Health and mind 3

The 68th Jagadguru of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Jagadguru Chandrashekarendra Swamigal (1894-1994), usually referred to as Paramacharya had said like this in one of his discourses: "Prana is different from Oxygen; When we inhale Oxygen, we also inhale Prana; While Oxygen cannot be stored, Prana can be stored; Prana is spent during when we think; It is spent away totally due to lust, anger, or jealousy (kama,krodha,loba,matschariyam)."

My guess is that prana is the life energy; Of the five elements of nature viz earth, water, fire, air and sky ( prithvi, jumbu, agni (jyothi), vayu, akasam ), the body is made of earth and water (solid and liquid); we drink water; we get earth, water and fire(heat energy, fuel) through food; and we get air (Oxygen, gas) when we breath. Akasam or sky may mean higher or different forms of energy which Science may not have found out so far; it may mean realization of space or space and time in some form to suit us, it may mean store of intelligence, or it may mean the very life, say life energy, itself. I guess some such thing is inhaled along in the form of prana when we inhale Oxygen. Prana may also exist in some other form in our body.

Our scriptures advise us to do pranayama before we get into meditation. Deep breathing quells thoughts and calms the mind preparatory to meditation. Both Pranayama and meditation help us to inhale maximum prana and store it, I guess.

What we normally mean by thinking may actually mean indulging in thoughts. On every issue, each one of us come to conclusion in no time; We may think a bit more to weigh the pros and cons, or to find out whether or not we have left out any important point and such. But, normally we brood over and brood over, and our indulgence saps our whole energy. And more important, on the conclusions we arrive at while in anger, grief or such overwhelming emotions, the actual correct conclusion gets superceded and eclipsed by the conclusions dictated by the emotions, and once the emotions die out, the correct conclsion will emerge. Thus, it is important not to arrive at conclusions on issues when we are engulfed in emotions.

Anxiety, fear, tension, obsession etc sap our energy; Courageous egoless life help us to lead a healthy peaceful life