Yoga and the brain

Can the brain tap cosmic power? How does it control the entire physiological system? What effect does yoga have on the brain? Dr. UMA KRISHNAWAMY and T.K.V. DESIKACHAR tune in to noted neurosurgeon Dr. B. RAMAMURTHY for his views on the mind-body concept in the context of the neurosciences.

DR. UMA KRISHNASWAMY (U.K.S.): Today the concept of mind-body medicine is well established and yoga (the control of thought waves in the mind) is included under this heading. But a mere 25 five years ago, this topic would have been ridiculed or even dismissed as far-fetched by the medical establishment. However, even at that point of time, you spoke with conviction of the connection between the mind and body in the context of the neurosciences.

In fact, whenever a neurological concept puzzled you, you found it worthwhile to look back to the wisdom of the East in order to find a direction to your neurological research. This facet of your personality has always intrigued me and I have tried to guess the rationale behind your conviction.

Am I correct in assuming that as a neurosurgeon, from a traditional Indian background, you are vividly aware of the connection between the mind and the body, in its fullest sense, and that this is something other medical scientists perhaps do not realise so forcibly?

Dr. B. RAMAMURTHY (B.R.M.): Yes, in a way you are right. Looking at the exposed human brain day in and day out, I continue to marvel at the mystery of the brain and the way it controls the entire system.

One then begins to understand that it is not the organic matter of the brain, but the force that arises from it, that is important. One then develops a certain perspective where one equates the functioning of the individual organs with the totality of the system.

Such a view is also coloured by my culture and background. I have had a lot of exposure to Ayurveda from my father-in-law. Ayurveda mentions both mental and physical illnesses. Therefore, a holistic approach was probably hidden in the background of my mind.

When we look at the texts pertaining to Yoga darshana, there is a very vivid picture of neuro-anatomy (if I may so call it) from the yogic perspective. One would assume that this is a subtle anatomy. Nevertheless, ever since Swami Vivekananda's attempt to understand human neuro anatomy, there has been a tremendous amount of interest in co-relating concepts such as the sahasrara (the thousand petalled lotus, the ultimate source of psychic power), the sadcakras (the six psychic energy centres) and the nadis (channels for psychic currents) with gross anatomical structures such as the brain, the autonomic ganglia and plexuses. I would like to hear your comments on this.

I do not agree with this. The great concepts of the yogins on the higher energy cakras and nadis, which they visualised by intuition, do not have anything to do with the gross anatomy that we see in the dissecting room or in the operating room. It is too over-simplified a concept. Let me give you some examples.

Some say that the susumna (a central mystic channel for the movement of higher energy) is the central canal of the spinal cord. There are many diseases where the central canal enlarges. Do these patients lose, increase or decrease their susumna nadi and the capacity for spiritual enlightenment?

Similarly, in the past we used to operate and remove the sympathetic chain (which is co-related to Pingala nadi, a channel for efferent transmission of psychic impulses) to treat high blood pressure. (Today we do not do this operation because there are good medicines for the control of blood pressure). Such patients became neither a-yogins (incapable of spiritual enlightenment) nor great yogins (a contemplative saint)!

To give another example, I have removed the Sacrat plexus of nerves in women with cancer. They did not lose their muladhara cakra (the lowest of the energy centres).

These attempted co-relations seems to be simplistic ways of getting the attention of the public. We may call the yogic concepts neuro-psychological anatomy and not neuro anatomy. Equating something very, very subtle with something very, very gross is irreverent, irrelevant and leads research to lose direction.

T.K.V.DESIKACHAR (T.K.V.D.): I think there is a tendency today to present the intuitive ideas of our ancients in modern language. Our weakness lies in trying to explain everything in a language that is deemed as "modern science."

Years ago I have read of such attempts to equate the energy cakras with gross neurological structures. As lay men we need a person of your authority to tell us what is rational and what is not. You have certainly cleared our doubts.

Dr. U.K.S.: From anatomy, let us move on to certain interesting concepts of neuro physiology. Let us first talk about memory. The yogic concept of memory seems to be different from that of modern science. The Yogins as I understand it, do not view the brain as a physical repository of memory. They view memory as an energy distribution in the cosmic spectrum, with the brain serving only as an instrument of retrieval in picking up this particular frequency. If memory is a permanent record in the cosmic spectrum, does it not imply that any part of the brain or indeed that any brain will be able to act as an instrument of retrieval of this memory?

