Yoga meditation : through mantra, chakras and Kundalini to spiritual freedom 9780977512638, 0977512630

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Published by Kaivalya Publications PO Box 181 Crabbes Creek NSW 2483 Australia © Gregor Mahle 2013 This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission of the author. First published 2013 Illustrations by Roxanne Fozard Copy editing by Allan Watson National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Maehle, Gregor Title: Yoga meditation: through mantra, chakras and Kundalini to spiritual freedom / Gregor Maehle ISBN: 9780977512683 (ebook) ISBN: 9780977512638 (paperback) Notes: Includes bibliographical reference and index Subjects: Meditation Yoga Chakras Mantras Kundalini Yoga, Bhakti

Spiritual life Self-actualization (Psychology) Dewey no.: 613.192 Every effort was made to contact the holders of copyright of quoted material, but this did not prove to be possible in every case.

This book is for your own personal use only. Please respect the enormous work that has gone into this publication by not passing on copies.

By the same author Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga

To You who is the effulgence in my heart and the luminosity of my mind. To You who gave me strength to put me on the way to giving and serving. To You who expresses itself through an infinity of beings. To You who is at once eternally unchanged and simultaneously morphing in each instant into an endless number of manifestations. To You who through your boundless love has created this world and expression of perfect beauty and harmony revealed to but those who make the effort to see. To You who has created us in absolute freedom so that we can even ourselves choose whether we may see you or not. To You who has given us techniques so that we can develop our inner eye. To You who has sent us teachers of all cultures so that we may understand life as it truly is and overcome ignorance. To You who has created us capable of attaining to the eternal truth within us. To You, divine voice in our heart, I bow.

DISCLAIMER

This book does not constitute medical advice. If in doubt, contact a medical practitioner to determine whether you are fit to perform these yogic techniques. Meditation is best learned from a qualified teacher. This book is aimed at the average student, who exists only in theory. In reality the teacher has to adapt the practice to the individual.

Acknowledgements Gratitude to the late Shri T. Krishnamacharya, whose teachings came down to me through several of his students. The methods taught here are essentially his but adapted for use outside of breath retention to make them more accessible. Reverence to the ancient sages of India who authored yoga shastra (yogic scripture), which continues to be the wellspring of my inspiration. Homage to the prophets, rishis, siddhas and awakened ones of all cultures who have brought us the one truth in many different tongues. Appreciation to my wife, Monica, and my students at 8 Limbs in Perth, who supported me throughout the creation of this book.

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1 The Hatha Yoga Laws or the Physical Dimension of Meditation Chapter 1 Law 1: Success in meditation is powered by Kundalini Chapter 2 Law 2: Apana driven up is the first engine of Kundalini and spiritual evolution Chapter 3 Law 3: The second engine of Kundalini consists of converting metabolic fire (pitta) into fire of intelligence (agni) Chapter 4 Law 4: The oceanic breath powers the oceanic experience in wavelike motion Chapter 5 Law 5: Prana rises only if there is a balance of lunar and solar forces Chapter 6 Law 6: Pratyahara is attained once lunar prana (amrita) is arrested in the cranium Summary of Hatha laws Part 2 The Raja Yoga Laws or the Mental Dimension of Meditation Chapter 7 Law 7: The mind will always identify with the next object that arises within it Chapter 8 Law 8: The type of meditation object chosen determines the mindset created Chapter 9 Law 9: Directing both prana and vrtti simultaneously turns the mind into the third engine of Kundalini Chapter 10 Law 10: The chakras are always facing in the direction of Kundalini Chapter 11 Law 11: Pratyahara is the simultaneous binding of the audio, visual, kinaesthetic/tactile, olfactory and gustatory components of mind to their respective places Chapter 12 Law 12: Mastery of pratyahara powers dharana, the simultaneous awareness of the various constituents of meditation Part 3

The Bhakti Yoga Laws or the Spiritual Dimension of Meditation Chapter 13 Law 13: The Chakras constitute stages of brain development towards life as Divine Love Chapter 14 Law 14: During spontaneous internal breath retentions the Divine becomes visible in the crown chakra Chapter 15 Law 15: During spontaneous external kumbhakas Kundalini is seen and ignited below muladhara Chapter 16 Law 16: Apana gati, the inner upward force within apana, is activated through the double-up wave, the fourth engine of Kundalini Chapter 17 Law 17: When Shakti comes to rest in Muladhara, consciousness becomes invisible and the world becomes visible When Kundalini returns to Sahasrara, consciousness becomes visible and the world disappears from vision Chapter 18 Law 18: The meditation experience can be integrated into life only when it is ‘understood’ Epilogue Bibliography Author information Footnotes References

INTRODUCTION This is the most important of my books to date. In it I will not only give a precise step-by-step description of the meditation technique at the heart of yoga but also put it into context with all other yogic techniques and how they contribute to the breakthrough to spiritual freedom. Asana, pranayama and meditation are the three main categories of yogic technique. They are not to be practised separately but combined and interlinked. Practised individually, their benefits are limited to the sphere they deal with, for example asana with the body. To link them, meditation needs to be practised within asana and by consciously extending (slowing down) and retaining the breath. This means that for the practice of yogic meditation it is not sufficient to just passively watch the breath; the structure of the meditation itself must contain mechanisms that require the slowing down of the breath. This book explains yogic meditation as involving the same elements and principles as yogic posture and yogic breathing, and is thus a method that will achieve powerful results if combined with both. A MANDELBROT METAPHOR OF YOGIC TECHNIQUE

The Mandelbrot set is a formula named after the late mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot. Its geometrical representation is called a fractal, a complex pattern that looks the same, or nearly the same, however distant or close is your view of it. Through the advent of powerful computers we can now watch on the web so-called Mandelbrot-set zooms. If you have never seen one I recommend that you watch some of them to understand this metaphor (and it’s great fun, too). As you zoom deeper and deeper into the fractal, the same or similar patterns are repeated over and over again. The same all-over structure and architecture of the fractal are repeated in every minute detail. Similarly, the same patterns are repeated on all levels of yogic technique as you zoom deeper and deeper into it. Asana, for example, is only effective if exercised in combination with bandha (energetic lock), yogic breathing, focal point (drishti), concentration (dharana), etc. We find the same pattern repeated once we zoom deeper into pranayama. It is to be executed within asana, while applying bandha, drishti,

mantra (soundwave), mudra (energetic seal) and so on. Once our zoom has reached the next deeper layer, called pratyahara (independence from external stimuli), the same pattern holds true. Pratyahara is achieved by applying all yogic ancillaries together. It is performed in asana, during pranayama, by applying bandha, mudra, mantra, visualization … When zooming deeply into pratyahara, the sixth limb of yoga, dharana (concentration) is revealed. Dharana, too, is a set of techniques that takes place with asana, pranayama and pratyahara, and includes mantra, concentrating on chakras, bandha, mudra, drishti, etc. The final two limbs of yoga – dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption) – are, again, not separate practices but deeper zooms into the existing lattice of yogic technique, which reveals the same patterns and details over and over again. While meditation methods such as Buddhist, Vedantic and Vipassana meditation are noble pursuits in their own right, if you want to harvest the fruit of your asana and pranayama practice you need to combine them with yogic meditation, that is meditation that repeats the structural elements and architecture of your posture and breathing techniques. You use the skills you acquired in your asana practice to progress swiftly in meditation. As with the Mandelbrot fractal, all yogic techniques were designed according to the same structural formulae. In this book I am describing the meditation layer of the physical and respiratory disciplines of yoga that I presented in my earlier books. Yogic meditation has fallen into disuse; hence the many attempts to import unlinked meditation techniques into yoga. My intention with this book is to usher in a renaissance of yogic meditation. WHY IS THIS METHOD SO POWERFUL?

Yogic meditation is a highly scientific method. It derives its power from the fact that it systematically and step-by-step suspends the entire processing capacity of the subconscious mind and diverts it towards meditation. The processing power of the subconscious mind is a multiple of that of the conscious mind. We don’t know exactly by how much, but it may be 100 or more times as powerful as the conscious mind. Simply watching breath or watching awareness involves only your conscious mind. For quick and effective concentration the entire power of the subconscious mind has to be harnessed. This is the secret of yogic meditation.

I have watched with some concern that modern yogis, dissatisfied with teachers who only offer asana (posture), go on to incorporate into their yoga practices unrelated meditation techniques. Today often the word yoga is used to mean posture, and meditation is taken as an entirely separate discipline. That was not how it used to be in traditional yoga. According to yoga, meditation has physical, mental and spiritual components and each of those has several sub-components. The most important passage in yogic scripture on yogic meditation is the panchakosha (five sheaths) model described in the Taittiriya Upanishad.1 The Upanishad talks about the five layers or sheaths of which the human being is made up. The fifth and innermost layer, the core (Anandamaya kosha), constitutes the peak experience of ecstasy after one has mastered the outer four layers. The fourth layer (Vijnanamaya kosha) entails the understanding of divine law, sacred knowledge of the order of the universe and the cognising of the master plan according to which all universes unfold and divine creativity expresses itself as the world. This layer leads to mastery of life and enables one to make a significant and lasting contribution to human society and life on Earth. While these two innermost sheaths deal with a high level of mastery, it is the three outermost layers that yogis have to concern themselves with initially. These three layers are Annamaya kosha (the body), Pranamaya kosha (breath and pranic sheath) and Manomaya kosha (the mind). These three layers are intricately linked, and it is here where the obstacles to yogic practice and spiritual freedom are located. Did you ever ask yourself why sometimes you are full of enthusiasm in starting a new way of life, and make the necessary lifestyle changes, only to find after some time that all vigour has gone out the window? This is because most systems other than yoga address only one of the three layers in which obstacles are located. Some systems work mainly with the body by using asana or other types of physical discipline. Other methods focus exclusively on the mind, for example by using meditation. Others again use breathing methods. For this reason it is understandable that modern yogis look for more than just posture. But there is no need to look elsewhere for meditation: yoga itself contains the most powerful meditation system ever conceived. Yoga not only uses all three levels – the physical, pranic and mental – but it uses them in such a way that they are interlinked by the replication in every one of these

layers of the same founding principles. As Patanjali, the ancient author of the Yoga Sutra, has explained, for success in yoga it is important to purify one’s conditioning.2 ‘When memory is purified, the mind appears to be emptied of its own nature and only the object (of meditation) shines forth.’3 In other words, if you want to experience the world as it truly is, you need first to delete your past conditioning, as its sits like a filter on top of your senses and makes everything new look like the past. The notion that in order to experience the world afresh you need to do so without conditioning, and therefore delete it, is confirmed by the Hatha Tatva Kaumudi.4 So imagine that you want to install on the computer of your mind the latest operating system, a yoga operating system, whereas the one you wish to get rid of contains your past, including hurts, humiliations, rejections, guilt, fear, pain and doubt. In order to get rid of this old conditioning you delete the hard drive of your mind–computer, but just as you go to install your brand new yogic/meditative operating system, free of fear of rejection etc., you find that the old one has quickly and unexpectedly reinstalled itself. You then discover that the old operating system has two back-up drives that it uses to reinstall itself whenever it gets deleted. To make our mind robust our human conditioning is stored in three entirely separate locations, not just in the mind. This is why we encounter so much inertia when we want to change. The three locations are those mentioned in the Taittiriya Upanishad: body (Annamaya kosha), breath (Pranamaya kosha) and mind (Manomaya kosha). If you do want to let go of your past and give birth to the new you, you need to purge conditioning from all three individually. It is exactly this that interlinked yogic asana, pranayama and meditation do. They purify body, breath and mind. After having described the methods to purify body and breath in my earlier books, in this text I cover meditation, the method of choice of the yogi to purify the mind, the third and last of the three outer sheaths (koshas). ALL YOGA ONE

As the four Vedas were originally one, so all yoga in the beginning constituted one single system, sometimes called Maha Yoga, the great yoga. The separation into Bhakti, Karma, Hatha, Raja Yoga etc. is artificial, as they are only aspects of the one yoga. This book firstly shows how the various

aspects of Hatha Yoga constitute nothing but the physical aspects of meditation. They are the groundwork and supports on which the structure of meditation is erected. It then describes the mental discipline of yoga, called meditation or Raja Yoga. After that are discussed the results or fruits of physical and mental yoga – the spiritual aspect or Bhakti Yoga. This process finally merges into the conclusion of yoga, the Jnana Yoga, which should only be attempted after all of one’s duties in life and towards society have been fulfilled. In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna said that the original yoga was lost due to the lapse of time.5 It is for this reason that today we find the original yoga splintered into many petty techniques and schools that by themselves cover little terrain. If individual yogic techniques are practised out of context, there is a low probability of success. Patanjali says that all eight yogic limbs need to be practised for yoga to succeed.6 It follows that practising asana is not enough. There is absolutely no evidence within the body of yogic scripture that asana alone will get you to your goal. On the other hand, with each limb or ancillary of yoga that you add to your yogic tool box you potentialize the power of the practice and the probability of its success. Many yogis today are stuck at asana because they think they need to reach an unrealistic level of performance before integrating higher limbs. But life is too short to entertain that thought: in order to have a realistic chance at succeeding with yoga you need to integrate the higher limbs as early as possible. The earlier you start some form of basic pranayama and meditation, the earlier you will experience inner freedom. If you dedicate even 10 minutes per day to each, this will enhance all other aspects of your life and practice. Do not wait until you have achieved some mythic level of achievement in asana that probably will never come. Some people have invested 30 years of daily practice in asana but in the end have found themselves with nothing but a trim body. Believe it or not, this trim body will, despite all of your asana practice, fail you and go six feet down (or up the chimney depending on your preference). Do not invest all of this time in nothing but asana: in order to derive any lasting fruit from asana you need to combine it with pranayama and meditation. Patanjali calls the architecture or structure of yoga ‘Ashtanga Yoga’. This Ashtanga Yoga engulfs and involves all other aspects and schools of yoga.

While my previous books have explained Patanjali’s yogic limbs of yama and niyama (ethical precepts), asana (posture) and breath work (pranayama), this volume deals with Patanjali’s limbs five and six. He calls these limbs pratyahara (independence from external stimuli) and dharana (concentration), and this text describes their essential and important techniques. While success in dharana and pratyahara can be measured in a quantitative way, limbs seven and eight – dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption) – are qualitative limbs that are the result of pratyahara and dharana being practised precisely and to a deepening extent. Meditation is only yogic meditation if it is built on certain yogic principles. During more than 30 years of research and practice I have identified 18 laws of meditation, which are described in this book. With this number I have, of course, also paid respect to the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita, which contain 18 chapters. This is the tradition in which I grew up spiritually. In saying this I do not mean that this tradition has a monopoly on truth. The opposite is the case. I am offering modifications to this method that may enable practitioners of other traditions to practise it without experiencing any conflicts. There is one underlying truth in all religions and spiritual philosophies, and that is the experience of divine love (whether it be called by these words or not). If that love is experienced we can make a contribution to human evolution and society. We can contribute to a life in unity despite diversity and in harmony with divine law. Spiritual illumination and divine revelation are not something remote that only a few chosen can attain. On the contrary it is our birthright and divine duty. The meditation technique described herein has the power to deliver it. On the face of it this may sound like a bold claim, but if you practise the techniques associated with the 18 laws you will find out for yourself. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

The 18 laws of meditation described in this book are arranged in three parts, each part containing six laws. Six of the laws pertain to Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga is the physical dimension of meditation and generally identified as yoga consisting of posture (asana), breath work (pranayama) and purification exercises (kriyas). This first part explains how these physical techniques are

linked to the practice of meditation and how they support it and bring it about. If you have read my previous books and practised their techniques, and are keen to start meditation as quickly as possible, then you may skim over the exercises in Part 1 – apart from those in Chapters 3 and 6, which are new. Although Part 1 is in some ways a summary of my previous books, it does offer many new angles, particularly aimed at the subject of meditation. These themes are covered: so that meditators understand that Hatha methods are not weird practices unrelated to meditation techniques but that they do constitute important preparations for meditation and Raja Yoga; to show Hatha Yoga’s connection to meditation and spiritual yoga (bhakti) so that asana and pranayama practitioners understand them and move on to integrate yogic meditation into their existing practice. All physical yoga techniques, including asana, are not designed to build or beautify the body or increase self-worth through proficiency in asana: their sole purpose is to prepare for meditation, and meditation is the technique to realize the Divine. Similarly, health is not the purpose of asana but is a by-product of being in harmony with cosmic forces, and that harmony supports and enables realization of the Divine. If you have never done Hatha Yoga before, and come to this book merely from the angle of meditation, it will be very helpful for you to understand exactly how all Hatha Yoga techniques support meditation. Meditation is much more likely to bring about spiritual revelation if supported by Hatha Yoga. The mind does not exist by itself but is interlinked with body and breath in manifold ways. The Hatha Yoga laws explain how a solid physical and pranic base is created from which the mental process of meditation can succeed. The second part of this book, dedicated to Raja Yoga, contains the core teaching of Patanjali’s pratyahara (independence from external stimuli) and dharana (concentration). Raja Yoga is the mental dimension of meditation. This part first explains the scientific foundations of yoga meditation and then introduces its technique. You will also find information on the importance of Kundalini as support for meditation and the factors that make it rise, such as

chakra and Sushumna visualization, mantra and breath. Chapter 11 presents the complete method of how pratyahara, the fifth limb of yoga, is mastered – by harnessing all the processing power of the subconscious mind, thus preventing the reaching out of the senses. As the mind is a master sense or presenter of sensory data, it has five sensory components. In order to harness the subconscious mind for spiritual evolution, all of these five aspects of mind need to be bound to their respective objects and not just the entire mind to the breath. As previously explained, the three outer layers of the human being (body, breath and mind) contain the obstacles to yoga and need to be purified. Whereas the body is generally purified through asana, the pranic sheath through pranayama and the mind through meditation, the complex catalogue of pratyahara in itself addresses all three layers. Chapter 12 then shows how this mastery of pratyahara is used for dharana, the sixth limb of yoga, explaining by the use of various examples how dharana works and the methods it employs. The third part of the book finally presents Bhakti Yoga or the spiritual dimension of meditation. Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of divine love, is the fruit and result of the previously described methods and aspects of yoga. The text first explains how the chakras represent evolutionary stages of brain and mind development. Chakra meditation, if done in a sophisticated, highpowered way, will propel the evolution of the brain and mind of the practitioner and the awakening of higher (sattvic) intelligence. Chapter 13 presents an outline of the evolution that we can undergo as individuals and as a collective.* Development up to this point is only the beginning of the possible future evolution of humanity. The fourteenth chapter then explains visualization of the Divine during spontaneous internal breath retention, whereas the fifteenth introduces the ignition of Kundalini during external breath retention. Chapter 16 offers the technique that ultimately produces lasting success in meditation and the vision (darshana) of the Divine. Chapter 17 then integrates Jnana Yoga as the ultimate goal of yoga, which, however, should not be attempted before each and every individual has fulfilled their svadharma, that is their contribution to the life of others and to society. As a house is built slowly, with attention at the beginning to more mundane steps such as earthworks, this text attends to the foundations first.

As the chapters go on, however, it reaches a crescendo in Part 3. It is therefore good not to judge the text by the initial chapters but to persist to the end. If on the other hand you rush ahead too quickly you may find it inconceivable how you could experience states such as those described in Part 3. But, as putting on the roof is the logical conclusion of building a house, so are spiritual revelation and divine love the logical conclusions to the process of yoga – if it is done with the right elements and in the right order. HOW TO LEARN YOGIC MEDITATION

You may think at first that the meditation technique described here sounds complicated or difficult, or that it makes your mind busy. But it is or does that only if your mind rushes ahead and tries to achieve stages that it is not yet ready for. In truth it is a meditation technique that naturally grows with you. In a similar way, the teaching of yogic posture may look complicated. But it is complicated only if you want to rush ahead and practise postures that you are not yet ready for. On the other hand if you do not add new postures when you are ready, your physical practice will be stunted. Similarly your spiritual practice will remain stunted if you do not add new layers to your meditation when you are ready for them. If you only ever watch the breath without making your meditation more demanding, your intellect will remain torpid. But the Divine wants us to awaken our intelligence because we are a manifestation of that divine intelligence and only a fully developed intellect can realize the Divine. In Sanskrit the term intelligence (buddhi) is derived from the verb root budh – to awaken. Look, then, at this meditation technique as you would at your posture practice. Only ever take on a new, more demanding, layer when you have mastered and integrated the previous one. If you try to jump ahead you will not succeed. This book is the result of my 35 years of meditation experience, combined with as many years of study of scripture and 15 years of direct instruction from Indian masters. It is essential for a Kali Yuga yogi like me to base any writings not on personal whims but on the teachings of the ancient sages. As Sir Isaac Newton said, ‘If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.’

What I have done here that is new is explain the actual meditation technique in a structured fashion. In yogic scripture this technique is often called Bhutashuddhi (elemental purification). While it is most effectively performed during breath retention (kumbhaka) it is good to learn it during inhalation and exhalation, which is much easier but still very powerful, especially if the breath is slowed down more and more. Those who wish can insert it into kumbhaka once they have mastered that pranayama technique. In the past, spiritual teachers have often talked in a way that veiled important content from the uninitiated. In Sanskrit this is called sandhya, twilight language. I feel that I do not have the luxury of continuing with this approach. It is apparent that, within the next few generations, humanity will destroy its host planet if no major shift occurs. To manage this shift, the attainment of knowledge by every single person counts. Some say everything is predetermined, including whether humanity destroys itself or not. Others, like the Rishi Vasishta, say ‘For those of true self-effort there is no predetermined destiny.’7 In other words they do create their own destiny. This is the spirit in which I am presenting this text. May humanity, by means of true self-effort, create a destiny of unimaginable splendour!

Definition of the term meditation The English term meditation is somewhat ambiguous. It is derived from the Latin meditatio, which means to think, contemplate or meditate. It is closely related to contemplation, which means continuously directing the mind towards a particular object. While meditation does not necessarily imply a spiritual activity, contemplation does. Con-templation implies creating in one’s mind a temple-like sacred space into which the object of contemplation is brought. Contemplation is therefore a spiritual form of con-centration. Con-centration implies that the outgoing, scattering tendency of the mind is brought under control and focused on a particular chosen object. The teachings of Yoga were compiled and standardized by the Indian sage Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutra. Of the eight limbs that Patanjali mentions, the first four are preparations for the process of meditation, while the last four constitute meditation proper, but with increasing levels of depth. This fifth limb, pratyahara, is the practice of disconnecting the senses from their objects so that the mind can turn inside. The last three limbs are dharana, dhyana and samadhi. These terms are often translated as concentration, meditation and contemplation. They form successively deeper stages of identity of the observer’s mind with the object of meditation. According to Patanjali, dharana, the sixth limb, is the wilful binding of the mind to a particular object.8 During dhyana, the seventh limb, this stage has been transcended and a permanent awareness of the object is established, which is no longer constantly interrupted through the outgoing mind.9 During samadhi this permanent awareness has been enhanced to such an extent that ‘the object as such’ is revealed to the yogi.10 During this state the object held in the mind has become identical with the object observed outside. Once this basic process is learned, the yogi applies it to more and more difficult objects, the highest one being the sacred self, the pure consciousness. This final object in truth is not an object but the subject. Due to the apparent difficulty in meditating on the ‘subject’, the process described above initially needs to be finely honed. In modern commentaries on the Yoga Sutra the term meditation is used to translate the Sanskrit dhyana. Patanjali defines dhyana as the constant stream of awareness from meditator to meditation object and a constant stream of

information from the object to the meditator. In a yogic sense, then, meditation does not imply the complete emptying of one’s mind: this process occurs in some of the various objectless samadhis (asamprajnata samadhis). In this text I have used the term meditation in such a way as to maintain the ambiguous nature that it has in the English language. I have thus applied it to the collective process of the last four limbs but also more generally to any form of deep, concentrated thought.

PART 1

The Hatha Yoga Laws or the Physical Dimension of Meditation

Hatha Yoga is the physical dimension of yoga, its two main disciplines being posture and breath work. But Hatha Yoga is not – or at least historically was not – a style of yoga that reduced it to the physical aspect. In the beginning there was only the one yoga, sometimes referred to as Maha Yoga, the great yoga. Before the one greater yoga broke apart into small factions, Hatha Yoga was the physical school through which all yogis had to pass. No yogi, however, remained at the level of Hatha Yoga or even reduced yoga to this level. Hatha Yoga was thus the ‘primary school’ of the yogic education system. In a similar fashion Raja Yoga was the meditation school of Maha Yoga, which all yogis attended during some part of their journey. We could liken it to today’s high school level of education. In the ancient days you did not start this level of yoga without the primary education. Similarly we can look at Bhakti Yoga, the devotional discipline of yoga, as the tertiary education level. It was attended after proficiency in Raja Yoga had been gained: you would never go there straight from primary school or without any prior education. It is only in modern history that the link of these disciplines has been fractured and people practise one or the other exclusively. The medieval yoga text Hatha Ratnavali states that, without success in Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga cannot be obtained.11 This statement means that spiritual realization has a physical dimension without which it is nothing more than self-hypnosis. Such self-hypnosis or belief can easily collapse in the next crisis. Yogis are not satisfied with belief; they want to know. For, if you believe, how do you know that your belief is not wrong? Deep knowledge, or vijnana as yogis call it, holds even in moments of crisis. Such knowledge has to hold even if it is tested in the difficult moments of life. For this reason, to attain the total transformation of the human being it is not enough just to change your mind by sitting down and meditating. This will not lead to lasting change. The body and the breath have to be included in the change as well. The higher yoga of meditation is a seed that can sprout into the blossom of spiritual freedom, but for that to occur the seed has to be sown into ground that has undergone preparation through Hatha Yoga. While today on the one hand we face the problem of meditators who do not adequately prepare the body for meditation, on the other hand we have Hatha yogis who get stuck in the meaningless drudgery of mere physical

yoga. If the yogi does not go beyond the practice of posture and breath work, and does not graduate to and include formal meditation, then Hatha Yoga is not what it purports to be. It is then mere body-building, body-beautifying and gymnastics. There is nothing wrong with those, as long as the label clearly states that we are doing only that. The problem with today’s physical yoga is that it pretends to be more. And it is so only if it merges into the mental and spiritual disciplines of yoga. The great Shankaracharya declares in his text Aparokhsanubhuti that Raja Yoga (i.e. the yoga of meditation) can lead to freedom, but only fot those whose minds are completely purified.12 But he also says that, for those who have not reached that stage, Raja Yoga needs to be combined with Hatha Yoga.13 It is important that we do not prematurely nurture thoughts of attainment, as this will prevent true attainment. To counteract such tendencies, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika states that, as long as prana has not entered the Sushumna (central energy channel), all talk of knowledge is nothing but the rambling of fools.14 Yoga has always held that true knowledge is not something that just takes place in one’s mind, but that true knowledge has a physical, a biochemical or bioelectrical, component (although one should neve reduce it to that component alone). In yoga this component is called siddhi (power of attainment). Yogis believe that it is not enough just to talk about jnana (knowledge). Siddhi means that attainment of true knowledge must also involve transformation of the body and breathing pattern. Otherwise knowledge is relegated to the sphere of belief or just consists of bold statements. Hatha Yoga is the discipline that deals with the physical and respiratory component of true knowledge. It is the foundation of all yoga, and it prepares the yogi for the practice of the higher limbs. Hatha Yoga also guarantees that we always remain firmly grounded and safe. The yogic idea of personality disorders such as schizophrenia and megalomania is that certain higher energy centres (chakras) have been opened before some of the lower ones. This may result in a person accessing knowledge that he/she cannot properly integrate. The result may be mental disorders. Hatha Yoga guarantees that the body and the breathing patterns are prepared to conduct the large amounts of energy that spiritual insight brings. It makes sure that one does not get ahead of oneself in a very literal sense.

The following chapters introduce six laws that determine how physical practices power and support meditation. Some of the concepts described here are simple to understand while some are more complex. Do not expect to understand and achieve everything after a few days, weeks or months. Many, but not all, themes discussed in these first six chapters are abridged condensations of material in my earlier books. But here you will find for the first time a systematized account of how these concepts function in the context of meditation.

Chapter 1

LAW 1: SUCCESS IN MEDITATION IS POWERED BY KUNDALINI. Rarely can somebody sit down in meditation and succeed quickly. Most of us will face difficulties, at least initially. What is the difference between those who seem to succeed effortlessly and those of us who meditate for decades without any apparent breakthroughs? Whether they know it or not, those who succeed quickly in meditation raise their life force (prana) to one of the higher chakras. The process of raising the life force is referred to as Kundalini-raising. Meditation is powered by Kundalini. If Kundalini is raised to the heart chakra your meditation will result in a feeling of true love and compassion for others and you will also feel the presence of and trust in the guidance of the Divine. If Kundalini is raised one level higher, to the throat chakra, you become able to perceive, understand and communicate divine law. If Kundalini is raised to the third-eye chakra, the Divine with form (saguna Brahman) can be seen. If Kundalini is finally raised to the crown chakra, one becomes one with the formless Absolute. If however Kundalini is limited to the navel chakra, meditation will frequently be intercepted by issues of assimilation. These may be both gustatory desires (i.e. the desire to eat or entertain one’s tastebuds) or the desire to earn and generate wealth in whatever form. Material desires and aspirations will continue to disturb your meditation. If Kundalini is limited to the sacral chakra, sexual desires and their related emotions will interfere with meditation. If, finally, Kundalini tends to be limited to the base chakra, fear of survival, anger and resentment will tarnish your attempts to meditate. Yoga is a scientific method that does not leave to chance what fruit meditation will bring; but, to produce the exact conditions that make the desired results most likely, one raises Kundalini to the energy centre associated with the realizations that one seeks. WHAT IS KUNDALINI?

Kundalini is related to the first law of thermodynamics, which states that energy is never lost but only transformed into other forms of energy. For example kinetic energy may be transformed into potential energy, but the energy as such is never lost. This is another way of saying that the sum total of all energies in a system is always the same. This, again, is a manifestation of a very general cosmic law: in order for the general equilibrium to be maintained, each manifestation must contain its own undoing, counterforce or annulling. This principle works on every level of manifestation of creation, but very notably it is present when practising asana. If asana is understood on a deep level we will, once in the posture, produce the counteraction that propelled us into the posture. When done on all levels of life this method leads to mastery of life. Common expressions used to describe that state are ‘going with the flow’, ‘being in the zone’ or ‘being in the Tao’. Rather than manifesting an enormous force that breaks through the barriers of the world and must in the end produce our own undoing, we move through life without force but using existing forces. Thus, it is never necessary for a counterforce to manifest against us. This principle is beautifully expressed in a story of the Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu, ‘The Dexterous Butcher’. Here, Lord Wen-hui watches and questions his cook who, without ever sharpening it, uses for 19 years the same blade to carve up thousands of oxen. The cook explains that, rather than hacking through the oxen, he pays respect in his heart, meets the oxen with his whole consciousness and cares for the Way. He then moves with great subtlety, finds the right spot, leans against it and it is as if the whole ox falls apart by itself. But how can we utilize this for yoga and spiritual awakening? As the Rig Veda says, ‘In the beginning there was consciousness (Brahman) only and that consciousness silently breathed.’15 In order to manifest the world, that one Supreme consciousness became polar, producing the God transcendent (Shiva or the Father of the Bible) and the God immanent (Shakti or Holy Spirit), the creative force that produces this universe. Shakti then crystallized in a downward movement from divine intelligence through space, air, fire, water and earth, represented in the human body through the six main chakras (with Shiva / the Father being represented through the seventh, the crown chakra). Shakti’s downward movement came to a halt in the Muladhara

(base chakra) where she remains coiled while knowledge of Shiva / the Father is lost. In order to fulfil the above-mentioned cosmic law, Shakti’s down-force – like a massive storm that produces a strong downdraft – had to be balanced somewhere else by an upward suction. The Mother Goddess’s act of creating the universe produced an inner updraft, an enormous upward wave that we can ride up the spine to get back to the original consciousness, the God transcendent. This inner updraft in the body is called Kundalini. It is an invitation of the Divine Feminine to return to our spiritual origin. This inbuilt desire to return to our origin, the God transcendent, is called shraddha in Sanskrit. The term is usually translated as faith, but it means much more. It means that deep down we know that we are not made from the stuff that this world is made from, but our innermost being is pure, unadultered consciousness. (Contrary to psychology, yogis define consciousness not as what one is conscious of, i.e. content, but as that which is conscious.) Patanjali calls this realization kaivalya, which means abiding in our essential nature as consciousness, the eternal, the infinite, the unstainable and the self. WHY DOES PATANJALI NOT MENTION KUNDALINI?

In the ancient days of the Upanishads and the Yoga Sutra, there was not that much talk of Kundalini, because people experienced more spiritual harmony and found meditation easier than today. We can still get glimpses of these abilities when studying the ancient Indian culture and those cultures that have managed to keep their wisdom tradition alive even into recent history – such as the Native American, the Tibetan and Australian Aboriginal cultures – although these too are rapidly fading into oblivion. Patanjali talks of the limb or state of dharana, which is perfected once one is able to fix the mind to a meditation object for approximately three hours without wavering.16 If you have ever tried this you will notice quickly that certain issues will continue to intercept your meditation. Typically the type of issues that you encounter are dependent on the location where prana is currently placed. Patanjali’s definition of dharana was given at the time of the Dvapara Yuga, when people still had an innate, almost automatic ability to place prana into higher chakras. With the commencement of our age, the so-called Kali Yuga, this ability was almost entirely lost and we succumbed to the gravitational force. To rouse Kundalini means to empower the mind for

dharana. Most modern people, when they read the Yoga Sutras or even older texts such as the Upanishads, scratch their heads because they deal with seemingly ‘far-out’ content, whereas in our day-to-day life we seem to grapple with more basic concerns. This leads some people to dismissing higher human aspirations entirely. The higher realms of spirituality are, however, in reach for anyone who understands and applies the rules that deal with raising Kundalini. Without Kundalini raising, Patanjali’s dharana (concentration) is inaccessible to most modern people. Most chapters in this first part and almost all laws of Hatha Yoga deal in one way or another with creating the conditions to move Kundalini back up. As Kundalini is held down by gravitation, it is essential to align the spine in such a way that the gravitational force is not only annulled but its inner updraft is activated and utilized. The way to perfectly align the spine in such a condition is through yogic asana and particularly the yogic meditation postures. It is astonishing to notice the difference between one and the same sophisticated meditation technique being practised with and without a proper meditation posture such as Padmasana (lotus posture). The posture can make the difference between exultation and torpor.

Exercise 1: Asana (posture) Asana is the bedrock from which all other yogic techniques rise. Without asana, success in higher yogic techniques cannot be attained, much less can it be integrated. Success in meditation is a realistic goal only if the body is aligned beforehand through asana practice. Whichever method of asana you practise, you need to invest time and energy in order to progress in meditation. The performance of asana is a prerequisite to meditation, and meditation has to be performed while being in asana, i.e. not while lounging, sitting in a chair or leaning against a wall. The Yoga Rahasya, handed down through T. Krishnamacharya, says that after asana one must do pranayama and only after that pratyahara (sense withdrawal, the fifth limb). Again, only after that is dharana (concentration, the sixth limb) practised. According to the Rahasya, without this particular sequencing no benefits can be obtained.17

WHICH ASANAS ARE IMPORTANT AND NECESSARY?

Concerning asana, Patanjali says that it needs to have the dual qualities of firmness and lightness.18 In it, effort ceases and meditation on infinity occurs,19 and one is beyond the assault of duality.20 Here Patanjali puts the bar very high. In order to achieve these yogic parameters you need to assume a yogic meditation posture. Sitting on a chair, for example, tends to make the mind dull and heavy as the gravitational force pulls us down, whereas the spine needs to be perfectly aligned against gravity. This alignment lifts the spine and brain upwards, producing lightness. Further to this, when sitting in a meditation posture the soles of the feet and palms need to be turned upwards, receiving energy from above, whereas while sitting in a chair there is an automatic discharge of energy out of the soles into the receptive Earth. Yogic meditation postures facilitate a natural alignment that is effortless. Lying on the floor is also effortless, but it offers the largest area for gravitational down-force. For this reason it induces heaviness, whereas yogic meditation postures induce lightness. Additionally, Patanjali’s third condition asks for transcendence from duality, for example the duality between rajas (frenzy) and tamas (torpor). Again, lying on the back is the most torpid of all postures; therefore it presents an angle for the attack of the opposites. In yogic meditation postures, the spine is aligned so that meditation is facilitated. The Yoga Rahasya states that, of all postures, Shirshasana (headstand) and Padmasana (lotus posture) are the important ones.21 The headstand is, of course, not directly used to practice meditation, but it achieves the steadying and reversing of amrita (nectar), which are essential for meditation. This subject is explored in detail in Chapter 6 of this text, while Padmasana is covered below. Siddhasana is mentioned in many texts as the foremost of all yoga postures due to its propensity to induce Mula Bandha (pelvic lock) and its suitability for rasing Kundalini. It rivals Padmasana in importance as a meditation posture. Let’s look now at the requirements for meditation postures: Feet and hands must be turned away from the floor so that the ground cannot absorb prana (life force) being projected out of them. This rules out sitting on chairs, where the feet face downwards. Legs must not be lower than the Muladhara (base chakra) so that prana

and blood flows are directed upwards. Again this rules out sitting on chairs and leaning against walls. The pelvis must be tilted forward quite strongly so that the spinal double s-curve is exaggerated and the spine assumes the shape of a cobra ready to strike. This is a prerequisite for the serpentine power to rise. To stimulate Mula Bandha, the perineum must either press into the floor, which is achieved in Padmasana through the strong forward tilt of the pelvis, or be stimulated by the left heel, which is the situation in Siddhasana. Ideally, through forward tilt of the pelvis, the heels should press into the abdomen to stimulate Uddiyana Bandha. This is the case only in Padmasana. The posture must provide a firm base that can be held naturally for a long time. It must align the whole body effortlessly against gravitation, so that there is no slumping or slouching at all. The posture that fits this brief best is Padmasana, with Siddhasana second and Svastikasana or Virasana acceptable if neither of the first two can be achieved. The postures are here given in the order in which they should be attempted and mastered, with Padmasana, the last one, being the most important but most difficult. Learn Virasana first and slowly graduate towards Padmasana. Meditation asanas such as these are to be practised towards the end of one’s general asana practice, when the body and particularly the hip joints are warmed up. If you do not know how to rotate and move your hip joints, you may injure your knees. Consult a yoga teacher to learn postures. I have described postures in two of my previous books, Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy and Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series. Here I have described the important meditation postures only in a basic fashion. In these descriptions I am assuming that you have a general asana practice, as it is difficult to master these sitting postures without the support of other postures.

Virasana VIRASANA

Virasana means ‘hero’s posture’. It is the way in which ancient warriors used to sit. An excellent introductory posture, it should be a regular part of one’s practice before all other postures in this category (i.e. meditation postures)

are attempted. Through daily Virasana practice the quadriceps are elongated and all other meditation postures are mastered easily. It is good to sit in Virasana every morning for 10 minutes before your general asana practice. First prop yourself up on folded blankets high enough for you to not feel any pain in your knees. As your thighs warm up and stretch slowly, decrease the height of the pad on which you are sitting until eventually, possibly after years, you sit flat on the floor. This is the ideal preparation for Padmasana. Once you have come down to the floor, change to one of the other postures. If you can sit in Virasana, use it to do your meditation practice until you can sit straight on the floor without padding. Then switch to Ardha Siddhasana (described below) or Svastikasana, followed by Siddhasana and eventually Padmasana. Virasana is far superior to sitting in a chair, even if you have to prop yourself up quite high. The soles of the feet are turned upward and there is a natural upward flow of prana, whereas when sitting in a chair gravitation will always pull prana down. In Virasana it is important that your thighs are parallel and not turned out. The feet have to point straight back and never out to the side in the way children frequently sit, which is a sure way to ruin your knees. Soles and heels have to point straight up and the toes out to the back. Bring the feet wider than your hips and place a folded blanket between them. In this way, by slowly reducing the height of the blanket, you will eventually sit between your feet. Maintain the forward tilt of the pelvis as much as possible. This is more difficult in this posture than in the other meditation postures. Because of this weak spot, you will eventually slouch in Virasana, and that’s why you want eventually to graduate to the others. It is only in Padmasana that you can sit effortlessly for 3 hours with your spine assuming the characteristic of a cobra ready to strike.

Svastikasana SVASTIKASANA

Su-asti-ka in Sanskrit means ‘symbol of goodness’, but unfortunately this sacred symbol has been besmirched by a deluded 20th-century political ideology. The swastika symbolizes the life-giving forces of the sun and the

divine order on planet Earth represented by the world axis, Mount Kailasha in Tibet, the throne of Lord Shiva. Prior to global warming, pilgrims approaching Mount Kailasha could still see a giant swastika in the ice dome of Kailasha. Even today, when seen from space the four giant rivers Indus, Yamuna, Ganges and Brahmaputra can be seen forming a swastika when descending from the plain around Mount Kailasha, bringing water to over a billion people. This is a reminder of the life-giving meaning of the swastika, far from the delusion of modern political movements. In Svastikasana the legs and feet are arranged in the formation of a swastika. The knees are here wider than in Padmasana but closer than in Siddhasana. Svastikasana is considered inferior to Padmasana and Siddhasana, and there is no preference as to which leg is placed first. Feel free to exchange sides. From a sitting, straight-legged position (Dandasana), bend the left leg and place its heel into the right groin. Then bend the right leg and place the right heel into the left groin. Now insert the toes of the right foot between the calf and thigh of the left leg. Using both hands, now move the calf and thigh of the right leg apart, reach through and pull the toes of the left foot up so that they are inserted between the calf and thigh of the right leg. The posture is similar to Siddhasana, but less ambitious. The heels are not on top of each other but laterally displaced. This makes tilting of the pelvis easier, but there is no stimulation of Mula Bandha.

Siddhasana SIDDHASANA

Siddhasana means ‘posture of the adepts’. It is so called because it is used to raise Kundalini. In this posture the curves of the spine are not as accentuated as in Padmasana, and hence it is slightly inferior for pranayama, but it serves just as well for meditation; in fact some yogis prefer it. With the left heel in the perineum, Siddhasana is the posture of choice to ignite Mula Bandha, the pelvic lock. Goraksha Natha and other authorities state that the left heel must be placed first to stimulate Muladhara Chakra. In this regard the posture is a

mirror image of Padmasana, for which the classical authorities stipulate placement of the right leg first. The characteristics of Siddhasana are very different from those of Padmasana. Whereas in Padmasana we bring the knees as close together as possible, in Siddhasana we take them apart as wide as possible. In the beginning you may choose to sit on a pad such as a folded blanket and decrease its height as you gain proficiency. The pad will assist you in tilting the pelvis forward more. From a sitting, straight-legged position (Dandasana), bend the left leg and place the heel against the perineum, the location of Muladhara Chakra, between anus and genitals. Now bend the right leg and place the right ankle on top of the left one so that the right heel presses against the pubic bone. The organ of generation is now located between the left and right heels. Now insert the toes of the right foot between the calf and thigh of the left leg. Using both hands, move the calf and thigh of the right leg apart, reach through and pull the toes of the left foot up so that they are inserted between the calf and thigh of the right leg. Pay close attention to how this changes the location of the heel and what it does to the rotation of the left femur. It is only through this final action that the heel of the left foot comes into the right contact with the perineum between anus and genitals. This is the position necessary for Kundalini-raising. There is an easier variation of this posture for beginners, called Ardha (half) Siddhasana. Here, instead of stacking the heels on top of each other, they are placed in front of each other, with both feet on the floor. Use this posture only as a warm-up, and graduate to Siddhasana when possible.

Padmasana PADMASANA

This is the most powerful yoga posture. It is considered the best posture for pranayama (yogic breathing exercises), but for meditation Siddhasana is of equal importance. Padmasana’s importance derives from the forward tilt of

the pelvis and the spine being aligned like a cobra ready to strike – necessary for the serpent power to rise. Goraksha Natha, Gheranda and other ancient authorities accept only the placing of the right leg first but T. Krishnamacharya recommends switching sides. If you can sit a few minutes in Padmasana, start practising a few rounds of the meditation taught in Part 2 of this book in that posture. Slowly expanding from here, at some point you will be able to do the main part of your meditation practice in Padmasana. An alternative suggestion would be to practise pranayama in Padmasana and meditation in Siddhasana. Do not suddenly extend the time spent in Padmasana. Add only a minute, or at most a few minutes, per week. The posture is extremely powerful, and hour-long stints should be left to advanced practitioners. If your hips are completely open and you can do both pranayama and meditation in Padmasana, so much the better. It is important that you do not approach this work out of ambition. Never force yourself into the position or forcibly stay in the posture if you are suffering pain. To enter the posture safely from a straight-legged position, flex the right knee joint completely by first drawing the right heel to the right buttock. The inability to touch the buttock with your heel would indicate that your quadriceps is too short to enter Padmasana safely. In this case go to Virasana (explained above) to lengthen your quadriceps or instead sit cross-legged. If you can touch your heel to your buttock, let the right knee fall out to the side, pointing and inverting the right foot. Now draw the right heel into the right groin to ensure that the knee joint remains completely flexed in this abducted position. From here lift the right heel in towards the navel, bringing the knee closer to the centre-line. Keeping the heel in line with the navel, place the ball of the foot into the opposite groin. Repeat these steps on the left, as if the right leg were still straight. First flex the knee joint completely until the underside of the thigh touches the back of the leg over its entire length. Drawing the knee far out to the left, first place the left ankle under the right ankle on the floor. From here lift the left foot over the right ankle in towards the navel, while drawing the left knee out to the side. Do not lift the left foot over the right knee, as this would mean opening the left knee joint, which would induce lateral movement into the knee during the transition. Keep the left knee joint as flexed as possible in the transition, allowing you to move the femur (thigh bone) and tibia (shin bone) as a unity, with no gap in between.

Now place the left foot into the right groin and then move both heels towards each other so that they touch the navel area. Bring both knees close together so that the thighbones become almost parallel (depending on the ratio of length between femur and tibia). Now inwardly rotate your femurs until the front edges of the tibias point downward and the soles and heels of the feet face upward. In this way the knee joints are completely closed and thereby protected. Do not sit in Padmasana while retaining the initial lateral rotation of the femurs used to enter the posture. The key to mastering Padmasana is being able to rotate your femurs internally while being in the posture. This is difficult to learn by merely sitting in Padmasana itself without being warmed up. An ideal tool for learning this is the femur rotation pattern of the Primary Series as described in my book Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy. GENERAL ASANA PRACTICE

Your general asana practice outside of the classic meditation postures and the inversions is also very important for meditation. Generally speaking, the more advanced your asana practice is the quicker you will improve in meditation. An advanced asana practitioner with a 2-hour daily practice will be able to progress quickly in meditation, but will have to go through the process of meditation nevertheless, as its benefits cannot be obtained through asana practice, however advanced it may be. Never assume that a general asana practice can in any way be used as a substitute for a formal yogic meditation practice. A yogi with a less advanced asana practice will progress more slowly in meditation but will progress nevertheless. It is essential to practise asana and meditation daily even if the time you can devote to them is limited; otherwise the gains created through meditation may dissipate. One should never, never get stressed, anxious or strained in one’s meditation practice. This is possible if you force yourself to meditate too long or if you try to slow your breath beyond your capacity. This will set off a sympathetic reflex (i.e. activate the sympathetic nervous system) and, once this pattern is established, it is hard to undo it. It is then very unlikely that you will experience mystical states. Similarly, if you experience your practice as stressful or laborious, it is less likely that you will continue it. It also has to be remembered that if your mind becomes tamasic (torpid) or rajasic (frantic) during practice your count may simply be too long.

If you use meditation as described in traditional yogic texts and in this book for attaining mystical states, then you need a sincere daily asana practice, particularly if you are looking to practise meditation with less than one breath cycle per minute and beyond.

Chapter 2

LAW 2: APANA DRIVEN UP IS THE FIRST ENGINE OF KUNDALINI AND SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION. WHAT IS APANA?

