Description of what prana is--and where it comes from

[boydster]

The following is a series of edited exerpts from the book "The Chakras" by Theosophist C.W. Leadbeater. I found it to be very revealing and also very relevant to the topic of New Energy Ways.

I'm curious to know how many of you have read this book or heard this description before?
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Vitality

"We all know the feeling of cheerfulness and well-being which sunlight brings to us, but only students of occultism are fully aware of the reasons for that sensation. Just as the sun floods his system with light and heat, so does he perpetually pour out into it another force as yet unsuspected by modern science, a force to which has been given the name "vitality". This is radiated on all levels, and manifests itself in each realm, physical, emotional, mental and the rest-but we are specially concerned for the moment with its appearance in the lowest, where it enters some of the physical atoms, immensely increases their activity, and makes them animated and glowing.

We must not confuse this force with electricity, though it in some ways resembles it, for its action differs in many ways from that of either electricity, light or heat. Any of the variants of this latter force cause oscillation of the atom as a whole-an oscillation the size of which is enormous as compared with that of the atom; but this other force which we call vitality comes to the atom not from without, but from within.

The atom is itself nothing but the manifestation of a force; the Solar Deity wills a certain shape which we call an ultimate physical atom. It is the will-force of the Solar Deity continually exercised which holds the atom together as such; and when we try to examine the action of that force we see that it does not come into the atom from outside, but wells up within it-which means that it enters it from higher dimensions. The same is true with regard to this other force which we call vitality; it enters the atom from within along with the force that holds that atom together, instead of acting upon it entirely from without, as do those other varieties of force which we call light, heat or electricity.

When vitality wells up thus within an atom it endows it with an additional life, and gives it a power of attraction, so that it immediately draws round it six other atoms, which it arranges in a definite form, thus making a sub-atomic or hyper-meta-proto-element, as I have already explained. But this element differs from all others which have so far been observed, in that the force which creates it and holds it together comes from the First Aspect of the Solar Deity instead of the from the Third.

These globules are conspicuous above all others which may be seen floating in the atmosphere, on account of their brilliance and extreme activity-the intensely vivid life which they show. While the force that vivifies these globules is quite different from light, it nevertheless seems to depend upon light for its power of manifestation. In brilliant sunshine this vitality is constantly welling up afresh, and the globules are generated with great rapidity and in incredible numbers, but in cloudy weather there is a great diminution in the number of globules formed, and during the night, so far as we have been able to see, the operation is entirely suspended. In the night, therefore, we may be said to be living upon the stock manufactured in the course of previous days, and though it appears practically impossible that it should ever be entirely exhausted, that stock evidently does run low when there is a long succession of cloudy days. The globule, once charged, remains as a sub-atomic element, and is not subject to any change or loss of force unless and until it is absorbed by some living creature.

Vitality, like light and heat is pouring forth from the sun continually, but obstacles frequently arise to prevent the full supply from reaching the earth. In the wintry and melancholy climes miscalled the temperate, it too often happens that for days in a row the sky is covered by a funeral pall of heavy clouds, and this affects vitality just as it does light; it does not altogether hinder its passage, but sensibly diminishes its amount. Therefore in dull and dark weather vitality runs low, and over all living creatures there comes an instinctive yearning for sunlight.

When vitalized atoms are thus more sparsely scattered, the man in good health increases his power of absorption, depletes a larger area, and so keeps his strength at the normal level; but invalids and men of small nerve-force, who cannot do this, often suffer severely, and find themselves growing weaker and more irritable without knowing why. For similar reasons vitality is at a lower ebb in the winter than in the summer, for even if the short winter day be sunny, which is more rare, we have still to face the long and dreary winter night, during which we must exist upon such vitality as the day has stored in our atmosphere. On the other hand the long summer day, when bright and cloudless, charges the atmosphere so thoroughly with vitality that its short night makes but little difference.

The vitality globule, though inconceivably minute, is so brilliant that it is often seen even by those who are not in the ordinary sense clairvoyant. Many a man, looking out towards the distant horizon, especially over the sea, will notice against the sky a number of the tiniest possible points of light dashing about in all directions with amazing rapidity. These the vitality globules, each consisting of seven physical atoms, specks charged with that force which the Hindus call prana.

The physical body of man has a certain blind instinctive consciousness of its own, which we sometimes call the physical elemental. It corresponds in the physical world to the desire-elemental of the astral body; and this consciousness seeks always to protect its body from danger, or to procure for it whatever may be necessary. This is entirely apart from the consciousness of the man himself, and it works equally well during the absence of the ego from the physical body during sleep. All our instinctive movements are due to it, and it is through its activity that the working of the sympathetic system is carried on ceaselessly without any thought or knowledge on our part.

