Category: Merging With Siva

The Centers of Reason and Will

It is in the svādhishṭhāna chakra that the majority of people live, think, worry and travel on the astral plane. If they are functioning solely in the reasoning capacity of the mind, devoting their life’s energies to its perpetuation in the libraries of the world, then they would take the intellect very seriously, for they naturally see the material world as extremely real, extremely permanent. With their security and self-esteem founded in reason, they study, read, discuss, accumulate vast storehouses of fact and rearrange the opinions and conclusions of others. When guided by the higher chakras and not totally entangled in ramifications of intellect, the powers of svādhishṭhāna are a potent tool in bringing intuitive knowledge into practical manifestation. Reason does not conflict with intuition. It simply comes more slowly, more cumbersomely, to the same conclusions. Nevertheless, the intellect, in its refined evolution, can harness and direct the base instincts in man.

Within the third center, called the maṇipūra chakra, are the forces of willpower. Maṇi means “gem,” and pūra means “city,” so maṇipūra signifies the “jewelled city.” Its color is yellow. It is represented in the central nervous system by the solar plexus, where all nerves in the body merge to form what has been termed man’s “second brain.” This is significant, for depending on how the energy is flowing, the forces of will from this chakra add power either to worldly consciousness through the first two centers or to spiritual consciousness through the fourth and fifth centers. In Hindu mysticism, this dual function of willpower is conveyed in its ten “petals” or aspects, five which control and stabilize the odic or material forces of memory and reason, and five which control the actinic or spiritual forces of understanding and love. Therefore, the maṇipūra energies are actinodic in composition, while mūlādhāra and svādhishṭhāna are purely odic force structures. When awareness functions within the realms of memory, reason and aggressive willpower, men and women are basically instinctive in nature. They are quick to react and retaliate, quick to have their feelings hurt and quick to pursue the conquest of others, while fearing their own defeat. Success and failure are the motivating desires behind their need to express power and possess influence. Consequently, their life is seeded with suffering, with ups and downs. They look for a way out of suffering and yet enjoy suffering when it comes. They are physically very hard working and generally not interested in developing the intellect unless it can help them achieve some material gain. In these states of consciousness, the ego rises to its greatest prominence, and emotional experiences are extremely intense. If, on the other hand, the willpower has been directed toward higher awakening, awareness is propelled into deeper dimensions. Gains and losses of material possessions and power no longer magnetize their awareness, and they are freed to explore higher centers of their being. Inwardly directed, the willpower gives resolute strength to these aspirants, strength to discipline the outer nature and to practice sādhana.

Mūlādhāra, the Realm of Memory

The chakras do not awaken. They are already awakened in everyone. It only seems as if they awaken as we become aware of flowing our energy through them, because energy, willpower and awareness are one and the same thing. To become conscious of the core of energy itself, all we have to do is detach awareness from the realms of reason, memory and aggressive, intellectual will. Then, turning inward, we move from one chakra to another. The physical body changes as these more refined energies flow through it and the inner nerve system, called nāḍīs, inwardly becomes stronger and stronger. The mūlādhāra chakra is the memory center, located at the base of the spine, and is physically associated with the sacral or pelvic nerve plexus. Mūla means “root” and adhāra means “support,” so this is called the root chakra. Its color is red. It governs the realms of time and memory, creating a consciousness of time through the powers of memory. Whenever we go back in our memory patterns, we are using the forces of the mūlādhāra.

This chakra is associated also with human qualities of individuality, egoism, materialism and dominance. Man lives mostly in this chakra during the first seven years of life. This center has four “petals” or aspects, one of which governs memories of past lives. The other three contain the compiled memory patterns and interrelated karmas of this life. When this chakra is developed, people are able to travel on the astral plane. It is complete within itself, but when the first two chakras are charged with gross, instinctive impulses and developed through Western education, with its values and foibles which contradict Hindu dharma, they can create together a very strong odic force which, when propelled by the worldly will of the third chakra toward outer success and power, can dominate the mind and make it nearly impossible for awareness to function in the higher force centers, so great is the material magnetism. Men living fully in these lower three chakras therefore say that God is above them, not knowing that “above” is their own head and they are living “below,” near the base of the spine.

