# Class Nine **1) Master Swatmarama gives us “the secret of time,” saying “time is held by the sun and moon, making it into night and day.”  Explain this in terms of the inner channels, and their effect on our outer world.** Again, our body originally forms around the pattern of the inner channels; for example, the reason that we have two nostrils in our nose is because they have formed around the upper termination points of the two side channels, the ida and pingala. Our outer world forms too around the pattern of the channels; here, for example, the pattern of the West-Side Highway and FDR Drive, with Fifth Avenue running down the middle, is (for those who live in Manhattan) forming around the three principal channel But it goes further than that: Even the heavenly bodies of the moon and sun themselves are forming around the two side channels.  The alternation of the light of the moon and sun is a reflection of the alteration of the energies within the channels—the cycle of a woman’s menstruation is not caused  by the moon, it is causing the moon. The accumulation of the days caused by this alternation ends our lives: we get old and die.  If we can bring the winds out of the side channels and into the central channel, then “time is devoured by the central one”: our body turns into immortal light, and our outer world in turn transforms to paradise. **2) Give the Sanskrit names for the three principal inner channels as they appear in Master Swatmarama’s discussion of time.  Include roots and related English words.** For the name of the pingala, or our right-hand channel—the one which carries angry thoughts and has a hot, red color—Master Swatmarama gives the name of the sun: surya (su#rya).  This is derived from the Indo-European root sahwel, which has come into English with the words helios, solar, and sun. The ida, our milky-white, cool, right-hand channel, is then called the moon, or chandra cNÔ.  This derives from the Sanskrit root √chand cNdœ, meaning to shine.  Related English words are candle, incandescent, and incense. The name for the central channel given in this verse is sushumna su;uça.  The first part of this word is a repeated su and su, with su meaning good, and derived from and Indo-European root esu, which also means good.  This root is found in the English words euphony, euthanasia, and eurhythmics. The last part of the word, mna, comes from the Sanskrit word for mind: manas.  This derives from a root √man mn! , meaning to think, and is found in the English words mental and mind. Together, the whole combination means thinking very well, meaning kind or benevolent.  This is believed to be related to the word hymn, or a song of benediction.  Sometimes thus the central channel is known as the singing channel, where we hope to have the inner winds sing free. Sushumna also has another meaning in ancient Sanskrit, as one of the seven principal rays of the sun, and thought to supply light to the moon.  The central channel is thus energetically and geographically halfway between sun and moon. **3) What does it mean when Master Swatmarama says that, of all the 72,000 channels, only the central one is of any importance?** This is a reference to the process of laya, or dissolution, where the side channels and all the associated sub-channels withdraw into the central channel, reducing our channels to one.  This process triggers the transformation of the body into light. **4) Master Swatmarama refers to the middle channel as “the power of Shiva.”  Give the Sanskrit and Tibetan words for “Shiva” here; stating the roots and related English words for the Sanskrit, and explaining how these relate to the goal of yoga.** The Sanskrit word for Shiva here is Shambhu zaMÉu , which has two parts: sham and bhu.  Sham means peace, and comes from the root √sham zm! , meaning to be quiet.  Related English words are calm and quiet, reflecting an old initial k, as in kshama (patience). Bhu here means a source; it comes from the root √bhu ÉU , meaning to be.  Related English words are be and physics. Together, the two mean Source of Peace, which is reflected in the Tibetan, dejung  0+{-8Av$-k , a common personal name.  De is short for dewa, or happiness; while jung here means jung-kung, or source. The point is that, when we finally bring the winds into the central channel, then we attain both the peace of seeing emptiness, stopping the mental afflictions, and serving all other beings. **5) Master Swatmarama says that “after you have mastered the inner winds and kindled the inner fire, the central one awakens, and you can enter it without any problem.”  How does this reflect the proper order of our yogic practice?** The point here is that we must proceed in certain steps.  First we master the inner winds, by concentrating on our yoga asanas and related practices.  Then we kindle the inner fire with a combination of joining upper and inner, left and right winds, both through physical, visualization, and moral practices.  This brings wind beginning to crack the central channel: at first we get physically more healthy, young, and trim; then we get signs such as the breathing stopping spontaneously; and finally we see emptiness directly.   