[Advaita-l] Tattvabodha of Adi Sankaracharya - 17

[H S Chandramouli]

Namaste Raghav Ji,

You may like to take a look at the Madhu Vidya Concept advanced in the
Upanishads. Following link could be seen.

<<
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/118301/10/10_chapter%204.pdf
 >>

It may be the answer you are looking for.

Regards

On Wed, Jul 22, 2020 at 2:39 PM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Kartik ji
>
> In the tradition the five aspects of PrANa, viz.,  prANa, apAna, vyAna,
> samAna and udAna are sUxma meaning not directly perceptible by the senses
> being part of the rajo-amshaH of the five tanmatras which are subtle.
>
> The air we breathe on the other hand is regarded as a sthUla bhUta (gross
> element) and is derived by grossification of the tanmatras.
>
> So I understand the five prANa-s to be the five powers which keep the body
> physiology ticking in an intelligent, integrated way.
>
>  Such a working of the body cannot be fully explained using the old physics
> which imagined atoms etc., to be like billiard balls following
> well-understood laws. But unfortunately most doctors and medical
> researchers today are still stuck with 19th century physics in their
> assumption that simple laws of molecular chemistry can explain away
> everything about the body.
>
> The traditional postulate of prANa in sAMkhya and vedAnta darshanas is the
> first major divergence that vedic traditions have with modern science. When
> it comes to the other still more inner koshas of manas, buddhi etc., they
> are even more divergent with modern reductionistic understanding of nature
> and the human being.
>
> Since prANa represents that first point of divergence, I was examining the
> idea. You may note that the next significant divergence is the denial of
> the need to postulate anything like chidAbhAsa. In other words, for
> reductionist science there is nothing special about the physical
> configuration of the brain and the nerves etc., which make the physical
> entity capable of manifesting chidAbhAsa while a chair or a stone cannot do
> so. That distinction is denied by science while bhagavatpAda accepts that
> while both the human organism and a stone are both (jaDa) matter, still,
> just as a mirror/polished surface has a special capacity to reflect light,
> the human upAdhi although material, still has something special about it
> that allows it to catch the reflection of all-pervading Chit.
>
> Om
> Raghav
>
>
> On Sun, 19 Jul, 2020, 9:06 AM S Jayanarayanan via Advaita-l, <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> >  Raghav Kumar Dwivedula raghavkumar00 at gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > > Namaste Kartik ji
> > >
> >
> > Namaste.
> >
> > > What is the contemporary understanding of Prana?
> > >
> > > The question is valid since prANa as the vital air or life force is
> > > accepted by most Indian darshanas like sAMkhya and yoga etc. This
> implies
> > > it was a matter for anumAna pramANa or inference. We do not need to
> > invoke
> > > shruti to establish the vyAvahArika entity called prANa. If that is
> > > accepted, then we have the following matter to ponder.
> > >
> > > Modern Science too uses various types of inferences and denies the
> > > observable existence of anything called prANa. They invoke occams razor
> > > (the principle of parsimony, gaurava-doSha-rAhityam) to negate the need
> > to
> > > postulate prANa.
> > >
> > > Can we advance arguments to assert the existence of prANa?
> > >
> >
> > Maybe I'm missing something here, because "prANa" is simply the air that
> > one
> > takes into one's body by breathing in. It is believed that if one can
> > control
> > the rhythm of this breathing, the control of one's mind becomes easy.
> This
> > is
> > something that is "realized" by the practice of prANAyAma.
> >
> > Hence I don't see any reason to elaborate on the *existence* of prANa.
> >
>
>
>
> > > I have heard of arguments from 'negative entropy' etc. I do appreciate
> > that
> > > when we explore the scientific explanations of the life pricess, we
> > should
> > > not reduce prANa to another physical entity. That would be
> > self-defeating.
> > > Rather we look for physiological or life processes which cannot be
> > > explained away merely with a materialistic paradigm of the universe.
> That
> > > would atleast make some space for postulating prANa.
> > >
> > > For example some leads might be from photosynthesis being not entirely
> > > explainable using simplistic 19th century molecular chemistry based on
> > > billiard ball materialism. As in...
> > > https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180521131756.htm
> > >
> > > Om
> > > Raghav
> > >
> > > On Tue, 14 Jul, 2020, 12:51 AM S Jayanarayanan via Advaita-l, <
> > > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > > (Continued from previous post)
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > 2.5.2 The Vital Air Sheath - prANamaya koSa
> > > >
> > > > prANamayaH kaH ? What is the Vital-Air Sheath ?
> > > >
> > > > prANAdyAH pa~nchavAyavaH vAgAdIndriyapa~nchakaM
> > > > prANamayaH koshaH .
> > > >
> > > > prANamaya koSa or the Vital Air Sheath
> > > > comprises Of the five physiological functions
> > > > such as prANa etc. (prANa, apAna, vyAna,
> > > > udAna and samAna), along with the five organs
> > > > Of action such as speech etc.
> > > >
> > >
> >
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