The Key to Opening the Seals

The veil of ignorance will keep reality hidden. By removal of veil , Bullha means the removal of ignorance. Because only through Christ is it taken away. It is only through (lit.) Christ that the veil over people’s minds is removed.’

The Shakti infatuates even Brahma, Shankara, and other Gods. Shivaha shaktyaa yukto yadi bhavati shaktaaha prabhavitum:I1 Shiva creates through Shakti, becoming one with Her. She becomes the brahmani of Brahma, the Shankari of Shankar, and the Lakshmi of Vishnu. She is able to remove from the minds of yogis the veil which covers the three worlds. This veil of ignorance, which has taken the form of the world, hides one’s own true nature, converts the state of Shiva into the state of individuality, and makes one undergo great sufferings. This veil consists of the three impurities and is also known as the knot of the heart.

“The knot of the heart is pierced, and all the doubts of the heart are destroyed along with the bondage of karma. Then one has the vision of the Supreme.” When Shakti Kundalini unfolds within, the knot of the heart is automatically pierced, all thoughts and doubts are destroyed, and all karmas are weakened. Kundalini gives a seeker true understanding of all the worldly pleasures which appear so wonderful, and, knowing them to be the cause of the seeker’s bondage.

Why don’t you see yourself as this divine being? When a veil is drawn over your eyes, you cannot see the truth. This veil of ignorance (called avidya in Sanskrit) is a mistaken idea about who you are. This shade covers the real you. It casts a shadow on your true self and diminishes your value. If you could rip open that veil and see the truth, your light would shine with unparalleled radiance, and you would express your true nature of being. You would live the true purpose for which you were born, and dwell in the heart of Spirit.

You are a mighty, divine being of great light. Within your true nature lies a seed of enlightenment. When nurtured, this seed sprouts and grows. Eventually it blossoms into a full-blown tree of supreme wisdom and freedom.

Eventually there comes a time when the soul becomes aware of its higher nature and spiritual ideas begin to enter the mind. The human soul begins to think.

‘There must be more to life than just eating, sleeping. procreating and enjoying the senses’, ‘Who am I?’, ‘Where did I come from?’, ‘What happens after death?. ‘What is my true purpose and what is the meaning of Wet. ‘Who or what is God?’. ‘What is the Ultimate Reality?’ There is a deep desire to know and be the knowing.

As we become increasingly disillusioned with the nature of the world, we begin to undcrstand the inhcrcnt limitations of this life. We live in a world of dualities — lifc and death, growth and decay, knowledge and ignorance, happiness and sorrow, health and disease, success and failure — these opposites coexist. The world cannot be made perfect, but it can be used as an instrument, as a means to perfection. Jesus Christ said: ‘Know the truth and the truth will set you free.’ Know the truth of your essential nature, the Divine Self, the fountain of Infinite Joy within you, then you will find true freedom.

Now there is a glimmer of light, there is some hope. The individual soul aspires to something higher than what it has experienced in the states of the lower chakras.

The soul tries to remove the veil of ignorance by meditating in God.

When the mind turns towards God, the Divinity within, the spiritual ascent begins. Kundalini begins to wake up.

Now the soul becomes more and more disidentificd with the mental-physical form and rises above the three lower chakras to the subtle state. Through deep God-conscious meditation the soul ascends through the same path it descended in the astral spine, reversing the primal life-force and consciousness from matter, and retracing its steps back attains unity in Supreme Consciousness.

The world of inner Light In its upward journey. when the soul reaches the heart level of the anahata chakra, it has left the world of darkness and has entered into the world of inner Light, giving the individual soul a wonderful sense of relief and freedom as it moves towards the innermost Consciousness. But at this level of the heart something of our attachment to the world is still left.

There is still the danger of falling to a lower stage. When the soul in its journey upwards advances to the level of the viluddha chakra it is secure. Here the mind is no longer limited or bound by time and space.

The mind is transformed from the lower to a higher consciousness, into a finer state, transcending the seeker’s negative and material vibrations. In vituddha all the elements are purified and transmuted into their refined essence of &Atha (ether/ space). It is then that the individual soul is established in pure consciousness.

The next stage of the soul’s ascent is from viluddha to ofig chakra, the sixth centre of consciousness at the midpoint between the eyebrows.

