LOCATING THE BRAHMAN

We are consistently using the word Brahman which signifies God. We should also remember that Brahman (God) is different from soul. Soul is identified only with our physical bodies and Brahman cannot be identified with a particular thing, because he is everything. We are now trying to understand and realise the Brahman in order to get ourselves liberated. This is the basis of our current discussions. All the Upanishads confirm that Brahman is the Supreme and they cite several examples to substantiate. The soul is created by the Brahman and therefore, both are different. One is the creator and the other is the created. On the basis of this argument, both are different. Further, jiva or the soul is comprised of qualities whereas the Brahman is devoid of qualities, hence both are different. When the soul (jivatma) realises the Brahman, it is said that there is no difference between jivatma (soul) and paramatma (Brahman) as they are unified and become a single entity. But other school of thought says that there is difference between the soul and the Brahman, even if the soul realises the Brahman. They maintain Brahman is the Supreme and soul which is full of karmas cannot merge with it. In spite of the difference of opinion, both the schools admit that Brahman is bliss. Yet another school of thought believes that prana or air is the Brahman as survival is impossible without prana. Prana is also called the vital force. Some scriptures point out that mind is the Brahman. If we observe keenly, all these references such as bliss, prana and mind accept the Brahman without form. Secondly, there is also a common agreement amongst the scriptures that only soul and its associate, the gross bodies are prone to sufferings and miseries and the Brahman who is just witnessing the sufferings or otherwise of the soul does not get associated with the sufferings etc. Soul alone is associated with karmas hence it suffers. It is also said that both the soul and the Brahman reside in a place in our heart. This place is quite often referred to as the cave of the heart. This means that soul and the Brahman are situated side by side. Yet others are of the opinion that not the Brahman but knowledge is by the side of the soul. It is also said that Brahman resides within the soul and witnessing its activities. Therefore, we could see that there are different interpretations of the Brahman. This is basically because the Brahman is without form and qualities. Therefore it is extremely difficult to describe the Brahman. It is not that scriptures or its authors differ on the inference of the Brahman. They all accept that Brahman is the supreme. The location and the description of the Brahman in different ways is to enable us to understand the Brahman. Further we need some form to meditate upon and this could also be the reason for describing and localizing the Brahman. The fact remains that Brahman exists everywhere and no one can describe or localize him.

EXPERIENCING THE BLISS

Brahman is often referred to as bliss. Bliss is ananda or the supreme happiness. When the state of bliss is experienced, we feel the happiness of the highest order. This happiness can never be attained by any other source except realising the Brahman. Therefore it becomes imperative that bliss can be experienced only if we know the Brahman, as he alone can cause bliss. There is a difference between bliss and happiness. Happiness is a state that can be attained through sensory organs. But bliss can be attained only from the source within. When you buy a new home or car you are happy, being a proud owner. But for experiencing bliss there is no object, as we have already ruled out the Brahman as an object. Secondly, the happiness is realised by your ego. You as an individual feel the happiness of possessing a new car. You can be defined as your gross form that is perishable. When you think about your gross body, your thought is associated with your ego. You know very well that ego is the destroyer. But in the case of bliss, it is not experienced through senses, but through realization. When we say that bliss cannot be experienced by senses, it means that Brahman also cannot be enjoyed through sense organs. Therefore, we are ruling out that Brahman can be realized through our senses. He is beyond senses. He is beyond the senses because he is not visible, all alone and without qualities and attributes. Only form, qualities and attributes can be realised through senses. Therefore we can conclude that bliss and the Brahman are one and the same. But one may argue that when Brahman is omnipresent, why then the bliss is not attained always? It is true that Brahman is omnipresent. How do you know he is omnipresent? Because scriptures say so you believe that he is omnipresent, without experiencing his omnipresence. Unless his omnipresence is realized, you cannot experience the bliss. Hence practice of meditation becomes a necessity. Ignorance is the cause for identifying our gross body as the Self. Self means the Supreme Self, the Brahman. Identifying our gross body as the self is mainly due to two reasons. One is our ego and another is the maya or illusion. These two have to go, to progress in spirituality. But why there is impediment in realizing the Brahman who is also known as God, because, He is devoid of any quality, he is formless, and he is just watching ever activity as a witness. Because of these, we are not able to realise Him that easily. That is why importance of knowledge is emphasized in knowing the Brahman. The scriptures say that the ultimate knowledge is not merely knowing and realizing Brahman, but becoming one with the Brahman. In the stage of knowing the Brahman or realizing him, there exists duality. But in the case of becoming one with him there is no question of duality. Only this stage is called liberation which is the highest stage one could think of. This stage can be achieved only by frequently experiencing the bliss. Meditation is the only way to experience the bliss.

KNOWLEDGE AND BRAHMAN

We have so far ruled out that Brahman is not an object. We cannot call him as the known as we have not yet known him. So we need more details to understand the Brahman. We have in our very early postings talked about prakasha and vimarsha forms. These forms are manifested as Shiva and Shakthi. You can use the google search at the bottom of this page and press ctrl+f to know about prakasha and vimarsha forms. So the Brahman has two aspects the static and kinetic forms. These two forms are not independent and their unified form alone is called Brahman. Diversity of existence is due to modification in the gross forms only. For example diversity in existence means a tree, an insect, an animal, human etc. These are all different from each other only in their gross forms. But, their inner- self is the same. But they have different souls. They have different souls because they have different karmas. For example let us take two mango trees. Though both are mango trees, their growth pattern is different, the taste of the mangoes is different and their life span is also different. This difference is purely on account of their karmas. Suppose you see two rodents and you happen to kill one of them. This is because of the karmic account of the rodent, its life ends earlier than the normal life span. So the Brahman does not represent the gross forms. This is because there is diversity of gross forms and secondly anything with gross form ceases to exist. Thirdly, gross forms are subject to modifications or changes. They have to undergo the natural process of creation viz. birth, sustenance and death. Since Brahman does not have any of these qualities, gross forms are not Brahman. Gross forms are only the external coverings that give shapes and forms. These shapes and forms are the coverings of the soul thereby enabling us to call somebody by name. There is a possibility of some confusion here. If shapes and forms form the coverings of soul why then we are searching for the Brahman within? We should be looking only for soul within. But before this question is raised, we should realize that Brahman exists everywhere. Then why we are talking about realizing Brahman within? We have already answered this question in our earlier postings. Brahman can be realized only by meditation. Meditation should be a process of enquiry. You have to find questions and answers in your initial stages of meditation. Realized persons got answers for their search only through meditation. As a matter of fact the Vedas came into existence by this way only. Unified mind or focused mind, sitting postures, breathing exercises etc play their own role in the later part of meditation. When you get an answer for your search, you can control your mind and start meditating on the answer you get for your search. That is why we should have adequate knowledge. We can realize the Brahman only by knowledge. Only with knowledge either we can affirm or negate the Brahman. All the Upanishads talk about Brahman and a study of these Upanishads make our job easier. Possibly, this blog might also help!

SUBJECT AND OBJECT

Let us now understand the subject and object concept of the Brahman. What we are not able to see is not an object. If Brahman is object it has to be seen first before realizing. We are not able to see Brahman. Scriptures also never gave any form to Brahman. Secondly anything could be an object except our own self. Why ‘I’ is not called the object because we use our knowledge in realising the Brahman. How do we get our knowledge? We get knowledge from the objects around us. Tree is an object and we gain knowledge about tree by seeing it. We use our sensory organs to gain knowledge. Knowledge is gained out of the objects only. All objects will perish one day as they exist physically. In the same way, if you look at Brahman as an object, He has to exist physically. If He exists physically, he has to perish one day. Brahman is not visible to us nor is he going to perish like all other living beings. This is yet another confirmation that Brahman is not an object. Only for our convenience we make Him as object by defining various forms. But these forms are not without deeper significance which we shall discuss later. On the basis of the foregoing we can conclude that Brahman is not an object. If He is not an object, then is he the subject? Let us find out. Subject is defined as matter for discussion and a cause to experience. Brahman is the subject taken up for discussion and we are waiting to experience the Brahman. Therefore Brahman could be the subject. But we need more proof to confirm this. You call a tree as an object. How do you know it is an object? You are able to see the tree, the object with your eyes. Who is experiencing the vision of the tree? It is you, your sense organ eye experiencing the vision of the tree. So it is you who is experiencing. Does it mean that you are the subject? Possibly yes. You could be the subject. If you are subject, then what is the position of the Brahman? We have been referring the Brahman as the subject. When Brahman, the Supreme is the subject, how can you too be the subject? Does it mean that the subject, you as an individual and the Brahman are one and the same? Does it mean that the knower and the known are the same? Who is the knower? You are the knower. Who is the known? Brahman is the known. How we can call the Brahman as the known? We cannot call him the known at this stage. He can be called as known only after really knowing him. Discussion about the Brahman does not mean that you know him. By these discussions we are only trying to realise the universal existence of the Brahman. The Brahman within you or me or the tree is one and the same as he exists much smaller than an atom.

