Yoga and Harmony

Introduction:

The Kundalini is the name of the energy that is inherent in our being. It has been visualized by Yogis to localize itself at the base chakra. For the sake of understanding it is said to reside in the coccyx plexus of the spine.

The word Yoga derived from its Sanskrit Root 'Yuj', in English could be said to be 'Yoke', to join.

So, the Kundalini Yoga would literally translate as: " to Join the Inherent Energy of our Being."

That is the idea where it begins. But it is not the end or the Destination.

To join or unite we need two things, or Entities. So the questions arise, :

1. What are we going to unite the inherent energy of our Being, with?

2. How are we to go about in accomplishing this union?

3. What conditions need be organized?

4. What environment would be beneficial?

5. When are we to go through the process of union?

6. Why is it necessary?

7. Who Am I?

The process of knowing in the world of duality is through the limitations of   words and images (in Sanskrit they are Nama-Rupa), the others are through sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.

Connected to these outer physical senses are the fine senses of thought power, power of recollection from memory, dreams and feelings.

In this respect, Kundalini Yoga has its parallel in Western Psychology.

The purpose of this Yoga is to Establish a conscious connection, of the Ego-Consciousness or the Hong Consciousness to the Source of Consciousness.

Deities:

The idea of the deity in western thought is different from that of the Perennial Philosophy of the East. So also is the idea of Consciousness.

In the East, the deity is the Personification of the Energy That Forms All Life. Your life, my life, all life.

The nature of the personification of this energy is determined by the historical circumstance, of the Culture. This energy is also Human and Universal.

In the East, the deities are perceived as messengers or the medium of the
Universal Energy, in various functional capacities.

The Western idea of the deity is, that "the deity is a fact, and from that fact, the energies proceed."

Consciousness:

Similarly, in the West, the notion is that the physical brain is the source of Consciousness. The traditional idea in the East is, that the brain is a function, or the Vehicle of Consciousness, which encapsulates consciousness and projects it in certain directions, in Time and Space.

When the Consciousness is identified with the object in Time and Space, it has knowledge of the object. This knowledge is secondary. So, in the East, the consciousness comes first.

Basis of Yoga Philosophy:

The notion is that we are all a particularized ray, a manifestation of the Transcendent Consciousness, which is beyond our power to name or think about. This forms the basis of the Yoga Philosophy.

In the West, this idea has come in at times, against the mainstream Philosophy.
In the later middle ages, Meister Eckhart uses the complicated, concretized language of Christianity, and blows it apart, and we have the recognition of the relationship of the deity to the lord of the Deity.

Then we had, Jordano Bruno, who was burnt at the stakes in the main Plaza of Rome, in 1600, for saying these things.

There are two kinds of philosophy found in Europe.

We have the Philosophy of Immanuel Kant, in Germany and we have the English Philosophy.The English Philosophers had failed to grasp the idea of what Kant was saying? In Kant's Philosophy we find it just implicit, in the Middle European Systems of thought.

Time and Space: Immanuel Kant:

What Kant recognized in his "Critique of Pure Reason" was, all our experiences are conditioned by the organs of our experience and organs of knowledge. Our primary or priori antecedent to our experience of anything is our knowledge of time and space. Everything comes to us in the Field of Time and Space.

In a wonderful paper of Kant, called the "Foundations of Metaphysics" he asks this question.

"How is it that we can make relationships in space here and know that this will work in space there?" He says, "Because the laws of space are right in our own mind."

This idea of Kant, if reflected upon would strike anyone like the Atomic Bomb.

During man's first flight to the moon on July 20,1969, just before Neil Armstrong set his foot on the lunar surface, Ground Control had Asked, "Who is Navigating Now?"

The voice came back Saying, "Its Newton."

The laws that work there, where, nobody had been, was known so perfectly that it was possible to bring back the Lunar Module, within a mile of the predetermined place, in the Pacific ocean, after its voyage around the Moon.

No matter how far these space vehicles go out in space, the technology has developed and it is now known to be able to navigate a space craft from controls on earth. But when Neil Armstrong's foot stepped on the Moon, nobody knew how deep his feet sank in the lunar dust. That is how far behind we are, in our knowledge. The Frame of Reference or the Order of Knowledge, from which all our experiences come, this we already know, to be the phenomenon of space - time.

But the question is this? . What is that thing we are getting to know, through Time and Space? Is it a thing? If it's a thing, then we are still thinking in Terms of Space and Time.

Whao! so we have gone into the Transcendent, there, which Kant calls the "Transcendental Aesthetic."

After we have seen everything, we begin thinking about it, reflecting it on the mirror of our Minds. The Laws of our Thinking Process will determine, what we can think?

Maya : In the Perennial Philosophy of the East:

There are Laws of Logic, the Categories, and we can't even think of anything, that does not fit into these models. So, it must be, that we are limited, enclosed in our knowing, through these set models.

This limitation, these set models, the Yoga Philosophy Terms it as Maya. 
It was Schopenhauer who realized that the Indian Concepts of Maya and Kant's Idea of the "Forms of Sensibilities, and the Categories of Logic" are equivalent.

So in this world of Will and Idea, he can talk about Western Thinking in Terms of Indian Thinking. The two come right together, there.

The time you pick this point of union of the East and the West and Whao! and this is the new Thrust in Western School of Philosophy.

So there are very important moments in the Western Philosophical tradition to recognize the breakthrough of this Elementary Idea of the System, is what is called the Perennial Philosophy.

What is Yoga?

Yoga then, is, the connection of the individual self Consciousness, or the Ego-Consciousness to the Source of Consciousness. The Source is of course, the Transcendent of all our ideas.

Transcendent-God

Just as, all that truly 'Is'. Here we cannot even say 'is', because 'Is' itself a word form, is a concept. We cannot talk about these things. We can feel, we can know, but to put it in terms of name or form, just cannot be done yet. There cannot be two Infinite, it is all One without a second, without duality, a total identity. So the Transcendent is beyond the field of Space and Time.

If one asks if god is one or many? What can be the answer? Because one or many are just concepts in Space - Time. These are categories of thought.

The Word God does not refer to any personality. It is That which is past any Personality, which is really Transcendent of Thought. The Mystic Symbols of various world cultures open like that, to the Transcendent.

Symbols & Signs:

Carl Jung makes a distinction between the words symbol and sign. He used an arbitrary definition. A symbol is a mythic symbol that has one leg here in this world of duality and opposites and the other in Infinity. It points to Transcendence.

A Sign is a marker which points to something, both legs are in this world of opposites.
We normally interpret God, as a sign not a symbol. The word God refers to that, which is supposed to be a fact.

Idolatry:

Then there is a thing which comes to us in the gnostic period. The Quote Reads: "The Problem with Yahweh is That He Thinks That He is God."

He says "I'm it, I'm No Symbol." When He is the only One, Which it is. Then everybody else that is God is not God at all. In proper language, concretizing the Image or the Symbol is what is called idolatry.

The whole of religion, whichever it may be, from this standpoint is an idolatrous system. Perhaps that is, because the Consciousness of Idolatry is of our own, creation through which we are seeing Idolatry in everybody else. We are busting idols.

Yoga Sutras:

The Concrete Book of Yoga is called the Yoga Sutras. The Sutra is the Suture, the Thread of Yoga. There are various types of documents from India, called Sutras.

Lots of Sutras are like sort of books, which in concise, precise formulae summarize, the contents of the whole years study. They are like the sort of books students buy the night before the exam. But we must also understand that we would not be able to understand the Sutras, or the notes, unless we understand the subject.

The Second Aphorism of the Yoga Sutras say:

Yoga is the intentional and conscious stopping of the spontaneous activity of the Mind Stuff.

Mind Stuff-Chitta

We must understand what this Mind Stuff is all about. We know of two aspects of the Mind. One is the physical, the gray matter, the neurons, the nerves, and the electromagnetic energy which lives in that. So we have the gross matter and the subtle matter. This subtle matter is what we call energy. The subtle matter which is the energy, the Activating Principle, is called 'Sukshma', the Sanskrit word for subtle.

This subtle matter or the energy in the physical brain is what takes the form of whatever impacts our senses of perception.

I see you all as though a picture or an image, as though you are all in my head, because the subtle matter or the energy has taken your forms, and you are able to listen to what I am saying, for the same reason.

