A selection on the Subtle Anatomy of the Yogi, from Perspectives on Yoga: Living the Yoga Life, now available at Amazon.com.
It is good for the aspiring yogi to have some theoretical knowledge of his subtle anatomy, for that is the inner mechanism which comes more and more into function on the conscious level as he progresses further and further toward enlightenment.
The three major channels within our subtle bodies, Ida, Pingala and Sushumna, carry not only the movements of the highest, rarefied spiritual energies which evolve us, but through them consciousness itself moves and manifests.
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The Ida, Pingala and Sushumna are found united in the head (brain), the Sahasrara or Thousand-Petalled Lotus. There is the Chidakasha, the Space of Consciousness, the Heart Space. Meditating there is meditating in the heart.
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The supreme center of conscious in the individual is the Sahasrara, the thousand-petalled lotus located in the head, corresponding to the brain, for it is the astral and causal brain. As a consequence, meditation should take place in the head, as it is the place where Self-realization takes place, and where we should keep our awareness centered. For in the head we find the Brahmanadi, the channel in which the consciousness rises upward from the body into the head, through which it moves as liberation is attained, and through which we ascend beyond the bodies into Spirit Itself at the time of death.
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Leave the downward path and come to the central path. The central path of the sushumna leads directly upward into the Sahasrara, the place of liberation.
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Kundalini is essentially not energy (shakti), but the bliss consciousness of Shiva (Brahman). I learned this from Swami Rama of Hardwar many years ago when I was visiting his ashram at Ram Kunj. It is Brahmic Consciousness that must arise in our consciousness and unite us with Itself.
That which gives us light is within. Divine Light lies within the inner world, in our inner mechanism or antahkarana. If we eliminate all that veils it, true jnana will illumine us.
Kundalini is the Brahma Jyoti which is the essence of the light of the sun. For the sun is formed of spiritual energies which gives life to all sentient beings on the earth and awakens and develops their consciousness. That is why at dawn and sunset the Gayatri Mantra, a prayer for enlightenment, is recited facing the sun. The Ajapa Gayatri, the Soham mantra, is the essential mantra for invoking the solar energies at all times, intoning So mentally during natural inhalation and intoning Ham (pronounced: “Hum”) mentally during natural exhalation.
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The third eye, the ajna chakra, is in the brain, not between the eyebrows where it is reflected, but halfway between the point between the eyebrows and the medulla. In the physical body this manifests as the pineal gland, from which physiologists say our two physical eyes have emerged. This gland is affected by light, just as are the two eyes. This is the “single eye” spoken of by Jesus (Matthew 6:22). This is the point of pure consciousness in the body. There awareness rests in the Self.
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That inner power which becomes wasted by flowing down and out must be conserved and directed upward into the head, into the sahasrara. Then nothing worthwhile remains unattainable to the yogi. When this is done, the subtle magnetism of the brain begins to draw the straying energies back inward and upward, literally making the yogi “whole.”
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Sahasrara awareness is an important help in daily sadhana, especially outside meditation when it is so easy to become distracted and lose the thread of spiritual awareness.
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Brahmarandhra means “the gate of Brahman” and is the chakra located at the very top (crown) of the head. The liberated yogi departs from the body through this “door” into infinite consciousness.
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The chakras correspond to the various levels of consciousness. In the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna said: “The Bauls will ask you, ‘In which station are you dwelling?’ According to them there are six ‘stations,’ corresponding to the six psychic centers of Yoga. If they say that a man dwells in the ‘fifth station’, it means that his mind has climbed to the fifth centre, known as the Vishuddha chakra. At that time he sees the Formless.”
After saying this, he sang:
Within the petals of this flower there lies concealed a subtle space,
Transcending which, one sees at length the universe in Space dissolve.
In the same conversation, Sri Ramakrishna said: “The Bauls will ask you, ‘Do you know about the wind?’ The ‘wind’ means the great currrent that one feels in the subtle nerves, Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna, when the Kundalini is awakened.”
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It is crucial for the yogi to realize that the chakras and major nadis found in the body are only subordinate reflections of the chakras and nadis in the head, where true sadhana takes place and true enlightenment occurs.
In meditation yogis experience the reality of these things which at first encounter in yogic texts may seem baseless mythologies. But this is the glory of yoga: we can experience those realities for ourselves. Many yogis have doubted various statements or descriptions in the ancient texts, but as they progressed in their practice they experienced the truth of those statements for themselves, much to their surprise.
One of the most amazing (and little known) yogis of the first half of the twentieth century was Sri Gajanana Maharaj of Nasik in western India. Those seeking to learn yoga were asked to sit before him and begin mental japa of Soham in time with the breath. Then he would usually activate one or more of their chakras, and would often ask them to read out for him the letters they saw on the petals of the chakras. And they would do so accurately, even though having minimal prior knowledge of the chakras. Yoga truly is a science.
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Further Reading:
- All You Need to Know About the Chakras (Not Just Seven, Either!)
- Soham Yoga: The Yoga of the Self
- Light of Soham: The Life and Teachings of Sri Gajanana Maharaj of Nashik