If you know how to control the little waves of Prana working through the mind, then the secret of subjugating universal Prana will be known to you. The Yogi who becomes an expert in the knowledge of this secret, will have no fear from any power, because he has mastery over all the manifestations of powers in the universe.
The seat of Prana is in the heart.
When kundalini shakti passes beyond Agya chakra, both duality and ego cease to exist. The highest centre of the thousand petal lotus is light violet in colour.
Kundalini is supposed to be a coiled white serpentiying and-a-half-circle in its house at the base of the spine. Kundalini Yoga recognizes these subtle chakras and Nadi and when Kundalini is awakened it releases tremendous energy as in the case of an earthquake or a volcano.
This is because, the tremendous energy that is awakened during the Kundalini experience is responsible for unleashing extreme metabolic changes, hormonal releases, and even, in some cases intense neuro-electro-chemical activity.
It is usually awakened by a prolonged and sustained practice of Pranayama and Hatha yoga. The kundalini awakens from the base of the spine and rises up the subtle nadis and pierces the subtle chakra.
It finally reaches Sahasrara chakra, the seventh and the highest chakra representing a thousand petals lotus. When the Kundalini reaches this chakra, the soul is engulfed in soft, divine light and internal peace. This is the super-conscious state, when a soul merges or unites with the divine light. Where the True `yoga-union) is said to have been achieved.
Meaning The word sahasrara means multifold, literally for one thousand. In Lalita Sahasranama, goddess is called the one with thousand faces, thousand eyes and thousand hands. Sahasrara is one’s entry point to being that goddess.
When you reach Sahasrara, your existence and your abilities grow manifold. Sahasrara is not really a chakra, it is a stage, a state, an outcome. It is the meeting point between finite (the body and the ego) and infinite (the universe and soul). It is the place where time and timelessness intersect and where death and eternal life meet. When we understand that everything is interrelated and that we are part of the larger arrangement of life, we begin to live with gratitude, faith and trust, rather than with fear and anxiety. We are guided by the higher power and we feel divinity from inside as well as outside. The challenge of this chakra is to liberate the spirit – open to the divine – and at the same time stay firmly rooted deep in the ground.
Benefits of meditating on the Sahasrara
• You gain the power to heal people, do miracles, to see through them.
• Boundless compassion comes to you naturally, and you attract people like a flower attracts honeybees.
• You gain the ultimate power of truth, understanding and compassion.
• You now reside in the creative fluid, becoming the creative fluid (ojas) yourself.
• Anything you seriously aim for will come to fruition.
• You have gained independence from the clutches of your mind.
As we move into the sixth or visionary stage of life, we begin to experience levels of consciousness that are beyond the five senses and earth elements. Unlike the previous states, we can come into the sixth stage at any age, although the age guideline of seventy-one to eighty-four is generally given. Attaining the sixth chakra depends solely on our own inner awakening.
This can happen at any time, once we have be-come aware of our ability to be conscious, although generally our chances of awakening increase with maturity. The sixth, or ajna (command), chakra is located near the medulla oblongata at the base of the brain (the so-called ‘third eye”).
It represents the core of consciousness in each of us. This chakra is said to be the home of the ahamkara (memory and ego sense). Once we are able to dissolve the ego sense that wrongly perceives us as separate from the unitive consciousness, we can begin to merge with this consciousness, while still in a material, tangible form. The seventh chakra is located just above the crown of the head, near the pineal gland, outside the physical body.
Its Sanskrit name, sahasrara, means “thousand-petaled,” indicating infinite potential. Reaching the seventh, infinite-consciousness stage of life, we have reconciled the perceptions of the “divided reality” and have the opportunity to enter into a union with the One Spirit. The physical age
WHAT IS PRANA?
Prana is the sum total of all energy that is manifested in the universe. It is the vital force, Sushumna. Breath is the external manifestation of Prana.
By exercising control over this gross breath, you can control the subtle Prana inside. Control of Prana means control of mind. Mind cannot operate without the help of Prana. It is the Sushumna Prana that is intimately connected with the mind.
Prana is the sum total of all latent forces which are hidden in men and which lie everywhere around us. Heat, light, electricity, magnetism are all the manifestations of Prana. Prana is related to mind; through mind to the will; through will to the individual soul, and through this to the Supreme Being.
In the Western countries where they are so developed, ego has also developed and they have to find out what is wrong with them. This ego comes from a certain consciousness that you have been something great — you are this, you are that, your parents have been great maybe, your property is great or maybe you are occupying a very big position.
It can come from anything and this consciousness is against your awareness because it is not true. You are not anything being molded by these outside things, but you are molded by your own awareness within yourself. This awareness has to grow from where? It is to understand how do we get this ego, from what point…. The main thing is to understand the power of love. The power of love is the highest and the greatest and if you can manage somehow or other to give up your anger, give up your greed and also your ego — if you can do that, you can be in Sahasrara.
Now just see the sport of ego. It stops your ascent further. At ego only people get lost because at ego only they move to the left or to the right and they can go too much to the right side or can go up to the left side. They can go to any extreme of these two.
So first of all, we have to correct our ego. For this ego, what should we do? For this ego we should watch ourselves and laugh at ourselves.
What ego do we have, of what? We are human beings. Now we have become Divine. And with the Divine within us, with this light within us, we have to understand that we are a part and parcel of the Divine, just a drop in the ocean of love. If you can reduce your ego, if you can bring it to the actual sense of your being, then it will work out better.
