Thoughts are structures, just like bodies and buildings. Their details may change from moment to moment, but the overall structural matrix remains more or less the same over given amounts of time-especially when held by a large number of minds. If we wish to change our consciousness, we must tap into the fields from which it arises, and search for the higher degrees of order within them. From a transcendent level we can access new fields of higher order. Then we can change our matrix and its manifestations in the physical world. This is the process of selfconscious evolution, made possible only by journeys into consciousness.
TRANSCENDENCE AND IMMANENCE
When consciousness is released from the thousands of mental, vital, physical vibrations in which it lies buried, there is joy.
-Sri Aurobindo9
The crown chakra is a meeting point between finite and infinite, mortal and divine, temporal and timeless. It is the gateway through which we expand beyond our personal self, beyond the limits of space time and experience primordial unity and transcendent bliss. It is also the point at which divine consciousness enters the body and descends, bringing awareness to all the chakras, giving us the means to operate in the world around us.
We have described these two currents as creating two types of consciousness: cognitive and transcendent. In addition, the two currents produce two different but complimentary spiritual states: the transcendent and the immanent. Once again, it is the ascending current that brings us liberation and the descending current that brings us manifestation. To have a true theory of wholeness, one needs to cultivate both.
As we have worked our way through the seven levels of awareness related to each chakra, we have progressively transcended limitation, shortsightedness, immediacy, pain, and suffering. This is the direction most emphasized in Eastern thought, with the practice and philosophies of yoga comprising the essential gateway to universal consciousness. Pain and suffering, it is believed, occur through false identification with elements of the finite world, and obscure the ultimate reality of the infinite. It is attachment to limitation that forms obstacles to our spiritual growth, hence attachment is the primary demon of the crown chakra.
The most characteristic quality of Transcendent Consciousness is its emptiness. Therefore, we enter it by letting go of attachment. Transcendence carries us beyond the ordinary, to the broad expanse of unity. The observer is participant. There is no separation between self and the world, and no sense of time. Just as the emptiness of a cup allows it to be filled, the emptiness of our minds allows a clear channel through which to experience transcendence.
Transcendence brings liberation from the traps of illusion so that we can enter into a state of bliss and freedom. It is generally the ego that forms these attachments to maintain its sense of selfhood and safety-but that self is a smaller, more limited self, apart from the underlying unity of consciousness from which we are made.
The descending current of consciousness, having divine realization as its origin, brings immanence. Immanence is the awareness of the divine within, where transcendence is the awareness of the divine without. Immanence brings us intelligence, illumination, inspiration, radiance, power, connection, and finally manifestation. True selfknowledge is to understand that transcendence and immanence are complimentary and that inner and outer worlds are indelibly one.
While the liberating current brings us liberation or mukti, it is the descending current that brings enjoyment, or bhukti. As stated in Arthur Avalon's Serpent Power, the most fastidious translation of Tantric texts on the chakras:
One of the cardinal principles of the Sakti-Tantra is to secure by its Sadhana both Liberation and Enjoyment. This is possible by the identification of the self when in enjoyment with the soul of the world.'o
Just as the Muladhara chakra is both the source point of the rising Kundalini and the place where we press our roots deep into the ground, the Sahasrara is the origin of all manifestation and the gateway to the beyond. Transcendence and immanence are not mutually exclusive. They represent the basic oscillations of consciousness, the inhale and exhale of the crown chakra, the entry and exit point of human life.
MEDITATION: KEY TO THE LOTUS
Gracious One, pray your head is an empty shell, wherein your mind frolics infinitely.
-Old Sanskrit Proverb
There is no greater practice for developing the seventh chakra than meditation. It is the very act through which consciousness realizes itself. It is as essential to nourishing the spirit as eating and rest are to the body.
There are countless techniques for meditation. You can regulate your breath, intone mantras, visualize colors, shapes, or deities, move energy through your chakras, walk or move with awareness, hook yourself up to a brain machine, or just stare blankly in front of you. To be worthwhile, all of these forms must have one thing in commonthey must enhance, soothe, and harmonize the vibrational aspects of the mind and body, cleansing the mind of its habitual clutter.
We take it for granted that we need to take showers, clean our houses, and wash our clothes. We'd be uncomfortable if we didn't, to say nothing of being the object of social criticism. Yet, the mind and its thoughts need cleansing, perhaps even more than our bodies. The mind works longer, encounters wider dimensions, and runs the operating system of our life as well! While few of us would consider eating dinner on yesterday's dirty dishes, we think nothing of tackling a new problem with yesterday's cluttered mind. No wonder we feel tired, confused, and ignorant!
Meditation is both an end and a means. We may achieve better clarity, mood elevation, or simply better physical coordination; but the mind, as an inseparable commander of all else, deserves the best treatment we can give it.