After establishing the importance of Kundalini and how to negate gravitational impact on it through asana, we next look at the various engines that we may use to drive Kundalini up. Many yogic texts such as the Yoga Kundalini Upanishad talk about raising Kundalini with fire and air.22 While we deal with the fire component in the third chapter, this present chapter deals with the air component. The life force, prana, is subdivided into 10 socalled vayus, vital airs. Only two of these are of interest at this point. One is the vital upward force called prana vayu and the other the vital down-force or down-breath called apana vayu. The vital down-breath (apana vayu) manifests as exhalation, which is a downward sensation in the body. It also manifests as excretion, urination, menstruation, ejaculation and delivery of the foetus. Its function is thus eliminative. It is very important for our functioning in society, as procreation is completely impossible without this vital air. However, apana is part of the previously described outer downward movement of Shakti, the divine creative force. During meditation apana needs to be turned around and pointed up so that the inner updraft in Shakti’s down-force, the so-called Kundalini, is activated. Shakti and Kundalini are really one and the same thing or, better, two sides of the one coin; the reason why I write with an initial capital and not in italics is that they are names of the Great Goddess, the divine creative force. Shakti is the Great Goddess during downward action, whereas Kundalini is the same Mother Goddess during upward movement. Apana needs to be turned up during spiritual practice. This does not mean that it has to be turned up permanently. In fact you are only allowed to turn it up permanently once you have completed your worldly duties, in traditional India a state that is called Sannyasa, the fourth stage of life. Apart from exceptions such as ascetics and monks, for most people this stage of life starts at around 75 years of age. If you do turn apana up permanently you

may not be able to sustain the marital state through sexual intercourse, nor beget progeny. You may also have difficulties to sustain normal digestion. Let me make it perfectly clear that, for these reasons, we are talking only about turning apana up during actual practice and not during the entire day. PERISTALSIS AND FASTING

One important exercise for gaining spiritual insight is to fast. It is uncanny that the ancient Vedic rishis, Buddha and Jesus Christ, all used fasting to increase their mystical insight. How are they related? If foodstuffs enter the alimentary canal, they do not simply move through it by means of gravitation. Their entry in fact stimulates the process of peristalsis, a wavelike muscular motion that can be compared to a milking movement. This motion moves the foodstuffs and, later, faeces towards the rectum. Peristalsis is nothing but apana in action. If fasting is performed in a technically correct way (and only then) it will switch off peristalsis and thus apana. The reason why full-time mystics are interested in switching off peristalsis during the acute phase of Kundalini-rousing is that the movement of the intestines constantly massages and activates the lower chakras but especially the second chakra, which produces sexual desire. Sexual desire, while essential in maintaining our society and thus the divine plan, is an obstacle during advanced mystical states as it intercepts their arising. The most astonishing and straightforward way to switch off sexual desire, and thus most of the mind, is by fasting. Deep meditative states are accessible to all by fasting for as little as four days, and surprising states are achieved by fasting one or two weeks. Many of the great mystics, such as Jesus and Buddha, fasted for a month. If you do have a strong yearning to experience deep meditational states, and feel blocked off, then fasting may be the way, but it cannot be combined with vinyasa (sequential) asana practice, as this would take too much energy. Most yogis believe that it is not necessary to fast but that it may be helpful in some cases. If you do fast for spiritual purposes make sure to get medical advice. There are doctors who offer support to people who are fasting, and in any case you should be cleared first as to whether your health condition does actually allow it. I will explain the fasting mechanism succinctly, but this is not a fasting

manual. If you do intend to fast, do it professionally and get yourself a book on fasting written by a medical doctor. When you do fast, the first thing you need to do is eat only pure and light food for a day or two as it is then easier to purge the alimentary canal. The next step is to take a strong purging agent such as Epsom salt to completely empty out the intestine, which will take a few hours to half a day. Once you have done that, stop eating but drink ample water, herbal teas for purification and vegetable broth without any solids. The most important aspect of fasting, however, is that you need to undergo an enema daily, because old foodstuffs are being pushed through the intestine by the new ones arriving. Once you stop eating, peristalsis stops and, despite the Epsom salt, there is plenty of material left. This material will become toxic if you leave it in the intestine, and so the intestine needs to be washed out daily. There are two straightforward ways of doing this. One is to obtain a purposemade enema container, which consists of a jug with a rubber hose attached. You fill the container with warm water and, assuming some form of inversion such as a shoulder stand, you gravity-feed the water into the rectum. Keep it there for a while and then empty out. Yogis are generally wary of colonics as they may enlarge the intestines. In extreme cases intestines can rupture during colonics.* BASTI

The second method and best way to clean the intestine is by the yogic enema called Basti. Not only is it risk free, according to the Hatha Ratnavali it has the additional benefit of purifying the entire body.24 Basti is nothing but a combination of Ashvini Mudra and Nauli. Ashvini Mudra is the conscious ability to dilate the rectum. Instead of that a rubber hose may also be used. The much-feared Indian Kapalika order (skull carriers) apparently used bamboo tubes for the same purpose. If we leave aside Ashvini Mudra, the only difference between a standard medical enema and Basti is that the medical enema gravity-feeds whereas Basti uses suction. In my book Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga I described Nauli, the churning of the abdominal muscles, in detail and will not repeat it here. If you are proficient in Nauli you will be able to suck water up into the rectum, from there into the ascending colon, across the transverse colon and all the way into the descending colon and up to the iliocecal valve. You then reverse

the direction of Nauli to expel the water. This technique is much more powerful than colonics and safer. The entire colon will be washed daily and massaged. Peristalsis will stop and meditational states will commence. However, they are still impeded by the fact that during the first three days of fasting you will have low energy, as the organism will want to feed on blood sugar. Since your food intake is zero, blood sugar levels will be very low and you will have low energy. On the fourth day the body accepts that there is no blood sugar available and it will now switch to famine mode, which is a good thing. Interestingly enough, the only lifespan-enhancing strategy that Western science accepts – on the basis of supportive quantitative data – is to live life in semi-famine or enter famine once in a while. There is a statistical link between populations subject to regular famine and increased lifespan. Life forms have dealt with famine for as long as life has existed, and know how to handle it – in fact to thrive through famine. The most crippling condition in life is constant abundance of food – a circumstance that the post-World-War-II affluent diet has afforded us. Once you do enter famine mode your body starts to derive energy and blood sugar from its fat deposits, and you would be surprised how little it needs. During my extensive fasting periods I used to lose on average 330 grams per day, that is 1 kg in 3 days and 10 kg in 30. In other words if push came to shove I would have been able to fast much longer than thirty days. Jesus Christ, for example, fasted for 40 days. In fact the Hunza, a tribe in Northern Pakistan, which used to boast the world’s oldest population (until a certain fast food chain opened in their territory), had to fast collectively every year for almost 2 months because they live at such a high altitude that they could harvest only very limited staples and were cut off from their surroundings for most of the year. If you do fast for longer than a week you should include vegetable juices and definitely get regular medical supervision from an expert in fasting. From the fourth day you will be able to access deep meditational experiences, but make sure that you have no stress and no duties such as driving cars or operating machinery. You should take time off from work and go to the countryside for the time being. Apana generally moves down when foodstuffs and faeces are present in the intestine and colon (although it can be wilfully turned up for short intervals as I will explain later). Once the alimentary canal

is empty, apana is likely to turn up, and Kundalini can be roused much more easily. A YOGIC DIET

Strenuous asana practice such as Vinyasa Yoga cannot be performed during fasting, as it takes too much energy. Only gentle passive stretches are allowed. For this reason many schools of yoga, including the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, do not incorporate fasting, considering it too invasive. A gentler approach that brings about a similar, although less spectacular, effect over a long time frame is to adopt a yogic diet (mitahara), which consist of eliminating foods that increase the gravitational force of stools and turn apana down. That is, a yogic diet avoids foods that are heavy to digest and are tamasic. Tamas is often translated as dullness, inertia or torpidity, but my favourite translation is that of the late Professor Surendranath Dasgupta, who called it ‘mass-particle’. The advantage of a yogic diet, compared to bouts of fasting, is that it allows you to sustain all of the important vital functions while still having a positive effect on apana, if to a lesser extent. The yogic diet aims, firstly, at eliminating foods that are excessively tamasic and apanic, foremost among which is meat. Another important reason why yoga suggests eliminating meat from the diet is that the body of a living being is nothing but the crystallized history of its past thoughts, feelings and emotions. For example with what you think, feel and emote today you will create who you will be tomorrow. And that does not apply only to the mind but also to the body. It has recently been found that people who have received organ transplants take on beliefs, feelings, capabilities and memories from their organ donors. This is nothing new to yoga. Yoga postulates that there is tissue and cellular memory, and one of the main reasons to practise asanas is to release and let go of such memory, to liberate tissue and cells from the past. If you take these thoughts to a logical conclusion we must admit that it would make more sense to eat the body of a highly evolved soul rather than that of an animal that lags behind us in evolution. To kill and eat a human being is of course strictly forbidden in yoga, as it is in all religions and civil codes of law. In fact the Vedas teach that the gravest offence possible is to kill a spiritual teacher (brahmahatya) and it is the offence that evokes the

most serious punitive measures. However, the idea that qualities of a being are encrypted in the tissue of its body have been picked up by, for example, the Voodoo cult and its equivalents around the world. Followers of these types of cults, when for example wanting to attain heroic qualities, looked for heroes to slay and then ate their hearts and brains in the hope of assimilating their heroism. We would of course reject any such tendencies in yoga for ethical reasons, but the point here is that, for similar reasons that Voodoo members ate the bodies of those whose qualities they wanted to obtain, we should also reject consumption of the bodies of those that are intellectually, morally and spiritually less developed than we are. Since animals store in their tissue the feelings, emotions and urges that they are subject to, by consuming their bodies we would integrate some of those emotions etc. into our own tissue, which would bring about a drag on our development. We also need to look at how an animal is raised and kept. It is one thing to eat animals that had lived wild and free. You may get a lot of power from them because at least they lived naturally. However, if you eat cage hens and other species kept under similar conditions you will eat their despair, despondency, anxiety, aggression and so on. No wonder that today there are so many new mental disorders and diseases. Apart from eating denatured food and being subject to electrosmog, radioactivity, heavy metals and so on, the eating of animals that were kept under unnatural conditions does us no good. Having made such a passionate plea for vegetarianism I need to point out its limitations. Vegetarianism is not suitable for all individuals. If you do have a serious desire to eat meat your body may be signalling you that you need it. If you withhold it your health may go downhill, which in turn would take energy away from your yoga and meditation. It is apparent that some individuals have difficulty in metabolising all necessary nutrients from a vegetarian diet. The ability to assimilate all nutrients without having access to meat may take more than one generation. In India it is said that you become a true vegetarian only after three generations, that is only if your grandparents have been vegetarians. The first-generation vegetarians may struggle, and, if your yoga practice and general quality of life are diminished by abstaining from meat, you have to consider continuing to eat it to some extent. While vegetarianism does increase your odds of experiencing spiritual states, there may be little point if your wellbeing takes a setback. Please also

note that, while vegetarian India down the ages probably had the highest density of liberated mystics anywhere in the world, other cultures have produced great mystics who were not vegetarian including, of course, Jesus Christ and the Buddha. Note also that diet has to fulfil the needs of the location and climate in which you live. So, for example, a vegetarian diet would not supply the heat required by an Inuit or Tibetan to survive. Again, neither Inuits nor people living in the desert would find the climatic requirements for growing enough vegetables and fruit to sustain themselves. Modern students often make yoga out to be dogmatic, but it is first and foremost about common sense. Diet is not a substitute for religion. Even the best diet in the world produces by itself no spiritual merit (it may at best only avoid demerit). Spiritual merit is produced by your spiritual practice (sadhana). Apart from meat, yoga considers as tamasic also fried foods, foods that are hard to digest, warmed-up food and especially eating too much. Overeating drives apana down as almost nothing else will. For yoga you want your body to be lithe and light. Look, for example, at the gravitational force working on the ankle joints or fascia of an obese person. The more lithe you are the easier it will be to turn Kundalini up.

Exercise 2: Increase fruit and vegetable intake and decrease meat and starches Try to reduce your red meat intake, as the hormones and neurotransmitters of mammals are too similar to the ones that our brains produce. Additionally, the meat of farmed animals contains huge amounts of artificially supplied growth hormones, antibiotics and other chemical agents that increase profit. Whenever possible switch to organic and free range produce. If you need to eat meat, venison is to be preferred to artificially produced meats. It contains lower amounts of chemical agents and, as the animals live in a natural way, their meat contains more life force. If possible reduce fish intake as well. Farmed fish is very unhealthy to eat as they are kept under much too high stocking densities, again to raise profit. Due to high stocking densities, the water in which they live contains far too much waste matter: the fish literally have to swim in their own excreta. To

keep them alive large amounts of chemical agents are added to the water, which again can be traced in their tissue. As regards ocean fish, they are now polluted with high levels of mercury, plutonium, heavy metals and other toxic agents. For this reason, they too are better avoided. Animals are high up in the food chain, meaning that they eat other forms of food and therefore accumulate its toxins, which they pass on to you. There are lower levels of toxins in fruit and vegetables than in animals. Fruit and vegetables are the ideal food for yogis, and a good percentage of it should be raw. Eat those as much as you can and preferably before you go on to other types of food. Try to eat daily a large plate of fruit, a large bowl of salad with fresh, grated salad vegetables and a large plate of steamed vegetables. Those types of food are easy to digest, they hydrate the body and make it alkaline, and they do not aggravate apana. Fruit and vegetables contain high levels of nutrients. If you eat lots of them you may find that they reduce your desire for starches, that is potatoes, grain, bread, pizza, pasta, cakes, etc. Starches supply a lot of energy to the body but they make it acidic and have a high glycaemic index. They are also hard to digest, that is they aggravate apana if you eat them together with protein. Combinations such as fish and chips, beef burgers, potatoes and meat, or chicken and rice stay in the alimentary canal for a long time and prevent meditative states for many hours. It is better not to combine starches and proteins in one meal but to eat them separately from each other and combine both with vegetables. That way apana becomes less aggravated and meditative states are more likely. For those interested in the benefits of a vegetarian diet I recommend Dr Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live.25* If you cannot follow through with my suggestions because your body cannot metabolise enough energy out of vegetarian food, that does not mean you cannot succeed in yoga. It simply means that you need to pursue other areas of yoga with more vigour.

Chapter 3

LAW 3: THE SECOND ENGINE OF KUNDALINI CONSISTS OF CONVERTING METABOLIC FIRE (PITTA) INTO FIRE OF INTELLIGENCE (AGNI). Agni (fire) is one of the four elements (or five if we include space). Note the fact that the English ‘ignite’ is derived from the Sanskrit agni. A world without fire is not possible. Without the life-giving fire of the sun there would be no light and we could not see. The surface of out planet is a creation of subterranean fire, of volcanic activity within the Earth. Similarly, photosynthesis of the plants is not possible without the fire of sunlight, and according to western science this photosynthesis created the conditions for animal life to occur on Earth. Harnessing fire was the first major step in the evolution of human life and this process has continued until today because steam engines, diesel engines, gas and electric light, nuclear energy, photovoltaic cells and even electronic devices like mobile phones and computers all harness that same power, fire. One of the fundamental laws of the cosmos is ‘As above, so below’, the first recording of which we have in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus.26 A corollary was later appended: ‘As within, so without’. In other words, the same structures that form the macrocosm, the without, are repeated in the microcosm, the within, and vice versa. The fire that we see on the sun and inside our planet and in all other appearances is also encapsulated within the human organism. The lower manifestation of fire (agni) within us is metabolic or digestive fire, whereas its higher manifestation is the fire of intelligence and discrimination.27 In a similar way to food being cooked on a fire until it is suitable for consumption, the body, by means of digestive fire, breaks down food into its constituents so that it may be absorbed. When humanity managed to control fire, many foods that previously had been indigestible now became staples. This was due to the fact that we managed to add more external fire to food, which our own digestive fire was not capable of burning. A rule of thumb to determine whether food needs cooking or can be eaten raw is to look at the amount of fire that it already contains. This fire is discernible by the colour of the food. If it has a strong colour like

capsicum, lettuce or many fruits, it can usually be eaten raw. If it is very pale, like potatoes and grains, we usually need to add fire in the form of cooking to make it absorbable. The Sanskrit verb for cooking is tap, from which is derived the term tapas, which features prominently in yoga. Not only are we cooking food so that we may eat it, but spiritual aspirants heat and cook themselves until they are fully baked. Yoga compares the human body in that regard to a clay pot that, if not fully baked, will dissolve if immersed in water. Similarly, as ore is melted to separate the pure metal it contains from the dross, so the process of tapas heats us and burns the impurities away. Tapas is the fervour contained in our practice, burning like a laser through obstacles on our path. Apart from digestive fire, agni manifests in us also in the form of the fire of intelligence. Solar fire produces light that makes everything clearly visible and discernible. The fire of the sun is a manifestation of the sattva guna. Sattva means light or intelligence. As sunlight or electric light sheds light on the outer world, so does intelligence shed light on the objects of the mind. Intelligence is a form of electricity inside the brain similar to that in a computer. Intelligence can be like the light of a light bulb: diffuse and refracted. It is then limited to surface appearances, leaving much unknown. If intelligence is purified and refined, it becomes similar to the light of a laser – highly concentrated and bundled fire that can cut through appearances, transfer information precisely and swiftly over extremely long distances and, in the form of holograms, replicate the world and objects as they really are. It is this form of fire, the highly concentrated form of the laser, that our intelligence needs to emulate if we are to succeed on the spiritual path and in attaining the Divine. Patanjali calls this form of intelligence ekagra, which means concentrated, a term that aptly links it to the characteristics of a laser.28 In order to obtain this form of supercharged intelligence we need to convert the body’s lower fire, generally called pitta, into pure elemental fire, usually called agni (although agni is also a general term that applies to all manifestations of fire, pitta included). Pitta is impeded fire. It is one of the three humours (doshas) of Ayurveda, vata, pitta and kapha.* Ayurveda is the ancient Indian science of medicine and longevity. It proposes that health is obtained through a balance of the three humours. If

pitta, for example, is too strong, it leads to forms of inflammation in the body, a reflection of the fact that fire has got out of control. The term dosha means impediment, and, while Ayurveda is primarily concerned with creating a balance of the three doshas so that they keep each other in check, yoga seeks to eject them altogether from the body to create what Patanjali calls an adamantine body.29 Kapha is ejected through a fiery asana practice and through techniques such as Kapalabhati and Ujjayi Pranayama.* Vata is ejected through pranayama, particularly Surya Bhedana pranayama. Pitta is ejected by converting it into agni through various methods outlined below. The prime method, however, for ejecting all three doshas (impediments) is Bhastrika, but it is a difficult and powerful technique that is better left aside unless one can get good instruction on it and has mastered some essential pranayama methods beforehand. For more on Bhastrika see my book Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga.30 Why does the yogi seek to convert pitta (metabolic fire) into agni (fire of intelligence)? If agni is present in the human body mainly as pitta it is then limited to the lower chakras (energy centres) and there manifests as hunger for food, possessions, sex and general sense indulgence. In this form it blocks the ascent of Kundalini and increases one’s identification with the body. Agni must be purified, and it then becomes the force that develops intelligence and drives Kundalini up. Ways to purify agni are: adopting a pure vegetarian diet, ideally limited to fruit, vegetables, milk and ghee abstaining from intoxication of any kind practising mental and emotional hygiene, that is abstaining from negative, toxic and egotistical thoughts and emotions practising Nauli, Kapalabhati and Bhastrika daily (all described in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga) visualizing the image of your chosen form of the Divine with its associated ishta mantra (described in Chapter 14 of this text) visualizing the Sushumna nadi as fire (described in Chapter 8 of this text) practising the double-up wave (described in Chapter 16 of this text) the purposeful and creative thinking of aspiring thoughts, i.e. sankalpa

(described in this chapter) receiving an act of grace of the Divine. Pitta can also be converted into agni through an extreme shock, immense grief or ecstasy, but such cases are rare. In most cases pitta is slowly converted through an aggregate of the above list. The most efficient way to convert pitta into agni is to cover all these areas simultaneously – or as many as possible. A daily practice of Kapalabhati and Nauli is very important in this regard, and I have described the methods in a previous publication. Here I want to focus on sankalpa (resolution), the purposeful and creative thinking of aspiring thoughts. An essential ingredient of yogic meditation,31 Sankalpa uses thought creatively to sublimate our lower urges into our most noble aspirations. In recent years the method of goal-setting has attained great popularity, but unfortunately it is done in a way that only fuels material acquisition, which means that we are transforming fire of intelligence into metabolic fire and not the other way around. ASHTANGA YOGA AND REAL ESTATE

Recently I was introduced to the retail outlet of a well-known international yoga apparel brand. Part of the corporate identity of this brand is that it encourages its customers to set goals, and some of their responses were displayed on noticeboards in the shop. The sample on this particular day in this particular shop may not be representative of customer goals over a longer time frame or displayed in shops around the world, but they seemed significant nevertheless. Summarizing, they went along the following lines: Within one year from now I will conquer all postures of the Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga and buy my first investment property. Within two years from now I will conquer all postures of the Intermediate Series of Ashtanga Yoga and buy my second investment property. Within three years from now I will conquer all postures of the Third Series of Ashtanga Yoga and buy my third investment property. And so forth. I was surprised to find progress in yoga so closely associated with

increasing one’s asset base. On the other hand, reflecting on the linear, onedimensional way of how this particular form of yoga (which I happen to have been practising for several decades) is presented, one cannot fail to notice that it presents yoga in terms of the acquisition and accumulation of postures for one’s asana portfolio. Once one has made this step, one is not far from combining the acquisition of yoga postures with the acquisition and accumulation of other objects such as real estate. Acquisition, accumulation and assimilation are of course the key words for the third chakra, the Manipura or fire chakra. It is the seat of pitta (metabolic fire), and to limit your goals to acquisition, accumulation and assimilation will increase your appetite (a sign of rising pitta) and impede pitta’s transformation into the fire of intelligence. To be materially well-off is helpful for yoga practice as it enables one to dedicate time and resources towards yoga practice that otherwise would have to be devoted exclusively to survival. However, the exclusive focus on acquisition and accumulation, and the transference of this thought pattern into yoga, may be counterproductive. This conflict is explained in the following passages from the Mahabharata and the Mundaka Upanishad. MAHABHARATA AND MUNDAKA UPANISHAD

In the Mahabharata we find a passage where, after various attempts have failed to reconcile the rivalling Kauravas and Pandavas, both parties resort to shoring up support and allies for the ensuing military campaign. Arjuna and the wicked Duryodhana both hurry to Dvaraka, the city of Lord Krishna, to garner his support. Duryodhana arrives first, but upon entering Krishna’s quarters finds him asleep on his bed. Duryodhana sits down next to Krishna’s head to wait for his awakening. After some time Arjuna also arrives and sits down at the Lord’s feet. When Krishna wakes up his eyes fall first on Arjuna and he asks him whether he wants him or his mighty army. He says to Arjuna, ‘If you choose me I will not fight for you but only direct your chariot and counsel you.’ Arjuna chooses Krishna instead of the army. Duryodhana on the other hand is happy to get the army. At no point during the Mahabharata does he understand the identity of Krishna. Krishna is the Divine and, although he cannot be reduced to this level, metaphorically he represents the Divine within us, the sacred self. The story here presents us with an extreme conflict

situation – which does not arise, but Arjuna decides that if in doubt he will choose the pure consciousness within. Duryodhana is a materialist and ignorant of sacred pursuits. Both men are powerful military and political leaders and both are very wealthy. But Arjuna understands the limitations of all that and knows that, if he has to choose, he needs to choose the eternal, which represents the conversion of metabolic fire into the fire of intelligence. The story is also a metaphor for choosing to love either the Divine or its fruits – its outer manifestations. Krishna asks, ‘Are you really interested in me or just in what I can do for you (such as producing yummy, sumptuous food or vast real estate holdings, or supplying you with an army)?’ In this regard God finds himself in a situation similar to that of a beautiful woman who may ask a potential suitor, ‘Are you interested in me or just in my body?’ Because Arjuna’s gastric fire (pitta) is already converted into the fire of intelligence, he chooses the Divine and not its manifold manifestations. On the other hand Duryodhana, who is still all belly and Manipura Chakra, prefers to accumulate Krishna’s vast army and add it to his legions. This passage is also reminiscent of a story in the Mundaka Upanishad. Two birds, who are good friends, are sitting on a tree branch.32 The first bird eats the fruits of the tree, which are pleasure and pain. After doing so he falls into despair, but eventually turns around and, recognizing the second bird, attains freedom. The eating, devouring or consuming of food and phenomena such as power, real estate, fame and money is called bhoga (consumption) and it is indicative of unconverted, impure agni (pitta). Once pitta is purified and converted into the elemental fire of intelligence (bhuta agni), bhoga turns into yoga. This first bird is representative of the lower self, which is bound up with phenomena: it identifies with consumption and external stimuli. The second bird represents the true self, Lord Krishna. The awakened intelligence turns away from food and sense objects and chooses union with the Divine. This is the meaning of the word yoga as Lord Krishna uses it in the Bhagavad Gita. We will now turn to a method that harnesses creative thought in a way that supports yoga practice and meditation.

Exercise 3: Sankalpa (creative thought)

You have probably heard of the principle that thought creates reality. It is nowadays mostly applied by visualizing bags of money standing in every corner of your house. While this is likely to improve your future financial situation it mostly misses the point. It is a good idea to use this method to a certain point, that is until you have achieved a certain material independence, but freedom and happiness are not attained by becoming wealthy. They are attained not by receiving but by discovering your ability to give. As long as you think that in order to be happy you need to receive, whether it be love or wealth, you are denying the reality of an infinite reservoir of love within your heart. To allow yourself the thought that for happiness you need external stimuli such as riches or the admiration of others means nothing but to nurture a viper in your bosom. True inner freedom is obtained by realizing that we can open up to become a conduit for divine creativity to contribute to the freedom and good of other beings. There is nothing more liberating and satisfying in life than that. You may wonder what a chapter on creative thinking has to do with meditation. If you meditate and do not change your thought patterns, you will after each meditation practice fall back into the same old, possibly degrading, thought patterns. You need to be able to change your thought patterns in order to harvest the fruit of meditation. The science of sankalpa (creative thought) was popularised by Jesus Christ and until this day he must be considered its main protagonist, although we find it in Hinduism, too, and all other religions. The principles of sankalpa are illustrated in several episodes in the New Testament, one of them being the story of the withering fig tree. On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was hungry and approached a fig tree, to see whether there was fruit on it. When he found it empty he cursed it (must have had one of his grouchier days). When he and the disciples walked back the next day, Simon Peter noticed the fig tree was dead and asked Jesus how he did it. Jesus answered, ‘For verily I say to you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Be thou removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, he will succeed. Therefore I say to you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you received it and you shall have it.’33 Jesus here clearly teaches the principle that thought creates reality. In another episode Jesus tells the disciples to go ahead in the boat while he

climbs a mountain to pray in solitude. He then catches up with them by simply walking across the lake. It is again Simon Peter who is curious to learn the trick. When commanded by Jesus he gains the confidence to step out of the boat and walk towards the Teacher. However, after a few steps he becomes afraid and needs to be rescued by Jesus, which prompts him to say ‘Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?’34 Again here, Jesus teaches that thought will crystallize into reality if the mind is concentrated enough (to avoid doubt). He also says that such acts are possible not only for him but ‘The works that I do also you can do and greater works than these will you do.’35 These principles taught by Jesus have in recent years been popularised by publications such as The Secret, but unfortunately in a way that has the incredible power of the mind concentrated on an exclusively material pursuit. The problem with this is that it transforms the existing fire of intelligence back into the fire of acquisition, which fuels hunger not only for food but also for wealth in all forms. In contrast to that, Jesus taught developing higher aspirations first and then material needs would be taken care of. The mind is incredibly powerful. If you succeed in concentrating its waves so that the mind assumes the quality of a laser, you can achieve almost anything. It is important that you use it for the greater good and not damage others. If you use your mind for negative pursuits you will of course have to accept the consequences of your actions. If you have no doubt that you will succeed, you can raise Kundalini merely through mental concentration. In yoga this technique is called Bhutashuddhi, and parts 2 and 3 of this book deal with it. As previously observed, your body is a crystallisation of your past thoughts, emotions and actions. The body tends to perpetuate the patterns that led to its crystallisation by controlling the mind via the breath (prana) and the subconscious. But it also works the other way: You can recreate (to a certain extent) your body and subconscious by altering the breath and thought patterns (vrtti). This is simply done by combining daily meditation exercises with breathing exercises and conscious purposeful thought (sankalpa). The most beneficial thought patterns that you can create are not those that would see the accumulation of massive wealth in your hands. In fact by doing this you would create self-loathing. You keep telling yourself that you are

needy, that you are selfish and that in order to be happy you have to rely on external stimuli. And in order to be constantly purchasing the stimuli that make you happy (i.e. food, sex, clothes, shoes, handbags, cars, real estate, jewellery, travelling, entertainment, etc.) you need to obtain massive wealth. This is a way not to happiness but to enslavement to greed. The alternative is to visualize that you are eternally free and have infinite potential, that you are a conduit through which divine love is brought to Earth and channelled to others. Thought patterns that increase pitta, metabolic fire, are those that are related to creation and assimilation of wealth (third chakra), those that are related to increasing your territory in the world (second chakra) and those that are related to fear and assuring your survival (first chakra). To convert pitta into agni, the pure fire of intelligence, you need to consciously think thoughts that pertain to: creating your relationships with other beings from a position of giving and of love (fourth chakra) realizing that the entire creation – all universes, all manifestations – is lawful and understanding those laws (fifth chakra) beholding the intelligence that created those laws and all existence, and holds them in place (sixth chakra). We need not at this point go into a deeper discussion of the chakras, which will be provided in Chapter 13. At this point I would like to simply offer a list of auspicious thought patterns that convert the fire of assimilation (pitta) into the fire of intelligence (agni). My suggestions may appear idealistic to some, but be aware of the following fact: In order to be successful in life you have to be congruent. To be congruent means that your subconscious mind, your conscious mind and your superconscious mind have to be in alignment. The superconscious mind is the mind of your highest potential and noblest beliefs and aspirations. Many people are not even aware that they have this type of mind, and it is true that, since we are today constantly bombarded with advice to yield to our lower urges, we tend to think it natural to primarily think selfish and egotistical thoughts. Then when we see another person acting heroically, selflessly or nobly, we may secretly cry. This is because, deep down in our

hearts, even if we act outwardly in selfish ways, we yearn to develop the highest within us, however deeply its voice is buried. But the voice that calls for us to step up to our highest aspirations does not rest until we listen to it, even if it takes us eons. Only then are our three layers of mind aligned and our actions congruent and therefore successful on all levels. The following sankalpas are designed to align yourself with those highest aspirations. Try them or similar ones that seem more suitable for you and see what happens: I deeply accept and love myself and, from that love, I share with others. I let the Divine speak and act through me. I communicate and act only from the divine love in my heart. I contribute to the lives of others from an infinite reservoir of love and creativity within me. I experience gratitude and appreciation for all I receive and for the miracle of my life. I give unconditional love to all. I am pure-hearted and selfless. These and similar thought patterns are representative of the fire of acquisition and assimilation (pitta) converted into the fire of intelligence (agni). Since all aspects of your being are interconnected, not only may you use techniques pertaining to the body to change your mind, but also vice versa. For swift success, work on body, breathing patterns and mind simultaneously. If for example you condition yourself daily using the above thoughts, you can strongly amplify the effect by repeating these thoughts before and after meditation and pranayama and by combining them with agni-raising techniques such as Nauli and Kapalabhati. You will find that the cultivation of such thought patterns will enable you to integrate a successful meditation experience rather than lose its benefit soon after the session is over.

Chapter 4

LAW 4: THE OCEANIC BREATH POWERS THE OCEANIC EXPERIENCE IN WAVE-LIKE MOTION. THE LINKING OF BREATH AND MIND

The Hatha Tatva Kaumudi defines Kevala Kumbhaka – the goal of pranayama – as the state in which prana (life force) is evenly distributed all over the body. Kevala Kumbhaka is thought to lead automatically to samadhi. This shows the power of the breath to bring about mental states. The Yoga Rahasya, handed down through T. Krishnamacharya, states that meditation cannot be achieved without pranayama,36 another statement that underlines the importance of breath work. Patanjali gives us several different definitions of pranayama, but in our present context his first definition is significant: ‘When posture is accomplished, pranayama is then practised, which is removing agitation from inhalation and exhalation.’37 He goes on to say that then the breath becomes long and subtle.38 Patanjali here lists the slowing down and smoothing of the breathing pattern as a prerequisite for meditation. In this chapter we will look at how mind and breath are linked together and how we can utilize this fact to power meditation. The goal of meditation is the oceanic experience or oceanic ecstasy. As an ocean is moved by waves, so we will use breath waves – and later thought waves combined with sound waves – to move us into the oceanic state. The oceanic experience or mystical experience has its pranic equivalent in the oceanic breath, which is a breath wave that reaches and moves every cell of the body. A brief recap of the history of the universe: In the beginning there was only the Brahman. In order to manifest its infinite potential and divine creativity, the Brahman developed two poles that are often called Shiva and Shakti. While Shiva is the name for the pole of pure consciousness (God transcendent), Shakti (the God immanent) in the beginning existed as pure energy, pure power or prana. Patanjali calls it prakrti, which means procreatress. From the pure energy state Shakti then began to vibrate and develop into more and more complex vibratory patterns or wave patterns, such as sound

waves, light waves and thought waves. These waves and vibratory patterns, crystallizing ever more densely, manifested every star, galaxy, universe, atom, molecular structure, all the chemical elements and their isotopes, and also air, fire, water and earth. It is important to understand that the manifestation of creation from pure consciousness, intelligence and energy down to the densest element of earth and matter occurred by means of vibratory patterns and waves. For this reason the re-ascension of the individual consciousness to divine consciousness is most effectively practised through waves and vibratory patterns. Some waves that we will utilize are bioplasmic sound waves called mantras. These are covered in Chapter 10. In this chapter we will focus on the interdependence of breath waves and thought waves. In Ayurveda the mind is seen as the root cause of problems, whether physical or mental. But the mind itself is powered by breath. Watch, for example, the flame of a candle when a window is open. It will flicker in the draft. However, if the air is still the flame will remain steady. The flame here can be likened to the mind, which is still if not moved by the wind of prana. When prana moves, the mind will move too. This realization gave rise to pranayama, the yogic school of breathing. Pranayama is the directing of life force (prana) in order to direct the mind. The realization of the connectedness of breath and mind also gave rise to dharana. Dharana is the conscious directing of thought, which in itself leads to the directing of life force, for, as many yogic scriptures say, where vrtti (thought wave) goes there prana (breath wave) will go and vice versa.39 The greatest likelihood of success is reached when both are directed at the same time. For this to happen it is important that yogic meditation and yogic pranayama are not understood as two completely separate practices, but one always has to accompany the other. If one practises pranayama, meditation has to be included as an ancillary practice, as I have shown in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga. On the other hand, if meditation is practised it needs to contain a pranayama component and that does not just mean watching and observing the breath. This chapter will show how yogic meditation naturally grows out of pranayama.

Exercise 4: The breath waves

The most powerful meditation technique existing is the Kundalini-raising sixstage Sushumna double-up wave, combined with chakra visualization, mantra and devotional practice. But just as a novice asana practitioner would not go straight to Mulabandhasana or Kandasana – an act that would likely lead to knee and other injuries – but would slowly and meticulously prepare through various subsets of postures, so astute students of meditation will learn and practise the preparatory waves and other exercises in this book to make themselves ready. The breath waves have already been discussed in detail in my earlier book Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga. The emphasis of the present book being on meditation, the coverage of the topic here is only a summary. If you have understood, practised and experienced breath waves after reading the earlier book you may skip this exercise. Ideally, when practising yogic breathing we experience and apply the oceanic breath. The oceanic breath moves like a wave of prana through your entire organism and reaches every cell of your body. In the process, it absorbs your entire awareness, draws it away from thoughts and emotions of past and future and brings it into the present moment. The inability to apply the oceanic breath spontaneously or, better, to hand yourself over to it and surrender, is determined by the density of your conditioning. Practically speaking this means that emotions and thoughts of fear, guilt, shame, pain, anger, etc. and their associated memories form energy blockages in your body, which prevent you from breathing into certain areas. This reduces or even prevents the ecstatic experience that breathing can be, and numbs you to the extent that experiencing spiritual states appears to be impossible. It may also manifest as experiencing states such as boredom, anger, confusion, anxiety or depression, which become washed away during oceanic or complete yogic breathing. As explained in the Taittiriya Upanishad, our conditioning is encrypted not only in our mind but also in our bodily tissue and breathing pattern. By liberating the breathing pattern, i.e. becoming able to breathe into every cell of the body, meditation can become a deeply satisfying and revelatory experience from early on. RECLINING TWO-STAGE UP-AND-DOWN BREATH WAVE

To liberate the breathing pattern fast and effectively, and to experience the oceanic breath, we will use a set of exercises called the breath waves. These will establish resonance frequencies in your body, which will break down

energetic blockages that prevent you from breathing totally and feeling alive. The first set of these exercises requires you to lie down on your back. For some students it is easier to experience the breath when bending up the legs and placing the knees together. Lie on a soft surface such as a carpet or blanket for comfort. Now place one hand, say your left one, on your belly. After having exhaled, breathe exclusively into your belly so that your left hand is lifted up to the ceiling. For some people who are used to exclusive thoracic breathing this is difficult to achieve, but it is extremely important that you persist until you can in fact breathe exclusively into your belly or, better said, distribute all of your breath into this area. I have described the connection between holding on to emotions and limiting the breath to certain areas of the torso in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga, and the information may be found there.40 Now place your right hand in the middle of your ribcage and draw the next inhalation exclusively into this area so that only your ribcage expands and your belly is completely static. When activating the ribcage and integrating it into the breathing cycle, make sure you let the breath rise only as far as the uppermost rib and not beyond. Ancient yogic texts warn against letting the prana rise into your head. Of course you cannot let actual air enter into your head, but when you breathe too high up the intracranial pressure rises due to too much blood rushing into the brain. You would then get light-headed, but, more seriously, the oscillation of intracranial pressure is detrimental to the blood vessels in your brain. Keep the air and pressure down in your chest and don’t let it rise. If you find it difficult at this early point to isolate the chest from the head during inhaling, then simply do not breathe so high up into the upper lobes of your lungs. Once you have inhaled, make sure that you exhale as consciously from this area as you inhaled, and expel all the air that is accessible to you. As some are exclusive chest-breathers, others are exclusive belly-breathers and, although the latter get less attention in the media, belly breathering is as much as an impediment as exclusive chest breathing. It makes the ribcage rigid and the heart and lungs torpid. It also enlarges and weakens the abdominal organs and makes one addicted and a slave to one’s emotions, which are stored in the abdomen. If you are incapable of fully using your ribcage in the breathing cycle, you are severely limiting your vitality.

For those not used to integrating the ribcage into their breathing, take some time to experience breathing into every area of your ribcage such as the back, where it touches the floor, the sides, the front and the clavicular area. Continue to breathe until you have the experience that you can fill every cubic centimetre of your ribcage with air and then empty it out as consciously as you filled it. Once you have come to this state, place your right hand on your ribcage at the height of your heart and your left hand on your navel. Now distribute the first half of your inhalation into your belly so that your left hand rises; then distribute the second half into your ribcage so that the right hand is lifted up towards the ceiling. Try to isolate both phases as clearly as possible. On the first half of the exhalation, deflate only the ribcage so that only your right hand drops. With the second half, drop your left hand by deflating the belly. With some practice you will learn which sets of muscles to use to achieve both of these ends. Keep breathing in this way, inhaling into the belly first and then inhaling into the chest. Then exhale from the chest first, and only then from the belly. Continue until you feel as if a two-stage wave travels upwards from the pelvis to the shoulders and then back down, reaching each area of your torso. This exercise will help you to isolate the ribcage and belly from each other and access them individually, which is an important stage in learning the later, more complex, multi-stage meditation waves. RECLINING TWO-STAGE DOUBLE-UP BREATH WAVE

Here we will learn how to raise prana during the exhalation, a process that is essential for meditation. It is important at this early stage that we take small steps and imprint from early on the method of breathing that powers meditation. This second exercise is identical to the first in regard to the inhalation. Inhale into the belly first and with the second half of the inhalation fill the ribcage. With exhalation, however, this breath wave is the opposite. Because it takes more muscular effort to keep the ribcage fully inflated, the normal tendency is to exhale from the ribcage first, but here we use our abdominal muscles to empty the belly first while keeping the ribcage inflated. Only once this is completed is the ribcage allowed to drop. Take some time to experience the difference of this exercise from the previous one by first letting your left hand on the belly drop and only then

lower the hand on your heart. In order to do this you need to contract the entire transverse abdominis muscle during the exhalation and draw it back against the spine. That way you can exhale from the belly yet keep the ribcage inflated. This powerful breathing method should only be used when the body is static, such as lying down or sitting. When moving in and out of asanas only the lower part of the transverse abdominis, the part below the navel, is utilized. Continue this exercise until you experience inhalation as a wave travelling up from the pelvis to the shoulders and, in contrast to the previous exercise, exhalation as a second wave travelling upwards from the pelvis to the shoulders, powered by the contraction of the abdominal muscles. RECLINING THREE-STAGE UP-AND-DOWN WAVE

You have now learned the two basic breath waves. The next steps consist in making them more subtle so that they engulf more and more areas of the body. In this next exercise we will divide the torso into three areas. The first extends from the pubic bone and pelvic floor up to the lower ribs. These lowest floating ribs form the lower boundary of the second area you need to breathe into. Now touch the lowest tip of the sternum (xiphoid process) on the anterior surface of your ribcage. This forms the upper boundary of this second or middle area, which is dissected by the diaphragm. The third and highest area consists solely of ribcage, extending from the lower tip of the sternum up to the collarbone. Strictly speaking it extends even higher, since the first and second rib and tips of the lungs reach up above the collarbone. Lying on your back, place your left hand on the lower area of your belly. Keep in mind that the lower area this time is smaller than in the two-stage wave, which isolated only the abdomen and thorax. Now let the distribution of breath into the lowest third of your torso lift your left hand up towards the ceiling and, exhaling, let it drop down towards the floor. Repeat this a few times until you have isolated this area clearly. Keeping your left hand in place, now position your right hand on the previously described middle area. Distribute the first half of your inhalation into the lower third of the torso, lifting the left hand, and only then the second part of the inhalation into the middle part, elevating your right hand. Exhaling, let the right hand drop first and only then the left hand, meaning you exhale from the middle area first,

then from the lower part of the torso. Take a few breaths in this fashion until you have clearly isolated the two areas. With that established, remove your left hand from your belly and place it on your upper thorax, between your heart and your jugular notch. Now distribute the first third of your inhalation into the lower belly, where your left hand was previously situated, then use the second third of your inhalation to fill the middle third of your trunk. When you have completed that, direct the final third of your inhalation into the upper third of your torso. Make sure that your breath reaches and ventilates the upper lobes of your lungs, which are often neglected, but do so without straining. When exhaling, empty first the area that you breathed into last, the uppermost third of your torso. To achieve this, focus on dropping your left hand down towards the floor. Once you have expelled the first third of air, exhale the second third now from the middle area of your trunk, dropping the right hand. Finally exhale the last third of the breath from your belly. Continue this pattern until you have the experience of a wave travelling from your pubic bone to the jugular notch upon inhalation and back down upon exhalation. With some practice you will be able to create a resonance frequency by linking each breath wave up with the next one, thus enhancing its force or amplitude. Be aware what this does to your spine. You will feel a wave-like motion travelling your spine and moving the vertebrae. It is very therapeutic to let this wave travel up and down your spine while reclining. You will also be able to find energy blockages there, i.e. fixated vertebrae etc. These areas are the ones where you will not be able to feel your breath moving your spine. Ideally you would feel the wave moving each vertebra individually. This takes time and practice, but it will make your spine more fluid and healthier. This three-stage reclining up-and-down wave is ideal for experiencing the oceanic breath and deep relaxation. Visualize a wave washing up onto the beach upon inhalation and back down into the sea upon exhalation. This sensation helps with creating openness in the central energy channel (Sushumna). You will feel now how, powered by the breath, a wave is going up and down the front of your torso. Feel how this influences your mind. It makes one serene and at the same time creates a detached observer within. Once you have achieved this you will notice that a resonance frequency has established

itself. And when you have made the shape and the length of each breath wave equal, they link into each other and enhance each other. This is by itself a meditative experience, but the important thing to notice is its influence on the spine. RECLINING THREE-STAGE DOUBLE-UP WAVE

The fourth exercise is a modification of the previous breath wave. Make sure you have become proficient in the reclining three-stage up-and-down wave before you tackle this exercise. The inhalation proceeds in exactly the same way as before: distribute a third of your inhalation into the belly, a third into the middle and the last third into the upper chest. With the exhalation, however, rather than let the wave wash back down from the jugular notch to the pubic bone, let the exhalation wave also begin at the pubic bone and travel upwards. This may sound counterintuitive, but it is this form of breathing that we will eventually utilize to drive prana up the spine during exhalation. This is particularly important once you go to more advanced forms of meditation: it is the upward movement during the exhalation that will then keep you on track. The way to initiate the double up-wave is to engage the lower part of your transverse abdominis to drive the air out of the lower third of your torso. Then use your upper abdominals to expel the air from the middle part of your torso. And finally exhale from the upper part of the torso. Continue this exercise until you have the feeling of one wave after another flowing from the base of your trunk up towards your collarbone. The appropriate visual image here is more akin to looking out on the ocean from far up and seeing one wave after another nearing the shore. This wave will make more sense to you when you practise it upright, against the force of gravitation, as it will become obvious then that it counteracts gravitational force; but it is very helpful to imprint it already here in the reclining position. RECLINING SIX-STAGE UP-AND-DOWN WAVE

The six-stage wave is the one that eventually we will use for Kundalini meditation, albeit in modified form compared to the one taught here. Once you have imprinted the two forms of the reclining three-stage wave you can upgrade to the six-stage wave simply by subdividing into two parts each area of the torso that you have learned to breathe into. We have then a lower

abdominal area, an upper abdominal area, a lower mid-trunk area, an upper mid-trunk area, a lower thoracic area and an upper thoracic area. On the inhalation, let the waves travel from the pelvic floor to the jugular notch through these six distinctly separate areas. Upon exhalation, let it travel back down slowly from area to area, exhaling from the upper chest first and the lower belly last. The great advantage of this is that you can slow down the wave, become more conscious of which areas it touches, and increase its amplitude and thus its effect on the tissue it travels through – and also abandon yourself more to the oceanic character of the experience. By subdividing the wave more, the likelihood of experiencing its resonance frequency increases. Feel how the prana wave touches and heals every cell in your torso and every organ. If you have difficulty feeling this, use your imagination. Feel as if you are lying on the beach and a wave in slow motion washes up, touching every part of your body, before it washes back down into the sea. The important part here is that this wave is made from prana, that is the stuff that supplies life to every single cell in your body. Where vrtti (thought) goes, there goes prana. If you think that the wave touches and heals every organ it will do so. If you identify any dead, dark and numb areas in your body, consciously direct breath into these areas, as they are the ones where you most need it. Make sure that you do not let prana rise into the head, where it would lead to increased intracranial pressure. This wave is extremely useful for recharging with prana and it is very helpful for relaxation. It is beneficial to make this a regular exercise during the relaxation at the end of your asana, pranayama and meditation practice. RECLINING SIX-STAGE DOUBLE-UP WAVE

This wave starts again exactly like the previous one, but during the exhalation the direction is reversed. Exhalation commences in the lower abdomen and travels from there up the spine. Feel how this wave takes more effort but it also energizes. The main purpose of implementing this wave is is to imprint it here so that it is at your disposal once we move into the vertical plane and work against gravitation. Six-stage waves form the bedrock of meditation techniques; in particular the six-stage double-up wave forms the fourth engine of Kundalini covered in Chapter 16. When using this wave, feel as if

there is a continuous pulsation starting from the pelvic floor and sacrum up and moving towards the head on both the inhalation and the exhalation. This pulse does of course exist, and it is the pulse of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); it uses the sacrum (water chakra) as a pump that moves CSF charged with prana up to the centre of the brain (third-eye chakra). This pulse is a physical expression of the energetic phenomenon of Kundalini and will be described in more detail in Chapters 13 and 16. The purpose of the reclining breath waves is to abandon yourself to the process of breathing without having to struggle against gravity. Continue to experiment with these waves until you have the experience that you are being moved by a powerful wave of breath and that this wave literally rolls through every cell of your body and breathes it. Once you are satisfied with this step, switch to the upright waves. They are initially more difficult to feel, as the imprinted holding patterns of your muscles will try to hold you in a way that does not require feeling the aliveness of the breath. However, once those waves are imprinted they are more powerful in carrying life force and breath up the spine to the brain. Seated waves After having learned to compartmentalize the torso and breathe into its various sections, we will now venture into the vertical plane. Due to the impact of gravity on the supine body, the main thing we needed to learn when lying down was to breathe upwards, lifting our hand to the ceiling. It is different when sitting upright: the impact of gravitation is such that it supports us in distributing breath into the back, sides and front of the torso evenly. However, we need to become aware of this process. Apart from that, when sitting upright we need to make a more conscious effort to drive the air all the way into the upper chest, as gravitation will limit breathing to the lower abdomen in individuals with a slouchy physique. Note also that the quality of the posture is important as, if the alignment of the spine is correct, an inner updraft manifests through the core of the body that annuls and counteracts the gravitational force that holds Kundalini down. UPRIGHT TWO-STAGE UP-AND-DOWN WAVE

Sit upright in your preferred meditation posture with knees on the floor,

palms and soles of the feet facing up and spine, head and neck in one straight line. As in the reclining two-stage wave, we will isolate the entire thorax from the abdomen. Take the first half of the inhalation into the abdomen. You need to keep the lower abdominal wall active, as otherwise all air will disappear into the abdomen and you will find it impossible to distribute any into the chest. Now draw the second half of the inhalation into the chest, expanding it into the front, back and sides and upwards. Make sure that you include the upper lobes of the lungs in the inhalation. When exhaling, let the chest drop first and, only when it is fully deflated, engage the entire abdominal wall to empty the abdomen completely. You will notice that this will happen quite automatically, as gravitation applied to the thorax will deflate it as if by itself. This wave forms the base of the rapid-breathing pranayama technique Bhastrika. UPRIGHT TWO-STAGE DOUBLE-UP WAVE

This wave is more counterintuitive than the previous one. As previously, sitting in your preferred meditation asana, distribute the first half of your inhalation into the belly and then the second half into the chest. Again, you will need to lower the abdominal wall to achieve this. Once you have completed the inhalation, engage the entire abdominal wall to drive all air out. Repeat this breath wave until you are established in it and can feel the difference to the previous one. Since we again isolate only two areas of the torso, this wave, like the previous one, can be used for rapid breathing. However, you will notice two important differences. Firstly, since we exhale from the abdomen first, the controlled abdominal wall will prevent the ribcage from dropping when we subsequently exhale from it. That means the exhalation is not as complete as in the previous wave, reducing the volume somewhat. Secondly, since we consciously exhale from the belly first, the life force in this wave is lifted, driven up, which makes the mind less tamasic (torpid) at the end of the exhalation. Double-up waves make you more alert than the up-and-down waves. This wave crystallizes into the rapidbreathing pranayama technique Kapalabhati. UPRIGHT THREE-STAGE UP-AND-DOWN WAVE

Now we are ready to transfer the three-stage up-and-down wave into the vertical plane. Sit in your favourite meditation asana. Compartmentalize the

torso in exactly the same way as during its reclining equivalent. Engaging the lower abdominal wall, fill first the lower abdomen with air. Then distribute the second part of your breath into the mid-torso. Finally draw the third part of your inhalation into the upper chest. Feel how much you have to engage the lower abdominal wall to get the breath all the way up to the clavicles. Feel the benefit of liberating and ventilating the upper lobes of the lungs, which most individuals neglect for most of their lives. For the exhalation we use the order that gravitation and apana vayu (vital down current) dictate to us. This means that we exhale first from the upper chest, then from the mid-torso and finally from the abdomen. During the inhalation this wave extends the torso and therefore lifts the head. During the exhalation it flexes the torso and thus moves the head forward and down. This wave therefore has the tendency to move you like a Bedouin on a camel. If you use this wave for longer than a few minutes, you will notice that it tends to make the mind too tamasic at the end of the exhalation. The exhalation is ruled by apana vayu, and this ‘natural’ wave tends to move our awareness up on the inhalation and down on the exhalation. It is therefore not suitable for higher yogic work such as serious pranayama and meditation, but should be repeated a few times at the beginning and end of all slow-breathing pranayama methods. We are relying on turning apana vayu up to use it as one of the engines of Kundalini-raising, and that is exactly what the next wave is designed to do. UPRIGHT THREE-STAGE DOUBLE-UP WAVE

We will now transfer the three-stage double-up wave into the vertical plane. Sit in your favourite meditation asana. As with the previous wave, engage the lower abdominal wall to fill first the lower abdomen, then the mid-torso and finally the upper chest. For the exhalation we go counter to the law of gravitation by driving apana vayu up. This means that we exhale first from the lower abdomen, then from the mid-torso and finally from the upper chest. In the beginning put some awareness towards the need to not overwork your diaphragm – it has to work harder in this method, as we are exhaling against gravity. The three-stage double-up wave is good for energizing and learning to distribute breath. Do an experiment. Gently fix your gaze towards Bhrumadhya (third eye). When exhaling upwards through using this wave,

you will notice that prana is naturally flowing upwards towards the third-eye area. While the previous three-stage up-and-down wave surrenders to apana vayu, the three-stage double-up wave utilizes apana gati, the inner upward movement contained in the usually down-flowing exhalation. This is important for attaining and sustaining states of meditation. By moving prana up, this wave tends to prevent the mind from becoming tamasic at the end of the exhalation. The upright three-stage double-up wave forms the basis of all slow-breathing pranayama methods such as Nadi Shodhana, Surya Bhedana and Chandra Bhedana. SIX-FOLD UP-AND-DOWN WAVE

This wave forms the basic configuration for chakra breathing and purifying, with each wave top representing one of the six chakras. Since the sixth chakra is located in the head, a safety precaution has to be built in so that the intracranial pressure does not rise. To achieve this we do not breathe through the entire torso but only through Sushumna, which is a very thin stalk or hollow going through the spine. This sounds more difficult than it is. Since prana goes where vrtti goes, you only need to permanently focus on Sushumna to achieve this. This wave forms the introductory level of meditation. By using it to breathe up and down through all chakras (energy centres) on each inhalation and exhalation, this wave fosters the ability to spontaneously place prana into the centre appropriate for the situation at hand – there is no single chakra that can handle each and every situation. The importance of this is explained in detail in Chapter 13. The chakra breathing method using this wave is introduced in Chapter 8 and described in more detail in Chapter 9. SIX-FOLD DOUBLE-UP WAVE

This is the native breath wave for Kundalini-raising. One focuses on the chakras during inhalation and exhalation but, instead of letting the apana move down, one raises it during the exhalation by focusing on the chakras in an upward sequence, as is naturally done during the inhalation. It is this wave that leads to the final stage of meditation as described in Chapter 16. As this pulse-like wave will continuously drive Kundalini up to the higher chakras, the previous waves, particularly the six-stage up-and-down wave, need to be

mastered beforehand. It is detrimental to place prana into the highest chakras before for example the Manipura and Anahata chakras are opened. Why this is the case and what sort of detriment one would have to expect are covered in Chapter 13. Six-stage meditation waves grow naturally out of the three-stage waves, as meditation naturally grows out of pranayama and pranayama out of asana. These complex waves have many ancillary aspects such as mantra, chakra, bandha and mudra, which are described in detail in Parts 2 and 3 of this book. Take your time to experience the various waves as described here. Once you get to Part 3 your mind will be fully engaged by executing mantra, chakra visualization and the various Raja Yoga techniques to prevent the senses from reaching out (pratyahara). When coming to this part you need a certain automatic understanding of dividing the breath into zones and letting the exhalation either drop or rise. It is important to imprint these breath waves here, as this final wave, the six-stage double-up wave, will play the role of the fourth engine of Kundalini in Chapter 16.

