Wheels-12

Chapter 8

Chakra
Seven:
Thought

Opening Meditation

You have gone on a journey.

You have touched, you have tasted, you have seen, and you have heard.

You have loved and lost and loved again.

You have learned. You have grown. You have arrived at your destination intact.

And now, at the end of the journey, you are almost home.

There is but one step left—the biggest and the smallest of them all.

It is the biggest for it takes us the farthest.

It is the smallest because we are already there.

There is one more door to open—and it contains the key to all that lies beyond

You hold that key, but you cannot see it. It is not a thing, it is not a way.

It is a mystery.

Allow yourself to review the places you have gone . . .

Remembering the touch of flesh to Earth, the flow of movement and power, the song of love in your heart, the memories imprinted in your mind . . .

Who is it that remembers?

Who has traveled on this journey?

Is it your body? Then what has guided you? What is it that has grown? Through what have you traveled?

Who now would hold that key that can’t be seen, the key that cannot lock?

The answer to this is the key itself.

All wisdom is within you. Nothing is beyond you. The kingdom is before you, within you, around you. It is in your mind, which is but one mind in a sea of many; connected, contained, intelligent, divine.

It is the seat of the gods, the pattern of creation, the immensity of the infinite, the endless unfolding petals of the lotus, fully blooming and connected all the way to Earth.

We find it in our thoughts.

Beyond form, beyond sound, beyond light, beyond space, beyond time,

Our thoughts flow.

Below, behind, above, around and through our thoughts flow.

Within, without, before and after, our thoughts flow.

Droplets in an endless sea, the song of mind is infinite.

We have come full circle and the pattern is complete.

We are the thoughts that make the pattern,

And we are the pattern that makes the thoughts.

From whence do our thoughts arise?

Where do they go when they rest?

And who is it that perceives them?

Deep within ourselves we find a place to open up our mind.

Through starry heavens ever climbing, matter’s solid threads unbinding.

Out beyond far Heaven’s veil, the Father rules the starlit trail.

In patterns bright, perceived by sight, our thoughts turn over day through night, Through our thinking, ever linking, winding, weaving, wisdom’s webs,

Ancient patterns, flows and ebbs.

Auspicious Shiva, Lord of Sleep, your meditations bring us deep

To ancient wisdom found within, a sacred place where we begin

And ending, here we shall return; reconnected we have learned

To know divinity inside and bring it forth with honored pride.

The key within our minds we hold, to mysteries we shall unfold;

Gateway to the worlds beyond,

In sacred space and peace we bond.

CHAKRA SEVEN
SYMBOLS AND CORRESPONDENCES

Sanskrit Name:	Sahasrara
Meaning:	Thousandfold
Location:	Top of head
Element:	Thought
Manifestation:	Information
Personal Function:	Understanding
Psychological State:	Bliss
Glands:	Pituitary
Other Body Parts:	Cerebral cortex, Central nervous system
Malfunction:	Depression, alienation, confusion, boredom, apathy, inability to learn
Color:	Violet to white
Seed Sound:	None
Vowel Sound:	Ngngng, as in sing (again, not really a vowel)
Petals:	Some say 960, some say l,000. To the Hindus, numbers with ones and zeroes, as in 100, 1,000, or 10,000, indicated infinity. Therefore, the thousand petals is a metaphor for infinity whereas 960 is the mathematical equivalent of the first five chakras added together (4 + 6 + 10 + 12 + 16) multiplied by the two petals of chakra six, times ten.
Sephiroth:	Kether

Planet:	Uranus
Metal:	Gold
Foods:	none, fasting
Corresponding Verb:	to know
Yoga Path:	Jnana yoga, or meditation
Herbs For Incense:	Lotus, Gotu Kola
Guna:	Sattvas
Minerals:	Amethyst, diamond
Lotus Symbols:	Within Sahasrara is the full moon, without the mark of the hare, resplendent as in a clear sky. It sheds its rays in profusion, and is moist and cool like nectar. Inside it, constantly shining like lightning, is the triangle, and inside this, again, shines the Great Void which is served in secret by all the Suras.”1 Some say the petals turn upward, toward the Heavens. Ancient texts say they turn downward, hugging the skull. The petals are believed to be a lustrous white.
Hindu Deities:	Shiva, Ama-kala (upward moving shakti), Varuna
Other Pantheons:	Zeus, Allah, Nut, Enki, Inanna, Odin, Mimir, Ennoia

THE THOUSAND-PETALED LOTUS

The universe is just the way we think it is—and that’s why.