Now try to move your eyes quickly and see how fast the subtle matter changes. The problem is that it continues to change, though you want it to stand still.

Suppose you want to hold in your mind one thought, or one image, something you think you are able to hold there. In a few seconds you will know that you are having associated thoughts. which proves that our minds are moving.

Goal of Yoga:

The Goal of Yoga is to make the mind still. We may ask why should we need to do that.

Exactly the point. We are coming closer to the basic idea in the Perennial Philosophy of India.

Everything experienced is through our mind, and the mind is in an active state.

The classical example is an image given of a pond, rippled by the wind. The rippled pond reflects the images that are broken images, which come and go, come and go and come and go.

In the first couple of verses in the Book of Genesis, we find the wind, the breath, the spirit of God blew over the waters. That is the creation of the world. We start the excitement going.

What we do is we identify ourselves, with one of those broken images, one of the broken reflections on the surface of the rippled pond. And so here I come and there I go. That links us to the Temporal Flow of Time and Space, and that is what the Hindus call Maya.

The Effort is made to make the pond, to make the mind stand still, so that we may see the image in its totality, not broken fragments of the parts, but one image.

Then only can we see what was broken and reflections of the parts, in its still perfection.

That's the True Being, and That's the True Being of Everybody, You, me and everybody else's.

To see the one in all and all in one is the Goal of Yoga. To seek and find That Reality of the Universal Consciousness which is you, me and everything else.
Schopenhauer in his "World's Own Idea" is a Symphony of Rupture dealing with this matter. He uses an imagery in his "Foundations of Morality":

"How is it that a human being can so participate in the danger and peril of another, that forgetting his own self-protection, he moves spontaneously to that person's rescue?"

How is it that we take the First Law of Nature, that is, to preserve our own separate entity, separate ego, is so suddenly dissolved and as though one was that other, one acts in the interest of the other, even at the loss of one's own life, with spontaneity. It is a spontaneous act of saving that little child who is about to be hit by a irresponsible motorist, near a cross walk.

Schopenhauer answers and says: "This is Meta-Physical Realization that has broken through, which is usually not to be found."

It is the realization of the Universal Consciousness of which we are all manifestations, a particularized ray of it, and so in that sense, you and the other are one. The Experience of Separateness is only secondary experience within the Priory Frame in space and time. The sense of space and time is the separating principle. In the essence of the one Universal, this Sense of Separateness is an illusion, it is Maya.

It is the individuating principle of Time and Space, in which we experience the idea of separateness. If there were no time and space, we would not be separate here. Every now and then there is a breakthrough, and there is the Realization of Oneness.

To live in this world of space and time we must have this secondary Experience of the Separateness.

The purpose of Yoga is to release us from this limited concept of Time-Space commitment and introduce us to the Transcendent. Then comes another problem. Having realized that transcendent field, one must know how to come back in this world of duality, of Time-Space World.

And so we can operate in both states of our consciousness, having both
kinds of knowledge.

Kundalini Yoga:

The dates of the Yoga Sutras is 200 B.C. To 200 A.D. In the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. the development of the Yoga took place to what is known as the Kundalini Yoga, as it is known today. This Kundalini Yoga influenced all Eastern Religious Structures. It affected Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, all simultaneously.

The Sanskrit word 'Kundal' means coiled. The Spiritual Energy that is coiled up at the base of the body, or the spine. When this spiritual energy remains coiled or asleep then there is not much spiritual life.

Normally, this shakti, energizes the organs in the lower pelvic area, the first three chakras at the lower end. We all experience the flow of the Kundalini
in these three chakras by way of the Sushumna or the central canal. There are knots or "Bandhas". I am not going in to the Sanskrit names of these knots, for brevity.

The Goal of Yoga is to awaken the coiled energy and to make it flow up the spine to the head. The symbolism used here is that of a female serpent. As the energy or action is female so this energy is called by the Yogis to be Shakti.

It is thick as a hair of a boar, and is coiled 3-1/2 times, around a symbolic male organ the lingam, which is at the base of the Spine also.

It's all subtle substance in the subtle energy body encompassing our physical body, and as such we will not find it on the operating table, through dissecting the body.

The Kundalini coiled 3-1/2 times like the head of a serpent, over the Brahmi Nadi or the Brahma Door of the Lingam, remains closed to the spinal pathway. The energy is not able to come up through the spine, unless awakened.

The Goal of Yoga is to awaken that serpent power and bring it up the spine. On the way up she passes certain centers or vortices of energy called chakras.

At the base of the spine is the center that is called the Mula Dhara or the base chakra, and the one, in the head is the Sahasrara or the Crown Chakra.

As the energy of the serpent power passes through these sequential centers or chakras, the whole psychology of the individual undergoes various types of transformation.
Physical symptoms likes aches and pain , and emotional symptoms of passions, rage, and fear, mental uneasiness, lack of concentration, illusive and delusionary visions appear when the energy instead of going up the central canal, goes up by way of the two subsidiary Nadis or nerves which are called the Ida (Lunar- left nostril) and the Pingala (Solar-right nostril) when looking at the spine from the front..

When the Kundalini is awakened at one chakra through the central canal of the Sushumna, it would heat that chakra temporarily, and go up to the next  chakra. The chakra which has been passed through will cool off, becomes lifeless and the next chakra which comes in contact with the kundalini now heats up.

It is easy to awaken the shakti in the lower chakras, through the subsidiary Nerves. It is very difficult to take it up chakra by chakra through the central canal of the Sushumna Nadi. It requires a lot of patience, perseverance, and steady practice. Some are able to take it up the first three chakras, when psychic abilities manifest, and they leave the practice, considering that to be be all and end  all of spiritual practice.

The ground for moving the energy through the central canal requires a body with minimum toxins, or none, purification of the nadis or the nerves, purity of mind, meaning power to concentrate the mind on one object for hours exclusive to all other thoughts, and purity of the discerning faculty.

We can use this as a means to link into western philosophies and find out where each of them stand in relation to this very, very recondite and long seasoned philosophical concept of India.

In the central canal of the Sushumna, when the Kundalini is aroused on awakening gives the psychic ability to rise against gravity from the ground, gains the ability to control his breathe, mind and sexual ejaculatio, knowledge of past life or lives come in his conscious mind.

There are manifestation of various psychic abilities when the Kundalini passes
through each chakra by way of the Central canal. At this time I am not elaborating on the specifics of the psychic powers which determine that the flow of Kundalini is through the central canal and not through the subsidiary ones of the Ida and Pingala.

It is the Guru who comes to know by the effects produced in the person, whether the Kundalini is flowing through the central canal or the subsidiary nerves. In India the Yogi Gurus determine the disciples ascent in the path through these effects.

Carl Jung after reading the 'Tibetan Book of the Dead' said: "These people are so far ahead of us, that we have got only up to the third chakra." Jung himself had gone up to the 4th chakra.
But in the West, we have to go into these slowly, and we should not have the notion that we understand all these things, because we have not had yet, the Experience of the System that interprets them.

Meditation:

So from that little beginning we'll start. We are going to start by meditating. The Sukhasana or the Padmasana is said to be a comfortable posture. Lacking that we may sit with the spine perfectly erect in any posture, in which we can sit for a long time than we normally can, without having to move or shift for a comfortable position.

Now, since the human body and the cosmic body are equivalent, our Spine is comparable to the earth's axis.

Breath Control:

In our consciousness we have reached this world axis, the immovable spot, and now we are in meditation. We begin by breath control. Control here means that to consciously breathe to certain rhythms. If we observe Our breathing we shall find, how our breathing changes, when we are calm, when we are excited or agitated.

The Yogic Breathing is breathing in through one nostril, hold and breathe out through the other. Then breathe in through that nostril, hold and breathe out through the first, and so on and so forth. The motion of our breath is related to the state of our emotions, feelings and our state of mind.

There is another idea. When we breathe we live. When our breath stops we lose consciousness and the body cannot survive without breath, or Prana.

Between the two extremities we have another state, which of holding the Breath or 'Kumbhaka'. In this state, the body has some residual store of prana.

In this intermediate state we are not dead nor fully conscious in the sense we are used to think.

In reality our consciousness is not projecting outward but inwards.

When we are at rest, the breathing is in nice even order. When we are subjected to shock, our breathing changes, when we are in a passion it changes again. All these reflect a state of our mind and consciousness.

