Or, when breath is all out (up) and stopped of itself, or all in (down) and stopped – in such universal pause, one’s small self vanishes. This is difficult only for the impure.
- Two cases, one principle: breath fully out and stopped, or fully in and stopped. In either total pause the small self – name, bank balance, prestige, identity – evaporates; on this path the small self vanishes and you attain the higher self.
- ‘Impure’ = a mind in motion, full of desire and seeking; such a person cannot will the pause. But even the impure meet it in shock – a car about to crash freezes the breath (‘you cannot afford to breathe in such an emergency’). Be aware in that moment and the goal is reached.
- The pause can be manufactured by an unexpected shock – a sudden beating for no reason, laughter where anger was expected, being thrown out a window without warning. The shock must be uncaused and unexpected: if a cause is understood the mind prepares and there is no gap. Only total surprise stops the mind.
- Hinge: mind and breath are coupled both ways – if the breath stops the mind stops, if the mind stops the breath stops. So a pause in breath is a pause in mind; that gap, entered with awareness, is the opening.
- For the pure (no desire, no seeking – an innocent pool without a ripple) the pause comes spontaneously while sitting quietly, needing no external shock: ‘When the mind is pure, many times breathing stops.’ No desire = no movement = natural pause.