Kumbhakarna - an enigma

Kumbhakrana reminds one of David and Goliath!

Cosmetic Story


The cosmetic story of Kumbhakrna goes as follows:

Kumbhakarna is an important character in the Ramayana. He is a demon just like his infamous brother Ravana, the king of Lankapuri. Kumbhakarna (कुम्भकर्ण) literally means the person with ears like a pot ( कुम्भ Kumbha means pot and कर्ण Karna means ear). Kumbhakarna was a gargantuan in size and quite often depicted as large as mountain.  Want a supplement?

"Jannu" is a satellite peak of Mt. Kangchenjunga with the summit reaching a height of 25,295 feet. It is around 10 km away from the Kangchenjunga's main summit on the western spur. The peak is located entirely in Nepal. The official Nepalese name for the peak is Kumbhakarna. It is the 32nd highest peak in the whole world. See map below!

http://wikimapia.org/1112129/Jannu-Kumbhakarna-Phoktanglungma-7710m

 To the Buddhists, Mount Kumbhakarna represents the head of Sleeping Buddha (photo below)






Despite his monstrous size and great hunger, Kumbhakarna had an innocent mind and good character.


Pranayamam

There are three Sanskrit words that are often used in connection with the practice of pranayama. They are: puraka, kumbhaka,and rechaka. पूरकं "Purakam" is loosely translated as "inhalation", but it literally means "filling. " This filling process commences twelve inches away from the body. Therefore, mental visualization is involved in the procedure of purakam. कुम्भकं "Kumbhakam" means "pot. " You might understand this definition more clearly if you visualize your body to be a pot which you are filling up until it becomes completely full. When this filling is accomplished, like a pot with its cover on top, the breath is held, (shut in, so to speak) like a pot that holds grains. Lastly, the term रेचकं "rechakam" (a word that sounds similar to the English synonym for vomiting, "retching") is usually translated as exhalation, but is more correctly understood to mean "holding the pot empty. " In other words, the breath is not only expelled, but also held outside.

Why do Kumbhakam?

"One perceives effulgent light, becomes omniscient and attains longevity.” – according to Kumbhaka Padhati

Practicing kumbhaka for a long time increases endurance of physiological as well as psychological structure of an individual. Continuous and long term practicing increases the hold or control on breath up to an extent where it reaches to its extreme stage (Kevali Kumbhakam as mentioned in Hatha Yoga) and the respiration is ceased permanently unless desired to get into normal state. Aging is proportional to metabolism which in turn is proportional to respiratory rate. Metabolism lowers down as the respiratory rate decreases and this helps retard aging or at least lowers down the process.

Relationship between breathing rate and longevity:

The following information is from Wikipedia, and gives one an idea of what lower respiratoy rate really means for longevity

Mouse: Respiratory rate = 60-230/min and Life span = 1.5-3.0 years [1]

Rabbit: Respiratory rate = 30-60/min and Life span = 5.0-6.0 years [2]

Monkey: Respiratory rate = 30-50/min and Life span = 20–30 years [3]

Human: Respiratory rate = 12-16/min and Life span = 70–80 years

Whales: Respiratory rate = 3-5/min [4] and Life span = more than 100 years

My interpretation of the meaning of  Kumbhakarna

I am well aware of the fact that mythology says that Goddess Saraswati created a wrong choice of words in his mouth, and he ended up asking for a boon of protracted sleep. Here is my point. As can be seen above, the word Kumbhakam perhaps means visualizing a full pot that holds grains... whereas the mythological representation is one of a demon with a pot belly ("ears like a pot" definition at the start!) . Hence, to me , Kumbhakarna has adeeper meaning than a simple mythological character who has ears like a pot and sleeps for most of the year...

How? A bit of Sanskrit etymology here...instead of splitting the word into Kumbha and Karna ( opening para above), I would like to interpret the word as Kumbhaka कुम्भक  and Arnaha अर्णः  . Kumbhaka perhaps refers to someone practicing Kumbhakam, and the word Arnaha in Sanskrit literally means a Teak tree, in other words, a gigantic manifestation...  so it is possible to interpret Kumbhakarna as a Gigantic figure who is a practitioner of Kumbhakam ( as opposed to the classical definition of someone sleeping for 6 months in the year as per mythology)?

Hence , to me, Kumbharna may not just be a person in eternal sleep, as is made out by mythological representation, but someone who practices Kumbhakam very diligently... and gets as strong as teak.   and that this Kumbhakam  is what gives him the gargantuan powers and longevity that he is so famous for...  so much so that he could manage to seriously injure Hanuman, the son of Vayu, one of the physically strongest persons known, before being felled by Rama!