Introspection and Nidhidhyasana.

Before I forget, I should jot down a few experiences.

Gurudev told me about my association with Dinesh uncle.  He told me to do a sankalpa for Moksha for both me and Dinesh uncle.  This occured a few days ago.  I hope this is not in anyway a hint from Gurudev that Dineshuncle is about to make a departure.

I had a talk with a Saint today.  It took me a while to understand what he meant by introspection.  He kept repeating that one has to “be here now” meaning be constantly vigilant and alert as to the faults one has and constantly make an effort to correct it.  Anyway that was the gist.  He said that this is introspection and it is just as important as meditation.  For those in the spiritual path, the traditional indian word is Nidhidhyasana.  What I could not understand is why does one have to be aware and look for ones faults when you can actually see them!

Let me explain the steps of Nidhidhyasana.  I will start off with an analogy. 

Let us say you are in a house with a few rooms.  You hear a little sound.  But the sound is soft and so short, you are just not sure if the sound was real but think it was there. This would be the first step where one realizes that a small voice or something inside did not have the ring of truth, but we are not spiritually awake enough to catch on to it.

In the second stage, you hear the sound repeatedly but you cant place your finger on it.  This is like a stage where you are passing a street, someone frowns at you, and you feel unhappy about it.  After a while you forget the incident but your heart stays heavy but you dont remember why

In the third stage, you hear a sound and you know the sound is coming from the room next door and you have a more precise idea and you try to shut off the noise in your mind.  This is a stage where you are more in tune with your faults and you are trying to be vigilant and not let the sound or your faults take over.  This is closer to the real Nidhidhyasana. 

The fourth stage is something different.  Your no longer in the house but you are above the house and the house has no roof so you can see the source of the sound!  Here, you are no longer looking or searching for your faults,  you actually see it.   This is not something imaginary nor is it a feeling or perception. It is seen. 

In the third stage, you are aware of your faults or enemies but you cannot vanquish them.  In the fourth stage, you actually see the fault and slowly, in time learn how to vanquish them. 

When I say, you see your faults, this is what happens.  All of our faults lie in different chakras of the body – usually between manipur or swadhisthana or muladhar and some in Anahat.  When we try to station ourselves in the higher self, one can actually see the activies of the lower chakras and see the fault we have and keep ourselves surrendered to Shakti and let shakti remove our faults and thus the obstacle to remaining in samadhi at all times. 

Lately, when I am in meditation, I see various strings which connect the agna chakra to the lower half of the body.   When focused on agna chakra fully, immediately prana begins to reverse and climb back up through the “strings”.  When our attention is not fixed fully on agna chakra, I see how our faults pull on agna chakra and prevent the consciousness from blossoming within and keep our prana from ascending.  

The degree to which the prana reverses it flow has gone up exponentially.  The more prana reverses its flow, more and more do I feel myself without body and more as pure consciousness.  Also, when the attention is fixed on agna chakra and the prana begins to ascend, I realize the existence of Manas chakra.  This is a chakra with 5 leaves and described by Vishnutirthji maharaj in Devatma shakti.

Yoga Basics and Shiv Swarodaya and the Science of Breathing / Breath

I will only touch the basics about Shiv Swarodaya here.  However, there are a few fundamentals about Yoga that everyone should know.

1) For all individuals, the flow of air / breathing occurs in either left or right nostril.  (Medically, this is due to changes in the sinuses).  When the flow is through the left nostril it is called chandra nadi or ida or jamuna and when the flow is through the right nostril it is called surya nadi or pingla or ganga.

2) As per Vivekananda Maharaja, flow through the left nostril is usually auspicious for most purposes

3) Flow through the right nostril is good before going to war and meditation (Gurudev)

4) The flow alternates through left and right nostrils every 1.5 hours for a person in good health.  For a yogi it changes every hour.  For an advanced yogi, the flow is through the left nostril in the day time and right nostril at night time.  This increases his longetivity

5) If you lie on your left side, the right nostril opens up and if you lie on your right side, the left nostril opens up.  It is more effective if you are able to exert pressure in the axillary area while lying on the sides

6) Generally, when either nostril is open, there is minimal flow through of air on the other nostril too.  The key word is minimal. 

