JYOTI STAMBHA
ABOUT THE MEDITATION
The technique is from Vijnana Bhairava Tantra. It says: Consider your essence rising from center to center, up your spine, and so rises 'livingness' in you.
The spine is the base of both your body and mind. Your body and mind are both rooted in the spine. Your age rests in your spine. If your spine is supple, you are young; if your spine is rigid, you are old!
The seven major chakras, or energy centers, are located along the length of the body. At the base of the spine is the muladhara chakra, the sex center. On the crown of the head is the sahasrara chakra, the center that opens us to God.
The spinal column is the passage for energy. In this meditation, you will move your energy upwards from the muladhara, right up to the sahasrara.
This movement doesn't happen easily. Because it is against gravity! It is very easy for your energy to move downwards. In fact, 80% of our energy is locked in the muladhara. It is like a weight pulling you down to the earth. Haven't you noticed how heavy your lower back always feels?
When this energy is drawn upwards, and released through the sahasrara, you will feel a tremendous weightlessness, a freedom. You will get a taste of bliss.
INSTRUCTIONS
Sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed and your spine erect.
Now imagine yourself as if you are a Being of Light. This is not just imagination. You are light, all is light. You are just not used
to thinking of yourself as energy. You have got so used to seeing yourself as just matter.
Imagine that you are a column of light.
Now move your attention to your sex center. Feel that this center has become bright and alive, like a ball of light. Now imagine the light moving upwards, up to your navel center. You will feel a warmth rising inside. This is real warmth! When the navel also becomes a bright ball of light, a source of light, start moving upwards.
Feel the light moving upwards to your heart center. Feel the light and warmth in your heart. Feel your breathing become deeper, feel your heartbeat become more relaxed.
Picture the energy move up to your brow chakra, the space between your brows. Feel the whole region engulfed in light. Gradually, move up into the crown chakra, the energy zone at the very top of your head.
You may have many strange experiences when the energy reaches your crown. You may feel dizzy or nauseous. Your head is not used to handling this much energy. Sometimes, if there is too much energy moving into the head, it may be felt as an explosion in the head. Don't be afraid. If you are feeling dizzy, if you are falling, allow yourself to fall. Even if you feel you are going to faint, don't worry. This is the state of deepest sleep, known as yoga tandra. Many meditators experience this state, and it is nothing to be scared of. You will come back to normal in half an hour.
When the energy reaches your head, your whole head becomes warm. Your head becomes a ball of light.
Now, release the energy into the cosmos. Feel as if your head has become a flower, a beautiful lotus flower. Let the flower blossom gently, and release its energy into the cosmos.
A word of caution: NEVER leave this meditation incomplete. Before you start, ensure that you are going to be undisturbed for at least two hours. During the meditation, ignore every other disturbance. If you leave the meditation halfway, the energy will get clogged in that particular center, and cause physical or mental problems.
This meditation is a beautiful way to transform your sex energy into spiritual energy. When you practise this regularly, you will notice that your sexual desires are gradually stilled. You will feel more and more prayerful throughout the day. With so much energy going to your head, you will feel more alive, you will work more efficiently. And most importantly, you will be in a perpetual state of joy.
ABOUT THE MEDITATION
Our life swings between the polarities of doing, having and being. In life, we are forever focusing on 'doing'. We move restlessly from one activity to the next. Our whole life, we are just doing and doing and doing. We are working, we are talking, we are getting involved in relationships, we are moving, we are planning. Physically and mentally, we are constantly doing something.
Why are we doing? Because we are caught up with having. We are always trying to possess more and more. Having makes us feel very powerful. So we try to acquire more money, more prestige, more friends, more girlfriends, more certificates, more health, more beauty, more knowledge.
In the middle of doing and having, we don't even realize that we have forgotten how to be. The truth is, being precedes both doing and having. But it is a long time since we have touched that core.
Stop! is another technique drawn from Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, and made popular by Gurdjieff.
This technique is simple: all it involves is stopping suddenly - in the middle of whatever you are doing! You must not be aware that you are going to stop. So it is better to let someone else watch you through the day and simply scream Stop!, as he or she pleases. It is something like playing Statue!
When you suddenly stop an action which you are totally involved in, you are shocked into silence. In that instant, you are thrown back upon your Being.