WHAT IS PRANA? Is it some mysterious occult force, the source of miraculous power?
According to Swami Sivananda, ‘Prana is the sum total of all the energy in the universe.’ This is surely something vast! For the yogis the universe is composed of Akasa, the cosmic ether, and Prana, energy. When Prana acts upon Akasa all forms of matter are created. This idea corresponds broadly to that of modern nuclear physics, which regards all matter as energy ‘organised’ in different ways. But our science does not admit (or no longer admits) the notion of ether, at least for the time being.
Prana with a capital P designates the cosmic energy in its entirety, while prana with a small p indicates its manifestations. Thus Prana is undifferentiated universal energy, while prana is the differentiated energy revealed in every possible form. Magnetism is a manifestation of Prana, so are electricity and gravitation. Everything in the universe that moves is a manifestation of Prana; thanks to Prana the wind blows, the earth trembles, an axe falls, an aeroplane takes off, a star explodes, a philosopher thinks. We exist in an ocean of Prana where every living thing is a vortex. Yogis affirm that what characterizes life is its ability to attract prana to itself, to store it up and transform it for influence upon both the inner and outer world.
_ PAULO COELHO
