Some Thoughts on Meditation, Kundalini, White Light
It is a wonderful convenience in many contemporary Yogic Systems that the Power of Spiritual Initiation can be passed as easily as by the touch of an authentic Guru. Otherwise, we can envision years of doing the kind of breath retention exercises that are calculated to have most effect in direct proportion to the amount of brain damage they inflict. Samadhi being passed by the Touch of a Master definitely passes Critical Scrutiny better than any method of attainment which could well be described as ‘holding one’s breath until one gets lightheaded and passes out’.
So, Shaktipat is a very good thing. But we are left considering the availability of Gurus. Many people have the perception that such Shaktipat Gurus are a rare commodity, and then, even when they are found, may be either too expensive to retain, or may impose a too forbidding a regiment of conditions in their implicit contract for Services. For instance, one of the best Shaktipat Gurus I had ever met was old Kirpal Singh of the Surat Shabd Organization, but he wanted actual vows of sexual celibacy in return for his Initiation, and that was way back during the height of the Sexual Revolution. Well, it would have been difficult to give away Bags of Money on those conditions. I and many others waited for more accommodating Gurus.
But are the Gurus entirely necessary? While still believing that nothing is more Spiritually conducive than being protégé to an Authentic Guru, I must admit that for someone seeking their Spiritual Beginnings, a Guru is not entirely indispensable. One may make due without. And in this regard, I have found that Shaktipat may be more available than is generally supposed. Years ago I read in a translation of a passage from the Upanisads that “In the presence of a God or Saint, the Third Eye will open”. Well, the very evening that I read that, I saw a Poster advertising a Lecture to be given by an itinerant shaktipat-style Guru. One can guess what happened. I felt my Third Eye open in his presence. It was not an overwhelmingly dazzling feeling. Indeed, if I had not been prepared by my Reading to anticipate such a feeling, I suppose it would have been subtle enough to evade notice or slight enough to dismiss as a painless headache. But since I was watching for something of that nature, I felt it. Seeing this as a validation of this Guru’s credentials, I enlisted for his Initiations. And the Shaktipat given officially was not much stronger than what had been felt merely by being in his presence. What this should mean to the keen observer is that Shaktipat can be gleaned from the Spiritual Atmosphere without necessarily all the trimmings and ceremonies that the Gurus would have you suppose must come directly from their hand.
But, one might still suspect that “Gods and Saints” are very rare entities. But not at all. Since my Third Eye has become open and sensitive to such things, I find that any number of people are walking around with Chakras open and radiating enough in order to resonate with the Chakras of those within their vicinity. Ordinarily it passes without notice – a pressure sensation in the forehead, or in the case of an open Heart or Throat Chakra, a pressure sensation in those corresponding locations.
So, how can a person take advantage of these Atmospheric Shaktipats? Well, simply by being aware. If one is uninitiated but would like to be as one who is Initiated – with open Chakras and control over one’s Energies, Kundalini and Qi – then one need only visit venues and activities where one might suppose one could meet under the same roof with some moderately spiritual people. In Sanskrit I think it is called Satsang – the beneficial effect of being in Spiritual Company. If one notices that slight feeling in the Chakras, then the Technique for Auto Initiation is to focus on that Sensation and to hold onto it. Ordinarily, such feelings are ignored and allowed to pass. But if caught by awareness and focused upon, they can be as effectively enduring as any Initiation given at a Weekend Retreat for the price equivalent to that of a downpayment on a car.
A long time ago I became an initiate of Kundalini Yoga, so I can give you a few tips on opening up your Agna (third eye) Chakra.
Once I read in a dusty old Treatise translated from the original Sanskrit that "in the presence of a God or Saint, the Third Eye will open". I remember it because it has proven true again and again and again. The trick, though, is to understand as to what it is referring. The reason I remember so well was that the evening after I read that passage I met this itinerant Guru and felt a pressure sensation in my forehead. That was all it was -- a Pressure Sensation. No Lights. No overwhelming Bliss or Ananda. Just a feeling of pressure. Later on when I received the official Initiation, the pressure was not significantly different. And then the Practice of the Yoga was to simply concentrate or meditate on that Pressure Sensation so that it would be fixed and permanent, in the sense that it could always be summoned there at will.