—John Woods2

At last we culminate the sevenfold journey, climbing to the thousand-petaled lotus blooming at the top of the head. Here we find the infinitely profound seat of cosmic consciousness known as the seventh or crown chakra. This chakra connects us to divine intelligence and the source of all manifestation. It is the means through which we reach understanding and find meaning. As the final goal of our liberating current, it is the place of ultimate liberation.

Like a king whose crown signifies order in the kingdom, the crown chakra represents the ruling principle of life—the place where the underlying order and meaning of all things is ultimately perceived. It is the pervading consciousness that thinks, reasons, and gives form and focus to our activities. It is the true essence of being as the awareness that dwells within. In the unconscious, it is the wisdom of the body. In the conscious mind, it is the intellect and our belief systems. In the superconscious, it is awareness of the divine.

In Sanskrit, the crown chakra is called Sahasrara, meaning thousandfold, referring to the infinite unfolding petals of the lotus. What brief glimpses I have been privileged to have of this chakra reveal a pattern of such magnitude, complexity, and beauty, that it is almost overwhelming. Its petals bloom in fractal-like patterns upon patterns, infinitely embedded in each other, drooping down like a sunflower to drop the nectar of understanding into the awareness of being. Each perfect petal is a monad of intelligence, which together form the gestalt of an overarching divine intelligence—sensitive, aware, responsive, and infinite. Its field is delicate, the slightest thought will ripple through the petals like wind in a field of grass. The shining jewels deep in the lotus shine forth only in a state of ultimate stillness. To witness this miracle is profound.

When we reach this level, the seed of our soul has sprouted from its roots in the earth, and grown upward through the elements of water, fire, air, sound, and light, and now to the source of all—consciousness itself, experienced through the element of thought. Each level brings us new degrees of freedom and awareness. Now the crown chakra blossoms forth with infinite awareness, its thousand petals like antennae, reaching to higher dimensions.

It is this chakra that yoga philosophy has deemed to be the seat of enlightenment. Its ultimate state of consciousness is beyond reason, beyond the senses, and beyond the limits of the world around us. Yoga practice advises withdrawing the senses (pratyahara) in order achieve the mental stillness necessary to perceive this ultimate state. Tantric philosophy, on the other hand, regards the senses as a gateway to awakening consciousness. Chakra theory tells us that it is both—a stimulation of intelligence to give us information, and a withdrawal to the interior where information is sifted into ultimate knowledge. Our thousand-petaled lotus must keep its roots in the Earth to maintain its blossom.

The element of this chakra is thought, a fundamentally distinct and unmeasurable entity that is the first and barest manifestation of the greater field of consciousness around us. Accordingly, the function of Sahasrara is knowing—just as other chakras are related to seeing, speaking, loving, doing, feeling, or having. It is through the crown chakra that we reach into the infinite body of information and run it through our other chakras to bring it to recognition and manifestation.

The seventh chakra relates to what we experience as the mind, especially the awareness that makes use of the mind. The mind is a stage for the play of consciousness, and can bring us comedy or tragedy, excitement or boredom. We are the privileged audience that gets to watch the play, although sometimes we identify so completely with the characters on stage (with our thoughts) that we forget it is only a play.

Through watching this play of thoughts, our mind assimilates experience into meaning and constructs our belief systems. These beliefs are the master programs from which we construct our reality. (In this way, the crown chakra is the master chakra, and relates to the master gland of the endocrine system, the pituitary.)

