JYOTI STAMBHA🔗

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.

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

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 dogged 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.

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.

This meditation can be done individually, or in a group. One person can be chosen to give the Stop! command. But the command should not be given too often, or you will constantly be prepared for it. Whether you are walking, talking, working, dancing – when you hear the command, just freeze. Simply drop the action and become a statue. Even if you have one arm up or your mouth open – it doesn’t matter. Do it with utter sincerity. Don’t try to get into a more comfortable position. Even a moment late is already too late.

You can even play this game by yourself. When you are running, taking a shower, drinking your tea – just order yourself, Stop! And don't try to stop, just stop.

When you are completely absorbed in an activity, and suddenly you stop, the very stopping can throw you off-balance. You are thrown into your center, you experience a moment of silence, a moment of meditation.

Stopping is not concerned with physical activity alone. You can just as easily stop an impulse, a desire, an involuntary action or feeling.

Just as you have the impulse to do something, stop. When you are miserable, if you are crying – then in the middle of that crying, command yourself – Stop! you will be surprised to see how easily you can stop! You just stop, that's all.

Even a sneeze that is coming up, uncontrollable, irresistible, can be simply stopped halfway.

If you suddenly see your child, your wife, your friend, if you feel a sudden impulse to give them a hug - just stop.

What happens when you just stop? There is an energy flowing outward from

you, towards the object of your attention. Even when you are talking, walking, your attention, your energy, is always flowing outwards to other objects, other people. Your attention is your energy. When you suddenly stop the outflow of the energy, what happens to it? It flows back into you. Your energy, your attention, moves suddenly inward. Once again, you are thrown back into your silent center.

Once you have glimpsed this center, you will never lose yourself in activity again. Even as you are doing, you will be constantly aware of being. You will touch your inner silence, you will become aware that all activities are simply ripples on the surface. This is the mood of perpetual meditation.

MEDITATION AND INSTRUCTIONS

This is also a Stop! technique. But the difference here is, you will not be stopping suddenly, stopping in the middle of the action or the impulse. Here you will practise a slow, controlled stopping of impulses or desires.

When a desire arises, consider the desire well. Be deliberate. Face the desire in its full force.

Be aware that you are feeling this impulse, this desire. Then, suddenly, drop it. Just drop it.

Suppose you see a beautiful woman and desire arises in you. Examine your desire. Be attentive to what is happening to you at that moment. Be aware of how your body is feeling feverish, trembling. Be aware that your pulse is racing, that you cannot think clearly. Notice how the desire seems to have taken control over you.

Do not judge yourself or the desire; don't tell yourself, this is a bad desire. Don't have any opinion, simply witness it.

Then suddenly, drop the desire.

It is possible!

You can simply drop it.

Be very clear: you are not suppressing the desire! Do not suppress the desire. Suppression is the root cause of most of our psychological problems.

Don't think, How can I quit?

When you have considered something fully, it becomes easy to quit.

The moment you say, I quit, you become separate, you become the watcher. You are watching your body filled with desire, your mind filled with desire – but they are not you. At that moment, you become aware that none of these is you. Once again, you are thrown back upon your Being.

This meditation is excellent to rid yourself of addictions. We all hear about chain smokers, alcoholics, womanizers, who one day simply quit their addictions and never returned to them. They didn't try to quit – they simply quit, that's all!

With this meditation, not only the action, but the urge itself will drop. You don't have to struggle with your addiction because the desire itself will be no more.

This is a beautiful ‘emptiness meditation’. It is a technique to empty out whatever is inside you, so that you can receive the energy of the cosmos into yourself.

Sit still in a calm, silent place. Just become aware of your body. Feel completely at ease with your body.

Now, imagine that your body has become a bamboo! Become a hollow bamboo. Be perfectly at rest. Your whole body, your skin, your flesh, your bones, are all part of the bamboo. Inside this space, there is nothing but emptiness, hollowness, silence.

Let even your mind be passive. Don't wait for any experience; just be.

Suddenly, you will find energy pouring into you. These are not esoteric ideas! They are perfectly practical techniques. They may seem odd to you because you haven't explored this dimension earlier. Just try out and see for yourself. When you make yourself hollow, when you no longer resist, Divine energy starts flowing into you. You become a flute for the music of the Divine.

