THE GAP’ - THAT STRADDLES BREATH & BEYOND BREATH - AND ENABLES US TO BE HUMAN AND CONSCIOUSNESS SIMULTANEOUSLY!

“Breath = is prana = the life force = that creates and sustains personal consciousness: the mind, ego self and its desires, thoughts, ups and downs = what we call life/the world! So as long as I breathe, I am part of the world... and the breathing self/its thoughts/ and its ups and downs – cannot - not be. However as I begin to move into, and establish in the gap between the breath, I go beyond breath (and thus beyond mind/self/thoughts/ups and downs) even while breathing!

Yes this is the marvel of awareness: Because the body /personal consciousness/divyaa self continues to breathe and function and live her life of ups and downs and desires and thoughts…. yet as I Am established in the gap of awareness... beyond breath …those thoughts, events, ups downs & thoughts are not identified with/claimed as mine..! Thoughtlessness is not no thought, but not identifying with the thoughts…”

Thus yes, breath, as vital life force, is what enables us to enter, sustain  and experience what we call the human game-    life beautiful life!  And thus yes, to move from the personal identity/mind and its thoughts, ups and downs and the illusion - what enables us is the reverse - going beyond the breath and all that breath brings on  …

(In meditation) as ‘breath’ slows, abates, stills - we experience what is called the gap between the breaths- and thus is it  …that as the breath abates…do  we spontaneously connect with Pure Consciousness… Cosmic life force rather than human life force… far vaster though subtler than breath…

Thus when we abide in the gap between the breaths we straddle the paradox of both breathing and yet abiding beyond breath!  Of living physically yet stepping beyond physical beingness! Of being beyond breath yet alive! And this is not in a deep sleep state but full awareness! There is awareness of being the vaster life force/consciousness!  The breath becomes minimalistic enough to maintain the physical-corporeal body, and yet the gap (beyond breath) enables us to exist beyond… the move from self to Self in tangible terms

Thus as our breath (mind) recedes we expand into pure awareness! As our breath (& thus sense of personal self) subsides we increasingly become one with All That Is! As our breath abates (taking with it all that we have thus far known) we open to infinite cosmic potential…!  Indeed as breath subsides, we die not but move into the experience of eternal life….and through this repeated ‘experience’… the fear of death starts to recede….

Of course, it’s all a process!

And this abiding in the gap need not be only through PRANAYAM (breath awareness). Though yes pranayam can be the path to this, we can also move into and abide longer and longer in the gap even through various means tailor made to each ones journey : Through GYAN (the real-ization we are consciousness and not the body); through  BHAKTI  ( in being one with the God of our devotion there is no self and we become one with Its Consciousness );  through  KARMA yoga ( selfless action which enables the self to recede and Self to establish ); thru KRIYA-MEDITATION (expansion or dissolution  of ones personal energy field into pure consciousness)!Indeed  all paths lead us beyond breath into the ‘gap’ of awareness; all paths enable us to over time abide  there longer and firmer…! Some follow one path, others a blend! Indeed Thus pranayam is not only breath techniques…sacred as they are …but being in homage to abiding in the gap between breaths - breathing - yet beyond it! Because otherwise, as long as I am just breathing –the personal self, its thoughts and world – cannot- not be!

And this brings us to the eureka of how masters & sages live in the day -to -day world… do their actions… maintain their bodies …have seeming ups and downs - yet live beyond it all as Consciousness! This gap is where they abide! Their breath maintains their  mind & body  to live in the world….but as they reside in the gap…none of that matters…they are beyond it even as its happening!!!! Whereas  we usually only visit the gap …first in meditation perhaps, then through day to day life we pop in and out…and thus experience moments of stillness/ larger self/consciousness/no self and then back to personal self and its thoughts, desires, fears, labels ups and downs!

The clue is to abide in the gap longer, former, deeper… so that the personal/divyaa (put your own name here) self continues to function and breathe and have a mind and its thoughts /desires to function in the world…play ‘her’ role…seemingly have ups and downs...and yet as I AM …established in the gap... those ups downs & thoughts and experiences  are not mine... and i am thoughtless!. Thoughtlessness is not no thought, but not identifying with the thoughts… and over time as the I lose interest in this stream of thoughts, awareness turns within…to that nameless bliss… thoughtlessness indeed!

(P.S: At a more mundane level, breath= prana= life force, but as most of us don’t breathe properly we need to supplement this with 'food' which is only another form of prana! Indeed food is a physical form on a physical planet –of getting and maintaining enough pure prana that we need to live! The 'different' foods, are the different 'qualities/aspects/ essences within consciousness that we need! If we can truly see every food we eat as a unique beautiful aspect of prana...we can develop a healthy relation with food!  The finer the food the finer the prana we ingest! The finer the prana the finer do our food urges get!)

Divyaa Kummar