Physiologically, the crown chakra relates to the brain, especially the higher brain, or cerebral cortex. Our amazing human brain contains some thirteen billion interconnected nerve cells, capable of making more connections among themselves than the number of stars in the entire universe.3 This is a remarkable statement. Our brains, as instruments of awareness, are virtually limitless. Yet there are 100 million sensory receptors within the body, and ten trillion synapses in the nervous system, making the mind 100,000 times more sensitive to its internal environment than to its external one.4 So it is truly from a place within that we receive and assimilate most of our knowledge.

From within, we access a dimension that has no locality in time and space. If we postulate that each chakra represents a dimension of smaller and faster vibration, we hypothetically reach a plane in the crown chakra where we have a wave of infinite speed and no wavelength, allowing it to be everywhere at once. In this way, ultimate states of consciousness are described as omnipresent—by reducing the world to a pattern system occupying no physical dimension, we have infinite storage capacity for its symbols. In other words, we carry the whole world inside our heads.

This place within is the seat of consciousness and the origin of our manifesting current. All acts of creation begin with conception. We must first conceive of an idea before we can enact it. This begins in the mind and then descends through the chakras into manifestion. Conception gives us the pattern and manifestation fills it with substance, giving it form. Pattern implies order. To the Hindus, order is the underlying universal reality. Indeed, if we look at nature and the celestial universe, the apparent intelligence of its exquisite order is astonishing.

Pattern relates to the word for father, pater. The father gives the seed (the DNA), the information or pattern which stimulates the creation of form. Conception begins when a pattern is adequately received. It is then the maternal aspect that gives substance to the pattern (as well as half the DNA). Mother comes from mater, as does the English word: matter. To make something matter, it must materialize, manifest, be “mothered.” In this way, Shiva provides the form or pattern, while Shakti, as the mother of the universe, provides the raw energy that materializes the form.

We may think that consciousness is invisible, but we only need to look around us—at the structure of our cities, the furnishings in our houses, or the contents of our bookshelves—to see the incredible versatility of consciousness in its manifested form. If we want to know what consciousness looks like, our world—both natural and manmade—is its expression. Consciousness is the field of patterns from which manifestation emerges.

What, then, is “higher” consciousness? Higher consciousness is the awareness of a higher or deeper order—one that is more inclusive. Higher consciousness is sometimes called cosmic consciousness, and refers to awareness of a cosmic or celestial order. Where the lower chakras are full of millions of bits of information about the physical world and its cycles of cause and effect, cosmic consciousness reaches far into the galaxies and beyond, opening to the awareness of unifying truths. It is the perception of meta-patterns, overarching organizational principles of our cosmic ordering system. From this place we can descend again to lesser orders with an innate understanding of their structure and function as subsets of these meta-patterns.

At Sahasrara, we are furthest removed from the material world—and with it the limitations of space and time. In this sense the seventh chakra has the greatest versatility and can encompass the greatest scope of any of the chakras, hence its state of liberation. Within our thoughts we can jump from ancient Stone Age to visions of the future. We can imagine being in our backyard or think of a distant galaxy, all in a mere instant. We can create, destroy, learn, and grow—all from a place existing within and requiring no movement or change without.

Some say Sahasrara is the seat of the soul, an eternal and dimensionless witness that stays with us throughout lifetimes. Others say it is the point through which the divine spark of Shiva enters the body and brings intelligence. It is the master processor of all awareness—the gateway to worlds beyond and worlds within, the dimensionless circumference that encompasses all that is. However we choose to describe it, we must remember that its scope is far greater than our words can convey. It can only be experienced.

CONSCIOUSNESS

The Universal Force is a universal Consciousness. This is what the seeker discovers. When he has contacted this current of consciousness in himself, he can switch on to any plane whatsoever of the universal reality, to any point, and perceive, understand the consciousness there, or even act upon it, because everywhere it is the same current of consciousness with different vibratory modalities.

—Satprem, on Sri Aurobindo5

Each of the chakras is a manifestation of consciousness at different layers of reality, with earth being the most dense, and the seventh chakra, as its opposite, the pure unmanifest consciousness, known in yoga philosophy as purusha. At chakra seven we must now ask the questions: What is this thing called consciousness? What is its purpose? How do we tap into it?