7) If the airflow is only through one nostril and not even a minimal amount flows through the other nostril then it is inauspicious to do any task

8) If the airflow is through the left nostril mostly and minimal air is through the right side it is called amrit yoga.  It is very auspicious

9) If the airflow is through the right nostril mostly and minimal through the left side it is called Visha yoga and is inauspicious.

10) All the chogadias which hindus use come originally from the knowledge of the breath. 

This is the bare essentials.  There is a lot more to this which can be discussed later, including how to recognize the basic elements from breathing, how to effective in communications etc

Now, let us talk about Sushumna nadi.  This is what the Yogi aspires.  Sushumna nadi is said to be open when the air flow through both nostrils is EQUAL or if the breath changes from left to right and right to left with rapidity.  This nadi is EXTREMELY inauspicious for wordly matters.  It is an indicator of death, people disliking you for no reason, extreme difficulties etc.  However, the same nadi is EXTREMELY auspicious for a Yogi if he can reverse the air flow, take the prana inside and it can lead to Moksha, or freedom. Without the Sushumna nadi opening, one cannot have any Yogic experiences

The duration of how long Sushumna remains open predicts remaining life.  I will explain this later.  For now, suffice to know that when the airflow through the nostril changes, one has to go through Sushumna for a short time.  Now, you will understand why some days can be good, bad and ugly. Our breathing is constantly telling us and reminding us of impending success or problems

Lastly, one more thing.  When we breath out the breath goes out for a certain distance.  This distance is measured by a Yogi by the distance measured in the width of the finger.  Normally, this distance, the distance the breath travels out is 12 finger breaths.  During activities it goes up.  If a person can just decrease the distance travelled by the breath by one finger breath, he or she begins to feel warm.  If the breathing goes down to 7 finger breaths, he begins to experience Samadhi.  I will discuss this more when I translate Muktashastra.

My daughter asked me the other day, why did she feel so warm while doing mala.  The answer is, her breathing had slowed down from the normal 12 (not rate of breathing but the distance travelled outside the nose) to 11.  The more one can decrease it, the more Yogic powers appear. 

How does one decrease the distance travelled by the breath?  That is the real art of a Yogi!  Just forcefully breathing slowly DOES NOT work.

Sunderkand and Ramayana

prabhu bhala kinha mohi sikha dinhi, marajadi puni tumhari kinhi.

dhola, nagaar, sudra, pasu, nari, sakala tadna ke adhikari

 

 This is from Sundarkand, verse 58.  This particular paragraph caught my attention because of Arvind Pathak when he stated in his lecture that he was making a change in what Tulsidasa had to say.  He took objection to the word tadna. 

  

Ramayana is a beautiful story about Rama, Laxman, Sita and Hanuman and their life story.  Sunderkanda was written by Tulsidasji.  Tulsidasji was an enlightened being who had tremendous compassion and power.  When he wrote Sunderkanda, it is said that every other line was written by Hanumanji.  Tulsidasji suffered a lot in his lifetime.  He had an infectious power of sparking spiritual interest in many souls around him and Maya or Satan looked at him and his actions very unfavorably.  They put him through many trials.  It is said he composed many verses to help save people from suffering. All of his prayers and hymns are still very powerful and effective and help save many a soul, even to this day from pain and anguish.  These include the Sunderkanda, Hanuman chalisa, Hanuman Bahuk, Hanuman Sankatamochana etc.

  

I have more about Tulsidas and Hanuman in my other blogs.  Neem Karoli Baba was an avatar of  Hanuman.

  

Like many stories in hinduism and in the bible, the stories are based on some truth and have a very profound meaning also.  This verse 58 is a statement made by Ocean who is asking Rama forgiveness.  Rama wanted to cross the ocean to reach Lanka and the ocean had to be crossed.  However, the ocean would not let him pass.  So, Ram takes his arrows out and wants to destroy the ocean and the ocean stated the verse 58 asking his forgiveness.

  

The translation of these 2 lines is as follows.

  

God has graced me by giving me a lesson and has made me a “marjadi” or told me my limitations (once again).

The following things should be beaten – drum, country bumpkin, low caste, animals (cattles) and women.

 

This, like many things in religion, on surface value seems senseless. 

