11-11-45 Morning
Maha Vir Prasad, Chief Engineer, U.P., who has beenstaying here for about twenty days, asked Bhagavan, "I find it said in Maha Yoga that in the beginning of meditation one may attend to the breath, i.e.. its inspiration and expiration, and that after a certain amount of stillness of the mind is thereby attained, one can dive into the heart seeking the source of the mind. I have been badly in want of some such practical hint. Can I follow this method? Is it correct?"
Bhagavan: The thing is to kill the mind somehow. Those
who have not the strength to follow the enquiry method are advised pranayama [?] as a help to control the mind. And pranayama [?] is of two kinds, one of controlling and regulating the breath and the other of simply watching the breath.
Prasad: During meditation I sometimes attain a state
lasting for about fifteen minutes, during which I am not aware of anything and am free from all thoughts. Some have told me that such a state is what may be called yoga nidra [?] and that one should guard against such a state as bad.
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Bhagavan: One should endeavour to get beyond sleep.
(For some reason Bhagavan did not answer further the query put by Prasad). I thereupon advised Prasad to read Crumbs from the Table, where this particular matter is dealt with. Bhagavan also asked us to take a copy of the book and give it to Prasad. We did so.
Evening
A visitor: I don't know what kundalini [?] is.
Bhagavan: Kundalini is one name given by the yogic
people for what may be called the atma sakti inside the body. The vichara [?] school calls the same power jnana [?]. The bhakta calls it love or bhakti [?]. The yogic school says that this power is dormant in muladhara [?] at the base of the spinal cord and that it must be roused and taken through the various chakras on to sahasrara [?] at the top, in the brain, to attain moksha [?]. The jnanis think this power is centred in the heart, and so on.