Do you need to find an Official Guru? It certainly could not hurt, and could probably help. but my feeling is that there are a lot more "God and Saints" than anybody suspects. There are people walking around with very Open Chakras who are radiating Spiritual Energy, and if you are open, when you are in their presence, your Third Eye will open up by itself. YOU WILL FEEL A PRESSURE SENSATION IN YOUR FOREHEAD. And if you are not paying attention for it, then you are likely to disregard or perhaps not even notice it, as though it were the mildest of headaches.
Sometimes even reading a particularly cogent passage from a Spiritual Book, or in thinking of especially powerful Saints or Gurus from the past, the third eye will open, that is, there will be that feeling of Pressure.
So, simply go about your ordinary business, but remind yourself several times daily to keep some attention on what goes on in your forehead -- up slightly between the brows. And if you ever feel a slight pressure sensation, then lock onto it immediately -- rub your finger into it; make a buzzy noise with your mouth and modulate its tone until it resonates into that Sensation Point. For the first day, try not to let it totally go away -- remind yourself to keep the sensation open. Rub it with your finger and use that buzz tone to vibrate it. If you can keep it there for just a solid day, and bring it back after a good nights sleep, then you got it. Then, meditate on it for about 10 or 15 minutes morning and night. After about a week you may begin to feel some heaviness in your head, or even a headache. Great! Now you will want to bring it down. Get a nice glass of cold water and drink it, and feel that the Sensation is attached to in and that it drops down, all the way to your lowest vertebrae -- your little triangular tailbone. Reach back there and rub that little tail bone and feel the Sensation there. And keep it there for a couple of weeks. Learn to keep the energy down. That is your Safety Practice. Before the Energy gets to strong to handle you must learn to be able to pull it down at will. So don't keep the Energy up because you think you might be missing something. You have your entire life to raise up the Energy. For a couple of weeks you need to work on the certainty of being able to lower the Energy.
If you do not feel any sensation in your head -- in and around your brain, then my advice here might be a bit incomprehensible. but if you do feel some sensation in your head, this is what you should do: If your Energy Sensation is up in your forehead, then use your will to guide it back along the top of your pallet to the back of your pallet to the Swivel Point at the top of your spine. That point is easy to locate -- you just swivel your head around, and, well, the swivel point is the swivel point. Put the energy sensation there. Point your tongue up to that point. Now, it will feel as though the energy sensation is about the size of a golf ball or a bit smaller. What you will now try to do is bring the energy down lower and smaller, as though penetrating the layers of an onion. Smaller smaller smaller -- it will take awhile. The energy will seem as though it is stuck at a particular size, then suddenly shrink down a bit more. Still you want it to center on that Swivel Point. Eventually it will be about the size of a pea and you will feel it oscillating back and forth like a pendulum. This is really the Key to Kundalini. Once you find that Spot, you can move the Energy anywhere in the body -- up to the Crown Chakra, or down to the heart, or in fact anywhere. But you want to move it down to the heart. That oscillating you feel is the top of the Heart Chakra anyway, so all you would have to do is let the energy just sink down into the Heart. That should give you a bit of stability.
There is also a trick you could use, and I've only found one other person who could do it. It is to flex a muscle in your head in order to start a roaring noise. The muscle is back there at the top of the pallet close to that swivel point, and the roaring noise is great at collecting Energy. It think it may be a reflex like rolling ones tongue or wiggling one's ears and not everybody can do it. It really is a muscle and not a mental phenomena, because it gets fatigued and one can only hold the flex for 7 or 10 seconds (though I’ve heard people say they can do it longer).
Do you know any Mantras? Or you can try an easy Power Meditation -- simply count up from 1 to 24 for each of your spinal column bones, moving your concentration up the spine as you count. Your Kundalini Energy, your Chi, will follow up during the count. Now, such power meditations are a hundred times more impressive during a Dream than while awake, making them always an interesting experience when you can remember to do them while dreaming.
