[Advaita-l] Qn. on prANAyAmam in sandhyAvandanam

[Sankaran Aniruddhan]

namaste,

I believe other traditional ratios are 1:2:1 or 1:3:1. I have not been 
taught a specific relative duration, but we do recite a mantra during the 
pranayama, and I have been told which parts of the mantra should be recited 
during puraka etc. Maybe the relative durations for reciting work out to be 
the same as the traditional ratio.

puraka: Om bhuh...
kumbhaka: gayatri mantra (tatsavitur...)
rechaka: Om Apo jyoti...

Aniruddhan

Sruti smRti purANAnAm Alayam karuNAlayam
namAmi bhagavatpAda Sam.karam lokaSam.karam

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Amuthan Arunkumar R" <aparyap at yahoo.co.in>
To: <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 8:42 PM
Subject: [Advaita-l] Qn. on prANAyAmam in sandhyAvandanam


> namo nArAyaNAya !
>
> Dear group members,
>
> I have a question regarding the prANAyAmam that is a
> part of the sandhyAvandanam. I was taught to breathe
> in thru' the left nostril (pUrakam), retain it
> reciting mentally the prANAyAma mantra thrice
> (kumbhakam) and then breathe out thru' the right
> nostril (recakam). But as I am given to understand,
> the duration of the pUrakam, kumbhakam and recakam
> stand in the ratio 1:4:2, in that order (I remember
> reading this in Sandilya upanishad, which deals in
> detail with ashTAn.ga yogam). But in the prANAyAmam
> used in sandhyAvandanam, I don't remember being taught
> any specific relative duration for the pUrakam or
> recakam or for that matter even kumbhakam (other than
> the duration in reciting the prANAyAma mantra thrice).
> I'd be extremely thankful if someone can help me in
> this aspect, and give details regarding the proper
> (traditional) practice of prANAyAmam in
> sandhyAvandanam.
>
> hari sarvatra,
> aparyAptAmr.ta
>
> =====
> Amuthan Arunkumar R,
> Department of Aerospace Engineering,
> Indian Institute of Technology Madras.