While we are awake, this physical elemental is perpetually occupied in self-defense; he is in a condition of constant vigilance, and he keeps the nerves and muscles always somewhat tense. During the night or at any time when we sleep he lets the nerves and muscles relax, and devotes himself specially to the assimilation of vitality and recuperation of the physical body. He works at this most successfully during the early part of the night, because then there is plenty of vitality, whereas immediately before the dawn the vitality which has been left behind by the sunlight is less dense or available. This is the reason for the proverb which says that an hour's sleep before midnight is worth two hours after it. The work of this physical elemental accounts for the strong recuperative influence of sleep, which is often observable even when it is a mere momentary nap."

[daem0n]

very interesting, thank you
i just see them, but haven't known that they stay until are absorbed, i wonder if they can be effectively absorbed during the day by conscious will ?, (note that i don't mean sunbathing, but sucking from larger areas in winter)
or if the process can be improved by falling into mild trance (for example in the bus) instead of full sleep

also psychic vampires who claim that they cannot absorb solar energy spring to mind

[boydster]

The little vitality globules seem to be very responsive to visualization and the human will. I have no problem attracting a dense cloud of them to me.

In fact, that's what I believe people are doing every time they do breath exercizes involving visualizing the inhalation of light energy. Just try it. Take a few slow, deep breaths without concentrating on anything in particular. Then take a few more slow deep breaths and while doing so, visualize yourself inhaling a cloud of dense, highly energetic particles.

I don't know about anyone else, but I notice a big difference. The insides of my brain get a mild rush from the prana passing through my nasal passages and I get a euphoric feeling in my trunk and sub-naval storage center from the increase in energy. But this only happens when I visualize the cloud of light energy coming in---not when I just breath deeply.

Curious to hear if anyone else notices this.

[daem0n]

yes, it works
although i feel what you described in every breath, but that is different matter
in energy cloud breath it gets much more intense

[Kalonek]

Very interesting text boydster ! Thanks !
What you say about the breathing and those "atoms" of prana is very true, it's very easy to see this phenomenon. Don't hesitate to post other texts like this one if you have some

Hope everything is going fine for you !

[boydster]

I actually do have quite a bit more info along these same lines. It takes time to edit it down to something of the size appropriate for this forum though. And I have to be careful about intellectual property rights too.

For instance, there is a detailed explanation in this same book of how the vitality globule, once inside ones body, is broken down into component color rays, distributed to the different chakras and used. The discussion includes how this color ray distribution changes over time for one who is striving spiritually and how it affects ones spiritual senses.

Another cool topic surrounds the fact that a school of alchemy teaches us to gather an intense cloud of this same energy around us, impress upon the cloud a 3-D matrix of an object and then "decelerate" the frequency of vibration of the whole thing into physical manifestation. It's a way in which a person can precipitate a physical object such as food or jewels or whatever in a matter of minutes or seconds.

One spiritual writer hints that in it's basic use, this energy is food for the bodies of living things, both spiritual and material. But on the higher side, adepts leverage and use an incredibly more powerful facet of this energy which is kept fairly well hidden until the student has proven to be "harmless" or trustworthy.

It's a fascinating topic for me....

[Magamba]

I have not read that particular book but I have read Leadbeater's book called "The Inner Life". This book touches upon all subjects of the occult and is absolutely facinating. He even talks about dream work. He is a brilliant clairvoyant who combines science with sprirituality and experience. I owe my interest in these topics to this "bible" of the unknown. Has anyone else read this?

[boydster]

I have not read that particular book but I have read Leadbeater's book called "The Inner Life". This book touches upon all subjects of the occult and is absolutely facinating. He even talks about dream work. He is a brilliant clairvoyant who combines science with sprirituality and experience. I owe my interest in these topics to this "bible" of the unknown. Has anyone else read this?

Yes I have it and have read it more than once. It's very high quality stuff.

Since you mention it, here are a list of books by C.W. Leadbeater which I have read and which I can wholeheartedly recommend:

The Masters and the Path
The Inner Life
The Chakras
Man Visible and Invisible
Thoughtforms
Invisible Helpers
Clairvoyance
Man, Whence, How & Whither
The Lives of Alcyone

Here is a link to online (free) versions of a number of these books:

http://blavatskyarchives.com/leadbeaterbib.htm

[Magamba]

Thanks for the wealth of information. I just checked out the site. I did not realize there were so many. Which are your favorites or which do you find the most interesting?

[boydster]

Thanks for the wealth of information. I just checked out the site. I did not realize there were so many. Which are your favorites or which do you find the most interesting?

I guess it really depends on what part of your own development you're most concentrated on at the time. The titles speak for themselves as far as the topics.

If you've read "The Inner Life" then you might really next enjoy "The Chakras". I understand that it's the largest selling Theosophy publication in existence. I've owned it for about 25 years and I still reread sections even now.