SOUL AND KARMA

Why the Brahman is not called as object and why it is referred as subject? If something that is visible to our external eyes is object. In the case of object it has to be realized through the senses. A religious symbol is an object and we worship it. This does not mean that the Brahman is only in that religious symbol. The fact is that Brahman is also present in that symbol as it exists everywhere. In order to have a focused mind these religious symbols have been created by. Religious symbols or statues have high vibration as they are sculptured in such a way that it receives all positive vibrations coming out of five basic elements. The chanting of mantras and prayers also transmit vibration to the symbol or statue. The sound coming out mantras and prayers is called shabdha Brahman (shabdha means sound). The excess vibration thus gathered in the statue or symbol is then distributed to the devotees who visit these shrines. These positive vibrations make us get rid of negative thoughts and we feel happy and relieved. Your mind becomes clear and you believe that all your miseries would go. The fact is that you had no miseries and your mind considers certain difficulties as miseries. Happiness or sorrow is due to your mental makeup only. Go on telling your mind that you are happy and surely you will be happy. Again the degree of sorrow and misery varies from person to person as they are governed by karmic account which is the law of God. The question arises why we should seek and realize the Brahman. The main idea is to liberate ourselves. Liberation is a process by which we try to avoid future births. To attain liberation we need to know the Brahman and realize him. Thus there exists interconnectivity between liberation, knowledge, self-realization, etc. Ignorance is one of the factors that prevent us in liberating ourselves. Ignorance again is the product of our mind, which is also associated with maya or illusion. Ignorance arises out of mistaken identity. Instead of identifying the Brahman in everything identifying everything else by its name is maya. As we have seen earlier that maya is the cause for duality. The case of the stray dog referred to in the previous posting is a typical example here. Once we are liberated, we cannot be bonded again as the process of liberation is irreversible. But liberation is possible only if we are self-realized persons. In other words, liberation is possible only if we realize the Brahman within. In our day to day life we unite with the Brahman during our deep sleep. If this unification happens in the stage of awakening, that is self-realization. Which unites or merges with the Brahman? It is our soul that unites with the Brahman in our deep sleep. Brahman is always pure. Since our soul unites with the Brahman we have to keep our soul also pure. How do we keep our soul pure? Not merely by keeping our gross body pure, but also by keeping our mind pure. But this unification of soul with the Brahman is only temporary as this process is reversed when we are awake. Therefore this process is not self realization. When we are awake, we are controlled by mind which acts as per the directions of the soul. The functioning of the soul is governed by our karmas.

THE STRAY DOG

Since Brahman does not have form and qualities, it is called the subject. Subject is the one who is an object of investigation. Though we cannot say that we are investigating the Brahman in the literal sense, we are in the process of investigation for the purpose of our knowledge. Without knowledge and intellect, we cannot realize the Brahman. The origin of Brahman is unknown to us. We come to know about Brahman only through scriptures. Vedas, Quran or the Bible cannot go wrong. Taitrya Upanishad says satyam, jnanam, anantham, brahma. This means, truth, knowledge and infinity is the Brahman. But we have to remember that Brahman is devoid of qualities. Truth and knowledge are qualities and therefore cannot properly describe Brahman. These qualities by negation enable us to narrow down our search. It is like an elimination process that has been made readily available to us by saints. Otherwise, we have to negate millions of things to describe the Brahman. Since Brahman does not have a form, it is beyond the reach of our senses. We are attributing certain qualities to Brahman that are considered divine. Why only certain qualities are considered as divine? Those qualities that are considered good and not injurious to others are considered divine. For example we say love is God or truth is God. Brahman exists everywhere, but we choose to identify him within our heart. Since it is difficult for persons like you and me to identify the Brahman, who is without form and qualities, scriptures narrow down a location for him. Since heart forms an important organ for our existence, heart is chosen as his domicile. Heart also represents the akash or ether. The scriptures are our guides to understand the Brahman, as they are potent source for knowledge. They not only help us in identifying the Brahman, but also help us in the process of unification of self with Brahman. This process is important because, our ultimate goal is self-realization. Total self-realization is achieved only when we get rid of duality. When Brahman exists everywhere, where is the question of another object apart from the Brahman? This fact we are not able to realise because of maya or illusion. If maya or illusion is gone, what we see is only the Brahman. This is easier in theory than in practice. We can reach somewhere near this stage only if we are able to consider an infected stray dog and us as one and the same. But on seeing such a dog, even though the dog is hungry, we never have any intention to go anywhere near him because of two reasons. One is its ugly appearance and another is the fear of rabies. In the process we ignore the Brahman in the dog as we consider the Brahman in the dog different from the Brahman within us. Here the duality persists. But there is yet another aspect called good and bad. We know the ill effects of rabies therefore, we are unwilling to go anywhere near the dog. The Brahman is the cause of both good and bad. Here arises the confusion about which is correct, staying away from the stray dog or get bitten by the stray dog. In this context we have to use our knowledge, a gift provided by the Brahman and take an appropriate decision. Our decision is influenced by our karmas. If our karmas are bad, probably the stray dog may bite. If our karmas are good, we will feed the dog and the dog will not harm us. We have seen earlier that God does not break his own rules.

EXPERIENCE THE BRAHMAN

In order to have effective functioning, both static and kinetic energies are needed. We have noticed that both these energies are equally powerful. But one among the two should be the first among the creations. In Sanskrit it is called aathi or the original. It is also called anathi, which means no parentage. Therefore, this anathi or aathi is the atman which is also known as the Brahman. In our earlier postings we have referred to Shiva as the static energy and Shakthi as the kinetic energy. Since Shakthi is created by Shiva it is a logical conclusion that Shiva is the original creator. Since Shiva is aathi and anathi, He was not created by anybody. He then created shakthi, the kinetic energy. It is not enough to merely make these types of statements but we have to substantiate them. The Brahman has no attributes. It is pure and eternal. It simply exists. But without its existence nothing is possible. Like its universal and eternal existence, it is also within you and me. When we say that atman or Brahman is within us it is our ego which makes us to say so. It is not by a mere affirmative statement that we realise the atman. It is to be understood and realized within and that is why we have to substantiate by arguments and counter arguments. The important point we have to remember is that atman and soul are different. When we say “I am the Brahman”, unfortunately it is our ego which says this. I am the Brahman is not a statement to be made, but a fact to be realized. That is why it is called self-realization. Self realization is possible only in the human beings. Plants and animals cannot realize this as they do not have the sixth sense. The human birth is the gift of God to endeavour us to avoid further births. If we miss this opportunity, we will have to repent for it birth after birth. It is said that the universe is born out of the Brahman. When we say that Brahman is the creator of only the shakthi or kinetic energy, how is it then that the universe is born out of Brahman. Universe and shakthi are one and the same. It is called maya or illusion. Unless we go beyond maya we cannot realize the Brahman. At the same time this universe will not exist as it exists today without the combination of Brahman and maya. There are different versions regarding Brahman. One school of thought says that Brahman is the creator of everything and there is nothing called Shakthi. Everything in this universe is born out of him, nourished by him and gets dissolved into him. The second school of thought says maya is the creator, who is in the form of nature. The third school of thought talks about Brahman and maya combine is the cause for creation, sustenance and dissolution. Therefore, we have to look into these aspects before arriving at a conclusion. But whatever we discuss, the authoritative conclusion can be only through our own experience. Whatever we discuss and deliberate is to enable us to have personal experience. Unless we have our own experience, knowledge will continue to be limited and sometimes evasive also. Knowledge in the form of intellect is required to have firsthand experience. It is all the more relevant because we cannot have knowledge about the Brahman as it does not exist in a physical form and does not have any qualities.

THE INVISIBLE SUBJECT

Let us understand the basics of atma and soul. Both are different. This difference has already been dealt with in my earlier postings. Since, understanding these two is the basic requirement for self-realization, there is nothing wrong in going deeper into this. Atman is universal and present everywhere without exception. Soul is the life giving force of every living being with their karmas embedded in it. The soul is called ‘I’. The attitude of every living being differs on the basis of karmas. The deciding factor of one’s sufferings and miseries is their karmic account. Understanding karma also becomes imperative to proceed further. Karma has nothing to do with atma. Atma is always a spectator of one’s activities. It does not get involved either directly or indirectly in one’s activities. Nor does it induce you to perform this karma or that. But, between atma and soul, atma is all powerful and soul derives its power only from atma, about which we have discussed in great detail already. Then what is this gross or physical body? Does this belong to atman or soul? Physical body is nothing but a covering of soul. Physical body cannot be a part of atma, as atma has no beginning or end. The gross body is perishable therefore it cannot be part of atma. We have already discussed about the composition of the gross body in kundalini series. The nature of the soul purely depends upon the karmic account, which in turn influences the gross body. The soul leaves the gross body after death and will become a life force of some other gross body. Such gross bodies could be a tree, an animal, a human, or it could be any living being. Therefore, the gross body has relationship with the soul and not with atma. In simple terms all that is not perishable is atma. Where is that thing which is not subject to modification, which is not subject to attributes? Is that a subject or an object? What is the relevance of subject and object here? Subject is a thing that is talked about. Knowledge is required to understand the subject. Subject is invisible. Object is a visible entity to understand the subject which is invisible. We are trying to understand this invisible subject. This concept is very simple. Atman exists everywhere so also within us. Making a simple statement like this is not self realization. It is much more complicated than we think and requires a comprehensive and thorough study. Atma or atman is a static force, but exists everywhere. Without atman there will be only void. That is why it is called Supreme. Atma does not act and only witnesses the action that is taking place all over. I would not like to say that atman witnesses the action that is taking place around it. If the word around is used, it is an indication that there exists a place without atman. Therefore, atman is the Supreme Creator as he creates everything. If he creates everything, how can we say that he is only witnessing? When he is the cause for creation, why he is called as a witness to every action? As we have seen earlier that he is a static energy and his act of creation is being done by the kinetic energy. This kinetic energy is equally powerful like the static energy. As a matter of fact this kinetic energy is part and parcel of the static energy.

