Kumbhak – A secret technique to connect with our source

By Amit Saxena   

It was early in the night and he suddenly got up sweating. He had slept late last evening after coming back from his office. He was all alone in the house as he left his family at parental place and came alone to his place of service. It was a village level posting so there was not much to do in evenings, additionally it was a tiring day for him so he slept a bit early.

He was feeling uneasy, so he got up from the bed and started walking in his room.

It was mid night…..he stopped walking and thought of attempting to sleep again so got into his bed. As he was tired, it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.

Sometime later, he again stood up sweating. He was disturbed; he had again seen the same dream that left him so much uneasy that he couldn’t sleep again…. entire night passed like that.

Next day was again a fully loaded day and he couldn’t manage to have a nap during the day. He returned back to his room in the evening, when Sarpanch of that village came to meet him and knocked at the door. He woke up and greeted him. They spent some time in chit-chatting, Sarpanch had brought some home cooked food. They both enjoyed this food.

He was a highly respected person in the entire village, always willing to help villagers even on his cost.

Due to this people were so attached to him that they always wanted to take care of him. They also respected him as he was highly educated person in the village yet was very down to earth. Villagers were glad to have this pious soul in their village. A person who had four Masters degrees in varied disciplines like Arts, Commerce, Statistics and Educations and still ego has not even touched him. He was so down to earth, willing to help at his own cost. A person with human values and full of love for others. He was always ready to help others and hence entire village used to respect him and his words, it was this respect that brought Sarpanch himself to his place.

They both enjoyed the food and after discussing on various social developments, Sarpanch planned to leave. He offered to drop the sarpanch and both of them started walking down the lane towards his house. It was not very far off but they took the long way to reach there. After exchanging pleasantries, he started back to his room. By the time he reached back, it was already dark, so he started preparing his bed for sleeping.

He went to the bed and started reading a novel. In some time, his eyes were heavy and he started feeling sleepy. He kept the novel on his bed side and lied down on the bed.

He slept well for some time until he woke up again, he was completely soaked in sweats and was uneasy. The same dream repeated again. He could not sleep that night also properly.

This routine continued and he was not finding any respite. Somehow, he managed the week days and planned to go back to his native place during weekend, where his parents were living with younger brothers and sister.

He went back to his town and was happy back home. He could sleep well in his house after many sleepless nights. Next day morning, he woke up fresh. It was relief from that dream after so many days. He was so happy that he went for a darshan to Augharnath temple and worshipped Shiv Ling. This is a very famous temple with great historic background in Meerut.

After darshan, he was sitting outside the temple wondering about this dream, when he got an idea to share it with his family. He left the temple to meet his friends and in the evening shared the dream with his family.

They advised him for Pitra Trapan prayog as his mother used to love him most and died early. They met few saints and after those prayog, life was back to normalcy yet sometimes he used to fight with his fear for that dream and finally took a transfer and moved to another place.

Much later, he shared his dream with us. It was really surprising, he used to see that he is in the womb of his mother and just got born. He used to see his head on his mother’s lap and she was caressing for his head. When he was into this feeling then suddenly, he use to realise that his mother is no more alive and when he used to turn she will not be visible there. This sudden realization used to put him in a difficult situation and he used to wake up immediately.

It was really a different dream, that could be interpreted by learned in many ways but he was in a different mood today, as he was sharing this with us. He said, I don’t know why we wish to go back into our mother’s womb? What is so crazy about going back in time to be small kid again?

We were discussing and he was in lighter mood, so he said, I am looking for a way to go back into my origin, where I was about to be created. Don’t know what those moments will mean but I have craze for getting into those moments in a conscious state.

I was listening to his dream, we all loved him. Could sense that he was really looking for answer and must have tried also. So, we kept quite…

 Shri S.C. Saxena

He said, I have met many great saints in my life like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Dhirendra Brahmchari, Guruji Swami Nikhileshwaranand and others. Also worked under their blessings, practiced yog, meditated and consumed great herbs. They all gave me peace but still I am longing for experience of that state.

I could understand that he was asking for a question for the benefit of all and hence could make out that he was looking for a simple technique that could start connecting us back to our origin. Since, I am the eldest son and have been practicing Yogtantra, sadhana etc. He used to accept my words as he had seen these practices, their impact and more importantly the faith of my Gurus on me.

