PRāṆA. The Sanskrit term prāṇa (from the conjunction of pra and ana, "breathing forth") can signify (1) the Absolute (brahman) as the transcendental source of all life, (2) life in general, (3) the life force or "breath" of life in particular, (4) respiration, (5) air (in secular contexts only), and (6) the life organs (i.e., the five cognitive senses, the five conative senses, and the sense-related mind, or manas).

The third connotation is of special interest to the historian of religion, because it conveys a vibrant psychophysical reality (visible to the yogin) similar to the Greek pneuma and the Melanesian mana. In this sense, prāṇa is a creative force, defined in the Yogavāsiṣṭha (3.13.31 et passim) as the "vibratory energy" (spandaśakti) that is responsible for all manifestation. Most metaphysical schools of India—one of the exceptions being Hīnayāna...