You have seen many people living totally in the past—it’s their only reality. They are always reminiscing: “When I was a boy, we used to… Why, I remember when… It wasn’t like this a few years ago…” On and on they go, living a recollected personal history and usually unaware that they have a present to be enjoyed and a future to be created. On and on they go, giving their life force energies to the task of perpetuating the past. The mūlādhāra forces are not negative forces. Used and governed positively by the higher centers, the powers of time, memory and sex are transmuted into the very fuel that propels awareness along the spinal climb and into the head. Similarly, the mature lotus blossom cannot in wisdom criticize the muddy roots far below which, after all, sustain its very life.

The center of man’s reasoning faculties lies in the second, or hypogastric, plexus, below the navel. It is termed svādhishṭhāna, which in Sanskrit means “one’s own place.” Its color is reddish orange. Once the ability to remember has been established, the natural consequence is reason, and from reason evolves the intellect. Reason and intellect work through this chakra. We open naturally into this chakra between the ages of seven and thirteen, when we want to know why the sky is blue and the “whys” of everything. If very little memory exists, very little intellect is present. In other words, reason is the manipulation of memorized information. We categorize it, edit it, rearrange it and store the results. That is the essence of the limited capacity of reason. Therefore, this center controls the mūlādhāra, and in fact, each progressively “higher” center controls all preceding centers. That is the law. In thinking, solving problems, analyzing people or situations, we are functioning in the domain of svādhishṭhāna.

This center has six “petals” or aspects and can therefore express itself in six distinct ways: diplomacy, sensitivity, cleverness, doubt, anxiety and procrastination. These aspects or personae would seem very real to people living predominantly in this chakra. They would research, explore and wonder, “Why? Why? Why?” They would propose theories and then formulate reasonable explanations. They would form a rigid intellectual mind based on opinionated knowledge and accumulated memory, reinforced by habit patterns of the instinctive mind.

14 Regions of Consciousness

Hindu scriptures speak of three worlds, fourteen worlds and countless worlds. These are different ways to describe Śiva’s infinite creation. Of the fourteen worlds, seven are counted as rising above the Earth and seven as descending below it. Correspondingly, there are fourteen great nerve centers in the physical body, in the astral body and in the body of the soul. These centers are called chakras in Sanskrit, which means “wheels.” These spinning vortices of energy are actually regions of mind power, each one governing certain aspects of the inner man, and together they are the subtle components of people. When inwardly perceived, they are vividly colorful and can be heard. In fact, they are quite noisy, since color, sound and energy are all the same thing in the inner realms.

When awareness flows through any one or more of these regions, the various functions of consciousness operate, such as the functions of memory, reason and willpower. There are six chakras above the mūlādhāra chakra, which is located at the base of the spine. When awareness is flowing through these chakras, consciousness is in the higher nature. There are seven chakras below the mūlādhāra chakra, and when awareness is flowing through them, consciousness is in the lower nature. In this Kali Yuga most people live in the consciousness of the seven force centers below the mūlādhāra chakra. Their beliefs and attitudes strongly reflect the animal nature, the instinctive mind. We want to lift our own consciousness and that of others into the chakras above the mūlādhāra. This brings the mind out of the lower nature into the higher nature. We do this through personal sādhana, prayer, meditation, right thought, speech and action and love for Lord Śiva, who is All in all.

The mūlādhāra chakra, the divine seat of Lord Gaṇeśa, is the dividing point between the lower nature and the higher nature. It is the beginning of religion for everyone, entered when consciousness arrives out of the realms below Lord Gaṇeśa’s holy feet.

The physical body has a connection to each of the seven higher chakras through plexes of nerves along the spinal cord and in the cranium. As the kuṇḍalinī force of awareness travels along the spine, it enters each of these chakras, energizing them and awakening, in turn, each function. In any one lifetime, man may be predominantly aware in two or three centers, thus setting the pattern for the way he thinks and lives. He develops a comprehension of these seven regions in a natural sequence, the perfection of one leading logically to the next. Thus, though he may not be psychically seeing spinning forces within himself, man nevertheless matures through memory, reason, willpower, cognition, universal love, divine sight and spiritual illumination.

It may help, as we examine each of these centers individually, to visualize man as a seven-storied building, with each story being one of the chakras. Awareness travels up and down in the elevator, and as it goes higher and higher, it gains a progressively broader, more comprehensive and beautiful vista. Reaching the top floor, it views the panorama below with total understanding, not only of the landscape below, but also of the relation of the building to other buildings and of each floor to the next.