There is another trick that I developed because I could never really find out what the Buddhist One Finger exercise was, but in experimenting around I found that by twiddling the thumbs -- twirling the thumbs -- right thumb counterclockwise and left thumb clockwise, for just a minute or so, when you stop, the subtle Kundalini Energy centers in the spine and rises up. I think that the Thumb Nadis are in the Central Channel and that by exercising the Central Nadi Channel at the thumbs, it is exercised everywhere else as well. But the energy only stops after you STOP the exercise, so don't twirl your thumbs for a couple of hours... that would be to miss the point.
Oh, yeah, regarding all of these Kundalini Exercises... if you feel it at all, then you've done enough for the evening. If you get lightness of head or a headache, then take it back down and let it recide in the tailbone for a few weeks, and keep it there. There's a good visualization for taking the Energy down -- get a glass of cold water and take a few gulps, and visualize the energy following the swallows all the way down to the tailbone. Even if you do not get a headache, its a good idea to learn how to pull the Energy Down... its sort of "safety-net" practice when working with the Kundalini. And keep this in mind if you have any mysterious fevers in the near future -- the energy can manifest as heat, which means that you favored the right side of your spine. Take it down and move it over to the left and that will bring your fever down almost instantaneously.
You should be able to get to the point where you can more or less summon the energy sensation. You are allowed to cheat and point your fingers into the Third Eye Chakra. In fact any pointed object can only help. I once studied Pyramid Power and discovered that there is nothing special about pyramids except that they come to a point. The pointier the better, the steeper the better. Cones work even better but the stupid egyptians could not carve a curve. But for you uses a ballpoint pen would be a perfect Magic Wand.
Oh, and recently I may have found another effective White Light Exercise, as I discovered in a dream:
White Light Exercise from a Dream
This particular Dream may well be a classic. I was shown a White Light Exercise which seems to work. Dream Literature is full of instances where people have been given special knowledge in Dreams, but we more often read of such occurrences than experience them ourselves, but here is an Experience.
While my father was alive I did not get along well with him, but as the years since his decease have gone by, my relationship with him in Dreams has been improving. Last night we were sitting at the old dining room table. He was at his customary seat, but I was not at my old seat but, significantly, at the seat ordinarily assigned to the oldest brother – apparently I have been promoted. In the Dream my father tells me that he will show me an exercise for communicating without the use of this small device that was set up close to the window. All I could infer about this machine was that it emitted white light. So my father begins this exercise, and it is quite simple – he takes a deep breath and then hisses out the exhale, and then his entire cranium begins to glow with White Light. So I begin to hiss out my breath and my brain case takes on the same glow of White Light. It was like our brains became filaments for the White Light and I could see our brains glowing.
Incidentally, I am a High Initiate of Kundalini Yoga and so I know what it feels like to have an open Crown Chakra. And when I awoke, I had an open Crown Chakra. Then, throughout the day, I tried the Exercise a few times. It is easy to do, but there are a few details. It seems that the proper ‘hiss’ involves having the tip of the tongue positioned close to roof of the mouth at that spot that is the best compromise between the forward position which sounds very ‘sssssssssss’ and the position further back which is more purely ‘shshshshshshsh’. Coincidentally, that sound that you would be making is very close to what they call ‘White Noise’.
It really does seem to open the Crown Chakra. Now, the thing I have found about the White Light is that one can see it while in the Dream State, or even while in the hypnogogic state, but while awake it resolves into a feeling of a pressure sensation.
Now, what was that which was said about ‘communicating’. It could be that any advanced Spiritualism depends upon having some facility with this White Light, so perhaps any real psychic abilities or even resource to effective prayer may require this White Light.
However, much of the Literature concerning the White Light supposes that it can be collected and transformed down into something of a more tangible substance – The Elixir of Life – which can descend down from the head to the rest of the body, and aid in development of the lower chakras and in one’s general health. We all know how plants grow through processing light. So perhaps we can grow spiritually by processing this Spiritual White Light. If an Elixir substance does eventually form up, then perhaps one would then need to learn how to open the Gate which resides at that swivel point in the head at the top of the spine – one can discern it if one take about 5 minutes to focus inward upon it. It is a bit like peeling an onion, as one concentrates further into that Swivel Point, eventually one arrives at the Gate which is perhaps smaller than a pea, and it vibrates back and forth at a speed corresponding to your heart rate. From that Gate one can learn how to manipulate the Kundalini or Qi Energy which becomes tangible after we once discern it at that Gate (which is why they call it the ‘Gate’). When once the Energy becomes discernable and perceptible, then we can direct it either down into our body or up over our heads. With the Energy up over our heads, it gives the sensation of having a Halo which one can actually feel – not the simple ring Halo that is consistent with Traditional Christian Art, but more like the more substantial Halos presented by the Buddhist representations.