These are certainly big questions, and ones which have been asked by men and women since the beginning of time. And yet, to enter our last dimension—the dimension of mind, awareness, thought, intelligence, and information—we must begin the inquiry, for the very faculty that is asking is consciousness itself—the object of our quest.

It is when we ask ourselves, “Who is minding the store?” that we look inside and notice the awareness within. It does little good to gripe about the store’s contents without asking this question. If we want a change, we must be willing to take it up with the manager. Some call this the witness, an aware being that is always present in the mystery of the Self. To witness our own awareness is to begin to fathom the mysterious possession of consciousness.

This phenomenon is nothing short of miraculous. A faculty that we all have—but cannot see, touch, measure, or hold—is the indelible reality that makes us alive. Its enormous capacity for regulating the body, playing music, speaking multiple languages, drawing pictures, reciting poetry, remembering phone numbers, appreciating a sunset, solving a puzzle, experiencing pleasure, loving, yearning, acting, seeing —the faculty of consciousness is endless in its remarkable abilities. To really turn our gaze of attention upon this miracle is to enter the endless unfolding petals of the lotus, and the true source of the Self.

That Self maintains a storehouse of memory, a set of belief systems, and a capacity to take in new data, while somehow integrating all this information into a coherent sense of meaning. This search for meaning is the driving force of consciousness and the search for the underlying unity of experience. When our own lives have meaning, they become part of a larger structure. When something lacks meaning, it doesn’t match up with anything. Meaning is the pattern that connects. It brings us closer to unity. Meaning links the individual to the universal, the true meaning of yoga. I believe this search for meaning is the basic drive of the crown chakra in all experiences prior to samadhi, (where meaning becomes obvious).

From the mundane to the mystical, the search for meaning is behind most activities of the mind. If your boss is cross with you, you might ask, what does this mean? Is she having a bad day? Is it something you did wrong? Is she expecting too much from you? Are you in the wrong job? When people have accidents, illnesses, or auspicious coincidences, they search for meaning to help integrate the experience. As a therapist, I am told daily about events that occur in my clients’ lives. Again and again, they ask the question, “What does this mean?”

Once we discern the meaning of a situation, we know better what to do, or how to operate, and we can again flow with the situation. This gives us our basic operating system. It connects us to an overarching sense of order, which can then integrate the rest of our experience into wholeness.

Consciousness is a force, related to the sattva guna. This force is one of unity, order, and organization. It is the design, the pattern, the intelligence. From crisscrossing wave forms in the brain to the structure of molecules, buildings and cities, consciousness is the ordering principle inherent in all things. Existence itself is but a vortex of conscious organization.

Tapping into this great field of consciousness causes it to descend, where it wraps itself around existing structures and becomes information. Information is the perceived lines of order that make up one’s personal operating system. The very act of thinking is the process of following lines of order. As vehicles of consciousness, our natural inclination is to express that information—to use it and manifest it. The ultimate expression is physical form, yet it is the most limited. Because of its limitation, consciousness, after manifesting, wants to free itself from the binding of the physical and return again to its source—the nonphysical, where it can play in its infinite diversity. So the nature of consciousness is to both manifest and liberate, the eternal dance of Shiva and Shakti.

TYPES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

That within us which seeks to know and to progress is not the mind but something behind it which makes use of it.

—Sri Aurobindo6

Awareness implies the focus of attention. You may speak to me while I’m asleep, but I’m not aware of it—my attention is focused elsewhere. Scenes may drift by while I’m driving, but they escape my awareness and may be unfamiliar next time I see them. To open awareness we must notice where our attention goes. Then we can expand or focus it at will.

Information is around us in great multitude every moment of our lives. In order to use this information, we focus our attention on small amounts at a time. To be reading this book, you are focusing your attention on it, and away from other things, such as traffic, noisy children, or nearby conversation.

