How we are stealing God’s Gifts and still gasping for breath!
Recently, I read an article of a IITian CEO who spent INR 350000 for a “breath workshop”. Yes I have heard that the modern world has placed a price tag on everything – now, even the basic air we breathe. We now spend hundreds of thousands and even millions (like Brian Johnson) on elite “breathing workshops” and high-tech biohacks, led by ex-tech titans and “spiritual” entrepreneurs who promise “pranic renewal” and “cellular healing” through a ‘breath process’ they claim to have rediscovered (they’ve not yet claimed to have invented breath and breathing!). Their ultimate goal? To reclaim vitality and master the control over the life span . To ‘reconnect‘ with life force (by hook or by crook!)
“दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया।“
“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is very difficult to overcome.”
— Bhagavad Gita 7.14
All our mental recalibrations – from Silicon Valley’s “tech fasting” to ₹350000 breath camps – are attempts to escape a reality designed to entangle the forgetful soul. The struggle isn’t because we are not optimizing enough…It’s because we are not remembering enough.
But what is prana? Can you really “reclaim” what was never yours to begin with?
Here’s the truth no one’s selling:
The breath was never diminished or lost. We just forgot the ‘Breather’.
Purusha Suktam: From Who the Breath Really Comes From
The Vedas have beautiful reference points for this topic and deep answers minus the ambiguity. From the Purusha Suktam (Rigveda 10.90), we learn:
“प्राणाद्वायुरजायत“
From His breath, the life force (prana) was born…”
The original Breath energy, which the Supreme Lord breathed into this world – herein refered to as Prana – is not ours to own or generate. It belongs to Him and it is the sacred emanation of the Lord – a divine utility granted while we inhabit this perishable body.
We are not the creators of this Energy, we don’t own it, nor do we control it. We only inherited it for a given period of time. And we will return it – whether we like it or not.
Serious Disconnection: Exploiting the Energy, Not worshipping the Source
In our desperate attempts to “heal” ourselves, we are chasing breathwork, meditative apps, oxygen chambers, biohacks, multiple supplements and yet… we do not pause to even acknowledge that Source of it all. We act like squatters in a divine apartment, rearranging the furniture, repainting the walls, and boasting about the energy savings – while ignoring the landlord who gave us the keys. In our desperate quest to heal, optimize, and “tap into the universe,” we have taken a dangerous detour.
We try to do pranayama to control “prana,” but not take a moment to chant “He! Govinda” the Primeval Owner of that pranic energy
We speak of “life force,” “frequencies,” and “alignment,” but forget the One who allows any of it to exist. We are like people mesmerized by the reflection in the mirror, while refusing to turn around and look at the sun. WIthout light, there is no reflection. We have become like guests in a palace rearranging the cushions while ignoring the King who built the palace.
This is definitely not reverence and also not ignorance. It’s called “Resource Hijacking”.
We praise the the power of breath, but ignore the Breather. We glorify the ‘energy‘, but dismiss the Emanator. We hype up, morph, and claim ownership over miniscule techniques, laud the expert trainers, and so-called ‘breathwork gurus’ – but not the Lord of Prana, who sustains all beings with a single exhalation!!
There it is – with no ambiguity.
He is the prana.
He is the source of prana
He is the one making your body function, while you claim to “master your breath.”
And yet… we forget. The more we forget the Source, the more we burn out. And the more we burn out, the more we turn to market-driven expensive hacks instead of soul-driven surrender.
So, no.
You feel the burnout not because you’re breathing wrong. It’s because you are breathing without remembering the Breather. Here’s what will stupefy you even further: Prana doesn’t mean only breath. It is a very deep principle. Read below:
Etymology of the word “Prana” (प्राण)
Sanskrit Root: प्र + अन (pra + ana) The root breakdown goes like this:
- प्र (pra): forth, forward, outward, before — denotes intensity, expansion, or forward movement
- अन (ana): to breathe, to live, to move — from the Dhatu ‘an’, which means “to breathe or live”
So, the combined meaning would be “That which moves or breathes forth.” Or more spiritually speaking, “The Vital Force that moves outward from the Source to sustain life.”
Who else would be it other than the Supreme Lord Narayana Himself? In the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, prana is not just breath – it is the Sustaining Supreme Intelligence, pervading the body, senses, and Universe itself. Also, multiple universes. It is not just air that we breathe; it is the animating supporting energy/spark gifted by the Lord to the soul, while living in a material body. Prana is not simply what enters your lungs. It is what enters your very being, by Divine arrangement. It is not yours. It is on loan.
Now let’s look at the Etymology of the word “Pranayama”, which is what these ‘breath’ workshops are supporsed to teach you for hefty fees.
Sanskrit: प्राणायाम: प्राण (prāṇa) = life force, breath, vital energy. आयाम (āyāma) = expansion, extension, regulation, restraint, control. So, pranayama does not mean simply “breathwork” – that’s a Western distortion/reduction. It actually means: “The conscious expansion and regulation of the life force.” That process creates the right internal environment to gradually reconnect with our Source – The Supreme Lord, Krishna. Because, like discussed earlier – prana is not just air, it is the force of Divinity; and pranayama is not some paid breathing hack. It is an act of surrender – a reminder to invoke surrender that even the breath in your lungs isn’t yours.
Exploitation of Divinity in the Age of Workshops
The irony? These workshops use Sanskrit names. They chant mantras. They speak of life force. But nowhere do they utter the name of the One who gives life force. This is like praising the rays while denying the sun.
We commodify the breath. We monetize the energy. And we teach each other how to “harness the universe” like arrogant children trying to bottle lightning – without reverence, without humility, and without surrender.
When Energy Leaves: Why We Burn Out, Fade Out, and Still Don’t Look Up
When this breath, this borrowed prana, begins to to prepare its exit on its own sweet will, weakening our body and dampening our spirits in several ways, and manifest in our physical bodies, what do we do?
We double down. We reimagine new ways of living; we ‘invent’ new hacks; buy more supplements; attend more workshops. But…alas! none of this revives the body and its inevitable demise and restores a spirit disconnected from the Source. Because only Lord Krishna can give us the breath. And only He can restore it.
Real Alignment: Restoring the Link with the Original Breather
True healing begins not in a studio with scented mats and wonderfully fragrant incense sticks that silenty burn a hole in your pocket. Healing starts with surrender. It is not hidden in a guided breath cycle, but in chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. It is not in tracking the inhale-exhale ratio, but in remembering Who gives breath to all.
When you breathe in and with bhakti or devotion, you don’t just oxygenate your lungs, you reawaken the soul, and return to Grace. In the process, you breathe out all your fears, worries, anxieties, and doubts too. Let the market try to “sell” prana (whatever that means). Let businesses rename the sacred. Let them forget the One who gives energy to the sun, the cows, the ants, the rivers, and the kings.
But you can think; and please think while you can:
How to breathe, and remember.
How to breathe, and bow.
How to breathe, and whisper the name of the One Whose One Breath sustains it all: You can then feel and breathe what no workshop can ever teach you.
DISCLAIMER: This article is not meant to deny the benefits of some good programs that help individuals in the interim. But forgetting our real purpose while chasing external wellness is like running regular updates on the app, while ignoring the malware in the soul. Don’t add Feng-shui to your prison cell – break out!! And RUN free!!
REAL FREEDOM! 