Not only is this White Light Exercise appropriate for waking applications, but more particularly it may be useful to try in Lucid Dreaming, since it would be in such a context that the White Light would sure to be visible.
Also, I might suggest the Gayatri Mantra. After having had done the Gayatri Mantra for a year, I had a dream of the space in front of me rending open and the White Light coming out. Since the Gayatri Mantra is fairly an evocation of the Light, I naturally suppose it must have had something to do with it. Here are a few renditions of the Mantra -- one will come on automatically, and the others must be clicked upon.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~dham/gayatri_mantra.html
http://wahiduddin.net/mantra/gayatri.htm
http://www.gayatrireiki.org/contents/gayatrimantra.html
The Gayatri induced White Light Dream may be interesting in itself:
White Light Paramahansa Dream
This most important of Lucid Dreams occurred, surprisingly, while I had dreamt of having been a Commando/Terrorist who had hijacked a bus. We had just conducted a raid and my part was to cover for the evacuation of the Main Team. So I hung back to fire upon the pursuers. But they did not come in my direction... the idiots thought our escape route was off in a whole other direction. I shot at them as they went by a few hundred yards away, missing them, and thought it was time for my own escape, in a third direction. So that was where I boarded a passenger bus and hijacked it. I acted very tough and took charge, or tried to take charge. But there was a young lady who began to talk back, and I realized I would have a problem. If she continued to call my bluff I would have to shoot her and I didn’t want to do that, and so I asked the bus driver to stop the bus... I was simply going to find another escape, if this particular one was going to be so unpleasant. I looked down and noticed I was not wearing shoes.
Here is a Hint! When you are not wearing shoes in a Dream, it means you are on Holy Ground. Getting off the bus, it looked like a gravel pit next to a rail yard, but it was exquisitely beautiful too. This was where I became Lucid. I levitated up and folded into a lotus postion and intoned an AUM. the air seemed to turn Violet (pinkish purple) and the air rippled and shimmered in waves before about 20 feet in front of me the very fabric of Space tore open and there was the Pure White Light
Becoming Lucid, I asked the driver to pull over so I could get out. I noticed that I was not wearing shoes, which, of course, plainly means that I was on Holy Ground, and so I looked around to see what was so special. I was on the outskirts of a City, near the rail yards and gravel pits. Just meters away was an old rusty iron railway overpass. But it was all exquisitely beautiful and so I had no doubt about it being Holy Ground.
In keeping with the sacredness of the moment I decided to Meditate. I intoned an AUM and arose up off the ground to hover a few meters off the ground in quiet serenity. And, true to the Guru’s words, not seconds transpired when the air shimmered in waves and ripples and turned a wonderful shade of violet-pink. I was in a state of curious expectancy about it all when just then the space some 10 meters in front of me simply tore open and out poured the Pure White Light, like magnesium burning before a chromium mirror, bright and real.
The substance of the Light quickly took up a form – a Paramahansa Swan… not a living bird but a very ornate statuesque representation of one. It was large – more than a meter high and wide. And it was amazingly beautiful – in the brightest White Light but still one could discern the textures of the shapes and detail. But there was little time for amazement when the Swan shot across the distance between us and penetrated into my forehead. And then a new one formed up to replace it, and it shot over into my forehead as well… and again and again and again, each time more quickly, but each time the ornate and elaborate Paramahansa Swan became simpler, more streamlined. As they formed up more rapidly, they became plainer and plainer. Finally they were coming at a rate of 8 or 10 per second, and the birds were mere ‘Vees’, like as in the way young children draw birds flying in the sky, as two joining lines tapering outward. And they were all flying into my forehead.
When I awoke, the sensations acquired in the Dream persisted. My Agna Chakra was still pulsating with the feeling of this Spiritual Energy, no longer perceptible as Light but tangible as a pressure sensation. The sensation by proximity also energized my Crown Chakra as well as my throat and heart chakras.
