the Equinox - The Hermetic Library

84
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-Gîta” 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 and unwandering
gaze.
When these posture have been in some way mastered,
the aspirant must combine with them the exercises of
Prânâyâma, which will by degrees purify the Nâdi or nervecentres.
These Nâdis, 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 Sushumnâ,† the last of
which is called “he most highly beloved of the Yogis.”
Besides practising Prânâyâma he should also perform one
* Besides the 72,000 nerves or veins there are often 101 others mentioned.
These 101 chief veins each have 100 branch veins which again each have 72,000
tributary veins. The total (101 + 101 × 100 × 100 × 72,000) equals 727,210,201. The
101st is the Sushumnâ. Yoga cuts through all these, except the 101st, stripping
away all consciousness until the Yogi “is merged in the supreme, indescribable,
ineffable Brahman.” Also see “Gheranda Sanhita,” p. 37. The Nâdis 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 Nâda.
† The Sushumnâ 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 Ð fallÒj. For
further see “The Canon,” p. 119.