In Sanātana Dharma another analogy is used to portray the chakras—that of a lotus flower. This flower grows in lakes and pools, taking root in the slimy mud below the surface, where no light penetrates. Its stem grows upward toward the light until it breaks the surface into fresh air and sunshine. The energy of the sun then feeds the bud and leaves until the delicate lotus blossom opens. The first chakra is called the root chakra, mūlādhāra. Awareness takes root in the baser instincts of human experience and then travels through the waters of the intellect, becoming more and more refined as it evolves until finally it bursts into the light of the superconscious mind, where it spiritually flowers into the 1,008-petaled lotus chakra at the top of the head. By examining the functions of these seven great force centers, we can clearly cognize our own position on the spiritual path and better understand our fellow man.

Mutual Appreciation

Tremendous confusion can exist within the family if the man and the woman think that they are the same and are flowing through the same areas of the external mind. The only area that they should flow through together is the sushumṇā, the spiritual. And when they are both intently in the intuitive mind, they will unravel deep and profound things together. She is in the home, making things nice for him. When he returns from his mental involvements in the world, it is up to him to get out of the intellectual mind and into the spiritual currents of his superconsciousness in order to communicate with her at all, other than on a subconscious, physical or materialistic level.

For harmony to prevail between a man and a woman, he has to live fully within his own nature, and she has to live fully within her own nature. Each is king and queen of their respective realms. If each respects the uniqueness of the other, then a harmonious condition in the home exists.

A good rule to remember: the man does not discuss his intellectual business problems with his wife, and she does not work outside the home. He solves his problems within himself or discusses them with other men. When he has a problem, he should go to an expert to solve it, not bring it home to talk over. If he does, the forces in the home become congested. The children yell and scream and cry.

A contemplative home where the family can meditate has to have that uplifting, temple-like vibration. In just approaching it, the sushumṇā current of the man should withdraw awareness from the piṅgalā current deep within. That is what the man can do when he is the spiritual head of the home.

A woman depends on a man for physical and emotional security. She depends on herself for her inner security. He is the guide and the example. A man creates this security by setting a positive spiritual example. When she sees him in meditation, and sees light around his head and light within his spine, she feels secure. She knows that his intuition is going to direct his intellect. She knows he will be decisive, fair, clear-minded in the external world. She knows that when he is at home, he turns to inner and more spiritual things. He controls his emotional nature and he does not scold her if she has a hard time controlling her emotional nature, because he realizes that she lives more in the iḍā force and goes through emotional cycles. In the same way, she does not scold him if he is having a terrible time intellectually solving several business problems, because she knows he is in the intellectual force, and that is what happens in that realm of the mind. She devotes her thought and energies to making the home comfortable and pleasant for him and for the children. He devotes his thought and energies to providing sustenance and security for that home.

The man seeks understanding through observation. The woman seeks harmony through devotion. He must observe what is going on within the home, not talk too much about it, other than to make small suggestions, with much praise and virtually no criticism. He must remember that his wife is making a home for him, and he should appreciate the vibration she creates. If he is doing well in his inner life, is steady and strong, and she is devoted, she will flow along in inner life happily also. She must strive to be one with him, to back him up in his desires and his ambitions and what he wants to accomplish in the outside world. This makes him feel strong and stand straight with head up. She can create a successful man of her husband very easily by using her wonderful intuitive powers. Together they make a contemplative life by building the home into a temple-like vibration, so blissful, so uplifting.

Nurturing Harmony

A woman living in the iḍā current goes through her emotional cycles, too. Her moods change regularly. She laughs, cries, sulks, enjoys. He has to be wise enough to allow her to have these ups and downs and neither criticize nor correct her when she does. If conditions become strained within the home, the man of the house becomes the example by feeling the power of his spine and the spiritual force of Śiva within it. He finds that he remains calm and can enjoy the bliss of his own energy. He finds ways and means to create joy and happiness and make odic forces that may have gone into a heavy condition beautiful, buoyant and lovely again.

Rather than arguing or talking about their cycles, the man who is spiritual head of his house meditates to stabilize the forces within himself. He withdraws the physical energies from the piṅgalā and the iḍā currents into sushumṇā in his spine and head. He breathes regularly, sitting motionless until the forces adjust to his inner command. When he comes out of his meditation, if it really was a meditation, she sees him as a different being, and a new atmosphere and relationship are created in the home immediately.

The children grow up as young disciples of the mother and the father. As they mature, they learn of inner things. It is the duty of the mother and the father to give to the child at a very early age his first religious training and his education in attention, concentration, observation and meditation.