So the Yogis observed these and said all right, change the breathing and change the state of the mind or consciousness.

What we are trying to do, is to smoothen out the waters of the rippled pond, by a slow rhythmic breathing. Here the water is the collective of our thoughts, the pond is the mind.

So in our meditation, we are going to calm the waters. When the waters are calm, that image of all images appears and become known to us.

Gross body> Subtle Body:

Now comes the point. This is the gross body and this is the subtle body. Do not identify the gross body with subtle body. If you do that then you are crazy and you begin to think you are it.

We must disengage our thoughts from everything else and concentrate to make the mind still so that the Total Image of Our Being becomes known to us. It comes by constant practice.

This Image is all the Energy of Life pouring in to the Field of Time and Space. This Totality is what we can call God.

God is the Personification of All the Energies. When this Energy manifests in the world of duality it shows is its various aspects. That is why the Hindus have given so many artistic expressions of the Infinite, in terms of gods and godesses.

The different organs of the body, each organ has its own impulse to action.

The problem of Western Psychology is the whole conflict of our impulse systems. Each organ of Nature and our own body, have its own inflection of this form and is one. We have fire within us.

The Elements:

In the East there are five elements and in the West we have four elements, then there are love and hate, which pull them together and separate, is the Fifth.

The fifth element in the East is Akasha, Ether, Space, then come Air, Fire, Water and Earth.

This is the pantheon. There is a deity associated with each of these elements.

Air =Vayu, Fire=Agni, Water=Varuna and Earth= the Mother Dharitri or Gaia.

The whole themes of the deities are associated with the solar movement, during a day. This fact is common course in mythology everywhere.

"When the Sun rises in the east, it heralds the birth of a new day. At noon it is in the south. South represents height, the moment of culmination of the consciousness in the Field of Time. In the west it sinks in to Transcendence again. In the west it is spoken of as going to the west, when one dies. Then in the north it is under the earth, that is the area from where the demons come, disease comes, danger comes and so forth, and tyrannical thought comes from the north. "

There is an American Indian Legend that there are four little heroes, who want to save their mother from the dangers of monsters, are warned by her.

Do not go to the north. That is where danger is. You can go east, south or west. So what do the boys do? They go north, that is the only way to go past the rules of society, which you are in.

So they go north to break the rules. You find something that society knows nothing about, and you bring it back. That says that there is saving amplifying force. This is known as divine grace.

Here is the Yogi himself at the immovable point, in his meditation.

In the U.S dollar bill there is the great seal on the back left side. There is an eye on top of the pyramid, where the Sides, the Pair of Opposites come together, there the eye of knowledge opens.

But when in the field of action, we are on the sides. The other guy is on the other side and you have action.

But his eye is the middle eye, the eye of the referee in a boxing match. The referee does not care which side wins. You can't have a serious boxing match unless there is serious intention in each player to knock out the other player on the opposite side.

The time asks for violence, but this eye of knowledge asks for recognition, behind the violence. What is there behind the violence? There is peace.

When the lion lies down with the lamb. It does not mean that the lion is not going to eat the lamb. Of course, he is going to eat the lamb. It symbolizes That nothing is happening. This is just a temporal thing when it Happens. It's the time of peace. We must realize the peace that lies behind the act.

So here is the Yogi under the Bo tree. His eyes have opened. As a result of the Influence of the Five Deities, the Jnana, Subtle Matter. These are the Meditation deities. It is through these five Deities, the Yogi comes to knowledge.
These are the subtle nerves. Each one of these have a name.

The Word Here is Pranayama, Breath Control. You breathe in and imagine you are filling all of these nerves, activating all the senses, all the organs of Consciosuness.

So we are going to be more conscious and become aware, with intention and feeling. That is the whole point.

Demons, monsters are what inhibit the consciousness. Many of these demons are our teachers and professors. They set up the rules, that how we should think, and they are not always helpful.

The Three Main Nerves: Sushumna:

So out of all this multitude of nerves, there are three that are most important. Here they are, the seven centers or vortices of energy. We have central spinal canal called the Sushumna and on each side of it is a side nerve.

Ida Nerve Channel:

The one that is colored gray is called the Ida. It refers to the lunar consciousness. This is the most important due to the whole business. Lunar consciousness is that consciousness which wanes like the waning moon, and it then resurrects, during the waxing period. Our feelings are very similar to the lunar activity.The Ida nerve, the lunar consciousness waxing and waning, because the gross body is still there. This is known as the manic depression experience.

Pingala Nerve Channel:

The other nerve is the Pingala, and it represents Solar Consciousness. The Sun does not die. When it sets it carries its light with it. It does not Carry Death in Itself. This is Consciousness Disengaged From the Field of Time.
Each time a new generation is begotten, the death of this generation is thrown off and life has moved on destroying the old and putting on a new body.

The serpent casts its skin to be born anew, or born again. So the serpent represents the power of life, energy and consciousness, which throw off death. But it is consciousness in the Field of Death, the Opposite of Life. So it is throwing off death and putting on new bodies, as in reincarnation or the sequence of new generations.

Now, just think of the different philosophies you have come to know.

When you think of your spiritual life and feel it is relieving you of the physical, you are going off the track, and you are going to have a great disappointment, somewhere along the line.

This is the symbolism of the Life Energy and Consciousness Engaged in the Field of Time, the Field of Death and Birth.

The moon sheds its shadow to be born again and the serpent sheds it skin to be born again. These are symbolic of this power of consciousness.

You have identified yourself with the subtle body but you are still in the gross body. And you are trying to become immortal while still on earth.

In the Bible ,the third temptation of Christ, after he had rejected the devil.

The devil said: "Look young man, you look hungry and famished, why don't you turn the stones into bread, with the powers of your lord."

Christ replied that man does not live by bread alone, but by the very Word out of the Mouth of God.

Then the devil said: "Come, I'll take you to the yonder mountain top and show you kingdoms of the world, and all you have to do is bow to me and you can rule these."

This is how one can become a diplomat or a politician.

Jesus Said": Get behind my sight now."

Devil Said: "So you are so subtle. Let's go up on the top of Herod's temple and cast down yourself, and God will bear you up."

Jesus Said": No, I'm still alive, still in a body, get behind me, Satan."

This is the Virtue of Temperance.

Jesus rejects Satan three times. He rejects the economics and politics of the devil, the third time, having surpassed economics and politics, the devil tries to impose the idea that you are just the spirit. Not so.

Here Jesus recognized the gross body also.

People who do not know anything about spiritual reference of symbols, interpret them in gross matters and get involved and indulge in pretty gross activities, to realize their spiritual life.

I am not Going into that in Detail, but you can sense what I'm talking about.

If you interpret the spiritual symbols as concrete, you get involved with yourself in concrete action, associated within a concrete body, then you have lost the meaning of the spiritual message.

Now you cannot bring the Kundalini up the central nerve, until you have recognized that these are two aspects of the same consciousness.

The light of the moon is due to the reflection of the solar light. So the body the lunar consciousness reflects the spirit, the solar consciousness, and so the light of your body, the consciousness of your body is immortal. Eternal consciousness is within you and around you.

Consciousness is first, then you, me and everything else.. You represent a particularized ray of consciousness in the field of time and place. Through this specification of Being we are a particularized ray of the Cosmic Consciousness, in our personal lives.

We must learn to extract the immortal, to experience through the vicissitudes of mortality, our eternity. That is the whole Goal of Yoga. So I'm to start down here and come on up.

There are sybolisms in folk art in India. There are carved images of the Naga Cults or Serpent Stones, in a small town, Trivandrum in South West India.People place beautifully colored water pots and venerate it to receive the power of the water, and then place it under a tree.

The Coiled Kundalini:

Figure of the 3-1/2 coiled Kundalini is depicted as a vertical serpent, and each half curve represents one chakra or vortex of energy.
First Chakra:

The base chakra or the Muladhara at the bottom here and the 7th segment on the top represents the Sahasrara or the Head Chakra. Visualize a triangle which
is truncated twice , equispaced making the whole traiangle to have three distinct parts.
At the bottom on the left is the first chakra on the base line of the triangle.

The first chakra or the Muladhara, as it is called in the original texts, is at the very root of the spine, and it location in the subtle body is between the rectum and the sex organs. These chakras are also called 'Padmas' or Lotuses. Its element is Earth.