Just remember any scripture written by great souls like Tulsidas is NEVER meaningless.  There always is a deeper meaning to it.  If you read the interpretation of the Rubiyaat by Paramhansa Yogananda, we realize how incredible and spiritually profound the verses by Omar Khayaam are.  On surface it seems like verses written by an alcoholic and womanizer but the truth is far deeper.

Let us take the word marjadi.  Generally, especially the vaishnava take this literally as following some injunctions and follow many social restrictions.  The real meaning of marjadi is – mar means to die and jadi is a misnomer of jaye meaning to be born again.  Thus marjadi means to die and be born again.   This is in all essence another word for Samadhi.  It is very similar to what St. Paul said – “I die daily“.  He of course meant that he goes into Samadhi daily.

Like most westerners and eventhose from India, everyone uses the word Samadhi very lightly.  The truth is, it is rare and it is the crown jewel of Yoga.  It is true and a rare soul can go into the highest Samadhi where the heart stops and breathing stops and the person seems dead.  You need a living Guru to reach that stage for he alone knows the technique to bring you back to life.  Hence the word Marjadi – meaning to die and be born again!

Back to the verse, first line – now the true and most beautiful meaning is uncovered!  I am greatful to God because he graced me with Samadhi!

Line 2.  The following things should be beaten – drum, country bumpkin, low caste, animals (cattles) and women.

This line gives us the  method to reach Samadhi!  Patanjali Bhagwan gave us Yoga Darshan, the primary treatise on Yoga. All other books on Yoga are subequent to it and have merely expounded on what Patanjali Bhagwan had to say.

In his book, he talks about the 5 obstacles to Samadhi and these obstacles have to be driven out (beaten out) before Samadhi can be reached.  The 5 obstacles are Avidya (ignorance), Ego, Raga (attachment) Dvesha (hatred) and Abhivinesha (attachment to the body). 

Line 2 thus talks about driving out the 5 obstacles in order to reach Samadhi.

1) Gavaar or country bumpkin – This obviously refers to Ignorance

2) Drum refers to Ego.  Just like a drum is hollow and has no substance, makes a lot of noise, a soul driven by Ego has no substance and makes a lot of unnecessary statements

3) Naari or Women – Refers to attachment

4) Animal – Dvesha a purely animalistic tendency to abhor

5) Shudra – Refers to Abhinivesha or attachment to the body.  The body is of low caste compared to the spiritual splendor of the soul!

The corresponding reference in Mahabharata and God talks with Arjuna by Yogananda are – Ego is Bhisma, ignorance is Kripacharya, Karna is attachment, Vikarna is Dvesha and Jaydratha is Abhinivesha.

 

 

 

Mantra, The Word, Aum

I am glad my daughter is taking immense interest in spirituality.  This beautiful and royal road to God has become complicated by everyone claiming to know the way, giving their own versions of concocted ideas and floating in the world of thoughts and ideas but not walking the royal road to God.  This blog will clarify all ideas and opinions about the word, aum and Mantras.

First of all, let us be very clear about Raj Yoga or the royal road to God.  It is when ones prana goes inside the brahma nadi and it takes our prana thus our consciousness straight to God.  There is NO other royal road. 

One has to know a little bit about how the universe and when I say universe, I refer to all 3 universes, the gross physical, subtle and causal worlds was created.  God exists in the primary undifferentiated form.  This is God or Parmatma or Sacchidananda.  After this, the first part of creation was the Son of God.  This son of God goes by a few names, Christ, or Christ Consciousness or Krishna Consciousness or Kutasta Chaitanya or Narayana.  Just remember Jesus was an avatari person, Christ is a state of spirituality.  This aspect, the son of God is the consciousness present everywhere.  One day, Gurudev explained this to me.  He had a short bout of pharyngitis.  He was in his chowki upstairs in his room and I was there.  He coughed up a little phlegm and the phlegm was floating in the water.  He pointed it to me and said, this is the primary creation called as narayana.  Naar meaning water and ayana meaning ball.  Both phlegm is mostly water but yet it differentiated itself from water and formed a “ball” floating in the water, thus the meaning Narayana. Thus Narayana is synonymous with son of God or Kutastha Chaitanya.  I hope the reader can see how great men live!  EVERYTHING reminds them of God.