As the seventh chakra exists in the dimension of "withinness," meditation is the key to that inner world. Through meditation we can systematically tune out the outside world and cultivate sensitivity to the inner. Through that sensitivity we can then enter the point of singularity which connects all things. We are the vortex of all that we experience. At the center of that vortex lies understanding.
Through harmonization of our bodies, breath, and thoughts, we can line up our chakras and perceive the unifying essence of all creation. But this is not an alignment of physical reality as much as it is an inner alignment of archetypal energies, a spiritual alignment with the underlying unity we have come to discover in each chakra.
But what exactly does meditation do? What are the physiological effects, psychological states, and resulting benefits? And why is this strange practice of doing nothing so valuable?
The widespread practice of TM, or Transcendental Meditation, as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, has enabled some systematic study of mental and physical effects over a wide variety of subjects. Transcendental Meditation, as taught by the TM association, involves the simple practice of spending twenty minutes twice a day sitting quietly and internally uttering a mantra, given to the meditator by the teacher. There are no strange postures, breathing patterns or dietary recommendations, making this practice easy to learn and easy to study.
The most noteworthy finding of these studies seemed to show up in the EEG measuring of brain-wave patterns. In ordinary waking consciousness, brain waves are random and chaotic, and most commonly in the beta frequency. The two hemispheres of the brain may generate different wavelengths, and there may be further differences from the front to the back of the brain as well.
Meditation changes this dramatically. Immediately upon beginning, the meditation subjects showed increased alpha waves (brainwaves characteristic of a relaxed state of mind) which began at the back of the brain and moved forward. After a few minutes, the alpha waves increased in amplitude. The back and the front of the brain became synchronized in phase as did the left and right hemispheres. This resonance continued and in many cases theta waves appeared (a deeper state than alpha) especially in those more experienced with the practice. In the most advanced meditators, alpha was found to occur more frequently in a normal, waking
state, and with greater amplitude. With these people theta was more prevalent during meditation, and even occurred during normal waking states."
Meditation has physiological effects as well. Oxygen intake decreased by 16-18 percent, heart rate decreased by 25 percent and blood pressure was lowered, all of which are controlled by the autonomic nervous system, (the controller of involuntary processes) .12 This allows the body to enter a state of deep rest-far deeper than what it receives in sleep. This rest then allows for greater alertness in waking consciousness.
It is interesting to note that while meditators do enter a state of deep rest, the attention/awareness increases rather than decreases. When a sound was produced periodically to a nonmeditator, the brain waves showed a gradual acclimation to the noise-less and less reaction until it was effectively "tuned out." The meditator, on the other hand, while meditating, reacted freshly to the sound each time it was made.13 Therefore, while the body diminishes all its activities, the mind is essentially released from the body's limitations and freer to expand to new horizons.
It is suggested that meditation de-stimulates the cerebral cortex and the limbic system, and through brain-wave resonance heals the split between the old and the new brain.14 This split has been suspected to be a cause of alienated emotional states and schizoid behavior, difficulties particular to humans and essentially nonexistent in animals. Better coordination between the two hemispheres can also lead to increased cognitive and perceptual ability.
And the psychological effects? Aside from a general feeling of relaxation, inner peace, and increased well-being, meditators were found to have improved academic performance, increased job satisfaction and production, a decrease in drug use (both prescription and recreational), and faster reaction times." All this from simply sitting still and doing nothing!
In the face of this evidence it is hard to deny that meditation has great rewards. Who wouldn't want greater health, mood elevation, and increased performance? And all that for a practice that costs nothing, requires no equipment, and can be done anywhere! Yet why is it that so few people actually do take the time to meditate, and that even those who do find it difficult to practice as often as they would like to?
We have spoken of rhythms, resonance, and morphogenetic fields, and how all three of them tend to perpetuate themselves just as they are. In a world whose vibrational level is largely oriented around the first three chakras, placing greater value on materiality, it is difficult to find the time, validation, and even desire to go off and enter a different wavelength-especially one whose reward is so subjective. The idea that one "should" meditate, added to the thousands of other "shoulds" hammering on us each day, can almost make the practice repugnant.
Yet true meditation is a state of mind-not an effort. Once the state is achieved a few times, it begins to create its own self-perpetuating rhythms, its own morphogenetic field, and its own effect on the vibrations around us. Then it becomes an integral part of life, staying with us through waking consciousness, sleep, and all other activities. At this point meditation becomes a joy, not a discipline. But until then we can only describe the effects and hope they are enough to fire the will's curiosity. At least the price is right!
Meditation Techniques
So now we come to the how-tos. And here we find that meditation has as many techniques as there are meditators. I suggest that it is worthwhile to, at some point, give each of them a try, and from the experience tailor one to suit you exactly. Then stick with it for awhile, for it is over time that meditation practices show their greatest rewards.