The symbolism is of the Lotus because, by nature, the lotus has its roots in the mud and the crap at the base of a pond. From where it rises through the ripplets of the water, and pushes through the top to receive the rays of the Sun, the Light.

In coming out of the mud and the crap the lotus grows against all odds to receive the Sun, the Light, and yet it remains unaffected by the mud, the ripples, the winds, and comes to blossom in its white or pink colors. What a beautiful sight.

The presence of the lotus in a pond also clears the water of many impurities. Some may have observed, this phenomenon when Lotuses are planted in a muddy pond.

So also every human is like a lotus. Everyone can become and blossom like the beautiful lotus. Conscious intention, analysis, effort and perseverance are the one which hands us the key to that opening, of our hearts.

At the level of the first chakra, the psyche is practically inert, just trying to survive, hang on to life.

The Second Chakra:

Visualize its position on the left slant of the triangle at the first truncated point
when going up.
The second chakra which is the svadishtana or the is at the root of the sexual organs. From this chakra six yoga nadis emanate.Its element is water.

We know from mythological studies that dragons guard the things in the caves. The customs of dragons have been studied for millenniums. What  do  they guard in the caves?It  is the virgin.

The virgin is the symbol of the second chakra. It's symbolic of sexuality, to propagate the genes, and the keeper of all the gold.

The Third Chakra:

Visualize this to be at the second truncated point on the slant left side of the triangle
The third chakra called the Manipura or the Solar Plexus represents the passions for power, domination, possessiveness and the desire to win.
The Inter Relation of the first three Chakras:

The force at the base chakra does not know what to do with these powers, desires and passions.

What it does, it simply guards all these powers.

This is the condition of the whole psyche when the serpent power or the Kundalini is bound upin the side channels at the Muladhara or the base chakra. No zeal for life, no positive action, it becomes only reactive.

Psychologically the appropriate term for this behaviorism is called the dull condition, when,we don't have the proactive psyche but only the reactive one.

If all of us became reactive, can you imagine what state the affairs of society as a whole would be? It would be absolute chaos and anarchy.

Nietzsche called this position that of gravelling the force of sheer fact.

Actually there is no thing as sheer fact, but that of a realtionship of an object for a subject. The attitude of the individual mind, beholding the object is what we
call perception. Perception  is what changes the characteristics and the meaning of the fact.

People who hang on like this , we call them creeps. They are exactly the reincarnation of the character of the chakra one.

Even art at this level is simply and purely sentimental Naturalism. It has no breakthrough to the radiance of the soul.

The Chakra s: First Chakra:

Here is the representation of this chakra, we see in these symbolic forms what we have got.

The rectangle is the element earth. The grossest of matter of the elements. In the center is the red triangle. This is what is called the yoni. This is the womb or the sex-organ of the mother cosmos, the Divine Mother.

We are within her womb. She is the time, space, including the priory forms of sensibilities, and of the categories of knowledge, within her womb. And we are within her womb.

The lingam or the male organ here, represents the energy that breaks in to the womb. This is an important and interesting thing here.
We say that lingam or the male energy is coming from the transcendent in to the womb. The lingam is not an antecedent to or preceding the womb.

Why it is not preceding the womb, because there is no thing or pairs of opposites till you get in to the womb. So this is matter of symbolization of 'that'. That is appropriate to already being in time and space.

There is no pair of opposites in the Transcendent.
Energy in the Transcendent is neither male nor female.

When we talk of the principle of Brahman, we consider it to be the static, still or stationary energy and maya the active energy. Another example would be fire is the Brahman, and the power of the fire to burn or cook is the Maya, the active energy.

We are talking in terms of dualistic terms again for the sake of understanding.

The Transcendent is the Transcendent. It transcends all thinking, so we cannot think or talk about it.

Heinrich Zimmer a disciple of Ramana Maharshi, used to say: "the best things can be felt, not spoken in words, which is why, the second best, is misunderstood."

That's because, the second best is using objects which are limited in time and space, to describe the Transcendent.

They are always being misunderstood because, being interpreted in terms of time and space.The third best is conversation."

So this is the symbol of the generating mystery of the universe.

The form here is represented in sanskrit with the letter "lam."
When the yogi makes this sound, he is activating the energy of this center.

In many folklore we find the mention, how elephants could fly, and now are bound to the earth.Symbolically, the elephant is supporting the whole kundalini. It has seven trunks. The elephant is named 'Airavata', Indra's elephant. This is the elephant on which Indra rides.

Indra is the Vedic counterpart of the classical Zeus, the king of the gods.

When Brahma, the creator, opened the 'Hiranya Garva', the cosmic egg out of which, the whole universe came in to being.
We are talking mythologically here. The Hindus don't think that there was an egg that a god opened.

So when the Cosmic egg was opened, out came the nine elephants. One was airavata, and the other eight made 4 pairs. The four pairs went in the four directions, north south, east and west, and supported the upper half of the shell. So the elephants are the carrier of the universe.

Now, isn't interesting to go to a temple and see and know this thing about elephants, and see the elephants holding up the universe. And to know that there are clouds condensed, in this job of holding up the universe.

Someday we may see elephants up there in the ether, where they belong.

Then when you see elephants in India, walking along the streets, all caparisoned, and colourfully clothed, howdah on the top. Symbolically it would present in our minds that one is always in the presence of meditation.

There is nice story about elephants. A novitiate had just learned from his guru that he was divine. He was, what god is. Shivo ham . I'm shiva, I'm god.

Deeply meditating on this and wonderfully impressed by himself as god, now, he goes for a stroll on the street. Here comes an elephant on his way, as he is walking, with a howdah on the top, with people there, the mahout or the elephant driver sitting on his head.

He sees the elephant coming. The mahout says:"Get out of the way, you fool."

And he thinks he is god, the elephant a god and the people up there are gods. He reasoned: 'Should god get out of the way of a god'. So that's the situation.

The elephant comes and wraps him with his trunk and tosses him to the side.

He is completely dishevelled and psychologically greatly shocked. He walks back limping to talk to his guru.

Seeing him approach, the guru says," What happened to you"! He replied, an elephant threw him away from the road. They were shouting at me to get off the way. I was meditating, the way you asked me, and I thought I was god, and the elephant is god. Should god get out of the way of god? The guru said," Well, Well, why didn't you listen to the voice of the mahout god and the people god, who asked you to get out of the way"?

These are the first two chakras. That's the identification between the gross body and the subtle body.

The lingam if  seen from the top, appears to be dropor the bindu.This represents the impact of the eternal energy in the field of time. When the field of time is struck, it breaks in to the pair of opposites. So we always have pair of opposites in the field of time and space.

In Nagasaki, where the second atom bomb was dropped, they have an enormous image, pointing to the sky at the spot from where the bomb was dropped. The Japanese people have no sense of malice about this. They also consider enemies and friends as pair of opposites. These are the two aspects of the same thing, or principle. Beautiful way to look at these things.

So to begin to think of the way, the reality of time and space and the desire to know the beyond is the process of Brahma Bhava or Brahman.

In the Bhagavad Gita it says": Brahma Arpanam,Brahma Havi, Brahma Agnyo, Brahman Ahutam, Brahmaiva Tena Gantavyam, Brahma Karma Sama Dhina."

Which means: Brahman is the sacrifice, is what is killed, Brahman is the ladle of the sacrifice, the instrument through which the sacrifice takes place. Brahman is the fire of the sacrifice, that which consumes the sacrifice. He who sees the operation of Brahman in all things is on the way to realizing himself as Brahman, and is a Brahmacharin, a person following Brahmacharya.

So all the harder and harshest thing that happened to you or your friends, it's the Brahman.

To see it then , in the ways of the sacrifice and the mystery of the process, disengages you from the field of time and space, and links you to this other
thing, and yourself as simply as a bubble, or a wave, on the rippling surface.

So this is the pair of opposites.

Mary who represents the earthly Mother and Christ in her womb, who is born of her, is red. The red signifies the blood of the saviour, who is the subtle mystery and the blue is the carrier of it all.

In your meditation, you may think of these triangles proceeding from the center.
That's meditating on creation. You can see them as proceeding or going back to the center, as involution, dissolution or pralaya, as is said in sanskrit.

The universe comes and goes. Brahma opens his eyes, closes his eyes. The only anxiety is of the atom bomb. So meditate on dissolution. That's all.