The next step of creation was aum or as known in the Bible as the word or the holy Ghost.  Remember, so far nothing has been created.  A primary sound, called Aum or the word came about.  Subsequently from this primary sound or the first word, Bija Mantras came about.  They are for example Hrim, Klim, Gam, etc.  From these Bija mantras the causal universe and the subtle universe came into existence.  Thus two shaktis appeared from the holy ghost or Aum.  One is Aditi or Para shakti who created the causal and subtle universe and the other was her “sister” Diti or Apara shakti from whom the gross physical world appeared.  In the vedas, it is said that the soul has 2 mothers, diti and aditi.  This of course refers to the soul hiding behind the causal, subtle and gross body.

I hope the reader can understand why it is said in the bible in John, first there was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God. 

In order to reach God, one has to travel back in the reverse direction.  So the task of a Guru is awaken the Word in the disciple.  This word or Aum is to be heard not recited.  One can be saved from eons of labor by having a Guru who awakens this sound and one has reached the level of the Holy Ghost and the disciple tries to remain immersed in this holy word or Aum. This is the true Brahmacharya or celibacy and this is the true Mantra.

Thus, we now come to Mantra and Mantras.  The true Mantra is Aum.  The true Mantra diksha is when one sits in meditation and just listens to it and becomes immersed in it. This is the true baptism, true awakening of the shakti.

So what do we do if we our Aum is not awakened and we do not hear this sound?  This royal awakening is NOT for everyone.  Very few souls can endure this kind of awakening.

The next step is, the Guru or teacher gives a different Mantra.  Like we talked about previously, from the primary Aum, the bija mantras came into existence.  From the bija mantra different Gods and Goddesses appeared.  Anyone who has  heard the Bija Mantra or Aum can say that the Mantra is “awake” or “Jagrat”.  This means, it is not just a word but it has power in it.  If God permits it, the Guru gives this Mantra or Bija Mantra to the disciple and the disciple has received a Mantra which is not just words but is shakti or a live spiritual power.  The disciple, in time by using the mantra is able to go to Aum and reach the ultimate.

So, how does one recite the mantra?

1)

Best is if the disciple can sit in meditation and just listen to it. 

2) Since this cannot be done at all times, the next step is to recite it.  The best way is to recite it with ones mind without using our lips, tongue and done in total silence.  Moreover, since Aum or the holy ghost is at the Agna chakra, the area between the eye brows, one should have his or gaze “fixed” at that area.  This seems simple enough but it is quite difficult to perform.  Not only should one have the gaze fixed but also feel the presence of the deity or ones Guru or the divinity to whom this Mantra is addressed to, at the Agna chakra.  It is ok to use a Rosary with this method.

3) Since this method is not easy and not everyone can do it, the next best technique is to use the rosary, not use our lips or tongue, recite the mantra in our mind but imagine being at a divine place or Siddha Pitha.  There are some areas in India, where God appeared and has left his or her divine vibrations there.  For eg.  the Jyotirlinga.  Or one can use the place of Samadhi of an enlightened person and use the mantra directed to the enlightened person.  The disciple should imagine being there, recite the mantra and with every mantra recited, at the end of it, offer the mantra to the divinity in the form of a lotus with a strong will of reaching God or offering the divinity our faults, all our karmas etc. This should be done without fear.  Without having a single thought of doubt in the mind and with love.

4) If you cant do the mantra in this fashion, the next best way is to recite the mantra with slight motion of the lips and tongue and keeping eyes closed, try to imagine as best as possible the above scene and repeatedly try to do the above step 3

5) If you cannot focus enough next step is to repeatedly recite the mantra mechanically, letting the mind wander, every so often reminding the mind of its task, but try to keep eyes closed and use the rosary

6) Even if that fails, recite the mantra loudly provided NO ONE else can hear it.   It is very important that if the disciple has been given a jagrat or live mantra, that he or she does not recite it loudly in the presence of others.

These steps have been alluded to in the SRF lessons and Yogananda’s explanation of the Gita, God talks with Arjuna.

