pranayama

the pranayama in haribhakti vilasa is only used as a preliminary for puja,
since this is one of the traditional elements along with bhuta suddhi and
manasa puja. but i dont think that means that it is approved, since hari
bhakti vilasa also gives a diksa yajna which is far more complicated that
what we do, and downright different, and prescribes a lot of nyasas before
deity worship and pitha puja which we dont do as well. it is just
describing all the elements of arcana found in scripture. of these some we
do and some we dont depending on the acaryas. i dont know for instance
whether they do pranayama before worship in radha raman temple in
vrndavana. that temple follows pretty closely hari bhakti vilasa. if they
dont, then probably we wouldnt either.

of course that does not mean to say i disprove of pranayama. bhaktivinode
in his writings seems to disapprove. it is mentioned in relation to dhruva
maharaja's sadhana as well favorably. i belive the main reason for not
doing it or encouraging it is that it is not included in uttama bhakti. it
would lead to yoga misra bhakti......