Dr. B.R.M.: I agree with you, but only up to your last sentence. There are too many assumptions here, which have to be proven as valid. One of the most important purposes of the nervous system (human or non-human) is memory. If a child does not remember that fire hurts, he will keep on putting his finger into the fire. So memory storage and recollection is a basic requirement useful for existence. It is present in all organisms - right from the ant and the cockroach to the human being.

The human brain is a very complex structure. The experience of the human being, compared to other animals is enormous and varied. He has awareness of the present, past and future. Hence memory becomes important to know the past and present and plan the future. Therefore, long-term memory is important.

In addition, one also needs short-term memory because there is no need for the brain to clutter itself with all sorts of unnecessary information that is useful only momentarily. For instance, I may remember a phone number for just that moment. I will not need it tomorrow. Therefore, I put the information in what is called short-term memory.

The brain is always selective in its storage. Only what is useful to an organism in the long run will go into long-term memory. Many people say that their memory is getting poorer. The memory has become poor because the person is not interested in that particular topic.

T.K.V.D.: It seems apt to draw your attention at this juncture to a sloka (verse) that says "if I want, then I know. If I don't want, then I will not know!" I would also like to add that what I want to know must be proximate. There must be certain features in it that I can perceive. If some of these conditions are absent, then there can be no knowledge because there is no observation.

Dr. B.R.M.: This is absolutely correct. To continue, we know physiologically that different mechanisms such as long-term, short-term and intermediate memory exist. There are definite anatomical areas, containing certain chemicals that help in memory storage. Diseases in those anatomical areas can erase these memory mechanisms.

The question that you raised of the brain serving as an instrument of retrieval of energy from the cosmic spectrum raises the question of the relationship between the material universe and cosmic energy, and is hence very difficult to answer. I don't think we can logically answer that question at this point of time.

As a scientist, I cannot conceive that any and every brain can be tuned into the cosmic energy spectrum. I feel that this can be done only by great yogins, that is, by unique brains where all energies can be controlled and concentrated to perhaps allow such tuning. But in day to day life, memory is only a simple function of the brain that is very necessary for the good of the organism.

T.K.V.D.: In addition to memory in this life, we also have the concept of vasanas (impressions unconsciously left on the mind by actions in past lives, which hence determine feelings of what is pain or pleasure), that give a person the ability or inclination to do something, while his sibling may have no such inclination. For instance, one son may be interested in going to the temple, but his brother has no interest in visiting the temple. That is, there is already a particular channel through which we travel and that is why each person makes a choice when presented with options. Can you explain this in a scientific way?

Dr. B.R.M.: Until a few years ago, this idea was pooh-poohed by western scientists, although in our culture we knew that it was intuitively true. Today we can explain all this based on genetic coding. We know that genes not only determine the shape of the nose, the colour of the eyes and hair, but also determine many other aspects of our existence, which you have referred to as vasanas.

Except in the case of identical twins brought up in the same circumstances, people differ on account of individual genetic coding, which determines not only the gross features but also the physiological functioning of the brain. For instance, a boy may have more drive than his brother. One boy may be a mathematician, but his brother may not know much about mathematics.

This genetic coding in turn affects the chemicals in the brain. The production of chemicals determines our drive or our inclinations. Thousands of chemicals have been discovered in addition to thousands of paths, for these to act on. Millions of combinations are possible. Genes determine the particular combination of these.

Gene is jananam (birth)! It is given to us by a series of forefathers. The dice falls in a particular way for one child and in another way for another child. This is scientific. We say that it is due to purva karma (actions in the past life). Even this may be proved true in another one hundred years.

Dr. U.K.S.: Let me move on to the concept of sleep. To the common man, sleep is apparently the absence of thought. On the other hand, for the yogins, sleep seems to be a very positive state. Patanjali defines sleep as a wave of thought about nothingness and hence it is a positive experience. What is the current neurological concept of sleep? Does it not correspond to Patanjali's viewpoint?

Dr. B.R.M.: The modern concept of sleep is that it is a state where the brain does not go to sleep. If the brain goes to sleep, the individual dies. Sleep is a state of the brain in which the person is not aware of his surroundings. But the brain is very active during sleep. Even modern science has come to recognise the three states mentioned by our ancients - jagarti (waking), svapna (dream) and sushupti (deep sleep).

We have shown by experiments that when a man goes to sleep, he is in the state of deep sleep for first three or four hours. The next one and a half-hours are spent in the dream state. When a man is dreaming, the eyes move and this is called Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. The next one and a half-hours are spent in deep sleep. The next half an hour is again spent in the dream state. The person then comes out of the state of sleep after about eight hours.

