This is the most essential subject to be studied. All that exists in the universe exists by the breath. Every being that is manifested manifests first in the breath Because we are human beings, we think of the angels as being human beings also Really they are a preparation for the human being. They exist in the breath. You may say, "show us some proof of this in the sacred writings of the world." I will say, "You will find it in the Bible where it says that first there was the word, the sound. "Really the word should be the same as the Sanskrit "svar," which means word, it means speech, spirit, breath.

The breath is the sound, not that sound that our ears can hear, but a fine sound. You may have read that in former ages there were people who lived for hundreds of years. You may have read that the yogis live for two hundred or three hundred years. This is because of the breath. Mahmud Ghasnavi, the emperor, lived for one hundred and twenty years. In his old age he had learnt mysticism and the science of breath. When the breath is long, the life is long in proportion. It is just like the tick of a clock. If the swing is shortened, then the clock will finish the twelve hours it has to run in less time. It is so with the length of life. All our life depends upon the breath, its length, shortness, depth.

When a person has eaten very much, when he has drunk much water, when he has worked much with the earth, his breath is very heavy. You can hear it when he is sitting at dinner, or wherever he is. It becomes heavy from its contact with the matter, just as the air in a town becomes heavy from its contact with the houses, the walls. In the country, in the jungle, it is light because it is free. The people of normal life have a light breath. Normal means eating a normal amount, drinking a normal amount, healthy. They live longer. The material person, who eats very much, drinks very much, indulges in all the pleasures and comforts, has a short life. We always see that the athletic people, whose breath is normal, healthy, live long.

Therefore the mystics keep all the passages of the breath open. They fast. They practice abstinence. The proof of the heart, the soul, is in the breath. When we are very sad a deep sigh comes, a very heavy sigh. This shows that the breath has come in contact with something that has made it heavy, that is the heart: not this heart of flesh, but the inner heart. The life exists in the breath. When the breath is gone, the mechanism of the eyes is perfect, but we do not see. The mechanism of the ears is perfect, but we do not hear. The essence is in the breath. If we can see and hear by the physical organs, why should we not see and hear much more by the breath, since the essence is there?

We may think that the breath is just the small volume of air that we take into our lungs, and that it goes as far as we feel it go. How far it extends we may know by seeing the colors of the breath. Sometimes we may see a color on the wall of the room. Or if we look into the sky we may see a color in the sky. The breath extends for miles together, farther than we can see. It reaches from here to Russia, to New York, and much further. By it you can send a message to your friend. By it telepathy is possible. Of course it depends upon the strength and length of the breath. The longer the breath, the further is its reach. For this reason the mystic lengthens his breath. He controls the rhythm. In each breath there are two parts, the inhaling and the exhaling.

During the exhaling you become dead to the world around you, to the external impressions. It is said of the mystics that they are absent-minded, that they are lost. That is because by the length of the breath they become dead for the time to the world. By this deadness they become alive to the world within, they experience that world. They experience before death what their condition will be after the death of the physical body. We recognize our physical body as our self, and when this goes from a person, to be without it is a terrible experience. If you were to go to a country where all the people had horses' faces, it would be a terrible experience. Not one human face. Or even if you were to go to Tibet and to stay there all your life, it would be a terrible thing. Not one person who could speak your language, who knows your manners, your customs, your ways, everything difficult. How much more difficult is this journey after death. It is as if to be without eyes in a picture gallery, and to be in a ballroom without feet. The mystic experiences this journey in life. He does not stay there. He goes there and comes back.

When you can control the rhythm of breath, then you have the control of every part of the body. The mystic interests his mind in the breath by consulting the breath upon every question, by seeing through which nostril the breath is flowing, and in what direction, and so getting the answer. He does this, not for the sake of the question, but in order to interest his mind in the breath.