prāṇá vai visve devʰáḥ
Prana is all “gods”
[controlling breath is to control the “god” forces]
(Taittiriya Samhita 5.4.6)

brahmaṇas patir etā saṃ karmāra ivādhamat 
“Brahmaṇaspati filled these gods with breath as a blacksmith (with his bellows); in the first age of the gods the existent was born of the non-existent.”
(Rig Veda 10.72.2)

prāṇá evá paśubandʰáḥ 
Prana indeed is the “animal restrainer”
[“animals” being our instincts, and bandha is to control that]
(Śatapatha brāhmaṇa 11.8.3.4)
In living beings, the “animals”, i.e., our animal instincts are tied to prana, or the breath pulsations!

saṃkalpanaṃ mano viddhi saṃkalpāttanna bhidyate 
Know volition to be the same as the mind, and is nothing different from it – (Yogavasista, 3.4.43)

Prāṇayāma

What’s all the hoopla about pranayama, the fourth step of the aṣtāngayoga practice – how does that work?  We will explore yogis’ basis and some practical aspects in this blurb.  The bottom line is that pranayama is made possible by the relationship between vāyu,  prāṇā and the mind.

Mind is the most interesting and enigmatic thing that we can actually experience, and we’ve already gone around that block a few times…  Can’t really grasp the scope of the whole thing, but we can feel it.  We know that it creates this entity called “I”, but somehow makes that very “I” feel like it owns the “it”, its creator!  Does “I” really own “my mind”  – or is that just an illusion? In that sense, yes, an unexamined life is a paradox!

This question is worth our closest attention and deepest contemplation – when do we claim something is ours anyway?  Run through the ownership checklist. Long story –  we as in the conscious-part of the mind doesn’t own the mind completely, but we use it.  Conscious part (~10-20%) of the brain is ours. Subtle difference. Yogis’ goal is to gain more and more volitional control over the unconscious/“not mine” parts of the mind.

Try this – close your eyes and observe the thoughts going through your (conscious) mind.  Who’s driving them?  Did “you” want to go there?  Even worse – think of when you want to take your mind off of something that’s stressing you.  How easy or hard is that?  Even if you take your mind off that topic, how long can you control it from returning?  Who’s driving that?  Now, how about your dreams?  Have you been to all those places that you saw in your dreams?  Just a few examples to show how difficult it is to answer the agency and ownership questions ….

Let’s start our contemplation with Yogavasiśta (Chap 2 of Samvid’s translation) – to yogis, the external world is an extension or, an image of the internal world, and mind is that facilitator.  To them, specifics of the external objects are essentially reflections of the mind, and the universe is a reflection of the universal person’s (Prajapati’s) mind. Desires emanate from these impressions. For example, if we didn’t have a concept of what a Porsche is, or being a billionaire is, there is no chance of us desiring it, right?

For a definition of mind:

Slōka 450-456:  Know the Will power (sam-kalpa) as the mind (manah). Mind is produced by the will power of the infinite principle, the Self.  The impure outward movement of pure consciousness, which is devoid of any stains/impurities inside, is indeed called the mind. 

[This is very interesting definition – mind essentially is created by will power and intentions since our birth.  Because intention/will power focuses the awareness and modulates the sensory information streaming inwards.  What we call mind is built on these knowledge constructs, along with the preprinted ones. That “impure” is nothing more than the demon “Vritta” or fluctuations that Indra kills in yogis’ mythology! How do we access that Indra in ourselves is the quest.]

Normal human will-power is too meek to create a stable “creation”, but yogis’ concept like prajapati here can generate that strong mind needed for such a creation, through meditation.  It may just suffice to say that mind creates the world, but yogis imply something beyond:

Slōka 623: That intention/will as mind determines the entire world by its reflections/ideas…
Slōka 621: … collective mind determines the flow of the world.

What constitutes mind:

Slōka 538-539:  There are only two seeds of the tree that is the mind – one is the pulsations of prana, and other is the mental imprints (vāsanā). 

Vāsanās are strong mental impressions created by the intense ideation of the sense objects or concepts (dhruDa-bhavana).  Theoretically, vāsanās can also come from previous births – the preprinted predispositions.  These seeds initiate thought bubbles modifying the instantaneous mind. The second half comes from our previous blurbs, which is that pranic pulsations (prana-pari-spandana) are created through breathing (blurb #37).  These pranic pulsations change the vasana seeds, and vice versa.

Now, on how to gain mental calmness:

Slōka 541:  Restraining (sam-rodhana) praṇa is regarded as producing the fruit of mental calmness… (prāṇa-yāma). [Notice the use of the word sam-rodhana as opposed to ni-rodhana; the prefix sam signifies working together, with breath, as opposed to forced control; interestingly, Patanjali used the word nirodha….]

When we add all this up, it is that breath-vayu-pulsation-prana-mind connection that is at the center of pranayama – the fourth step of the ashtanga yoga. 

KEY LESSONS from yogis’ model of the mind:

1. At an impersonal level, mind is highly non-localized, meaning our minds are dispersed or spread out over time and space, as in my mind is not limited to just my body boundaries and the space I am occupying (here), and not limited to this moment (now).  My mind’s awareness extends way beyond the boundaries of my body, and now, as in it is spread out over the past and present.  This is pretty obvious, right?  Meditation is that tool which trains the mind to gain control on the size of that focal spot.    So, Meditation in a way is to localize the mind to here and now – that simple!
2. What do yogis think of the external world? It is an image of the mind, a reflection of our internal world.  It’s the representations in the mind that create the objects outside.  Even from the physics point of view, for example a surface, is an illusion – it’s just that we cannot see the holes between different atoms, electrons and the nuclei.  The mind actually fills in a lot of gaps, and creates that illusion.  By extension, the energy density differences and arrangements in the external world appear as distinct objects – that illusion at the fundamental level is called māya.  The bottom line is to control the internal world (mind), to be able to control the external world. 
3. Coming to how the minds are coded, our beliefs essentially are like whirlpools in the mind-field.   Also remember that to seek is to believe, since we only seek those that we believe are good for us, or worth knowing.  The stronger the belief, the stronger the whirlpool.  Beliefs form attractors (while aversions  form repellers) in the mind field, which draw towards (or drive away) thought streams.  In that sense, they have subtle effects on even seemingly innocuous and/or disconnected thought bubbles; they affect their pathways; color them.  Now, if we use that property, where we watch how a thought evolves with time, we can analyze our own inner motives, beliefs, etc. When there are no interferences, any thought will lead you to the strongest attractor, eventually to the strongest of all – the “I”.  Hence, again, meditate! Meditate on those thoughts long enough to find own true beliefs – know thyself!
4. Finally they tell us that the nature of questions change as we understand this mind, and meditate.  As we start digging, and go deeper into meditation, into the dhyana stage, the questions shift from What is that to what is…  Object drops out.  In fact the subject and object merge in the samadhi state.  The circle is complete at that point.  

So, meditation is not to close our eyes to the surroundings, or realty, but to actively control the appearance and perception of the external world, and contribute to the society accordingly – Think, Contemplate, and Meditate your way to  “I”, i.e. thyself_/\_

May we all be blessed with a meditative mind_/\_/\_/\_
(bhadraṁ no api vātaya manaḥ)