It is important to find a quiet, comfortable environment where you won't be disturbed. Make sure you don't have clothing that is binding, that you won't be too hot or too cold, and that distracting noises are kept to a minimum. Meditation is generally better on a slightly empty stomach, though intense hunger pangs can also be distracting.
Most meditations are done while sitting comfortably with the spine straight, but not tense. This can be done in a chair, or sitting cross-legged on the floor-in either full or half lotus (see Figure 8.1, page 339.) or simple Indian style. The reason for this is that the body needs to be in a low-maintenance position so it can relax, yet not so comfortable that you fall asleep. Furthermore, a straight back allows alignment of all the chakras, and better transmission of energy up and down the Sushumna.
While in the half-lotus position, you can do any number of things: you can follow your breath in and out, tuning yourself to its rhythms; you can gaze at a mandala, a candle flame, or some other appropriate visual stimulus; or you can simply watch your thoughts as they go by, neither following them, stopping them, nor judging them. The separation of self and thoughts helps to achieve the Transcendent state.
As in the TM technique, you can internally utter a mantra and focus your mind on its vibration going through you. This harmonizes the vibrational states, as we have seen. You can watch your emotional states and achieve detachment from them, visualize various colors running through your chakras, or spend your time asking who it is that's meditating. A common Zen practice is to concentrate on a paradoxical statement, called a Koan, which de-intellectualizes the mind by its lack of logic. "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" is a typical Koan. Another is "What was the face you wore before you were born?" The idea is not to find an answer but to allow the question to knock down the barriers of your normal logical mode of thinking, and allow perception of something greater.
The commonality among these diverse forms is that they all involve focusing the mind on ONE thing. In normal, waking consciousness our mind flies to many things from moment to moment. The very one-pointedness of mind is the object in meditation. Each of these techniques-be it a sound, an object, or a Koan-is designed to be a focusing device for the mind to divert it from its normal, deeply rutted stream of chaotic consciousness.
It is difficult to compare one method to another and make any kind of value judgment. Different meditations affect people in different ways. The emphasis is not on the technique used, but on how well one is able to use it. No matter the technique, the act of repetition and concentration charges the act over time. It is a discipline, and like any other discipline becomes easier with practice.
FIGURE 8.1
Half-Lotus Position.
ENLIGHTENMENTHOME AT LAST
Nirvana in my liberated consciousness turned out to be the beginning of my realization, a first step towards the complete thing, not the sole true attainment possible or even a culminating finale.
-Sri Aurobindo16
Enlightenment is not a thing, it is a process. A thing is something to acquire; a process is something to be. If enlightenment were a thing it would be a contradiction in terms to have "found" it, for it is inseparable from the self who is looking. Upon realization, we find that it was never lost!
Just as love is a difficult concept to describe, yet intrinsically part of a natural, healthy state, enlightenment can also be thought of as a natural state, and equally difficult to describe. In this way enlightenment would be achieved by a process of undoing rather than doing. We keep ourselves from enlightenment by our own mental blocks, just as a roof blocks the sun from shining down on us.
But to say that we have enlightenment already does not mean there is nothing to be gained from cultivating it. Just because it exists within us does not always mean it is intact. For there are always deeper states, higher places, and more to explore in the beyond. And when we can do this from where we are right now, we will indeed have achieved something!
While most people think of enlightenment as a state of knowing all the answers, we could also think of it as arriving finally at the right questions. In experiencing the beyond, we can only be left with a sense of awe and wonder. Answers can be things, but it is the questions that are the process.
In terms of the chakras, enlightenment occurs when the path through the chakras is complete. It is more than just an opening of the crown chakra, or of any other chakra on the Sushum
na. It is an experience of unity among all things, and the integration of that experience with the Self. Only if the Self is connected can this occur. It is a process of becoming.
And so we come at last to the end and find that it is only another beginning. But for what other reason do ends exist?
SEVENTH CHAKRA EXERCISES
Following Your Thoughts
Lie or sit in a comfortable meditation position. Allow your mind to become relatively calm and quiet, using whatever technique is most effective for you.
Gradually let yourself pay attention to the thoughts that pass through your mind. Pick one and ask yourself where it came from, what thoughts preceded it. Then follow to the origin of that thought. It may be something that occurred years ago, or something that is pressing on you right now. Then again follow that thought to its source, and on to each thought's origin. Eventually we come to a kind of infinite source that has no objective origin.
Return and pick another thought that passes through. Repeat the same sequence, going further and further back. See how many of your thoughts emanate from a similar source-either an issue you are working with in your life right now, a past teacher, or your own place of connection with the infinite.
Wheels of Life Page 27