Chapter 5

LAW 5: PRANA RISES ONLY IF THERE IS A BALANCE OF LUNAR AND SOLAR FORCES. ARE THERE ANY DANGERS TO MEDITATION?

Contrary to popular opinion, which celebrates meditation as a panacea for all problems with no known contraindications, it can have detrimental effects. I know of several people who, without being prepared, went to meditation retreats where they suddenly had to sit and meditate on their breath or on awareness for close to 10 or even more hours per day for a whole week or more. Afterwards some of these people had to be admitted to a mental hospital or at least had great problems attending to their families and other responsibilities. In our normal day-to-day life many things are hidden from us, and there are reasons for this. If we suddenly could see everything that hitherto had been hidden from our view, this would be like opening Pandora’s box. If not adequately prepared, the observer could literally get crushed by the weight of what he/she sees. Schizophrenia, for example, can occur if through psychedelic drugs or other intense events your throat or third-eye chakra gets blown open without previous opening of your navel and heart chakras. This means that we suddenly become overloaded with an enormous flow of data about the world and us that we can neither process nor integrate into our lives. If you practise yoga step by step this cannot occur, but if yogic techniques such as meditation get taken out of their original context – the eight limbs – anything can happen. The Indian teacher Swami Niranjanananda says that meditation may induce hypnosis if the mind is not kept sattvic (luminous).41 He suggests pranayama to alleviate this concern. Another Indian teacher, Shri O.P. Tiwari, used the same term when saying that if the energy channels (nadis) are not purified one may hypnotize oneself into the belief that one is progressing in meditation whereas in fact no progress is taking place. Both teachers warn that one may fall into a hypnotic-like state instead of meditation, but the causes and remedies for the two scenarios are different. The teachers are not talking about medical hypnotherapy, which has its

place even in the spiritual arena, but they are warning that the practitioner may escape reality into a ‘hypnotic state’, a form of escapism. What we want to achieve with meditation is experience a deeper, truer form of reality and through that give more meaning to reality as we experience it. What we don’t want is creating an imagined reality and then using it to escape from the challenges of this existence. The different scenarios, simplified, are: Escapism because the energy channels are not purified. The remedy is a set of exercises called the kriyas (shatkarmas). Escapism because the mind is not made sattvic (luminous). The remedy is pranayama. The first danger in bringing about a hypnotic state instead of meditation is related to so-called impure energy channels. In this context we need to understand that yogis do not believe that mystical states are experienced in the mind only, completely isolated from the body. In fact yogis hold that mystical states ensue only if alchemical changes occur in the body first. According to yoga the body and mind are connected through the breath, and everything that happens on the physical plane will have its equivalent in the mind and what happens in the mind will reverberate in the body. The body is prepared and purified for higher yogic exercises through the kriyas or shatkarmas. Various yogic schools place differing levels of emphasis on these kriyas, but it is fair to say that the two kriyas Nauli and Kapalabhati should be practised as a support for meditation by all but the few most advanced asana and pranayama practitioners. I have described both in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga. Let’s look next at what might happen during meditation if the mind is not sattvic (luminous). The Indian epic Ramayana shows the dangers of meditation when it is not practised with a sattvic mind. Of the three demon brothers, the demon king Ravana practised meditation with a rajasic (frantic) mind and wrath became his undoing. His brother Kumbhakarna meditated with a tamasic (torpid) mind and fell into a deep slumber from which he only rarely woke up. Only the third brother Vibhishana meditated with a sattvic (luminous) mind, and it was only he who gravitated towards the Divine. Ultimately both Ravana and Kumbhakarna were to be killed by Lord Rama in battle, whereas Rama made Vibhishana king of Sri Lanka.

Without wanting to question the historical accuracy of the Ramayana, what is interesting in our context is the metaphorical interpretation of this story. Lord Rama symbolizes the true self, the consciousness. The three brothers represent the tamasic, rajasic and sattvic tendency of the mind. If one truly wants to embrace the higher, divine self and wants to experience mystical states, then the tamasic and rajasic tendencies of the mind need to be reduced and disempowered whereas the sattvic attitude needs to come to the fore. A Tibetan lama that I used to study with relayed to me half-jokingly that one who meditated wrongly would set himself up to be reborn as a big fish. What he meant was that anyone who meditated in a tamasic (torpid) fashion tended to increase this attitude, which leads to a dull fish-like mind. Again, if you think that life consists mainly of pleasure and acquisition of wealth then, if unchecked, meditation tends to amplify these beliefs. I have witnessed several cases in which meditation, because it was not done correctly, made people more materialistic and nihilistic. Similarly, if one’s underlying belief system is rajasic, such that one feels the need to become, for example, some sort of celebrity, star or powerbroker, then meditation will tend to amplify these tendencies. The mind is made sattvic (luminous) through studying yogic philosophy, implementing yogic affirmations (bhavana, sankalpa), reading sacred texts, and meditating on the Divine. Another powerful tool to make the mind sattvic is pranayama. Although I have explained and described pranayama already exhaustively in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga, the subject of nostril and nadi balance needs to be understood in the context of yogic meditation too. NOSTRIL AND NADI PREDOMINANCE AND BALANCE

For meditation to succeed you need to have a certain ability to consciously direct your use of brain hemispheres, branches of the nervous system and functions of the mind. Many yoga masters considered meditation an utter waste of time when not accompanied by a suspension of the function of both brain hemispheres and related functions of mind. If these abilities are gained, it certainly feels as if you meditate with an infinitely more empowered brain. According to yoga the right brain hemisphere, which is more intuitive and holistic, is powered by the left, lunar nadi (energy channel), which itself is related to the left nostril. The left brain hemisphere, which is more analytical and dissecting, is powered by the right, solar nadi, itself activated by

breathing through the right nostril. Studying an academically difficult subject such as law, medicine or physics is much harder when breathing through the left nostril. You are far better at memorizing and dissecting difficult subjects when breathing through the right nostril. On the other hand trying to be empathic and compassionate to the woes and suffering of another being when breathing through the analytical right nostril is against our grain. This right nostril will lead you to a computer-like analysing of what they are doing wrong but it will make it difficult to feel what they are feeling. This, however, is exactly what it required in this situation. The left nostril will also allow you to understand complex poetry, music and paintings. You need to feel holographically all the many dimensions that the artist felt to really appreciate a great artwork. These tendencies are gender specific: the right nostril is also called the male or solar nostril and the left one the female or lunar nostril. The nostrils also trigger the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system governs the fight-orflight reflex. It is activated through stress and, by emitting adrenalin, it mobilises your energy resources. It is activated through the right, solar, male nostril. When breathing through the right nostril, you will be able to perform strenuous physical tasks like fighting for your life or running from danger. The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, enables us to recharge, rest and sleep, and experience pleasure. It is activated by breathing through the left nostril. When breathing through this nostril, not only will any time spent for rest and relaxation become more effective but also nursing and caring for a child will come more naturally. For the purpose of meditation we generally want to achieve a complete balance between the left and right nostrils. This indicates that the central energy channel – the third of the main energy channels – is active. As indicated above, yogis call this central energy channel Sushumna. However, meditation can to a certain point also succeed when breathing through the left nostril, whereas it is not advised when breathing through the right. This is due to the fact that the left nostril governs the afferent (incoming) nerve impulses. When you need to listen, see, feel, smell or taste, use the left nostril. Use this nostril also when reflecting on yourself or wanting to be self-critical. Afferent also means being receptive. The afferent (incoming) nerve current, however, can also be too dominant and this will

express itself by one being overly introverted, meek, not expressive enough, possibly even depressive, and not being able to stand up for oneself. This can be the case if people meditate too much without understanding nadi predominance. It will lead to meditators becoming subservient to extravert people, because they cannot muster the passion to influence their environment and stand up against things that are wrong. This can be effectively counteracted through activating the efferent (outgoing) current by inhaling through the solar, right nostril. This nostril is very effectively used during activities outside of meditation. The right nostril encourages the mental stance of fundamentalism, which means that you believe that there is only one way of looking at things, only one way of figuring out the problems of this world. While those breathing predominantly through the right nostril can be very charismatic and are often convincing leaders, this nostril is useless during meditation. Meditation means to open yourself to things outside of the field of your perception and to expand your horizon. The fundamentalist mind and the associated right nostril seek quick solutions by purposely avoiding such expansion. Because the fundamentalist mind is narrow in its scope, it has its place, of course, when it comes to having to make quick decisions, while portraying a great amount of certainty. For this reason nations in crisis often seek refuge with a fundamentalist leader. Yoga should generally be practised when the left nostril is dominant, according to the yogic scripture Shiva Svarodaya.42 Yoga is about nurturing the relationship with the Divine and your true self. It is successful during the flow of the left nostril and inauspicious during the flow of the right. Summarizing, when studying scripture and analysing yogic technique, such as by reading this book, you need to breathe through the right nostril because your mind needs to activate its dissecting, analytical function. However, when meditating and practising yogic techniques (with the exception of the kriyas), switch to the left nostril and activate your female psyche. You will then be receptive to higher knowledge. While meditation may succeed while breathing through the left nostril, it is ideally done when both brain hemispheres are suspended and the flow of breath through the nostrils is exactly balanced. However, while in this state you should do nothing but practise yoga and meditation, as all other activities

will prove fruitless.43 A Tibetan lama with whom I used to study told me that plainly meditating merely on breath and awareness would take on average person around 300 lifetimes to lead to success. While I have no way of verifying this statement, it is plainly obvious for those who have attained a certain proficiency in pranayama, the art of yogic breathing, that rather than starting meditation unprepared, one is better off to spend some time initially learning to bring about the flow of the central energy channel, Sushumna. When Sushumna flows you can cover ground in meditation that would otherwise take years. In a state of average health, unstressed and not exposed to extreme climate, extreme emotions or any other extreme influences, each nostril will be open for approximately 60 to 90 minutes, which corresponds to the fact that brain hemisphere activity generally switches with the same rhythm. Every time one switches from one side to the other a balance between both nostrils occurs for approximately 1 to 4 minutes. This is referred to as Sushumna flow. Sushumna flow acts as a junction (sandhi) between the left and right nostril. Like the junctions between inhalation and exhalation, waking and sleeping, night and day, dream and deep sleep, and life and death, this junction also suspends for a moment the mind, which usually casts its fabric of appearance over reality. During this moment of suspension we become able to look through the coarse texture of the fabric and see the underlying deep reality (Brahman). While the brief junction offers the most auspicious moments for meditation, the penultimate aim of pranayama is to extend the Sushumna flow for hours and, in the case of mastery, for days, to enable the mind to settle profoundly within deep reality, a state that yoga calls objectless samadhi. The balance and finally suspension of both Ida and Pingala (names of the energy channels directing the left and right nostrils) leads to the drawing of prana into the central energy channel, Sushumna. According to many yogic schools and scriptures, balance between the right and left nostrils, the right and left brain hemispheres, the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, afferent and efferent currents, is of paramount importance for the mystical experience, which powers spiritual liberation. A disclaimer here: As great as Sushumna flow is for spiritual exultation, it can provide little for worldly aspirations. The reader must not be duped into

believing that mystical insight automatically comes with or leads to material wealth. In fact if you do perform any commercial activity during that Sushumna flow you are likely to lose everything, as proper judgment is suspended. But this suspension of mind is exactly what powers the mystical state. Through pranayama you can learn when to bring on the mystical state in an appropriate moment and to leave it behind when using the left or right nostril seems more appropriate. Mind and the five senses operate through the left nostril. Prana, the creative life force, and the five organs of action (locomotion, grasping, speech, procreation and defecation) express themselves through the right nostril. Consciousness, the true self, is activated and accessed through the central channel. Use each one at appropriate times.

Exercise 5: Alternate nostril breathing This simple exercise is said to clean the nadis in three months of daily practice. Ideally it is done right after your asana practice and even better if you could practise the kriya Kapalabhati for 3 to 5 minutes before alternate nostril breathing. All of these techniques and their many implications are described in my book Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga. Sit in your preferred meditation asana and close your right nostril by gently pressing your nose with your right thumb. Now inhale exclusively through the left nostril. Once you have completed your inhalation, close your left nostril with the ring and little fingers of your right hand and release your thumb. Exhale now exclusively through the right nostril. Having completed the exhalation, inhale now through the right nostril. At the end of the inhalation, again close the right nostril with your right thumb and exhale through the left nostril. This concludes one round. Practise this for 10 to 15 minutes per day – or up to 30 minutes. Once you have become accustomed to the mechanics of the technique, start counting the length of each breath. Initially give each inhalation the same length as the exhalation. Use a clock ticking in the background to measure the time of each breath and, as you settle into the technique, slow down your breath.

Chapter 6

LAW 6: PRATYAHARA IS ATTAINED ONCE LUNAR PRANA (AMRITA) IS ARRESTED IN THE CRANIUM. Body, breath and mind are closely linked and, while it is possible to master one without the other, you are stacking the odds in your favour if you work on all three simultaneously. Part 2 of this book teaches the technique of how to master the mind, the Raja Yoga. How fast you will progress depends of course on how much time you invest – and even more on how sophisticated your efforts are during this time. However, the velocity of your success also largely depends on whether your breath and body support and accelerate your efforts or if they weigh down your mind by holding it in the past. This chapter talks about a set of yogic techniques that bring your breath and body to a state where they will support your mental efforts. These techniques are the inversions, and they bring about a state called Amrita Siddhi. While the inversions – chiefly shoulder stand and headstand – are known to every yogi, few practise them seriously enough to bring about Amrita Siddhi. Here Amrita Siddhi is explained along with how inversions can achieve it. AMRITA SIDDHI: HATHA YOGA’S APPROACH TO PRATYAHARA

Directly translated, Amrita Siddhi means deathless achievement. While some have taken this to refer to physical immortality, what it really means is that you attain to that which is deathless, that is the pure consciousness or sacred self. Having said that, it appears that some of the ancient siddhas and rishis did in fact become immortal, but whether this was primarily caused by inversions is anyone’s guess. There is some confusion around the habit of yogis using different terms to describe the same thing. When the ancient treatises were written it was considered inelegant to use the same term over and over again (in a quite similar way to how we look at language today). From our modern point of view it would make life simpler if the same term were used only ever to denote the same fact, as it would make yoga scriptures more akin to engineering manuals with a predictable outcome assured. For example the

terms prana, Shakti, Kundalini and prakrti describe the phenomenon of energy, power and life force just from slightly different angles. In the case of inversions, it is the terms bindu, amrita, soma and Chandra that refer to the same phenomenon. To simplify, I call this phenomenon lunar prana. Apart from the central energy channel, the body has two main nadis, Ida and Pingala, the lunar and solar nadis. The lunar nadi, Ida, directs the mind, incoming nerve signals and the five senses (jnanendriyas), which are also called the five entry doors of the self. The solar nadi, Pingala, directs outgoing nerve signals, the body and the organs of action (karmendriyas), which are the five exit doors of the self. Each of the two nadis draw on their own energy reservoirs. The storehouse of solar prana – that is, prana used for putting our stamp on the world, for being outgoing – is located in the Manipura (navel) Chakra. The lunar storehouse of prana – that is, prana located to digest sensory impressions and power the mind – is located in the centre of the cranium. This area above the soft palate that includes the thalamus, hypothalamus, pineal and pituitary glands, all centre around the larger area of the third ventricle, is the lunar prana centre, or in yogic scripture simply the moon. Please understand that there is only one prana, but, depending on where it is stored or in which nadi it flows, it has a different function. In the lunar centre (Ajna Chakra) is located amrita, the nectar of immortality. In the navel area is located the solar centre of prana, or simply the sun, which among other things represents gastric fire. In our normal upright body position, amrita gravitates from the moon downward and is burnt by the sun. When the body is inverted for an extended period daily, amrita becomes stored/arrested. This can be taken to the extent of amrita siddhi, when the amrita is permanently stored and does not fall any more into the fire. This state is very important for the development of meditation and the higher limbs, as it automatically keeps the senses focused inwardly. Amrita, the lunar prana, leaves the body through the moon-doors, which are the senses. The senses notice objects that we desire and drag the mind outwards. Once the mind has lost its centre, we project ourselves out into the world and ‘become’ the phenomena. We identify ourselves with what happens in our lives. However, as the Maitri Upanishad says, ‘If the fuel of the senses is withheld, the mind is reabsorbed into the heart.’44 This is a

metaphor for us abiding in our true nature of consciousness. There are many yogic techniques that prevent the reaching out of the senses. Once the senses reach out and we identify ourselves with the world, we are pulled away like a chariot dragged away by uncontrollable horses. This reaching out of the senses is related to amrita (lunar prana) seeping out of the Ajna Chakra, the lunar chakra in the centre of the head. The most straightforward way to prevent the senses from doing this is not through meditation but by arresting this prana through inversions. Readiness for meditation is supported by inversions. Meditation can bring about spiritual freedom, but that is likely only when alchemical changes have been made in brain and body. Patanjali lists the fifth limb of yoga as pratyahara.45 This is often translated as ‘sense withdrawal’ but I prefer to call it ‘independence from external stimuli’. As long as you are dependent on external stimuli, your meditation practice will always remain hamstrung. That’s why Patanjali places pratyahara as the gatekeeper to the higher limbs. He lists pratyahara as a bahiranga (outer limb), whereas he considers only dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption), the last three limbs, as true antarangas (inner limbs).46 Patanjali does not go into any detail about how exactly pratyahara is to be achieved, but the truth is that the only limb of yoga that he does describe in any detail is samadhi. For all other limbs he does not spell out how to do them but only what the result will be once you have achieved them. This does not mean that pratyahara comes about in any way automatically or spontaneously just because other limbs are practised. As with all the other limbs, Pratyahara refers to a definite catalogue of techniques. In this chapter here we will follow the approach to pratyahara of the siddha Goraksha Natha. In Chapter 9 I will explain Rishi Yajnavalkya’s approach, while in Chapter 12 Raja Yoga’s method to achieve the same goal will be shown. Thus there are in this text three levels of and approaches to pratyahara, which are linked to and support each other in scientific fashion. Patanjali’s treatment of pratyahara in the Yoga Sutra is odd. First he defines what sort of attainment in pranayama (the fourth limb) makes one fit for dharana (concentration, the sixth limb).47 It initially appears strange that he does not link pranayama to pratyahara directly but jumps straight ahead to dharana. He then goes back and defines the effects of pratyahara in two

sutras, only to then move on and define dharana (again without giving the actual technique).48 It is reasonable to assume, then, that Patanjali understood both pranayama and pratyahara as two separate sets of techniques, which, while each of them in its own way prepared for and was necessary for dharana, could be practised entirely independently of each other. What exactly the method of pratyahara was Patanjali did not spell out, but neither did he do so in the cases of asana, pranayama and dharana. While ancient yoga masters such as Yajnvalkya and Vasishta gave mental and prana-related methods for pratyahara, the great siddha Goraksha Natha taught that pratyahara was not a mental process but a physical one. He said that, while diseases were counteracted by asana and karmic demerit by pranayama, mental disturbances were to be conquered by the method of pratyahara.49 Of the hundred verses of his original treatise Goraksha Shataka, he devotes a staggering twelve stanzas to pratyahara, showing its importance.50 Pratyahara is achieved, according to the siddha, by inverting the body, thus placing the sun above the moon. This method Goraksha Natha calls Viparita Karani (inverted action). In order to arrest the lunar prana, the body needs to be inverted. Viparita Karani is the name not of a particular posture but of a category of postures, chief of which are the shoulder stand (Sarvangasana) and head stand (Shirshasana). Headstand and shoulder stand both have a slightly different way in which they prevent the loss of lunar prana. In the case of the shoulder stand the amrita still seeps out from the ‘moon’ (Ajna Chakra) but it is caught in the Vishuddha Chakra (throat chakra). For this purpose it is essential to use Jihva Bandha (tongue lock) during shoulder stand: the tongue is folded back on itself and inserted as much as possible into the nasopharyngeal orifice. During headstand, however, the lunar prana is arrested in its original location, the Ajna Chakra. If either of these two states is achieved, one obtains a centred personality, independent of external stimuli and gratification. One’s motivation is also not any more encouragement from other people or obtaining their respect or friendship. Because he/she who has obtained Amrita Siddhi does not relate any more to others from a position of need, for the first time they are able to selflessly serve others and love them unconditionally.

The paragraphs below give guidelines for extending one’s time spent in inversions. This process needs to be undertaken slowly and gradually over many years, as sudden increases in the time spent in these postures may backfire.

Exercise 6: Extending your inversions When increasing the time spent in inversions the first step is to slow down your breath as much as possible. T. Krishnamacharya’s idea of headstand was to take only 2 breaths per minute. Slow your breath down gradually, not suddenly. In inversions the blood pressure rises initially, particularly in the head, only to drop off again after a few minutes. If you have high blood pressure you need to take steps to reduce it before working on inversions. Once you have achieved a very slow breath rate in your inversions, start to add breaths, perhaps one every few days. Be sensitive and stop adding on before you experience adverse symptoms. If you do experience symptoms such as headache, irritability, neck pain, ear pain, ringing in your ears, pressure or a fuzzy feeling in your head, you have gone too far and need to decrease your time. Do not be ambitious, and get advice from a qualified teacher. Work simultaneously on increasing the time spent in both shoulder stand and headstand, as both have a beneficial though different effect. Only the strongest and most athletic students should focus all of their efforts on headstands. In the case of both postures, the more vertical and perfectly aligned your body is, the more effective the posture becomes. In all inversions you need to keep the whole body active and all large muscle groups engaged to prevent blood from draining into the head. In shoulder stand it is essential that you keep the cervical vertebrae off the floor. It is not a neck stand. This means that you need to carry the body on the back of the head, the shoulders and the elbows. Push these three areas gently into the floor to lift the cervical vertebrae off the floor. If they are still touching the floor you have to use a blanket placed under your shoulders (not under the head). This will create additional space to prevent the jamming of the cervical vertebrae. The other important point about the shoulder stand is that it should be

performed with a short neck, that is by pulling in the head like a turtle. While in all other postures we try to keep the neck as long as possible (by drawing the shoulderblades down the back, engaging both the latissimus dorsi and the lower trapezius), it is the shoulder stand in which the opposite action is performed. In this regard the shoulder stand is similar to Jalandhara Bandha, the chin lock. This bandha is exercised particularly during internal breath retention (antara kumbhaka). Prior to placing the chin down on the chest, the chest is lifted upwards. This movement causes exactly the same shortening of the neck as if you pressed the shoulders into the floor during the shoulder stand. When extending your headstand the most important point to keep in mind is carrying most of your weight on your arms and shoulders and not on your brain. If you allow yourself to ‘dump’ all weight on your head and use your arms for balancing only, the intracranial pressure will rise too high. That’s why it is important to be conservative with extending your time spent in the headstand. For most students it makes sense to stay slightly longer in shoulder stand, which is less taxing. The question of how fast you can extend time spent in inversions is determined by your age and general condition. If you are young, athletic and in pristine health, you may add on breaths quite quickly, whereas an older person, or one with a chronic health problem might have to do it very, very slowly. Some teachers are of the opinion that people over 50 should not embark on taking on extended inversions. I have explained the shoulder stand and headstand in more detail, with photographic images, in Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy.51 If you breathed only twice per minute both during shoulder stand and headstand and take 25 breaths in each you would spend around 25 minutes in both combined. This would be a good goal to work towards initially. Of course you need to take into consideration how much time you can devote to yoga in total. My general impression is that modern students spend too much time in acquiring an athletic, fancy, flexible asana practice. My suggestion is to limit such pursuits to a maximum of about 90 minutes per day and rather divert more time to kriyas, pranayama, inversions and meditation as described in this book. You would then arrive at a more holistic program for yoga methods rather than placing all your eggs in the fancy asana basket.

Please note that, however much energy you put into your inversions, they cannot by themselves bring about yogic states. In this regard they are similar to most other yogic techniques such as vegetarianism and general asana practice. It is only in combination with other methods such as pranayama, kriya and yogic meditation, as a combination, that they achieve great power. If you slowly and steadily, and in an organic fashion, increase the duration of your inversions over the long term, you will find that they do empower your meditation and pranayama, but they will teach you also to pass on the many so-called ‘opportunities’ in life that we would better not get involved in.

Summary of hatha yoga laws In these six laws I have described what would amount to the ideal preparation for meditation. Ideally we would be able to sit in an excellent meditation asana, eat vegetarian food (ancestral background permitting), ignite intelligence through Nauli, Kapalabhati, Sankalpa and other methods, be able to perform the wave-like oceanic breath, balance the lunar and solar nadi and arrest amrita through extensive inversions. Yogis have found that all of these disciplines support meditation, but, alas, to fare well in all of them involves a lengthy journey. If all of these six boxes are ticked, success in the following steps will come easily. In the case of a genius with extreme willpower and determination, fewer of these boxes may need to be ticked. Most of us are somewhere in between. We need as much support as we can get, yet the time to create it is limited. Think of these initial six laws as a quantitative approach to meditation. The more of these disciplines you can perform the greater the probability that you will succeed in meditation. If you fall short in one, all is not lost. In fact many great mystics fell short in more than one. However, a smart quantitative approach would be to cover your bases in as many of these areas as possible. In any case, if you do go ahead and practise the next six laws, and you find after a year or so the effect wanting, then you will find in this first part of the text the potential causes. Professional mystics and seekers will pre-empt this situation by continuing to work on all Hatha laws while proceeding to the laws of Raja Yoga.

Part 2

The Raja Yoga Laws or the Mental Dimension of Meditation

Today there is a great preoccupation with the physical side of yoga, the Hatha Yoga. But the Hatha Yoga Pradipika states that to remain at the level of Hatha Yoga and not graduate to Raja Yoga (yoga of meditation) is nothing but a waste of energy.52 Raja Yoga (royal yoga) is the central part of yoga, its essence. In his commentary on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra the Rishi Vyasa said the immortal words ‘Yogah samadhih’,53 meaning yoga is the path of concentrating the mind. What he wished to express was that central to yoga is the path of concentrating the mind to such an extent that the world (and only later the self) can be seen as it truly is. To understand why concentration is necessary to achieve this we need to take recourse to the light-bulb-versuslaser metaphor. A conventional source of light, such as a light bulb, sends out light rays of different frequencies in all directions. Even if light from such a source is focused into a beam, the little packets of light that constitute it jostle each other so that it spreads out and any shadows cast are not sharply defined. A laser is different. In this case the packets of light are all of the same frequency (‘coherent’), so the beam does not spread out and shadows are precisely defined. For this reason a laser can be used to transfer information accurately over long distances at a very high speed; it can also be used to cut into objects that are not penetrable by conventional sources of light. The path of Raja Yoga deals with making the mind laser-like. It concentrates thought waves to such an extent that information from the object of meditation gets precisely transferred to the mind rather than only a vague interpretation of it. Imagine how great it would be to utilize such a mind? Most problems in our lives are caused by errors of perception. These may range from causing an accident by pulling into oncoming traffic because we underestimated the speed of another car, to complex cases were we wrongly judged another person because we projected onto them our needs, fears or desires rather than saw them for who they really are. Similarly, the mind can be transformed through Raja Yoga so that it has the laser-like capacity to penetrate objects and see or download their deep reality or essential blueprint. These methods are used during objective samadhi, and Patanjali and other sages used them to contribute to sciences such as psychology (yoga), medicine (Ayurveda) and science of sound (Sanskrit). This is a simplified exposition of Raja Yoga, a significant part of which consists of practising objective samadhi on objects outside us with the

intention of gaining scientific knowledge to further human society. This aspect of Raja Yoga has been only lightly touched on here. Raja Yoga in itself is not the end of one’s development, for it has to merge into Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion to the Divine. Without Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga is empty of empowerment and, without Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga is empty of heart.

Chapter 7

LAW 7: THE MIND WILL ALWAYS IDENTIFY WITH THE NEXT OBJECT THAT ARISES WITHIN IT. DO NOT START YOUR MEDITATION PRACTICE BY MEDITATING ON AWARENESS

In Yoga we first choose suitable meditation objects rather than meditate on awareness or emptiness, and we do so for obvious reasons. Awareness is formless, eternal, infinite and quality-less. Experienced meditators can confirm that, while the objects of perception themselves are finite and transitory, and possess quality and form, the pure, contentless awareness to which they give rise is the exact opposite on all counts. This makes it very difficult for the mind to stay focused on awareness, for the function of the mind is to identify form and quality for the purpose of survival. Imagine a time when your ancestors and mine were walking through the thick jungle with shouldered clubs. When they heard a rustle in the forest their minds needed to attach themselves to it immediately, rather than become absorbed in the formless absolute. For the rustling could easily reveal itself as being caused by a sabre-toothed tiger. The mind has served us as a survival tool ever since, but to do so it has the inbuilt capacity to automatically attach itself to the next object arising. Whatever the sense object that appears in the mind’s field of perception, it will automatically attach itself to that object in an attempt to identify it quickly. Through much of our evolution, this identification needed to reveal whether the examined sensation was caused by something dangerous, which would then lead to our flight, or by something edible, which in turn could be consumed by us. For this reason the mind, if given the choice between formless, eternal, infinite and quality-less awareness and finite, impermanent objects of perception that possess quality and form, will always choose objects of perception and abandon the focus on pure awareness. This structure of our mind needs to be accommodated by structuring meditation accordingly, that is first learning to concentrate the mind by meditating on form. Another reason why yogis don’t suggest beginners meditate on awareness or consciousness is that it is the subject and therefore cannot be the object.*

Awareness is the subject of meditation because it is that to which all objects of perception arise. Only an advanced meditator can turn awareness permanently around so that it becomes aware of itself. Before attaining that stage – ‘awareness of awareness’ – your mind will always become overpowered by awareness of objects that intrude on the meditation session – such as your tax return, your unpaid bills, chores that are pending, your work commitments. In yoga we acknowledge that the mind is programmed to attach itself to worldly objects rather than to the (spiritual) subject, and therefore slowly turn it towards suitable objects. Only when these are mastered and the power of concentration fully developed is it directed towards the subject. This avoids two types of trap: Those with a rajasic mind usually get frustrated when meditating because their mind jumps from thought to thought as a monkey jumps from branch to branch, while those with a tamasic mind tend to become dull and sleepy and develop the white-wall effect, in which the mind is empty but torpid and slow as if under the influence of a narcotic. Yoga endeavours to first make the mind luminous (sattvic) and only then tackle meditation on pure consciousness. Firstly, then, find a suitable object on which to meditate. If you do not present the mind with an object of your choice, it will make its own choice and you may not like the outcome. In this case the mind will attach itself randomly to whatever occurs to it or, if it already has a strong imprinted tendency, it will tend to return to objects it prefers such as sensual or gustatory desires, plans to accumulate wealth, shame and guilt over past experiences or fear and excitement about future ones. Yoga’s definition of meditation contrasts with many views held by modern teachers. Some of them hold that meditation is the state that is achieved when success in meditation techniques is gained. Yoga, however, calls this fruit samadhi. Others believe that the problem of modern society is not lack of meditation but that there is too much of it. For meditation can take place on any object of one’s desire, whether this be material wealth or sensual objects. If for example a person has the strong desire to become wealthy, and most of their time is spent on planning or executing strategies to acquire wealth, then yoga would say that this person is meditating on the dollar. This does constitute meditation, but it is a tamasic form of meditation. Yoga rejects this form of meditation because it will not hold up in the moment of death. One of

the problems of attaching yourself to wealth and to the body is that when lying on your deathbed you will be very attached to your current situation. You will have to let go of all of your wealth, acquired through so much hard work, and the body that you have so much invested in. The goal of yoga is to create a mindset that will lead you to freedom, a freedom that stands up even at the moment of death. In the moment of death freedom means being ready to let go. That is why yogis reject meditation on any object that increases your attachment to the temporary and to the finite body. Due to the fact that the mind will always attach itself to the next object that arises within it, there is not a lack of meditation in this world but a lack of meditation on the right object. One cannot put enough emphasis on this. The truth is that all of us have meditated for as long as we exist because we cannot do otherwise, but we have not chosen our meditation objects wisely. Unless we attain freedom from the mind (in yoga a very advanced state that Patanjali covers in sutra II.27), it is not within our scope to not meditate. In a loose sense every form of concentrated thought constitutes meditation. This is also reflected in the fact that terms such as mantra and guru have now entered the business world. For example, the term ‘investment guru’ is nowadays used for successful advisers in that industry, or we may say about real estate agents that their mantra is ‘location, location, location’. While it is very difficult not to meditate, it is fairly straightforward to choose what you meditate on. As already mentioned, if you do not consciously choose your objects, your conditioning will choose them instead unconsciously. Conditioning is like listening over and over again to a record of everything that you have heard, experienced, thought, emoted and done in the past. In the case of most people, this is not how they would like their future to be. Patanjali, the ancient author of the Yoga Sutra, was very clear that meditation should not be started by meditating on awareness/ consciousness. He stated that if one does so one is likely to end up in a spiritual dead-end street, which he called prakrti laya and videha.54 This can happen if in samadhi you fail to discriminate between the world of objects (objective samadhi) and the subject (objectless samadhi). If you have not trained yourself to do this right from the beginning, there is a high likelihood that you will enter into the ‘being-one-with-everything’ state, a dead-end street in

mysticism. Mystics who are in this state often gather extremely large crowds of gullible followers. The problem is that after remaining in this state for a very long time you will fall back and become re-immersed into conditioned existence and mental slavery – because you have not isolated the true self, the consciousness, from everything else that you became one with. Honestly, do you really want to become one with everything? Aren’t there a whole lot of things out there that you’d rather not be one with? Yoga philosophy teaches that the state of liberation results from realizing that your true self, your essence, is similar to a TV screen in the regard that on a screen you can project hundreds of images but none of them stick. Once an image fades, the screen is fresh for the next one, because no conditioning takes place and so the screen does not attach itself to any of the images. In that regard the TV-screen-like consciousness is free from its past. Note that the screen never becomes one with everything; it always stays separate from any image. The contrary only appears to be the case because we become so enthralled with the images that we forget the presence of the screen. Now think for a moment: if you were to start attaching yourself to all images – become one with them – what would happen? Sounds familiar? That’s what we are habitually doing already; that’s what got us into trouble in the first place. Patanjali says that the cause of suffering is the imagined or false union of the seer and the seen.55 It is the cause of suffering and not the solution. He also defines egotism as the erroneous union of seer (consciousness) and seeing (intelligence).56 He additionally states that this union is caused by ignorance.57 He finally hits the nail into the coffin of the being-one-with-everything faction when he says that the solution is not union but discrimination.58 Again I’m asking how can the self, the consciousness, which is infinite, eternal and quality-less, become one with the body, the mind and external objects, which are all finite and temporary and have distinct qualities? The two are separate and cannot be united, and in fact perceiving them as a unity is what causes suffering. To prevent this union you need to meditate on objects until you clearly perceive their essential nature – that they are finite and temporary and have various qualities. The result of this method is called objective samadhi. Once you have achieved this, you direct your by now trained and powerful mind

towards the self, the consciousness. You will now see its infiniteness, eternity and qualitylessness. This is achieved in objectless samadhi. That’s why yoga teaches two entirely different samadhis. There are two radically different categories that we need to master in meditation, which are the world of objects and the subject, the pure consciousness.

Exercise 7: Path of negation Try out the following very simple meditation technique, consisting of only three steps: 1. Sit and watch the mind but do not consciously generate any thoughts. 2. Through watching the mind become aware of the fact that thoughts are not generated inside the mind but enter it from the outside, just as as a radio receiver receives radio waves but does not create them. 3. Before the thoughts take root in your mind, quickly throw them back out! Take some time now to experience this meditation technique and what it does to your mind. If you get lost read the three steps again and follow them in the meditation process over and over again. Please read on only when you have completed the technique. I would like you to experience the result for yourself. In the next section I will discuss what result (based on my quantitative studies on students) the typical meditator experiences and what result somebody may experience who is extraordinarily gifted or, as my Indian preceptors would have said, ‘has the gift of the last birth’. This technique falls into the category of negating meditation techniques. It negates the entry of thoughts into the mind. It was exactly this technique that famously led the Indian sage Shri Aurobindo to liberation in only three days. I hope that you are more successful with this technique than most others are, but for most people I interviewed it produced only an increasing headache. The fact that it did work for Aurobindo not only lies in the method itself and in the fact that he was a very high spiritual being, but was also due to the unique situation in which he found himself when he received it. Aurobindo Ghose was born in the late 18th century into a family of

wealthy and educated Bengalis. He was sent to England for education and studied at King’s College, Cambridge University, during which time he developed a strong patriotic streak. When he returned to India he started to publish a noted newspaper, the Arya, which promoted Indian independence. He was also suspected of being the leader of India’s armed resistance against the British Raj. After a bomb attack, Aurobindo was arrested and a great show trial was scheduled. It was expected that the British administration would use him as an example and execute him. While in prison awaiting his trial, Aurobindo received a visit from a yogi who taught him this meditation technique. To the great surprise of his teacher, who had practised it his whole life but not attained liberation, Aurobindo succeeded in only three days. Of course he was a unique and gifted person and his entire past as well as his present circumstances conspired to bring about this result. However, if he had learned the technique during his busy days of publishing the Arya, it stands to reason that he would not have succeeded with the newspaper. When he was imprisoned he had two powerful factors working in his favour: There was absolutely nothing meaningful for Aurobindo to do apart from meditate. He had no duties, no responsibilities and no sources of distraction. Even more importantly, he very likely had no future to concern himself with: the most probable outcome of his situation was that he would be sentenced to death in a show trial. There was no sense in attaching his mind to a possible bright future as a publisher or liberator of India. The only thing worthy of attainment in anticipation of certain death was spiritual liberation. This transcendental and mystical experience was the only state that the hangman or firing squad would be incapable of taking away from him. (He survived the situation and went on to become a famous spiritual master.) If all of us could meditate as if the above two points applied to us as they did to Aurobindo, we would have a good chance of succeeding with the method too. This is also reminiscent of the solution that the main character in G.I. Gurdjieff’s monumental 1400-page opus Beelzebub’s Tales to his Grandson proposes to solve humanity’s predicament of robotic

unconsciousness: to supply humans with an implant that constantly reminds them of their approaching death.59 Given this, average meditators might not succeed quite as fast as Aurobindo, but succeed we could. However, with manifold duties, responsibilities and distractions acting on us all day long, and our minds ever engaged in dreaming of and bringing about an even brighter future of new possibilities, improvements, growth and ways of expressing our creativity, the chances that we might succeed with a thought-negating method like Aurobindo’s are dim indeed. But what are those of us to do who are less gifted than an Aurobindo, Ramana Maharishi or J. Krishnamurti? The systematic method described in this book is designed to bring about reliable and replicable results in the average person. The only thing you need to do is start practising it step by step and integrating it into your life slowly over a long period without expecting spectacular results in the short term. Aurobindo was what we would call ‘an old soul’. His mind had overcome the tendency to attach itself to the next object. That’s why he could quickly throw objects out of his mind even before they took root there. In the average person there is no question of objects attaching themselves or not, as the mind by itself will seek out the objects that it would like to attach itself to, and if there are none close by it will conjure them up in an instant. In the meditation technique described here, which is at the heart of yoga, we will use this very tendency of the mind to turn it away from the profane and towards the sacred. The purpose of this chapter is to make you understand that you cannot not meditate. Every form of directed, concentrated thought constitutes meditation in a wider sense. A vindictive, revengeful person for example constantly meditates on the downfall of their foes; a materialistic person meditates on their share or real estate portfolio. A sensual or emotive person meditates on the fulfilment of their respective desires. These do constitute meditation in a wider sense, only yoga would consider the choice of object unwise. Whatever you meditate on today creates who you will be tomorrow. Once we understand this we will perceive the significance of choosing our meditation objects wisely.