In time, by following the above steps, the disciple can reach a state where the Mantra is heard.  Usually when one reached this stage, the body starts to become numb and the prana enters the brahmanadi.   The mantra takes over, a deeper part of the mind, not the mind that is active with the gross body but something much deeper, the thought or mind of the causal body begins to take over. 

There are a few other injunctions to be followed but that will have to wait for some other time.

Worry

Before I touch on Nectar, one of the problems in spiritual progress is that when in difficulty or adverse conditions we resort to our “natural” state of dealing with it.  It could be depression, aggressiveness, anger or fear or cowardice.   With time, we tend to “forget” the pain and ignorantly we say time heals.  However, the seeds, the basic way we react has not been eradicated.  Next time, in this life or the next life we will have to deal with it again. 

When time heals, we are merely covering our eyes or putting blindfolds on our personality.  A  yogi, acknowledged and realizes he has a problem.  The problem is not the situation but the problem is his inferior way of dealing with it (anger, fear etc).  So he constantly endeavors to not fall back to the “human” way to deal with it but tries to remain established in his higher self – the pure consciousness.   This is NOT easy.  This is why Yogananda said it is easy to go to Savikalpa Samadhi.  But to go to Nirvikalpa Samadhi is extremely difficult.  (His definition of Nirvikala samadhi is to remain in samadhi or in the consciousness of the self or having some prana inside the brahmanadi at all times).  I am facing this problem.   During meditation, it is easy.  But after meditation, during activities, it is very difficult to rid the consciousness of worry and fear. 

There are a few things that can help.  I will give them in descending order of most effectiveness.  Having said that, the best method is always the most difficult also.

1)  Using will or your Sankalpa shakti, which in turn decreases the distance the breath travels outside the nostrils (I will discuss this in great detail in my future blogs under Shiv Swarodaya) and this in turn leads us to automatically going to the higher self

2) Using Mantra while our eyes are gazing upwards and inwards

3) Using mantra with some imagination of the diety or Paramhansa we are trying to focus on

4) Using mantra in anyway.

In all methods though, one has to have a specific and clear goal that is pure.  When I say pure, the only goals that are acceptable are – either to rid the consciousness of worry or to be established in the higher self.  No discussion or justification or vengenance is accepted or permissible.

Polarity of Chakras

I have alluded this to a few times in my past blogs.  Every chakra except Sahastrar has a negative downward pole, a consciousness that is directed towards the world.  This is referred to in the Bhagvad Gita as the “Dakshinayana” or lower six months of the calendar.  If a person leaves the body while the chakras are pointing downwards, it is said he had “adhogati”  Meaning adho meaning downward and gati meaning movement. 

When the chakras are turned upward, the consciousness faces God.  One begins to realize oneself, successively in every chakra as pure consciousness.  This is the brighter half of the lunar cycle or Uttarayana or the upper six months of the calendar. It is also the fire or daylight as described in Gita. If a person leaves his body in this situation, he is said to have Urdhvagati or meaning upper movement

Remember, this is still not liberating.  Also remember the chakras are in the brahmanadi.  Please see my description about it.  These events occur slowly.  However, any effort is supremely helpful as Babaji and Lahiri Mahashay said.  “Banat Banat Banjaye“

In todays meditation, my pager went off – it was lying right next to me but I did not hear it.  Did not realize it till I got up from meditation.  The meditation was still a struggle.  The lower half of Manipur, the site of chitta, the place for worries, stress and anxiety has been supremely strong for the last month.  I can occasionally pass it but it does not remain turned upwards at all times.  In order to overcome this with pemanence, requires finding and clinging to God completely, selflessly and without worry or anxiety.  I do not and have not figured out the exact opposite to this shadow.

Having said that, I am increasingly aware of the primary will of God.  It is a vibration above the Agna chakra.  God wills and it happens in this earth.  There is no question of probability or whether it will happen or not.  It just happens.  Moreover, I heard the sound of Hum, Hum, the sound that comes from God, which repeatedly tells the soul, that I am.

It is important to remember that to surrender to the will of God, one has to be fearless, anxiety free, worry free, without anger, hatred or jealousy or vengenance. Just purity.  I was able to do this with some degree of success.  It reminds me of the incident when Ramkrishna asked Vivekananda, if there is an ocean of nectar, where would you start swimming in it?  Vivekananda said, at the edge so that way he would not drown. Ramkrishna laughed and said, Child, this is the ocean of immortality you can jump in anywhere anytime.  Do not be afraid!