ALTERNATES TO KUNDALINI

We have at length discussed on kundalini meditation. Kundalini meditation is one of the paths, probably the quickest path to self realisation. Whatever be the path we choose, it has to be through any one of the methods like meditation, devotion, visiting places of worship, performing daily rituals including fire rituals (called homa or havana).The basic requirement is unstinted faith, dedication and will power. A little bit of self-sacrifice, concern for other living beings and desire for peaceful co-existence, controlling anger are some of the issues to be addressed when we take up discussions on self realisation. In kundalini meditation a clear cut procedure is more or less laid down to achieve progress. Though the progress is certainly achieved but not to the desired level. The main reason for very low success rate is lack of practice, refusal of the body to co-operate and discipline. A majority of the practitioners, achieve somewhere between 40 to 60% success rate. If you are not able to concentrate on kundalini meditation due to want of time or any other issues, you can still achieve a high degree of self realisation by other methods. It is like a mode of transport, which could be by air or rail or road. Your destination remains the same, but the time taken to reach the destination is different. Your mode of transport depends on your capacity to spend. In the path of self realisation reaching your destination purely depends upon your willingness to address the basic issues mentioned above. We are about to commence our discussions on self realisation. But this is not going to be a continuous series like kundalini as a lot of citations from Vedas, Upanishads, scriptures, etc are needed. As for as kundalini meditation is concerned not many texts are available explaining the practice. Either the ancient saints did not want people like you and me to undertake this very strenuous path or did not want to divulge too much for the reasons best known to them. I believe that their main concern would have been its possible misuse as, somebody becoming proficient in kundalini, may also use it for destructive purposes. Kundalini is such a powerful tool. What is being taught in majority of the yoga centers as kundalini meditation is not kundalini meditation at all. We unfortunately forget that there are other methods that are relatively easier than kundalini meditation to realise the Atman or Brahman or the God. The procedures and practices to be adopted in these cases are not stringent, at the same time the end result is the same. I would certainly endorse kundalini meditation, but considering today’s scenario the other methods that we are going to discuss would be safe and ideal. Only thing that is required is patience. Both in kundalini and non-kundalini methods, the exact realisation will take place at anytime like a flash of light, in a split second. From that moment onwards you will be a different person altogether.

OM CHANTING AUDIO

In continuation of our discussions on OM chanting for making the kundalini ascend, please click on the following audio link to listen to the method of OM chanting. http://www.archive.org/details/OmChanting_67

KUNDALINI CONCLUDED

This is part XXX and the concluding part of kundalini series. In order to have a healthy body, involvement in sex life should be reduced. This does not mean that sex life should be totally dispensed with. There is a misconception about the word “ojas”. It is said that the sexual fluids, if saved get converted into ojas which gives shine, luster and strength to the body. The ojas, it is claimed is needed for activation of kundalini. This is a wrong interpretation. Ancient texts of ayurveda clearly explain about ojas. Though it is not necessary to know more about ojas, we should have some basic information about it, as it has been frequently talked about in kundalini meditation. Following is the information provided in ayurveda –“It is this ojas where the soul is lodged after the union of the sperm and ovum. Entrance of ojas into the heart of the embryo manifests as cardiac activities. The ojas which is the substratum of life is of eight drops only in quantity. It is located in the heart. Reduction in the quantity of ojas (eight drops) leads to death.” This clearly means that ojas has nothing to do with controlling procreating fluids. The frequency of sex should be reduced as it affects our nervous system which is very important for kundalini mediation. This is what we have discussed about soul while understanding heart chakra. I am explaining about ojas here as many of the yogic centers give wrong information about it. When you sit for kundalini meditation you have to choose a place where there is no disturbance. No phones, no calling bells, nothing. Please avoid playing music while you are meditating. The ideal time for long meditative sessions would be early morning. During advanced stage of meditation, the pranic energy stored all over the body rush to our brain causing feeble pulse rate. The rush of prana to the brain is mainly due to the overworking of the brain. The overworking of the brain is caused by the mind that perceives beyond our physical body. The rush of prana at this stage from other parts of the body to the brain is to keep our body in right condition for the mind to return to our body consciousness. If you are disturbed by sound or touch at this stage, the result will be disastrous. When you reach the advanced stage in KM, you should know your limits. You may be blessed with extraordinary powers which would be super human in nature. But reaching this stage purely depends upon your intentions and efforts. No Guru or master can take you to this stage. Only your own efforts will yield results. But in the present scenario, it is extremely difficult to locate an authoritative person in kundalini meditation. Understanding kundalini is a complex procedure. You need to know both theory and practice. You cannot become a perfectionist in KM overnight. You need a minimum of six years to a maximum of twelve years. However, depending upon your perseverance the duration may vary. Divine help is also necessary to attain perfection in KM. Without divine intervention, your third eye and sahasrara cannot be opened. Therefore you have to have sincere faith in your Guru and God. Devotion means the combination of sincerity, dedication, perseverance, will to achieve and dissolving your ego, hatred and desire. The first lesson in divinity is not to hurt others either physically or emotionally. You can move the kundalini up and down by using your eye balls. Bring the eye balls closer to each other and concentrate on a specific area in the spine. You can notice pulsation in that area. By practicing this regularly, you can start moving your kundalini energy. This is basically creating awareness in a specified area of the spine. Frequent usage of eye balls will cause damage to the optical nerves. At every stage of KM you have to be extremely careful. Another factor in moving kundalini is your breathing. You have to follow the practice of visualizing inhalation and exhalation through the spine. Though in the initial stages you may find it difficult, you can become conversant with practice. While practicing kundalini meditation you can notice changes in your nervous system and brain. These changes are accompanied by increase in your body temperature. You will feel more heat in and around the organs of procreation. These should be ignored as these are the side effects of ascending kundalini. At some stage in your practice, your desire for spirituality will start unfolding gradually. We have almost covered every aspect of kundalini. Only practice makes a man perfect. If you are sincere in your practice, who knows, your kundalini may reach sahasrara in a matter of days. It depends upon His will. Let us always thank Him for whatever He has done for us. I am not an authority on kundalini meditation. There are highest authorities on kundalini meditation about whom we are not aware. Most of the ideas and procedures explained here is out of my own experience. Again my experience is nothing when compared to those who sincerely teach kundalini meditation across the globe. With this we conclude the series on kundalini. Please always remember that you should practice KM only in the presence of a learned master and practicing on your own will be very risky and equally dangerous. For your comments, feedback, clarification or assistance mail me at feedback@manblunder.com

KUNDALINI AND BLISS

This is part XXIX of kundalini series. Even the best of kundalini masters may not be able to diagnose your kundalini related problems, if any on just seeing you. You have to explain your problems to get a solution. If you have a little knowledge about kundalini you can find out whether the solution offered by the master are right or wrong. If you feel that his solution is wrong, please do not carry out his instructions, because your intuition is always right. If you suspend your kundalini meditation and lying down flat on the floor (this posture is called savasana, the posture of a corpse) will partly solve your problems. Drinking cold water is also good. When you breath out, visualise that kundalini is descending to lower chakras. The most commonly noticed problem is kundalini not rising through the spinal cord and instead rising through ida and pingala. Though ida and pingala as such do not exist in gross body, the nervous system running parallel to both sides of the spine are called ida and pingala. This can be avoided by two methods. The first and the best method is by visualizing kundalini rising through the central canal of the spinal cord. This visualization is to be supplemented by mula bhandha. Before the commencement of KM it is better to do breathing by closing alternate nostrils. This will cleanse the path of kundalini and ensuring that kundalini does not ascend through ida and pingala. The beauty of the path of kundalini is that at one end it ends in our reproductive system and on the other end at our brain. The importance of kundalini is further emphasized by its link to various important glands of our body. When a chakra is well activated, you do not get any ailment associated with the particular gland or body part. You get supernormal gifts only if kundalini reaches sahasrara and establishes a link with the cosmos. The great scientists, poets, orators, administrators have their kundalini in higher chakras, the fact of which they may not be aware. Only persistent meditation alone helps. Kundalini can be awakened and taken to higher chakras only by super conscious manifestation. In order to have super conscious manifestation you have to have a thorough knowledge of kundalini. We do not require too much of descriptive details. The vital energy of the body called kundalini lying dormant to be awakened and taken to higher chakras to re-energize and re-vitalize by cosmos and to bring back to its original place is the basics of kundalini. I do not think that we require more details than what we have discussed so for. If you look at you in a mirror with a dark background behind you and sufficient light on your face, you can see your aura. First you can see a dark silhouette around your head followed by a cloud like white diffused luminous field which is your energy body or bio-plasma body or aura. If you are advancing in your KM, your energy body grows in size making people around you to feel your vibration. This is law of attraction. We have discussed about chakras. Chakras are nothing but bundles of nerves and blood vessels that get connected to our glands and other important parts of our body. Therefore chakras as such do not exist and it is only our manifestation. Chakras have been described in detail associating them with a number of petals and each petal having one Sanskrit alphabet, etc. This type of study is an advanced version of origin of sound. A deity is worshiped in each chakra. Lalitha Sahasranamam describes in detail about these chakras. These verses are one of the finest descriptions of the chakras ever noticed. When you advance in KM your super conscious mind takes you to the state of samadhi (trance), wherein your unified and focused consciousness goes out of your body. When the mind is out of your body, you are led to trance. Your mind at the most can traverse to the cosmos you enjoy the bliss. Bliss cannot be described, but to be experienced and enjoyed. The state of bliss differs from person to person like the experience of kundalini.