Chapter 8

LAW 8: THE TYPE OF MEDITATION OBJECT CHOSEN DETERMINES THE MINDSET CREATED. Whatever you think, say or do will leave a subconscious imprint (samskara) in your mind. This imprint, whatever it is, will ask for its own repetition. Thoughts dwelt upon continuously will create their own neurological pathways. These pathways will become more and more ingrained, which means that the next time around it will be much easier to take the same pathway again. Let’s say you come home exhausted from work but have another chore to attend to. Your mind may suggest having some chocolate or ice cream or coffee or alcohol or whatever your preference may be. After brief consideration you then yield to your mind and a subconscious imprint is formed. Once the same situation comes around again you have already established an unconscious tendency to use the very same strategy that you used last time. When a particular strategy has been repeated a few times without questioning and reflection, a conditioning (vasana) has been created. Conditioning consists of a series of subconscious imprints of the same type. Once a particular strategy has formed a habit, it has gone from the imprint to the conditioned state and the behaviour now becomes more and more robotic. That means that it takes place without us being aware of our bias and at this point mental slavery has been created. Mental slavery in yoga means that, like a robot, you follow the orders of your mind. The mind in turn simply executes orders recorded on a tape called the subconscious. The problem with a tape recorder or digital recording device is that it cannot reject any imprints. It is there to record and that’s what it does. To a certain extent our conscious mind can override conditioning and, rather than acting from fear and wanting to protect itself, can choose to act freely rather than to react. Yogic meditation is the process of harnessing, step by step, the power of the subconscious mind for the direction that we consciously choose. To be free from the mind is to be able at any point to dictate to the mind what to think and not the other way around. For this to

happen we need to remove perceptual bias to overcome the conditioned selection of objects that our mind suggests. Since every object we think about, every word we speak and every action we perform invariably leaves an imprint in the subconscious, it is important that we choose our objects wisely. We can go as far as saying that we will become what we think of. For example if you constantly think of food you will become hungrier. If you constantly think of wealth you will become more materialistic and if you increasingly give yourself to sexual fantasies, you sex appetite will increase. Yoga uses meditation objects that increase clarity and freedom of thought. Yogic meditation objects decrease unconscious conditioning and enable you to re-condition yourself and consciously re-create yourself, giving you freedom and choice beyond mental slavery. INNER AND OUTER OBJECTS

When looking at the wide range of yogic meditation objects we first need to distinguish between physical and psychological objects, between those that give you knowledge of the world and those that give you knowledge of yourself. Why would yoga be interested in knowledge of the world at all and not just in spiritual knowledge that culminates in self-knowledge? Yoga is a culture- and civilization-producing force. It is not just a psychology. An excellent example is Patanjali himself, the semi-divine compiler of the Yoga Sutra, the founding constitution of yoga. In the Yoga Sutra he offers a list of meditation objects, which, when objective samadhi (samyama) is practised upon them, will reveal complete understanding about respective branches of knowledge. For example he suggests that objective samadhi on the polestar will give complete understanding of astronomy whereas the same technique practised on the navel chakra bestows mastery over medicine.60 Objective samadhi on the throat chakra endows mastery over phonetics, grammar and the science of sound, whereas the same method practised on the heart chakra will give mastery over psychology (yoga).61 Although Patanjali’s list covers most of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra, the last three disciplines mentioned there will be of interest to us, as they are the three that Patanjali decided to publish on. He compiled the Charaka Samhita after he contemplated the navel chakra, the Mahabhashya – on Panini grammar – after he contemplated the throat chakra and the Yoga Sutra after he downloaded the knowledge encrypted in the heart chakra. Notice the

role that the chakras are playing here in yoga and yogic knowledge. The body is projected out of the navel chakra, the mind is projected out of the heart chakra, and language, sound and all vibratory patterns of the universe are projected out of the throat chakra. A yogi, once he or she has attained a certain stage (called prajna, or complete knowledge of objects) may choose to become a scientist (in the ancient days called rishi or siddha) and by creating scientific knowledge may contribute to human society.* However, it is suggested that the yogi first attain a high spiritual state, since if one is still in the grip of one’s conditioning, the bias of that conditioning will taint the scientific knowledge. For example it may impose a materialist, fascist, capitalist, communist, sexist, religious fundamentalist, parliamentarist or any other sort of bias on what otherwise would be objective knowledge, that is knowledge pertaining to objects. This bias will now influence the interpretation of the scientific evidence and subconsciously delete or reorganize it. Before attaining the state of yoga we tend to delete or interpret away evidence that would otherwise impinge on our reality bias. Needless to say, if we do that the outcome will never be true science. A true scientist can only be one who has purified their heart from any bias or prejudice. Before we venture out and conquer the world we therefore have to go inside and find freedom within our heart. Only when we find spiritual freedom within our hearts can the responsibility be entrusted with us to make objective statements about the world around us. TAMASIC, RAJASIC AND SATTVIC OBJECTS

Suitable objects according to yoga are those that have a sattvic influence on the mind of the yogi. According to the ancient text Samkhya Karika, mind has three qualities: tamas, rajas and sattva. Tamas is the dull, torpid and heavy quality of the mind; rajas is the frantic, excited, energetic quality of the mind; sattva is the luminous, intelligent and wise quality of the mind. Sattva forms the centre point between tamas and rajas, which are both extremes. A typical tamasic image would be to see oneself as sitting on bags of money, hoarding wealth, consuming rich food and engaging in sensual encounters. The concept of consuming and devouring is tamasic. The idea

here is that I need to consume and devour to become fulfilled. I have a nagging hunger for external stimuli that must be fulfilled constantly. A typical rajasic image would be to become a dominating, outgoing personality and put one’s stamp on life and the world, such as by becoming a successful entrepreneur, sports person, entertainer or politician. The idea here is that I need to become successful and an esteemed and respected member of society in order to love and accept myself. I need to become in order to be fulfilled. Yoga is not opposed to the idea of success as such, for many of the ancient yogis became extremely successful and influential. But it is opposed to the idea of determining one’s self-worth by the success that one has in life. Each individual, each being, is a manifestation of divine love, whether we are successful or not. Some of the greatest sages inwardly realized the Divine but outwardly remained unremarkable. A sattvic attitude means to know that neither do I need to constantly receive external stimuli nor do I have to become somebody to be able to give what I am here for. A sattvic attitude also means that I am complete and full already and do not suffer from scarcity. I already have infinite potential within myself, and from that potential I am free to give rather than being needy. Sattva recognizes our divine innermost potential, which enables us to give independently of material stimuli, possessions or external personality. Sattva means recognizing and acknowledging the divine wisdom and joy that are present in every being, independent of possessions or cultural refinement or education. Sattvic meditation objects are those that bring out this sentiment of inner wealth in us. Chiefly they are the divine lights, called chakras, the divine sounds, called mantras and divine forms such as personifications of the Divine that enable us to contemplate the infinite consciousness, the impersonal Absolute, the Brahman. Going to a workplace where you experience conflicts with your peers or superiors will influence your mindset. You won’t feel peaceful or supported but probably drained instead. Living in a neighbourhood in which gangs strive and crime abounds will make it necessary to use your survival instinct on the way to the shops. These are examples of how our external circumstances determine our mindset. While it sometimes may take us time to change the external circumstances of our lives, the inner circumstances, the objects to which we consciously direct our thought, are under our immediate

control. For this reason the first step towards the new you is to take full control of your internal world. Human beings have the ability to disconnect their inner reality from what’s going on on the outside. The more difficult and meaningless the outer world appears to you the more important it is that you create on the inside a positive system of reference from which you can gain strength for your life on the outside. This fact was powerfully explained by Victor Frankl in his book Man’s Searching for Meaning. Frankl, a psychiatrist of Jewish descent, was an inmate of various Nazi concentration camps. After the war he wrote that focusing on his spiritual experiences and context helped him not to despair during atrocities. He also felt that focusing on his spiritual context – in my language that would be choosing sacred meditation objects – increased his likelihood of surviving the holocaust.62 Of course, compared to Frankl our task here is infinitely simple, but his example serves to help us understand that spiritual freedom is something that is entirely independent from our outer circumstances. It is something that will even withstand the assault of death. WHY IS THE CENTRAL ENERGY CHANNEL (SUSHUMNA) IMPORTANT?

We will now start with building up step by step the fundamental yogic meditation technique. There are many different versions and variations of it, but most of them are based on activating what is called the central energy channel. Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, the main treatise that teaches siddha philosophy, states that visualization of the central energy channel brings about all powers.63 Yoga postulates that there are thousands of energy channels (nadis) through which life force (prana) flows, but among them three are very important – the left energy channel (Ida), the right energy channel (Pingala) and the central energy channel (Sushumna). As explained earlier, the left nadi is related to the left nostril and is activated when the breath mainly flows through it. Similarly, the right energy channel is activated by breath flowing mainly through the right nostril. The central energy channel is activated when there is an exact balance between both nostrils (achieved through Nadi Shodhana pranayama) but also by concentrating on it, by visualizing it. As we have already learned, breath and thought move together, which means that not only does breath influence thought, but thought also influences breath. Why would we want to synchronize the breath in both

nostrils? While both brain hemispheres should be activated at appropriate times, during meditation and other spiritual activities both need to be synchronized by activating the central energy channel. Sushumna will also create a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system governs the fight-or-flight reflex. It is activated through stress and, by emitting adrenalin, it mobilises your energy resources. It is powered by the right, solar, male nostril. When breathing through the right nostril you will be able to perform strenuous physical and mental tasks including studying scientific subjects or even yogic scripture. The parasympathetic nervous system on the other hand enables us to recharge, rest and sleep, and experience pleasure. It is activated by breathing through the left nostril. Meditation requires a balance between both branches of the nervous system. An activated sympathetic nervous system would make us too charged and agitated whereas a predominant parasympathetic nervous system would have us too relaxed and drowsy. We would not be attentive enough. The central energy channel also creates a balance between afferent (incoming) and efferent (outgoing) nerve currents. The left nostril governs the afferent nerve impulses. Whenever we take in and analyse data procured by the senses this nostril is to be preferred. On the other hand the right nostril makes us become interested in exterior issues such as how we dress or how our image is projected through social media, which is also not helpful during meditation. Ideally the activity of both types of nerve needs to be suspended to arrive at a balance. This is achieved by awakening the central energy channel, Sushumna. When the central energy channel becomes active it automatically suspends both lateral energy channels. It is this fact that explains why we shouldn’t have this channel awakened when driving a car, addressing people, operating a computer or making commercial or ethical decisions. Neither the incoming nor the outgoing nerves work very well when the central nadi is active. It also suspends the left and right brain hemispheres and both the lunar (relativistic) and solar (fundamentalist) minds. During spiritual meditation we want to suspend both these functions of the mind and make it still. Other than during meditation practice, both these functions are very important, but we need to be able to switch them off when we are working on spiritual liberation. At

those times we need to be able to go beyond the mind. It is one of the core tenets of pranayama that in order to master meditation we need to be able to switch on the central energy channel. It is then that we will succeed quickly in meditation. There are two basic techniques to make Sushumna flow. One is a pranayama method, consisting of alternate nostril breathing (called Nadi Shuddhi if done without kumbhaka and Nadi Shodhana if done with breath retentions). This technique was taught in Chapter 5. The other method is a meditation technique that consists of visualizing the central energy channel. As this book focuses on meditation, the latter is the method espoused here, but as is often the case it needs to be understood that no one yogic technique is better than another. The more methods you practise the more you stack the odds in your favour. The wise yogi will always combine Sushumna meditation with alternate nostril breathing, as quantitatively speaking one increases the probability of success. When we practise Nadi Shuddhi, we access thought through breath (prana). When concentrating on Sushumna we access prana through thought (vrtti). If we simply visualize and concentrate on Sushumna, the prana will develop the tendency to enter it. LOCATION AND COLOUR OF SUSHUMNA

After explaining why Sushumna is important, we will now proceed to visualizing it. Sushumna begins not far from the tip of the coccyx at the centre of the pelvic floor. This is the area that we engage when practising Mula Bandha (pelvic lock), which was described in detail in my earlier books. From here Sushumna curves backwards towards the sacrum and from there it closely follows the spinal cord. The fact that Sushumna curves backwards and runs close to the posterior surface of the body is reflected in its other name, Pashchima Marga, the posterior path. It rises through the torso and then through the centre of the skull and the area of the third ventricle of the brain. Some schools teach that Sushumna reaches further out from here towards the top of the head and beyond, but we need not concern ourselves with that here, as one cannot breathe beyond the third ventricle: this space can be traversed only in kumbhaka (breath retention). For the purpose of this exercise we will focus on the area of Sushumna that we can breathe through, and that part terminates in the centre of the cranium.

In the first few years of meditation, visualize Sushumna as being fire-red. Sushumna is also called agni nadi, the channel of fire. It is so called because once pitta, the metabolic fire, is transformed into pure, elemental fire (agni), the fire ignites Sushumna and uses it as a conduit to travel upwards. Hunger for food is then transformed into thirst for higher, essential knowledge called vijnana in the Upanishads or rta (sacred order) by Patanjali.64 This purifying and raising of agni is a very powerful yogic process. As explained in Part 1 of this book, if you seriously want to engage in purifying and raising inner fire then mere meditation will not be enough for most individuals. Most students will need to combine meditation with asana, diet changes, Nauli, Kapalabhati, Bhastrika, pranayama, sankalpa and devotion to the Divine to raise agni. Many modern yogic schools water down yoga by reducing it to just asana or just meditation or just kriyas, and then usually they teach only a simple excerpt from any of these techniques. Those schools are of course very popular, as everybody wants to have a method that is simple. But it is not a way to succeed quickly. The more you reduce the number of tools in your yogic tool box the longer you will take to succeed. Some yogic schools recommend that their students meditate on Sushumna right from the outset as being golden like the sun or silver like the moon. This is due to the fact that the fire nadi (Sushumna) is only the outermost layer of a deeper layer called Vajrini. Vajrini is the conduit for the higher, purified octave of the solar power that otherwise flows in the Surya nadi (right nostril). To access this flow you meditate on the nadi as golden (rather than as fire red). Within Vajrini there is an even more subtle nadi, called Chitrini, which contains a higher, purified octave of the lunar flow of the Ida nadi. You meditate on Chitrini as being whitish silver. However, in the beginning always meditate on Sushumna as fire red. The problem with starting to meditate right from the outset on the higher, more subtle nadis can be understood by likening the karmic load of the average human being to a 50-ton truck parked by the side of the road in an uphill direction. In this metaphor the hill is your spiritual path, the load of the truck is your inert, unconscious past, the engine of the truck is your combined sadhana (spiritual discipline) of asana, pranayama, kriya, mitahara (yogic diet), devotion etc. and your meditation technique is your gearbox. If you

start meditation on the golden Vajrini or the silver-white Chitrini your truck won’t leave the parking lot because the engine will stall. In the beginning you need to meditate on the fire-red Sushumna because only this first gear will manage to apply the power of your sadhana engine to the tarmac of your spiritual path. The other higher gears are helpful later on, once you have clear signs that you have picked up speed.

Exercise 8: Sushumna breathing meditation We will now begin with a basic meditation technique that will show how the object meditated upon will determine the mindset generated. Breathing through the central energy channel directs the mind towards the sacred. It is the flow of prana through the central channel that powers the mystical experience and the state of meditation. The prana will tend to flow through this channel if you visualize it, and the intensity of your visualization and the ability to sustain it will determine the quality of your success and the swiftness with which it manifests. Sitting in a yogic meditation posture with your spine, neck and head upright, visualize the central energy channel rising from the centre of the pelvic floor, curving backwards to unite with the spine and then following the spinal cord upwards to the brain, the centre of the skull. Visualize the channel as being fire-red. Visualizing the fire rising in Sushumna from the perineum to the brain will empower your ability to visualize, as fire (agni) powers the visual sense, which is our ability to perceive and conceive form (rupa). As you inhale, imagine a rising current in this energy channel initiating at the pelvic floor and terminating within the brain. Important for this purpose is that you do not take deep, full-torso inhalations as you would do when practising pranayama. Pranayama inhalations (i.e. full-torso inhalations) need to terminate at the collarbone, because if you were to continue to draw them up into the head they would raise intracranial pressure. This could cause anything from dizziness to headaches and in extreme cases strokes. For this reason we need to compress the breath into a thin stalk, a thin conduit. According to the scriptures, this thin energy channel has a diameter of only the thousandth breadth of a hair. If at any point you experience dizziness or pressure in your head, you need to decrease your breath volume.

Inhaling, focus on the rising current from the pelvic floor to the centre of the cranium. Exhaling, focus on the descending pranic current from the crown of the head down to the pelvic floor. Take a few breaths to experience this rising of fire-red colour upwards throught the central energy channel during the inhalation and its descent during the exhalation. Feel how the exhalation rebounds off the pelvic floor as if from a trampoline. Take as much time as you need to familiarize yourself with the course of the channel and make sure that you clearly see the fire-red colour. Only once you have attained this stage continue on and add the next element. If you have difficulty visualizing it, this may mean that you cannot readily divert pitta (digestive or metabolic fire) into agni (pure, elemental fire), which is needed for visualization. In this case persist with your visualization efforts but add or intensify your asana practice, and more importantly in Nauli, Kapalabhati and Bhastrika. These techniques are described in my book Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga.65 If you are new to those techniques please read the whole book, as you need to understand the context, prerequisites and contraindications of these methods. It is, for example, an essential prerequisite that one is established in a regular asana practice to practise any of these powerful methods. Once you can visualize the central energy channel, which constitutes the visual dimension of this first layer of meditation, we will add an auditory component, a mantra. In this case we use the mantra Hamsa, with the aspirate Ham being pronounced on the rising inhalation and the sibilant Sah pronounced on the descending exhalation. Hamsa in Sanskrit means swan. The swan is seen as a metaphor for the soul, the immortal self. Take some time now to experience the visual and auditory components of this meditation in unison. Many yogic schools associate the sound Sah with the rising inhalation and the Ham with the descending exhalation. If the mantra is pronounced in this order it becomes Soham (I am He), a Vedantic mantra that indicates the basic unity of individual and cosmic self. Soham is also the great mantra of prakrti by which she breathes us and sustains us for as long as there is breath.

Chapter 9

LAW 9: DIRECTING BOTH PRANA AND VRTTI SIMULTANEOUSLY TURNS THE MIND INTO THE THIRD ENGINE OF KUNDALINI. HOW TO STRUCTURE MEDITATION

When many centuries ago Hatha and Raja Yoga fractured into two systems, yogis chose either to direct thought to get control over life force (prana), called Raja Yoga, or to gain control over thought (vrtti) by directing breath, called Hatha Yoga. However, for swift success both are practised simultaneously. It is true that mastery over one leads to mastery over the other, but in what time frame? If, however, mind and breath are directed at the same time, mastery over both can be achieved by the average person within a reasonable time. If mastery over pranayama and meditation are pursued separately or sequentially, the process may drag on for a long time. By practising them simultaneously and combining both in such a way that they interdigitate by using the same structural elements, this time can be significantly reduced. To practise pranayama and meditation in a way that they support each other means that you insert your meditation practice step-by-step into your breath retentions (kumbhaka), which increases the quality of your concentration on your object. As well, structure your meditation in such a way that it must slow down your breath and hence improve your pranayama. For this reason it is not enough to just watch your breath and to become slowly more relaxed as the breath slows down. The architecture of the meditation must contain components that, as you progress, require increasing time units for their completion. This way, as the meditation technique gets more complex it requires you to slow down your breath too. The mental aspect of your meditation should not just be limited to watching your mind in the hope that thoughts become sparser. People have practised that for decades with little success. Watching your mind does not actually change your conditioning (vasana) or your karmic storehouse (karmashaya); it simply prevents new conditioning and karma from being

created. You will succeed faster if instead you work creatively with your mind during meditation. By consciously conducting Kundalini upwards by means of concentration, we will turn the mind into the third engine of Kundalini. Practically speaking, instead of just visualizing the central energy channel during inhalation in one single flow upwards, we will now visualize it in six successive waves. This will require more time, and so will slow down the breath. As the breath slows, power of concentration increases, which in turn allows us to visualize more precisely and with more vivid detail. This vivid detail will require more and more the inclusion of the processing power of the subconscious mind. In order to supply our Sushumna meditation with a character that automatically slows down your breath and increases concentration, let’s briefly hark back to Chapter 4, which described the breath waves. Two-stage breath waves are used for rapid breathing pranayama exercises such as Kapalabhati and Bhastrika and three-stage breathwaves are at the heart of slow-breathing pranayamas such as Nadi Shodhana, Chandra Bhedana and Surya Bhedana. By further compartmentalizing the three-stage wave, it turns into a six-stage meditation wave. In the last exercise we have already explored limiting prana to the central channel, but without giving it wave character. This will be the focus of the next meditation exercise:

Exercise 9a: Six-fold Sushumna wave with spheres of light in six areas of spine As previously, visualize Sushumna as fire-red but this time let the breath assume a wave-like character. This is particularly easy if you have practised the pranayama waves that were described in Chapter 4. Feel how during the inhalation the breath reaches up, filling six compartments within the Sushumna. Again, during the exhalation feel the same wave-like motion in reverse as the breath returns to the pelvic floor. If you do this for a while you will notice how the two parts of the breathing cycle (prana vayu, the inhalation, and apana vayu, the exhalation) will overlap and create a resonance frequency. This forms a standing wave that coincides with the six areas of the spine, which are the coccygeal, sacral, lumbar, thoracic and

cervical areas plus the cranium. One may speculate that the spine determines this wave, but, in line with yogic thinking, it is universal prana (prakrti), which was present before any matter crystallized, that forms the spine according to its shape. Continue to breathe, manifesting this six-fold wave. In the areas were the wave is the strongest or has the largest amplitude, visualize six spheres of light, which are the crest or culmination of the wave-like pattern. On the inhalation let the breath travel up through the six spheres and on the exhalation let it again pass through them in a downward direction. Visualize the first sphere in the centre of the pelvic floor at the height of the coccyx and not far from its tip. Visualize the second sphere more towards the posterior surface of the torso and at the height of the centre of the sacrum. Visualize the third sphere in line with the navel and central to the lumbar spine and close to the posterior surface of the torso. See the fourth sphere in the middle of the thoracic spine at heart level. While the fifth sphere becomes visible towards the base of the cervical spine, visualize the sixth and final sphere in the centre of the cranium. At this early point the spheres may be visualized as golden, silver or white light, whichever comes easiest to you. In the early stages it may be difficult to see the spheres clearly, but we will now move on to a technique for activating them.

Exercise 9b: Striking OM into six spheres of light, increase the number of OMs to slow down the breath To activate the spheres and bring them more to life we will combine the two main aspects of yogic meditation: visualization and mantra. To make things easy we will first use one and the same mantra for all spheres, which is the sacred syllable OM. OM is said to be a manifestation of the Brahman (infinite consciousness).66 The most effective way to pronounce mantras is to do so not aloud but mentally (called manasa in Sankrit). Mental recitation is more powerful than whispered recitation, which in turn is more effective that loud recitation. As you inhale, pronounce the mantra OM into each single one of the wave-crests or spheres of light. That is, you pronounce OM six time during the inhalation, starting with pronouncing it mentally into the coccygeal

sphere and then in sequential order into the sacral, lumbar, thoracic, cervical and cranial spheres of light. Then turn around and, during the exhalation, sound the mantra into the six centres in reverse and descending order. The mantra OM will make the six centres vibrate, and activate them slowly in an organic fashion. As you breathe up and down and sound OM into the centres, imagine that you are playing a xylophone. OM can be likened to the mallet that you use to strike the bars of the xylophone. Essentially each of the centres produces a different sound, but we will not concern ourselves with that until the next exercise. The six centres talked about here are of course the six main chakras of yoga, but, rather than thinking of them right from the beginning as chakras, it is important to realize that they are a crystallization of breath and pranic waves in the same way that matter is a crystallization of waves of energy. As you breathe, visualizing the centres and striking OM into them, focus now on slowing down the breath. You can do that by mentally pronouncing the mantra more slowly (by elongating the actual mental sound of the mantra) and by increasing the length of the breaks between the mantras – in other words generally slowing down your count speed. The average person breathes about 15 times per minute, which makes each breathing cycle about 4 seconds long. This would give us about 2 seconds for the inhalation – or slightly less, as the (active) inhalation during automatic breathing is shorter than the (passive) exhalation. In this meditation we aim at making the inhalation the same length as the exhalation. As a rough guideline, we want to slow down the breath to roughly 5 breathing cycles per minute at this point, that is six seconds for each inhalation and six seconds for each exhalation. This gives us approximately one second to experience the vibratory power of OM in each chakra on the way up and on the way down. During pranayama, where it is important that you measure the exact length of each breath, it is helpful to use a counting device such as a metronome. In yogic meditation, however, the breath is only an ancillary device and visualization and mantra take centre stage. So it is not appropriate to use a metronome but rather to extend the breath subjectively. WHY NOT MEDITATE ON ONE CHAKRA ONLY?

This is a question that students often ask. Andre Van Lysebeth, author of Pranayama: The Yoga of Breathing, said that asana and pranayama need to

be mastered before one dares to activate the chakras; otherwise pranic short circuits may occur.67 Such an ‘activation’ can occur if one meditates on a particular chakra for a long period. One may then come completely under the sway of that particular chakra. In particular, this is not a good idea if any chakra beneath the one you are meditating on is not open. Problems with individual chakras are discussed in Chapter 13, and we do not have to delve into them here. If you include all chakras in each breath on the way up and on the way down you will slowly and organically integrate the function of each one into your life. Detrimental effects may occur only if you pick a particular chakra and meditate on it exclusively or for too long. When choosing a chakra to meditate on, students tend to pick chakras with which they feel already familiar and comfortable. This is comparable with a problem apparent in asana practice. Yoga students who already have an open backbend feel familiar with back bending, and early on in their development want to tackle advanced backbends although the rest of their practice is lagging behind. This is particularly the case with flexible females. Strong students on the other hand, particularly beefy males, are usually drawn towards arm balances because they come easily to them. Often they then want to include a handstand in between every posture. The problem with that approach is that we would be going deeper into our existing tendencies instead of counteracting them to arrive at a state of balance. As a teacher you would need to advise the females in this example to practise more arm balances and the males to do more back bending. This is relatively easy to do in asana practice, as everything is plain obvious and visible to the teacher. It is different in the case of meditation. ‘Loving’ and ‘nice’ yoga students are often drawn towards meditating on the heart chakra although they have tasted enough of that medicine already. On the other hand ‘powerful’ characters are often more drawn towards meditating on the navel chakra. Others who are mainly attracted to spiritual goals will want to go straight to the third-eye chakra. As with asana practice, when meditating you need to counteract your existing tendencies and biases in order to arrive in the balanced state. Unfortunately a chakric imbalance in a particular student is much, much harder to diagnose than a postural imbalance, and particularly so if the teacher fails to take into account their own chakric bias. This makes it

difficult for the teacher to advise students on which chakra to meditate. Meditating on a particular chakra is only advised once you know which of them is blocked. If meditating on a single chakra, you need to meditate on your lowest blocked chakra and not on any other. Meditating on the wrong one could be detrimental, just as is practising the wrong asana or the wrong pranayama technique over and over again. Activation or opening of the chakras is an important process, but they need to be activated in the right order. If you meditate excessively on the lower chakras you may stunt your spiritual growth and become more materialistic, emotional or territorial. If you jump ahead and meditate on the third eye while the chakras beneath it are closed, you may develop certain mental disorders. Opening the third-eye chakra ahead of time often means that you will see things that you are not ready to digest or integrate into your life. It is therefore essential to meditate on all chakras during each inhalation and exhalation. This method prevents you from staying at a particular chakra for longer than is appropriate for you. There is no particular chakra that is appropriate for all situations. Generally speaking the heart chakra is the one suitable for the greatest variety of situations, but even then it is unsuitable to be meditated upon during an almost infinite number of situations. For example, suppose you are the CEO of a large corporation who is engaged in a decisive board meeting. Would you meditate on your heart chakra? Or if you are the captain of a commercial airliner who needs to land or take off during a storm? Or if you are a law enforcement officer during a prison stand-off? Or if you are a surgeon getting ready for a procedure? In all of these situations meditating on the heart chakra would clearly not be advisable. Taking a responsible situation in society will ask of you the ability to activate most chakras at the appropriate time. The meditation as structured so far will promote in you the ability to immediately place prana into the chakra appropriate to the situation at hand. Some students suggest dedicating each breath to a different chakra. However, meditating on only one chakra during each breath will not create a feedback loop to lengthen your breath. Meditating on all of them, up on the inhalation and down on the exhalation, will extend your breath and build your capacity to concentrate more, particularly once we start to include different aspects of the chakras. Meditation on individual chakras should only be taken up once you are clear beyond doubt which of them is lagging behind

and which one you want to access for a particular task at hand. Additionally, to include all chakras in each breath will teach you to conduct prana from chakra to chakra, purifying the central channel. This is an essential skill to learn, and it does not develop if one dedicates each breath to a different chakra. More information on individual chakras is presented in Chapter 13. It is important at this point to develop your ability to spontaneously place the prana into the appropriate chakra at the time. This capacity is developed by conducting the prana through the central energy channel up and down during each breath.

Exercise 9c: Added alternate nostril breathing If you have difficulty in focusing your mind on the central energy channel as described in exercise 9a, then do the same exercise combined with alternate nostril breathing as taught in exercise 5. To do so, perform exactly the same mental concentration exercise as set out under 9a but add to this the physical action performed under exercise 5. This will draw prana into the central channel, which will make its visualization easier.

Chapter 10

LAW 10: THE CHAKRAS ARE ALWAYS FACING IN THE DIRECTION OF KUNDALINI. YAJNAVALKYA’S APPROACH TO PRATYAHARA

In the sixth chapter of this text we looked at Goraksha Natha’s approach to pratyahara (independence from external stimuli). A different method advocated in the Shandilya Upanishad involves five types of pratyahara.68 It differentiates the following methods: Withdrawing the senses from their objects. (This is the method of the Yoga Sutra, but strictly speaking it is not a method but the result of a method.) Seeing everything that one perceives as consciousness. (This is the Vedantic method that was for example taught by Shankara in his treatise Aparokshanubhuti.) Renouncing the fruit of one’s actions to the Divine. (This is the Bhakti method taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.) Completely renouncing the world. (This is the path that monks and ascetics take.) Concentrating, in ascending and descending order, on the 18 vital points (marmasthanas) and thus drawing prana from one to the other. The 18 points are toes, feet, ankles, middle of the calves, upper calves, knees, thighs, perineum, generative organ, navel, heart, throat, palate, nose, eyes, brows, forehead and crown of head. This last method is also taught by the ancient rishis Vasishta and Yajnavalkya.69 70 Since Yajnavalkya gives the most detailed account, in this text it is simply referred to as Yajnavalkya’s method of pratyahara. However, it is taught here with an important difference, which is again reflected in many yogic treatises. If you look at the first seven points listed in E above, they simply reflect acupressure points in the legs, which are for our purpose of minor importance. The next five points are locations of chakras. The following five points are sub-chakras in the head, which we summarize

as the Ajna Chakra (third-eye chakra). The seventh point is the crown of the head, symbolizing the seventh chakra. This chakra, the Sahasrara, we will add to our meditation only once breath retentions are included. To be able to perform the whole technique on one single breath, yogis simplify Yajnavalkya’s method by initially reducing it from 18 vital points to the six main chakras. To this list is added later the seventh chakra and, once the method is mastered, the sixth chakra may be broken down into its various sub-chakras. The rationale behind Yajnavalkya’s approach is simple. The rishi argues that the senses reach out because prana is scattered beyond the surface of the body, so that we are ‘out there’. By drawing the prana back into the body, the senses, following prana, are withdrawn. Apart from methods such as breath retention, prana is pulled back into the body by conducting it from point to point inside the body. To do so one simply needs to concentrate on these points, either during breath retention or during very slow breathing. We will integrate Yajnavalkya’s pratyahara approach in this chapter and then add our third tier of pratyahara, the Raja Yoga approach, in the eleventh chapter. LOTUS CHARACTER OF THE CHAKRAS

Once we have crystallized the six spheres of light by means of the six-stage breath wave and activated them with the mantra OM, the next step is now to experience the lotus character of the six spheres. Most yoga shastras (scriptures) talk of the spheres not as chakras (wheels of light) but as padmas (lotuses) with differing numbers of petals, these being determined by the number of major energy conduits (nadis) that emit from a particular chakra. We do not need to concern ourselves with their numbers at this point but will leave that until later. Lotuses are seats, locations or concentrations of power. The best way to understand them is to look at them as evolutionary stages of brain or mind development. For example, it is very difficult for somebody who has a closed heart chakra to be compassionate towards a stranger or non-related person, but for a person with an open heart chakra the opposite applies. Similarly, it is very difficult for a person who has only the two lowest chakras activated to be truly spiritual, but, on the other hand, for a person with an open third-eye chakra it is difficult not to see the entire world as the body of God and an expression of divine love. If such a person has both the heart and navel

chakra closed, there is a certain likelihood that they will develop mental disorders. If only their heart chakra is closed but the third eye and the navel chakra are open, there is a good chance that they will develop into a type of cult leader. If all chakras are open the individual may develop into an authentic spiritual teacher. A very important difference in looking at the energy centres either as chakras or as padmas (lotuses) is that lotuses are direction sensitive. As long as it is alive, a lotus flower will face up towards the light and sun. Once it is a spent force it will hang downwards. Similarly, the lotus-like energy centres in our subtle body will always face into the direction of their sun, which is the Kundalini.71 In a spiritually dormant person the lotuses will face downwards, and are closed like lotus buds. This is representative of the fact that Kundalini in this state is dormant in the lowest energy centre. The Hatha Tatva Kaumudi of Sundaradeva states that the chakras need to be turned up through continued effort in meditation.72 In a spiritually awakened person the padmas will face upwards towards the raised Kundalini as a flower greets the rising sun. You may have noticed, in photographs of T. Krishnamacharya and some other Indian teachers, that they do not put the palms of their hands flat together when they greet but that their hands are cupped. This represents the unfolding lotus of the heart. It says ‘May my heart lotus open’. When we see or visualize the lotuses we need always to see them as facing upwards towards the raised Kundalini. What you see, that you will become; thought creates reality. To see the lotuses as facing upwards will exert a pull on the Kundalini, which will contribute to rousing her. In most graphic representations of the chakras/lotuses we see them lined up along the Sushumna facing horizontally forwards. They are depicted in this way so that we can look into the open flower and see the number of petals and other details such as yantra. However, they should not be visualized in this way but as seen from the side and facing upwards, as if the Sushumna was a thread that is inserted right through the centre of each flower in a vertical direction. In meditation we need to visualize the lotuses as facing up towards the crown of the head, as raising Kundalini against gravitation is our goal. ORIGIN OF THE BIJA MANTRAS

The Yoga Sikha Upanishad states that Kundalini expresses itself as mantra.73

To understand this you first need to familiarize yourself with the fact that each chakra/lotus is an energy centre that arises out of a particular bioplasmic soundwave, a mantra. There are various categories of mantra, but the one that we need to look at here is called bija akshara (root syllable). The bija aksharas are soundwaves that encrypt elements of nature and levels of human existence and experience. To understand their use it is necessary to give a succinct explanation of their origin. In the beginning, before the Big Bang that brought about the universe, there was only the deep reality, which physicists call the Unified Field. In the Upanishads the Unified Field is called the Brahman (infinite consciousness). Infinite consciousness is like a mirror reflecting everything, but prior to the Big Bang there was nothing it could reflect. Just as a mirror cannot reflect anything in an empty universe, the Brahman brought forth the universe to display its reflectiveness or quality of awareness. We can also understand the Brahman as being infinite, limitless potential. Whatever it can bring forth, it will bring forth. Whatever can be, will be. The bringing forth of ever new universes can then be understood as the expression of the limitless potential or creativity of the Brahman. In order to bring forth the universe, the Brahman had to become polar. One pole remained pure consciousness and pure awareness, and remained eternally unchanged in the process that the other pole underwent. This pole is the God transcendent. The other pole is God immanent, which is that aspect of the Brahman that we can see. In yoga this pole is often called Shakti. Whereas the transcendent aspect of God is static, the immanent aspect of God is dynamic and in constant flux. There is a saying that ‘It is the prerogative of a woman to change her mind’, whereas males are often thought of as immovable in their views. Because of these gender characteristics, the transcendent aspect of God is traditionally thought of as male (in many yogic schools called Lord Shiva), whereas the dynamic pole, who re-creates herself in every moment anew, is identified with the Mother Goddess Shakti. The first evolute of the divine creative force (prakriti) is cosmic intelligence (buddhi) and from there through space (akasha), air (vayu), fire (agni), water (apas) and finally into earth (prithvi). These six steps comprise the yogic view of the manifestation of the cosmos. However, the very same six steps are also replicated in the human body and human being. The Emerald Tablet of the alchemist Hermes Trismegistos says ‘As it is below so

it is above and as it is above so it is below’, which has been elaborated in the alchemistic tradition as ‘As it is within so it is without and as it is without so it is within’. The microcosmos of the human being is a replication of the macrocosmos of the universe. In the act of encrypting her six steps of crystallization in the human body the Great Goddess pronounced six bioplasmic soundwaves, and in doing so created the chakras/lotuses in the human being. At the end of this process the Great Goddess became dormant in the base chakra at the base of the spine. Generally we talk of her as Shakti when we think of her as the creatress of the world, and then she is thought of as descending. When we reawaken her and lead her upwards along the spine we call her Kundalini, the coiled one. She is so called because, coiled like a spring, she rests at the base of the spine waiting to be unleashed to release every being’s divine potential. When she is divine creativity she is usually called prakrti, and as life force she is called prana; however, all of these terms describe only the one God immanent. It is important that you understand Kundalini not as an anonymous powerful current but as the innermost divine potential within you, being an expression of the infinite creative force that created this entire universe, the Divine Feminine. But before Kundalini is made to rise, the chakras or evolutionary brain circuits need to be awakened. In order to awaken them we need to use the same magical syllables that the Great Goddess used to encrypt them. These syllables are of absolute importance and they are not to be toyed with. In descending order they are: OM HAM YAM RAM VAM LAM OM stands for cosmic intelligence and the third eye chakra (Ajna) HAM stands for space/ether and the throat chakra (Vishuddha) YAM stands for air and the heart chakra (Anahata) RAM stands for fire and the navel chakra (Manipura) VAM stands for water and the lower abdominal chakra (Svadhishthana) LAM stands for earth and the base chakra (Muladhara)

Note: The syllables ending with an m, such as LAM, make most of the chakras vibrate, particularly the navel, heart and throat chakras. These need to be opened first. The same syllables also exist with an ng sound at the end, called anushvara in Sanskrit meaning nasalization. While OM is generally pronounced with an m, if nasalized it becomes ‘Ong’. The mantras ending with ng constitute a higher octave of those ending in m. All root syllables pronounced with a concluding anushvara, i.e. LANG etc., are more directed at the half dozen chakras on the roof of the mouth (soft palate). These should be used only once the mantras with a concluding m have produced their effect and all chakras up to Vishuddha (throat chakra) have been awakened.

Exercise 10a: Linking the bija aksharas to their locations For beginners these new mantras are sometimes confusing. This present exercise is designed to link the syllables to their respective locations. If you are already familiar with the root syllables you may skip this exercise. We will stay at each chakra a bit longer, but once you have linked sound and location we will cease to do so and go back to spending exactly the same amount of time at each chakra. Start with the base chakra and pronounce the bija akshara LAM (clear Sanskrit ‘a’ as in the English ‘numb’) into its location in the centre of the perineum, the area that you would contract during Mula Bandha (root lock). Pronounce LAM six times during the inhalation and six times during the exhalation. Continue to do so until you have formed a link between soundwave and location. Once you have done this, add the second bija akshara (root syllable). On the inhalation pronounce LAM three times in its location at the pelvic floor and then move up by about 2 inches (5 centimetres) to pronounce VAM three times in the centre of the sacrum. This is the location of the water chakra, Svadhishthana. During the exhalation, first pronounce VAM three times into the second chakra and then LAM three times into the base chakra. Continue to do this until you have established a clear connection between the two soundwaves and the locations of these energy centres. The next step is to add the navel chakra and its syllable of fire, RAM. Similarly to the sacral chakra also, this third energy centre is not, like the

base chakra, in the core of the body but close to its posterior surface, akin to where the spinal cord runs. For this purpose, reduce the number of each bija akshara to twice per chakra. Inhaling, pronounce LAM twice into the perineum, then VAM twice into the sacral chakra and finally RAM twice into the navel chakra. Do the same thing, but in reverse order, during the exhalation. Continue doing as many rounds as you need to to form a clear link between the mantras and the locations. Once you have achieved that, it is time to add the fourth chakra, the heart lotus (Anahata Chakra), with its associated mantra of air, YAM. We will now reduce the number of times each syllable is pronounced to once only. The heart chakra is located on the level of the heart in the middle of the chest and, similarly to the sacral and navel chakras, so also is this chakra positioned towards the rear of the body in the vicinity of the spinal cord. Inhaling, pronounce LAM once into the perineal chakra, then VAM once into the sacral chakra, RAM once into the navel chakra and finally YAM once into the heart chakra. Then, during your exhalation, pronounce these syllables in the reverse order on the way down. Continue to perform as many rounds as it takes to establish a clear link between the location and the mantra. With this achieved, you are now ready to take on the syllable of space, HAM, and its related chakra in the throat (Vishuddha Chakra). Inhaling, pronounce LAM once into the perineal chakra, VAM once into the sacral chakra, RAM once into the navel chakra, YAM once into the heart chakra and conclude the inhalation by pronouncing HAM into the throat chakra. Do the same in reverse order during your exhalation. Do as many rounds as you need to to pronounce the syllables in the right order without confusing them or mixing them up. You may want to spread this process over several days if you find it difficult to remember the syllables in the right order. Once this is completed, you are now ready to add the last in this series of root syllables, the sacred syllable OM, which relates to the third eye chakra (Ajna Chakra). As with the others, the third-eye chakra is not located on the anterior surface of the body, although its name seems to indicate this. It is located in the centre of the cranium, roughly equating with the third ventricle of the brain, a cerebro-spinal-fluid-filled hollow that is surrounded by the main switchboards of the brain and cranial endocrine glands. The third-eye chakra is actually not a single chakra but rather an interconnected system of

half-a-dozen chakras, but it is not helpful for beginners in yogic meditation to go into such details. For this reason we act as if there is a single chakra in the cranium, with its centre of gravity in the third ventricle of the brain. Now pronounce LAM once into the perineal chakra, VAM once into the sacral chakra, RAM once into the navel chakra, YAM once into the heart chakra, HAM once into the throat chakra, concluding the inhalation by pronouncing OM once into the cranial chakra. Do the same in reverse order during the exhalation. You have now completed the basic framework of yogic meditation, which consists of the locations of the chakras and the associated bija mantras, with both chakras and mantras strung on the threat of a single breath through Sushumna. Since this is only the most basic framework on which we will elaborate from now on, I suggest you practise this meditation for at least 5–10 minutes per day, with a maximum time of one hour.*

Exercise 10b: Pronounce bija aksharas into spheres of light, manifesting lotuses

Six lotuses facing upwards Having formed a link between the bija aksharas (root syllables) and their locations, we are now ready for the next step. This consists of manifesting the lotuses (padmas). As explained above, the crystallization process of the universe, starting from infinite creativity and pure energy (Shakti) downwards through the various elements, found its equivalent and expression in the human body. The lotuses (padmas) are energy centres representing the elements like earth, etc, with each petal representing one major nadi (energy channel) emitting from each lotus. The lotuses in the subtle body were

initially created by the pronouncing of the bija aksharas through the divine creative force (Shakti). The re-activation of the lotuses is undertaken by pronouncing the bija aksharas into the chakras. Due to the influence of entropy (disorder), in most human beings the higher chakras have become inactive. If you go about opening the chakras in a chaotic, unsystematic fashion (such as through the use of psychedelic drugs or during psychosis) the process may become like the opening of Pandora’s box. If done in a harmonious way it leads to a gradual and slow spiritual awakening that is easily integrated into one’s life. It is helpful to accelerate the process of re-activating the chakras by visualizing them as lotuses. I suggest that, when doing so, you leave aside any association you have with the colouring of the lotuses. Most colour schemes associated with the chakras are not based on shastra (scripture). There is nowadays a tendency for everybody to make up their own colour scheme, and some of these use very bright rainbow colours, often inspired by 1960s psychedelic culture and pop art. Another reason why different colour schemes have appeared is that the colours of the petals, of the pericarp of the flower and of the associated element have often been confused. So as not to overload you at this point, we will put off until later consideration of the colours of the lotuses as described in scripture. In the beginning, therefore, visualize the lotuses simply in black and white or, if you have to add colour, give them all a silver or golden appearance. At this early point do not worry either about the number of petals and other details. Simply pronounce the root syllables as before into the chakras in the same locations, but this time visualize the chakras as lotus flowers facing upwards as if they were strung on the Sushumna. Continue to visualize the fire nadi, Sushumna, as being fire red.

Exercise 10c: Pronounce each root syllable twice into each upturned lotus Once you can see the six lotuses facing upwards, the next step is to pronounce each bija akshara twice into each. The sequence is now, on the inhalation, LAM – LAM

VAM – VAM RAM – RAM YAM – YAM HAM – HAM OM – OM and on the exhalation OM – OM HAM – HAM YAM – YAM RAM – RAM VAM – VAM LAM – LAM This means that you will pronounce altogether 24 bija aksharas (root syllables) compared to only 12 in method 10b. This will make it necessary for you to slow down your breath accordingly. Through slowing down the breath the mind will slow down too, and enable you to focus more deeply, which in turn will smooth and slow down prana. This is the pranayama– meditation feedback loop that is utterly essential for success in meditation. A meditation technique that does not have built into it the requirement to slow down the breath is inefficient. Stay at pronouncing each bija akshara twice until you can perform it very comfortably and do not have to strain at all. In the beginning the slowing down of the breath may have a heating quality. This indicates that the practice is working, because heating is a result of tapas, a term mentioned several times by Patanjali. Tapas is derived from the verb root tap – to cook – and it indicates that spiritual practice will create friction and therefore heat. This may be uncomfortable at first, but it will eventually lead to the state that the yogi is fully baked in the fire of practice. Like an earthen pot that needs to be fully baked before it is capable of holding water, so the yogi needs to be fully baked before he is capable of attaining knowledge. It is important, however, that you never strain during practice. Turn up the heat slowly and without ambition: it is a slow-baking process. If at any point you feel fear, anxiety or strain in your heart area, you are slowing down the breath too much. The last chapter gave as a guideline reducing the number of breathing cycles to about 5 per minute with approximately one root syllable pronounced per second.

When you switch to pronouncing each bija akshara twice per chakra, feel free to initially increase the speed with which you recite the mantra. Otherwise you would suddenly switch from each inhalation being roughly 6 seconds long to it being about 12 seconds. That would be too steep an increase. Over the long term it is desirable to reach a count of 12 seconds, but it needs to be phased in slowly. Always keep meditation joyful and never an ambitious pursuit.

Chapter 11

LAW 11: PRATYAHARA IS THE SIMULTANEOUS BINDING OF THE AUDIO, VISUAL, KINAESTHETIC/ TACTILE, OLFACTORY AND GUSTATORY COMPONENTS OF MIND TO THEIR RESPECTIVE PLACES. RAJA YOGA’S APPROACH TO PRATYAHARA

This chapter explains the Raja Yoga approach to pratyahara (independence from external stimuli), the neglected and misunderstood fifth limb of yoga. As previously explained, the Taittiriya Upanishad describes the human being consisting of five layers (panchakosha doctrine). Of these the two innermost (Anandamaya kosha and Vijnanamaya kosha) relate to very advanced states of yoga (asamprajnata and samprajnata samadhi respectively), whereas the three outer layers (body, breath and mind) are those that contain the obstacles to yoga and the need to be purified. Whereas the body is generally purified through asana, the pranic sheath through pranayama and the mind through meditation, the complex catalogue of pratyahara in itself addresses all three layers. The physical tier of pratyahara was taught by the great siddha Goraksha Natha by means of Amrita Siddhi and Viparita Karani. This is reflected in this text in Chapter 6. The pranic aspect of pratyahara was handed down in Yajnavalkya’s and Vasishta’s tradition. This tier of practice was explained in Chapter 10. The current layer of pratyahara is Raja Yoga’s approach, the path of meditation. The technical content of this chapter is extensive, and if you succeed with it you will succeed with meditation. The secret to success is to add on one of these techniques at a time according to your own capabilities. If your mind gets agitated, you are adding on too many aspects too quickly. To understand the content of this chapter we need to look briefly into yoga’s concept of mind. Yoga calls the mind manas, and from this Sanskrit term the English man, woman and human are derived. We are the life form that has a complex mind, whereas most other earthly life forms have more rudimentary forms of mind or little mind at all.

Yoga puts a lot of emphasis on differentiating mind (manas) from intelligence or intellect (buddhi). The difference between both can be likened to a window that appears on your computer when you burn a CD or DVD. A message on the screen asks whether you want to set the burning process to speed or quality, and there is a slider that you can move left or right accordingly. In most circumstances it is enough to opt for speed: the quality obtained is generally still sufficient. If we liken the setting ‘speed’ to ‘mind’ and that of ‘quality’ to ‘intelligence’ then it is probably fair to say that the setting ‘mind’ was enough in most situations that we encountered during the first few million years of planetary evolution and in fact it is sufficient in many situations that we confront during daily life today. The mind uses about 1 second for an average analysis, whereas the yogic definition of intelligence is to be able to sustain a focus on the very same object for at least three hours. That means yoga thinks that intelligence only comes into play when we attempt to understand a complex object. On the other hand yoga sees mind (manas) simply as an organizer of sensory data, akin to a master sense. If we define perception as the intake of raw sensory data derived through the senses, then the mind is the cognizer of that data. I know this all sounds a bit heady, but please bear with me, as for the process of meditation it is essential to understand it. Cognition processes raw sensory data so that a quick decision can be made and the object at hand can be identified swiftly, often just for the purpose of survival. If we perceive a certain sound or visual image, we do not sit down and meditate deeply over what the meaning of that sensory input might be and what it could mean in regard to the origin of the universe – which would be a typical inquiry undertaken by buddhi, the intelligence. Contrary to that, within a split second our manas (mind) would compare the signal with all sensory data perceived in the past and would spit out whether this signal could mean the approach of danger or alternatively something harmless, such as a supply of food. If this cognition took more than about 1 to 1.5 seconds, we wouldn’t be able to survive. The mind is thus an incredible survival tool, but this benefit comes at the expense of precision. In order to achieve the feat of cognising quickly, the mind does not deeply analyse data but simply superimposes all data collected thus far onto the present occurrence until a reasonably close match is achieved. But this match is not close enough for most of the complex tasks

that occur in today’s human society. For example the credit given to witness testimonies in criminal court proceedings has been more and more eroded. This is due to the fact that what people believe they have seen and what has actually taken place are most of the time two entirely different things. The mind (manas) becomes an obstacle, particularly when we want to obtain deep knowledge about the world as it truly is (vijnana, prajna or rta) or knowledge of the true self (jnana). Because the mind identifies simply by superimposing the past onto the present, it will only ever show you what has been reasonably close to the truth in the past. In other words it will use past conditioning to produce the closest shot at the truth that it can provide in the shortest time possible. Manifold problems in human life occur due to that mechanism. For example we tend to relate to others and even tend to select our life partners more according to their ability to fulfil our needs, dictated to us by our past hurts, rather than relating to them according to who they truly are. But it is particularly the process of meditation that is impeded by this structure of the mind (manas). The tendency of the mind to superimpose past conditioning (vasana) and subconscious imprint (samskara) onto the present moment stops us from arriving in the present moment. For this reason Patanjali said ‘Yoga is the suspension of the fluctuations of the mind’.74 In the following sutra he says that suspension of mind is the precursor to the mystical state.75However, suspension of mind is not possible in one single step: it is a multi-step process. At the outset of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra, sage Patanjali defines concentration (dharana, the sixth limb, the binding of the mind to a place) as one important step in this process.76 Due to its task as an organizer and interpreter of sensory data, the mind is orientated outwards. Outward orientation is not helpful in meditation. By suspending the mind, inward focus, and thus meditation, become possible. We now turn to what is one of the essential keys to meditation – the secret to pratyahara, Patanjali’s fifth limb of yoga. The mind organizes and compares data from five different senses: the eyes, ears, nose, taste buds and the tactile organ, the skin. Because of this, the mind has five different components or aspects, which are the audio, visual, kinaesthetic/tactile, olfactory and gustatory aspects of mind. While it is sufficient in the beginning to bind the combined mind to a single place such as the

visualization of the chakras or a mantra, to practise concentration effectively the five components of mind need to be bound to their respective places. This means, for example, that the visual aspect of mind needs to be bound to a visual signal. If you use an auditory signal only, you will leave the visual cortex to go about its activities unrestrained. Because each sensory component of the mind, if unattended to, still runs rampant, all components need to be bound. This is a great skill, and to acquire it we need to learn how to bind them one after the other. As we add more and more components, meditation will deepen. If you sit in meditation and simply focus on a sound and visual image, this will engage only your conscious mind. The conscious mind, however, utilizes only a few per cent of the total computing power of your mind, a much larger part being taken up with the unconscious mind. In order to harness the power of the unconscious mind for meditation you need to master pratyahara. For, even if you are not conscious of it, your senses still reach out and subconsciously create desires unless you master pratyahara and bind all senses through appropriate yogic techniques.