This whole world comes and goes, comes and goes.
Its in the process. This does not mean that you must not go to work to stop atom bombs.

This has to do with the whole relationship to this mystery, in terms of its
metaphysics and your relationship to the mystery of being.

So we can meditate now, on dissolution.

The kernel of Christianity was born out of the Meditation on dissolution.
In the first and second century A.D. The whole Jewish race was excited about the end of the world. As the dead sea scrolls tell us all about this. All this about to come. And Christianity is born out of this.

Then every thousand years, Christians think, that the world is going to end again. Then, in the year 1000, people in France gave their property to the church to gain merit, just before the end of the world.
And some of those claims are still in the courts, of people trying to get their lands back that their ancestors had given to the church by virtue of an erroneous belief.

Now we are approaching the year 2000, and people again are meditating on the world catastrophe and end of the world, and The atom bomb.

This is the 1000 years of meditation on dissolution, in the western culture.

So the association of Behaviorism is Related to the first chakra, that of survival instinct.The elementary ideas are grounded in the psyche.

Carl jung's approach to these ideas, has been from the standpoint of psychology and studying them.

Bastion's 'Elemente ke Dante' which Carl Jung calls the archetype of the unconscious.

The relationship to the environment, the relationship to the specific industrial or technological characteristics of the culture, relationship to its concepts of the cosmos; all of this is the mirror, which reflects them, the projected archetypes.

The archetypes are, as though enclosed or included and encompassed by the elementary idea. So that, an individual participating in the rituals of this culture, which at the same time engages him in the archetypes. He is being introduced to it, as it were.

Then there comes a time when the culture disengages them, as you might say. Then the shell of the elementary or the folk idea, the conditioning drops off, the elementary guides him to his own unique psyche.

This is the idea. First by participating in the rituals of the group, which are in themselves, grounded in elementary impulse.

One is introduced not only to the society and the world, which that society knows , but also to the elementary ideas.

So In the second half of life, you may say, when the society disengages one, or one disengages oneself, the eyes turn inward, and one is led to one's own heart, you may say, by the archetypes.

Where does imagination come from, that creates this myth. It comes from the depth of the psyche.

So in India, the same two aspects of the mythological forms are recognized.
The folk aspect or the 'Desi', popular, local, provincial.
The word for the elementary idea in india, is 'marga'. Marga means the path, from the Sanskrit root 'moorg' meaning following the trail of an animal, as in hunting.

So in following the elementary ideas, and in recognizing in the mystic forms, the messages of the psyche, one is following the trail of an animal, that left those tracks in the human psyche. This is what Jung calls the collective.

The difference between the Freudian and Jungian concept of the unconscious is that, Jungian unconscious is based from the biological point of view.

The energy that informs our bodies is the same that informs our dreams. The dreams are inflections of our personal experiences. Freudian unconscious that Jung calls the personal unconscious is based on geographical, rather than biological.

In the Freudian analysis, one is , in a way, trying to get back by the way of free association to crises. Traumatic crises in infancy, that determine the twist of the problem or neurosis.

The Freudian perspective is thus secondary, actually, to the biological ground, out of which all our energies proceed.

Jung had found that he could help harmonize the psyche of his patients, by having them draw mandalas.

Each of us have dispirited interests, ideas, have conflicting purposes and conflicting ideals.

If we can put one of these conflicting purposes, in the north, and another opposite purpose in the east, or west, or south, we can pull ourselves together, then we shall find our minds, our dreams will begin to suggest ways to harmonize the different thrusts of our lives.

This is the whole sense of understanding ourselves. To harmonize our individual life with the general life of the society. Life of the society, or the tribal institution, so that we may identify ourselves as an organ of society, and the society identifying itself as an organ of the great nature.

The world idea in the Jewish tradition, is that it identifies the individual as an organ of society, but does not identify the society as an organ of nature. It separates it all. It may have  been an intentional operation on the part of the Rabbinical tradition.

The idea behind this, is not to let the Jewish symbology melt in to the nature of symbology of other traditions in the barrel.

This gives a special thrust, and look at the way, this thrust has survived thousands of years. And this gives great power, when the myth is actually working.

Meditation:

Now let us go from psychology to spirituality.

What is meditation? Meditation is the conscious and intentional creation of a link of the spiritual power of the individual with the spiritual power of the universe.

In Kashmir, there is ruined temple where there is an object that represents the yoni, symbol of the female organ, and the temple is devoted to the goddess. That symbol is the altar.

There is another temple in Kanchivaram, in south India, where the priests take the red powder, the vermilion, and dust it in to the yoni, reciting the 108 names of the goddess, four times.
108 x4= 432. That is the number of years in the cycle of time, and the goddess is the cycle of time.

If we add the digits 4+ 3+ 2 it adds up to the number 9. So the yoni represents the womb and the number 9 is the grade of her movement.

Prakriti:

The yoni and the lingam are the two symbols of the ultimate energy. The male and the female energies, both of which come into separation in the field of time, and neither of which exists, in the transcendent , beyond the field of time.

But that which brings them in the field of time is Prakriti, the female power.

So the goddess in this Indian mythology is a high power.

In China we find similar images. The 3-1/2 turns of the serpent power. Exactly as in the kundalini.

In the period of 5th century A.D., during the time of Caligula, in Rome, there is a statue of the serpent related to the moon. The serpent sheds its skin, and the moon sheds its shadow. There is a stone carving, depicting the basket of a sacred object, of the goddess Isis.

The object of these analogies is to show that this idea of the male and the female powers in the field of time covered the whole of Euro-Asia, all the way from Rome to India, to China.

It was only in India that these ideas were brought to full expression and the elucidation through the experience of the Yogi Masters.

The First Chakra:

Now we come back to the first chakra.
There is a statue in India dating back to the 5th century, of Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, Brahma, who sits in the lotus posture on a lotus, out of Vishnu's navel where his consort Saraswati is sitting with him.

He is not really the creator, because he is sitting on the lotus, that is to say, that the universe is already come in to being.

Brahma is depicted having four faces, representing the projection of the light of consciousness in the four directions, in the field of being.

Now with respect to worship. Brahma has a ladle, symbolizing sacrifice in public worship.  The rosary is his hand symbolizes the private meditation. This indicates worship may be public or private, the two ways of approaching god.

When you get to the god, you get knowledge of immortality, and there is the elixir of immortality in the bowl, the 'amrita'in his other hand,symbolizing that you receive the boons of leading a harmonious life.

At his right knee is the gander, which can move on the earth, the water and the skies. Symbolic of the three worlds, Swarga, Marta, and Patalam.

Consequently the gander is the spirit of the lord of the three, and informs the three worlds.

The Sanskrit word for the gander is 'Hamsa'.

When we breathe we can hear the sound as 'hamsa'.

When you breathe in, it is ham and when you breathe out, it is 'sa'.

So our breath is telling us all the time that we are hamsa. When you reverse the process you would hear 'so ham' which means "I'm That."

As long as we live, every breath is telling us what we are. So this is the meditation on the breath. It is telling us that we are spirit, which informs the universe.

So we have death with the first chakra, the muladhara. When our breathing
or the force of prana ceases to operate in this body we experience death.
Second Chakra:

Now we go up the spiral to the next chakra, the 'Swa dhistana'. Her favourite standing place at the sex organ. At this moment the psychology undergoes a transformation. No longer the behaviorism of Dr. Freud.

From now on everything is exciting. Sex becomes the aim of life. The birds are singing, the bells are ringing for me and my lover.

The frustrations of sex are also to be recognized at this chakra. If the frustrations are continuous, and the individual turns his mind to something creative, then civilization comes to expression and being.

This is what sublimation of the world associated to chakra 2. This is the Psychology of the chakra 2 of Dr. Freud.

The symbolism of the second chakra can also be indicated by the moon. The moon is the governor of the tides of lifeand also the tides of the oceans. The whole thing of sex is the tide of life. When the moon is full the people become crazy for sex. , the dogs bark and the coyote howl and all that. even crabs come out on the beach and start dancing.

The makara is the symbolic animal of the goddess Ganga. The pouring waters of the Ganges represent that all this is the out pour of all this energy. This is the erotic source of life, and of the excitement and of being in the world.

Not only Ganga, but Varuna, the Vedic god who rules the movement of the heavens. Varuna represents the rhythm of the rolling heavens.
At night we can see that the  skies are moving. That is the rhythm of the universe, of Varuna.