KUNDALINI AND MEDICATION

This is part XXVIII of kundalini series. Kundalini is the subtle invisible powerful force of prana. It is also called life energy or vital energy. This is directly linked to our brain and nervous system. The chakras, the ida and pingala, the sushumna are all related to our nervous system. The prana is inhaled through our left and right nostrils. When it is inhaled through the right nostril, the prana enters our system through pingala and keeps our body warm. When inhaled through the left nostril, prana enters through ida which keeps our body system cool. The ida and pingala functions alternatively thereby keeping our body temperature constant at 98.4 degrees Celsius. If there is variation in the functioning of ida and pingala we get fever or cold or any other disease. The main component of prana is oxygen. If you sit in an oxygen chamber for a minimum of 20 minutes, you can notice the change in your breathing. Your breathing will enter every bit of your nervous system and recharge your nerves. If you are into kundalini meditation, you can notice the kundalini above your ajna chakra. If you meditate under a huge tree in the day time, you can inhale more oxygen. Though we know such things, we are not transforming our knowledge into practice. Taming of mind and will power are the two important things for kundalini meditation. The first step towards kundalini meditation is the basic meditation. You have to spend more time in the beginning till you are able to reach a stage. Here the stage means sitting in the same posture with a focused mind. You will begin to realise the subtle changes happening in your body. Your nervous system will get tuned well in advance, if you decide to pursue KM (Kundalini Meditation). Your bodily functions will get adjusted to receive the divine energy. Your blood system, your digestive system, your nervous system will all get purified. If you contemplate that you can use this divine energy to act against the law of Nature, you will never achieve your goal. There are millions trying this KM today without any success. Your success purely depends on what you intend to do with the divine energy. The God knows beforehand all your plans, as your karmic account is maintained by Him Your life style also has a bearing on KM. You should be kind and caring for the humanity as a whole. You should be beyond religion. God has never created any particular religion. There is no difference between you and me or X or Y or Z. Hatred, anger and greed are the worst enemies. Eating meat and pork is not good. Usage of alcohol, drugs and tobacco is dangerous. They will cause nervous breakdown. This is mainly because they affect our nervous system, which is closely associated with KM. I do not want to attach great importance to yogic exercises. At the same time, your body has to be flexible. Simple stretching exercises are more than enough. A good walk will be of immense help. When you are done with your KM, it is always better to lie down flat for a few minutes. In case the kundalini has not descended, this flat posture will make the kundalini to descend properly. You should never wind up KM without bringing her back to her house. As you progress in KM you will hear louder noises, musical notes, sound of a conch, beating of drums etc. You will see bright and coloured lights like a fire work. These are all associated with KM and you have to ignore them. There may be loss of appetite. You need to have healthy food without long gaps. You have to drink a lot of water or fruit juices as your mouth will turn dry. You may encounter health related issues that are not easily diagnosable by a qualified physician. If you feel that you are developing kundalini syndrome, do not continue with your KM. Consult your Guru or your master or a person who has experienced kundalini by himself. It is extremely rare to find a person with complete knowledge of kundalini. You may not realise the importance of a master as long as you do not encounter health related issues. Once you develop kundalini syndrome, any wrong medication will aggravate your situation. Tell your physician in advance about your KM, in case you decide to go to him. Please do not practice KM when you are under the influence of any medicines.

KUNDALINI SYNDROME

This is part XXVII of kundalini series. When kundalini reaches sahasrara, the result is bliss. You are going to be liberated. You will be in a state of ecstasy. Your jiva which we call as soul is also carried with kundalini to sahasrara. We have earlier seen that soul is placed in the heart chakra. The force of kundalini takes your soul along with it to sahasrara. In sahasrara your jivatma merges with paramatma. Your soul merges with the Brahman. Initially, your jiva is able to see the Brahman. But it takes time for your jiva to understand and realise the Brahman. The jiva, your own self where your karmic account is embedded is about to merge with the Brahman. Your karmas either good or bad will get nullified once your soul merges with the Brahman. If this happens, you are no more controlled by your karmas. You will be controlled by the will of the Divine. As you have been already purified by the five elements in the five lower chakras and your ego has been dissolved in ajna chakra, your soul is so pure and perfect now; it qualifies for its union with the Brahman, the Supreme, the God, the paramatman or whatever name you want to call the ultimate. When your soul or Self understands and realises the Supreme Brahman, it is called the self realization. This is called realization within. You are not to be born again. You are not going to have sufferings and miseries. You become calm and peaceful. You become secluded. Your mind is like crystal clear water. Your Ishta Devata is with you. Your Guru is by your side eternally. But remember that the path to self realization need not be the path of kundalini alone. There are other paths as well, about which we have already discussed. The path of kundalini though short, is full of risks. From this point onwards, the meditation should happen perpetually. You will be able to make the kundalini ascend and descend at your will and command. The most important thing is that the kundalini cannot remain in sahasrara for ever. She has to descend and go back to her house. She may like to descend by herself. You have to make her descend. You have to use your consciousness to bring her down. Keeping your eye balls together and looking internally at your chakras and concentrating there will be of great help in bringing down the kundalini to the lower chakras. In the same way visualizing the kundalini going down along with your breath by concentrating on your spinal cord will also help. If you still feel that the kundalini has not fully descended, you can lie down flat on the floor without any head rest or pillows and concentrating on the base chakra which will certainly bring down the kundalini back to her house. Otherwise you need not use bhandhas and exercises. The one exercise you can use is to rotate your shoulders front-up-back and down. This will enable the kundalini to descend easily. If you do not bring the kundalini back to the base chakra you will encounter all sorts of problems which we will discuss later in this series. You can also take your consciousness beyond sahasrara to explore the cosmos, but let us discuss about this on some other occasion. There are certain problems associated with kundalini and it is called kundalini syndrome. In most of us, the kundalini would have partially ascended to any of the lower chakras, the fact we may not be aware of. This type of ascending kundalini causes various ailments such as piles, heat related ailments. You will feel extreme heat in the perineum. There will be itching sensation in your spine area. Your pulse rate will go up rapidly. Any wrong medication will further worsen the problems. If the kundalini does not ascend through the central canal of the spinal cord and instead rises through the ida or pingala, you may possibly go insane. This is not to frighten you in anyway, but this is a word of caution.

THE SAHASRARA

This is part XXVI of kundalini series. Like OM for ajna chakra there are alphabets for other chakras as well. As you are aware that the five lower chakras are associated with five basic elements and each element has its own akshara which is called bijam. Normally bijam means a single alphabet with bindu on top. Bindu is a dot on the top of a Sanskrit alphabet. For example if you put a dot above the letter A it should be pronounced a AM. If the bija mantras pertaining to the five elements are pronounced in the same way like OM which we have discussed in our last posting, the particular chakra will get activated. These bija aksharas certainly work well in activating the chakras. For muladhara the bija akshara is LUM (earth), for swadishtan it is VUM (water), for manipuraka it is RUM (fire), for anahat it is YaUM and for vishudi it is HUM (akash). If you chant these bijas aloud in the same way that we have discussed about OM, this practice along with your concentration, bhandhas and exercises aid in activating the chakras well. You need to have fully developed lower chakras before leaving ajna chakra to enter the sahasrara or the crown chakra. As a matter of fact we should not call sahasrara as a chakra and this is not included in the chakras, but for our convenience we call this as the top head chakra or crown chakra. In the same way when your ajna or third eye is fully developed, your back head chakra gets automatically activated, though you have to put in a little efforts. When the kundalini enters the ajna chakra, it divides into three parts, the major portion goes up to the crown, a part goes to the back head chakra and the remaining goes to the portion between the eyebrows, all the three to merge with the atmosphere. This is the reason for feeling certain vibrations in front of evolved souls. When kundalini pierces the Rudra granthi, it moves up to the sahasrara, where Shiva is said to reside. Shiva and Shakthi are the general names that signify masculine and feminine genders or static and kinetic energies. There are certain small yet powerful chakras between ajna and sahasrara. When kundalini traverses beyond ajna, she controls every activity of yours before she conjoins Shiva. She gives you the boon of controlling your mind as she is not far away from her dear Shiva. She also transforms you into a great human being and gives you authority to bless others. But please remember, you can never work against the law of karmas laid down by God as God himself does not break the laws made by Him. Blessing here means that your prayers will have more effect as you are closer to God. When kundalini reaches the sahasrara, you are out of your physical body for all practical purposes as you are now guided by higher energy levels. You develop consciousness of the divine. It is difficult explain beyond this point. Over a period of time, an invisible cord connects to the cosmos. Now you remain well connected. You need no bhandha, no exercise, no breathing techniques, as a matter of you do not need get any aid or assistance from any source when your kundalini crosses ajna. In the initial stages, you can see indigo colour and with your regular practice you see all the colours and after certain point you see only the colour of the sun, the bright white. When you are able to see multi colour stars in your meditation, it means that your sahasrara is getting activated. These multi coloured stars will appear like dots, totally different from visualization of colours that you have experienced in the lower chakras. The level of energy you draw from cosmos through sahasrara depends on your karmas. A well developed sahasrara illuminates your entire skull. Due to the heat and pressure produced by kundalini when she reaches your skull, a nectar like fluid flows through the soft palate area of your mouth.