Exercise 11a: Bind the olfactory sense through Mula Bandha and Nasagrai Drishti It is not essential to start with the olfactory sense – nor with any particular sense at all. The reason why I am covering it first here is that it is related to the earth element, which is encrypted in the base chakra (Muladhara). It makes sense to target the chakras through their related senses in ascending order, but the meditation techniques can be successfully practised in different orders. The olfactory sense is very rudimentary in humans. In dogs 50 per cent of the brain processes olfactory data, which is why their sense of smell is so much more developed than ours. The best method to activate the Muladhara Chakra and bind the olfactory sense is to engage the so-called pelvic lock (Mula Bandha). Mula Bandha means root lock, referring to the pelvic floor as the root of the spine and nervous system. Mula Bandha preserves life force and makes it flow upwards. The Yoga Kundalini Upanishad calls Mula Bandha the forcing up of the vital downward current apana vayu. It states

that directing apana vayu upwards, together with igniting internal fire, will make the serpent Kundalini enter its hole, the central energy channel.77 As well, the Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati states that Mula Bandha arouses Kundalini and moves her up.78 Additionally, Mula Bandha is used to awaken Muladhara Chakra, which is a manifestation of the earth element and the seat of the olfactory sense. By engaging Mula Bandha the olfactory sense is bound. TECHNIQUE

Mula Bandha initially is the pressing of the perineum with the left heel (in Siddhasana) and its subsequent contraction.79 It is ideally learned in Siddhasana, because the left heel will apply stimulation to the pelvic floor. This can, however, be replicated in Padmasana by tilting the pelvis forward enough to bring the perineum in contact with the floor. Mula Bandha may be experienced and practised in any yoga posture, but the two mentioned above are ideal. When proficiency is gained, the apana vayu (vital down current) will turn upwards. In the beginning, Mula Bandha may be brought on by contracting the anus or the urethra as if one wanted to stop urination. However, to be precise, Mula Bandha is located right in the middle between anus and genitals, at the centre of the pubococcygeus muscle. To some extent the contraction of the pubococcygeus will activate the entire pelvic diaphragm. In this context imagine the inhalation reaching all the way down to the pelvic floor, hooking into it and drawing it upwards. When wanting to focus on Mula Bandha’s connection to the exhalation, feel the exhalation dropping down and, as it turns into the inhalation, feel the breath rebounding off the pelvic diaphragm. Mula Bandha compresses the filum terminale and cauda equina, which are anchored at the coccyx. Through that, Mula Bandha stimulates the entire brain and particularly the parasympathetic nervous system. It slows down the heart, lowers the blood pressure and decreases the respiratory rate. Mula Bandha is ideally held during the entire inhalation and exhalation. However, in the beginning it may be necessary to always re-engage it at the end of the exhalation. The yogic scriptures recommend holding Mula Bandha all the time, but this applies only to very advanced yogis. If you try to hold Mula Bandha all the time you may experience constipation, so food intake would need to be

adapted. Menstruation is also powered by apana, and turning apana up by means of Mula Bandha may interfere with the natural menstruation process. Apana is also responsible for the delivery of the foetus. During pregnancy Mula Bandha may have to be decreased, depending on the condition of the individual. For example, a female with a very advanced asana practice and an athletic Mula Bandha may benefit from releasing it, certainly towards the end of her pregnancy. If a strong practice of Mula Bandha is continued until the end of pregnancy, it may make giving birth more difficult. On the other hand, females with a generally low muscle tone and weak pelvic floor may benefit from practising Mula Bandha for longer. MEDITATION TECHNIQUE

In order to integrate Mula Bandha into our existing meditation, we simply engage it every time the exhalation reaches the bottom of the torso. In fact if you are really sensitive you can feel how the inhalation springs off the pelvic floor and rebounds back up as it turns into the inhalation. For those who do not have excessive experience with Mula Bandha, the technique will now be Mula Bandha + LAM – LAM VAM – VAM RAM – RAM YAM – YAM HAM – HAM OM – OM on the way up and OM – OM HAM – HAM YAM – YAM RAM – RAM VAM – VAM LAM – LAM + Mula Bandha on the way down. Continue all of the other aspects of your practice as previously discussed, with the addition of this new element. Continue to visualize the lotuses facing upwards and see the Sushumna as being fire red. Students who have read my previous books and are familiar with the methods described there may be able to hold Mula Bandha for the entire time of the breathing cycle, but be aware that, over years of practice, Mula Bandha needs to evolve from a muscular contraction to a subtle energetic contraction and finally to a mental

effort. In meditation practice do not get stuck on the mere physical plane. Once you have successfully integrated Mula Bandha into your meditation technique you may also want to add gazing towards the nose (Nasagrai Drishti). Although this is a visual technique, gazing towards the nose triggers Mula Bandha, as the olfactory organ – the nose – is a gross expression of the subtle Muladhara Chakra. ‘Gross’ here simply means perceptible to the senses, whereas ‘subtle’ means real nonetheless, despite being imperceptible to the senses. Gazing to the nose is exercised by directing the eyes gently towards it so that you barely see its outline within your field of vision. Do not go cross-eyed. Beginners may strain their optic nerves doing that or at least bring on a headache. Another technique that yogis use to bind the olfactory sense is to burn sandalwood incense during meditation. Sandalwood has the tendency the draw the olfactory sense inwards and divert the olfactory component of mind to higher purposes. Yogis also meditate on the scent (gandha) of the opening lotus flowers, the chakras. The opening lotuses represent the unfolding of our higher potential. Yogis use ‘olfactory imaging’ to bring about this unfolding. Once you feel comfortable with this level of practice you are ready to integrate the next sense.

Exercise 11b: Bind the gustatory sense through Jihva Bandha The next component of mind that we bind to its object is the gustatory mind. With this technique we focus on the Svadhishthana Chakra, located in the vicinity of the sacrum. The element of this chakra is water and its associated sense is taste. Sensations are conveyed to tastebuds through a watery medium – for example a gustatory stimulus may be experienced as ‘mouth-watering’. The gustatory component of mind and its associated subconscious express themselves through subconscious tongue movement. If tongue movement is arrested, the subconscious aspect of the gustatory mind is more likely to be stilled. As with all other mental capacities, its activity may be transferred to other mental domains and for this reason we endeavour to still them all one by one. The technique by which the movement of the tongue is arrested is called

Jihva Bandha (tongue lock). It is the folding of the tongue backwards, placing its underneath side up against the hard and soft palate and pushing it as far back as possible towards the nasopharyngeal cavity. Some of the mechanisms through which the subconscious can express and manifest itself are subtle movements of the tongue and eyes. If the yogi arrests these movements, the subconscious loses its grip and meditation can deepen. One of the main reasons for applying Jihva Bandha is that it steadies the subconscious by removing one of its expressions. The Hatha Tatva Kaumudi states that performing Jihva Bandha arrests prana (which in itself still the mind).80 Jihva Bandha is thus an important adjunct for all forms of meditation, and it may be applied during the entire breathing cycle, but be aware of tension building up in your head. Before you contract a headache, release Jihva Bandha. Phase it into your practice slowly. Jihva Bandha has also a mystical component, which is linked to the lunar storehouse of prana, the Ajna Chakra (or more precisely one of its subdivisions, the Soma Chakra). This lunar storehouse is sometimes simply called ‘the moon’, and the prana contained in it is sometimes referred to as soma or amrita, the nectar of immortality. By force of gravitation this nectar oozes out of the lunar chakra and, once it reaches the sun in the navel (i.e. the Manipura Chakra), it is burnt there by the gastric fire (pitta). This burning of amrita equates to a loss of lunar life force, which is lifegiving, nurturing and anabolic. Apart from weakening the body and inviting death and disease, its loss also weakens the mind. The weaker the mind the more liable it becomes to maintain its equilibrium through external stimuli, such as food, sex, drugs, money, power and entertainment. A strong and vital mind relies on its equilibrium solely by realizing the Divine within and then the cosmic Divine without. A loss of lunar prana/amrita leads to the mind losing its inner magnetism, and, if it does, the senses will reach out and settle on their objects of desire. Like a boat without rudder and helmsman, the mind is then at the whim of the senses and follows them outwards for sensory satisfaction. The Rishi Vyasa says in his commentary on the Yoga Sutra that the senses can be likened to a population of bees with the mind as the queen bee.81 If the queen bee settles, all the other bees will settle too. If she flies out, all the other bees will follow. If, however, the mind loses its lunar prana, the amrita,

it becomes weak and will follow the senses outwards. If the mind is weak, pratyahara, the fifth limb of yoga, cannot happen. Pratyahara means exactly that: The mind is in equilibrium and is strong. When it settles (on a sacred meditation object), the senses will simply follow their master (the mind) and this process is called pratyahara. Without Pratyahara the higher limbs cannot be undertaken. For this reason lunar prana/amrita has to be arrested and restored. There are two physical methods of arresting lunar prana to keep it from being lost, and ideally both of these methods are combined. One method is to practise inversions such as shoulder stand and headstand for a long time. This practice has already been described in Chapter 6. The second method is to use Jihva Bandha and its more advanced form, Khechari Mudra, to reabsorb the amrita. As is the case with most yogic techniques, their combination increases the probability of success. In the case of Khechari Mudra (elongation of the tongue until it can be used to perform breath retention), the loss of amrita can be avoided altogether. If you want to use Jihva Bandha to reabsorb amrita, you need to fade it in slowly – that is, slowly extend the time that you keep the tongue rolled back. All yogic techniques need to be faded in slowly and responsibly. There cannot be sudden bursts in yoga. MEDITATION TECHNIQUE

Once you have tried Jihva Bandha a few times on its own, begin to integrate it into the meditation technique you have learnt so far. If possible exercise Mula Bandha and Jihva Bandha throughout the entire breathing cycle. At this point you may also gently gaze towards the nose with half-closed eyes. As before, strike each bija akshara into its associated lotus. Continue to visualize the lotuses as facing upwards towards the crown of the head and see the fire nadi, the central energy channel as fire red. You will notice that you have to focus simultaneously on quite a few different parameters or aspects of meditation and your brain will have to switch to an alpha wave pattern to be able to do so. This in itself will induce meditation. It is very important to switch to multitasking in meditation. If you don’t, if your technique is not engaging the mind enough, your mind will encapsulate the meditation technique and go on with its own agenda on the side. Comparing the capacities of the two minds, Bruce Lipton called the

conscious mind a 4-bit processor and the subconscious mind a 14,000-bit processor. This shows very aptly that the problem in meditation is not the conscious mind. You can appease the conscious mind simply by sitting and focusing on the breath, that’s true. But meanwhile the subconscious mind will have a good old laugh at you and divert about 99% of the entire processing power of your brain towards excitement, fear of the future, guilt and shame about the past or whatever its agenda may currently be. And it certainly won’t be meditation. This is exactly the reason why progress in meditation, if it is simply practised as sitting and watching the breath, is very protracted to say the least. It is not in the conscious mind that one succeeds in meditation, it is in the subconscious mind. Aim at sustaining Mula Bandha and Jihva Bandha throughout the entire breathing cycle. However, especially in the beginning, Jihva Bandha may lead to tension in the brain and the soft palate and in some cases to headaches. If this happens, release the tongue and press it against the root of the upper teeth. This technique is called Rajadanta. It’s not quite as effective as Jihva Bandha, but it is better than creating too much tension. Rajadanta will still arrest the movement of the tongue and help suspend the associated subconscious mind. However, it will not contribute to the absorption of amrita. Once the tension in the soft palate has subsided, go back to Jihva Bandha and slowly increase the time that you apply it every day. Note: The water element and the gustatory sense are located in Svadhishthana. Another bandha that is related to this chakra is Uddiyana Bandha. To quote one scriptural example, the Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati says that Uddiyana Bandha opens Svadhishthana Chakra, which is the seat of the gustatory sense.82 This is particularly the case for Bahya (external) Uddiyana, which I described in detail in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga.83 During this bandha the breath is suspended outside and the abdominal content is sucked into the thoracic cavity. Some authorities say that this external breath retention (bahya kumbhaka) with Bahya (external) Uddiyana is the only way of purifying the Svadhishthana and Manipura chakras. The best way of learning both external kumbhaka and external Uddiyana is during Nauli. This method is also described in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga.84

Exercise 11c: Bind visual sense through Bhrumadhya

Drishti and eventually Shambhavi Mudra We will now deal with the visual component of the subconscious mind. In the human, this is the most developed component of mind, and hence yogis give it great attention. Due to its prevalence in the human mind and brain, one’s meditation technique is unlikely to succeed unless it has a strong visual component. The visualization of Sushumna and the related chakras/lotuses is designed to harness for meditation the power of the visual cortex. As we manage to slow down the breath, we gain more time in each chakra and will utilize it to make our visualization more vivid, which in turn will empower our meditation in its task of producing reality, i.e. producing lasting change in the quality of our minds. The chakra that we are now influencing is the Manipura Chakra, which is situated in the vicinity of the spine at the level of the navel. Patanjali and others call it the navel chakra.85 It is also called the fire chakra, since it represents the fire element. This chakra is extremely important: on a lower level fire in the body represent gastric and metabolic fire, but on a higher level it powers intelligence. Both gastric fire and the fire of intelligence are representations of the same cosmic force that powers the ongoing nuclear reaction on the sun. The faculty associated with the fire chakra is the visual sense. It is only due to the light coming from the sun that the visual sense can function. Humans have learned to harness fire to see in the night, initially just through campfires but later on by more refined forms of controlled fire such as electric lamps. It is the same fire that pierces and cuts through ignorance by means of inquiry and analysis and empowers us for scientific inquiry. Very significantly, the relationship between fire contained in higher intelligence and the visual sense is still apparent in most languages. Even in today’s English a seer is a person who is able, through mystical insight, to see things invisible to others. The term is now also used for forecasters in the economic and political arenas, areas that remain opaque to most due to their apparent complexities. The first technique we use is called Bhrumadhya Drishti, which I have already described in my previous books, particularly in Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy.86 Bhrumadhya Drishti means to gaze towards the

centre of the eyebrows. The Hatha Tatva Kaumudi states that concentrating the mind at Bhrumadhya arrests prana.87 What is meant here is a soft gaze, not an eye-crossing strain. The purpose of gazing between the eyebrows is to arrest unconscious eye movement. The term REM (rapid eye movement) is used to describe the unconscious darting around of the eyes during dreaming, denoting activity of the subconscious mind. REM does not happen only during dreams, however, but also in the waking state on most occasions when we do not focus our eyes on an object. Preventing the subconscious movement of the eyes during meditation is a powerful tool for stilling the subconscious mind and directing it towards purposeful activities. The art of performing Bhrumadhya Drishti, as with Jihva Bandha, is to fade it in slowly, as it can otherwise lead to tension in the forehead and brain. A holistic way of doing this is to first raise the eyes to a horizontal level and fix them to an imagined object or focal point at eye level about a metre or half a metre in front of you. As your eyes get used to this while being closed or half-closed, you bring this imagined object closer towards you while at the same time lifting it higher. In the beginning it may be necessary to drop the eyes down and let them fully close if they become tired. However, notice that this is a function of apana (vital down current) and it means that the apanic force has overwhelmed your eyes. Over weeks, months and sometimes years, bring the eyes higher and higher until their gaze finally meets in the middle of the forehead. The technique is then called Shambhavi Mudra; it is extremely powerful. This mudra is recognized by sage Gheranda as one of six ways to access samadhi.88 It has this power because it reverses apana up and arrests the life force in the Ajna Chakra (third-eye chakra). It is extremely important that you fade in this powerful technique over a long time, as forcing things may strain your optic nerves. TECHNIQUE

While maintaining all other aspects of meditation, focus now on suspending the visual aspect of the subconscious mind. In order to do so we will arrest the eyes to prevent rapid eye movement. To begin with, focus your eyes on a spot about half a metre away from you at eye level. The eyes have an automatic tendency to drop down, at which point the subconscious mind will take over their control. Even just lifting the closed or half-closed eyes to the

horizontal level will take them out of reach of the subconscious mind. But you will need to concentrate to keep them there. Once you get used to this level, lift the eyes about 10 degrees higher. Do not turn them up all the way right from the beginning: eyestrain would likely be the result. Stay at this new level until you are completely accustomed to it. This may take days, weeks or months. In this way, over a sufficiently long time frame, you raise the eyes until you have turned them up all the way. When you have achieved that, bring the focus closer and closer until it is in the centre of the forehead. If you develop headaches or pain in the eyes, ease off. In any case, initially the eyes should be locked in this position for only a minute at a time before they are again lowered somewhat. Only gradually increase the time you spend with eyes raised. It does not matter whether your eyes are half-closed or fully closed: since they are turned up, even if they are only half-closed you will not see anything. Sight and the visual cortex are an expression and manifestation of the element fire. Fire is located in the Manipura Chakra. What has been said previously about the importance of Nauli, external kumbhaka and Bahya (external) Uddiyana is also valid when working with the Manipura Chakra. These three techniques are the prime methods for purifying both the Svadhishthana and the Manipura chakras. If you are not satisfied with your progress in Bhrumadhya Drishti, add these techniques. I want again to put emphasis on the fact that Raja Yoga (the science of yogic meditation) and Hatha Yoga (physical aspects of yoga) are only two disciplines of the same system that in ancient days was called Ashtanga Yoga, the eight-limbed yoga of Patanjali.

Exercise 11d: Bind kinaesthetic/tactile sense through hasta mudras The next component of mind to be bound to its object is the kinaesthetic/tactile component and its associated sense of touch and proprioception. The sense of touch is representative of the element air, and it is located and encrypted in the heart chakra (Anahata). The movement of air is felt by the skin as touch. We convey a sentiment of heart by touching somebody or by hugging, an embrace of the heart. The sense of touch is

bound by using hand (hasta) mudras. Ideal mudras for meditation are: Jnana Mudra (seal of knowledge), which consists of the joining of the thumb and pointing finger with the other three fingers extended, palms facing up. Akasha Mudra (seal of space), which consists of placing the right hand on top of the left hand with the thumbs touching and palms facing up.

Jnana Mudra

Akasha Mudra Another tactile tool used in meditation is a mala. Rather than setting a predetermined time for your meditation session, you can count the number of rounds by using a mala. Particularly if you meditate on a specific divine form, it is helpful to use a mala that consists of a particular structure or material associated with that form of the Divine, for example a rosary for Jesus, Tulsi beads for Vishnu, Rudraksha beads for Shiva or carved bone for Kali. The use of a mala helps to focus on the divine form associated with it. Malas also store spiritual concentration. If you have used and charged a mala for some time the mere act of touching it will help you in entering meditation. MEDITATION TECHNIQUE

Sit in the asana of your choice, placing your hands either in Jnana or Akasha Mudra. Give up the desire to move or sway and resist the urge to move your hands. But do not make this a process forced upon you from the outside; rather let it come from the inside. The desire to move around can be given up when, through focusing on breath, chakras, mantra and binding the other components of mind, one realizes that the entire creation already is in a state of balance and dynamic equilibrium. Silence and stillness of posture and hands is a way of listening to the message of the Divine in your heart that tells you that this moment now and this place here are perfect: nothing needs to be changed. The kinaesthetic component of mind, related to the tactile mind, is bound

by sitting in a stable asana, such as Padmasana or Siddhasana. These postures were covered in Chapter 1 of this book. Kinaesthesis is tactilation distributed over the entire body, not only its surface but its structures and core also. Important aspects of meditation in asana are: If seen from the side, the ears, shoulder joints and hip joints need to be in a straight vertical line. The head should not be forward of this line. The pelvis should be tilted anteriorly to emphasize lumbar curvature. This creates dynamic equilibrium by negating gravitational force (this is of course only the case during sitting; this instruction does not apply for a standing posture). If sitting in Padmasana (lotus posture), tilting the pelvis forward will stimulate Mula Bandha, as the perineum will come in contact with the floor. Sit as tall as possible. Imagine a hook attached to the highest point of your head that pulls you upwards and elongates the spine. In whatever position you sit, make sure that both palms of the hands and soles of the feet are turned away from the Earth and upwards to the sky. This rules out sitting in a chair. Keep drawing the shoulder blades down the back; if they tend to slump forward, then draw them towards each other. These actions keep the heart area open and the region of the heart chakra lifted. If you are so inclined, use a mala as a meditation aid. Move one bead every time when you return to the Muladhara Chakra or when you commence a new inhalation.

Exercise 11e: Bind the audio sense by increasing the mantra count in each chakra The final component of mind to be discussed here is the audio component. Sound (shabda) is encrypted in the throat chakra (Vishuddha Chakra), but sound in yoga does not mean just audible sound but all forms of vibratory pattern. The Vishuddha Chakra is the location of the element space (akasha), and space is necessary for vibratory patterns to exist. Space is the most fundamental of the five elements and without it none of the others could

exist. Vibratory patterns manifest the other four elements (earth, water, fire and air) and for this reason sound (shabda) is central to yogic interest: it enables us to create and transform reality. The yogic technique that deals with this particular subject is mantra. The term mantra is a compound of man – the mind – and tra – to protect and deliver. Mantra is what protects the mind and delivers one across the ocean of conditioned existence. Yoga does not look at sound only in its audible manifestation but at four stages of sound. Only the fourth stage, vaikhari, is what we usually would describe as sound, that is audible sound and sound that is outside of the range of our ears such as calls of bats. The third stage of sound, called madhyama, includes subtle sounds, the mantras. The second stage, pashyanti, is the sacred syllable OM, that is the sound that produced all other sounds and gave rise to the Big Bang. The primordial stage of sound, para, is the eternal state from which the Big Bang came forth and into which the universe will be reabsorbed at the end of time, in Sanskrit called Shabda Brahman, divine intention and potential. The Bible says about para sound, ‘In the beginning there was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.’89 For more detail on the science of sound see Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series.90 To bind the audio sense we will here simply increase the number of bija aksharas per chakra, but there is a wide variety of other possible techniques: Once you have added on a sufficient number of root syllables in each chakra you may switch to pronouncing your ishta mantra instead. The ishta mantra is the mantra associated with the form of the Divine that you worship. Examples are given in Chapter 14. When even the ishta mantra has become too short – because you have lengthened your breath appropriately – you can switch to complex mantras such as the 24-syllable Gayatri mantra, i.e. Om Bhur Bhuvah Suvah Tat Savitur Varenyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat. This is an extremely powerful mantra, and to pronounce it in each chakra requires a very high level of proficiency. Another method that yogis use to improve sensitivity to mantric soundwaves is closing the ears by using either beeswax or cotton. This will block out environmental sound and help you to focus more on your mantras. This method is often used in a yogic discipline called

Nadanusandhana Yoga, in which the yogi listens to the inner sound. Another way of closing the ears is Yoni Mudra. This mudra is listed by Rishi Gheranda as one of six ways of reaching samadhi.91 In Yoni Mudra one closes the ears with one’s thumbs, the eyes with one’s index fingers, the nostrils with the middle fingers, and the mouth with the ring and index fingers. During kumbhaka one then listens to the inner sound. This mudra is also called Shanmukhi Mudra, the six-headed mudra, the reference being to the six chakras, and this mudra is used to meditate on them during kumbhaka and shut out all other sensory inputs. You can close your ears and produce the sound of a humming bee. Another powerful technique that works with sound, and again is accepted by Gheranda as one of the ways to reach samadhi, is Bhramari Mudra.92 In some texts it is listed as Bhramari Pranayama, but it is so only if practised with kumbhaka. If it is done without kumbhaka then it is Bhramari Mudra. In this mudra the throat is contracted and then the air is rapidly inhaled. Other than during Ujjayi: the vocal cords are engaged here by producing the ‘ng’ sound (anushvara). This is done by pronouncing the end of a word like gong or king and then continuing the sound by maintaining the breath and humming. The same is done during the exhalation, but here much less air is needed, so one can draw out the sound much more. The sound produced during the inhalation is called the sound of the male black bee while that of the exhalation is likened to that of the female black bee. Apparently male bees sound flimsier than the females. This might be due to the fact that the females perform all the hard work while the males function mainly as gigolos. TECHNIQUE

We are already binding the audio component of mind through pronouncing the root syllables (bija aksharas). Until now we have pronounced each bija akshara twice into each lotus. If through ample practice you have managed to slow down your breath enough, then switch to pronouncing it three times into each lotus both on the way up and on the way down. The sequence then will be: LAM – LAM – LAM VAM – VAM – VAM RAM – RAM – RAM

YAM – YAM – YAM HAM – HAM – HAM OM – OM – OM on the way up and OM – OM – OM HAM – HAM – HAM YAM – YAM – YAM RAM – RAM – RAM VAM – VAM – VAM LAM – LAM – LAM on the way down. Make sure that you do not strain. If you cannot sustain this practice, go back to pronouncing the mantra twice only. If you were to maintain the speed of pronouncing one mantra approximately for each second then this would lead you to 18 seconds for each inhalation and exhalation or about two-thirds of a minute for one breathing cycle. As this would be too sudden a change, you need to slightly increase your counting speed and, as you get comfortable with the slowing of the breath, again decrease the speed slowly. Take your time to master the five components of mind, the organizer of sensory data. The ability to do so means to become independent of external stimuli (pratyahara), a fact that will greatly deepen your meditation.

Chapter 12

LAW 12: MASTERY OF PRATYAHARA POWERS DHARANA, THE SIMULTANEOUS AWARENESS OF THE VARIOUS CONSTITUENTS OF MEDITATION. This chapter also has very significant content. If you master it all, you are well on the way to mastering meditation. If you find the content challenging, as most people will, then take it one breath at a time and proceed at your own speed. To recapitulate briefly the important essence of the previous chapter, mind is a presenter and interpreter of sensory data and, in order to suspend mind, the senses need to be bound to their objects. The five sensual components of mind and their associated techniques are: 1. olfactory component: Mula Bandha, Nasagrai Drishti, sandalwood incense, scent of opening lotuses 2. gustatory component: Jihva Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha, external kumbhaka 3. visual component: chakra visualization, Bhrumadhya Drishti, Shambhavi Mudra, Uddiyana Bandha, external kumbhaka, Trataka on divine image 4. kinaesthetic component: Jnana Mudra, Akasha Mudra, Siddhasana and Padmasana 5. audio component: bija aksharas, ishta mantras, OM, Bhramari Mudra, Shanmukhi Mudra. If you manage to bind all of these various components of the mind to their respective objects, you have completed Patanjali’s teachings on pratyahara and are now ready for dharana (concentration). You have harnessed the processing power of the subconscious mind, which is infinitely greater than that of the conscious mind. You can now divert this additional bandwidth towards creative thought and deep meditation. In this chapter we will increase the number of root syllables pronounced in each chakra. This will enable us to further slow down the breath and take on more constituents of meditation.

The Gheranda Samhita states that dharana is practised through chakra visualisation.93 The Goraksha Shataka94 and Hatha Yoga Manjari of Sahajananda95 agree that meditation in yoga means to meditate on chakras. A juggler falls into a trance-like state when successfully juggling more objects than his conscious mind can keep track of. Similarly G.I. Gurdjieff produced higher states in his students by letting them perform dances in which each limb moved to a different rhythm and figure than the other limbs. The conscious mind can no longer keep track and enters ‘the zone’. In the same vein the mind of the Raja Yogin or Yogini is sucked upwards into states of higher consciousness once the mind is made to track simultaneously chakra colours, numbers of petals, elements (mahabhutas), yantra shape and yantra colour. As the entire processing power of the mind – both conscious and subconscious – is needed to do this, the mind will surrender and settle in the triumphant here and now. In this condition it will finally open itself to its evolutionary purpose: divine inspiration. This again is described in its various phases in Part 3 of this book, Bhakti Yoga, the Spiritual Dimension of Meditation. In order to get the mind to this point, however, one thing needs to be understood: It is essential that all of the various tasks are performed simultaneously for each chakra, with all chakras meditated on during each breath. If you perform the actions sequentially rather than simultaneously, you will not succeed or success will be much more drawn out. Hear my reasoning: If you have ever had a close shave with death you will have noticed that, at the moment of impending death, the mind is suspended and your whole life zooms past in small still shots. You have what seems to be an eternity of time to look at every single act in your life, how you fared and of what quality your decisions in life were. This is reflected in the biblical concept of the Final Judgement. The judge is really your superconscious mind sitting in your own head. The ability to be present simultaneously at each and every moment of your life is brought about by the fact that impending death suspends mind, which lets one fall back into the state of pure consciousness (purusha, atman, the self, etc.). That is what Patanjali means with Tada drashthu svarupe avashthanam, meaning that the seer is absorbed in its own form (i.e. consciouness).96 In moments such as being close to death you understand

suddenly that, to consciousness, everything happens simultaneously. Consciousness has this ability because it does not modify sensory data at all; it is simply aware of it. On the other hand the mind modifies sensory data (meaning the world that you perceive). Please closely contemplate the following: In order to be able to modify sensory data and influence the world, the mind has to break up the flow of experience into small segments called time units. Through that the notion of time is introduced. I want to go even further by saying that the mind uses time as an operating system, without which it would be incapable of processing sensory data (the world). Chilling isn’t it! My hair is standing on end as I write it. The master key to dharana now is to simulate a near-death experience. During the near-death experience we realize that we don’t have the time any more to use the mind (because we’ll be dead in a few seconds) and therefore the brain suspends the mind by emitting a cocktail of potent neurotransmitters. Through that we are suddenly knocked back into our true nature, which is consciousness (whereas previously we projected ourselves forth into the mind and the world). At this stage of our meditation technique we first suspend any sensory input (pratyahara) and then take on the many different elements of meditation (such as colour and number of petals, element, shape and colour of yantra) until the mind takes on the svarupa (own form) of the seer (the pure consciousness). If you give the juggler too many balls or the dancer too many different rhythms to move to, his or her mind will suspend and take on the form of consciousness. This means that everything then seems to happen simultaneousness and time is suspended. Thus one enters the mystical state. Of course the method is not ‘easy’ in the true sense of the word. As is the case with yogic asana and yogic pranayama, as shown in my previous books, yogic meditation involves a certain amount of work. But what an outcome! What a return on your efforts! Notice also how the same yogic principles apply in all these three layers of yoga. Body, breath, senses and mind are completely engaged in all these layers of Patanjali yoga. Because these layers of practice are built on the same sacred principles, one prepares for and supports the other. If you are ready to go the distance, you will find here a scientifically precise method for accessing the mystical experience.

Exercise 12a: Pronounce each bija akshara four times per chakra and add the colour of the petals So far we have pronounced each root syllable three times into each respective chakra. If, through ample practice, you have managed to slow down your breath accordingly, you may now switch to pronouncing it four times into each lotus, both on the way up and on the way down. Make sure that you do not come from ambition but out of readiness for this step. If you get too hot during practice, this is a sign that you have gone too far too quickly. As your breath gets slower and slower, you are exhaling less and less air per time unit. Exhalation is a cooling mechanism: the body externalises heat during exhalation. So when you slow down the breath you are bound to heat up. This is not necessarily a bad sign. It is good if it is caused by pitta being converted into agni, but if the increased heat is caused by aggravated pitta then it is counterproductive. Aggravated pitta is recognized by signs such as anxiety, interrupted sleep, having a short fuse and getting angry more often, rising acidity, heartburn, waking up and feeling hot, and feeling very uncomfortable and claustrophobic during meditation. If any of these symptoms is present, do not slow down your breath further but consider instead elongating it. Meditation should not be a strain but a source of joy. If these signs of aggravated pitta are not present you may now go on to add the fourth root syllable per chakra. The sequence then would be: LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM OM – OM – OM – OM on the way up and OM – OM – OM – OM HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM

on the way down. When you are firmly established here, you will notice that the additional slowing down of the breath leads to deeper concentration. Use this deeper concentration to give the mind the next task, which is adding the colour of each chakra. Do not add the colours before pronouncing each mantra four times. If you do not, you may have too little time to visualize the colours appropriately and this may agitate the mind. There is great confusion about the colours of the chakras, partially due to the fact that there are different colours for the petals, the pericarp of the flower and the yantra (sacred geometry) of the respective element of the chakra. For example the yantra of the earth element is a yellow square, which has led some to believe that the earth chakra is to be visualized as yellow. However in the beginning it is necessary to focus on the colour that is visible from the outside of the chakra and that is only the colour of the petals. Inspired by pop art and psychedelic art, various authors and teachers have made up their own chakra colour schemes according to the motto ‘Anything goes’. Additionally, because there was a demand among modern western students that the sequence of colours met their partiality to aesthetics, some teachers described the chakras as having the colours of the rainbow. However, the correct colours of the petals have been described in the yoga shastra called Shat Chakra Nirupana, which the great Swami Kuvalayananda has declared to be the authority on chakras.97 Respected scholars such as Sir John Woodroffe98 and Shyam Sundar Goswami99 have confirmed that these are the correct colours. The colours of the petals are: Muladhara Chakra (coccygeal) – crimson red or dark red Svadhishthana Chakra (sacral) – orange red or bright red Manipura Chakra (lumbar) – blackish blue, colour of the storm cloud Anahata Chakra (thoracic) – fire red, colour of the Bandhuka flower Vishuddha Chakra (cervical) – purple haze Ajna Chakra (cranial) – bright white The problem with producing colour charts of the chakras is that it is very difficult to reproduce colours in print reliably. In some of the books by tantric scholars mentioned above it can be seen that the text says one thing but the colour chart shows something completely different. It is better to read the

description and then visualize it accordingly. It is also the case that some of the descriptions of the Shat Chakra Nirupana cannot be depicted without ambiguity. For example storm clouds do not always come in exactly the same colour; purple haze, the colour of space, can easily be visualized but it is almost impossible to depict on a colour chart, since it is not opaque but semitranslucent. Visualizing the chakra colours will use more of the processing power of the mind. Once you have added the colours you will be able to use that as a feedback mechanism for determining whether you are truly present. If the picture that you see reverts to black and white or shades of grey, then you can guess that the mind is using the missing processing power to do its own thing on the side. As you progress you will notice that yogic meditation gets increasingly more complex. It has to be so. While it does continuously create additional intellectual bandwidth, it also uses it creatively to prevent the subconscious mind from engaging it in its own tangents and fantasies. If you pronounce one mantra once per second, each inhalation and exhalation now would be on average 24 seconds long. Don’t do this in one single step but, as previously, first count the mantras somewhat faster and, as you get used to the increased number of repetitions, gradually slow down. For each of the upcoming exercises I will give rough guidelines as to how long each breathing cycle will be, but this is only for comparison purposes. Do not time your breathing during meditation with a stopclock, metronome or similar device. While this may be appropriate during pranayama, where the exact length of each cycle is paramount, it would be counterproductive during meditation, where the quality of the visualized image takes the central place. Do not at any point become ambitious in extending the length of your breathing cycle, but let it be an organic by-product of your overall practice.

Exercise 12b: Pronounce each bija akshara five times and add number of petals After you have practised the above method for some time you will observe a significant deepening in your meditation. Once this takes place and your breath slows down sufficiently, you may increase the number of bija aksharas once more. You will now strike each mantra five times into the

respective chakra. The new sequence looks like this: LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM OM – OM – OM – OM – OM on the way up and OM – OM – OM – OM – OM HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM on the way down. Again, accustom yourself to the additional workload by initially speeding up the breath count. After you manage to slow down your breath to approximately 1 mantra per second, you are coming close to the magical number of one breathing cycle per minute, which is also one of the goals of pranayama. Especially if you practise both pranayama and meditation daily, they will enhance and support each other. At this speed alchemical changes begin to take place and concentration is powerfully enhanced. After you are established in this new count you will notice that visualization of the colours now comes easily and that you will again have additional intellectual bandwidth available. Rather than leaving it to the mind to choose what it will divert to (and the subconscious mind will certainly make its own choice, which is unlikely to tally with your conscious goals) we will make the conscious choice now to focus on the number of petals of each chakra. This number is not arbitrary: it represents the number of major nadis (energy channels) that emit from it like spokes from a wheel. The numbers of petals per chakra are: Muladhara Chakra (coccygeal) – 4 petals Svadhishthana Chakra (sacral) – 6 petals Manipura Chakra (lumbar) – 10 petals Anahata Chakra (thoracic) – 12 petals

Vishuddha Chakra (cervical) – 16 petals Ajna Chakra (cranial) – 2 petals It will have been noticed that the number starts low in the Muladhara and then increases up to the Vishuddha Chakra. This is representative of the fact that the chakras increase in importance and variety of functions in the order of ascendancy. The exception is the Ajna, which comprises only two petals. From the Ajna are emitted only two nadis (apart from Sushumna, which pierces each chakra and is not counted), but these two nadis are the most important ones (again, with exception of Sushumna). They are Ida and Pingala, which direct the right and left brain hemispheres and the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems respectively. Remember that, since you visualize the chakras from the side facing upwards, you will not be able to see each individual petal. It is important that the flowers increase in size as you breath up (apart from Ajna, which consists of only two petals, both of which will be fully visible). The sum of all petals from Muladhara up to Ajna is 50, which is also the total number of letters in the Sanskrit alphabet. Each petal has a particular letter associated with it, but there is no need to concern yourself with that at this level of practice. Additionally, the Mahanirvana Tantra allocates a particular vrtti or sentiment to each petal, but again we can ignore that at this point. When you visualize the chakras and pronounce the mantras, always accompany this with Mula Bandha (pelvic lock), Jihva Bandha (tongue lock), Bhrumadhya Drishti (gazing upwards) or its advanced variant Shambhavi Mudra (seal of the Great Goddess), an appropriate hand position such as Akasha Mudra (space seal) or Jnana Mudra (seal of knowledge) and your preferred meditation posture such as Siddhasana or Padmasana. Note After completing exercise 12b you may skip the next steps and go ahead to Part 3. At your leisure you may include the exercises taught in Chapters 14 and 15 and after that come back and add 12c onwards. Do so if you are more devotionally orientated and have a sincere longing for the Divine. If you are more intellectually or physically orientated, complete the exercises in this chapter and only then move on. The exact order in which the exercises are to be performed is not set in stone, but can be adapted to the needs of the individual. The rule of thumb, however, is that you can only take on more constituents of meditation if you have lengthened your breath sufficiently to

accommodate the new element.

Exercise 12c: Pronounce each bija akshara six times and add the elements (mahabhutas) After you are acclimatized to pronouncing each mantra five times and can consistently see all colours and the size of the chakras during meditation, it is now time to add the element associated with each chakra. For this purpose we will again increase the number of mantras per chakra, this time to six repetitions. The sequence will now be LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM OM – OM – OM – OM – OM – OM on the way up and OM – OM – OM – OM – OM – OM HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM on the way down. Use the additional time gained to meditate in the chakras on the following elemental states: Muladhara Chakra (coccygeal) element: earth – solidity Svadhishthana Chakra (sacral): element water – fluidity Manipura Chakra (lumbar): element fire – fieriness Anahata Chakra (thoracic): element air – gaseousness Vishuddha Chakra (cervical): element ether – spaciousness Ajna Chakra (cranial): mind – intelligence Ajna Chakra does not have an element, as all elements are represented by the lower chakras. However, Ajna Chakra is the representation of mind, and intelligence is the highest expression of mind, the pure sattva guna. For this

reason pure intelligence is here meditated upon. To perform all the various tasks introduced so far will require you to slow down your breath over the long term to approximately 72 seconds per breathing cycle. If you breathe much faster than that, the mind will be overwhelmed, tired and/or excited by having to do so many things at the same time. If you do slow down the breath that much, however, the mind will become more and more concentrated. Only go to this stage if you do not encounter any adverse symptoms such as rising heat, claustrophobia, pain in the heart, running out of breath or anxiety. It is reasonable to suggest that, if you deepen your practice to this extent, you should at the same time maintain a significant asana, kriya and pranayama practice. While this is preferred for all stages of meditation, it becomes more and more important as you go deeper into yogic meditation.

Exercise 12d: Pronounce each bija akshara seven times and add the yantra shape

Yantra shapes After you have adapted to pronouncing each mantra six times and can consistently see/remember the elements and their states for each chakra, it is now time to add the yantra shape of each element. For this purpose we will again increase the number of mantras per chakra, this time to seven repetitions. Take your time with it, because you are slowly building up to a formidable practice. If you do pronounce each bija akshara seven times at a rhythm of approximately one per second, your inhalation and exhalation will

come now to about 42 seconds each, totalling 84 seconds per breathing cycle. This equates to the so-called kanishta count mentioned in many yoga scriptures such as the Gheranda Samhita. Kanishta means inhaling for 12 seconds, holding internal kumbhaka for 48 seconds and exhaling for 24 seconds. The cycle length here, too, is 84 seconds, albeit during pranayama breathing. Although kanishta translates as ‘inferior’, inferior here is a relative term. It is inferior or entry-type practice for those who have devoted their life to serious yoga practice, many of them ascetics. Whoever reaches this count is a serious yogi even by ancient standards. For comparison a middling (madhyama) count is considered a cycle length of 112 seconds and a superior count would be 140 seconds. Do not attempt these counts unless other aspects of your practice track your meditation. You need to practise serious inversions, pranayamas and kriyas to come even close to such a count. And your general asana practice should grow together with the efforts that you invest in extending your meditation count. Yogic texts suggest that a pure vegetarian diet is necessary for such an intense practice, and so is abstaining from negative thoughts and emotions. Everything in the life of the yogi should be well measured and within reason. The sequence will now be: LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM OM – OM – OM – OM – OM – OM – OM on the way up and the reverse on the way down. Use the additional time gained to meditate in the chakras on the following yantra shapes of the elements in the chakras: Muladhara Chakra (coccygeal): element earth – yantra = square Svadhishthana Chakra (sacral): element water – yantra = moon crescent lying on its back Manipura Chakra (lumbar): element fire – yantra = triangle with apex down Anahata Chakra (thoracic): element air – yantra = hexagram Vishuddha Chakra (cervical): element ether – yantra = circle

Ajna Chakra (cranial): intelligence – yantra = triangle with apex down For example, when you are entering in your imagination the Muladhara Chakra you would start to pronounce LAM seven times. While doing so you would see the chakra in its perineal location, with four petals of crimson colour, and you would think of the solidity of the element earth represented by a square. At this point think of the square in black and white only. We deal with colours later. You would then, on the inhalation, go up through the chakras, pronouncing each root syllable seven times and recalling all constituents of meditation as integrated so far.

Exercise 12e: Pronounce each bija akshara eight times and add the yantra colour

Yantras in chakras The final Raja Yoga step taught in this text will lead us to an approximate length for each inhalation and exhalation of 48 seconds and so to a breath cycle of 96 seconds. Needless to say, you must be very healthy to reach such a count, particularly with regard to your heart and lungs. Such a practice needs to be supported by pranayama, including extensive internal and external kumbhakas, and proficiency in kriyas etc. Once you have integrated seven pronunciations of each mantra per chakra, combined with visualizing the yantra shape of each element, it is now time to

add yantra colour. This will again bind more bandwidth of your mind and deepen your meditation. This in turn will enable you to slow down your breath again. For this purpose we will increase the number of mantras per chakra to eight repetitions. Do not set yourself a time limit or goal for this but, as in all previous steps, let your body tell you when it is ready and practice empty of ambition. The sequence will now be: LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM – LAM VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM – VAM RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM – RAM YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM – YAM HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM – HAM OM – OM – OM – OM – OM – OM – OM – OM on the way up and the reverse on the way down. Use the additional time gained to meditate in the chakras on the following colours of the yantras within the chakras: Muladhara Chakra: element = earth, yantra = square, colour = yellow Svadhishthana Chakra: element = water, yantra = moon crescent, colour = white Manipura Chakra: element = fire, yantra = triangle, colour = red Anahata Chakra: element = air, yantra = hexagram, colour = smoke coloured, grey Vishuddha Chakra: element = ether, yantra = circle, colour = white Ajna Chakra: intelligence, yantra = triangle, colour = lightning colour Add now the colour of the yantra to your meditation. This means that for example while you pronounce LAM eight times you visualize the Muladhara in its perineal location with four crimson red petals, and inside of the pericarp of the flower, representing the solidity of the earth element, a yellow square. As the inhalation proceeds, repeat the same process for all chakras upwards and again on the way down during the exhalation. DEEPENING ONE’S RAJA YOGA OR MOVING ON TO BHAKTI YOGA

This method can be extended ad infinitum until Kevala Kumbhaka is reached (spontaneous suspension of breath, the goal of pranayama). Each added layer brings a deeper level of mastery of dharana (concentration), the sixth limb of yoga. You may add the sense (tanmatra) for each chakra from Muladhara to Vishuddha, which are the olfactory, gustatory, visual, tactile and audio

senses, and mind as the organizer of the five senses for the Ajna Chakra. You may then go on to add the respective Sanskrit letters for each of the petals. However, the meditation as it stands here will be sufficient or more than that for most people, and instead of increasing the mental side it is better to develop the devotional side, which means going on to Bhakti Yoga – meditation on the Divine. While we could go into much more detail and add on many more layers of mental discipline, it is important to venture from here into the spiritual and mystical plane. Just as the physical aspect of yoga, the Hatha Yoga, can lead to mindless bodybuilding if it does not lead to the mental dimension of Raja Yoga, so can Raja Yoga lead to heartless empowering of the mind if it does not merge into Bhakti Yoga, the mystical and spiritual dimension of yoga. However, on the other hand, without the preparation of Hatha and Raja Yogas, the pinnacle of Bhakti is not easy to obtain. In this way these three dimensions of yoga form one organic whole, and none of them is to be sneered at if it is done in the context of the others. In suggesting that you start to integrate Bhakti Yoga into your practice, I do not mean to say that the upper echelons of Raja Yoga are not important. The opposite is the case. They are extremely important. However, before one enters them it is important to have an experience of the Divine so that then you can, with complete trust, place yourself in its service. For if one’s heart is empty of devotion, even the Raja Yogin or Yogini can be tempted by the dark arts. Before the higher aspects of Raja Yoga are tampered with, one needs to stoke into one’s heart a great passion to act for the good of all. Patanjali explains the guiding principle of Raja Yoga thus: ‘When the mind-waves are reduced the mind appears to truthfully reflect any object that it is directed towards like a pristine crystal, whether it be the perceived, the process of perceiving or the perceiver. This state is called identity (samapatti).’100 In this sutra Patanjali compares the evolved mind to a jewel or polished crystal. If a completely clear crystal is placed on an object, only the object itself will appear in the crystal and the crystal itself will not be visible, or hardly so. The crystal itself will just work like a magnifying glass, enhancing the features of the object. The path of higher Raja Yoga is to purify and clarify the mind to such an extent that it works like a giant magnifying glass. For this purpose it needs to be purified of all its inherent perceptual biases, caused by subconscious

imprint (samskara) and conditioning (vasana).101 For only then, as Patanjali says: ‘In samadhi the object alone shines forth without being modified by the mind at all.’102 The purifying of the mind or polishing of the crystal, as Patanjali has it, is undertaken through serious pranayama practice and yogic meditation as described in this text. Once this has occurred, the mind can be directed at appropriate objects to unlock their secrets. Patanjali devoted the entire third chapter of the Yoga Sutra to listing appropriate objects and the knowledge that may be derived by downloading their essence (dharmi). While this part of the text is called Vibhuti Padah, that is chapter on powers, the yogi was never meant to walk around and think ‘Oh, am I powerful’. The powers are meant to be harnessed and used for the greater good, that is by creating science. The term science here is not used in the sense of western science. The English ‘science’ is derived from the Latin scientia, meaning knowledge, and the Latin term itself is derived from the Sanskrit original chinta – thought. In ancient days science was not derived by trial, error, falsification and quantitative study, but by qualitative methods. The rishis would sit down and by means of yogic methods polish their minds until they had become like clear crystals. When directed like lasers towards appropriate objects, these minds could penetrate them and create the ancient sciences. In exactly this way Patanjali conceived the Yoga Sutra103 and his treatises on medicine104 and Sanskrit grammar. The Raja Yogi makes scientific contributions to humanity. He/ she does so because they have seen the essential reality of the world and all objects in objective samadhi. In this regard they are very different from Shankara and his Advaita Vedantins, who believe the world to be an illusion. Shankara recommends looking at the world with as much interest as one would have for the excrement of a crow.105Patanjali disagrees with that view. After the mind’s crystal is polished the sacred order of this world can be seen.106 Only then we can see objects as they truly are and not as we want them to be.107 It is then that we discover the world is not an illusion but breathtakingly real. HOW MUCH TO PRACTISE?