At aina chakra. you have the first union with God in samadhi, in which the finite self as the meditator, the process of meditation and the object of meditation — the Supreme Self (God) — become one. Consciousness of the body, and the sense of ‘I’ or ego consciousness, disappears, and knowledge of the external world is lost. In this samadhi state, which is called savikalpa samadhi, the meditator’s individual consciousness merges with the Cosmic Consciousness, and experiences ever-new Bliss. Like a wave dissolving into the ocean, the individual soul is merged in an effulgent ocean of bliss.

The pinnacle of consciousness The last stage of the soul’s upward journey through the astral pathway in the spine is to the thousand-ray lotus at the sahasrara chakra, the pinnacle of consciousness. Reaching this plane of inner consciousness, there is a divine awakening of the highest experience in nirvikalpa samadhi, which is total identification with the Absolute. The individual soul consciousness and the Supreme Consciousness become One.

The finite self becomes absorbed in the Supreme Self and the identity of the two as Pure Consciousness is realised. God is experienced as the Ultimate One Reality, as undivided Pure Consciousness. The soul is resurrected from ignorance and delusion and regains its Divinity and unity. The individual soul becomes identified with the limitless Supreme Self — the two vanish, and one integral, undivided consciousness beyond subject-object relationships alone shines.

As awareness rises by piercing each subtler level of Consciousness buoyed by the influx of this energy, it removes successive layers of ignorance. The self awakens to newer dimensions of psyche which ultimately reveals the higher Self within.

It is essentially a method to establish direct relation with the primordial nature of Divine. This system of inner exploration lays great emphasis on the serious intent and determined efforts necessary to have higher individual experience of self-recognition.

Each experience, unique to everyone serves as an affirmative step in this path that has incredible potential to penetrate the envelopes of mind and matter.

It is a personal journey undertaken with the purpose of reaching the next subtler realm of existence and experience that state of being by living through it. It gives metaphysical insight into the nature of each level of Consciousness which is the pinnacle of knowledge. It makes us appreciate the rich heritage left behind by the ancient sages and seers for us to spiritually thrive upon as we bow them with respect. This journey provides successive higher view of life in search of Ultimate Truth which complements the real purpose of all religions.

After bending the ego, our true identity emerges as when the veil of ignorance unfurls a blazing sun. Concentrating attention on the heart-chakra and feeling pleasure and love for all things appears swiftly from the center of our being, like an overwhelming and irresistible feeling that escapes as if it were repressed for a long time. It is a feeling of total freedom to be integrated into all things. From within comes unspeakable happiness that permeates the surrounding universe. The floodgates of the Being are opened and we receive the avalanche of irrepressible love that permeates everything.

It is a pure love that escapes from the center-heart in the Chakra of the same name and runs in all directions. In particular, we feel an unequaled pleasure when this energy flows through our back and shines around in 360 degrees like a glorious sun. Then a new vibration explodes full of strength and power. It is the imprint of the most precious energy: the footprint of God.

Suddenly we feel the connection with the universes. From a limited and finite heart explodes the creative power that vibrates in the frequency of the infinite Being that connects us with all forms.

It is the unlimited universal consciousness that communicates us with all the great hearts of this and other galaxies, because pure love is the universal language of beings that have evolved in all dimensions.

In the Gospel of John and in the Book of Revelation (a record of what the Apostle John saw and heard, in which constant use is made of symbols) it is significant that John places these seals on the back of the book of life. Each of the churches of the Book of Revelation represents one of the seven major chakras in the astral spine:

Church of Ephesus   – muladhara chakra
Church of Pergamos – svadhisthana chakra
Church of Smyrna    – mapipara chakra
Church of Thyatira  – anahata chakra
Church of Sardis        – vituddha chakra
Church of Philadelphia- aina chakra
Church of Laodicea – sahasrara chakra

The seeker’s journey to Pure Consciousness begins from muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, where the first seal resides, and upwards to sahasrara chakra in the brain, where the seventh seal resides (the ultimate state of oneness with the eternal Father).

So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of man [to Divine Consciousness], then you will know that I am He.’ John 8: 28.

Revelation 1, 10-20 gives a record of spiritual experience and description of the astral anatomy. John also refers to the three main naffs: iria, pirigala and susumna, and the chakras:

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman [kundalini], clothed with the sun [pingala], and the moon [ida] under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars [the six chakras up and down]. Revelation 12: 1

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads [seven chakras] and ten horns [the five organs of action and the five organs of knowledge], and seven crowns [seven chakras and associated vibrations] upon his head. Revelation 12: 3

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life [the spine], and may enter in through the gates [chakras] into the city. Revelation 22: 1.

