SCIENCE OF BREATH/PART 1
CHAPTER
I.
SALAAM.
The
Western student is apt to be somewhat confused in his ideas regarding the Yogis
and their philosophy and practice. Travelers to India have written great tales
about the hordes of fakirs, mendicants and mountebanks who infest the great
roads of India and the streets of its cities, and who impudently claim the
title "Yogi." The Western student is scarcely to be blamed for
thinking of the typical Yogi as an emaciated, fanatical, dirty, ignorant Hindu,
who either sits in a fixed posture until his body becomes ossified, or else
holds his arm up in the air until it becomes stiff and withered and forever
after remains in that position, or perhaps clenches his fist and holds it tight
until his fingernails grow through the palms of his hands. That these people
exist is true, but their claim to the title "Yogi" seems as absurd to
the true Yogi as does the claim to the title "Doctor" on the part of
the man who pares one's corns seem to the eminent surgeon, or as does the title
of "Professor," as assumed by the street corner vendor of worm
medicine, seem to the President of Harvard or Yale.
There
have been for ages past in India and other Oriental countries men who devoted
their time and attention to the development of Man, physically, mentally and
spiritually. The experience of generations of earnest seekers has been handed
down for centuries from teacher to pupil, and gradually a definite Yogi science
was built up. To these investigations and teachings was finally applied the
term "Yogi," from the Sanscrit word "Yug," meaning "to
join." From the same source comes the English word "yoke," with
a similar meaning. Its use in connection with these teachings is difficult to
trace, different authorities giving different explanations, but probably the
most ingenious is that which holds that it is intended as the Hindu equivalent
for the idea conveyed by the English phrase, "getting into harness,"
or "yoking up," as the Yogi undoubtedly "gets into harness"
in his work of controlling the body and mind by the Will.
Yoga
is divided into several branches, ranging from that which teaches the control
of the body, to that which teaches the attainment of the highest spiritual
development. In the work we will not go into the higher phases of the subject,
except when the "Science of Breath" touches upon the same. The
"Science of Breath" touches Yoga at many points, and although chiefly
concerned with the development and control of the physical, has also its
psychic side, and even enters the field of spiritual development.
In
India there are great schools of Yoga, comprising thousands of the leading
minds of that great country. The Yoga philosophy is the rule of life for many
people. The pure Yogi teachings, however, are given only to the few, the masses
being satisfied with the crumbs which fall from the tables of the educated
classes, the Oriental custom in this respect being opposed to that of the
Western world. But Western ideas are beginning to have their effect even in the
Orient, and teachings which were once given only to the few are now freely
offered to any who are ready to receive them. The East and the West are growing
closer together, and both are profiting by the close contact, each influencing
the other.
The
Hindu Yogis have always paid great attention to the Science of Breath, for
reasons which will be apparent to the student who reads this book. Many Western
writers have touched upon this phase of the Yogi teachings, but we believe that
it has been reserved for the writer of this work to give to the Western
student, in concise form and simple language, the underlying principles of the
Yogi Science of Breath, together with many of the favorite Yogi breathing
exercises and methods. We have given the Western idea as well as the Oriental,
showing how one dovetails into the other. We have used the ordinary English
terms, almost entirely, avoiding the Sanscrit terms, so confusing to the
average Western reader.
The
first part of the book is devoted to the physical phase of the Science of
Breath; then the psychic and mental sides are considered, and finally the
spiritual side is touched upon.
We
may be pardoned if we express ourselves as pleased with our success in
condensing so much Yogi lore into so few pages, and by the use of words and
terms which may be understood by anyone. Our only fear is that its very
simplicity may cause some to pass it by as unworthy of attention, while they
pass on their way searching for something "deep," mysterious and
non-understandable. However, the Western mind is eminently practical, and we
know that it is only a question of a short time before it will recognize the
practicability of this work.
We
greet our students, with our most profound salaam, and bid them be seated for
their first lessons in the Yogi Science of Breath.
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