Slowly, very humbly, I uttered…. Yog has a very simple yet divine technique to connect us back with our origin…it helps in getting a view/ experience of our true nature…it’s the very starting point and the very last point of merging back into Mother Nature.

He looked at me, as if he knew that I will open my mouth. His eyes were curious, so he nodded his head…as if asking me to continue…

We know the importance of Sandhya Kaal. This is the state of transition, where we migrate from one state to the other state. These Sandhya kaal are transition times accordingly, when a day culminates into night or Sun transitions from rising heat to reducing or night transforming into a day, etc. Similarly, in other situations also when we move from rise to fall or fall to rise, there is a middle stage of transition…a turning point. The moment we cross the turning point we are on the other side. Similarly, think of a state...when we transitioned from a state where we didn’t existed to a state when we exist…though may be unconscious.

He nodded his head in acceptance.

So, Sandhya are the peak moments of transition that transforms. Therefore, it’s the way to transcend this cycle of day and night. These are those moments in transition state when we could jump out of any cycle of time or life etc. These are thus considered very important hence we perform Sandhya Pujan.

Hmmmm…he was listening

Sandhya could actually help us in jumping out of this life and death cycle to reach a state where we are just aware. This is the state, when we are in pure awareness and we could reach that moment of time when we were just about to be coming to existence…….into that very moment of transition which was between non-existence and our existence.

He was smiling and looking at me with eyes full of blessings………..

We know Yogis have dwelled deep and given us treasures of life. We use these as their gifts of lots of techniques. So, we need to now look for a technique that could help us reach Sandhya state fast and, hence we have to understand a particular dimension of our life force.

Yog identified our life force and named it as Pran. They used Samadhi to understand the processes and techniques involved with Pran. One such Pranic technique is very simple yet very powerful for handling Sandhya transition. It is about getting into another dimension with Pran.

Now, the question is that what could be that simple yet powerful technique and how we could utilize it?

To understand that, let’s explore our respiration cycle. We breathe air in and then push it out, this way the air movement goes into cycles of breathing air in and then out – this is called breathing cycle. The two important components of breathing cycle are Inhaling- Taking air into lungs and Exhaling – Pushing air out of the lungs. This way sucking air and then pushing out this inhaled air continues in cycle.

There are two stages in this cycle where it turns…once when the inhale peaks and turns back into pushing air out or when exhale completes and lungs starts sucking air in…

These are the two states where we are connected. In one state we are back into Self and in other state we are dissolved back into Nature.

Ok, he said.

Humbly shared that when our inhalation completes and exhalation is about to start. In this state abdomen is full of air like an earthen pot used in India for keeping water and called as Kumbh. Hence, this state is termed as Kumbhak.

You will recall our popular saying…

Phuta Kumbh Jal Jal hi samana

This means that when a pot full of water is lowered into river water and if it breaks into pieces, then water contained in the pot also merges back into the river water. This is typically the state when exhalation completes and inhalation is yet to start. In this state all the air has gone out and is merged back into this environment. We become part of this nature…

So, these Kumbhak are the states where we could jump into the True Self… Be one with own self, which is Shunya or merge back into the Universe becoming Purna or complete.

We are blessed to have this technique of Kumbhak – its divine and every other moment we are into Sandhya kaal – a transition state by being in Kumbhak.

Generally, Kumbhak is compared to holding of breath but it’s much more than that, it could take us back into self, it could take us back into our origin or our first transition state. It has energy movements created in us, that could empower us with youth and vigor. 

I paused, it was a total silence. Then we started practicing Kumbhak by activating the first triangle in the abdomen. A short practice that lets us experience Stillness in self, we start slowly slipping into our origin and one day we start witnessing those moments of our coming into being…..

Today, when I recall those rare moments with my father, it leaves my eyes wet. He was an inspiration for my life - A Pitra Guru, who was always a motivator and helped me in exploring my full potential. He always supported me in challenging my limits. He was always a guide, motivator and supported me in times of tests. This article is gratitudeful offering in his holy feet. 

It’s my desire to share more insights on Kumbhak, but may be later in few parts. It’s an ultimate technique used for even storing Ambrosia in our body.