The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — Pratyahara and Dharana

Vayavi dharana — on air

Gheranda Samhita 3.77

यद्भिन्नाञ्जनपुञ्जसन्निभमिदं धूम्रावभासं परे तत्त्वं सत्त्वमयं यकारसहितं यत्रेश्वरो देवता। प्राणांस्तत्र विलीय पञ्चघटिकाश्चित्तान्वितां धारयेदेषा खे गमनं करोति यामिनां स्याद्वायवी धारणा ॥

Meaning · English

Like a heap of crushed collyrium, smoky in look, this is the air element, made of sattva, joined to the syllable ya, with Ishvara as its god. Let the breath dissolve there and hold it five ghatikas, the mind joined to it. This is the air fixing. It gives those who restrain themselves a going in the sky.

The name comes apart in two. Vayavi means 'of air', from vayu, wind. Dharana means 'holding' or 'fixing', the mind held steady on one object. The text's heading calls it a mudra, a seal. Here that means a practice that closes the mind around one point. The verse gives the object by its marks. Its colour is that of broken collyrium, the black eye-paint, heaped up and smoky, a dusky grey. It is the air element, the tattva beyond the fire of the earlier verse. It is sattvamaya, made of sattva, the tradition's word for what is clear and light. It carries the seed syllable ya, and its deity is Ishvara, the Lord. Then the instruction. Prana, the tradition's name for the life-breath, is drawn there and dissolved into that place. It is held for five ghatikas. A ghatika is an old measure of time, about twenty-four minutes, so five is roughly two hours. The mind stays joined throughout. Attention goes with the breath and does not drift off alone. The text gives a reason: the practice is called the air fixing, and it gives khe gamana, movement through the sky, to those who live by restraint. That is the tradition's claim, stated without a mechanism. The verse sits in a run of five elemental fixings. Each names a colour, a seed, a deity and a duration. Air follows fire in that run.

1. Sit steadily, spine upright, hands in the lap. Close the eyes or let the gaze rest low. 2. Breathe through the nose at your ordinary pace. Hold nothing. 3. Bring to mind the air as a smoky, dusky grey, like a heap of dark powder, and let the breath settle into it. 4. Keep the mind joined to that grey. When it wanders, notice it and return. 5. Stop at the time you set, or sooner if the breath feels strained. 6. To come out, let the grey fade, breathe a few ordinary breaths, and open the eyes slowly.

The text gives no posture for this fixing and no counted breath. What follows is a gentle, short form of what it names. The two-hour hold is not taught here. 1. Sit on the floor or a chair with the spine upright and the hands resting in the lap. The text asks for no particular seat, so any steady one will do. 2. Close the eyes, or let them rest low and soft. 3. Breathe in and out through the nose, naturally, without holding the breath. 4. Bring to mind the air element as the verse paints it: a smoky, dusky grey, like a soft heap of dark powder. 5. Let the breath settle into that colour. As you breathe out, let the breathing grow quieter, as if dissolving into the grey. 6. Keep the mind joined to it. When you notice it has wandered, say 'wandered' to yourself and return to the smoky grey. 7. Stay for the sit you have chosen. Ten minutes is a fair measure. 8. To come out, let the grey fade. Breathe once or twice at your ordinary pace, open the eyes slowly, and rest the gaze on one near thing before you move. The verse names the syllable ya and the deity Ishvara. Those belong to a trained, devotional practice learnt from a teacher, and the short sit above leaves them out. Do not hold the breath long, and never push toward the hours the text names. If the breath feels strained, let it go back to ordinary breathing at once. The practice is one of attention, not endurance.

The body in this sit is mostly still. The spine is held upright by the deep muscles along it, the shoulders and jaw soften, and the hands lie quiet. Natural breathing keeps the belly and ribs moving gently, with no strain on the chest or throat. The breath matters here in a plain way. Slow, even breathing through the nose settles the pace of the body and gives the mind something steady to sit beside. The verse asks for no holding, and a short sit does not need it. The mind does the real work. Choosing one object, here a smoky grey, narrows attention to a single point. The mind wanders, notices, and returns. That return is the training. A colour is an easy object because it asks for nothing and has no story, so there is little for the mind to chase. The tradition gives its own account. The air element is one of five tattvas, and the practice dissolves prana into it so that the mind and breath become one thing. The tradition also says the element carries sattva, the clear and light quality, and that fixing there brings a lightness that it names as movement in the sky. These are the tradition's terms. They are not physiology.

The text names two results for this practice. It calls it the vayavi dharana, and it says the practice gives those who restrain themselves movement in the sky. Gheranda gives no mechanism for this and no description of what it looks like. The verse promises only that. The verses that follow add that it is a supreme mudra that undoes old age and death, that the practitioner does not die by the wind, and that it gives travel in the sky. All of these are the tradition's claims, offered in its own devotional language. A practitioner today will more safely look for a quieter, steadier mind from the sit than for any of them.

A man on a rooftop at dusk watches smoke from a neighbour's cooking fire thin out into the grey sky. His mind, which was racing a moment ago, follows it. That small scene holds the plain sense of the practice: one quiet object, held long enough for the mind to slow. Today's mainstream understanding agrees with part of this. Resting attention on a single simple object, and gently returning when it drifts, is a common way to train focus and to settle a restless mind. Slow breathing through the nose is also known to calm the body in the short term. Nothing here needs a belief in the elements. Other parts have no support. Modern physiology has no counterpart to the air tattva, to prana dissolving into a place, or to a seed syllable. There is no evidence for movement through the sky, and the text's two-hour breath hold is not something a doctor would advise. Long holds can cause dizziness or fainting. The old idea is a map of meditation written in the language of its time, and it can be read that way without mocking it.

This is not medical advice, and a page cannot correct what a teacher can see. Stop if anything hurts or feels strained. The five-ghatika hold in the text is not meant to be followed literally, since a long breath hold can cause dizziness or faintness. Keep the breath natural and never push toward it. People with heart or lung conditions, high blood pressure, or a history of fainting should take extra care. Anyone who is pregnant, or prone to anxiety or panic when attention turns inward, should do the same. In those cases, keep the sit short, keep the eyes open if closing them is unsettling, and speak to a doctor first. The practice with its seed syllable and deity is learnt with a teacher, not from a page.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Agneyi dharana — on fire · Gheranda Samhita 3.75
• Next: Akashi dharana — on space · Gheranda Samhita 3.80
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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