The consciousness of the crown chakra can be roughly divided into two types, depending upon where our attention goes: That which descends and becomes concrete information, useful for manifesting in the world, and that which expands and travels outward toward more abstract planes. The first is oriented toward the world of things, relationships, and the concrete self. It is a result of limiting attention. It is the consciousness that actively thinks, reasons, learns, and stores information. It is our Cognitive Consciousness. We can think of it as the lower focus of the crown chakra, organizing finite bits of detail into ever larger structures.

The second type of consciousness I call Transcendent Consciousness. It interfaces to a realm beyond the world of things and relationships. It is consciousness without an object, without awareness or reference to the individual self, and without the wide fluctuations that occur in the logical and comparative thought patterns of Cognitive Consciousness. Instead, this form of consciousness floats in a meta-awareness, encompassing all things simultaneously without focusing on any objects in particular. It floats because it lets go of the normal “objects of consciousness,” and thus becomes weightless and free.

Cognitive Consciousness requires that awareness be focused on the finite and particular, sorted and assembled in logical order. Transcendent Consciousness requires opening awareness beyond cognition. To perceive higher order implies a greater distancing from the minute and particular. Paradoxically, this opening beyond cognition has the result of increasing the scope of our focused attention. By emptying the mind, that which remains is more pronounced, like watching someone alone on a field of snow as opposed to finding them on a crowded street.

INFORMATION

Space/time coordinates are not primary coordinates of physical reality, but are organizing principles invoked by consciousness to put its information in order.

—Robert Jahn7

Through our experiences, each one of us builds a personal matrix of information within our minds. From the first glimpse of our mother’s face to our doctoral dissertations and beyond, we spend our lives trying to piece together some sense of order from what we see around us. Each bit of information we receive gets incorporated into that matrix, making it ever more complex. As it grows more complex it tends to periodically “reorganize” itself, finding higher levels of order which simplify its system. The bottom falls out, restructuring occurs, and with it a more efficient use of energy. This is the familiar “aha” reflex—the little enlightenments that come when some piece falls into place, allowing a new wholeness to be perceived. Enlightenment is a progressive understanding of ever greater wholeness. In our holographic paradigm, each new piece of information allows the basic picture to gain clarity.

Matrix structures are created from the meaning we derive from experience. They then become our personal belief systems and the ordering principles of our lives. We are part of this order and we organize all that we encounter according to this matrix, preferring to keep our inner and outer experiences coherent. If my belief system says that women are inferior, I will manifest that in all my actions, including finding people to corroborate it. If I believe this is my lucky day, I am more likely to manifest positive things in my life today.

Our belief systems are comprised of the various bits of meaning we have derived from our experience. If we repeatedly fail, and we tell ourselves that it means we are stupid, we eventually generate a belief in our own stupidity. These belief systems form the matrix into which all other information is funneled. If I tell you a bit of feedback, you run that piece of data against your background of knowledge and add it to your belief systems. You might say, “Oh, I can never do anything right or, I can never please you.” That is a belief taken from what meaning you derive. Another person, with another belief system, may derive an entirely different meaning.

The relationship between meaning and belief is so strong that if some piece of data does not fit our inner matrix, we might say, “Oh, I don’t believe you,” and discard the information entirely. If I told someone I saw an extraterrestrial (I haven’t), most people would not believe me, for they have no matrix for such an experience. If I told the same information to someone at a UFO conference, they might indeed believe me, or give the experience an entirely different meaning.

This is one of the traps of the mind. How do we take in new information and expand our consciousness, if we reject anything that does not fit the current inner paradigm? And if we disregard this inner matrix, how do we discern truth from fiction, or organize the vast amount of information that we receive at each moment?

The best answer to this lies in meditation, for it is a practice that allows the mind to sort through its data, discard outmoded belief systems and unnecessary information, and reset the personal matrix with an underlying unity. (Meditation is like defragmenting your hard drive —it leaves more room to operate and record new information without crashing your system.) It is meditation that allows our crown chakra to open the awareness ever wider without getting overwhelmed or lost in the infinite. It helps us retain our center, which is the primary organizing matrix of the Self.