The deity associated with this chakra 2 is Vishnu, associates with the erotic. He has yellow garment, showing he is in essentially in an erotic mood. The incarnation of Vishnu in this aspect is Krishna.

In the 'Rasa Lila' we find the image of Radha and Krishna in ecstatic romance. Radha is a married woman who in romancing with 8 year old Krishna is breaking the past ethics and conditioning. The god, Krishna, presents himself between every two-gopis dancing there in the group, all at the same time. This shows the love of god for the world. Eternity in love with forms of time and space.

Another rejoinder here is that even after being elevated to the state of a god one may fall and become utterly in love with the transitory things In the world.

There is a beautiful and voluptuous story, in the poems, the song of the cowherd, called Gita Govinda, composed by a young brahmin who is in love with the daughter of his guru, and sees himself as Krishna and sees his lover as Radha, and writes these poems of his love, as Krishna informing him, and Krishna's love animating as his own love and so forth. It's a long and beautiful,very rich in imagery, very human, and yet a divine poem.

The date of this poem Gita Govinda is in the 11th and 12 th century, about the same time as of the Tristan romanticism in Europe.

So we find that the whole theme of rule breaking erotics, which underlined the courtly love traditions in Europe belong to the same time and period, as in India.

A century earlier, we find the lady Skenji, in Japan, again in the erotic mood.
It is also true, that if the sex instinct is sublimated to that of unselfish divine universal love, without physical attachment, then the sheer power of the second chakra experience can take one to the divine realization.

In the Vaisnava tradition, the tradition associated with this mode, the way of love. Christ also loved and his love sublimated to the death of the physical body at the cross, is so pure that Christ is also a type of Vaisnava incarnation of the divine.

One would find many similarities when one studies Christianity in relation to these Vaisnava traditions of India.

Five Types of Love:

In the Bhakti Yoga, or the way of devotion and love, there are five types of expression of love.

First order of Love:

The earliest and the lowest form is that of the servant to his master. You are the master and I'm the servant. Give me the rules to live by and I will live by them. I will do your will.

People who are engaged predominantly in the activities of life, without much time for spiritual thought, abide in this level and work from this aspect. This is the rule giving principles, you get a heavy dose of it, in the old testament.

Second Order of Love:

The second order of love is that of a friend for friend. With the friend you are thinking of him or her more. In India's epic poem Mahabharata, you find that expressed in the love that Pandavas had for Sri Krishna. In the Bible you find the same love amongst the disciples and the Christ. They close in, they think of him more and come to realization.

The Third Order of Love:

The third order of love is that of a parent for his or her children. Here the deity is the child. Like Yashoda, Krishna's foster mother..

The same is of the order of the Christmas crib.

What this represents is the birth of the spiritual life, in your heart. It is just born. It's a tender child and it must be fostered. Where do you find love of this order?

A woman came to the Indian Saint Sri Ramakrishna and said: " I find that I do not love god. The concept does not move me."

Sri Ramakrishna asked": Is there nothing in this world that you love?

She answered: "Yes, I love my little nephew."

Ramakrishna added": There is he, the object of your love, through which you may meditate on the love for god, seeing your nephew as his representation".

Recognition and realization of the divine in the activities of life. This is good Hinduism, good Christianity, good Tantra, good Moslem, and good Buddhism.

Going to temples and churches is quite secondary. Our spiritual life is here and now. This is the idea that T.S.Elliot was trying to incorporate in his story"the Cocktail Party"

That is the ritual, the relationship. And this is the Confucian idea too, that through this person to person relationships, you can come to the Tao, that Tao is realized.

The Fourth Order of Love:

The fourth order of love is in a marriage, much more intense and intimate, that of the spouse for a spouse. The Hindus make much more of this relationship of the wife to the husband than his relationship to her.

The principle is, that in the life of a marriage in the life of two people, this is the ritual field.
I do not love god, but there she is, his wife.

The Fifth Order of Love:

The highest order of love is where there is nothing but love. This mad, illicit, engaged love, careless of the rules of love to break past into transcendence.

This is the comparable experience of saving somebody at the risk of your own life.

The passion, the fire, the impulse has taken over to such an extent, that the world has dropped off, somewhere else.

This is the idea of courtly love, and in those days, in the 14th and 15 th century and even late,it was punishable by death, if one committed adultery. It was a formidable risk in that period.

Then, there are nymphs symbolized by  apsaras, the heavenly dancers, riding on the thighs and legs of heavenly musicians, soaring in the rapturous love.

The reflection of this type is found in modern times, on our roads. The motor bike couples, cruising along. These are the modern incarnations of the apsaras.

The Third Chakra:

Visualize the point of the third truncation on the Triangle we talked of earlier.
Now we come to the chakra Three. Manipura, the city of Shining Jewels. Here the energy is aggressive. It feels to conquer, to consume, to turn everything to ones self.

We have a delirium psychology at this point. Total transformation.
One of the forms in the early Freudian camp, is recognized here.
Freud emphasizing, sex as the prime energy, a delirious will for power. For some people it is one and for some it is the other.

Carl Jung enters the arena. When the two camps, of Freud and Jung were fighting, and Jung said, " yes, there are people going this way and some the other way". He recognized both.

It is true, all of us have the energy in the sexual form and also in the form of power, domination.
One of them is recessive and the other dominant in any given case.

So the psychology of duality is, whether your sex drive will give in to the violent drive for power, and the winning drive will give way to the sex drive.

This is the primary power dominating the third chakra. This in the Hindu way, is the most important. This is the chakra where most of the energy is generated.

This is also the ominous lotus.The petals in this lotus are the colour of lightning laden thunder clouds.

In the center of this chakra is the yoni, the womb, the fire, the energy. This is the swastika motif , meaning: movement, energy, violence.

The syllable here is 'rang' and the animal is the ram, the vehicle whose god is agni, the fire, the passion.

The fire of the womb, the fire of the sun, the of the sacrificial altar, are all the same fire. The fire for transformation, sublimation, different in degree and not in kind.

The womb is symbolic of transforming the past in to the future.

God here is Shiva, in his violent aspect, and his consort is Rakini. Rakini has her jaws apart, her breath is live with the blood of sacrifices.

Shiva in this aspect, is the destroyer of the three worlds, he is the destroyer of demons, and he wipes out all the obstructions, like going crashing right through the wall, destroying anything causing obstruction.

Now we get in to the deep stuff. The Durga aspect of the divine mother, riding the lion. In the aspect of Kali, she symbolizes black time, from which everything manifests and in to which they all go, in to the void, the transcendent. She is the mother and the tomb of everything, of all things.

We need not be afraid of the aspect of the divine mother, in the form of Kali. Nothing is happening, just a ripple on the surface of our mental lake.
The third chakra  is her prime altar, the battlefield of our inner struggles, the sacrifice.

This is the yoga of war. Here the individual gives himself, to his lord, his mother of death, not in protection of himself, and is moved by the tides of history.

When we live in these first three chakras only, we live in the animal level of our existence.

Animals cling to life, the fight for survival. Animals beget their future progeny. Animals also fight to have their own boundaries of domination, power.

So to be human, while living at these levels, we are controlled, conditioned by our social laws, the way of righteous living, the Dharma.

Just think of what all the popular religions are concerned with and dealing to us in sermons.

Prayers for health, wealth, progeny and victory.
Propitiate the gods to serve our animal nature. It does not matter what name we give to this god.
This is popular religion.

In Mexico, at the church of the Virgin of Guadalupe, people with babies in their arms, which they have begotten with the grace of the virgin in health, come enblock, to thank her.

This also happens in Puri,in India, at the temple of Jaggannath, the lord of the worlds, same kind of popular religion.

What is the religion of the world? Health, wealth and progeny. Its immaterial what name the god is invoked for such ends. That's the religion all over the world, in various cultural ornamentations.

The purpose of the priest is to connect their god in the temple, church, or mosque, with these sentiments of the people and what happens? Money keeps pouring in.

These are the opposing forces in our lives, which we have to accept, recognize, understand and apply to enjoy life with love, compassion, and a sense of caring, not only for ourselves, but also for those around us, through the discerning power and thereby sublimating them to create conditions of harmony and awareness, for the betterment of life. To experience what life is all about, with it wholeness.

