LESSON ONE
1. If we divide a human body into two halves along the median line, or down the middle, we should observe that most of the organs which are intended to carry out some function of the body consist of two symmetrical parts, one located on the right half of the body, the other on the left half.
2. Thus, the brain, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the arms, the lungs, the kidneys, the testicles or ovaries, and the legs are all double organs or parts, one of which is situated on the right side of the body and the other on the left.
3. This is because the human being is a magnet having two poles, the same as all other bodies which manifest magnetic properties.
4. The right side of your body represents the positive pole, while the left side represents the negative pole.
5. Spirit, Mind Substance, Astral Substance, Ether and Matter all manifest two poles – the positive and the negative. This is an inherent law of the Cosmos. Male and female, heat and cold, north and south, east and west, light and darkness, day and night, represent the two poles of each continuous whole.
6. The positive pole manifests characteristics diametrically opposed to those of the negative. The functions of one similarly differ from the other.
7. Each pole of a body having magnetic properties is so constituted that it absorbs (inhales) stores up (retains) and radiates (exhales), a subtle form of energy, from and to the surrounding space,
8. The energy absorbed and radiated by the positive pole differs from the energy absorbed and radiated by the negative pole. But at the spot which divides the positive from the negative pole, the body possesses the characteristics of neither the positive nor the negative, but a combination of both,
9. Now this is true of the human organism. The right side of the body forms the positive pole and the left side the negative pole of the human magnet.
10. As energy is fluidic and kinetic, it has control over matter.
11. Ether is static energy, it fills all space and interpenetrates all solids, all gases.
12. Ether consists of positive and negative electrons.
13. When any body having magnetic properties ceases to absorb and radiate energy, from and to the surrounding space, its magnetic properties cease.
14. It is then dead.
15. Each human being from birth to death performs the act of breathing, inhaling, retaining and exhaling,
16. With each inhalation you absorb not only air, but also ether or Pranic energy, which interpenetrates the air.
17. Air is inhaled through the nostrils – the right nostril and the left nostril.
18. The inhaled air passes through the interior of the nose, the pharynx, the larynx, the wind-pipe and the bronchial tubes and enters the lungs.
19. The lungs receive the inhaled air and absorb the oxygen in the air, which mixes with the blood.
20. When the oxygen comes in contact with the blood, a form of combustion takes place and the blood takes up the oxygen and releases carbonic acid gas which is ejected from the lungs at each exhalation.
21. The Hindu scientists discovered that the breath does not always flow at the same time from both nostrils. They found that the breath flows through one nostril at a time, and from time to time during each day it flows for short intervals from both nostrils.
22. Instead of finding irregularity or want of uniformity in the flow of breath in human beings – in fact, in all breathing things – they found law, order and rhythm which governs all manifestations of the universe – from the most insignificant or trivial to the most stupendous.
23. They discovered that in people of normal health, the breath flows for nearly sixty minutes or one hour through one nostril and then changes to the other to flow for a period of the same duration, i.e., one hour,
24. Every hour the breath-flow changes from one nostril to the other, thus for each day of twenty-four hours, the breath flows for twelve alternate hours through the left nostril and the other twelve alternate hours through the right nostril.
25. When one nostril is in flow there will be no flow from the other, till the time comes for the breath flow to change to the other,
26. There are two nerve currents in the spinal column called Pingala and Ida, and there is also a hollow canal called Sushumana running through the spinal cord.
27. Every time we breathe, air as well as ether travels along either Ida Nerve or Pingala Nerve and after circulating up and down passes out through the nostrils,
28. The Ida nerve begins in the left nostril, at the root of the nose just where the left nostril converges into the right, passes through the cerebellum and medulla oblongata, runs along the left side of the spinal cord, and ends at the lower end of the spine.
29. Similarly the Pingala nerve begins from the right nostril, passes through the cerebellum and medulla oblongata, runs through the right side of the spine and ends at its base.
30. The Sushumana nerve or canal though not directly connected with either of the nostrils, begins from the base of the brain or the medulla oblongata, runs down the central cavity of the spinal column and ends at the coccyx, where Pingala, Ida, and Sushumana are connected.
31. Within the root of the nose, where the two nostrils converge and where Ida and Pingala nerves begin, is one of the most vital spots in the body. This spot is very sensitive and manifests a peculiar kind of intelligence.
32. The roots of the Ida and Pingala nerves are located here. Their sensitivity and intelligence are displayed in selecting etheric electrons from each breath of air, that passes through the nostrils.
33. Within the interior chamber of each nostril there is a gate or shutter of cartilaginous formation. These gates are controlled from this vital center. When the breath flows through one nostril, its gates stand open, while that of the other remains closed. This spot is a vital center, because health or disease, success or failure, gain or loss, life or death are the results which accrue from the way this center acts.