OM AND AJNA CHAKRA

This is part XXV of kundalini series. Chanting of OM activates the ajna chakra. Complete activation of ajna chakra is very important for advanced spiritual guidance. You have to visualise that OM originates from your perineum; goes up through the path of kundalini (central canal of the spinal cord) expanded in your throat area and delivered through your mouth. You should keep your mouth open while delivering A and U literally pulling out the sound of OM from your perineum. Keep your mouth closed and deliver M with a humming sound. The humming sound should be alternated between high and low pitch. First, inhale deeply, expanding your stomach, and while delivering OM gradually contract your stomach. While delivering M, contract your stomach in stages, synchronizing with high pitch of humming and by the time you are about to be out of breath, stomach should have been contracted to your maximum ability. If this is followed, not only your kundalini is made to ascend properly, but your ajna chakra will be fully activated. Concentration should be both on throat chakra and ajna chakra. You can do mula bhandha while delivering M. You can also bite your teeth while delivering M about which we have already discussed. These two can supplement your other efforts. It is better that you learn this with the help of a master. This will also clear the way for the kundalini to ascend upwards to sahasrara, by piercing the Rudra granthi. Rudra granthi is just above ajna chakra. This block of Rudra granthi can be removed by doing jalandra bhandha, either during meditation or prior to meditation. When ajna chakra is well activated, it is not difficult to pierce this granthi. However, this is the difficult granthi to cross and possibly need more time and practice. Blessings by Gurus are necessary for this. As we discussed earlier, proper activation of ajna chakra will receive Gurus’ blessings. Once this last hurdle is crossed, nothing can stop you to reach sahasrara chakra. When ajna chakra is well activated you may also get some siddhis, which you should ignore after testing them once. If lower chakras are not opened properly, ajna chakra will not be activated. If you do not get any siddhis it is an indication that your chakras are not activated well and you need more practice. Beyond this point, your consciousness will play a vital role in establishing links with various higher sources. You cannot go wrong from this point. If you go wrong, there will be divine intervention to correct you. Up to this point, your progress depends upon your practice. Beyond this point, you need, not much of practice as you will be guided by divine intervention.

AJNA CHAKRA

This is part XXIV of kundalini series. The next higher chakra to heart chakra is the ajna chakra or the third eye. This is situated in between our eyebrows and is the only chakra to be associated with satwa guna, the best of the three gunas. This is associated with mind and the activation of this chakra leads to effective mind control. The blue colour of the throat chakra merges into indigo colour of the ajna chakra. The indigo becomes brighter with practice. The other procedures remaining the same to move the kundalini, you can hold the kundalini in this chakra by biting your teeth, applying medium pressure. You have to bring your eye balls closer to each other and start looking internally into this chakra. When this chakra is associated with mind, naturally it gets associated with anthakkaranam. Anthakkaranam is the combination of manas (mind), buddhi (intellect), cittam (consciousness) and ahamkaram (ego). Activation of this chakra is a step closer to atman. Your mind is able to see the illumination of atman in this chakra. A complete activation of this chakra confers on you certain powers (siddhis) that can be utilized for good causes. This chakra receives commands of your Guru. Ajna means command. The commands of your guru are being received through the medium of akash, to which this chakra is associated. The cosmic energy is the carrier of your guru’s command and this chakra works like an antenna receiving audio signals. Another importance of this chakra is the joining of the three nadis, ida, pingala and sushumna here. This chakra is also called kudastha (joining), which indicates the joining of the nadis. When this chakra is fully activated, your individual consciousness starts aligning with universal consciousness. Your karmic account is getting ready to be liquidated. The pineal and pituitary glands are activated by this chakra. Pineal gland is located deep inside the brain and gives inner spiritual vision. Otherwise dormant, pineal gland can be activated by light. This pineal gland is associated with hypothalamus gland. These two together control our ageing process. Once the third eye or ajna chakra is activated, the ageing process will slow down. Incidentally, the back head chakra will also be activated. Back head chakra is situated just behind the ajna chakra. An activated pineal gland connects us to higher frequencies. The pineal gland secretes melanin. Normally this is secreted while we are resting and during deep meditation. During deep meditation, divine energy enters through sahasrara and reaches the pineal gland. Astral body can be separated from the physical body, if the pineal gland is well activated. This is the basis of astral travel undertaken by saints. If kundalini does not ascend through the ajna and ascends through ida or pingala, you will face nervous breakdown when kundalini reaches this chakra. This chakra gives you access to the universal energy. You are now able to witness some metaphysical activities. At some stage this chakra takes over your spiritualism and guides you further. You will be guided by highly learned gurus, most of whom you would not have met and they establish connection with you through this chakra. Others begin to recognize you with respect and regard. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita that if a person at the time of his death keeps his consciousness in this chakra, shall not have rebirths, thereby merging with Him. This is the last of the six chakras and beyond this there are no major chakras. Starting from muladhara till vishudi, each chakra is associated with an element. But this chakra is beyond the five basic elements.

MIND AND MATTER

This is XXIII of kundalini series. Cosmic energy is the unified energy of every planet in the universe. We are aware of only certain energies and we do not have adequate knowledge about the composition of this cosmic energy. Knowing more about cosmic energy is beyond our purview. Arousal of kundalini energy does not mean that you become a great saint over night, nor does it mean that you derive super human powers. It also does not mean that you are going to have a darshan of your favourite God. The only thing that matters in arousal of kundalini is the ability of your mind to concentrate. Mind under no circumstance can recognize something that is beyond the reach of our sensory organs. However, the mind has the ability to visualise apart from recognizing objects. Manifestation is possible without the aid of our sensory organs. Visualization by the mind basically depends upon its ability to recognize. Mind will not visualize something that is not already known to it. Therefore visualization depends upon mind’s previous experience. Suppose you are visualizing your heart chakra with green colour, your mind should have prior knowledge about green colour. In the same way your mind should have prior knowledge about kundalini. Though kundalini is not visible to our eyes like air, the existence of kundalini is beyond myth, as movement of kundalini is recognized and felt like air. Though we do not see air, we know it’s creative (like wind energy) and destructive (like storm) powers. In the same way, though we are not able to see the kundalini energy we should know its powers. This is the reason why we need an advanced study of kundalini. Our life span is limited and within this period we have to realize the Brahman in order to avoid rebirths. Though other means like devotion (bakthi), knowledge (jnana), verses in praise of God (nama smaranam or sangirthanam), mantras, etc no doubt takes you to the God, the time factor needed by these is longer than the path of kundalini yoga. The kundalini manifests on the combined factors of mind and matter. We have already discussed in detail about mind under various heads. Matter is nothing but our body. The cause for change in mind and matter is Shakthi in the form of kundalini. That is why we call kundalini as the life force. Whether kundalini is sleeping or awake, mind and matter function only at the instance of kundalini. Mind is conscious in nature whereas the matter is not conscious in nature. Matter requires the help of mind for its functioning. When the conscious mind is transformed into unconscious mind, the matter is not going to have any experience. The mind can be made unconscious only by turning the sensory organs inwards, about which also we have already discussed. When mind and matter are calm, the kundalini is willing to ascend to conjoin with her partner at Sahasrara. But we are not able to make the mind unconscious because of maya or illusion. Maya is responsible for duality. Unless the duality goes, it is difficult to experience the bliss that is realised when kundalini is in sahasrara. The bliss can be experienced only if mind is unconscious. If the mind is conscious, it focuses its attention everywhere. Maya alone influences the mind to have consciousness. When maya leaves, it leaves the mind alone making it unconscious. The unconscious mind does not have the ability to think and act. We have already seen that mind and thought are interdependent and when mind is unconscious, there is no room for thoughts. Mind becomes devoid of thoughts. Now mind is devoid of maya and thought, so mind becomes pure. This pure mind becomes powerful and is used to move the kundalini from one chakra to another. Kundalini is also called metaphysical since it does not have a form, but with potent energy. It is called as prana or life energy or chi etc. Kundalini controls the quality of the prana thereby exercising total control on the body and mind of a person. Kundalini yoga specifically prescribes initiation by a master, by passing his bio energy to his student. The bio energy of the master is supposed to be powerful enough to make his pupil’s kundalini awake. The main reason for non-arousal of kundalini is lack of self confidence or lack of faith in kundalini yoga. When you start doubting your ability, kundalini will never ascend as your mind is affected. Generally kundalini can be aroused with the combination of factors such as mind control, bhandhas, mudras, pranayama, certain physical exercises, capacity to visulaise and manifest, knowledge about kundalini, a clean environment, and adequate exposure to natural energy such as energy of the sun, etc.

KNOWLEDGE AND BLISS

This is part XXII of kundalini series. Though we are talking about kundalini through the last 21 postings, we are yet to undertake a detailed study. I would like to call this kundalini as the individualized cosmic energy. The concept of jivatma and paramatma principle applies to kundalini also. We call jivatma as part of paramatma. Jiva means individual and para means supreme and therefore universal. If you apply the same principle, cosmic energy is the energy of the universe or the supreme energy. A part of the supreme energy or the cosmic energy that is found in a man is called kundalini energy. That is why the experience of kundalini energy when aroused, differs from person to person. The quality of the kundalini energy depends upon various factors. Hereditary, habits, food, thoughts, addiction, environment, etc are a few of the factors. This can be compared to karma that differs from person to person. We have seen earlier that karma and kundalini are inter-related. Kundalini can be analyzed from many angles. It is called kundalini yoga, because kundalini is raised by various yogic postures and pranayama. Kunda means a pit or cavity. If you add ‘la’ to kunda it becomes kundala which means coiled. The energy that is coiled and posited in a pit is called kundalini. This energy is lying dormant in every human in the perineum area. This is the purest form of energy and is manifested as a form of Shakthi, the feminine form. The main reason for considering this energy as Shakthi is its kinetic nature. This is considered as kinetic and also dynamic as opposed to fixed or static, because it moves up and down in our spinal cord. We have seen earlier that Shakthi in her vimarsha form rules the entire universe. This vimarsha form of Shakthi is manifested as kundalini in our perineum. Therefore the perineum is considered to hold the vital energy needed for our very existence. This vital energy derives its source from the cosmos. Cosmic energy is drawn from the cosmos by the kundalini, through the top head chakra which is called sahasrara. Due to the addition of the cosmic energy, kundalini is becoming powerful and ready to surge forward, depending upon your efforts to move it. If you do not make any attempts to move it, kundalini happily sleeps in her house, with occasional disturbances. Cosmos is considered as Shiva, the masculine form. This masculine form is called prakasha form and the energy of this prakasha form is spread across the length and breadth of the universe. This prakasha form is comprehended as the minutest form, several times smaller than an atom. If you can call prakasha form (Shiva, the masculine form) as proton, you can as well call vimarsha form (Shakthi, the feminine form) as electron. It is difficult to trace the origin of this prakasha form. Different people can give different opinion, but the fact remains that origin of prakasha is not known yet. Every living being in this universe has to derive energy for its sustenance only from prakasha form, which is otherwise known as cosmic energy. Therefore the cosmic energy forms the basis for the survival of the universe. When proton and electron collide, depending upon the force of collision a third thing is produced. When Shiva and Shakthi conjoin the universe is born. It is like a man and woman begetting a child. The nature of creation depends upon the objects of collision. If proton and electron collide you get hydrogen bomb. If a man and woman conjoin, a child is produced. As a general rule, you require two objects to produce a third. This is the basis of creation. When we are saying that individual consciousness is part of universal consciousness, we have to authenticate our statement by citing an example. Kundalini, the individual energy ascending through the spinal cord pierces our top head chakra and joins the cosmic energy. The individual energy (kundalini energy) is becoming part of universal energy (cosmic energy). We know that kundalini is the feminine form and cosmos is the masculine form. From these two, the third is to be produced. This third is knowledge and when it grows it is called bliss.

