Whether it is tantra or Yoga or Tao, all these ancient spiritual streams emphasise on one thing and that is to be in tune with the breath if we have to embark on an inner journey and its deeper realms of consciousness. In Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Devi Parvati asks: “O Shiva, what is your reality? What is this wonder-filled universe? What constitutes seed? Who centers the universal wheel? What is this life beyond form pervading forms? How may we enter it fully, above space and time, names and descriptions?”
Shiva replies: “Radiant One, this experience may dawn between two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just before turning up (out) — the beneficence.” Thus, Lord Shiva gives some powerful methods of breathing to start with. He tells her that this way, one can experience the fundamental nature of this universe and can go beyond the space and time to understand this transcendental truth. And after this he gives three more techniques of breathing in answer to her questions.
The meditation on breath differ when you are following a certain path, such as Yoga, Vipassana or Tao, but the thread, the sutra of breathing, remains the same. The breath plays a pivotal role in the transformation of a seeker and his expansion of consciousness. Gautama, the Buddha said: “Be aware of your breath as it is coming in, going out — coming in, going out. Be aware. When the breath is going in move with it, and when the breath is going out move with it. Do simply this: going in, going out, with the breath.”
This one technique has worked wonders for millions of people in the Asian countries The whole of Asia tried and lived with this technique for centuries. Thousands of seekers attained self-realisation through this single technique. People experience immense peace and such wonderful spaces during their practice.
What is the secret? Osho explains: Your breath is a bridge between you and your body. Constantly, breath is bridging you to your body, connecting you, relating you to your body. Not only is the breath a bridge to your body, it is also a bridge between you and the universe. The body is just the universe which has come to you, which is nearer to you. Your body is part of the universe. Everything in the body is part of the universe. It is the nearest approach to the universe.
Breath is the bridge. If the bridge is broken, you are no more in the universe. You move into some unknown dimension; then you cannot be found in space and time. So thirdly, breath is also the bridge between you, and space and time. One has to ride on the phenomenon of breath with full awareness as Osho points out: Breath has two points.
One is where it touches the body and the universe, and another is where it touches you and that which transcends the universe. We know only one part of the breath. When it moves into the universe, into the body as we know it. But it is always moving from the body to the “no-body,” from the “no-body” to the body. We do not know the other point. If you become aware of the other point, the other part of the bridge, the other pole of the bridge, you will be transformed and transplanted into a different dimension.
Swami Chaitanya Keerti, editor of Osho World, is the author of Osho Fragrance