Downloading Information

Parapsychological research, past life regression, and other studies have shown that there are certain qualities of the mind that exist independently of the brain. In some cases of past life regression, people have been able to remember facts that are objectively provable. They accurately describe a house they have never seen, they speak a foreign language, or they describe events that are later documented by journals, letters, or books. Obviously, since the human body/hardware has been completely made over, some information exists outside of the brain.

All this data implies that there is some kind of information field existing independently of its perceiver, much as radio waves exist independently of radios, or the Internet exists whether or not you have a computer. The body, with its amazing nervous system and reactive capacity, is the receiver of this information, just as your computer can receive and download information from the Internet.

This field, though it may be immaterial in the physical world, is nonetheless a very real and causative factor, just as an invisible magnetic field causes metal shavings to take a certain shape. This is why the higher planes are often called causal planes. When we “tune in” we can tap this information field and enter the realm of causality.

The biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, has coined a term that at least partially describes this phenomenon, called “morphogenetic fields,” from morphe, “form”, and genesis, “coming into being”. The theory of morphogenetic fields postulates that the universe functions not so much by immutable laws as by “habits”—patterns created by the repetition of events over time. The repetition of these habits creates a field in a “higher” dimension which then increases the likelihood that events will fall into that pattern. Morphogenetic fields are characterisitic of objects and behaviors, and may explain much of what is called instinct.

The morphogenetic field for rabbits, for example, is created by the sheer number of rabbits that exist and have existed in the past. Anything that is coming into being that even closely resembles a rabbit will fall into the high probability of “rabbitness” created by that field. If you walked into a hardware store and said you wanted something with a handle that could drive nails, the likelihood that the manager would say “hammer” is very high—because so many already exist. Now that nail guns are more common, it’s more likely, that, too, might be suggested. Twenty years ago it would have been unlikely, because there weren’t very many nail guns.

Morphogenetic fields pertain to the relationships between consciousness and manifestation as they form a two-way link between the two worlds. The field is built up through what occurs in the tangible world, through repetition and habit. Then the field, once established, dictates future forms in the material world. The tendency to conform varies with the strength of the field. Says Sheldrake:

It wouldn’t be possible for a new field to set up in the presence of an overwhelming influence from a pre-existing habit. What can happen is that higher level fields can integrate lower level habits into new syntheses . . . . Evolution proceeds not by changing basic habits but by taking the basic habits it’s given, and building more and more complex patterns out of them. 8

An example of this is the overweight person who loses fifty pounds and has an insatiable desire to eat until just that amount of weight is regained. Have you ever noticed how heavy people tend to stay at about the same amount of heaviness most of the time, despite dieting or binges? The morphogenetic field of the body wants to maintain its familiar form. By reaching into a different level, “thinking thin” has been a more effective way to reduce, for it is changing the field that is causal to the form of the body.

When beliefs are held by large numbers of people, their field is stronger, lessening the chance for the survival of opposing beliefs. The field created by the belief in male supremacy is a primary example because it has been instilled so completely into our culture over the last several thousand years, offering greater advantages to men, who are then able to achieve more. As more women find their power through feminism, another field is being generated that allows the cultural belief system to change form. But this takes a long time and many, many women and men to involve themselves in building up the new field. As time goes by and the field gets stronger, it makes it easier for the next generation of women and men to hold a new belief system.

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 self-conscious 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 self- knowledge 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.10

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 common—they 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.11

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.15 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.) 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.

ENLIGHTENMENT—
HOME 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 Sushumna. 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.

After following a few thoughts to their origin, begin watching your thoughts go by without tracing them. Simply let them pass, neither denying them nor retaining them. Let them return to their source until there are few or no thoughts passing through, and you too have returned to that source. Remain there as long as seems appropriate, and return slowly to normal consciousness.

Journey to the Akashic Records:

To be done as a guided meditation.

Lie comfortably on the floor, face up, head and neck relaxed, and slowly relax each part of your body. Let the floor beneath you give you support as you relax your legs . . . your back . . . your stomach . . . your arms and shoulders. Make fists with your hands and then release them, flexing each finger. Point your toes and release them, giving each foot a little wiggle. Slowly focus on the rhythm of your breathing . . . in . . . out . . . in . . . out. Let your body float lightly on the floor, each muscle letting go of its tension.