THROAT CHAKRA

This is part XXI of kundalini series. There is one interesting chakra about which we have not discussed as the ancient scriptures never made a mention about it. This is called solar plexus chakra and is located at the end of the sternum, which is below the heart chakra. Out of all the chakras, this chakra is quickly activated, particularly when you become conversant with abdominal breathing. As we have discussed earlier, the main advantage of abdominal breathing is the movement of the diaphragm. As this chakra is located near the diaphragm it gets activated quickly. If this chakra is well activated, most of your health issues would be resolved. In most of the cases, without any efforts this chakra gets activated. When you are advancing in kundalini meditation, Nature takes care of your health issues by activating this chakra! When your heart chakra is well activated, you can move the kundalini to the next higher chakra called throat chakra or vishudi chakra. This is located in the spinal cord just behind the cavity of the throat. This is also associated with rajo guna, like naval and heart chakras. Blue colour is predominant in this chakra. This colour can be called as greenish blue, as green, the colour of the heart chakra merges into blue colour of the throat chakra. This is associated with akash or ether. This is the last chakra to be associated with the five basic elements. When this chakra is well activated, you will occasionally see star like dots when you meditate. The love which you have developed in your heart chakra becomes more pronounced in this chakra. If you are still attached with individual love, that gets transformed into universal love. You develop purity in your thought and action. As your purity grows, the ether chooses to cleanse you. Once you are purified by the akash, you need no more purity. You are now devoid of anger and hatred. The process of your detachment commences here. You do not use the words ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Your close relative is no way different to you from a man on the street. You are not willing to identify any object as your own. Your ego is ready to leave you, as your mind is purified by akash. You are being shaped to show the spiritual path to others. You can deliver an excellent ex-tempo speech. You have to follow the broad guidelines already discussed to bring your kundalini to the heart chakra. Hold your breath here for a few seconds for activating this chakra. Please refer to earlier postings for holding breath in a chakra. Doing all the bhandhas, particularly jalandra bhandha is of great help in activating this chakra. The other two bhandhas, viz. mula and uddiyana bhandhas should be used to move the kundalini from heart chakra to throat chakra. If you are not able to activate this chakra by any of the means that we have discussed earlier, you can place the tip of your fingers for some time to activate this chakra, about which we have already discussed. By persistent practice, particularly by doing jalandra bhandha, the throat chakra can be easily activated. In the initial stages, you will be visualizing more of blue colour and as you progress, the blue colour will start fading gradually giving way to the colour of indigo. Since you are in entering into the final stages of kundalini meditation, you are now introduced to a mudra called kechari mudra. Fold you tongue and make your tongue to touch your upper soft palate. Do not try hard by exerting undue pressure on the tongue. Over a period of time, your tongue will become flexible so that you can easily touch the hanging portion of the soft palate. This portion does not have any bony structure. Breathe normally a few times with this mudra and take back the tongue to its normal position. You can repeat this as many times as you like without exerting any pressure to your tongue. When you do this mudra, your concentration should be on your throat chakra. Your mind will be calm and peaceful if you do this mudra. This mudra can be done in combination with all the bhandhas and exercises or can be practiced alone. This palate is situated very close to the portion of the spinal cord that enters the skull. It has extensive links with the nervous system and glands. This is a very simple mudra with huge benefits in kundalini meditation.

UNDERSTANDING CONSCIOUSNESS

This is part XX of kundalini series. It is better to stay with heart chakra for a longer time. Staying with this chakra enables us to understand the universal love. This universal love undergoes transformation in the heart chakra into universal consciousness. Let us understand more about universal consciousness. Individual consciousness merging with the consciousness of our fellow beings is called universal consciousness. Individual consciousness means your state of alertness combined with your psychological (mental or emotional as opposed to physical in nature) result of perception (knowing through senses), learning and reasoning in which you are fully aware of yourself and your situation. When we are not able to understand our own consciousness, how we are going to understand the universal consciousness? To understand our own consciousness, we talk about meditation, yoga, kundalini, Brahman, atman so on and so forth. Our failure to understand the consciousness is due to our concentration on theory part of consciousness. It is to be experienced to understand. Let us try to understand consciousness by an example.

You are holidaying in Switzerland. You are staying in ABC hotel. The climate is very cold. You are standing under a tree. This is the situation in which you are placed right now. What is your consciousness now? Your mind is telling you that you are in Switzerland. How the mind conveys this to you? Mind gets its inputs through your sensory organs. Your eyes see the natural scenery. Your eyes identify the hotel in which you are staying. Mind also receives information through your skin about the cold weather. You like the scenery around you and you are engrossed in the nature's beauty. Thus your mind receives all the information it needed, analyze and processes them and induces you to feel and act. First it affects you emotionally and makes you feel happy. Next it makes you to learn about the cold climate, the nature's beauty, etc. It also makes you to reason out that during cold climatic conditions, you need to wear woolen clothing. It makes you to be aware of the situation. This awareness is about your surroundings. What is happening within you? Mind makes you to feel happy. You are now totally alert and aware about yourself (state of your joy and happiness) and the situation (being in Switzerland, its cold climate and its natural beauty) you are in. This is how individual consciousness works. As long as your mind concentrates on mental, emotional and physical awareness that are subject to modification, you are with illusion or maya. Your happiness and joy will be modified if you leave Switzerland, a modification involving your mental and emotional plane. The scenic beauty of Switzerland is subject to modification, as the trees will grow in size or may perish. What you see today would have undergone a change tomorrow. This is physical modification. So what you feel (mental modification) and see (physical modification) is subject to modifications and therefore not permanent. This is called maya or illusion. What you see, feel and realize beyond the objects of modification is the subject that does not undergo modifications at all, is Brahman. Then what is universal consciousness? The principle of individual consciousness applies to universal consciousness also. Instead of your consciousness, it is the consciousness of everybody including you. But you are not able to realise the universal consciousness because your ego (your consciousness of your own identity) prevents it. You do not want to consider everybody on par with you. Sometimes, you consider yourself either as superior to somebody or inferior to somebody. That is why you are not able look beyond the minds of others. There is only the reality that exists beyond mind. Universal consciousness is not to understand the minds of others. You have to go beyond the universal mind to realise the Brahman. This Brahman is the same that exists within you, within me, within every living being in this universe. This is the true knowledge of universal consciousness. You are now closer to self realization.

