And we breathe thousands of times a day. But stop and think a moment: “Are we breathing in air as breath, or are we being breathed in by the air as breath?”
At first glance, it might seem like an easy question. But within it lies a deep spiritual secret that goes beyond our physical body and life force.
A vacuum and air: which one pushes whom?
Now let’s look at a simple law of nature. If you have a vacuum and you put air into it, is the vacuum sucking the air in, or is the vacuum just being filled up with air?
The deeper you think about it, the clearer the truth. A vacuum is not created spontaneously; a space is called a ‘vacuum’ only when there is no air. But once air gets into that space, the vacuum disappears altogether.
Is breathing our own doing?
The way we breathe is similar to the principle of vacuum. Breathing is not only a result of our own effort. Only when this body is filled with the air that pervades the wide universe is it “breath.” This body is, as it were, a vacuum.
What if the air does not embrace a person’s body? Then another void (vacuum) is created, and the body dissolves into nothingness. Thus, as soon as the grip of the air is let go, the elements that form this body, the pancha bhutas (five great elements), disperse and vanish. So the idea of “I am breathing” is just an illusion. The reality is that we are surrounded by air. We are moving.
Yajnavalkya’s concept of the ‘one and a half’ (1½) deity:
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad contains a deep dialog between Vidagdha Shakalya and the great sage Yajnavalkya. When considering the number of deities, Yajnavalkya brings in a subtle calculation: the “one-and-a-half” (adhyardha) deity. How can air turn into a god of “one and a half”?
All living bodies in this world derive their vitality (flourishing with life) from air.
Air is everywhere, whole in itself, and is a symbol of ‘one”one”.
The physical body is transient and incomplete—it cannot function independently without the support of air—is ‘half’ (½).
Hence the total (air, 1) plus the partial (the body, ½) equals a “one-and-a-half” (1½) deity for each human being.
Moving on from the ‘one-and-a-half’ to the ‘one’!
And what is it that links this physical body to the external air?
When this subtle truth is revealed in the person, the air and the body it contains are no longer separate.”
Only the spanda (the primordial vibration, prana (movement)) is left at the infinitesimal point where the incoming and outgoing breaths meet. Coming back to the wisdom of Sage Yajnavalkya, in this state, the real nature of the Self (Atma-swarupa) arises spontaneously as the ‘one’ (1) singular deity—a state where movement and stillness are unified. The last aim of existence is to get out of the state of being a body stroked by the wind and to find the ‘singular’ principle, which is the unmoving witness.
Sri Gurubhyo Namah 🙏