The three astral nadis, and the seven main chakras are also referred to in the Old Testament, in Zechariah:

Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man wakened from sleep. He asked me, ‘What do you see?’ I answered, ‘I see a solid gold lamp-stand [susumna] with a bowl at the top [sahasrara] and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. And there are two olive trees by it [ida and pirigala], one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.’ Zechariah 4: 2,3

The Key to Opening the Seals

The scientific interior process of Kriya Yoga meditation is the key to opening the seals (chakras). The meditator, regulating his mind and heart through self-discipline, disconnects the mind from the outward senses and their objects of distraction. He interiorizes his attention within and deeply concentrates on the Spiritual Eye; he withdraws his bodily consciousness and life force from the lower chakras, and directs it upwards through the astral spine to the thousand-rayed lotus in the sahasrara chakra. There the individual soul is freed and united in blissful superconsciousness in oneness with God.

And no one has ascended up to heaven, except he who came down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up in order that all who believe may have eternal life in him. John 3:13-14

In this verse, the term ‘Son of man’ refers not to Jesus but is a metaphor for the physical body consciousness. The ‘serpent is the kupprafin/ ‘serpent force’ that must be lifted up’. The individual soul-consciousness and life force must be raised up in the spinal passage through deep Kriya Yoga meditation to unite in the Supreme Consciousness at the sahasrara chakra. The serpent power, kuxialinT, is also referred to in the Old Testament:

And the Lord said to Moses, Make a serpent [downward-moving kumgarini] and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten [by delusion of worldliness] can look at it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a serpent and looked at the bronze serpent [the radiant light of the upward-moving kuerrialini], he lived. Numbers 21: 8,9

Again the su,sumne, iff5 and pirigala are referred to by St John in the last chapter of Revelation:

Then the angel showed me the river of water of life, as dear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb [Christ Consciousness within] down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river [susumna] stood the tree of life [Ida and pitigalal, bearing twelve crops of fruits [the positive and negative poles of the six chakras, produced by the upward and downward currents in ida and pitigala yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves [vibrations and rhythms] of the tree [consciousness] are for the healing of the nations [whole body]. Revelation 22: 1-2

The ajna chakra is also mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments:

The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. Matthew 6: 22

My guru, Paramhansa Yogananda. referred to the ajna chakra as the Christ centre. This centre has two poles — the medulla oblongata (negative pole) and the Spiritual Eye (positive pole). The verse from Matthew is referring to the Spiritual Eye, which is seen during deep meditation, when concentrating deeply at the forehead. midpoint between the eyebrows. The Spiritual Eye is seen as a deep blue circular field, surrounded by a circle of golden light, and in the centre of the blue field radiates a scintillating five-rayed silvery-white star. This is the same star that the Three Wise Men saw ‘in the east’.

When the two eye currents are concentrated and thrown back in the medulla by focusing the eyes on the point between the eyebrows, they are perceived as one single Spiritual Eye of light. When the two physical eyes manifest the Spiritual Eye, then one can perceive, by continuous spiritual development, the physical body as filled with the super-lights of the supersensuous astral body. Paramhansa Yogananda

Afterwards he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: and, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.. Ezekiel 43: 1-2

In his Autobiography of a Yogi Paramhansa Yogananda explains this further:

Through the divine eye in the forehead [east], the yogi sails his consciousness into omnipresence, hearing the Word or Aum, divine sound of many waters or vibrations which is the sole reality of creation.’ Yogananda also described his divine experience of the Spiritual Eye, when his guru, Lahiri Mahasaya, initiated him into Kriya Yoga meditation.

He touched my forehead. Masses of whirling light appeared; the radiance gradually formed itself into the opal-blue Spiritual Eye, ringed in gold and centred with a white pentagonal star. ‘Penetrate your consciousness through the star into the kingdom of the Infinite.’ My guru’s voice had a new note, soft like distant music. Vision after vision broke as oceanic surf on the shores of my soul. The panoramic spheres finally melted in a sea of bliss. I lost myself in ever-surging blessedness. When I returned hours later to awareness of this world, the master gave me the technique of Kriya Yoga.