Self Realization Fellowship (SRF) energizing exercises (contd)

I would like to continue on expounding on SRF exercises.  I wrote about it briefly in the past.  However, to understand it fully, one has to have a clear understanding on prana. Yesterdays blog and elsewhere in my blogs there is a more precise explanation of the prana.

As we talked about, the only way to go into Samadhi, is by reversing the flow of prana from the body and have it ascend via the Brahmanadi into Agna chakra or higher.  This reversal of flow has to occur from the gross physical body.  When one performs the energizing exercises, it is in essence training the body to contract and relax at will.  The contraction and the relaxation of the body, whether we realiz it or not, occurs through the will of the person which then acts through the prana. 

Like we talked about yesterday, the breathing exercises are very crucial.  So, it helps a lot to do the breathing exercises in synchrony with the energizing exercises.  This way, there are two things helping to reverse the flow.  The exercise and the breath process. 

Having said that, still most people are not able to reverse the flow because

1) The mind wanders in the body and elsewhere in a world of imagination

2) They have not had the blessings of a living guru who has opened the mouth of chitra and vajra and the brahmanadi.

3) They have not practiced the breathing exercise with the energizing exercise with patience, faith and it has to be practiced for years to make the ascent.

Initially, with the reversal of the flow of prana, it tends to go up through the chitra and vajra.  That is because we remain very intellectual and emotional.  Once, the intellectuality and emotionalism is overcome, then it an ascend in the brahmanadi. 

All of the wonderful scriptures of Yoga, call the true beginning of Yoga when prana goes through Brahmanadi.  This is where the lotuses lie.  A living Guru is a must for this.

Like Aurobindo described and based on my experience. the ascent occurs in three passes.  The first pass is through sushumna.  This was bypassed for all of Gurudevs disciple.  The second ascent is through chitra and vajra.  Most of Gurudev’s disciples experience this.

The third and final ascent is through the causal body or brahmanadi.  From the current living disciples of Gurudev, I believe there are only 3 disciples who have can do this.  One of them is Dineshbhai Bhatt.

Last night, I had the fortune of seeing Gurudev again.  He blessed me for an extended time, placing his hand on my head. He asked me what I wanted.  All I asked was when it is time for me to leave the body, to merge my consciousness into his.  I did not ask for siddhis or any wordly happiness.  He was very pleased with this answer.

Pranayama – Breathing Exercises, SRF, Kriya Yoga

Pranayama – prana is the vital force, the force or energy used by Om or the Holy Ghost to run all 3 universes – the gross, subtle and causal.  The word ayama means control.

The most gross manifestations of the working of prana is breathing.  It also includes all other bodily functions.  Similarly it has other functions in the causal and subtle body.

Most people cannot reach the higher functions of the subtle and causal, so we start off with the prana in the gross body and work our ways inwards and higher.

I have repeatedly talked about the causal body, brahmanadi and that one has to be able to withdraw the prana from the limbs and body (making the body numb.  The best example of this was Paramhanasa Yogananda. When he was in Bombay in the 1930’s, he showed how he could die.  There were other physicians there and he had stopped his heard and breathing and was pronounced dead.  When he recovered at will, he was not able to walk or move without assistance. This is because the prana took a long time to descend back into the body.  This is similar to my experience I related about 2 years ago in the blog with Bade guruji, or Vishnutirthji Maharaj).

So,  how does one make the ascent back?  For this we must have a little better understanding of the prana.  The prana is generally impure. What do I mean by impure?  It means that it is all mixed up, intermingled with the workings of the chitta (emotions), intellect and the mind (organ or perception).  The prana is responsible for all of their functions – chitta, intellect and the mind. However, we are not aware of it.  Just like we are not aware of the spark of life that is present in every cell of the body. Or we are not aware of the gas running the car, even though,  we know the car functions.

The great saints of India and Patanjali Bhagwan gave us the easy way.  He saw that it is crucial to have the prana working independently of the chitta, intellect or mind.  Without that independent working, we will not be able to reach the causal body or ascend through the brahmanadi (the staircase to God).  So, he gave us the trick of Pranayama or breathing exercise. 