IDA PINGALA AND SUSHUMNA

This is part XIX of kundalini series. You have now reached one of the most important chakras. We have seen that anahat chakra is the place where the soul is placed with our karmas embedded in it. This is also called jiva or jivatma. What we are currently discussing is about the Supreme Brahman. He is the ultimate authority of the entire universe. In Hinduism there is a concept called Ishta devata, about which we have discussed already. Ishta devata is the form of God whom you like most. I personally do not accept the concept of ishta devata. If you develop the concept of Ishta devata, you will continue to be associated with maya and dualism. At the same time, there is nothing wrong in having your own Ishta devata. It is like the person whom you like most. But those who believe in this, the place for your Ishta devata is just below the heart chakra. When your heart chakra expands, your love for Ishta devata also grows. You develop a strong bondage with Ishta devata and this devata looks after you well. But please remember that Ishta devata exists only here unlike Brahman who exists everywhere. OM resides in heart chakra. Om is not here alone, but associated with the three gunas, though rajo guna is predominant in heart chakra. From this chakra onwards you can still fine tune your mind to look inwards strongly. The power of manifestation starts here. The initial symptoms of bliss are being realised in this chakra. You become emotional quite often. You are contemplating to cry and laugh in a secluded place, but you are not willing to do that. You develop gooseberry pimples frequently. An unknown person will have a second look at you. Animals do not harm you. But, you need to spend a lot of time meditating on this chakra. At this point, you must understand what meditation means. Meditation is just focusing your attention on a subject. Meditation does not mean that you should not undertake other work while you are meditating. Up to this stage your understanding of meditation could be different. But from the heart chakra, you should be in a meditative stage perpetually. Your subconscious mind can take care of your perpetual meditation and with your conscious mind you can attend to your routine. We have already discussed about conscious and sub-conscious mind adequately. We are also going to have an advanced study about mind later. We have not made a detailed study of ida and pingala nadis with relation to the spinal cord. It is said that ida and pingala nadis wind around the spine like a snake. These two nadis cross each other encircling the chakras. These nadis originate from coccyx and end at the skull. The coccyx has three openings. One is that of the central canal of the spinal cord, through which kundalini has to ascend. The other two are ida and pingala. Central canal is in the centre and other two being on its two sides. These nadis are connected to the spinal nerves which run through the spinal cord. These nadis along with the nerves of the spinal cord form subtle centers of consciousness. These subtle centers are called chakras about which we are discussing. These subtle centers are also connected to the various glands and organs. These two nadis along with thousands of other nadis provide the vital life force to the various parts of our body. The term nadis said to include nerves, arteries and veins. Most of them exist in physical form a miniscule of them exists in subtle form. Nervous system of our body receives information from our sensory organs and transmits answers and solutions for ultimate action. Subtle nadis though not exist in gross form, are more powerful than the physical nadis. The subtle nadis are like cell phone towers. You are not able to see the communication link between a cell phone tower and a cell phone. Still, you have a better voice clarity in your conversation. Same is the principle with these subtle nadis. Transmission of energy by the subtle nadis is very powerful. Prominent among these subtle nadis are ida and pingala. They originate from muladhara chakra and end at ajna chakra (third eye chakra). The nadi which originates from our right hand side of the coccyx end at out left nostril and the one that originates from the left side of the coccyx terminates at our right nostril. Apart from terminating at the nostrils they also join central canal of the spinal cord at ajna chakra which is called the third eye chakra. Ida nadi provides warmth to the body and pingala nadi cools our body system. The functioning of these nadis is automatically adjusted depending upon the requirement of our body. The malfunctioning of these nadis raises the body temperature, causing fever. These two nadis control our left and right sympathetic nervous systems. The kundalini energy should ascend only through the central canal of the spinal cord, which is called sushumna. Kundalini energy should not get transmitted through the ida and pingala nadis. If it gets transmitted through ida and pingala, apart from the base chakra, none of the other chakras will be activated, causing energy congestion. The congestion of energy, not finding a proper route for going up, causes nervous breakdown. In order to prevent kundalini going up through these nadis, mula bhandha and certain types of pranayama help.

HOLD ON TO YOUR MIND

This is part XVIII of kundalini series. Now that we are in the midway of kundalini series, we should know a little more about the effect of kundalini meditation. Earlier we have discussed about karma. When you are able to take the kundalini to sahasrara or the top head chakra, you will be liquidating all your karmic account. As I said earlier, God will never by pass the rules laid down by him. It is true that your karmic account will become zero if kundalini reaches sahasrara, but it will not become zero over night. You have to exhaust the balance in karmic account by yourself. How do you think that this would be exhausted? It is only by means of your personal sufferings. Exhausting by means of sufferings on account of financial problems, health related issues, issues with your kith and kin, etc. The sufferings will be sometimes intense and acute. The higher the intensity of your sufferings, faster is your karmic account nearing nil balance. If you are practicing kundalini meditation, you will certainly realise this. But do not get upset on account of your sufferings. You shall have no more births and its associated sufferings. It is better to suffer today than to suffer births after births. Human birth is the greatest boon given to us as an opportunity to merge with the Supreme. You can call this Supreme in whatever form you like. But if you are an advanced practitioner of kundalini meditation, you will never get associated with forms. Apart from what we have discussed above, you would like to stay alone. You may not like others association, including your own family. You would like to maintain silence. If you choose to speak, your speech may be irrelevant. You may not feel hungry. You will consume more water. You may not bother to maintain your external appearance. You may not get adequate sleep, but at the same time you will never feel tired. You may not be able to realise the weather, be it hot, cold or rainy. Your entire awareness will be with what you are trying to seek. Please understand that you are not a fully realised person at this stage. But, definitely you are on the right track. Your spiritual journey is about to end. Your sufferings will certainly be recognized and rewarded. If you have passed the test of patience, your reward will be much more than what you expect. Please do not lose your patience. Just continue to keep your cool for some more time. Mind is your best friend at this stage. Keep your company with it. Let it not stray away from you during your last lap. The prakasha vimarsha maha maya swarupini (kundalini is known as Shakthi) is waiting for you in her empire. At this stage, you begin to realise that time is the only barrier. You begin to feel that time is not passing away as it used to be. The fact is that you start losing your patience and this should not happen to you. That is why I said keep your mind with you by not allowing to stray away. Mind will do all gimmicks at this time. It never wants to be controlled and it will try its level best to control you. But you always need your mind to move your kundalini still further up and up and up. You know very well the hurdles you have crossed, the sacrifices you have made, the miseries you have undergone all these days to reach this level. The impact of your karmic account will be felt when your kundalini reaches the heart chakra. It is time for you to know what is in store for you. Your journey from here will not be steady and smooth. There will be lot of hurdles. You are now put into severe test. With your level of tolerance, the intellect you have gained from your experience, your highest degree of patience and perseverance you will surely pass this test with honors.

HEART CHAKRA

This is part XVII of kundalini series. When you are able to cross Vishnu granthi, your kundalini lands in your anahat chakra, which is also called the heart chakra. This is the chakra for love. The yellow colour of the naval chakra merges into this green coloured heart chakra that shines like a semi ripe fruit with predominant green colour with yellow tinge here and there. You are further purified by air in this chakra. You were earlier purified by water at swadishtan and by fire at manipuraka. But you continue to be associated with rajo guna. As you are now purified by three out of five gross elements of the universe, your desire for spirituality grows. Remember that you are still associated with desires. Love is expressed and received by you. Anahat means endless. You are becoming endless (meaning endless love and does not mean immortality) from this chakra onwards, as your outlook is getting changed for the better. You begin to realise the value of humanity. The fire generated in the naval chakra is fueled by air of the heart chakra and making the kundalini very powerful. It is believed to be the place where soul resides. Katha Upanishad says angustha matrah purusho madya atmani. This means that the purusha (Brahman) in the size of a thumb rests in the middle of our body. (I humbly would like to clarify that purusha should mean the jiva and not the Brahman. You cannot define the Brahman and you cannot also fix a particular place for the Brahman. He is everywhere. In my humble opinion, the meaning for purusha is often misinterpreted. Here purusha means the soul which is the jiva, where our karmic account is embedded.) The place referred here is the heart chakra. The importance of the heart chakra has been adequately emphasized to enable us to understand its importance. This is the only chakra that expands for miles, spreading the universal love. It is located in the spinal cord, closer to the biological heart. That is why this place is called heart and soul. Heart means the biological heart and soul means jiva. For activating this chakra hold your breath here for a few seconds. There is one more bhandha you should know at this point, though we have discussed about it earlier. It is the forward bending your head. This is called jalandra bhandha. Jalandra means net (like fish net or cobweb) representing the network of nerves in the neck area. This bhandha is mainly to activate the visudhi chakra, which is the next higher chakra. But this bhandha will make kundalini ascend from the naval chakra to the higher chakras. Inhale deeply, hold the breath, bend your head forward so that your chin is closer to your chest, be in this position for a couple of seconds, pull your head back to the normal position and exhale slowly. Exhaling slowly is important and accordingly you have to adjust the timing of holding your breath. When you hold your breath beyond a level, you tend to gasp for breath. This gasping should be avoided. Avoiding this gasping is important than the duration of holding the breath. A couple of seconds of holding the breath is more than enough. The heart chakra can be easily activated by developing love. When heart chakra is fully developed, your concentration also develops. You become a good orator. You develop the capacity for delivering an ex-tempo speech. In case of difficulty in activating this chakra, you can keep the finger tips of your hands for a few minutes on the chakra from the front side. The energy of your finger tips will activate this chakra. Subsequent meditation on this chakra will develop and expand this chakra well.

REACHING HEART CHAKRA

This is part XVI of kundalini series. We have discussed about some additional exercises in part XIV of this series. This exercise (pulling kundalini through the spinal cord both during inhalation and exhalation) helps to hold the kundalini in a particular chakra. Once you are able to hold the kundalini in a chakra, you can effectively activate it by meditating on that chakra. This concept applies to all the chakras. Once your naval chakra is well activated, you have to move the energy to the next higher chakra called anahat chakra or the heart chakra. But moving the energy is not easy because of two factors. One is the distance from the naval chakra to the heart chakra, the longest distance between any two chakras. Secondly, there is Vishnu granthi or knot, which has to be pierced and is located just above the naval chakra. This can be pierced only by repeated practice. Piercing does not mean physical piercing, but removing the energy blocks in the area. It is dangerous to proceed further without fully understanding these granthis and the ways to get across them. Kundalini itself is very subtle and the granthis are subtler than the kundalini. Secondly, if the chakras are not fully activated, it causes blockage of energy which leads to nervous breakdown. No one should venture into kundalini meditation without controlling one’s mind. The effective way of controlling the mind is through pranayama. The movement of kundalini can be effectively controlled by prana and apana. The air we breathe in gets converted into five types about which we have discussed earlier. Prana is situated in the chest area and apana is situated in our lower abdominal area. In between these two in our upper abdominal area is samana. When prana and apana gets mixed in equal proportion, your kundalini is ready to ascend. Another important use of pranayama is to enable the kundalini ascend through the central canal of the spinal cord instead of ida and pingala nadis. Pranayama with holding of breath and moola bhandha will be of great help in preventing the kundalini ascend through ida and pingala. You can reach the samadhi stage only if kundalini ascends through the central canal. All the three granthis (we have discussed about two and yet to discuss on Rudra granthi) can be pierced and crossed only by these exercises combined with controlling and regulating the breath and mind power. There are no other options available to you. You have been already introduced to the exercises that enable you to open the granthis. To open the brahma granthi, moola bhandha is the tool. For opening the Vishnu granthi, pushing out and pulling in the stomach is used. This exercise is called uddiyana bhandha. This uddiyana bhandha should be done only with empty stomach. Do a few rounds of fast breathing. Resort to normal breathing. Inhale deeply by making your stomach bloat, exhale with force through your mouth, so that no air remains in your lungs. When you are exhaling pull your stomach inside. Be in this position for a few seconds and then inhale. The one additional feature is that you exhale through your mouth instead of your nose. This is mainly to open the Vishnu granthi. You can breathe out with force only if you exhale through your mouth. This force is required to open the Vishnu granthi. Breathing out through the mouth is only till you open your Vishnu granthi. Then you can revert back to normal breathing through the nose. It would be better if your start practicing this uddiyana bhandha in a standing posture. Another point to be noted is to keep your stomach muscles loose without any tension. Regular practice of this uddiyana bhandha will open up Vishnu granthi, which will enable kundalini to reach heart chakra.