Think of the first temptations of the Buddha.

In the first chakra the tempting lust. In the second chakra the fear and in the third chakra, the temptation for deviating from his path, through the reflection of dharma, the duty of the social order.

Buddha had gone past these three chakras to enter spiritual life. We are not in the spiritual birth until we have come up to the fourth chakra.

The Fourth Chakra:

Visualize the Apex of the truncated Triangle we talked about earlier, again.
This is the heart chakra, the fourth chakra. The sacred heart of Jesus.

This is called in Sanskrit the Anahata chakra. It means without being hit. It means that the sound is made, which is not by any two things striking together. This is the chakra where we get a glimpse of rising above the sense of duality, to that of feeling a sense of oneness with everything in the world.

What is the sound of that which is not made by the striking of two things together? It is the sound of Aum, or Om.

It is the word, the sound of the vibrations of the universal energy, of which all things are manifestations.

The universal energy is what underlies all the forms and the sound of that energetic vibration is Om or Aum.

O= au, in sanskrit. It is a four element syllable.

A, u , m and the silence after it. Out of silence it emerges and in to silence it goes.

The Indians always recognized that sacred ground of their heart, in that silence, in the infinite, in the void, in Kali, in Transcendence.

Aum when pronounced, the sound begins at the back of the mouth cavity, rolls over in the cavity, and closes at the lips. When properly pronounced You have made all the sounds. So all words are just fragments of this word, the aum.

Just as all the images are fragments of the form, so also all the words are fragments of the word, the Aum. Aum is the sound of the radiance of god.

Aum is beautifully discussed in the Mundukya Upanishad, in terms of the four states of our existence.

A is associated with consciousness in our waking state, in gross body, the forms in which we dwell. Here you are not I, and I am not you. The sense of duality prevails.

This "A" is not  the "A" as in Aristotelian logic of the waking consciousness. Aristotle's logic is the logic of the waking consciousness, carried right through and he does allow anything else to break in there.

All gross bodies are not self-luminous, but have to illuminated from without to be visible.

In Ramana Maharshi's words: " when you dream, who is it you dream about, or who do you dream. You dream you."

You are surprised by your dream. You as the subject, you see yourself as the object, and you feel surprised by your dream. You feel that you are separate from the others in your dream, yet you are one.

So the subject and object in your dreams though you feel they are separate, are the same. You and me and everything in the world are the same, in our dream consciousness.

This is the truth of the breakthrough of metaphysical realization, that the two which appear to be separate are really one and the same.

This is the midway point to transcendence. To realize the relationship in duality, as identity, with the one.

'U' is the object of the dream. The objects in a dream are subtle objects, which are self radiant. They do not require illumination from the outside. These objects are changing form in a rapid manner.

In our dreams sometimes, we have the visions of god, the way we conceive god to be. The gods, the heavens, and the hells are all the cosmic aspects of our dreams.

Our dreams, in which we have experience of a personal nature, are the personal aspects of our conditionings and of Myth.

Dreams and myths are of the same order. They are the order of u, the middle letter of the word Aum.
You and your god are one just as you and your dream are one. Your concept of god is not my concept of god. So don't try to push it on me.

Everyone has his and her own being and consciousness.

The third order 'M' is then that of dreamless sleep, the deep sleep. Consciousness is there, the heart is ticking, the body responds to heat and cold, but you're not awake.

The waking consciousness, the Hong consciousness, the ego consciousness is not in touch with anything in the external world. The awareness of the world is wiped out, by the darkness of the dreamless sleep.

The goal of yoga is to bring the consciousness of the dreamless sleep state, of "M", to the field of waking consciousness, then we can experience the undifferentiated consciousness which is our existence. It is not the consciousness of anything, but that primary consciousness, which we are trying through yoga to link to our waking consciousness.

The deity is Shiva shown in the statue of the 'Nataraja' in the cosmic dance pose. Meditating on this form of Shiva, you are listening to the sound of radiance, the Aum. Shiva allows you to go through him, you don't stop in the form of Shiva, you go beyond it, into Transcendence.

This is a permanent meditation. It is not idolatry. You are not idolizing this form, this image. It's the opening, the radiance, you are tuning in through the form, to go to the formless.

The Shiva is dancing on the little dwarf. What this symbolizes is forgetfulness. We are like this little dwarf, fascinated by the serpents of the world of duality, we are ignorant of the fact of the weight we are carrying on our backs. Shiva is right here, and we need to recognize it, understand and transcend it.

So the fourth chakra is the heart chakra, where this transformation takes place, our rebirth in our godhood or rebirth in Christ.

Hindus call it the 'kalpataru' the wish fulfilling tree. As the energy comes up from the base chakra, and approaches this break through, one has a feeling that all the wishes are about to be realized. There they are indeed fulfilled.
The Heart Chakra  is a crucial center or vortex of energy. Here, there is no lingam, we have only the yoni, the womb. This is the womb of virgin birth, of the spiritual as opposed to the physical life.

A new trajectory of ideas, no animals can have this experience. The notion of the spiritual life so energizes us, that the push and pull of the first three chakras fall into insignificance, in to a secondary position.

All of us can go through to this 4th energy vortex or the fourth chakra, by the way of the pingala nerve, as to reject the body altogether.

But the problem is to recognize this body and through it realize the spiritual life. Because it is through the body that the energy can manifest, outwardly, as also inwardly.

The animal in this 4th chakra is the antelope, or the gazelle. The vehicle of the lord of Prana, of breath. The two triangles shown as a six pointed star, is the symbol of the heat Chakra also.

The first triangle with apex on the top, represents aspiring. We have heard the syllable Aum, resounding in everything.

We don't have to go anywhere to aspire the communion. It's here, it's here, Aum.That is the sense in between meditation.

I have got it within me. The fire is here, not there.

I don't have to go there to catch it. It's here. This is the ubiquity, the omnipresence of the experience of Aum.

Now, we want to hear the sound direct, not simply through things and objects but directly. That is the aspiration of spiritual striving.

The other triangle, apex pointing down is the physical inertia.

We have this symbol to remind us to try to put down the inertial systems, the cravings of the physical world which bind us and take our attention away from our aspired goal, so that we can amplify our energy and carry it up for our spiritual realization.

So the 4th chakra is the Center of transformation, Anahata. The chakra of Real Baptism

The Fifth Chakra:

Visualize the truncated point just after the apex of the Triangle, we talked about,
on the right slanting side.
This  is the Visuddhi Chakra, or the energy vortex of purification, sublimation. Here we purify the physical system, the animal instincts, and sublimate them to open up our higher centers of consciousness.

Why should we do that?
So that, through its experiences, the transcendent can be experienced.

So the 5th chakra is at the throat. The petals are dark as in the chakra 3. The energy of the chakra 3 which was formerly projected to conquer, to dominate others is turned around, sublimated, to conquer your mind, your thoughts, your actions, to dominate them instead of being dominated in to the slavery of your instinctual inclinations.

This is the turning about , the transformation, the sublimation of the Shakti. The Shakti within you is not projecting its power outward anymore, but turned inward, to know yourself.

It is said that god created the world in order to enjoy himself, and the world must turn toward him.

In this Chakra 5, the Visuddhi Chakra, we have the red, fiery yoni, as in the Chakra 3 and the lingam is the ether. The elephant has come from the ground to the ether, in space.

Here the deity is Kali. The deity is putting down the physical body. The image of Kali dancing in the cremation ground. Vishnu the god of love is standing aside, in shock, in consternation. The vultures, the jackals are feeding on the bones, and Kali the Divine Mother is dancing on the breast of her own god, her own lord, the 'Mahakala' the infinite time.

This means our highest concept of god is our highest obstruction. He represents the highest thoughts, the highest feelings, that you may have. What Kali is saying, is go past that, break even that barrier to be enjoy in freedom.

Meister Eckhart, the mystic of the middle ages, says: 'that the ultimate leap you take is the leaving of god, the folk god. Break through that veil of conditioning and you get to the elementary idea.

This is very difficult, indeed.

In the image of Kali, in her hand is the head of Brahma, the creator of the world, and we are going past that, and all its values. There she is, with the 9 elephants on the Swastika.

This is the serpent, the 'Ananta Naga' on which Vishnu sleeps and dreams of the universe. This is the tortoise, the kurma, which supports the mountain of the universe.