The parents must be fully knowledgeable of what their child is experiencing. During the first seven years, the child will go through the chakra of memory. He will be learning, absorbing, observing. The second seven years will be dedicated to the development of reason, as the second chakra unfolds. If theirs is a boy child, he is going through the piṅgalā. If a girl child, she is going through the iḍā current and will go through emotional cycles. By both spouses’ respecting the differences between them and understanding where each one is flowing in consciousness, there is a give and take in the family, a beautiful flow of the forces.

The āchāryas and swāmīs work with the family man and woman to bring them into inner states of being so that they can bring through to the Earth a generation of great inner souls. It is a well-ordered cycle. Each one plays a part in the cycle, and if it is done through wisdom and understanding, a family home is created that has the same vibration as the temple or a contemplative monastery.

In summary, woman is in the iḍā current predominantly and does not think or flow through the same areas of thought strata as the man does. If he expects her to think the same way that he is thinking, he is mistaken. Once they have a balance of the forces in the home, she is not going to be analytical. She will be in thought, of course, but she will not indulge in his ramified thinking. She is naturally too wise for this. If he wants to have discussions with her or use her as a sounding board, he is inadvisedly guiding her into the piṅgalā current. And if she is going through one of her emotional cycles at the time, she will become upset with him for apparently no reason at all. He has to realize that her intuition is keen, and that she will have, from time to time, profound intuitive flashes. She might explain to him spontaneously the answer to something he has been thinking about for days, without his having verbally expressed to her what was on his mind. This happens quite often in the positive, harmonious home.

How Forces Go Awry

Odic force is magnetic force. Actinic force comes from the central source of life itself, from Lord Śiva. It is spiritual force, the spirit, pure life. The blend of these two forces, the actinodic, is the magnetic force that holds a home together and keeps everything going along smoothly. If a family man and woman are both flowing through the aggressive-intellectual current, the magnetic-odic forces become strong and congested in the atmosphere of the home, and inharmonious conditions result. They argue. The arguments are never resolved, but it is a way of dissipating the odic forces. If the man and the woman are flowing through the passive-physical current, the magnetic odic forces are not balanced. They become physically too attracted to one another. They become unreasonable with each other, full of fear, anger, jealousy, resentment, and they fight or, worse, take their frustrations out by beating, calling names and hurting, in many other ways, each other and their own children who came trustingly into their family. True, it is within the child’s prārabdha karmas to experience this torment, but it is the duty of the parents to protect him from it, creating an environment in which unseemly seeds will not germinate. True, it may be the child’s karma to experience torment, yet the parents do not have to deliver it. Wise parents find loving means of discipline and protect themselves from earning and reaping the unseemly karmas through improper hiṁsā methods of punishment.

However, if each understands—or at least the family man understands, for it is his home—how the forces have to be worked within it, and realizes that he, as a man, flows through a different area of the mind than does his wife in fulfilling their respective, but very different, birth karmas, then everything remains harmonious. He thinks; she feels. He reasons and intellectualizes, while she reasons and emotionalizes. He is in his realm. She is in her realm. He is not trying to make her adjust to the same area of the mind that he is flowing through. And, of course, if she is in her realm, she will not expect him to flow through her area of the mind, because women just do not do this.

Usually, it is the man who does not want to, or understand how to, become the spiritual head of his house. Often he wants the woman to flow through his area of the mind, to be something of a brother and pal or partner to him. Therefore, he experiences everything that goes along with brothers and pals and partners: arguments, fights, scraps and good times. In an equal relationship of this kind, the forces of the home are not building or becoming strong, for such a home is not a sanctified place in which they can bring inner-plane beings into reincarnation from the higher celestial realms. If they do have children under these conditions, they simply take “potluck” off the lower astral plane, or Pretaloka.

A man goes through his intellectual cycles in facing the problems of the external world. A woman has to be strong enough, understanding enough, to allow him to go through those cycles. A woman goes through emotional cycles and feeling cycles as she lives within the home, raises the family and takes care of her husband. He has to be confident enough to understand and allow her to go through those cycles.

The piṅgalā force takes man through the creative, intellectual cycles. Man brings through creativity from inner planes. He invents, discovers, foresees. We normally consider it as all having been created within his external mind, but it is done through his piṅgalā force operating on inner planes of consciousness. He is not going to be smooth always and living in superconscious states, for he has to go through experiential cycles. He must be inspired one day and empty the next. He must succeed and fail. He is living his destiny and working out karmas.