CONSCIOUS MIND AND KUNDALINI

This is part XV of kundalini series. Human mind attains maturity with age. That is why we become more matured at our old age. The shaping of the mind basically depends on the level of cosmic energy one could draw from the universe. Cosmic energy is the energy of the cosmos and dressed up with the energy life prevailing in the planet earth. If you stand under a tree during day time, you become more active because you inhale the oxygen emitted by the tree. Cosmic energy is the divine energy, hence cannot be polluted. That is why I said cosmic energy is dressed up with other energies of the earth. Study of mind, brain and consciousness is all left to the scientists who are putting in their best efforts to unravel their mysteries. From our point of view, it is enough to basically understand them. The basic understanding is necessary, as the kundalini affects all the three or all the three affect the kundalini. Scientists broadly agree on the concept of body-mind-brain combine. The cause of awareness is created only by this trio. Unless these three work in co-ordination, we cannot act. It is a two way communication between body on one side and mind and brain on the other side. Keeping this three in good condition is within our reach. Out of the three, mind is invisible and the most powerful of the three. Body can be kept clean with activities like bath etc. Mind can be kept clean by controlling our thoughts. Brain can be kept clean by staying off from intoxicants. Unfortunately, scientists do not believe in kundalini and those who have experience in kundalini are not willing to look at it from the scientific angle. This is the reason why most of us are not willing to buy the theory that kundalini meditation endows some super human activities, though it has been proved beyond doubt by demonstration by a number of yogis. Such people do exist even today. The movement of kundalini is directly related to your consciousness. What is this consciousness that we are talking about? It is your awareness when you are conscious. What is awareness then? It is a state of elementary or undifferentiated consciousness. The cause for awareness is the senses. Due to actions of the sense organs knowledge is gained, from knowledge intellect is gained and from intellect awareness is created and out of awareness consciousness is born. Therefore awareness is possible only if you realise something through your senses. If something is not realised through your senses, then it is visualization. Visualization is conceiving something that is not known to you. Creating awareness for something that physically exists as an object is rather easy. But visualizing something is difficult because you do not have prior knowledge about the object conceived as the object itself does not exist. But we have to make this visualization possible only by training our mind. Therefore mind has an important role to play in kundalini meditation. If mind is properly trained and well prepared, then it is called a tamed mind. A tamed mind has the capacity to transform into a good conscious mind. A good conscious mind with an aroused kundalini is a potential creator.

KARMA AND KUNDALINI

This is part XIV of kundalini series. We have already seen that mind is the main instrument in moving kundalini from one chakra to another. The concentration of the mind is to be supplemented by certain yogic and breathing exercises. It is quite possible that some of you could not have activated the kundalini to make her ascend. There is yet another posture which may be of some help. Stand erect, with your feet apart and raise your arms above your head and keep the palms touching each other. Now begin other exercises mentioned earlier. For our convenience let us go through the process once again, though it is a repetition. The following exercise is only for those who are not able to activate the kundalini with the help of the exercises mentioned in the earlier postings. As a matter of fact raising of kundalini by means of yoga and pranayama is not correct, though in today’s busy situation, they have to necessarily complement the mind. Please stand erect with your legs apart. Raise your arms above your head and keep your palms touching each other. If you feel comfortable, you can even lock your fingers. After a few rounds of normal breathing, take one deep inhalation. As you proceed with the inhalation, you should simultaneously do moola bhandha. Moola bhandha should be complete when you finish your deep inhalation. In other words, deep inhalation should stop after completing moola bhandha. Feel the kundalini ascending through the spine due to the pressure of moola bhandha. Your visualization should synchronize with your inhalation and moola bhandha. With moola bhandha still on, start exhalation slowly by bending your neck forward slightly so that your cheek is closer to your chest. You will feel the pulling sensation again in your spine. During exhalation, ensure that you push your stomach (contraction) towards you. Now you are applying three pressures on the kundalini. One is the moolabhandha, two is the contraction of the stomach and three is the forward bending of the neck. Apart from this three, your raised arms will aid upward movement of kundalini. It is always advisable to exercise extreme caution in doing these exercises. If you become conversant with this, surely your kundalini will ascend, but you need to have patience. The structure of human body is devised in such a way that kundalini can traverse through its defined path. Arousal of kundalini in a slow and steady pace is like a tremor. Arousal of kundalini in a rapid manner is equivalent to an earthquake. When you feel the tremors you continue to exist, but in the case of earth quake your existence is doubtful. The arousal of kundalini does not imply that you get super human powers. No doubt, in the advanced stage of kundalini meditation your individual consciousness begins to taste the power of supreme consciousness or universal consciousness. But remember that individual consciousness cannot become supreme consciousness. The former can become a part of the latter but not the latter itself. In the same way your individual consciousness can become a part of supreme consciousness. Becoming a part of the supreme consciousness endows certain siddhis of super human powers on you. Becoming a part of super consciousness is the penultimate part of the self realization. Our heart is pumping blood. We do not know the logic behind the beating of the heart. We do know its origin and only other thing we know is that a heart pumps blood. In the same way kundalini is a difficult logic to explain. The difference is that heart cannot be controlled by your mind whereas your kundalini is be controlled by your mind. When something is beyond karma, it cannot be controlled by mind. The heart beat does not create karma, whereas the movement of kundalini can control karmas, as the latter is controlled by the mind. A fully activated kundalini when it reaches sahasrara surely burns your karmas. You can visit my earlier postings on karma for knowing more about karma. Our main aim of kundalini meditation should be to become worthy of human life. Unfortunately, the value of humanity is being eroded and also under estimated. There is nothing more valuable than a human life. If you practice kundalini meditation for psychic powers, you will surely be blessed with psychic powers, but your karmic account starts showing a negative balance, if you tend to misuse it. No one is authorized by God to function against the Nature. God strictly functions on the basis of law of karmas. Negative balance in karmic account indicates sufferings and miseries.

NAVEL CHAKRA

This is part XIII of kundalini series. When your swadishtan chakra is fully activated, your fear for water recedes. Your intuitive power increases. Once you are through with swadishtan, you have to welcome the kundalini at manipuraka chakra. This is also called navel chakra and is situated exactly behind the navel. As said earlier, the energy of the chakras will be felt both in the front and back sides. Manipuraka chakra (henceforth will be referred as navel chakra) is a very important chakra and is associated with yellow colour. This chakra attains importance because it is situated in the centre of our body. Secondly, during our sojourn in the womb, we were connected to our mother through the navel. Navel chakra is associated with fire and rajo guna. The earlier two chakras are associated with tamo guna and the first transformation of guna takes place here. In swadishtan you were purified with water and here you are purified with agni, the fire. Agni has a greater role to play in purification than water. The entry of kundalini into manipuraka chakra paves way for your transformation towards the spirituality. Spirituality is the foundation for realization. You have to walk through the path of spirituality to realise the atman. The steps that have been detailed earlier are to be followed for moving the kundalini from swadishtan to manipuraka. The orange colour of swadishtan will fade away into yellow colour of the navel chakra. During your meditation on the navel chakra you will visualise the golden yellow colour everywhere. You will be very thirsty when the navel chakra is well activated, due to its association with fire. You will have no problem with your food. Whatever you eat will be digested because the kundalini kindles the fire for digestion. The fire for digestion is called jatharagni. This fire is kept under control due to the food and liquids we consume. If proper food is not consumed, this jatharagni will generate heat in the body. You should not starve without consuming anything. You can skip one of these three - breakfasts, lunch or dinner, but that skipping should be compensated with fruit juice or dairy products. You should never do any activity with empty stomach. Once kundalini reaches this chakra, you will be able to feel the presence of the higher chakras. The kundalini energy will be in a sort of hurry from this chakra onwards. This is because of her desire to conjoin with the bindu in the sahasrara. As you know, kundalini is Shakthi and the bindu is Shiva. When kundalini is in the navel chakra, the gravitational pull on her will be less. Therefore, she will not go back to the base chakra on her own. She needs your help to go back to her house. When the navel chakra is well activated you will never have any disease relating to your abdominal region. To a certain extent you can tolerate the power of agni. You must have heard about walking on the fire. You can walk on the live charcoal without any fear. I personally undertook this venture and walked on the live charcoal fire. That was the first time when I attempted to do this. Huge logs were set on fire and logs were allowed to burn with high rising flames. Once the flames stopped, they immediately broke the live logs into small pieces and I was asked to walk over these pieces. I was terribly scared to even look at the burning fire spread across for about 15 feet. I meditated on my navel chakra for a minute and walked over the fire without any difficulty. These powers are normally derived when a chakra associated with a particular element is well activated. You begin to feel the warmth of love and love is identified with the heart chakra, the next higher chakra to the navel chakra. You are advancing well towards spirituality. You must remember to take back the kundalini to her house.