Mahabharata : Japa, Dhyana, Pranayama
Mahabharata : Japa, Dhyana, Pranayama is a compilation of the contents appearing in the great epic Mahabharata on the topics of Japa (muttering prayers, chanting or repeating sacred names or mantras), Dhyana (meditation) & Pranayama (breathing in a controlled way). Many passages in Dhyana refer to pranayama. It contains some very interesting paragraphs on how to perform japa & dhyana. There is not much material on how to perform Pranayama in different ways.
I have extracted these contents from my comprehensive & unique work on Mahabharata — Mahabharata–Spectroscope. Whereas the material in that was included in the order in which it appears in the original epic, in this compilation I have grouped them by meaningful Topics & Sub-topics thus making it much more useful to the student/scholar of this subject.
The contents are arranged under following main topics:
Japa: Performing japa-yajna & its consequences, benefits of performing japa, Power of Gayathri mantra, Power of other mantras, Limitations of japa, Japa as a key quality, Japa as remedial measure, some examples.
Dhyana: How to perform, Dhyana & Dhaarana, Yoga & dhyana, factors that help, Indriya nigraha & dhyana, Value/gains of dhyana, Characteristics of dhyana yogis, Examples of dhyana.
Pranayama: Power of pranayama, types of pranas, other references to controlling prana.
It is about 25 A4 pages. I hope the readers will find the document of some use in their study on this subject.
Download PDF here: (1.25 MB; 25 pages)
For other Topic based compilations from Mahabharata see under Menus ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘More Compilations’