a great force in motion now, which has changed its direction.
Vajroli mudra is concerned with the urinary system in males.
Basti kriya is concerned with the excretory system. Sahajoli kriya is concerned with the vaginal or reproductive system in females. This means that these systems – excretory, reproductive and urinary – are the main channels for the apanic flow to move downward. When you are able to reverse your apanic force, then naturally you will come to know that it has really reversed its flow. Therefore, you practise moola bandha to block apana, and jalandhara bandha to block prana. As a result of this suction, the energy, the pranic force and the apanic force move towards each other. As a result of this, seven flames or seven fires are created in the physical body. These seven flames or fires relate to seven metals which are constituents of the body.
In ayurveda and in hatha yoga, it is said that there are seven metals which are constituents or which are mixed into this physical body. These seven metals are gold, silver, iron, copper, tin, lead and mercury and you have them in your body. They are called sapta dhatu in ayurveda and in hatha yoga. Semen is also known as dhatu, because both these systems believe that semen is composed of seven metals, and with each ejaculation you are losing so much of metallic composition from the body.
These seven flames mentioned in the Prashnopanishad are a metaphoric expression for these actual seven metals, which form the constituents of the body.
In India, for the people who do not have control over their sex impulse and who ‘waste’ their energy very regularly, there is a special ayurvedic preparation to replenish the lost quantity of metals. These preparations are called bhasma. Bhasma means ash made out of the metals. There is a way to prepare this bhasma – little ingots, very tiny little pieces of gold are stuffed in an earthen pot and plugged. Like this hundreds of small earthen pots are prepared and they are put into the burning fire. There they are kept for a number of days and finally the fire is removed and these pots are broken and the ash is collected. When these metals are turned into ashes, they are prescribed to these patients and in India many people take it. They will tell you, ‘I am taking swarna bhasma.’ That means golden ash. So you understand what the man is like.
If I go to an ayurvedic doctor and I tell him, ‘Hey, give me basanta kusumakar’. The first question he will ask me is, ‘Are you a sannyasin?ʼ Because that particular preparation is meant for the people who are wasting the natural basic metals in the body. Therefore, semen is also known in Sanskrit as dhatu. Everybody in India believes that a drop of semen is a loss of the metals in the body. Of course modern science has given a detailed analysis of the constituents of the semen, but Indians don’t believe it and I am happy they don’t believe it because science can be wrong as well. Science is not the only representative of the ultimate truth. Experience is more real, more tangible and more reliable and therefore the Prashnopanishad talks metaphorically about the same force which is intended to be centralized in the nabhi. That is called equalization.
August 1984, Geneva, Switzerland The practices described in this satsang originate in the classical Yoga Upanishads. They are to be practised after due preparation and under expert guidance only.