There are 9 pranayamas.  They can be found in any yoga treatise. It should be learnt and only practiced under the guidance of a Guru. The books describe 8.  The ninth pranayama is kevali or Kriya Yoga. This occurs when the prana is pure and ascends through Brahmanadi.  (see my detailed descrptions elsewhere about Brahmanadi).  So, by practicing pranayama, we are able to slowly achieve pure prana, the activity of prana without the intervention of chitta, intellect or the mind.  These three correspond to manipur, swadhisthana and muladhar chakras.  Once this is achieved, then it is easy for the prana to go in the Brahmanadi and the pranayama becomes Kevali or Kriya Yoga.  This begins to occur around the manipur.

Along with pranayama a few other things are needed to achieve this.

1) Purity of the heart

2) Sincerity to the cause of spiritual progress alone

3) A devoted heart to God and God alone

4) Surrender to God which should be complete.  Not a single thought or emotion that questions

5) Faith (see my blog on Faith to explain what it is).

Thus every part of the 8 divisions or anga of Yoga are crucial to go higher.  Todays experience was a clear experience describing these steps.

I forgot to mention a miracle that happened a few days ago.  I was walking in Royal Farms, in a rush to go to the bathroom. The floors were wet and there were no signs.   I slipped and fell down on my left side.  The miracle was although I fell, it felt like I fell on a tremendous cushion and actually enjoyed falling!  Needless to say there was no injury.  There is a saying in Gujarati, (Rama rakhe tene kaun chakhe?) meaning he who is protected by God, what does he have to worry about?  Maybe this falling was not really a miracle but it is better to believe it is a miracle and make the faith stronger!

Meditation on Chakras

I did not get a chance to write yesterdays blogs.  I was orginally planning to write about sex, meditation and yoga.  Is it wrong? Is it right? Is it a hindrance? Is it somewhere in between? There are some unwritten secrets about shakti and sex which Gurudev talked about and was also written by Shankaracharya (one of the other disciples of Babaji?) 1000 years ago.  I may write a little about it later on.

Yesterdays meditation was not as deep.  But it was invaluable.  I finally learnt the technique of how to keep ones vision focused on the agna chakra and yet meditate on the lower chakras.  The utility of this is in acquiring siddhis.  I have no need for it but yet it is something that one has to master.

What I learnt is my swadhisthana chakra remains upturned and Manipur chakra can be opened with minimal difficulty.  Today, during meditation,  I developed more mastery over manipur chakra.  The petals in the front, when I turn them upside, it draws the prana or circulation from the right leg. The left petals correspond with the prana in the left upper extremity and right petals correspond with the right upper extremity.

However, interestingly, for the first time, I was able to withdraw prana or the life energy at will.  Such control is a must for a true Yogi.  Yogananda had total control over it and was able to stop breathing and his heart beating at will.

Unless one has true control over the prana, spiritual healing or the ability to awaken the shakti of another disciple is non existent.

There are 3 things needed to control where you want your prana to ascend to (that is which chakra)

1) Perfection of the Jyoti mudra

2) Your will

3) Depending on how far upwards your gaze goes, determins what chakra your prana will ascend to

It takes about 6 months of meditation on each chakra to get the siddhis of the chakras.  Do not attempt to go for siddhis.  It is very tightly regulated and siddhis are not permitted without the grace of higher beings.

Vivekananda Maharaj said, if you want to know the construction or all the nadis of the body, meditate on mainpur chakra.  Todays meditation was a revealation that yes, that is true. 

Gurudev has a very detailed description of meditation in Muktashastra.  It about 30 pages long.  He describes how the shakti flips over at the manipur chakra and it only after the shakti flips over a the manipur chakra that Sayama as described by Patanjali develops. One has, at that time, increasing control over not only the mind and intellect but also over the chitta (the store house of emotions and past births).   It gave me great pleasure in knowing that my experience matches what Gurudev described to the T.

The more I become adept in meditation, I am beginning to realize what a fantastic book Muktashastra is.  It has a lot of secrets never written before.  Secrets about Krishna, meditation, stories about Rama, etc which are only known to a Yogi who saw their lives in meditation.  At some point, I will begin to translate it, if  I can get the book and the blessings for the great beings.  Such a book is invaluable.