As you watch your breathing, become aware of your thoughts. Watch them as they slowly twist through your mind, effortlessly playing their images in your mind’s eye. And as you watch your thoughts, become aware of some piece of information you would like to know—some question you have buried within you. It may be a question about a lover, a present dilemma, or information about a past life. Take a moment to focus on your question, to become clear on what it is you wish to know.

When your question is clear, let it go from your mind. It will return at the appropriate time.

As you lie effortlessly on the floor, imagine your body getting lighter. The solid mass of your flesh gradually lightens and you experience a swirling feeling, like rising into a mist. You fly upward, twisting and turning into this mist, shapeless and formless as it is. Eventually the mist begins to take more form and you perceive a spiral staircase leading upward. You follow the staircase higher and higher as it becomes more solid. Each step lets you feel a sense of your own destiny, each step brings you closer to that which you wish to know.

Soon your steps widen and you arrive at a large building, stretching as high and as far as you can see. It has one large door and you enter it, effortlessly. You see more stairways, long hallways, and many rooms with doors opening to them. You stand in the foyer and ask your question, hearing it echo throughout the whole building. The question comes back to you.

You begin to walk, listening to the echo of your question, following where the sound is the loudest and the clearest. Follow your footsteps wherever they may take you, repeating your question as you walk. Eventually you will find yourself in a room. Notice the doorway, the furnishings. Is there anything written on the doorway? What colors are the furnishings, what time period are they from?

As you look around, you notice a large bookshelf with volumes and volumes of books. Examine the library and see if any book stands out, beckoning to you. Find one with your name on it. It may not be the name you use in this life, but it should fall into your hands effortlessly. Phrase your question once more and open the book, letting it fall open where it will. Read the passage you have opened to. Pause for a moment and reflect on its meaning, and then turn the next few pages, browsing. Open your awareness to the information around you—the rooms full of books, the ancient wisdom buried throughout the building, and pull it into your heart. Don’t try to analyze it, just let it be.

Then when you are ready, return your book to its shelf, knowing that you can find it again whenever you want. Slowly turn and leave the room, walking back down the hallway full of doors. Enter the foyer and out the large columned door and step outside, reflecting, as you go, on the incredible view you can see from this height. Patterns upon swirling patterns ebb and flow at this place with every color and shape and rhythm you can imagine. Your body gets slowly heavier as you enter the atmosphere. Slowly you come down and down, sliding into the Earth plane where your body lies resting comfortably on the floor in this place now. Examine what you have brought with you, and when you are ready, return to the room.

Note: The actual significance of the information you have found is not always readily apparent. You may want to take time to reflect on it (perhaps even a few days) before sharing it.

ENDNOTES

1. Verse 41 of the Sat-Chakra-Nirupana, as translated by Arthur Avalon, Serpent Power, 428.

2. John Woods, personal conversation, 1982.

3. Bloomfield, et al. Transcendental Meditation: Discovering Inner Awareness and Overcoming Stress, 39.

4. Michael Talbot, Mysticism and the New Physics, 54.

5. Satprem, Sri Aurobindo, or the Adventure of Consciousness, 64.

6. Sri Aurobindo, in Sri Aurobindo, or the Adventure of Consciousness, 30.

7. Robert Jahn, from the “Foundation for Mind-Being Research” newsletter, Reporter. August, 1982, Cupertino, CA, 5.

8. Rupert Sheldrake, “Morphogenetic Fields: Nature’s Habits,” ReVision, Fall, 1982, Vol 5, No. 2., 34.

9. Ibid., p. 66.

10. Arthur Avalon, Serpent Power, 38.

11. Bloomfield, et al. Transcendental Meditation: Discovering Inner Awareness and Overcoming Stress. 75.

12. Ibid., appendix.

13. Ibid., 66.

14. Ibid., 78.

15. Ibid., appendix.

16. Sri Aurobindo as quoted by Satprem, Sri Aurobindo, or the Adventure of Consciousness, 153.