Excerpt From "The Science of Meditation"

Nature Mirrored In The Human Body

Does Ice need to ‘search’ for water? Man searching for God would like that. He is the microcosm within the macrocosm. Failing to understand the universe is an expression of God mirroring this unawareness. All, which is obvious, is Nature or Prakriti [Matter]. It is supported and witnessed by the indwelling Universal Soul or Purusha [Spirit]. Prakriti is composed of eight ingredients: earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect and ego. Each self-centered part is ruled by these eightfold units of Nature. Man is firmly set up with six plexuses or chakras in the spinal cord and the brain. They label these eightfold parts within nature gifted with introverted quiet and peace. And there is apara prakriti or lower nature, skilled in extroverted, creative and restless qualities of materialism. The six chakras, including the ajna chakra, are part of apara prakriti. They are enabled with the power of maya or delusion.

Para prakriti stays above the pituitary and ajna chakra within the thalamus. It leads apara prakriti away from worldly bondage and towards spiritual liberation. With each breath but is draw into the self into the kutastha. Here it is altered into Prana to enliven the biological body.

The visible body is the cause of bondage and restlessness. The invisible body is energized and enlivened by the soul. It must be done for daily living- at work, play or rest. The invisible body is spiritual by nature and is the path towards self-unfoldment and Self-realization. Without the invisible individualized self, the visible biological body can’t work.

Meditation or yoga, by definition, is the path to free the biological body from the mind, intellect and ego. Only then can the invisible extroverted self unite with the invisible introverted Soul or Self. True, the two are intrinsically united, but the union must be experienced personally, and intuitively, in meditation.

What is the ‘Self’?

The self-unfolded is the Self-realised. The self is ‘Me’ the individualized and Self is the Soul [purusha], the ‘I’ of Mankind. It is the spiritual treasure that cannot be found anywhere, except inside one’s self. It is our innermost deity. It is hidden in every being as an all-pervasive light of Existence, Knowledge and Bliss. To discover the Self [Sa], one must penetrate the veils of individual Nature [Ham], layer after layer.

The total Self can be realized in the kutastha. This is the sixth chakra [medullary centre] that is reflected from the ajna to the visual cortex of the brain in the occiput. This reflection then remains in the thalamus above the pituitary, behind the glabella in the kutastha between the two eyebrows. Many have called it the third eye. Others have imagined it vaguely as a centre of Awareness. It can be experienced and realized as pure awareness through the scientific technique of Raja or Kriya Yoga. The individualistic self, when self-unfolded, is a changed chitta. Meditation allows the chitta-personality of mind-intellect-ego to metamorphose from ‘Me’ to ‘I’, the only enduring Reality. Here my continuous experience is that ‘I am’. This feeling of ‘I am’ is beyond all objects, emotions, or thoughts [OET]. I know ‘I am’ not my body, mind or intellect [BMI]. I realize ‘I am’ not the performer, feeler or thinker [PFT].

Through the body, Man is the ‘perceiver’. Through the mind, he is the ‘feeler’. And through the intellect, he is the ‘thinker’ [PFT]. The PFT looking at objects, emotions, and thought is a bhoga, or a mere mortal enjoying the world. But I am in truth the unenlightened personality or chitta. And I also know that ‘I am’ more than the ordinary PFT. Turned inwards, I am the yogi or spiritual seeker. I am on the path to decoding the individualistic self while an unenlightened awareness chitta. ‘I am’ on a journey towards self-unfoldment to meet the Soul who is the enlightened chitta. When my Awareness is purified through self-realization, I will enter the hall of Consciousness or chit. Here I will finally merge with Sat-Chit-Anand [Existence-Knowledge-Bliss]. That is supreme Self-realization.

Seekers have often asked this question: If Prakriti acts under the direction of Purusha, how is it possible for Prakriti to hide Purusha? Well, just as the sun can evaporate water and yet remain hidden in the mist, so too can Prakriti cover the Spirit with body consciousness.

In fact, Prakriti covers the Self with three types of veils. They all are obstacles to meditation. The qualities or gunas [tamas-rajas-sattva] of Nature exist in every human body. A particular quality may predominate, depending on which of the three astral nerve channels are used for breathing. If breath flows mainly through the left parasympathetic astral channel [ida] sloth [tamas] is the characteristic. If breath flows mostly through the right sympathetic nerve channel, rajas predominate and the person is restless, energetic and materialistic. If breath flows through both channels equally it does so through the central spinal cord [sushumna]. The person is content [sattva], is attached to knowledge and leads a simple lifestyle.

Although innate in the physical body, all qualities [gunas] reach Man from food. It is diet that gives Man energy and vitality of rajas or makes him idle and slothful as tamas. People attached to materialism find it difficult to transcend the gunas. If people try to stay rooted in truth, they can achieve all-round development by learning the science of breath. They learn to remain cautious with every breath. To watch the Self drawing prana towards the kutastha, with each inspirational breath, is to be constantly aware. Gradually, they make out the Sa or Self in every activity of the body. Purified by such continuous awareness, they don’t allow passion, anger, greed, hypocrisy or pride to disturb their awareness.

Title: The Science of Meditaion

Author: Sneh Chakraburtty

ISBN No.: 978-81-7822-322-3

Publisher: New Age Books

E-mail: nab@vsnl.in

Distributor: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd.

Website: www.mlbd.com

E-mail: mlbd@vsnl.com