As the complexity of this practice will by now surely be apparent, you must be concerned about how much you would have to practise it. After all, you

may already be devoting significant time to asana and possibly even pranayama and kriya practice. What else can one demand of you? It is true that you can practise too much. This would be the case if your practice led you to neglecting your duties towards society and family. Sages such as Vasishta said that yoga can only succeed if undertaken in conjunction with fulfilling one’s duty towards society and family.108 This same view is taught in the Bhagavad Gita by Lord Krishna, who says ‘By outwardly performing your duties but inwardly not being attached to the outcome, knowledge is gained.’109 Again, this truth is also confirmed in the Hatha Tatva Kaumudi, which proclaims that yogis need to maintain the fulfilment of their professional duties (varna) and those pertaining to their stage of life (ashrama).110 It is clear that yogic traditions do not recommend that the practitioner become a dropout, but you can also practise too little. What then is the appropriate amount of practice for the individual? In order to determine this we have to take into account ashrama, varna, yuga and svadharma. ASHRAMA

Ashrama means stage of life. According to the Vedas, life unfolds in four stages – Brahmachary, Grhastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa. Brahmachary means student, lasting on average to about 25 years of age. Remember, though, that the average hardly ever exists in reality. During this first stage one learns the skills needed for life, and the practice appropriate here is asana, with some asana mudras like Yoga Mudra, Maha Mudra, Tadaga Mudra and Viparita Karani Mudra interspersed. The second stage of life is called Grhastha, meaning householder. During this second period of 25 years on average, most people choose a partner and fulfil professional duties or run a business. During that time one maintains one’s asana practice, but pranayama now takes centre stage. Pranayama guarantees health by balancing the doshas, it deletes karmic demerit and it helps in gaining mastery over the many aspects of life. The Vedas consider it imprudent, at this time of life, to reduce the attention dedicated to family and professional, mercantile or administrative services rendered to society. Additionally, during that ashrama the basic technique of meditation should be learned. However, it is not necessary to invest a lot of time into it. Much more important is to learn a sophisticated technique. Once the method taught here is mastered to a certain extent, you may attain mystical states relatively

quickly. In many cases 10 minutes of meditation per day may be enough. Please also note that on days when you have ample time you might practise for an hour and take the exultation then reached into days when only 10 minutes are available. The third ashrama is called Vanaprastha (forest-dweller stage), which lasts from approximately 50 to 75. The name is reflective of the fact that, in ancient society, during that stage of life people downsized and moved out into nature for inspiration and practice. In the days of the Veda, the Vanaprasthas were still available to family and society in a counselling role, but one’s practice time was now significantly increased due to reduced professional duties and one’s children taking care of themselves. While the overall time of all practices combined is doubled or more than doubled, one might reduce emphasis on asana practice while significantly increasing the time spent practising pranayama, with yogic meditation now taking centre stage. The main focus of the Vanaprastha ashrama is spirituality and the preparation for samadhi. This is the essential step we are missing today, usually due to material aspirations. At a certain point in our lives we need to decide what is more important – our wallet or our spiritual heart. To choose the spiritual heart does not even necessarily mean that our material welfare will go on the backburner, but it usually does imply readiness to reduce consumption. This is a problem today, when we are being taught to look forward to ever greater and greater levels of consumption as we get older. This is a way of disempowering our elders, as they used to become wiser instead of competing with youngsters in the arenas of limited resources and consumption. Yoga means to become independent of external stimuli. This independence frees up time for more spiritual practice because we spend less time in the pursuit of material goals. In the beginning, however, one needs to invest a small amount of time daily into gaining that independence in the first place. The final stage of life, starting on average from age 75, is called Sannyasa, meaning full-time mystic. After having devoted the Vanaprastha ashrama in great part to the various limbs of yoga, one harvests now the benefit of being permanently established in meditation and service to the Divine. In order to determine the time necessary to devote to practice, we need to

ascertain in which ashrama or stage of life we currently are. Since we are not living any more in a Vedic society, the ashrama model cannot be applied directly, but we can generally gauge at which stage we are and increase practice time as we mature and become more independent from material gratification. The ashrama model also encourages us to give some thought to the direction we would like to mature into and how this could impact on our material choices. VARNA

Varna means professional group. It is also used to mean caste, but in the old days castes were not hereditary but determined by the way one wanted to serve the Divine and humanity. What exists today in India as the caste system is a perversion of that ancient order. Depending on your profession, you need to practise more or less. If you are in the spiritual profession (in the Vedas called Brahmins), such as yoga teachers, you need to practise more relative to other professions. To some extent you will need to attain what you are teaching or, in the meantime, be sincere about the pursuit of such attainment. Brahmins are supposed to be ruled by sattva, and to increase sattva (wisdom and sacred intelligence) more practice needs to be done than by other professional groups. The next caste or professional group is called Kshatriya. In ancient days this was the nobility, but today we would call them politicians and administrators. Kshatriyas are ruled by rajas with a sattva influence. They have a strong urge to rule and to dominate (rajas comes from the same verb root as raj – king) but this rule needs to be guided by wisdom and intelligence; otherwise there is little benefit for the wider population. A society will come to naught if those in power will not perform spiritual practice of some sort, as their intellect then will always remain clouded. As a politician and administrator you need to engage in a significant amount of spiritual practice so that those under your rule can benefit from the wisdom of your decisions. The third caste or professional group is the Vaishyas, the merchants and businesspeople. They are thought to be mainly under the sway of tamas, which leads to the desire for acquisition. But again this tamas is combined with a certain amount of sattva so that their business decisions are influenced by wisdom and not by greed. Since Vaishyas are such an integral part of

society if it is to flourish, businesspeople need to perform spiritual practice, as wealth and power always load responsibility on to their shoulders. Pranayama especially will also increase one’s proficiency in making business decisions, as it increases skill in choosing the appropriate brain hemisphere for tasks at hand. The final group is called Shudra, which means those who work only to earn a wage and then spend it to obtain pleasure. In the old days they were not expected to do a lot of practice. From an egalitarian point of view, however, all should be able to harvest the benefits of such practice, as it makes everybody capable of giving. This view is shared by sage Vasishta, who says that yoga is common duty for all varnas and ashramas.111 SVADHARMA

Your professional group (varna) is determined by svadharma. Svadharma is your own sacred duty; it is what you are here for to contribute to this world. Every human being has a unique svadharma, a unique way of how the Divine expresses itself through you. It is your way of adding to this grand artwork of divine creativity that is the world. Nobody else can tell you what your svadharma is. You can only experience it yourself and find it in your heart. The most straightforward way is to find it through spiritual practice such as the meditation taught here. YUGA

Finally let’s explore how practice time is related to world age. Of the four world ages Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali Yuga, we are currently in the fourth and last. I have previously pointed out in detail the relationship between world age and type of mind.112 During the first age, Satya Yuga, our minds still gravitated towards the nirodha (suspended) state, which today has become the coveted goal of yoga. Meditation then was not necessary for the average person. Meditation was an integral part of spiritual practice during ages 2 and 3. The types of mind predominant during those ages, namely the ekagra mind (during Treta Yuga) and vikshipta mind (during Dvapara Yuga), both lend themselves to meditation, albeit to a decreasing extent. Today, as one would expect in the Kali Yuga, the average person gravitates towards the type of mind called infatuation (mudha). This means that today we are much more identified with our bodies and wallets than in the days of the Veda. It

also explains our irrational infatuation with celebrities, sports stars, entertainers and trivia of all sorts. Due to this identification with the body, you will see much fewer people around you practising the higher limbs, but do not become detracted by this. In fact be encouraged and use it to triple your enthusiasm. For the good news is that, due to acceleration of time quality (and entropy) as history rushes towards the great attractor at its conclusion, time spent in spiritual practice is today much more effective than in earlier ages. We read stories of ancient rishis having to engage in particular forms of practice for 10,000 or more years. They had to practise for such a long time because time moved very slowly then, and it took a long time to make any changes. What this basically means is that time today is much more squashed together; we may say it is denser than in the ancient days. You may hear people saying that things happen faster and faster today and the world changes more quickly. This is not just a subjective experience: time quality does accelerate in Kali Yuga. Look at how many great inventions humanity has produced in the last hundred years It took us around 350 years before that time frame to generate the same amount of invention and before that almost a thousand years. Time does accelerate more and more. This makes it initially harder to practise meditation, as there are so many distractions available, but once the initial hurdle is overcome, and we have put the computer and handheld device to sleep, the Kali Yuga is a great time to practise. But one thing needs to be understood in this context: the Varaha Purana and other texts say that in the Kali Yuga actions can lead to success only if they are performed with utmost precision. In previous ages we were able to use intuition and could, so to say, ‘wangle our way’. Modern humanity has lost this ability, and those who bellieve in utilizing intuition instead often fall prey to the whims of the mind. At the outset of the Kali Yuga in India a new class of scriptures arose that described each act to be performed in minute detail. These scriptures are called the Tantras, and there are about 800 of them. Interestingly enough, during a similar period western societies had ideas that were much the same and created western science, which like the Tantras describes everything in minute detail, much as in engineering manuals. You will find the same concept in this book; this is a scientifically precise engineering manual for meditation. Using this method with precision,

predictable outcomes can be achieved. Do not leave meditation to chance. Like asana and pranayama, yoga meditation is an exact science!

Summary 1. Slowly phase in meditation over the entire length of your life. Increase the time spent in meditation from stage to stage. 2. Practise the time of meditation appropriate to your purpose and function in society. Those in the spiritual profession need to practise most. Those in power and the wealthy have a heightened responsibility to practise, as it develops higher intelligence. For everyone, meditation will increase their ability to contribute to the life of others. 3. To practise meditation will help you to find your divine purpose in life, your svadharma. 4. The sophistication and precision of your method of meditation, rather than the time spent performing it, is decisive for your development.

Part 3

The Bhakti Yoga Laws or the Spiritual Dimension of Meditation

While Hatha Yoga constitutes preparation for Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga is the fruit of both. According to the Hatha Tatva Kaumudi, Hatha Yoga is useless if the ecstasy of Bhakti is not attained.113 While some of the methods of Raja Yoga are here further refined, the results of Raja Yoga – its harvest – constitute the main subject of Part 3 of this text. Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion to the Divine, is the culmination of yoga (although some say it has to merge into Jnana Yoga, which is discussed in Chapter 17). It is important for the Bhakti yogi to prepare through the Hatha and Raja Yogas. Although it is important that your yoga has a devotional component right from the beginning, if one makes Bhakti one’s main practice right from the outset, the problem is that one may end up becoming a believer. If you believe in a particular form of the Divine what will you do if you meet others who believe in another form? You either doubt and become converted or you have a strong belief and, in order to prove it, try to convert others, which often leads to conflict. True Bhakti leads you to an experience or view (darshana) of the Divine. When you then meet others who have other beliefs you will never be threatened. Instead of that there arises in you the wish to support them and lead them to an experience of the Divine, not according to your beliefs but according to theirs. And this is exactly what the difference is between a religious believer and a bhakta (a practitioner of Bhakti Yoga). A true bhakta knows that there is only one Divine. This one Divine has spawned all sacred traditions and therefore can be reached effectively through every single sacred tradition. The question is not which tradition is right or wrong, for there is none. The question is, how can the Divine be reached quickly? The fastest way of enabling somebody to have a mystical experience is to create it within their tradition, within their context and not by destroying their beliefs beforehand. For Bhakti Yoga to be truly effective it has to grow out of Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga. Hatha Yoga is the motor of all yoga, whereas Raja Yoga is its intelligence. Both together make a formidable combination and can enable one to attain the mystical aspects of yoga. But unless they are yoked by the heart of Bhakti Yoga, one still follows one’s own agenda. With Bhakti Yoga one becomes able to serve the Divine and humanity and fulfil one’s own destiny.

Due to having been charred by religion, modern students often baulk at the devotional aspect of yoga. They cannot relate to a Divine outside of themselves. That is no problem. In this case just look at Lord Krishna, Jesus Christ or the Buddha as being a representation of the noblest within you, as a representation of your inner sacred being and of your highest aspirations. If you begin in this way you will gravitate towards the sacred within you and may get a confirmation of the Divine outside of you later on. WHAT DETERMINES THE SPEED OF YOUR SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION?

The velocity of your spiritual evolution is determined by several factors, foremost amongst which are: your karmic load the sophistication of your practice the intensity of your practice the grace of the Divine. Let’s look at those factors briefly: Karmic load Your karmic load is determined by the totality of your past thoughts, emotions, communications and actions. There are three forms of karma, of which Prarabdha karma is the one that has formed your present body and situation. It is difficult to change this karma, as it has come to fruition already. If you want to change it you need to take extraordinary measures (such as very advanced pranayama practice), and there needs to be a significant benefit for your environment for such a practice to succeed. For most people, Prarabdha karma is what we need to come to terms with and accept. Because of Prarabdha karma some people will progress faster than others. If powerful obstacles to your spiritual practice become apparent, they are due to past actions. You need to accept the results of your past actions and proceed with your spiritual practice undeterred. Sanchita karma, the second type, is the karma that you have produced by your past actions but has not yet come to fruition. It has not yet become active because the opportunity for its fruition has not yet arisen. But do not doubt that just because it has not become active your karmic storehouse

(karmashaya) is brimming with karma that is waiting to come into action. For, as Lord Krishna said, ‘You and I are ancient beings and have lived many lives. The difference between us is that I do remember my past embodiments, you do not.’114This almost infinite number of past embodiments has given us ample opportunity to collect karmas and, as Patanjali says, ‘In the case of the average person these karmas are mixed, meaning they do contain a significant amount of demerit.115 The only reliable way of dealing with Sanchita karma is to intercept it before it comes to fruition. This is done by attaining spiritual freedom before it fructifies. When attaining spiritual freedom, the seeds of karma become scorched and cannot fructify any more. Note that this approach works with Sanchita karma but not with Prarabdha karma. Fructification of Sanchita karma generally occurs during or right before one obtains one’s next embodiment. This means that, from the total amount of Sanchita karma in your storehouse, the part that needs to be attended to most urgently, converts itself into Prarabdha karma to form your new embodiment. From that moment onwards the Prarabdha karma will play itself out one way or another, whether the remainder of Sanchita karma can still be intercepted. If this is duly contemplated and truly understood, one uses this fact as a strong motor to increase the intensity and sophistication of one’s practice, as both factors will enable us to intercept Sanchita karma. Kriyamana karma, the final form of karma, is what you are creating now that will bear fruit in the future. With your thoughts and actions today you are creating who you will be tomorrow. Contemplating Kriyamana karma will make you understand that you are creating now in this moment who you will be in the future. Whoever you have been in the past, whatever your limitations have been, leave it behind and boldly create through your spiritual practice the new person you will be in the future. This future does not have to be many years or even lifetimes in the future. It will start exactly in the next moment from now. Now! Summarizing, while there are certain aspects of karma that are difficult to change, the overwhelming thrust of the teaching of karma goes in the direction that we need to take responsibility for who we are and, if our ship is drifting towards the shallows or rapids, then it is our responsibility to change its course and not that of our parents, teachers, governments, unions,

churches or whoever else. As it is inherently difficult to determine what exactly our karmic load is, we need not be deterred by it and, despite its existence – or better, precisely because of its existence – move forward with confidence and enthusiasm. Karma teaches us a three-pronged strategy: 1. Consciously choose today your thoughts, emotions and actions to create who you want to be tomorrow. 2. Take responsibility for your actions performed in the past. 3. Work towards spiritual liberation in this life. Sophistication of practice Excellent karma in India is often called ‘the gift of the last birth’, although it is not really a gift but something that has in all cases been earned. But even if you have excellent karma and great vigour to pursue your practice, little is gained if you do not proceed with the right steps. Similarly, an engineer who assembles an engine made up of various parts will not get much energy output unless he assembles it in the right order. The Taittirya Upanishad and other yogic texts have laid stress on the fact that the human being is made up of various layers, all of which need to be addressed by different forms of practice such as asana, kriya, pranayama, meditation, yoga philosophy, devotion. If these practices are not combined and linked, progress will be slow or not forthcoming at all. Sophistication of practice means that you practise all major aspects of yoga and combine practices that were designed to fit together such as yogic asana, yogic breath work and yogic meditation practices. Each of these components should be designed using similar yogic principles. The speed of your success will increase if you combine yogic asana with meditation techniques that follow laws. Intensity of practice The intensity of your practice is often determined by what motivates you. Some people are motivated by what they are trying to get away from. A good example of this motivation is the Tibetan yogi Milarepa. Following the command of his mother to destroy her enemies, he murdered 35 people with black magic. After he had completed this act, the karmic consequences of his actions dawned upon him. Driven by fear of the karmic results, he motivated

himself to such an extent that he practised for several decades almost unceasingly. He attained not only liberation in one lifetime but became one of the most influential spiritual teachers of his country and continues to be a beacon of light even today. On the other scale of motivation is the desire to attain what you do want. The Rishi Yajnavalkya tells us in the Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad that the ecstasy of realizing the infinite consciousness is one trillion times greater than the ecstasy gained by combining the maximum pleasure available through power, sex and money. Acharya Gaudapada said that the ecstasy of attaining the infinite consciousness was beyond being expressed in words. Yogis need to motivate themselves by looking forward to these states. If you do not know where you are going you will end up somewhere else. Ideally one motivates oneself simultaneously by looking forward to the positive results of spiritual practice and contemplating the negative results that can be avoided through it. That way the greatest intensity of practice can be achieved and then success will come swiftly, as Patanjali said.116 Grace of the Divine The most important factor in attaining spiritual liberation is an act of grace of the Divine. Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutra, explains, Samadhi siddhi Ishvara pranidhanat, meaning the power of samadhi is attained through devotion to the Divine.117 How does one attract the grace of the Divine? By intensely loving the Divine. Lord Krishna says to Arjuna that nothing is more resistible to God than the love of the devotee.118 God cannot but show grace to the devotee who loves selflessly. But for this it is necessary to love the Divine without asking for anything – to love the Divine for what it is and not for its powers to fulfil wishes such as the longing for spiritual liberation or even worldly objects. When you fall in love you do not want to spoil it by constantly asking the beloved for favours. He/she may otherwise feel you are not interested in them but only in their ability to grant you favours or boons. How can one selflessly love the Divine without asking for anything? It is possible after one has gained at least a glimpse of the Divine, after one has experienced some form of divine revelation. After seeing that God is boundless beauty, infinite love, creativity and freedom, it is actually difficult to feel anything but pure selfless love towards the Divine. In Part 3 of this

text, which now follows, we will deal with how to gain a direct glimpse of the Divine.

Chapter 13

LAW 13: THE CHAKRAS CONSTITUTE STAGES OF BRAIN DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS LIFE AS DIVINE LOVE. The Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati states that nobody can be called a yogi who has no understanding of the chakras.119 This chapter deals with this understanding. Chakra meditation, if done in the sophisticated, high-powered way set out here, will propel the evolution of your brain and the awakening of your higher intelligence. This chapter will show you an outline of the evolution that we may possibly undergo as individuals and as a collective. These essays are the result of my study of scripture and my personal experiences with the chakras. The majority of these experiences were gained by practising the meditation technique described in this book, supported through daily practice of asana, kriya, pranayama etc. I am offering here a new map of the chakras. The reason for creating this new map is that the existing descriptions do not satisfactorily explain the evolution of human society up to this point in history, nor what could lie ahead. Additionally, the importance of chakra opening in the individual as motor for the future evolution of human society has not been shown. I also explain in detail what happens if the chakras are opened in an order other than the natural one; and for each chakra I have shown the detriment that results if one leaves it out and goes straight to the next one. Much of this information has not been provided in existing descriptions. This chapter proffers knowledge of the individual chakras. This knowledge is not essential to performing the meditation described in this book, but it does provide a map such that you do not feel you are groping in the dark. You will also find here information for working on individual chakras, if that is required. Such work would make sense only if you recognise blockages in certain areas of your life that relate to a particular chakra. Mystical experiences do not automatically confer on us mastery of life. For example the opening of the highest two chakras without opening the middle two chakras would lead to paranoia or schizophrenia. Mastery of life is gained through the ability to spontaneously place prana into the appropriate

chakra for a particular situation. This chapter will cover the purpose of each of the chakras and where the prana has to be placed for various duties and functions. This description of the chakras is not exhaustive, but it is sufficient for day-to-day use. You will find here descriptions of only the six main chakras – as listed, for example, in the yoga scriptures Shat Chakra Nirupana and Yoga Kundalini Upanishad.120 There are many more, but those described below are the important ones. Some of the higher chakras are not really chakras but chakra systems, which consist of up to half a dozen sub-chakras, but it is not necessary to go into such potentially confusing detail in a text that essentially deals with meditative experience and technique. The seventh main chakra, the thousand-petalled Sahasrara, is described in Chapter 17.

The six main chakras Muladhara Chakra (base chakra) Location: perineum Quality: tamasic Element: earth Sense: smell Colour: crimson red, dark red Petals: four Mantra: LAM Yantra: yellow square The Muladhara Chakra’s main function is survival, with its two modes of attack and flight. This chakra contains our reptilian past. A reptile can choose only whether the object in front of it constitutes prey, in which case it attacks, or a superior predator, in which case it will choose flight. When the Muladhara Chakra is closed we are not in a position to ensure our own survival – this is a life-threatening situation. On the other hand situations of extreme danger like war can lead to closure of the higher chakras and only the Muladhara remaining open. This explains atrocities committed at times of war by people who were previously considered civilized. The Muladhara is also the seat of the eliminative function (defecation, etc.), and people who are dominated by this chakra often display an

abundance of anal/faecal expressions in their language. The yamas (ethical rules) of Patanjali address the urges of this chakra through enjoining ahimsa, harmlessness or non-violence. Ahimsa promotes control of the rudimentary reptilian urges of the Muladhara Chakra. A person incapable of going beyond Muladhara may come across as a psychopath. Muladhara excludes the typical warmth and cooperation that goes on between mammals, and in the throes of Muladhara one is usually incapable of going beyond one’s own selfish interests. It is impossible to experience compassion and exercise forgiveness if reduced to the Muladhara Chakra. On this level one sees others as competitors at best and threats at worst. Unfortunately, large parts of our education system are still based on promoting competition between children instead of cooperation, which tends to reduce them to the level of Muladhara. Many politicians have sought election through a Muladhara-based platform by portraying foreigners or religious and ethnic minorities as threats. Many mass sporting events address the urges of this chakra by pitching individuals against each other in gladiator fashion. There would not be a lot of situations in life when a yogi would choose to place prana into Muladhara apart from when survival is threatened. The inability to take care of one’s survival is an effect of the so-called Brahma granthi, the energetic blockage named after Lord Brahma. There are three of those granthis, and the first one affects the two lower chakras. It is called Brahma granthi because in Hindu mythology Lord Brahma presides over creation. Brahma in the Hindu tradition is identical with Abraham in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition – note the similarity of the two names. A blockage of Muladhara Chakra through Brahma granthi could cause, for example, suicide or reckless behaviour that endangers one’s life. Mula Bandha is designed to stimulate Muladhara Chakra and the Kundalini, which is visualized as being right beneath this chakra. The ideal posture for practising Mula Bandha is Siddhasana, in which the left heel is placed against the perineum and the right foot on top of the left foot. Svadhishthana Chakra (lower abdominal chakra) Location: sacral Quality: tamasic Element: water

Sense: taste Colour: orange red, bright red Petals: six Mantra: VAM Yantra: white moon crescent In modern vernacular the Svadhishthana Chakra is often dubbed the ‘sex chakra’ due to the obsession of modern society with this topic. This chakra encompasses the mammalian functions of our brain. Mammals reproduce through sexual intercourse; hence sexuality is part of the function of this chakra. However, Svadhishthana goes far beyond that. For example the ability to care for and make great sacrifices for one’s progeny are functions of the mammalian brain, not just the bare act of procreation. Furthermore, in order to raise their young, mammals* and humans become involved in complex family and group dynamics. And the act of claiming and defending a territory with the support of one’s clan or family is directed by this chakra. In humans, territorial behaviour goes beyond claiming physical space and includes professional, emotional and intellectual territory. Following a leader, whether this be in the political, spiritual, corporate or some other arena, is a function directed by this chakra. You will not see a group of reptiles following a leader to achieve a common goal. Svadhishthana teaches us to create advantages by joining forces with other individuals of the same species. This chakra directs the urge to cooperate with others to reinforce their and our security. Svadhishthana determines group behaviour and the ability of humans to recharge simply by being in the presence of family and friends. If individuals are kept isolated from people with whom they have close relationships, they suffer – a mechanism that is exploited in solitary detention. When groups of friends meet it is often noticeable that each individual arrives with an emotional charge very different from the others’. Physical postures and facial expressions change, reflecting the fact that groups produce and recycle collective emotions. By the time they part from each other they often feel worthy, accepted, loved and part of a group. They have achieved this by recycling and equalizing their emotional charges. This is an activity that forms a strong bond between groups of mammals and humans, and to a large extent it directs the behaviour of individuals, as the group or clan we belong

to can censor or enforce behaviour by refusing to recycle emotions. By making self-worth dependent on whether they are loved and accepted by their peers, both mammals and humans can successfully direct the behaviour of individuals to the advantage of the group. This is a powerful part of the Svadhishthana function. From a yogic perspective, Asperger’s syndrome and autism constitute a partial blockage of the Svadhishthana Chakra. It means that the complex function of recycling emotions with others is fully or partially blocked. However, unlike the psychopath, who is limited to the Muladhara, an autistic person will have some of the upper chakras open and can be a genius at higher levels. This is reflective of the fact that the Svadhishthana function is very complex and demands a large part of our brain’s bandwidth – typically to decipher facial expressions and other forms of non-verbal communication. If this bandwidth is diverted towards, for example, mathematics or a similar skill, a person can become extremely proficient in it but seemingly incapable of basic human communication and warmth. In some mystics the opening of higher chakras can lead to prana shifting away from Svadhishthana, which may lead to social ineptitude, much like autistic behaviour. If the Svadhishthana is blocked, which, as with Muladhara, is the domain of the Brahma granthi, we may be incapable of taking adequate care of our offspring and family. This blockage may also express itself in the downright inability to produce progeny or in sabotaging one’s own creative force. As well, it can prevent the afflicted from reading the emotions of others and communicating through emotions. Those in the grip of Brahma granthi may also be incapable of teamwork and fitting into a group. Some people argue that since we are mammals we should imitate the sexual behaviour of other mammals. For example they say that we are not designed to be faithful. However, those who argue this position fail to notice that, while we have indeed inherited mammalian brain circuitry, we have gone far beyond mammals in our evolution. A human being can never become emotionally, socially, intellectually and spiritually mature when imitating the sexual habits of species it has left far behind in evolution. The Svadhishthana can be under- but also over-stimulated. Its overstimulation may result in frequent explicit sexual expression in one’s language but also in overuse of sexuality to define one’s identity, such as in the case of the gigolo, the Casanova or the seductress. This indicates that one

is overwhelmed by the Svadhishthana function. The restraints (yamas, first limb) of Patanjali counteract this tendency by means of brahmacharya, sexual restraint. Some species of mammals fight out their hierarchy until the alpha male and female are determined. The alpha individuals then go on to procreate either with one another or with the rest of the herd, flock or pod in order to produce the strongest or largest number of progeny. This may be an appropriate strategy for animals, but not for humans. The human being needs to use procreation as a device ‘to recognize the Brahman, the Divine, in [the] partner’, as Rishi Yajnavalkya puts it. It was to further this purpose that there came the introduction of brahmacharya – seeing the consciousness, the divine self, in every individual. This excludes reducing them to their body for the purpose of carnal satisfaction or merely to produce the strongest progeny.121 A blockage of Svadhishthana Chakra through Brahma granthi could cause either an impediment of one’s sexual function or its exaggeration and the inability to go beyond it. Svadhishthana means ‘own abode’ and the name is related to the fact that this chakra was the original location of Kundalini before it fell down to Muladhara. There are yogic techniques that improve the function of this chakra and aim at raising Kundalini from here – such as Bahya (external) Uddiyana, Nauli and Kapalabhati – but also techniques that insure against its over-expression such as external kumbhaka, placing the heel against the genital in Siddhasana or Vajroli Mudra, which consists of sucking the urethra inwards to prevent an exaggerated outward projection of the sexual force. The Svadhishthana function is considered sacred – and note how this coincides with its location, the sacrum. The ancient Greeks, who named the bone the sacred bone, knew of the link of this chakra with Kundalini. The sacrum, if floating properly in the sacroiliac joints, performs a bowing or nodding movement, which is called nutation, and its retraction is called counter-nutation. These subtle movements turn the sacrum into a pump of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF not only massages the brain, makes it pulsate and supplies it with nutrients, it also connects the Svadhishthana directly with the Ajna Chakra (third-eye chakra), which is located in a CSF-filled cavity in the brain, the third ventricle. In this way CSF and the sacrum are directly related to the phenomenon of Kundalini. But why exactly is this chakra called sacred? Because the Svadhishthana

in our parents functioned properly, providing us with a body that is now for us a vehicle on the road to freedom. The Vedas teach that it is appropriate for most people to pass on this service to the next generation. If you have children, do not think that raising them is in any way opposed to yoga. The opposite is the case. Raising children is a sacred act, and there are few actions that derive more yogic merit. Human society is one of the main ways the Divine expresses its infinite creativity, and so the raising of children provides service to the Divine. The Svadhishthana is also the seat of basic emotions. If you have pets or love animals you will have noticed that we share many emotions with animals, particularly the mammals. In fact the reason why we can get so close to animals such as dogs, cats, horses and monkeys is that they share much of our emotional make-up and way of communicating. Emotions are related to the water element and influenced by the moon. Females, who are more emotional than males, often go through emotional cycles according to the moon phases. Notice also that if you stay close to large bodies of water they can make you more emotional as they, in a similar way to the moon, influence the emotional tides of your bodily fluids and hormones. Emotions of friends, family members or even animals close to you will influence your emotions too. That is why many yoga texts suggest choosing your company wisely. The sense associated with the Svadhishthana is taste. Notice that taste can only be conferred in a watery medium. If your tongue is completely dry you will not taste much. Due to its association with water and emotions, taste is the sense that has the strongest influence on our emotions. For this reason people who feel bad can change their mood by eating chocolate or drinking beer, for example. Alcohol is a fluid, and so is linked to the water chakra, whereas all other chakras are related to non-fluid stimulants. Alcohol in small quantities can stimulate sexual function and also increase our ability to communicate with others, addressing their emotionality. That’s why we are much more confident after a glass of alcoholic beverage. However, after a bit more alcohol we may fire up the territorial circuitry of our mammalian ancestry. For all of the above reasons the Advaita Vedantins refuse to meditate on the two lowest chakras; and Gaudapada (Shankara’s guru’s guru) suggested not doing so. The reasons why yogis do meditate on them is that we want to

harness the awesome, divine, creative force encrypted in them and direct it up for the purpose of our spiritual evolution and emancipation. That is of course not without dangers: many yogis have fallen victim to the incredible force of Kundalini, which if aroused and trapped in the lower chakras may turn one into a sex maniac. For this reason yogis consider meditating on this chakra exclusively only when one’s sexual function is impeded, if one lacks interest in and commitment to one’s children and family, or if one needs to perform certain actions related to this chakra. This could be in the case of an actor, a team athlete or an entertainer. The dark side of the function of Svadhishthana is of course nationalism, which can be exaggerated to the point of committing crimes against humanity such as genocide. Genocide becomes possible if political leaders arouse Svadhishthana’s destructive power within their constituencies. Apart from problems relating to a closed Svadhishthana, this chakra tends to produce trouble mainly if the higher chakras are closed. Then one tends to limit one’s perception to this chakra and may ‘act like an animal’. One also tends to exclusively identify with one’s family or tribe or nation, and cannot understand the notion of humanity being one family or of global citizenship. This danger does not exist if one continues to work on one’s spiritual evolution and opens the higher chakras in sequence. One of the reasons that Padmasana (lotus posture) is considered important by yogis is that it has an automatic tendency to draw energy upwards from the two lower chakras. It is initially difficult to get out of the gravitational field of the lower chakras, this being due to their tamasic nature. As a rocket shot into space needs to be accelerated until it leaves the gravitational field of Earth, so does the yogi have to exert himself in spiritual practice until the realm of the animalistic urges that are contained in the two tamasic chakras are overcome. Shakti being the gravitational descent of spirit into gross matter, if the spine is correctly aligned in Padmasana the countermovement of this descending force, the Kundalini, can be activated and surge up. Manipura Chakra (navel chakra) Location: lumbar Quality: rajasic Element: fire

Sense: visual Colour: blackish blue of the storm cloud Petals: ten Mantra: RAM Yantra: red triangle The Manipura is incredibly important for spiritual evolution. For the first time Kundalini here becomes relatively stable, whereas in the two lower chakras it is unstable and one can easily regress. The Manipura in the vernacular is sometimes called the power chakra and, although not exhaustive, the term is reasonably apt. Of the two storehouses of prana, the solar storehouse is in the Manipura. Since solar prana equates with power that can be wielded externally – the power to express oneself – this chakra has indeed a lot to do with personal power. Manipura is also the seat of agni, the element of fire. Generally agni occurs in the body in its impeded form called pitta or metabolic fire. The yogi aims at converting it into elemental fire, in which case it turns into fire of intelligence. Typical yogic practices that assist with this process are Nauli, Kapalabhati, Bahya (external) Uddiyana, external kumbhaka (breath retention), yogic meditation and study of sacred texts. If through pranic pressure (i.e. driving apana vayu, the vital downward current upwards) Kundalini is raised to Manipura Chakra, then it is here mingled and mixed with agni. The practice is then from here onwards called the path of fire and air. Yogis suggest raising her (i.e. Kundalini) by means of fire and air. Acquisition, accumulation and assimilation are the keywords and functions of Manipura Chakra. Manipura is the physical storehouse of prana, the power of the body. This applies not only to food, but also to wealth, power and most other things that can be assimilated, acquired and accumulated. If pitta, the metabolic fire located in this chakra, is impeded, one can develop a voracious appetite or grow to elephantine proportions. One can grow to such proportions not only physically but also on an economic or political level. On a more positive note, this chakra is responsible for assimilating and storing prana. In kumbhaka (breath retention) prana is extracted from the retained air and stored in the Manipura. It helps to visualize this process. If you need to distribute prana to injured areas of the body, then do so during the exhalation and visualize this occurring from Manipura Chakra. As the seat of agni, the metabolic fire that assembles the body from

building blocks derived from food, the Manipura is also the seat of health and of medical knowledge. Patanjali, one of the founders of Ayurveda, the Vedic science of medicine, says that he derived his medical knowledge by meditating on the Manipura Chakra.122 Health also is directly related to the strength of one’s agni. If agni is strong, many diseases can be neutralized, toxins destroyed and nutrients well absorbed. If agni is impure and corrupted it is called pitta, an impediment to the body, as are the other two doshas, vata and kapha. Yoga does not aim at a balance between the three doshas, as does Ayurveda, but rather at their ejection. Another form of assimilation/acquisition/accumulation that the Manipura Chakra stands for is wealth. Manipura means city of jewels and, although the original reference was probably to the blazing of agni, it refers to wealth too – and it can be noted that the Sanskrit Manipura gave rise to the English expression ‘money pool’. Manipura is responsible for developing merchant and entrepreneurial skills. The more open the Manipura Chakra, the more one is able to stand one’s ground in modern capitalist society. It is also responsible for developing leadership abilities, as it is linked to our primate brain. Leadership in human society is determined predominantly through non-verbal communication similar to that used by our primate ancestors when choosing their leader. While Muladhara represents our reptilian brain circuitry and the Svadhishthana our mammalian brain, the Manipura opens us to more complex primate brain functions. Primates do not choose their leaders merely through brute force. It has been found that, as with humans, primate leaders are those with the highest levels of serotonin, the hormone that triggers the pleasure principle. When apes at the bottom of the hierarchy were injected with serotonin they quickly fought their way up to the top, even against much larger opponents. After a few days, however, when the serotonin had worn off, they found themselves again at the bottom of the pile. Sales talk and linguistic skills, an aspect of leadership qualities, are also related to the Manipura, and they come of course with a bright side and a dark side. Note the closeness of the terms Manipura and manipulate. Great military, business and political leaders have strong solar prana and thus active Manipura Chakras. In order to serve society in any complex task, it is essential to activate this chakra. If Manipura is closed and higher chakras are open, you may become a seer but you will not be able to assert yourself in

society – you will be trodden upon. An inactive Manipura is often associated with a victim mentality, and an active Manipura combined with a closed heart chakra with the role of dominator. In the past women were often suppressed by encouraging them to open their heart chakras and be compassionate. Especially when paired with a male with an active Manipura and inactive heart chakra, the female becomes subservient and spends a life of sacrifice and servitude to the male. For the individual it is essential to place prana in Manipura when addressing a congregation or audience, when wanting to convince someone, when making business decisions, during board meetings of a corporation, when engaged in the legal profession, when performing surgery and other medical services, when leading a military unit, during food intake and digestion, during political negotiations and any commercial dealings, and during many scientific activities such as study. Please note that the ability to place prana into Manipura as such will not determine whether these abilities are used in an ethical way. Society relies on a certain percentage of individuals to activate Manipura; otherwise it will not function, much less flourish. Those with an active Manipura will automatically take leadership and put their stamp on society. However, it is essential that the power of Manipura be subject to ethical rules. Patanjali’s catalogue of ethics addresses Manipura Chakra through the yamas asteya (non-stealing) and aparigraha (non-greed). In the case of merchants, non-stealing includes taking an honourable amount of profit rather than an outrageous one. The notion of some utopians that any form of profit is unethical is unrealistic. For, as the law of Moses says, ‘It is not right to muzzle the ox as it treads out the grain.’123 If nobody was allowed to make a profit, our society would still be in the Middle Ages. The Vatican, however, seems to agree that there must be a limit to profit, as it has recently declared obscene wealth as a new mortal sin. However it must be said in support of the super-wealthy that recently more and more incredibly wealthy individuals have engaged in levels of charity that match or even exceed their levels of wealth, whether this is due to Pope Benedict’s timely reminder or not. It indicates that they have moved on from Manipura and started to open higher chakras. Non-greed also includes the nonacceptance of bribes. Today large corporations influence politics through

donations, lobbyism etc., often to the extent that their influence forms a type of shadow government. This constitutes one of the dark sides of Manipura influence. The sense associated with Manipura is the visual sense. It is the fire chakra. Seeing relies on light for images to be conveyed via the retina to the brain. Any form of light, whether emitted by the sun, reflected by the moon or created through artificial lighting, is nothing but a form of controlled fire. Analytical intelligence is also a function of this chakra; hence the importance of Manipura for scientific thinking. The power of intelligence is a form of fire, i.e. a higher octave of metabolic fire. As the sun sheds light on Earth, so does the fire of intelligence shed light on things of which we were hitherto ignorant. The Manipura is the first rajasic chakra. Rajas is one of the three qualities (gunas) of prakrti (creation, nature) and it stands for frantic activity. Those ruled by Manipura are the movers and shakers of society. For them there is no such thing as depression. They are always busy putting their stamp and mark on life and history. Like Svadhishthana, Manipura uses the limbic system to communicate with others by using non-verbal communication such as gesture and facial expression. But, in contrast to Svadhishthana, Manipura does not do so in order to feel secure and appreciated by forming bonds, but it uses the limbic brain to lead others, often to the advantage of the whole group. A group of primates or humans can only succeed when led by somebody with an open Manipura. If no such person is available, a crisis in the group will occur and somebody will be chosen as a leader who cannot fill this position. If, on the other hand, a Manipura person is available, this does not necessarily guarantee that their beliefs are useful for the group. It just means that leading will come naturally to them even if it means taking the tribe or nation happily over the edge of a cliff. History is full of tyrants who, with great conviction and lethal efficiency, led their people into doom. If we can understand Manipura and activate it in large groups of capable individuals, we can make a more informed decision as to who has the right program and not just the necessary charisma. Failure to go beyond this chakra leads to defining oneself through one’s wealth and looking for profit and material advantage in all situations. The global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 is a typical result of unbridled greed

brought about by too much dependence on Manipura Chakra. If, on the other hand, the Manipura Chakra is defunct or blocked, this is an effect of Vishnu granthi, the blockage of Vishnu. Vishnu is the maintainer of society. Vishnu blockage on the level of the Manipura means that we are unable to stake our claim in society and make our mark on it. It may mean that we have difficulty in succeeding in our profession or simply in making enough money. We may also find it difficult to convince others and lead them. It means as well that we have difficulty in making a meaningful contribution on the level of society. Some may think of merchants and businesspeople as selfish, but remember that without their service most goods would not be available to us. Manipura is the force behind the development of modern production facilities. In his Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx proposed three historical phases, which eventually would merge into communist society. The first phase, slaveholder society, can clearly be identified with the reptilian base chakra. His second phase, medieval feudal society, with its emphasis on binding families and clans to small territory and their often tyrannical leaders, closely tracks the second chakra, Svadhishthana. During the third historical phase, industrialism, its leading class, the bourgeoisie, developed production facilities. From a yogic perspective, Marx’s bourgeoisie is the class that fully opens the Manipura Chakra and develops its potential. It is interesting to note the importance Marx places on the development of modern industrial and entrepreneurial capacities. He has provided a precise analysis of the development of human society so far, which equates with yoga’s view of the first three chakras. But where to turn to from here? If humanity remains stuck at the level of Manipura, the industrial production facilities created under its thrall will, through unbridled greed, destroy this planet (and us with it) by exhausting its resources and poisoning it. It is therefore, even from the point of view of survival, a must that our spiritual evolution progresses to the next chakra, the heart chakra. As a professed atheist, Marx was of course silent on any such possibility. Ways of activating Manipura Chakra and reducing the activity of Vishnu granthi on this level include Nauli, external breath retention, Uddiyana Bandha, Bahya (external) Uddiyana, Nadi Shodhana pranayama and Surya Bhedana pranayama, all of which are described in detail in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga. Another important technique is of course to meditate on this

chakra exclusively while striking RAM into it. As with all previous chakras, after activating it the most important step is to go beyond it and on to the next one. Anahata Chakra (heart chakra) Location: thoracic Quality: rajasic Element: air Sense: touch Colour: fire red Petals: twelve Mantra: YAM Yantra: smoke-coloured hexagram The Anahata, the heart chakra, constitutes the axis, the middle piece of the seven main chakras (included in this count is the seventh chakra, the thousand-petalled lotus, covered in Chapter 17). It mediates between the three basic chakras, which contain our animal past and the three higher chakras, which contain our celestial and divine future and evolution. For this reason some schools look at the heart chakra as the most important one. The Anahata is more important than the Manipura to our spiritual evolution. If we liken the Manipura to our primate brain, then the Anahata is our humanoid brain, the brain that directs and determines what it is to be truly humane. Whereas the more basic emotions are linked to the Svadhishthana, the Anahata Chakra contains the more complex sentiments that drive much of human society, for example our need to be acknowledged and respected by others, love, shame, guilt, honour, righteousness, chivalry, nobility, etc. No animal would worry about something so complex. Anahata is a manifestation of the element air and its related sense of touch. The movement and temperature of air are felt by the skin, the tactile organ. Similarly, sentiments of the heart are often expressed through touch. Note that hugging involves embracing the heart area of another person. While it must seem that most important functions of society could be fulfilled simply through the Manipura this is only the case on a superficial level. Whereas a computer or robot could fulfil some functions of the Manipura, for a human being ideas such as self-respect, self-acceptance and avoidance of shame and guilt become driving motives. For many people, to

work in a particular work place does not just mean to perform a certain function, but honourable, rather than self-demeaning, communication and interaction with others at the same workplace takes on great significance. Whereas the function of Manipura was assimilative, that of Anahata is relative. What makes us truly humane is our ability to relate to others from the heart rather than in a mechanistic, calculating fashion. For a teacher it is very important to relate to students in a heartfelt fashion. Particularly for spiritual teachers, it is very important that they come down from the lofty heights of the still higher chakras and centre themselves in the heart. A teacher very adept in doing so was Jesus Christ. Jesus was able to express and live unconditional love like nobody before him, a sign of a fully active and open heart chakra. The heart chakra adds compassion to the existing equation. Whereas, on the level of the Manipura, becoming wealthy or powerful or possessing excellent skills would be the highest goal we would strive towards, once Anahata is activated we learn that the greatest gift in life is to make a positive contribution to the life of others. And it is not because others then believe us to be great but because we realize that true happiness and freedom do not arise from receiving but from giving selflessly. Unlike Svadhishthana, which reflects neediness, and Manipura, which wants to take, the Anahata is giving. To open the heart chakra means to allow a greater force of infinite potential to express itself through us for the good of all. There cannot be a greater feeling of happiness and freedom for the individual than to become a conduit for that force. The ability to selflessly give to others liberates us from our past. To serve others then becomes freedom. Notice also that faculties of the heart chakra play an important role in a modern judiciary. Although a fully opened Manipura is essential for a judge, the evolution of our judiciary has gone far beyond this point. Whereas Hamurabi’s law could be reduced to the simple tenet “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, today a judge, even in a murder case, has to consider whether a murder was executed cold-bloodedly or with internal turmoil and whether the perpetrator appears to regret the action and even the degree to which any remorse shown is authentic. Because of its complexity, any such judgement could never be handed down by a machine such as a computer: it needs a human being with at least intuitive access to functions of the heart chakra. This shows that humanity is attempting to go beyond the Manipura