The impaled heads of humans on her tufts. And with her right upper hand, she is saying, do not be afraid, and her right lower hand is giving the boons. And her we address as our dear Mother, and so it is.

The god Shiva here has five heads, symbolic of the five senses to be concentrated on a point for realization, and so also of the goddess.

The Sixth Chakra:

Visualize the lower truncated point on the right slanting side of the Triangle we began with.
So with our effort, we have come to the vision of god and as it is, at the ' Ajna Chakra ', the sixth vortex of energy. 'Ajna' means authority and power. The soul beholds its objects. It says, come here.
What has happened?

Here the symbol is of another lotus having two petals. The two petals signify the individual soul, the 'Jiva' and god, the universal spirit, the 'Iswara'.

The goddess here is Maya, with six heads. The five senses and the mind. The mind is the dominant figure here. And in the hands are the tick of time. Do not be afraid, meditation, scriptures, the boon bestowing hand and the severed head of the creator of the world. , on the lotus of her own love.

The Energy Triangle:

Visualize the whole triangle for a minute.
So here at the 'Visuddhi Chakra' the 5th vortex of energy, the energy of the 3rd chakra, the fire of power and the inclinations for domination, is sublimated, through our efforts, and we have broken through, have purified our approach.

The energy of love, the fire of sexual passion of the 2nd chakra, is sublimated and is experienced in chakra 6 the 'ajna chakra' as the love for all life, compassion towards all beings, and the love for god.
 

The Sahasrara Chakra-the Seventh-The Crown Chakra:

Now comes the final stage. The soul beholds god. But the mystic wants to be one with his beloved.

In John 10:30 Jesus said: I and my father are one.

I will share with you what the Saint Ramakrishna said of this. He said: ' when you behold god, you are not god, but a transparent veil is in between you and god'. There is still duality. The soul beholds its object. The goal of yoga is to be one with that. When you merge into something, duality will cease, and there will be identity.

The question is how to remove that thin, transparent veil between you and your god?

How would you remove this last barrier?

And then ultimately you are your own being. Soul and god become one, beyond the pair of opposites.

Khalash, the sufi mystic says:" the situation is that of a moth in the darkness of the night. It is attracted by the light of a lantern. It wants to get to the flame, but the barrier of the glass dome prevents that. It batters the dome all night, and in the morning being tired, goes to his friends to tell them what a wonderful thing it had seen during the previous night. And his friends say:

You don't look any better for it."

This is the condition of the yogi who is knocking himself to pieces to get through the veil.

Then the next night the moth goes towards the flame again, and by luck or device the veil is broken, and in an instant he achieves his goal and it is the flame.

This is the eternal instant, beyond time and space.

That is the goal of yoga, at the Crown chakra, or the 'Sahasrara'. At the Sahasrara the seventh chakra, the serpent becomes one with the thousand petalled lotus of the crown.

In the center of the crown chakra, are the foot prints of Vishnu, which is to be worshipped. Why do we have foot prints? We thought that we have broken through the veil. Because we are still talking, and making movements within, and with this body, that is why.

All symbols and words that we connect to, in this stage also are barriers. Many get stuck with the foot prints of vishnu in the crown chakra, and many choose to pass through, even beyond.

There is a text that appears in The works of Lao Tzu and also in the Keno Upanishads.

It says: "those who know do not speak and those who speak do not know."

That's a hard expression for one who is teaching or sharing ideas.

The note for caution here is that we must make the effort to even go beyond the foot prints of vishnu, to go beyond the sense of duality.

Those who do not wish to go past the chakra 3 live instinctually.
So, at the weighing of the heart against the feather, if the heart is not lighter than the feather, or is not as light as the feather, which represents the angels and the demons up there, then it is going to mean that this body or the soul could be consumed by the monsters. The nose of the monster is right there between the chakra 3 and 4.

However, if the heart has won, the spiritual has become dominant, then its counterpart Hermes, or the baboon, who greets the morning sun with howling, is in charge of the chakras 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Now we have to question, what is that thing like, between the chakras 6 and 7, between the Ajna and the Crown chakras.

We have the pairs of opposites from the chakra 1 to chakra 6. Both the lingam and the yoni have their creative powers, but beyond that there is nothing of the kind.

So here at the crown chakra, is the whole universe as the goddess, the Divine Mother.

In all other chakras we go through the heavens and hells, meaning through happiness and sadness.

When we are at the heart chakra, all we have to do is to experience hell, to make our ego system work harder and harder, and be stuck with it.

Give it a try and find for yourselves, how it feels, and the turmoil that come in to expression.
So hell is the level where the consciousness get stuck with the ego syst

The next idea is how to go experience heaven. To do that we must open, open and open, learn to analyze and know everything in their real nature, not just what appears to us in our impulsive moments, till all the trans personals are known.

The Divine Mother is above the four manifestations of god, through Indra, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The Divine Mother is sometimes also called "Brahma Mayi" meaning, one who is immersed in the consciousness of Brahman, the absolute, the transcendent.

Maya, Devi, Shakti are the other names alluded to the Divine Mother. Here she is and here is the world. We find two aspects of the same consciousness, the 'chit', one addressing the world with the opposites of the yoni and the lingam and the other turned away from it, like a monk who is dead to the world.

The figure facing the Divine Mother is Shiva, and the other Shiva below her feet, is the 'Saba', the corpse, one who is dead to the world.

We come to Shiva and Shakti. There is the eye, the ganges flowing out of Shiva's tuft, and this represents the seminal ejaculation. And Shiva's animal is the bull.

There is the Divine Mother, Kali, with the head of the creator. It shows the triumph over the two aspects of the one consciousness.

Here is the Divine Mother in the manifestation of the 'Chhinna Masta' the one whose own head is severed and being held by herself.

It represents, that the Divine Mother, out of her love towards humankind, would even sever her own play of dualities to release man from its bondage.

This is the medusa touch. Medusa is related to this manifestation of the goddess.

Conclusion:

So in Yoga we go up from the first chakra to the seventh. Now, if our consciousness stays in the seventh, or the crown chakra, the body dries up, and we lose the body, and are released from the cycles of life and death, in the physical body.
The ideal condition, from the point of view of the one, who is interested in life, is to come back the heart, where the two are together. , at the chakra 4. and do whatever you need to do with LOVE, COMPASSION, UNDERSTANDING,and make the words "Do Unto Others as you would want them to Do Unto You, rteal in real life of the three dimensinal world and be happy.

In our visualization of that truncated Triangle of Energy ,for the sake of understanding, we see that energy of third chakra is transformed in chakra 5. That of the second chakra transformed at chakra 6, and that of the first chakra transformed at chakra 7.

It is only at chakra 4 the heart chakra, that the opposing aspects of the energy are balanced and neutralized, to give an expression of love, compassion and understanding.

The attachments we experience at chakra 3, through the spirit to dominate, is sublimated to dominate the mental and physical inclinations and impulses of one's own, and is turned inward.

The fire of passion, the fire of human love, love for the continuation of the species of the chakra 2 is sublimated to experience the love towards all, and the radiance of the eternity, in serving others, helping others in a sense of fellowship and compassion.

The urge for survival and inertia of the chakra 1 or the base chakra is sublimated to the spirit of abnegation, self surrender to the divine, beyond the ego system.

That's how to know and transform the earthly experience in to spiritual life or exercise.

In a Statue of the Buddha,in Sri Lanka it symbolizes functioning from the energy of the heart center. Here Buddha is saying no to the tempter, in his earth touching posture.

But once if you have experienced what is to be experienced, watch that hand of the Buddha. It turns into a boon bestowing posture.

In the temple architecture at Kahjuraho, in India,  the Mother of the universe is in embrace with Shiva, her own other aspect.

The contrast between Eastern and Western Mythology:

The two contrasting mythologies of the European and the Asian world, from the Rhine to the Caspian sea the sun is the female and the moon the male.

The moon dies every month and is born of the sun. So the sun therefore, is the mother of the moon. So the sun is the female power, and the female power is that which is.

The father begets his son through his wife. Married to a woman he becomes the past, and the son comes, which is the future. What happens is that the female is opened and begins to function. She is no longer herself, but is the vehicle of the future. She is the vehicle of all process.

No Worry, Be Happy.
 
 

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Last update: October 15, 1997
The contents are © 1997. No part or portion of it may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the author.