When the activity of the brain is recorded during sleep, we find that it is very, very active. It is only the outer part of the brain or the cortex that shows inactivity. In the dream state, there is hyperactivity and chemical changes occur in the body. Dream sleep can be quite dangerous. People may get a heart attack during the dream state or they may develop an ulcer! In deep sleep the brain is relatively quiet.

I am the president of the Sleep Research Society and have done a lot of work on sleep. In a study we woke up volunteers whenever they were in the dream state. We found that after four or five days, they became terribly confused and disoriented. We then allowed them to sleep, and they went into deep sleep for nearly 18 hours. Similarly, disturbance during deep sleep also caused unpleasant reactions to the volunteers. So dream and deep sleep are essential parts of the brain's activities, necessary for our health and well being.

T.K.V.D.: The Yoga Sutra and the Upanishads say that in sleep the prana (life or vital force) is delinked from the sense organs. There is no energy in the sense organs and therefore nothing is known of the external world. If prana is linked to one of the sense organs such as the mouth, we speak. If it is linked to the feet, we walk.

Moreover we know the brain is working during sleep because in the morning we are aware of whether we slept well or not. So some part of us is still awake and active even during deep sleep. Dr. Ramamurthi calls this the "brain" while we call it the jiva (individual soul).

Dr. U.K.S.: Can you elaborate a little on the Electro encephalographic (the EEG, a trace of the electrical activity of the brain) changes that occur when an individual is meditating as opposed to being asleep?

Dr. B.R.M.: We record three kinds of waves in an EEG: the alpha wave, the beta wave and the delta wave, which is a very slow wave. In the deep stages of sleep, the alpha content increases.

When yogins begin to meditate they gradually go into the alpha state. This occurs of their own volition. In our experiments, by inducing alpha waves in epileptic children, we found that the epileptic waves got modified. There was a definite improvement! There is definitely something in meditation, which can be utilised for therapeutic purposes.

Dr. U.K.S.: What about auditory (hearing related) co-relations of the alpha wave pattern? Can vedic chanting (chanting of the scriptures) for instance produce such EEG changes?

Dr. B.R.M.: In our experiments we have not tried Vedic chanting but we have used music. When we added music as a component to biofeedback then the onset of alpha waves was much easier and quicker. We tried using music alone, but then the patients concentrate on the music for only a minute or so and then their minds wander. But music definitely has an influence on the function of the brain. Though we have not tried Vedic chanting, I feel that it will have an enormous positive effect on the brain. It is a simple experiment and I am sure we can do it.

T.K.V.D.: I would like to make an observation in this context. Last month a lady came to us disturbed as a result of unpleasantness in her family. I noted that her pulse was 120 beats per minute! I was very worried. I didn't know what to do. I chanted for a few minutes so that she could relax. She then told me that she was feeling much better. I took her pulse after five minutes and found that it had come down to 86 beats per minute. Was this an accident or is there a rational explanation for this? This kind of thing has happened more than once and hence the question.

Dr. B.R.M.: This is certainly not an accident. If we had done an EEG and an Electro chemistry of the lady in question when she was agitated, we would have found high levels of some chemicals like Adrenaline. When she came to a place where there was a spiritual aura, the faith in her mind changed the internal chemical balance. It is not the outside or the external factors that help, but it is what the body sees in the outside and uses to its advantage that helps.

If I have Guru bhakti (reverence for one's teacher) and I fall at the feet of my guru (teacher) with all reverence, then my brain chemistry alters. In the lady's case the calm aura and the chanting of the mantras (verses) helped. She was in a receptive mood; had she been rebellious, nothing would have happened. All those chemicals associated with stress went down and the soothing chemicals like serotonin increased and that calmed the brain. If a person is willing to accept that he is better, that itself makes him feel better.

People say that faith is a psychological thing. I think faith is an organic thing. Let me give you an example. Twenty people with headaches were chosen for an experiment. Ten of them were given aspirin. Ten others were given only sugar disguised as a tablet (a placebo).

The people who took aspirin became better as their headache disappeared. On the other hand, of the ten who took the sugar tablets, the headache disappeared in six individuals. You would say that it was because they thought they were taking aspirin. But why did they react so? In all instances, endorphins (a pain killing chemical that is present in the brain and which can be detected in a blood) suppressed the pain. People who took the placebo also created endorphins in the body to the same level as aspirin would.

Similarly, in yogic states, the chemistry of the brain is altered and we can create these chemical changes. That was how Ramana Maharishi was able to have a tumor removed without anaesthesia. He created his pain-killing endorphins by yoga.

