Definition of Pranayama.
Pranayama achieves a total control over thoughts. It is not merely controlling one's breathing, the inhaling and the exhaling. It is on the other hand a discipline which helps one to establish a total control over one's own Pran Shakti and magnetic power
Pran and Ether
In his Volume of Raja Yoga, Swami Vivekananda explained that the cosmos is made of two elements called Pran and Ether. The creation was made possible through a harmonious blending of these two elements.
All tangible objects are born of the ether. It was through it that the sun and the moon assumed their forms. The human physique came into existence through the ether. All moving and active objects of the world owe their existence to the ether.
Although the ether is very minute and difficult for anybody to see, the Yogi or Sadhak who succeeds in gaining control over the Pran Shakti will certainly be able to see it.
It was only from ether that the creation was made possible. Whatever one comes to see when the earth is overtaken by the deluge recedes to the ether. Man gets his form and pran that is life from the ether. The ether is all pervasive, so is the Pran Shakti.
Creation is made possible because man is endowed with Pran Shakti. When the pran shakti recedes into the sky, man too does so. Thus the ether and the Pran shakti are interrelated. The ether that man derives his pran shakti which, again ensures his strength, thinking, life etc.
So much so the Indian Philosophy has made it very explicit that each and every human action is controlled by Pran Shakti, and because it is integral to the ether, so only absorption of the Pran shakti in the ether is Pranayama.
It is not at all necessary that the hypnotist should be well versed in all the actions of the Pranayama. However, he is expected to know all about its practical aspects if he wants to know the subtleties of Hypnotism. A fresh and unpolluted air is also a solitary place is also essential for Pranayama. If practiced with deep mental concentration, the Pranayama will certainly develop out spiritual power, with the result we achieve a completion in all sadhanas and may be accepted as a complete man or Yogiraj.