Joy!

Last night, I was at the movies.  I was curious if I could go into meditation without pranayama.  I would close my eyes, do the Jyoti mudra (without using my hands) and immediately the prana would flow back from my hands and start moving within to the Brahmanadi.  My hanands and feet would become numb.  I would no longer hear the movie and even though the part of the movie was interesting, at will I was able to terminate my attachment or thoughts to it.  This is the example Yogananda gave in his books for eg. Science of Religion – Just shut off the supply to the  limbs.

In the bible, the same thing has been described as “If thy hinds and feet offend thee, cut them off”  This is part of both Mark and Mathew.  Here, in effect, you are cutting it off meaning cutting off the life or sensation to the limbs and entering eternal life – which is the consciousness present in the Brahmanadi.   

There is no delay in knowledge or joy when the prana enters Brahmanadi.  It is instant.  The joy lasts for hours even by a second of contact in the Brahmanadi.  In fact, the joy can be so overwhelming that one can go quite “insane” wanting to stay there.  Those who remain immersed in it, become incapable of performing worldly duties.  Thus the story of Mirabai and Narsinh Mehta.

Another thing, when the Brahmanadi open, and it opens while your eyes remain open, your eyes will not shut, it will remain open and not blink.   This is why in the SRF lessions, by Yogananda, he gives the following signs of a guru – purity, eyes that remain unblinking etc.  There is one more secret to the unblinking eye. This is a secret only known to Yogis  Gurudev shared it with me.  Everytime someone blinks they are forming a desire or sankalpa.  When in the brahmanadi, there is no possibility of sankalpa or desire.  Just pure devine existence full of joy, just pure consciousness which exists for ever.  This is the beginning of Sacchidananda – the true state of God – existence forever and joy.

There are no words to describe it.  Just the happiness of existence.  I wish I could stay there forever, but till the Karmas and desires are finished, no one can stay there.

A few more words on Brahmanadi

1) Instant joy

2) The eyes never blink

3) It is pure existence

4) Knowledge is instant when prana reverses its course and goes in Brahmanadi

5) Prana entering the Brahmanadi is called Vedha Diksha.  The books on Yoga consider awakening of the Shakti only when this happens.   Awakening of the shakti can be in the gross body, subtle body or causal body.  Or in other words in the shushumna, chitra and vajra  or Brahmanadi.  The highest awakening is when it occurs in the causal or Brahmanadi.  Gurudev Sombargiriji awakened most of his disciples in sukshma or subtle body or in the chitra and vajra.  Shivohum tirthji Maharaja in the Sushumna.  There were a few exceptions in which Gurudev and Vishnutirthji Maharaja awakened some disciples in Brahmanadi, but this is extremely rare.

6) Maya or illusion deludes everyone to the last step.  Even and perhaps especially in meditation.   Just before the Brahmanadi opens fully (partial openings occur for a long time before the full opening), there is a sudden pulse or activity of the prana in the lower chakras and then there is a sort of pop or physical sensation of everything flipping over and it is done.  You are within, you are outside, you are everywhere, there is joy, there is understanding.  This is the beginning.  The illusion of Maya is that a feeling of pulse or a strong heartbeat occurs with activity of the heart also.  This is at a gross level.  The thing that occurs at the Brahmanadi is not a pulse of the heart.  It is something different.  You can only understant it when you experience it.  If you feel the heart beat but it does not give you the above feelings of joy, being everywhere etc immediately, then it is not the “prana” activity of the pop of the brahmanadi opening.

7) There are a lot of Bhajans which describe this and the word used is “Ulti re nadi, niranjan nirkhya” meaning when the nadi or consciousness flips over then you see the divine

8) Gurudev said in his Bhajan Yogamruta, Nabhi thi upde ohumkara, meaning from the manipur or Umbilical area, the om begins.  This is a reference to the “pop” or “pulse” felt once and very strongly before the prana enters the brahmanadi.

9) The joy of existence is here!  That is why in the Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna, “therefore, I am tell you to be a Yogi”  I just wish I could stay there for ever!