Here comes the prāṇāyāma exercise or control of breath. Like āsana, prāṇāyāma is internal and very subtle. It is not mere inhaling and exhaling like a bellow.
प्राणादिस्थूलभावं तु त्यक्त्वा सूक्ष्मपथान्तरम्।
सूक्ष्मातीतं तु परमं स्पन्दन लभते यतः
प्राणायामः स उद्दिष्टो यस्मान्न च्यवते पुनः॥
—Netra Tantra VI.12, 13cd.
Meaning:
“Leaving the gross movement of incoming and outgoing breaths, when the yogi continues to maintain awareness of Self, he enters or catches hold of its subtle form. The breath becomes more and more refined. When it gains spontaneity it attains the universal movement. The wise point to this as “prāṇāyama.” There is no falling then.”
Our great masters have explained the mode of regulated movement of vital airs (prāṇāyāma) in two ways:—
The first is Ajapā Gāyatrī—Prāṇāyāma. In this there should be no sound at all. Even the person near you should not feel the movement of your in-coming or out-going breath. The sound of the movement of breath in you should not be audible to him. The breath should become so fine that you should not yourself be able to know about its movement. Such a person has only awareness of Supreme Consciousness. His movement of breath is so fine, so slow and so soundless that he himself knows not about it. It is in this context that Paramānanda has said:
अस्त अस्ते स्वस्त पंचालसय
सोऽहं भैरव बालसंय
टख युथ न लगि अथ लालसय
मन थ्यर कर पूजुन प्रभु।
— From Amarnāth Līlā of Jñāna Prakāśa by Paramānanda.
Meaning:
“Slowly and steadily ascend the mound of Iśvara-consciousness. Realize “He am I”; Beware! lest the pearl of continuity in japa should get cut. In this way, worship your Lord with concentrated mind.”
The first word of the third line in the above quotation is takh and not tukh The latter means “a cut” or “a bruise” or “a hurt” which conveys only an injury that can be cured, while the former word means “break”, “cut off” or “fall out”, which conveys that it should remain constant, it should not break or it should not on any account get detached. Therefore the line should be “takh yuth na lagi athа lālasey,” and not “tukh yuth na lagi ath lalasey”. This, in short, should mean that the Ajapā Gāyatrī—Prāṇāyāma (constant uniformity of breath in awareness) should, in no case, break. It must remain uniformly constant. It must be so fine, light and constant that awareness of supreme-consciousness continues. Even one breath should not go without awareness. I have just said “prāṇādi sthula bhāvarṇ tu tyaktvā.” That means that the movement of prāṇa in its process of coming-in and going-out must have become thin and fine. When the vital air of the yogi becomes very fine he attains to the movement-without-movement or you can call it universal movement of prāṇā. This is the real prāṇāyāma or control of breath. After being established in this practice, the yogi has not to return to this mundane cycle of birth and death-saṁsāra. He does not fall back. This is a superior kind of adopting true pose (āsanā). But this mode of maintaining constant uniformity of breath in awareness called [[practices/pranayama/how to do ajapa gayatri pranayama.md|Ajapā Gayatri Prāṇāyāma]] is very difficult to practise. This cannot be done easily.
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Source:
— The Awareness Of The Supreme Consciousness; Revealed by Īśvarasvarupa Swāmī Lakṣamaṇajū.