Chakra, but the absorption of large swaths of population in the materialism, competition and violence prevalent in many places on Earth indicate that there is a struggle to do so. While great spiritual leaders of our society such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela activated their heart chakras and gave us a vision of true humanity, most of our current leaders are still in the process of evolving to that point. If you look at the human being as a promise, a bridge that spans the chasm from the animal towards the Divine, then the heart chakra is the exact midway. It is here that the human being looks at its most precarious, most vulnerable and most precious. For if we look at those teachers of the heart, such as Gandhi, King and above all the Nazarene, many of them were slain through our own hands. It is at the point when human life becomes most humane that it looks to us so utopian that we are inclined to destroy it. But those teachers have shown that it is exactly in this direction that the evolution of humanity points. Whereas Muladhara sees others as competitors or threats, Svadhishthana as guarantors of security and Manipura as possible add-ons to one’s followers, Anahata relates to others from the position of wanting to give unconditional love. It is important to open the Anahata after Manipura has been activated but before animating the higher chakras. If one opens Anahata without stimulating Manipura beforehand, one is likely to be taken advantage of. On the other hand, if the higher chakras are opened without Anahata being activated beforehand, one is likely to become something akin to a cult leader. For if one has understood sacred law (Vishuddha Chakra) and obtained divine knowledge (Ajna Chakra), and combines this with entrepreneurial skill (Manipura Chakra) but without the joy of giving, serving, forgiveness and compassion (Anahata Chakra), the results may be a self-serving cult where followers count only in relation to their ability to fatten the wallet of the leader or increase his sphere of influence. No spiritual teaching and indeed teacher is worthy without the ability to selflessly serve the student. The blockage of the Anahata is again the working of the Vishnu granthi, i.e. the blockage of that force that maintains human society. If the Vishnu granthi is very powerful it may completely block the Manipura and Anahata chakras simultaneously. If this is the case, no higher spiritual exercises (such as meditation on awareness or the higher chakras) should be practised: these middle chakras need to be opened first. If through an accident the higher

chakras open while Vishnu granthi blocks the two middle chakras, schizophrenia is likely. Schizophrenia means that people cognise such powerful knowledge that they cannot integrate it into their lives. When Manipura and Anahata have been opened, most things that life throws at us can be handled. The heart chakra fosters submission to a higher intelligence and power. Some hallucinogenic drugs can artificially open higher chakras for a short time, but without the previous opening of Manipura and Anahata they will lead to schizophrenia and other psychoses, in many cases with subsequent spiritual retardation. The ability to consciously place prana into Anahata is a great asset for an individual. It helps us to stay centred in the heart and connected to the greater good during trials and tribulations. It also helps us share merit that we gain when we are riding a wave of success and are on top of the world. Placing prana into Anahata is important during conflict resolution. It helps us to understand that the needs of the individual in front of us are very similar to our own or those of the group we belong to. If Anahata is so great, can it not solve all of our problems and turn society into a utopia of love and peace? Why do we need to practise the meditation of breathing through all chakras? Why don’t we just meditate on the Anahata and nothing else? Contrary to common belief, the heart chakra is not always the appropriate one to meditate on. If Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt had meditated predominantly on the heart chakra during the 1940s, I’m afraid today we would all be wearing swastikas on our foreheads. Anahata is an enormous step on the road of human evolution, but it can only succeed if the previous steps have been mastered. Like Manipura, the Anahata is a rajasic chakra. The two lower chakras are tamasic and, with their focus on survival, procreation and formation of simple mammalian social structures, they represent our past. The Manipura and Anahata represent our present situation, with the Manipura responsible for complex human social structures that rely heavily on organizing a society by competing for scarce resources and by rewarding individuals by allocating them pleasure units (wages) or demerit (fines) if they do not align with the majority. Still somewhat in the future is beckoning the Anahata with its message of love, reconciliation and healing the wounds of the past, which obsession with the lower chakras has surely brought about in us. Both of

these chakras are rajasic. Rajas provides energy and we need the energy surge of these two chakras to move human society forward across the bridge that spans the chasm between the animal and the Divine within us. To make our path across this chasm, the inertia of the past has to be left behind and great energies have to be mobilized. This also expresses itself as the many stresses and tensions that modern society exposes itself to. Apart from meditating directly on Anahata by using the mantra YAM, the most important technique to activate it is Bhastrika pranayama. Inhaling and expanding the ribcage increases the space that we allocate to ourselves. The ability to do so is directly linked to self-worth and self-love. A collapsed and rigid ribcage is often linked to armouring and protecting the heart but also to denying ourselves the additional territory that a full inhalation would allocate to us. Bhastrika is a dynamic breathing technique that includes thoracic bellowing – quickly inflating and deflating the thorax. This is the prime method of breaking through the energy blockages, particularly the Vishnu granthi, which blocks the Anahata. Bhastrika is the most powerful breathing technique in existence and can only be practised when other more basic forms of pranayama are mastered, reflecting the need to open the lower three chakras first. I have described Bhastrika in detail in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga, including what can go wrong if it is done defectively or too intensely, or if one is ill prepared.124 Among the asanas, back-bending assists in opening Anahata, but postures are only ancillary in this process. The relief that one feels upon getting the brickload of age-old conserved emotions off one’s chest through backbending is not the same as opening the heart chakra. Opening the heart chakra means to be able to love others without needing anything in return. The process of sankalpa that I described in Chapter 3 is also paramount for this chakra. We come now to the mystical qualities of Anahata. The term anahata means ‘unstruck’. The reason for this is that the mantra OM is heard in the Anahata Chakra. It is the primordial sound, the sound that brought forth the vibratory pattern that today we call the Big Bang, the birth of our universe. Note that the primordial sound OM itself came forth from a form of void. Usually a sound is produced by two objects striking against each other. There was nothing to strike against when OM was projected forth; hence it is called

unstruck. The reason why OM is heard in the heart chakra is explained in the Chandogya Upanishad: ‘Within the human heart there is a triangular shrine and within that shrine a small flame the size of a thumb. And within the flame miraculously is this entire vast universe with all its worlds, oceans, rivers and mountains.’125 The small flame is the pure consciousness, the self. Within that self the sound OM occurs and within that sound is the whole of the universe. In the Maitri Upanishad we encounter more mystical knowledge concerning the heart. ‘As a fire dies down once we stop providing fuel, so when the fuel of the senses is withheld, the mind is reabsorbed into the heart.’126 The Upanishad here points out the need for pratyahara (independence from eternal stimuli), the fifth limb of yoga. More important though for us is that the Upanishad explains that, if external stimuli are withheld, the mind will be reabsorbed into the heart. It is reabsorbed because it was and is projected out of the heart in the first place. You will find that members of most ancient cultures when asked where they reside within their body will not, like modern westerners, point to their forehead but to their heart. Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutra, says Hridaye chitta samvit – ‘Knowledge of the mind is produced by meditating on the heart chakra.’127 This takes on a much larger significance when we understand that yoga itself is the science of the mind (and not that of the body, which is Ayurveda). Patanjali is the founding father of the science of mind, yoga. (There were others before him but we have forgotten them.) He tells us here that he gained this knowledge by meditating on the heart chakra. The heart chakra itself can of course be pure (we even use the expression being of pure heart) or it can be defiled by lower sentiments such as greed, avarice, infatuation and competition. Patanjali offers two niyamas (observances, second limb of yoga) to purify the heart, which are shaucha and santosha. Shaucha is often translated as cleanliness but it does not just mean to wash daily. Physical cleanliness is only the outer layer; more important are mental and emotional cleanliness. The heart is cleansed by abstaining from harbouring toxic thoughts and emotions such as revenge, desire, ambition, greed, aversion, hatred, infatuation, jealousy. Many people wrongly believe that we are slavishly subjected to these

lower emotions and thoughts, and that these emotions are somehow natural. The truth is that we manufacture these emotions, and we spend a lot of energy and time doing so. It is only due to the fact that we are not producing them consciously that we are completely unaware of the process. We are, however, producing them subconsciously by constantly repeating and reinforcing subconscious imprints (samskara) and conditioning (vasana). The other niyama that sage Patanjali gives to purify the heart from lesser emotions is santosha – happiness that derives from contentment. Modern people’s hearts are slowly eaten away by ambition. Ambition is beaten into us at every turn. It is nowadays considered heroic to be ambitious and sneered at if one is not. Contentment means to see the perfection that already exists in our life and this world. It means to experience gratitude and appreciation for the many gifts that we receive daily. Ambition tells us to want more, more – and it always pushes happiness into the future when another goal is achieved. However, this future never comes. A heart poisoned by ambition will never be happy; it will only ever produce more and more goals and ambitions, and even at death there will be longing for a distant future when all ambitions may finally be fulfilled. Santosha means realizing that the heart, the pure consciousness, is forever complete, and no ambition, no goal, no becoming can make it more complete. Santosha leads us into the triumphant here and now of the pure consciousness, which is awareness. The heart chakra feels that there is God, and it trusts. That is more than believing but less than knowing. The direct view of the Divine is only attained in the Ajna (third-eye) Chakra. Anahata also confers a lasting experience of the essential good in every being. And not only that: It provides a living realization of the truth of the Gaia hypothesis, which posits that we are not just isolated individuals, but that, together with all other beings living in this biosphere and together with this planet, we form one large organism, Gaia. Gaia is the super-organism through which divine creativity plays itself out. Once the heart is cleansed from greed, we can contribute to its safekeeping. The heart chakra constitutes an essential step in human evolution. It enables us to switch from mere justice and getting even to compassion and forgiveness. People sometimes think they place themselves in a disadvantageous situation if they forgive, as if holding on to one’s wrath

against somebody was an asset. A person who was very dear to me once told me that they would take their hatred against their father into the grave. They had been treated cruelly by their father, and thought that if they forgave him they would let him off the hook. It turned out that when this person died their hatred, which they had intended to be directed against their father, turned against themselves and their death became quite unpleasant. The truth is that we let not others but ourselves off the hook when we forgive. By holding on to grudges and negativity we punish only ourselves and hold ourselves in the past. Through forgiveness we heal ourselves and become able to move forward. Realisations such as these herald the dawn of the heart chakra. When moving forward to the heart chakra we become able to give up conflict with ourselves, and it is this conflict with ourselves that expresses itself in crime, warfare, hatred and so on. If we truly embrace the heart and forgive ourselves for our own shortcomings and failure, we can stop fighting against their manifestation in others. When Christ said ‘People will recognize you for being my disciples if you have love for one another’, he talked about a new, future humanity that was directed by the heart chakra.128 All this may sound as if human evolution might have come to its conclusion with this chakra. It did not. Although the heart chakra is the seat of the soul or self (atman, purusha) it is so only because the heart chakra is the axial chakra, the central chakra of the subtle body. This chakra is auspicious for relating to other beings, but, to be able to perceive the self in the heart, sacred law, the Divine with form or even the formless Absolute, the prana has to be placed into the even higher chakras. As with all previous chakras, it is important to activate this one and then to go beyond it and on to the next. Vishuddha Chakra (throat chakra) Location: cervical Quality: sattvic Element: space, ether Sense: sound Colour: smoky purple, purple haze Petals: sixteen Mantra: HAM

Yantra: white circle The collective opening of the heart chakra will lead us to a humanity living life guided by love. Some may say this is a dream, but it is not. It is an absolute necessity. As a species we cannot survive if we do not take this step; otherwise in our Manipura obsession we will simply eat up this planet, Mother Gaia, the guarantor of our survival. The Vishuddha Chakra, however, will take us even far beyond the heart chakra. Many will say this is not possible, as we are still so far away from collectively opening this chakra. It must be understood, however, that this confusion, this inability to look forward, has taken place every single time we have switched from one chakra to the next. A chakra is truly understood only once it opens. A reptile cannot understand the complex emotions and considerations of a mammal, just as a first-chakra person looks at a second-chakra person as an alien. Exactly the same happens at every single step of chakra evolution. The Manipura person is mainly interested in power and profit, and cannot see the advantage in giving without return and evolving further. The Vishuddha Chakra enables the individual and humanity to live in harmony with divine law. This chakra gives one knowledge of the sacred laws according to which creation unfolds. Upon evolving to this chakra one realizes that there is a clear master plan according to which everything is happening. One sees that the world and the human being are not the senseless accident that some modern scientists would have. At the level of this chakra, the meaning and purpose of everything is understood. Any questions such as ‘Why is God doing this to me?’ come to an end here. Vishuddha means ‘of greatest purity’. This is the first chakra where one gets a view that is entirely impersonal, not sullied by ego. Even the heart chakra still thinks in terms of ‘How do I relate to other beings’ … ‘How can I serve others’. At the level of Vishuddha there is no more I. There is only pure vision. The Vishuddha Chakra is the first sattvic chakra. This means that here there is none of the torpidity of our lower urges, nor is there the mental frenzy of achievement. There is only the luminous calmness of purified intelligence and wisdom. This chakra is the microcosmic representation of the element space or ether. Space is not an element in the way air, fire, water and earth are elements: it is more subtle. But without it none of the other four elements could display themselves, which is why it is more fundamental than the others.

The sense associated with Vishuddha is sound (shabda), but shabda means much more than what we understand by the term sound. This includes the fact that it needs air or a similar medium in which to travel. Shabda, however, is the sum total of all vibratory patterns, including the vibratory speed of quasars, black holes, supernovas, galaxies, elementary particles, molecules, quarks, photons. These patterns have one thing in common: they need space to arise, but they go far beyond air. The entire universe, in fact all universes, consist of multiple layers of vibratory patterns, which make energy crystallize into matter. The original vibratory pattern that gave birth to all others was and is OM. OM arose out of that infinite intelligence that is OMnipotent, OMnipresent and OMniscient. That infinite intelligence is the intelligence of the Divine, of God, and its infinite potential and divine will to make the world reality. In Sanskrit the state out of which OM arises is called Shabda Brahman. Shabda Brahman is the potential but yet unmanifest ability of the Divine to manifest itself as an infinite multitude of crystallizing vibratory patterns, which at any moment in time are giving birth, sustaining and annihilating an infinite number of universes. Since the Shabda Brahman is pure consciousness and infinite potential and creativity, it cannot say no to anything that possibly could be. Everything that can be, will be! When this is realized, the questions ‘Why does God do this to me?’ … ‘Why does God allow this?’ dissolve. The whole world – from the original projection forth of the sacred sound OM down to the smallest, most unassuming insect or mineral – is a manifestation of divine law. The whole world manifests itself according to law. There are physical laws, laws of harmony in music, civil laws that regulate society, linguistic laws that enable us to understand others, laws of architecture that if abided by make buildings stay upright, laws of aerodynamics that, if understood and applied, make aeroplanes stay in the air etc., etc. Those ruled by Vishuddha Chakra relate to others by experiencing, understanding and passing on divine law. The evolution of human society was and is usually powered by those few individuals who have opened or had spontaneous access to Vishuddha, for whatever reason. We call them geniuses, but often we do not understand them and they may not understand themselves either. What is incredible about the Vishuddha Chakra is its capacity to make us see and understand divine law. While the yogi aims at

systematically and methodically growing in him/herself the ability to perceive and understand divine laws, it is the great visionaries with intuitive access to this chakra who have advanced our society. Newton, for example, had the ability to see the laws of classical physics in a way that others before him had not. Mozart had the same ability in relation to laws of harmony, whereas Shakespeare understood those of language. Albert Einstein had the uncanny ability to cognise divine law related to relativity. Those giants did not invent the laws, but they had the ability to see already existing divine law manifested through divine will. This ability is related to an opening of the Vishuddha Chakra. It is extremely powerful, and should be tampered with only once all of the chakras below it are opened. If Vishuddha opens spontaneously through previously accumulated merit, the opening, as in Mozart’s case, may be beneficial to the whole of humanity, though the benefit may not extend to the individual in question. Mozart died young and in an unfortunate situation, like many other geniuses before and after him. Yoga provides us with the opportunity to open the chakras step by step. Once Anahata is opened, we are able to provide great service to all who come in contact with us, but it is the opening of Vishuddha that allows us to provide help for generations far into the future. Both chakras rely, however, on the integrating power of Manipura for this service to become and remain a positive and integrated experience for the individual, the subject of this transformation. Yoga has incredible power. For it to be harvested properly, techniques have to be practised in harmony with the capabilities of the individual. While the Manipura’s function is assimilative and the Anahata’s is relative, the Vishuddha is legislative: it opens us to divine law. If, however, your Vishuddha is open and some of the lower chakras closed, you may become a visionary who dies ignored and misunderstood, only to have his work discovered and celebrated years after his/her death, as happened to J.S. Bach and Vincent van Gogh. Or you may go mad in pursuit of your genius and others reap the benefit, as in Nicola Tesla’s case. If your Anahata is open too, you are likely to be in harmony with the community around you and get its support. If the Manipura is open as well, you will be able to change the world yourself and manage your own contribution during your lifetime, as happened for example in the case of Thomas Edison. This is a very

auspicious constellation. If Vishuddha is fully open, the result will be what the Upanishads call vijnana (deep or sacred knowledge) and what Patanjali calls rta (sacred order).129 Some mystics, however, leave out the Vishuddha and go straight from the heart chakra to Ajna or even Sahasrara. If Vishuddha is left out, this can lead to the erroneous philosophy that the world is an illusion. The world is not an illusion; it is real. It is the most sacred, precious gift of the Divine to all beings. It must be appreciated in all its beauty. Patanjali addressed the purification of Vishuddha through ethical guidelines, in this case satya and svadhyaya. The Vishuddha being the throat chakra and chakra of sound, it is the centre that is responsible for our expression and language patterns. Satya means to utter the truth, but is goes beyond abstaining from speaking the untruth. It means expressing the truth in relation to sacred law and duty. For that to occur, truth must be in harmony with the ethical laws. It does not exist in isolation. For example, truth should be expressed only when it does not harm and destroy, as it is otherwise harmful (himsa). If truth is destructive in a larger context, one is better off being silent. The yogic observance (niyama) of svadhyaya is also related to this chakra. Svadhyaya means the study of sacred texts. By studying sacred texts we understand the sacred laws, which underly the whole of creation. The Vishuddha chakra can actually open from the mere study of the holy books of humanity, whether they be the Vedas, the Holy Bible, or others. These holy books are each an expression of divine law, and as such an expression of the Vishuddha chakra. This chakra can also be opened through prayer, meditation and other methods, but an efficient and organic method to do so is through the chakra meditation combined with yogic breathing and ancillary techniques, as outlined so far. Ajna Chakra (third-eye chakra) Location: cranial Quality: sattvic Element: intelligence Sense: mind Colour: bright white Petals: two

Mantra: OM Yantra: lightning coloured triangle The Ajna is not really a single chakra but a constellation of about half a dozen energy centres in the cranium. It is called the third-eye chakra not because it is situated on the forehead but on account of its position in the middle of the cranium being directly behind the “third eye” location. Similarly, the navel chakra is not in the actual navel but at the same level, as is the case also with the heart and throat chakras. The location of the Ajna chakra is the third ventricle of the brain. This ventricle is very significant, as it is surrounded by the main endocrine and neurological switchboards of the brain – the pituitary and pineal glands, the thalamus and the hypothalamus. The ventricles are hollows that are filled with cerebrospinal fluid. They have a direct connection to the sacrum. The sacrum floats in the sacroiliac joints (if they function properly and are not, for example, impeded by aggressive asana practice) and it performs a constant bowing movement called nutation and counter-nutation. This movement acts as a pump for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is moved by the sacrum up the spinal cord into the brain. Here the pumping is enhanced by the movement of the cranial bones. CSF is linked to the phenomenon of Kundalini. You will recall that the sacral chakra, the Svadhishthana, was the location of Kundalini before it fell down to Muladhara. The sacrum and the sacral chakra play an important role in moving Kundalini up to the Ajna chakra in the third ventricle. For this reason it is important to convert the sacral chakra into a motor for our celestial evolution rather than as a servant of its animalistic tendencies. The Ajna Chakra is also the lunar storehouse of prana, and as such directly linked to the Manipura Chakra. The Manipura is the storehouse of solar prana, and its function is male and catabolic. The Ajna Chakra is the lunar storehouse, and is female, nurturing and anabolic. Both chakras are linked and harmonized through Nadi Shodhana pranayama, which is described in Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga. The Manipura Chakra dominates today’s society, while the Ajna is at this point only a vision and promise of the future. This is reflected in the fact that production facilities are male dominated, and, while everybody in a responsible position understands that we need to dissect the world, extract minerals, build factories and make profit (all male catabolic concepts), the

idea that the whole planet is one living organism that needs to be nurtured (an anabolic concept) – a process that may impinge on profitability – is still considered too intuitive and left-brained by many. Whereas the Vishuddha Chakra is legislative, making you understand and see sacred law, Ajna is divinitive, that is this chakra shows you the intelligence according to which the cosmic master plan of creation unfolds. This intelligence is the intelligence of the Divine; it is the Divine. The Ajna Chakra shows you the Divine with form (saguna Brahman), whereas the formless Absolute, the nirguna Brahman, can only be attained in the crown chakra (Sahasrara). Ajna Chakra represents the need to commune with the Divine itself and pass the experience of communion on to others. However, it is important to go from Vishuddha to the Ajna Chakra and not straight to Sahasrara. At the level of Sahasrara there is no more relating to others because there is no individual identity any more. The Sahasrara represents the dissolution of the individual. Particularly if one goes straight from the heart chakra to Sahasrara, one may not only develop the erroneous philosophy that the world is an illusion but also that God, the Divine with form (saguna Brahman), is non-existent or just a reinterpretation of the formless Absolute (nirguna Brahman) for those of slight intellect. Doctrines that propound that the individual self is identical with the divine self result from a lack of emphasis on the Ajna chakra. The omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience of the Divine can only be seen when the Ajna chakra is opened and not when one goes straight to Sahasrara chakra. The Ajna chakra confirms the accuracy of Ramanuja’s beda-abeda doctrine (identity-in-difference). Contrary to Shankara, who stated that atman (individual self) and Brahman (cosmic self) are identical, Ramanuja correctly said that they are both identical (in the regard that they are both consciousness) and yet different (cosmic self is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent whereas the individual self is not). But more on that in Chapter 17. The quality of this chakra is sattvic, as was that of the Vishuddha chakra. Sattva is the intelligence particle of this world and the Ajna chakra shows you personified intelligence. This chakra has only two petals, which is significant. The number of petals indicates the number of major nadis that terminate at a chakra (excluding the central energy channel, Sushumna, on which all chakras are strung like a thread). Ajna chakra has the lowest

number of nadis, but they are the two most important ones. They are Ida and Pingala, the lunar and solar nadis, which power the right and left brain hemispheres, the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, afferent and efferent nerve currents, lunar and solar mind, relativism and fundamentalism, anabolism and catabolism and mind and body respectively. The place where Ida and Pingala meet Sushumna is also called Mukti Triveni, that is, the liberating triple confluence. It has this name because, if prana is placed into Ajna chakra, Ida and Pingala are both suspended and the mystical state ensues. Hindus use the name Mukti Triveni for the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasvati rivers at a location called Prayaga (today’s Allahabad). The Sarasvati was once India’s mightiest river, but through tectonic movement it dried up. Hindus believe that, through taking a bath at the confluence of the three rivers, they are cleansed from the demerit of 100 lives. Yogis also give Mukti Triveni great importance, but they do not place it in the outer world. Rather, they consider it the confluence of the three rivers (nadis) – the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna nadis. The third-eye chakra, where the three nadis meet, is the termination point of Ida and Pingala. Whoever reaches this point goes beyond these two nadis. Ida and Pingala are essential for our functioning, but they prevent the mystical state by making us fall for one of the two extremes of the mind. They make us fall prey to duality. Duality means to fall for either of the two extremes of solar or lunar mind. The solar mind believes that only one truth exists and fails to recognize the many other truths. This mind tends to develop into the direction of fundamentalism. The lunar mind, on the other hand, falls into the trap of relativism, which means one recognizes the many truths but fails to see the one truth. If both nadis are suspended, for the time of their suspension one can see reality as such without using the categorising and dichotomising mind. During that time, one is beyond time and beyond death, as Hatha Yoga Pradipika confirms.130 During the mystical state, the sound OM is heard. In order to hear this sound emitted by the Supreme Being, prana has to be placed into the Ajna chakra. This is the yogic meaning of taking a bath in the triple confluence, Mukti Triveni. However, although prana is to be placed into the third-eye

chakra, the mystical syllable itself is heard in the heart chakra (Anahata), these two chakras being intricately linked. If one remains absorbed in the ecstasy of the Ajna Chakra, however, it is near impossible to pass on one’s experience and to be understood. For a life of divine service and divine love one needs to step back down and place prana into the heart chakra (Anahata). Related to Ajna are two of sage Patanjali’s ethical guidelines, the niyamas svadhyaya and Ishvara pranidhana. Let us look at the importance of svadhyaya first. Svadhyaya is the study of sacred texts. The corruption that is visible in religion today should not keep us from looking for the sacred in the written tradition. Corruption is not limited to religion: people have done exactly the same within social movements, and political and economic systems. Wherever greed and power go, there corruption appears. Studying sacred books afresh, without any preconceived and confused ideas created by people, try to reconnect to the original vision of the seers, may it be the Vedic rishis, Gautama Buddha, Lao-Tzu or Jesus Christ. Such study is called svadhyaya and, as Patanjali says, it will reveal your ishta devata, which is the appropriate form of the Divine for you.131 Once this revelation has taken place, the second observance (niyama) of Patanjali relating to this chakra comes into force. It is that of Ishvara pranidhana, which means surrendering to your chosen form of the Divine. Such surrender has again several phases or stages. In an early stage we simply pray and ask the Divine for guidance. We ask for our lower and selfish urges to be purged and our inclination towards the sacred to be strengthened. Then we ask for divine guidance: we ask the Divine to point us in the direction that we should take. Eventually we step aside more and more and let the Divine act through us – let the Divine perform its will through us. For any of that to happen we must first recognize the Divine with form (saguna Brahman) or the God immanent, for the formless Absolute or God transcendent neither acts nor performs. If we are to lead a divine life, we must first seek the Divine with form, of which the world and human society are a manifestation and expression. If we go straight to the Sahasrara, the crown chakra, which is outside the breathing cycle, we will not be able to get much inspiration towards bringing divine love into this society and world, as the

Sahasrara leads to the formless Absolute and the great dissolution (nirvana). This dissolution should only be desired after one has completed one’s svadharma (sacred duty); that is, one has made one’s individual contribution to divine life and divine love on Earth. At the level of the first chakra if asked about God one might say ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’. At the level of the second chakra, tribal allegiance will determine one’s beliefs. At the third chakra one may portray oneself as a rationalist or atheist on the one hand or a believer on the other, but the decision is made on the basis of advantages that come with it – thus politicians often bash the holy book of their electorate to get re-elected rather than out of true love for God. At the level of the fourth chakra one feels the existence of God and develops trust, and it is here that the spiritual path truly starts. A feeling and trust is something personal, whereas belief ordered by one’s superiors or society are impersonal. At the fifth chakra one understands divine law and becomes able to use it for the furtherment of all. At the sixth chakra one realizes God but maintains one’s individual identity. At this level we become one humanity under the one Divine. Although we may worship it in different ways we realize its and our essential unity. At the seventh chakra one merges into God, and eventually one’s individual identity will be extinguished. If one stays too long at the seventh chakra, that identity cannot be recovered. For this reason Bhaktas prefer to stay at the sixth chakra. I have spoken here only of the six main chakras that are part of the breathing cycle. The seventh chakra is outside the breathing cycle and can be attained only in breath retention (kumbhaka). This chakra, the Sahasrara (thousand-petalled lotus), provides the pinnacle of human experience, but at this point the human ceases to be such. To understand it we have to venture somewhat deeper into spiritual philosophy. This chakra is covered in Chapter 17. I have also left the observance (niyama) tapas unexplained. While all other yamas and niyamas can clearly be allocated to their respective chakras, tapas applies to each and every chakra. Tapas means purifying practice. Asana, kriya, pranayama, meditation, devotion, etc. are all forms of tapas. The importance of tapas in yoga constitutes the difference between it and systems like Advaita Vedanta. Whereas in Advaita Vedanta direct contact with the teacher is all-important, in yoga students have practices that they can perform

alone for their own upliftment.

Exercise 13: Trataka on divine image Trataka means staring or gazing. It is a technique that belongs to a set of exercises often called kriyas or shatkarmas, the purifying actions. In Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga I have described three of those kriyas, namely the Nauli, Kapalabhati and Neti, which are the ones most closely linked to the practice of yogic breathing. While the other kriyas are very physical processes, Trataka is a mental process and is thus more linked to meditation. The purpose of Trataka is to purify and purge the subconscious. This is done by focusing the eyes on a fixed spot. A favourite object for yogis is the tip of a candle flame. The candle has to be placed in a dark room without any draft. If there is a draft the candle will flicker, which would have a rajasic influence on the mind (excite the mind). Another common object of Trataka would be to mark a black dot on white paper and fix it to the wall in front of you. The basic technique consists of staring at your object and not letting the eyeballs wander in their sockets at all. The subconscious mind expresses itself through rapid eye movements (REM). These movements are well documented when applied to the sleep state but they are equally important during the waking state. If the movements of the eyeballs are arrested, the subconscious is forced to flush out part of its content, the part that pertains to the visual mind. During Trataka one focuses on an object until the eyes start watering and cannot be kept open any longer. Once that is the case, close your eyes and keep in mind firmly the afterimage of the object. You are visualizing the object now, which is called internal Trataka. Once the visual afterimage disappears, open your eyes and again stare at the object in front of you. While this process is useful, I propose an infinitely more powerful form of Trataka, gazing at a divine image. If a lucid artist who has had a vision of the Divine produces a divine image, staring at that image will enable you do download knowledge pertaining to the Divine. This usually does not happen by just casually looking at such an image. You need to choose a particular point on it and stick with this for some time. Start with about 5 minutes and

over time build up to 15. Choose the point wisely. Some images are too powerful to meditate on – for example the eyes or third eye of the divine form, especially at the outset. T. Krishnamacharya said that when standing in front of the Divine one should always cast one’s gaze down. This applies to the common state of mind. If you internally humble yourself and offer yourself as a conduit for the Divine, knowledge can start to flow through you. It is advisable to start practising Trataka on the hands or feet of the divine form, rather than on the eyes or third eye. You may notice that the experience will differ completely depending on the point you choose. Needless to say two different representations of the Divine produced by different artists may lead to different experiences. If you do not achieve the desired result, choose a different image of your divine form or a different point on the same image. If you do not find an image at all, choose a symbol or word associated with your form of worship or even place your holy book in front of you. In order to find an image you need first to find out what is for you a suitable form of the Divine, i.e. your ishta devata. Generally it is recommended that you first look into the sacred tradition of your ancestors. The bonding with a particular divine form is likely to function only if you have existing samskaras (subconscious imprints) tying you to that particular form of the Divine. More often than not, these are linked to the tradition in which you grew up. However, many modern people have negative samskaras associated with their own tradition, and if that is so in your case, you may seek elsewhere. Patanjali says that ishta devata is found by reading sacred texts.132The more sacred texts you read the more likely it is that you will find your ishta devata. You may read, for example, the Dhamapada for Gautama Buddha, the Gospels for Jesus Christ, the Bhagavata Purana for Lord Krishna, the Ramayana for Lord Rama, the Shiva Purana for Lord Shiva. Once you have an inclination to a particular form of the Divine, look at images, paintings or symbols associated with it. Some traditions do not depict the Divine directly, in which case study the sacred art associated with that tradition. In the spiritual tradition of all cultures there were artists who had very clear visions of the Divine. Many yogis have reported that their practice took off exactly when the identity of their ishta devata became clear. The ishta devata enables us to

connect to our highest purpose and develop our highest and noblest aspirations. Once you have a particular image, start practising Trataka on it, the technique that I will describe next. If you do not have a particular image or symbol, simply choose one that attracts you the most. Don’t make it too complicated. You will be surprised with the results. TECHNIQUE

Place your image, symbol or book in front of you. If possible place it on the same level as your eyes so that you do not have to flex your neck for an extended period. Now lock the gaze to a particular point on the image or symbol. The point should be no larger than a few millimetres in diameter so that the eyes do not have to wander at all but can come to rest on it. Place the image about 60 cm (approximately 2 feet) away from you. Now open your eyes and look at the image without letting your eyes move up and down or left and right at all. After some time you become inclined to blink. Try to avoid that as much as possible, but do not go to the extent of straining and violating yourself. As the subconscious mind is coming to terms with the fact that it is no longer in charge of eye movements, you will notice some very unusual mental content flashing past. Eventually, to prevent the eyes from drying, tears will flush the eyes. Once your eyes are full of tears so that you cannot see any more, close your eyes. You will now have a very clear afterimage of the object you gazed at. Practise now internal Trataka on this image, again with as little eyeball movement as possible. When the mental image becomes unclear or disappears, open your eyes and again focus on the image in front of you. You may repeat this process several times, but do not overdo it in the beginning. If your eyes become sore, your body is telling you that you are doing too much. Using this method you are likely to develop a deep communion and closeness with your chosen form of the Divine. The least you will achieve in a short time is the ability to clearly visualize your ishta devata, and we will need this in the next exercise. SEE ONLY THE BRAHMAN IN ANY DIVINE IMAGE

However, before we go on let’s quickly look at the importance of seeing in each divine form an authentic expression of the impersonal Absolute, the

infinite consciousness or Deep Reality. As we all know, religion has had a very painful history throughout the last few millennia. It is obvious that the founders of the religions were authentic messengers of the Divine, but since then most religions have been taken over by administrators who were often interested not so much in the core message of the founders but in maintaining or increasing their sphere of influence. For many modern people this has promoted an adversity to religion and spirituality, or even to particular forms of the Divine, but the corrupting influence that religion has undergone is not due to religion itself but due to corruption as such. You may notice that at the same time governments, social movements, science and business have been subject to the same corruption. For the purpose of yogic meditation I would like to simply invite you to have another unbiased look at spirituality and divine forms without all the baggage that people have projected onto them through the ages. Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutra that samadhi is obtained by devotion to the Divine.133 Other ways of attaining samadhi are more tedious; the most straightforward way is devotion. He underlines this by advising devotion (Ishvara pranidhana) four times in the Yoga Sutra. In the first chapter he says that devotion to the Divine is a way to samadhi.134 At the outset of the second chapter he recommends devotion to the Divine to the newcomer to yoga (kriya yogi).135 He repeats this advice halfway down the second chapter when addressing the intermediate type yogi (Ashtanga yogi).136 His final injunction, in sutra II.45, is addressed to the master practitioner (samadhi yogi). Devotion is not just a sentiment, but needs to be integrated into the structure of one’s practice. For example, Trataka on a divine image rouses devotion in the heart. Other methods could include visualization of the Divine during kumbhaka (breath retention) or visualizing it in the crown chakra during meditation. Once you have formed a bond with your ishta devata, you will look forward to this time of communion. One of the yogic commandments (yamas and niyamas) is brahmacharya,137 which originally meant to see the Brahman (infinite consciousness) in every being. Because that excluded reducing them to their physical form and their sexual attraction, brahmacharya came to mean chastity. It is well documented that the yogi needs to look at each individual as an expression of the infinite consciousness. Much less emphasized, but

equally important, is seeing each divine form not as a limited deity but as an expression, a manifestation, a gateway to the infinite consciousness that is the Brahman. This form of practice has two important aspects: for yoga to succeed, not only one’s own chosen form of the Divine needs to be identified with the Brahman (infinite consciousness or deep reality), but all deities that others worship and meditate upon need to be looked at in the same way. Practically, this means that whichever faith you practise, whichever form of the Divine you worship – whether it be Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Kali, Buddha, Jesus, Yahweh or the Tao – always see only the infinite consciousness, the deep reality and not the deity. Do not look at the outer limitation that you may perceive, but at the core. Never, ever look down on the form of the Divine that the person next to you worships. If you do so, you profess only one thing, and that is your ignorance. Additionally, when you see others worshipping or meditating on the Divine, particularly if they worship a form other than yours, rejoice with them and do not judge them because you may not fathom the depth of what they worship. Unfortunately, through religion humanity has become very fragmented and this fragmentation has taken place out of fear of the unknown, the other. All this fear can be left behind, however, when a true revelation of the Divine has been experienced. Fear exists only as long as insecurity is there. Once revelation has taken place, we can open ourselves to the realisation that it is the very same Divine that has blazed all paths, a fact that has been concealed by those interested in first dividing and then ruling this divided humanity. Open yourself to the fact that all forms or expressions of the Divine are in fact a vital expression of the one infinite consciousness that exists in all of us. Look at each divine form as an emanation of that one Brahman (infinite consciousness). It is only then that we can leave the division and segregation of the past behind and move forward as one humanity. This will soon become very important, for our future will bring bigger challenges than squabbling about tribal or intellectual territory rooted in the past. The Sanskrit term bhakti is very significant. Bhakti denotes yoga’s devotional aspect. The noun bhakti is derived from the verb root bhaj – to divide. For example if in India you get addressed by an individual in a less fortunate situation than you, they will use the expression bhakshish, a term

again derived from bhaj. Bhakshish means ‘divide what you have and share’. It is important in Bhakti Yoga that we divide and share our love. It means extending our love not only to one other person or to our family but to the community around us and to the whole of humanity. But Bhakti Yoga goes beyond that. It means extending and sharing our love for the Divine in the forms with which we are comfortable, to forms that we do not understand, and those that others worship. Bhakti Yoga can never take place as long as we think that another person is wrong, evil or even devilish because they worship a form of the Divine that we cannot comprehend. Whatever form of the Divine the person next to you worships or meditates on, always see it only as a representation of that one infinite consciousness and nothing else.

Chapter 14

LAW 14: DURING SPONTANEOUS INTERNAL BREATH RETENTIONS THE DIVINE BECOMES VISIBLE IN THE CROWN CHAKRA.

Chakras with Sahasrara Ishvara pranidhana, devotion to the Divine, is not just a vague concept that involves remembering the Divine during one’s activities but also a formal practice. This is stated by many yogic scriptures such as Hatha Tatva Kaumudi, which says that focusing the mind on the Divine with form constitutes dharana.138

So far we have not dealt with the crown chakra, the Sahasrara chakra. This is for the simple reason that the crown chakra cannot be breathed into. It is outside the breathing cycle, and can be neither seen nor heard in the sense that the other chakras are audible or visual. The only way to access the thousand-petalled lotus is during breath retention, when the flow of prana is entirely stopped and the mind absorbed into the heart. To achieve this we utilize the brief spontaneous pause after the inhalation before it transforms into the exhalation. We use this brief moment of rest in the breathing cycle to jump quickly from our final vantage point at the commencement of the inhalation, the Ajna chakra, up to the Sahasrara. Visualize the Sahasrara like all the other chakras – facing up. As it is supracranial it looks more like a large crown sitting on your head. The thousand petals have all colours simultaneously, which is why it cannot be represented visually. It is dazzling like a thousand suns. Visualize now what is for you the appropriate form of the Divine in the crown chakra and internally prostrate to it. Then, as the exhalation commences, bring your awareness down to the Ajna chakra, pronouncing OM, and from there continue your meditation downwards as usual. A few points: You may visualize and pay homage to the Divine either without a mantra or ideally by pronouncing the appropriate ishta mantra, this being the mantra associated with your form of the Divine. Some common ishta mantras are: For Jesus Christ – I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life For Yahweh/the Father – I Am That I Am For Allah – La Ilah Il Allah For Shiva – OM Nama Shivayah For Krishna – OM Namo Bhagavate Vasudevayah For Buddha – OM Mani Padme Hum For Kali – Hrim Shrim Krim Parameshvari Svaha For Nirguna Brahman – Tat tvam asi This is only a small selection of ishta mantras. Many more are available. Another important point is the length of the spontaneous kumbhaka (breath retention). Internal kumbhakas exceeding 10 seconds should always be accompanied by Jalandhara Bandha (chin lock). Since this is a meditation

exercise and not formal pranayama, the spontaneous kumbhakas should be limited to 10 seconds. This can easily be assured by measuring the time it takes you to pronounce your ishta mantra. Experienced meditators may pronounce their ishta mantra during breath retention in the Sahasrara (crown chakra) several times but the total time should not exceed 10 seconds.

Exercise 14: Chakra meditation with divine image in Sahasrara during kumbhaka Practise as before with Mula Bandha and Jihva Bandha, with either Bhrumadhya Drishti or Shambhavi Mudra, in an appropriate asana, with your choice of Jnana or Akasha Mudra and while pronouncing your bija aksharas (root syllables) into the respective chakras. The new component here is that, after you have completed your inhalation by pronouncing your bija asksharas for an appropriate number of times into each chakra leading up to the third-eye chakra (Ajna), you suspend the breath for no more than 10 seconds, move your awareness into the crown chakra (Sahasrara), visualize your ishta devata seated or standing on your thousand-petalled lotus, meanwhile pronouncing the mantra associated with your divine form (ishta mantra). If you do not have an ishta mantra, simply pronounce OM. As the exhalation commences, bring your awareness back down into Ajna Chakra, pronouncing OM for what is for you the appropriate number of times and from here continue on as previously. The sequence now looks like this: During the inhalation pronounce an appropriate number of LAMs into the Muladhara Chakra (coccygeal) with the constituents of meditation that you have already covered, which may include 4 petals of crimson red or dark red colour, representing the element earth, with the yantra of a yellow square. Then pronounce an appropriate number of VAMs into the Svadhishthana Chakra (sacral) with 6 petals of orange red or bright red colour, representing the element water, with the yantra of a white moon crescent. Now pronounce an appropriate number of RAMs into the Manipura Chakra (lumbar) with 10 petals of the blackish blue colour of the storm cloud, element = fire, yantra = triangle, colour = red. Next pronounce an appropriate number of YAMs into the Anahata Chakra (thoracic) with 12 petals of the fire-red colour of Bandhuka flower,

representing the element air, with the yantra of a smoke-coloured hexagram. Next pronounce an appropriate number of HAMs into the Vishuddha Chakra (cervical) with 16 petals of a smoky purplish hue, representing the element ether, with the yantra of a white circle. Conclude your inhalation by pronouncing an appropriate number of OMs into the Ajna Chakra (cranial) with 2 bright, white petals, representing intelligence, with the yantra of a lightning-coloured triangle. Now retain the breath by locking the throat (contracting the throat muscles as if you would swallow; however, since the breath retention will not exceed 10 seconds it is not necessary to perform Jalandhara Bandha) and bring your awareness to the Sahasrara chakra (supracranial), the thousand-petalled lotus that consists of all colours simultaneously and is brighter than a thousand suns. Visualize your form of the Divine on this lotus and pronounce the appropriate ishta mantra once. Upon commencement of the exhalation return your awareness to Ajna Chakra and repeat the whole sequence in reverse order. Once you arrive at the Muladhara Chakra, immediately commence your inhalation without, at this early point, adding an external retention. First thoroughly integrate the internal breath retention and make sure that the breathing and meditation cycle is not too strenuous. Especially in the beginning, you may find it difficult to clearly visualize your ishta devata. In this case it is good to keep a hard copy of your divine image in front of you. You may also combine the whole meditation technique with Trataka on your divine image. That means that you visualize the chakras while keeping your eyes open and arrested on your divine image. This is in fact one of the most powerful ways of meditating: the mind is so involved with fulfilling the various tasks that it is almost impossible for it to go astray.

Chapter 15

LAW 15: DURING SPONTANEOUS EXTERNAL KUMBHAKAS KUNDALINI IS SEEN AND IGNITED BELOW MULADHARA.

7 chakras + Kundalini As with the previous technique, there is a powerful centre outside the breathing cycle during the exhalation. This centre is not above the head but

just below the perineum. Just below the Muladhara is the seat of Kundalini, represented by a red triangle with its apex facing down, within which is located a column representing pure consciousness. Coiled around this column is the divine creative force, the Kundalini – the coiled one. The Kundalini is coiled three-and-a-half times. The three coils represent the three states – the waking state, the dream state and deep sleep – and the three gunas (qualities or elementary particles), i.e. the rajas, tamas and sattva. The final half coil represents the fourth state, the consciousness that is present in all of the other states and is nishtraigunya, i.e. beyond the three gunas, not made of it. This divine creative force is the God immanent, that is, the aspect of God that created itself as the universe, the human body, and enlivens it, makes it alive. If Kundalini is raised through the chakras and retained in one of the higher ones, lasting mystical states can be achieved. Once you have familiarized yourself with the technique in Chapter 14 you will notice that there is still a discrepancy between the exultation felt after inhalation and exhalation. Upon its termination, the inhalation rewards us with the darshana (view) of the Divine, whereas the exhalation still sends us into the domain of tamas (torpidity). This is overcome by briefly practising a technique called external Uddiyana during external kumbhaka. You will notice that when you exhale there is usually a brief moment when the prana rests in suspended animation before it recoils and turns into the inhalation.139 With this new technique, we extend this moment and abide in this suspended animation before the next inhalation carries us back up. Because we retain the breath outside the body, it is called by yogis external retention (bahya kumbhaka). Strictly speaking, yogic pranayama practitioners would only call it a kumbhaka if it is in excess of 10 seconds, and we will not do that during this meditation practice, as we spend most of our breathing cycle’s time on the elaborate meditation during inhalation and exhalation. Nevertheless you may notice, as you stay briefly in the external retention, that the mind may become excessively tamasic – heavy and dull. To counteract this we use a toned-down or light version of the Bahya (external) Uddiyana that I have described in my book Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga. Bahya Uddiyana is one of four types of Uddiyana Bandha. Different to its three cousins, which all involve one form of contraction of the abdominal muscles or another, Bahya Uddiyana consists of a contraction of the throat

muscles followed by a faked inhalation. Once the throat is contracted and we raise and expand the ribcage as if we are trying to inhale, a vacuum will ensue in the thorax. If we now relax the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles, the contents of the abdomen are sucked up into the thoracic cavity. The vacuum thus created in the abdomen sucks upwards the pelvic diaphragm and base chakra. This exerts a suction on Kundalini, which sits below the Muladhara chakra. This suction is increased by visualizing the Kundalini as uncoiling and rising upwards through the fire-red Sushumna. A few caveats here on Bahya Uddiyana. It is contraindicated in people with heart disease, high blood pressure, hiatus hernia and reflux esophagitis. And in the case of hyperacidity one needs to tread lightly. It cannot be practised during pregnancy or menstruation, and one needs an empty stomach as otherwise the suction may draw food from the stomach into the oesophagus. The technique I am suggesting here is just Bahya Uddiyana light. I do this because you do not have the time you would have performing pranayama with external kumbhaka, when the external kumbhaka takes centre stage. In that case we would draw the abdominal wall all the way back to touch the front of the spine. During meditation, on the other hand, we will just create a slight suction, enough to curve the abdominal wall slightly inwards. The main reason for the difference is that we stay in this spontaneous kumbhaka less than 10 seconds; in fact it would be enough to stay around 3 seconds for the desired effect. And if we did stay longer in external kumbhaka, this time would have to come off our inhalation and the subsequent internal kumbhaka with meditation on the Divine.

Exercise 15a: Visualizing Kundalini below Muladhara during external retention After completing the exhalation in the Muladhara chakra by pronouncing LAM an appropriate number of times, retain the breath outside the body by locking the throat. During the suspension of breath, meditate on the Kundalini, the divine creative force in the body. Visualize Kundalini as a red triangle with the apex facing down. Inside the triangle there is a blue-green column around which the lightning-coloured creative force is coiled three-

and-a-half times. Visualize Kundalini as uncoiling, becoming straight and entering the fire-red Sushumna. As the inhalation commences, Kundalini surges up with the breath from chakra to chakra. While you visualize Kundalini during kumbhaka, you may pronounce the mantra of the divine creative force, HRIIM, with a long i. Pronounce this mantra initially only once, reflective of the fact that you have performed a long exhalation accompanied by a complex visualization and do not want to run out of breath. You may later choose to repeat this mantra twice or three times. In India HRIIM is a mantra that is associated with the divine feminine. Alternatively you may choose a shortened version of your ishta mantra. The breathing sequence during the inhalation now looks exactly as before, but we have a new element at the end of the exhalation. After you have visualized the form of the Divine that is appropriate for you during internal breath retention in the thousand-petalled lotus, while pronouncing the appropriate ishta mantra once, commence your exhalation. Pronounce an appropriate number of OMs into the Ajna (cranial) Chakra, with 2 bright, white petals, representing intelligence, in its pericarp carrying a triangle-shaped yantra of lightning colour. Next pronounce an appropriate number of HAMs into the Vishuddha Chakra (cervical) with 16 petals of a smoky purplish hue, representing the element ether, with a circular yantra of white colour. Next pronounce an appropriate number of YAMs into the Anahata Chakra (thoracic) with 12 petals of fire-red colour, representing the element air, carrying in its pericarp the hexagram shaped air yantra of the colour of smoke. Now pronounce an appropriate number of RAMs into the Manipura Chakra (lumbar) with 10 petals of the blackish blue colour of the storm cloud, representing the element fire, with its yantra of a red triangle facing with its apex down. Then pronounce an appropriate number of VAMs into the Svadhishthana Chakra (sacral) with 6 petals of orange-red colour, representing the element water and its crescent-moon-shaped yantra of white colour. Finally pronounce an appropriate number of LAMs into the Muladhara Chakra (coccygeal) with 4 petals of crimson-red or dark red colour, the element earth and the associated yantra of a yellow square.

Now retain the breath by locking the throat, bring your awareness to Kundalini below the Muladhara and pronounce HRIIM or your shortened ishta mantra. Visualize Kundalini as a red triangle with the apex facing down. Inside of the triangle there is a blue-green column around which the lightning-coloured creative force is coiled three-and-a-half times. Visualize Kundalini as uncoiling and entering the fire-red Sushumna and, as you inhale, take her up with you on your journey through the chakras. The meditation has now the power to raise Kundalini if it is done often enough, slowly enough and, importantly, with undivided attention and full concentration. In order to do so buddhi (intelligence) has to be awakened and every cell of your brain has to participate in the meditation. No more dreams about the future or reminiscing about the past. Be here now only!

Exercise 15b: Igniting Kundalini through pranic suction and external Uddiyana Only once you are familiar and competent with the above method, add suction by means of Bahya (external) Uddiyana during the brief external breath retention while visualizing Kundalini below the Muladhara. The technique is as above but with the added component of creating, once the throat is locked, a fake inhalation by expanding the ribcage and raising the ribs by means of the secondary respiratory muscles (intercostals, pectoralis minor, etc.). This creates suction, which translates all the way down to the resting-place of the coiled Kundalini and awakens her. Kundalini will now uncoil and rise with more force as before. Sacred tradition advises that raising Kundalini should be accompanied by a pure lifestyle. Actions should be performed with the good of all in mind. One needs to abstain from drugs, power games, egotistical tendencies and satisfying the lower urges. Kundalini is the divine creative force. Place yourself completely into the service of that force!