The late Dr. Saradha Subramanian and I worked on this subject and proved the chemical changes that occur during alpha wave activity. We do not have to explain yoga in scientific terms, because yoga itself is a science.

T.K.V.D.: To continue on the theme of pain. Sometimes you send patients suffering from severe headaches to learn yoga. On what basis do you decide to do this?

Dr. B.R.M.: As physicians we rule out all organic causes which may affect the brain and produce a headache. There are also certain physiological syndromes that may cause headaches. We also come to a stage where we are not able to find out why a person has a headache. Sometimes the headache is due to some deep, mental conflict. We send such patients to seek help from Yoga. When the mind becomes calm, the headache disappears. Occasionally backache can also be a symptom of some mental conflict and not due to an organic problem. If the patient practices yoga, the pain disappears.

T.K.V.D.: Some of these patients engage in religious activities like prayers, Puja (worship) and Sandhya vandanam (morning, noon and evening prayers) or other rituals, which are soothing and calming. Yet they continue to have headaches. But after learning yoga, something changes. We introduce some simple yoga techniques and it works. How does one explain this kind of thing?

Dr. B.R.M.: It is very simple. As a boy, no one trained me to concentrate while doing Gayatri japa (a very sacred repetitive prayer) or sandhya vandanam. I learnt the importance of these myself only when I became older. Most rituals are done only physically and not with the mind on the Infinite. But in yoga you teach us certain techniques by which the mind not only becomes calm but is also capable of focussing on one point and then we get relief. Our ancients created rituals as the first step towards mind control. But today no one teaches us the importance of concentration while performing those rituals. This is applicable to all religions.

Dr. U.K.S.: In 1995 you published an article entitled "The Fourth State of Consciousness - the Turiya Avastha" and this intrigued me. In it you said, "Present day neurophysiology stops with attributing the thinking process as the highest level function of the brain. It has been common knowledge to oriental thinkers many centuries ago that there are many further states of the human mind, culminating in the state of thoughtless awareness." Is there a neurophysiological basis to this turiya avastha (state of thoughtless awareness) and has it been explored?

Dr. B.R.M.: No, we have not explored it in any depth. We spoke earlier of jagarti, svapna and susupti. Turiya, literally means the fourth. So far, all western thinkers as well as oriental scientists, influenced by the west, have held that thinking is the ultimate function of the brain. But thought is not the ultimate function of the brain, turiya is.

There are different techniques for achieving it. One can control the mind as described in the Bhagavad Gita or one can use the Buddhist technique of vipasana. I feel that in the thoughtless state, the energy of billions of brain cells are conserved. Therefore it will be possible in that state to become extraordinarily aware.

In Nature we have sthavaram (inanimate beings). Whether these have consciousness or not, we do not know. In jangamam (animate beings) we have consciousness. But we humans have in addition what is called awareness. We are aware of the fact that we are men. Consciousness is different from awareness. A dog is conscious, but is he aware of himself? I do not think so. This self-awareness in the thoughtless state will expand and become universal awareness. When there is universal awareness, the brain will transcend time and space. Such a person will be what is called a trikala jnani (a knower of the past, present and future).

T.K.V.D.: What about the sense of ego or 'I'? Is this a part of the brain?

Dr. B.R.M.: There are areas of the brain, which are responsible for the sense of "I". We know that the feeling of aham (I) and mama (mine) is in the temporal lobes of the brain. When disease occurs in the temporal lobe of the brain, the concept of the "I" in the individual changes. Suddenly the person may not know who he is. He will ask "Who am I?"

But the sense of "I" is in the level of awareness. In the higher planes of awareness, "I" is the drasta or seer. When we go to a much higher plane of awareness, we do not really know what happens! Each one of us has the potential to keep the brain, at least for a few seconds, in that state where it is receptive to the universal power.

Now I can discuss the earlier question as to whether the brain can tap the cosmic power. Cosmic power can be tapped, provided the brain is in the turiya state. There may be a wonderful radio programme, but if your radio is not tuned to that frequency, it cannot pickup that programme. Your radio and my radio are tuned to all sorts of funny wavelengths - meaningless wavelengths of day to day living. When you tune out this wavelength and go to the wavelength of the thoughtless - awareness state, then you will hear and converse with the universe.

This is yoga. Is not yoga the uniting of the Self with the Super Self; or linking the brain that is aware, but undistracted by thought, with universal awareness? It is science that I am talking of, not philosophy.

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