The phrase about “without any problem” holds the implication that, if we do not follow a gradual order under the guidance of an authentic Teacher, then we will be susceptible to problems such as disorders of our winds and emotions. **6) Master Swatmarama says that we achieve “the state devoid of thought when the inner winds move into the central one.”  Explain what it means to be “devoid of thought.”** Again, the expression “devoid of thought” does not refer to a state in which we have no conscious thought at all.  What it does mean is that we no longer have any dualistic thoughts, in the sense that what we think we see fails to match what is really there.  That is, we no longer perceive things as coming from their own side; instead, we see them as anything but coming from their own side.   At this point we are devoid of any wrong way of perceiving things. **7) Master Swatmarama says that “anyone who restrains the winds restrains the mind, and anyone who restrains the mind restrains the winds.”  What famous two principles of the Tibetan lineage of the mahasiddhas (high yogis) are reflected in these words?** The first principle of the Tibetan lineage reflected in these words is lung sem jukpa chikpa: The inner winds and our thoughts always ride in tandem, meaning that where one goes, the other will go—just like a rider upon their horse (the thoughts being the rider, and prana the horse).  If prana enters the right-hand channel, then we feel thoughts related to anger; and if we start to feel thoughts of anger, then prana is forced into the right-hand channel. This leads to a second principle of the Tibetan lineage, which is chi-nang tap la tsowor bey: We must work from both the inside and the outside.  A true yogi takes advantage of the fact that the winds and thoughts run in tandem, by working at controlling prana and thoughts through practices which are both external and internal. In this case, we might concentrate on a seated spinal twist to the left, which would stretch the right-hand channel and allow prana to flow out of it, thus reducing our anger.  At the same time we might undertake some meditations which increase our patience, which sucks prana into the central channel, out of the right.  We win both ways. **8) Master Swatmarama, speaking to the connection between our thoughts and the inner winds, points out that the inner winds are thus a cause of thought itself.  He gives though another, deeper cause.  Name this cause; describe it briefly; and give its Sanskrit name, along with the root and related English words.** Master Swatmarama very profoundly states that the real cause behind our thoughts is our mental seeds: the seeds that are planted by how we take care of others.  Whether or not we can succeed in any level of yogic practice all depends upon whether we make it a way of life to constantly plant these seeds. The Sanskrit word for mental seed here is vasana vasna.  This comes from a root √vas vs! , meaning to dwell.  The English was and were are related. **9) Still speaking to the connection between the winds and thoughts, Master Swatmarama says that “wherever the mind is absorbed, there too are the winds absorbed.”  Explain what “absorbed” here means, with reference to the Tibetan lineage’s presentation.** This is a reference to a three-part process of the winds coming into the central channel; what in Tibetan is called shuk ne tim sum bo#=-#,=-*m1-#=v1k: meaning that we seek to get the winds (1) to enter; then (2) to stay; and finally (3) to be absorbed within the central channel.  During this process, the actual transformation of the body into light is happening. **10) The yogi Swatmarama makes a cryptic statement that “If you can kill them, then you can live; if you can chain them, then you can fly into the empty sky.”  Explain, while also clarifying who “them” is, giving the Sanskrit word, its root, and related English words for the one which we have not yet seen in our classes.** This refers to a statement by Lord Shiva to his spiritual partner Parvati, where he says that we must still the movement of the “quicksilver fluid” and the wind.  This is a reference to the subtle energy behind the external sexual fluids of the body: an essential prana which is exceptionally sensitive and powerful, and which can be utilized with proper training to affect the mind in a very direct way, inducing it to the direct perception of emptiness. To “kill” this quicksilver fluid, and our thoughts, means to direct them into the central channel and quell their tendency to wander into the side channels, causing ignorant liking, ignorant disliking, and ignorance itself.  Within the central channel, these powers then complete the three-fold process of entering, staying, and being absorbed. “Flying into the empty sky” here refers to the never-ending direct perception of emptiness by a fully enlightened being, who has also achieved an undying body of light as the winds rest and dissolve within the central channel. The Sanskrit word for quicksilver fluid here is rasa (rasa), which has many other meanings, including taste, semen, condition, nutrition, play, sensual pose, juice, and essence.  The English real and reify are related, through the Latin res, meaning something with essence, or a thing.