Chapter 16

LAW 16: APANA GATI, THE INNER UPWARD FORCE WITHIN APANA, IS ACTIVATED THROUGH THE DOUBLE-UP WAVE, THE FOURTH ENGINE OF KUNDALINI. LAW OF NEGATING FORCES

The first law of thermodynamics states that the sum total of all energies within a system never changes. If, for example, kinetic energy within a given system reduces, it must reappear as potential energy, electric energy etc. This law is an expression of a more general cosmic law that states that each force must contain or produce its own negation. As the sum total of all energies in the universe is always zero, the arising of each force or vector must either contain its own negation/ suspension or, if it doesn’t, the environment must produce such a force to bring the sum total back to zero and into balance. In your own life this means for example if you tinker with Kundalini and use its awesome powers to impress others, or to create advantage for yourself, you create a vector of force in the world. To stay balanced, the world then needs to create a counter-vector, which in time will lead to your undoing. That is why all empires eventually fall. To avoid that, the yogi needs not to act out of personal motivation but to perform actions with the greater good – the good of all – in mind. While this appears outlandish in a modern world, where we are taught at every turn that to be selfish is the natural way to be, it is the path to happiness and freedom and the one in sync with sacred law. This balance of all forces is also seen in the way Kundalini works itself. For example the sum total of all five vayus (vital energy currents), prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana, is zero, and that is why Kundalini does not have by itself a propensity to move upwards. Apana is the downward force that negates the upwards-directed vayus prana and udana. However, seen only by itself, apana also contains its own negation, called apana gati. While the main, gross apanic force is directed downwards it contains in itself an upward force, a subtle updraft, an upward-suction that is created by the massive outer downdraft.

The Bhagavad Gita talks about this apana gati when it says ‘There are those who sacrifice prana into apana and apana into prana and call this pranayama’.140 This stanza suggests meditating on the inner negation contained in the inhalation and exhalation to attain a state beyond polarity, beyond the extremes of rajas (inhalation) and tamas (exhalation). The harnessing of apana gati is useful if we want to take the bird’s-eye view of human life. The act of the Divine to project itself out into the multitude of forms of manifestations is called Shakti, it is the descent of grace into creation. This force does contain its own negation, called Kundalini. Kundalini is the return of the Divine to its own state that is the return of the divine creative force at the base of the spine back up to divine consciousness in the Sahasrara Chakra. It is nothing but a coming home, a return to yourself. In order to do so we need to liberate the updraft inside apana, the apana gati. The liberating of this inner updraft inside apana constitutes the ignition of the fourth engine of Kundalini. It functions in the form of the six-stage double-up wave. This wave was already alluded to in Chapter 4; it is here explained in detail.

Exercise 16a: Accessing apana gati Sit in your usual meditation posture using your usual meditation accessories like Mula Bandha. Breathe through the central channel (Sushumna), which you visualize as fire red. Follow the movement of the breath on the inhalation from the pelvic floor to the centre of the cranium and on the exhalation from the cranium to the pelvic floor. Feel how this makes you increasingly rajasic as the inhalation proceeds and tamasic as the exhalation goes on. Now disconnect your awareness from the breath force. As breath during inhalation moves upwards from the pelvic floor towards the cranium, let awareness drop down from the cranium to the perineum. As the exhalation moves the breath force from the head to the tail, let awareness rise from the bottom of the spine to the head. Notice the state of balance and centring ensuing in your mind. The mind is thrown off balance through the breath force and can be balanced using awareness if one knows how to counteract and appease (negate) the breath force. Continue this meditation until you

have a clear experience of the inner opposing force in both inhalation and exhalation. We will now use the inner upward force contained in apana, the so-called apana gati, to turn the exhalation around and deliver breath force upwards during both inhalation and exhalation. During conventional breathing the breath force moves up during inhalation and down during exhalation. In Chapter 4 I have referred to this as an up-and-down wave. We will now switch to a double-up wave by awakening the apana gati, thus directing the force of the exhalation upwards too. Although the method described here is a benevolent way of raising Kundalini rather than a forceful one, it is nevertheless wise to use the following safety measures: 1. Start and finish each session of double-up wave breathing with at least three breaths utilizing the up-and-down wave. 2. Practise the double-up wave no longer than 1 hour per day. 3. Combine it with a daily asana, kriya and pranayama practice. 4. The longer your daily practice of the double-up wave, the more important a pure diet becomes. 5. The longer your daily practice of the double-up wave, the more important it is that you place yourself in the service of the Divine with form (the formless Absolute cannot tell you what is right or wrong). Remember that God is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. There is no point in switching on this powerful force other than to experience total love for and service to God. If you practice the double-up wave combined with the other aspects of this meditation for more than one hour per day, you may find it increasingly difficult to fulfil your duties towards society. As the ancient sages said, ‘Yoga can only succeed if practised conjointly with fulfilling one’s duty towards society.’ For example, it is useless to escape into spiritual exultation if your family starves or your job in society, whatever it is, has becomes neglected. If, for example, you were a member of the police force and your excessive meditation practice led to all crooks walking free, you would have been neglecting your duty. This would eventually catch up with you. The same would apply if you were a captain of industry and, through your

excessive meditation, your company went bankrupt, which would send many of your workers into unemployment. Again, this would eventually put a ceiling on your practice and negate its benefits. As always, any form of spiritual practice must be in harmony with the larger svadharma (sacred duty) that is your individual way of serving the Divine and humanity. Please use this powerful method responsibly and do not become an escapist. During the inhalation, meditate on the outer upward force of the breath. During the exhalation switch to the apana gati, that is the inner upward movement within the exhalation. This means that now there are upward movements during both the inhalation and exhalation. This will drive prana upwards and will establish it at the third-eye chakra.

Exercise 16b: Utilizing apana gati through Uddiyana Bandha to create a six-stage double-up wave We will now use a form of Uddiyana Bandha that is very different from the Bahya (external) Uddiyana we performed during the external breath retentions that we added in Chapter 14. In this present exercise we will use a form of Uddiyana Bandha that I called in my previous book Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga ‘exhalation-Uddiyana Bandha’. Please note this form of Uddiyana Bandha is not suitable for practice during asana, as it would tighten the diaphragm. Do not practice this method extensively during menstruation or pregnancy, both of which rely on an apanic down flow. Exhalation-Uddiyana Bandha is designed only for pranayama and meditation practice. It turns the energetic down-flow of the exhalation around and turns it into an up-flow by creating an upward ripple on the abdominal wall. In Chapter 4 we were working with breath waves. The standard form of all two-stage, three-stage and six-stage waves is the up-and-down wave, which makes the prana oscillate up the spine during the inhalation and down the spine during the exhalation. It also sends the mind oscillating back and forth between the extremes of tamas and rajas. The oscillating (vikshipta) mind is one of the five categories of mind that the Rishi Vyasa mentioned.141 This mind is also called the confused mind, as the oscillation of prana prevents us from gaining clarity of understanding and thus creates confusion. For the purpose of spiritual evolution, yogis turn the characteristic of the

exhalation around and convert it into an up-wave. It thus gains the energetic characteristics of an inhalation. For this reason I call this wave the double-up wave. Practised by itself without any additional aids, it would make the mind too rajasic, but if it is practised in the context of pranayama and meditation (and in what other context would somebody practise it?), the additional energy (rajas) is bound through mantra, chakra visualization, bandhas, mudras etc. It thus becomes a powerful motor for spiritual evolution. Practically speaking the exhalation is turned around by gently contracting the entire abdominal wall and pushing it in against the spine while the thorax is kept lifted (Note how different this phenomenon is from the suction created by Bahya external Uddiyana.) Only then, when the abdomen is drawn in, is the thorax deflated. But yogis do not stop here. Imagine now that you would first draw in the lower abdomen, then the mid-torso and finally exhale from the upper chest. The final stage is to compartmentalize even further and exhale first from the Muladhara area, then from the sacral chakra, then from the lumbar chakra, subsequently from the heart chakra area, which is followed by exhaling from the throat chakra and finally we exhale from the Ajna chakra. I should mention that if I talk about breathing in and from the cranium this is metaphorical. I am not referring to the gross movement of the breath through the torso but to the subtle movement of prana through the central energy channel (Sushumna). This is particularly important during the inhalation. If you were to draw a full-torso inhalation all the way up into the head, the intracranial blood pressure could rise so much that theoretically you could rupture a blood vessel in the brain. That is one reason why yogis always talk about breathing through the infinitely fine Sushumna. When you exhale, let the exhalation be powered by a ripple that initiates at the lowest abdominal wall, just above the pubic bone. From here let it slowly travel up across the abdominal wall. The muscle that powers this feat is the transverse abdominis. Once you have arrived at the Ajna Chakra, perform a spontaneous breath retention in the Sahasrara (crown chakra) with meditation on the Divine in your desired form including pronouncing its associated ishta mantra. At the end of your breath retention, jump with your attention straight down into the location of Kundalini below Muladhara chakra (base chakra). Briefly visualize Kundalini as previously described and pronounce HRIIM. Then, as the inhalation commences, take Kundalini up with you and conduct her

through the chakras, including pronunciation of the bija aksharas (root syllables) and visualization of chakras, colours, number of petals, etc. The concentration sequence is now the same for both inhalation and exhalation: At the end of your breath retention (whether internal or external retention) meditate on the Kundalini, the divine creative force in the body, as a red triangle with the apex facing down, carrying inside it a blue-green column around which the lightning-coloured creative force is coiled three-and-a-half times. While you pronounce the Kundalini mantra HRIIM, visualize the divine creative force as uncoiling and entering the fire-red Sushumna. Now repeat LAM, for what is the appropriate number of times for you, into the perineum and out of this soundwave let manifest the Muladhara Chakra, with 4 petals of crimson-red or dark red colour. This chakra represents the element earth, with its state of solidity, and its yantra is a square of yellow colour. Then repeat VAM, for what is the appropriate number of times for you, into the sacral area and out of this soundwave allow the Svadhishthana Chakra to manifest, with 6 petals of orange-red colour. This chakra represents the element water, its yantra being a crescent moon of white colour. Next pronounce the appropriate number of RAMs into the lumbar area, and out of this soundwave allow the Manipura Chakra to manifest, with 10 petals of the blackish-blue colour of a storm cloud. Its element is fire and its yantra a triangle of red colour. Next repeat YAM into the thoracic area and out of this soundwave allow the Anahata Chakra to project forth, with 12 petals of the fire-red colour of the Bandhuka flower. Its element is air and its yantra a smoke-coloured hexagram. Next pronounce HAM repeatedly into the cervical area, and out of this soundwave allow the Vishuddha Chakra to manifest, with 16 petals of a smoky, purplish hue. Its element is ether and its yantra a white circle. Conclude your inhalation by pronouncing OM repeatedly into the centre of the cranium and let this soundwave manifest Ajna Chakra, with 2 bright, white petals. This chakra represents intelligence and its yantra is a lightningcoloured triangle. Now retain the breath by locking the throat and bring your awareness to

the Sahasrara Chakra, on the crown of the head, with a thousand petals displaying all colours simultaneously and brighter than a thousand suns. Visualize your form of the Divine on this lotus and pronounce the appropriate ishta mantra once. Absorb yourself into the oceanic ecstasy of apprehending your chosen form of the Divine for the duration of the breath retention. Upon completion of the retention jump your awareness straight back down to the reservoir of Kundalini below Muladhara! This is important. Whether your breath inhales or exhales, your mind and abdominal muscles still act as if you would again inhale! Visualize Kundalini as a red triangle with the apex facing down. Inside the triangle there is a blue-green column around which the lightning-coloured creative force is coiled three-and-a-half times. Visualize Kundalini as uncoiling and entering the fire-red Sushumna, and from here continue back up for the next breath. Continue to utilize all previously mentioned ancillary tools including Mula Bandha, Jihva Bandha, mudras and drishtis. You will soon notice that if you follow all of these instructions properly it is hard not to enter very quickly into a spiritually exulted state. It is important, however, that you do not jump ahead but master each component of this most powerful meditation technique one step at a time. Otherwise its fruit will not reveal itself. Because this method is so powerful and the ecstasy derived from it can quickly overwhelm other areas of your life, a timely reminder: Do not practice this meditation for more than one hour per day unless you have to a large extent completed your duties towards society and family. These duties require the mainenance of an apanic downflow, which will be reversed if you practise the meditation for too long. Realize that, as long as you are an active member of society, there are other aspects to life apart from the ecstasy that comes with getting the darshana (view) of the Divine. The world, the planet Earth and human society are manifestations of the Divine, and to serve them is to serve the Divine. There is no discrepancy. For this reason you must conclude every session of double-up wave meditation with several sets of upand-down wave meditations. This will instil into you the spontaneous ability to place the prana into the appropriate chakra necessary for the task at hand.

Chapter 17

LAW 17: WHEN SHAKTI COMES TO REST IN MULADHARA, CONSCIOUSNESS BECOMES INVISIBLE AND THE WORLD BECOMES VISIBLE. WHEN KUNDALINI RETURNS TO SAHASRARA, CONSCIOUSNESS BECOMES VISIBLE AND THE WORLD DISAPPEARS FROM VISION. This chapter discusses the seventh chakra, which is outside of the breathing cycle and its many implications. Sahasrara Chakra (thousand-petalled lotus) Location: supracranial Quality: nishtraigunya (beyond the three gunas) Element: beyond all elements / pure consciousness Sense: beyond all senses / pure awareness Colour: all colours simultaneously and yet none of them Petals: thousand-petalled (metaphorical for infinite) Mantra: beyond mantra / shabda Brahman / infinite divine potential Yantra: formless Absolute The Sahasrara chakra was previously mentioned in the context of arresting prana here during kumbhaka (breath retention) and to place what is for you the appropriate form of the Divine into your thousand-petalled lotus. Please note that to visualize the Divine with form in the Sahasrara (a devotional technique), or to briefly place prana into the Sahasrara for a technical purpose, or to have a temporary peak experience in Sahasrara (asamprajnata samadhi) are different things to completely absorbing prana into this chakra (called kaivalya by Patanjali). This is confirmed by Sir John Woodroffe, who states that liberation is attained only when the yogi has at any time complete wilful control over where and in which chakra Kundalini is located and not just when it occasionally flashes up.142 The practice, consisting of worshipping your ishta devata during short spontaneous kumbhakas between chakra-breathing cycles, is very powerful. However, if

seen solely in the context of the Sahasrara, it is a beginner’s practice. In this chapter we will inquire into the results of serious Sahasrara practice and its implications. The function of Sahasrara is absorptive, that is, if you do stay in Sahasrara in kumbhaka for longer terms, you will be absorbed into the formless, infinite, absolute Godhead and no trace of individuality will remain. As a drop that falls into the ocean becomes one with it, so the yogi will dissolve into the Divine by becoming absorbed into it. The form of yoga that deals with this is called Jnana Yoga. In Jnana Yoga, it is not devotion to the Divine with form (saguna Brahman) that is sought but absorption into the formless Absolute, what physicists call the unified field. This absorption is referred to by Buddhists as nirvana. There is a discussion among yogis whether this absorption should take place either at all or at the very end of one’s life/lives, when all sacred duties towards the Divine and humanity are fulfilled. Certainly one should not enter this great dissolution until all duties in this world are attended to. This will be discussed at the end of the chapter. THE NAGARAJ, A METAPHOR FOR THE UNIFIED FIELD

T. Krishnamacharya taught his students the following prayer: om mani bhrajat phana sahasravidhrta vishvam bhara mandalaya anantaya nagarajaya namah OM, I bow to the king of the serpents, who embodies infinity, who carries the universe and simultaneously blazes forth all knowledge with one thousand, hooded, bejewelled heads. The chant is addressed to the Nagaraj, the thousand-headed king of the serpents. One of his names is Ananta, meaning infinity. This is reflected in the fact that sometimes he is depicted as a snake biting into its own tail thus forming a circle. Another of his names not mentioned in this chant is Adishesha, which means residue. Adishesha is considered the combined residue of all universes that became unmanifest. Patanjali is also considered a manifestation of this serpent of infinity. The Nagaraj propounds a thousand versions, views or interpretations of the

one underlying truth through his thousand bejewelled heads. These views or interpretations of the truth include all religions, all schools of philosophy, all sciences, all branches of knowledge, all schools of yoga, all cultures and all languages. The thousand heads are a concession to the fact that as soon as you use words, as soon as you attempt to filter the one underlying truth through a linguistic code, your words must necessarily be an interpretation of that truth and not the truth itself, which can only be conveyed through the luminous silence of the Shabda Brahman. The peculiar anatomy of the Nagaraj includes the fact that the thousand heads are attached to a single tail. The tail is silent. It does not have a mouth to express itself, as no single mouth, no view of the truth, could claim to be its sole representation. The tail represents the formless Absolute, the nirguna Brahman, the infinite consciousness, the unified field, the God transcendent. The tail is the silent, inexpressible origin and base of the many heads. The important law expressed in this metaphor is that there are many ways in which the same truth can be expressed. For this reason the one tail has many heads attached to it. On the other hand it is impossible to reduce the tail to a single head. This means that no verbal truth, however elegant and eloquent it may be, has a monopoly on the tail. While all religions, philosophies, schools of thought and sciences may project to you that they have the exclusive access to the tail of Brahman, they all share joint access to the same truth without being able to represent it. The tail of the Nagaraj is a metaphor for the experience obtained when prana is placed into the Sahasrara chakra. While prana is suspended in Sahasrara it is impossible to describe one’s vision in words. There is therefore no Sahasrara religion, science, philosophy or teaching. When mystics come down from these heights they grapple for words to describe what they have seen in order to convey it to others. In doing so they inevitably use conditioning, mind, linguistic codes and their past to cast into words what is unsayable, what is eternally beyond conditioning, mind and words. Thus, sages and mystics of all ages have had to come down to the Ajna, Vishuddha or Anahata chakra to describe an experience that, while it is not contained in these chakras, cannot be taught either if one remains in Sahasrara. MOUNTAIN-TOP METAPHOR

The Sahasrara can be understood as the summit of a mighty mountain. In order to reach this summit you have to decide on an angle of approach – whether you approach over the north or south face, etc. All of the paths leading to the top are representative of particular schools of thought, philosophies, sciences, religions or schools of yoga. While you are on your way up you have only a very limited view of the mountain. You see only one side. For this reason, because the other approaches are out of your sight, it might appear to you as if your path, the path of the school that you follow, is the only feasible one. Once you are up on the mountain, which represents the Sahasrara chakra or peak experience, the scenery changes. While initially you are so overwhelmed by the lofty heights that you look into infinity, after a while you become accustomed to it and start to become curious about what is happening on the other slopes that were previously hidden to your view. You walk around the edge and start to look down, only to find to your great surprise that there are other paths leading up, that there are people coming up along all the slopes. Among the ones on the top there is great peace and no squabbling. Although they stem from many different cultures, nobody claims that theirs is the only way up. That would be foolish, because it is plain that a lot of the people are up there do not look at all as if they had taken the same path as you. Some of them wear a turban and some of them wear a star of David, some of them wear orange robes and have shaven heads, others wear their hair long and matted, while yet others are sporting a cross. But none of all of these outer signs of allegiance are important up here: all are united in the peak experience, which is beyond mind and words. However, you see on the slopes people who have never attained this birdseye view. They are busy shouting to the people underneath them that all other paths are wrong, even satanic, and only theirs is right. Some are so busy deterring others from leaving their particular paths that they are never truly concerned about getting to the peak. If they could be made to reach the top and see the multitude of paths that reach to it, a new era of peace could begin. It would also be an era in which we would realize that whatever can be expressed in words is of only relative, limited value, even of dubious worth. It can never be the complete and exclusive truth. We could then realize the limitations of our own words and views and come to a new era of harmony and peaceful coexistence.

Because what really matters is not what you believe and hold true, it is the visceral knowledge of the divine origin of all beings and therefore their shared sacredness. It is the realization that the God transcendent expresses itself through all beings and all beings are therefore sacred. If this experience could be shared between many people, our conflict with ourselves, and therefore with others, would end. THE MAHAVAKYAS AND MANSUR AL HALLAJ

There is no mantra to activate Sahasrara as it is beyond the reach of sound. The stage of sound referring to Sahasrara is called para, which means beyond. Para denotes the shabda Brahman, the formless Absolute as infinite potential. Let me quickly explain what that is, as it sounds a bit vague. Quantum physicists are trying to define the state prior to the Big Bang that brought forth the known universe. Time is measured by change, and since no change occurred prior to the Big Bang it is said that this state is beyond time or timeless. Space can only be measured as a distance between two points but since, prior to the Big Bang, no points existed, this state is also beyond space. However, since the next moment, the Big Bang brought forth time, space and the known universe the state prior to the Big Bang is described as having infinite potential. Since time did not exist prior to the Big Bang, this seed state of the universe that yogis call shabda Brahman is eternal. That means it does not only exist right now but permanently and all the time in a timeless and eternal state outside of our known world. It was William Blake who said, “There are things that are known and there are things that are unknown. In between there are doors.” While the chakras all represent such doors, the primordial door to the Great Unknown is the Sahasrara. The mahavakyas or great utterances of the Upanishad reflect what one feels when one has tasted a fair bit of the nectar of the Sahasrara. One of these mahavakyas is Tat tvam asi – ‘I am that’. It means, ‘I am the nirguna Brahman, the formless Absolute.’ This is the ultimate state that can be described and while it should only be uttered by one who has attained completion and spiritual perfection, one must wonder whether it is good at all to utter it today, unless one has attained the siddhi to back it up. I am mentioning this because the path that deals with this subject, the Advaita Vedanta, has today attracted much attention amongst modern seekers. It was

the great Paramahamsa Ramakrishna who spelled out at every turn that to say ‘I am the Brahman’, ‘I am the God transcendent’ is utterly improper for a person who has not renounced any attachment to this world in the form of money and sex.143 He stated that these grand expressions (mahavakyas) should be reserved for monks and ascetics who have renounced everything and can visibly prove it. When one remains in Sahasrara for a long time, every trace of egoity is dissolved and with it any desire to consume and enjoy money and sex. Once all egoity is dissolved, the individual ceases to exist and, as a drop falling into the ocean dissolves its boundaries, it is absorbed into the ocean of infinite consciousness. This means that the yogi ceases to be an individual and is absorbed into the transcendental Godhead (nirguna Brahman). Even then it would be precarious to say ‘I am that’ because, technically speaking, in order to see the nirguna Brahman, the formless Absolute or transcendental Godhead, the I cannot be there any more. It is the I, or ahamkara (I-maker) as yogis call it, that prevents us from merging into the Great Unknown. The old adage ‘You can’t have your cake and eat it too’ is true. The cake is the I, which separates us from the formless Absolute, the transcendental Godhead, but it enables us to enjoy and participate in the world as seemingly isolated individuals. If you have the cake, the I, you are an individual, but if you eat it the cake is gone. You are now absorbed into the transcendental Godhead and are no longer I. It therefore would be wise, if we talk about our experience of the Brahman, to say ‘Only the Brahman exists’, rather than ‘I am the Brahman’, as the I is then gone. The Persian Sufi master Mansur al-Hallaj, in an ecstasy in full view of the public, used to call out Ana l-Haqq – ‘I am The Truth’. This eventually earned him execution, ordered by the Caliph of Baghdad because ‘the Truth’ is one of the names of Allah. While I do not want to discuss here the pros and cons of execution for heresy, the problem with making such a statement in public is that when you say ‘I am the Truth’ or ‘I am the Brahman’ the audience will identify you with your body, mind and ego. That is what they can see. They will then translate your saying as ‘My limited personality, ego and body is God.’ Statements like that will always be misunderstood by any but the trained mystic. It is better to leave out the I and simply say ‘The Truth is’ or ‘I can see Truth’. But then this would not get you much publicity, and

even Mansur al-Hallaj was criticized by his Sufi contemporaries at the time (10th century) for being a sensationalist and populariser. Even today, although we pride ourselves on freedom of speech acts and similar legislation in countries around the world, we often do not take it too kindly if people claim ‘I am God’. When I went to high school during the 1970s a schoolmate of mine had imbibed a certain hallucinogen. Not long afterwards he was found on one of the main intersections of town, stopping cars and announcing to the inhabitants that he was Jesus and that he loved them all. I don’t think he meant any harm, but he was first remanded in custody at the local police station and then forwarded to a psychiatric ward where he was bombarded with high doses of such strong neuroleptics that he had serious problems with regaining his cognitive faculties when he was released. At least he didn’t get executed. In the same vein Paramahamsa Ramakrishna suggested that non-ascetics should never say ‘I am That’ (i.e. the Brahman), they should rather more innocently say ‘I am a child of God’. STANCE OF THE BHAKTA TOWARDS THE SAHASRARA EXPERIENCE

After having explained some problems associated with Sahasrara from a relative and mortal perspective, let’s now look into why Bhaktas do not desire nor actively seek dissolution in Sahasrara (it will come by itself when your service is complete). The Advaita Vedantins say that the individual self (atman) is identical with the divine self (Brahman). The term Advaita comes from a-dve, meaning not two. The individual self (atman) is nothing but pure consciousness. As consciousness cannot be divided, to realize your self truly means to realize not only your self but also everybody else’s self and the divine self. The sacred self in our hearts is nothing but the Divine living in us. Yogis agree up to this point, but they go further in their inquiry. (The train of thought is much simplified here, as this is not a book on philosophy but on meditation). The individual self (atman) is like the divine self (Brahman) consciousness. That’s correct, point taken. But when the sound OM is heard and the darshana (view) of the Divine is had, the Divine is seen as OMnipotent, OMniscient and Omnipresent, and certainly in that regard the divine self is utterly different from your and anybody else’s self. This difference was pointed out by Acharya Ramanuja in his identity-in-

difference doctrine (beda-abeda). Ramanuja analysed precisely this point, and declared that, while the individual self is identical with the Divine in regard to consciousness, it is different in regard to powers. The beda-abeda doctrine is also supported by many passages in the Upanishads.144 The view that the individual self and the divine self (Ishvara) are different was also shared by sage Patanjali. He taught that, while a human yoga master may become liberated and attain a state in some ways similar to that of the Divine, the difference is that God (Ishvara) was always liberated, never subject to karma, always free from suffering and omniscient.145 One of the main problems is that the Advaita Vedantins fail to recognize that the Divine is not only God transcendent (i.e. nirguna Brahman, Shiva, the Father) but also God immanent, that is, the creative force that brings forth at any moment an almost infinite number of parallel universes (i.e. Shakti, Prakrti, the Great Goddess, the Holy Spirit, the Divine Feminine). While my transcendent aspect may be identical to God transcendent and may become absorbed into the formless Absolute when permanently entering Sahasrara, my phenomenal aspect (i.e. my mind, body and ego, which are bound up with the phenomena) is certainly in no way identical with the immanent aspect of God, which is absolute power, total intelligence and infinite creativity. Another very important difference between the two schools is the different ways in which Advaita Vedantins on the one hand and yogis on the other attain or work towards knowledge. In his Brahma Sutra Commentary Shankara, the main protagonist of Advaita Vedanta, contended that the Brahman can only be attained through knowledge, as otherwise it would mean that the Brahman is caused by actions (such as meditation and pranayama).146 What Shankara is afraid of is that we may think that our knowledge of infinite consciousness is ‘caused’ by our practices. The Ramayana on the other hand shows that there is not a causal link but a temporal link, meaning sages become not liberated ‘because’ of a life of study of scriptures, pranayama and meditation, but ‘after’ such a life has been lived.147 This particular teaching is called karma-jnana-sa-muccaya –‘With (sa) actions (karma) and knowledge (jnana) liberation is achieved (muccaya)’. And that is exactly why a yogi’s practice does not exhaust itself, as does that of an Advaita Vedantin, in mere reflection on the ultimate reality (Jnana

Yoga), but he/she will perform additionally actions such as asana, pranayama, kriya, mudra, bandha, meditation and concentration on chakras and mantra. The ancient sage Yajnavalkya used very strong words in support of karma-jnana-samuccaya. He declared the view that liberation could be obtained through knowledge alone as ignorant: the entirety of the eight limbs was required to achieve it.148 In modern days T. Krishnamacharya was an adherent of the karma-jnana-sa-muccaya doctrine and was critical of the Advaita view. Many Bhaktas (devotees of the Divine) even refuse to enter Sahasrara for extensive periods, because it blurs the division between the devotee and the Beloved. The Acharya Bhaskara, for example, said that he would prefer to wallow for eternities in the mire like a pig rather than attain the Advaitin Shankara’s shabby liberation. A strong statement, but that’s how they are, the Bhaktas: passionate. As previously explained, the term bhakti comes from the verb root bhaj – to divide. The Bhakta sees the division between him/herself on the one hand and the Divine on the other. When the view of the Divine is gained, it is seen as infinite power, wisdom, intelligence, creativity and love, and this revelation bestows incredible love for the Divine upon the devotee. From that day onwards the devotee is in a swoon-like state on apprehending the Beloved, the Divine. Such an intense experience of divine love can only be had with the Divine with form (saguna Brahman) such as with Jesus Christ, Lord Krishna, Rama or Kali. It cannot be experienced with the formless Absolute, which is attained in a cool, passionless, nirvana-like state. It is here exactly that we find one of the key criticisms of yoga towards Advaita Vedanta. Yoga harnesses all aspects of the human being: the body through asana, the breath through pranayama, the mind through structured meditation using chakras, mantra etc., the intellect through gaining knowledge of the Divine and of divine law and, last but not least, the emotions by creating intense, fervent love for the Divine, called Bhakti. For the human being is an emotional one, and not a cool, detached, intellectual, joyless robot as the Advaitin philosophy implies. It was Mark Twain who said ‘To get the full value of joy, you must have somebody to divide it with.’ Here is the secret of Bhakti. By dividing joy with the Divine you get the full value out of it. PATANJALI AND THE FORMLESS ABSOLUTE

A similar view is held by sage Patanjali. In the Yoga Sutra he states that suspension of mind (and thus abiding in consciousness) is to be obtained by the dual means of practice and dispassion.149 He clearly distances himself from the view held by the Advaita Vedantins that knowledge/dispassion alone could lead to freedom, and places emphasis on a disciplined effort in technical practices such as asana, pranayama and yoga meditation. Additionally, he clearly excludes worship of the formless Absolute (nirguna Brahman) as being fit for yoga. To qualify his fourfold call for surrender to God,150 the sage describes God as a distinct consciousness that is eternally free, untouched by karma and suffering,151 all-knowing,152 eternal153 and projecting forth the sacred sound OM,154 which produces all other vibratory patterns. Particularly significant is his use of the saying Purusha vishesha ishvarah – ‘God is a distinct being’. He wishes to propose that God is not just the sum total of all things in the universe, or the cause of everything or, as the Advaita Vedantins have it, the formless Absolute. Since God is ‘distinct’, according to Patanjali, he/she/ it can be distinguished from everything else. It is quite obvious why Patanjali advises surrender to God as a distinct being: It is because we are distinct too. How can a distinct being with form worship the formless Absolute (nirguna Brahman) and yet be active in this world? To do the ancient Advaita Vedantins honour, it must be admitted that they did take this question to its only logical conclusion. Their answer was to totally renounce money, sex, family ties and the body. (That includes your asana practice, because why would you exercise the body if you thought it was an illusion?) For to become one with the formless, you have to let go of form. This view has been embraced also by sages such as Ramana Maharishi and Paramahamsa Ramakrishna. SVADHARMA FIRST, AND ONLY THEN THINK OF MERGING INTO SAHASRARA

In the Gita Lord Krishna says, ‘Better your own duty (svadharma) performed in a mediocre fashion than somebody else’s with excellence.’155 Every human being is God’s unique gift to this world and thus has a unique gift to give to it. You have to find yours within your heart and give it before you can exit into nirvana/Sahasrara. What exactly that is nobody else can dare to tell you or dictate to you, because nobody else but you can fathom the depth of your heart. Before yogis completely merge into Sahasrara, it is essential that we fulfil

our duty here on Earth. In this regard Patanjali’s Ashtanga or eight-limbed Yoga is very different to what is commonly called Jnana Yoga, the yoga of knowledge. It is only the more advanced objectless samadhi (asamprajnata or nirbija samadhi) that deals with self realization or realization of the Divine. Before those samadhis, however, Patanjali places a plethora of objective samadhis, that is samadhis that enables us to see objects that make up the world as they truly are. The purpose of these objective samadhis is for the yogi to see rta, that is, sacred order. Rta, in the Upanishads generally called vijnana (deep knowledge), means understanding the sacred laws according to which the Divine expresses itself in this creation. It also entails passing this knowledge on to others. Great yogis like Patanjali have not headed for the nirvana/Sahasrara exit but founded sciences – in Patanjali’s case medicine (Ayurveda), psychology (yoga) and the science of sound (Sanskrit). This is because the world is real, and to contribute to it and to the lives of others is to contribute to the process of divine creativity. Yoga’s great invitation to you is to develop your highest potential through opening your higher chakras and then serve humanity and the Divine by fulfilling your svadharma, the duty that only you can fulfil and nobody else. Yoga does not teach that the world is an illusion (maya), as Advaita Vedanta does, but that it is real. According to yoga the Divine is not only the God transcendent (nirguna Brahman, Shiva, the Tao, the Father) but also the God immanent (Shakti, the Holy Spirit, prana). That means that this world is the body and the expression of God. The world is real, humanity is real and all individuals are free to awaken the Divine within them and to let themselves be used as vehicles for expression of the infinite creativity and joy of the Divine. The main problem associated with Sahasrara is that people believe they have to go there straight away, without attending to any of the chakras below it. However, if we could collectively open only Anahata we could overcome conflict, ambition, competition, greed, fear, crime, violence and war. Further, if enough of us were to open Vishuddha we could overcome hunger, disease, global warming, pollution and destruction of the environment. If many of us opened our Ajna chakras we would realize the Divine with form, first within and then outside of us. The most important part of that is to recognize the Divine in every other being that we encounter. If we did that, humanity could return to life in harmony.

Somewhere in each of us is the knowledge that one has a role to play. But your svadharma, your personal role, you can find only once you open those higher chakras from Anahata to Ajna.

Exercise 17: Carry the Divine in your heart The following meditation is helpful for integrating into your daily life some of the exultation derived during Sahasrara immersion. It is important that your success in meditation transforms your relating to others so that they can benefit from it. At the end of your normal meditation, visualize the thousand-petalled lotus sitting with open petals on the crown of your head. Now visualize your ishta devata, the appropriate form of the Divine for you, as sitting or standing on your crown chakra, inside your lotus. See your ishta devata bright and in lucid detail, particularly their face (if permitted by your path). Now let the thousand-petalled lotus close around your divine form, embracing it. Draw the closed lotus with your divine form inside down into your heart. Feel how the love and wisdom of your deity radiates from there through your entire being, and does so throughout the whole day. Feel how the Divine within you looks out of the eyes of every other being that you meet. Recognize every other being as a manifestation and emanation of God and love them as that.

Chapter 18

LAW 18: THE MEDITATION EXPERIENCE CAN BE INTEGRATED INTO LIFE ONLY WHEN IT IS ‘UNDERSTOOD’. To explain the importance of this law I would like to narrate how it played out in my own life; otherwise it will sound like mere theory. I was drawn into spiritual search and practice at a very young age. Already during my teens I started to experiment with fasting, isolation and many meditation techniques. After a binge of very excessive but seemingly futile practice one day I took a walk through the forest. It was one of the first warm spring nights. The sky was clear and the air was filled with smells of awakening life after a long, harsh winter. I suddenly felt a strange mood overcome me and went to my favourite clearing in the forest. I lay down on the forest floor in a spreadeagled fashion looking up to the sky. There was absolute silence around me, I could feel the warm air on my skin and the ground was still warm after a sunny day. I looked up to the sky, which was covered by millions of stars. It was a moonless night. While looking up to the stars I was suddenly overtaken by a conviction of my ignorance and insignificance. After much study, practising, thinking and not getting anywhere, I finally admitted to myself that I was utterly ignorant about life and its mysteries, and that it was not within my power to uncover them. This was a big step for me because at the time I was a sceptic and agnostic; at least I thought there was nothing out there that could aid in any way my quest for spiritual freedom. But for the first time in my life, without any pretence, without any belief or rejection thereof whatsoever, without any preconceived idea of how the answer could be derived or what it could be, I simply asked. To nobody in particular I asked what this life was about, what was its purpose and what was my role to play in it, if any. What happened next is utterly indescribable in words, but the experience is so important that I must try. Please remember, however, that words are utterly insufficient to describe what is essentially beyond words. It will be helpful, though, to try to get an intuitive grasp of what lies behind the words. Suddenly it was as if a reat hand grasped a giant zip that went right across

the sky. As the zip was pulled across the sky and the fabric that previously formed it was removed, it revealed a scene that left me utterly breathless, speechless and without thought for what seemed an eternity. I suddenly seemed to have the ability to see into deep space, and an unlimited number of of solar systems, galaxies and universes was revealed to my eye. I saw worlds being created, flourishing and then decaying. I saw in all these worlds an immeasurable number of species developing, striving and evolving. Then I saw, suspended in the centre of this vista, a humungous, boundless Being. This Being appeared to have an infinity of arms with which it simultaneously maintained, carried, developed, created and reabsorbed an imponderable number of worlds, galaxies and universes. This Being was of fathomless knowledge, intelligence, beauty, love, freedom, truth and power. Through an infinity of languages it emitted its knowledge simultaneously to all celestial species, races and cultures of beings that lived in all worlds. And it seemed as if all these trillions of discourses that went on simultaneously then merged into the one sound, OM. As this sound was emitted it gave birth to suns, planets and solar systems, and placed them in their orbits. It made electrons circle around their atomic nuclei, it gave rise to the laws of physics, and it produced DNA, including the human one. As I was watching this incredible drama unfold I became aware of the residue of my previously uttered questions about the meaning of life. I then saw that this infinite Being was addressing each individual in its creations, including me. As the sound OM was directed towards me, I saw how I too was an expression, a creation, an emanation of this Being and this sound. I saw how my body and mind and the whole of the world in which I existed were produced by this eternal vibration. I then saw how even the thought of me looking for my purpose and meaning was an expression of the infinite creativity of this Being, even a way of this Being constantly recreating itself by forming other beings. Although a part of this eternal Being was eternally perfect and unmoving, another part of it expressed itself, its infinite creativity and its potential by becoming the world and all beings, including me in my little world with my little self-absorbed thoughts. When I later reconstructed the events of that night I came to the conclusion that I must have been partaking of the infinite ecstasy and love of that Being for about 45 minutes Earth time. The first dichotomising thought I noticed after this time was the idea that I needed to hold on to the experience no

matter what. This thought drove the first wedge between me and that Being (or so I thought at least). While still watching this Being I wondered what would be the best way of holding on to the experience, further creating the delusion that I could ever be separate from it. After some time I then decided to get pen and paper (no hand-held devices back then) to write my impressions down as accurately as I could. While the vision slowly receded before my eyes I got up, walked half an hour to my bicycle, cycled another half hour home, only to arrive at my desk to stare at a blank piece of paper without having a clue what to write. During the following years I understood that an experience, even if it is a mystical one, is something that has a beginning and an end. I had thought that an experience of infinite love, beauty, truth and intelligence would change my life forever, but had to learn that, after such an experience, it was even more painful not to have it any more, as I knew what was missing. During the following years of trying to recreate that experience, it seemed as if the revelation had not created a lasting positive influence on my life. If anything, it seemed to have made me more miserable, as if I had eaten the fruit from the tree of knowledge and then been dismissed from the Garden of Eden forever. My state was similar to that of a man madly in love with a woman who ignores him. As she makes it clearer and clearer that she has absolutely no interest in him, instead of picking up the pieces and getting on with his life he gets more and more obsessed with her and focuses completely on the pain of rejection. The turnaround came only when I started to study yogic philosophy systematically. When I started on this path I realized that we cannot demand: that it is not the purpose of our life to be 24/7 plugged into the software of the Supreme Being. Yogic philosophy teaches an understanding of life, it teaches the truth about life, whatever one’s current experience is. When studying yogic philosophy and other sacred texts I learned to integrate and understand my experiences and so become independent from them. For there is an aspect to us – the eternal, divine self – that is forever one with that Supreme Being whether we feel, perceive and experience it at that time or not. Through yogic philosophy I understood that the meaning of life is not to bring it to an end prematurely through nirvana but to live it, to live it according to sacred law and to make one’s life an expression of the infinite

love of the Supreme Being. To make one’s life an expression of the infinite creativity of the Divine. THE TRUE MEANING OF UNDERSTANDING

You would be surprised how many people have experienced exalted mystical states and have not been able to gain anything at all from them. At the other end of the scale there were sages who experienced powerful mystical states only for a very short time but, because they had excellent grounding in yogic philosophy, they understood what had happened to them. They remained forever grateful for what was shown to them, and through this gratitude remained in a state of spiritual freedom forever. The easiest way to understand this phenomenon is to use devotional language. The devotional yogi (bhakta) uses for mystical states the label ‘to obtain the view of the Divine’. To have a 5-minute mystical peak experience for the bhakta is to have a 5-minute audience with God. The question is, how many of those audiences would you need or how much time would you demand for a single such audience to last to get off God’s back? The better you understand yogic philosophy the less such audiences you need. The greatest mystic is not the one who elbows him/herself to the front of the queue and then hogs the best spot for the rest of their life. This would in fact indicate a needy person who has not understood. The greatest mystic is he who has a short peek, understands what is going on and then serves that Being by teaching others to get that view and understanding too. Look for a moment at the word understand: To ‘under-stand’ something means to put a stand under it, to put legs under it. Once the experience has legs, it is fully supported and does not fall over when life brings its next seismic shock. This is the purpose of yogic philosophy. It is designed to integrate mystically ecstatic experiences into your life so that they can stand up for themselves, as does a table that has a leg in each corner and is therefore ‘understood’. When the peak experience comes it gives you the greatest happiness possible for a human being. And then it passes and leaves you alone. Everything passes, including the mystical experience. If your mind attaches itself to the ecstatic state it will try to freeze the peak experience into an image. This works for a short while – until you realize that this image is dead. Experiences pass. That is life. What counts is what you learn from it.

Yogic philosophy is a method to extract the essence from a mystical experience so that you do not depend on its repetition. The bhakta would say ‘so that you can vacate your bookings on God’s audience list and leave them to somebody else who needs them more urgently’. Any experience, even a mystical one, is still a stimulus. If you understand, then you are free of any stimulus, you have become independent from it. Independence or freedom in Sanskrit is called kaivalya. That is the term that Patanjali uses instead of the Buddhist term enlightenment or the general Hindu term liberation (moksha).156 Such an understanding can be gained from studying the Yoga Sutra and other yogic texts. But it can also be gleaned from studying the texts of any sacred tradition on Earth, be it the Holy Bible, the Qur’an, the Vedas, the Dhammapada or the Tao de Ching, for there is one underlying truth in all scriptures, that is the truth of divine love. UNDERSTANDING THE CHAKRAS

Another area of understanding that is quintessential to the meaningful integration of spiritual experiences into one’s life is to comprehend how the Divine expresses itself as you and the world at the level of each chakra. Once you gain mystical insight you need to reflect on the way the Divine expresses itself on these various levels. Meditation using the double-up wave as described in Chapter 16 produces mystical experiences. These experiences cannot be integrated into one’s life if there is not the ability to place prana into the chakra that is appropriate for the situation. Placing prana into a particular chakra activates it. This is done by breathing very slowly and completely, concentrating the mind on a particular chakra with great, vivid detail. Your experience will depend on which chakra is activated in this way. One and the same experience may cause dark, brooding cynicism in one person and an epiphany in the next, depending on the individual’s ability to integrate and understand it. The ability to shift prana from one chakra to the next is gained by meditation using the up-and-down wave. Placing prana into the first chakra (Muladhara) is required in situations where your life is endangered such as if you have to defend yourself. Some mystics refuse to ever use this chakra, but this is personal preference. There is no law that prevents you from doing so. Use of the second chakra (Svadhishthana) is necessary for procreation and

for taking care of your family. Again some mystics refuse to use it but others have done so. The third chakra (Manipura) is necessary for health, accumulating wealth, personal power and leadership. Some mystics became great leaders and organizers, while others preferred to remain hermits. The fourth chakra (Anahata) is the ideal chakra in which to centre oneself in most situations. As the axial chakra it conveys a state of balance; it is the best chakra from which to relate to others and the best in which to remain when returning from the peak experience. It is this chakra that feels the presence of the Divine and trusts in it. Nevertheless some of the ancient mystics refused even to return to this level after the lofty heights of the peak experience. The fifth chakra (Vishuddha) is the one to be accessed when wanting to understand the divine laws underlying all existence. However, if you try to communicate from here you are likely to be misunderstood. Mystics who stayed at this level became, in most cases, recluses from humanity. The sixth chakra (Ajna) bestows the view of the Divine. As with the fifth chakra, the majority of people tend to be irritated when encountering somebody whose prana remains in the sixth chakra. Even more remote than the sixth is the seventh chakra (Sahasrara). Apart from brief immersions into the formless Absolute, the function of this chakra is final absorption after the state of completion is reached. Before this state of completion is reached, the fifth and sixth chakras need to be experienced and these experiences relayed to others by means of returning to the heart. This is the way to distribute the benefit of your insight to all beings.

Epilogue The extremely powerful method taught here has been jealously guarded for a long time. Although it is at the core of what many yoga lineages teach today, it has to my knowledge not been explained in a comprehensive fashion in one volume. A lifetime of searching, studying and practising to assemble and refine this method in the present form is here placed before you. While teachings such as these were previously veiled in ambiguous language (sandhya), we do not have the time any more to be secretive. Yoga is about serving others. It is about serving the Divine and humanity. It is about creating one humanity, living in harmony and united through love for the one Divine expressing itself through all religions and philosophies. This evolution will come. It is inevitable. But we have the choice whether we make it reality now or whether we spend another 5000 years competing with each other or, worse, killing and thwarting each other because we believe we have a monopoly of the truth. In this case we will experience so much more pain. Either way, whether through love now or 5000 years of pain we will attain this state. Yoga will make a great contribution towards a new humanity united by divine love. The methods outlined in this book will enable you to be part of this contribution. It does not matter what faith or path you follow. Everybody is welcome. What does matter is the love that you feel for the Divine and the degree to which this love expresses itself as love for all beings.

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Author Information Having begun his yogic practices more than thirty years ago, in the mid1980s Gregor Maehle commenced yearly travels to India, where he studied with various yogic and tantric masters, traditional Indian sadhus and ascetics. His books Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy and Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series have been translated into many languages, and his 2012 publication Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga has set a new benchmark in the practice of yogic breathing. He has been invited to many countries to teach and has contributed to and been interviewed by numerous yoga magazines. Gregor offers workshops, retreats and yoga teacher-training courses worldwide. He teaches a holistic form of yoga into which he integrates, among other aspects, posture, kriyas, pranayama, meditation, devotion and yoga philosophy. More information is available at: www.chintamaniyoga.com www.8limbs.com and https://www.facebook.com/gregor.maehle.

Footnotes * The term evolution is used here with the meaning that I attached to involution in previous books. I have used evolution here to convey the idea that humanity potentially has a bright future to look forward to.↩ * With colonics, water is gravity-fed into the intestine usually from a height of around 3 metres, whereas for a medical-type enema the height is about a metre or as little as half a metre.↩ * I have described here only the influence that diet has on spiritual states and not its nutritional aspects. Before you change your diet long-term, you should consult additional sources that delve into food constituents such as fats and proteins.↩ * Vata, pitta and kapha are often translated as wind, bile and phlegm respectively, but these terms are so superficial that those who use them usually miss out on the complexity and subtlety of this terminology. As with most Sanskrit terms, it is better to use the original and slowly collect and add associations with the term rather than trying to translate it outright.↩ * Ujjayi Pranayama is a technique called ‘the victorious stretching of breath’, which consists of a slight closing of the epiglottis to produce a gentle hissing sound.↩ * Consciousness is the seat of awareness and awareness is the function of consciousness. Please note that yoga uses the term consciousness in a different way from modern western psychology. Western psychology denotes with the term consciousness that of which we are conscious, whereas yoga, which is ancient Indian psychology, uses the word to mean that which is conscious.↩ * The term science is here used in the meaning of ancient science, not western science. The Latin term science (knowledge) is derived from the Sanskrit originals chinta (thought) and chitta (mind). Deep knowledge

(science) is obtainable after the crystal of the mind has been polished and purified.↩ * Practising it for longer, particularly in combination with a lengthy asana, kriya and pranayama practice, may conflict with fulfilling your duties towards family and society, For more on this see ‘How much to practise’ at the end of chapter 12.↩ * I use this term for non-human mammals.↩

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