You need not do anything, you simply have to become hollow. This is not easy. You are always used to being someone, something. To become hollow requires great love, great trust. If you are working with a master, become a hollow flute upon which your master can play. It is easier to give yourself up in love, than to a mysterious Divine energy.

At first you will be a hollow bamboo, but then the time will come when the bamboo itself disappears. There will be no more You.

This process can take time, but the results are amazing. Even as you lose yourself, you feel yourself to be one with the spirit that pervades all.

This technique is from Vipassana.

Watching the breath continuously is the very essence of this meditation. It has led more people to enlightenment than any other technique.

Vipassana works with the simplest and toughest of techniques: increasing awareness.

There are three ways in which you can do vipassana:

a) Deep awareness of your body, your actions, your mind, your heart.

When you walk, when you move your hand, when you smile, do it with awareness. Know perfectly well that it is you who is doing that action. Be alert. Not a single moment should pass in an unconscious state. Not a single action should happen unnoticed by you.

Just like your body, watch your heart and mind. Be aware of every emotion that rises in your heart. Be aware of every thought that passes in and out of your mind. Don't have opinions, don't evaluate anything – just be a witness.

b) The second way is to watch your breathing. Feel your belly rise and fall with every inhalation and exhalation. The navel, the source of your life-energy, is in the region of the belly. So when you pay attention to the navel, you become aware of the flow of life-energy in your body. As you become more aware of the belly, you will see that your heart and mind fall silent.

This is the natural and relaxed way of breathing – from the belly. We have forgotten how to breathe like this. Babies breathe from the belly. Sometimes in deep sleep, we also go back to belly breathing.

c) The third form of vipassana is to watch the breath as it enters your body – at the nostrils. Be aware of the cool air in the nostrils. Feel the ease with which the breath enters and leaves the nostrils.

You can combine two forms, or even all three forms. But do only whatever happens effortlessly for you.

Vipassana can be practised both sitting and walking.

Watch the rise and fall of the belly when breathing in and out.

Don't concentrate on the breath, just watch it. If you find other thoughts, feelings or physical sensations coming up, allow them. Witness those also and then return to watching the breath.

It is the process of watching that is important, not what you are watching. Witness everything!

(After 45 minutes, drop even the watching. Simply drop everything. Relax and let go.)

Walking (Duration: 20 minutes + 10 minutes rest)

Here your awareness is totally on your feet, as they touch the ground.

You can walk in a circle, or in a straight line of about 15 steps, going back or forth. You can practise this meditation simply going from room to room in your house, or out in your garden.

Eyes should be lowered, and focused on the ground a few steps ahead. Just as you watch the belly in sitting meditation, watch and be aware of the contact of each foot with the ground. If other thoughts and sensations come up, allow them. Nothing is to be seen as a distraction. When you have finished witnessing the sensation or the thought, go back to watching your feet.

This technique focuses on exhaling – deeply, completely. All our life, we focus on inhaling. Inhalation is life, exhalation is death. Life is tension, effort. Death is relaxation.

Because of our fear of death, we are afraid even to exhale! The emphasis is always on inhaling; exhaling happens because we can't help it.

Research shows that we simply don't exhale enough. Of the six thousand sacs in your lungs, only two thousand are emptied when you exhale. The other four thousand remain filled with stale air. That poisonous air stays in your chest, causing diseases, causing anxiety.

In this meditation, you stop inhaling and turn your focus on exhaling. You experience the opposite dimension. You experience the total emptiness of exhalation.

In this technique, you silently intone a word ending with the syllable Ah. It could be any word. Do it silently, and focus on the ending, on the Ah. With the Ah, you become completely empty. Your breath moves out entirely. For just a moment, you are not breathing. You experience a moment of death!

When you empty yourself of breath, you empty yourself of life – with all its tensions, misery, ideas, desires. It is a moment of supreme relaxation. Sometimes we do it unknowingly. When we are tense or upset, when we want to relax, we heave a great sigh. After such a sigh, there is a moment when you don't inhale, you just stay empty. In that moment there is a feeling of great peace.

For just that moment, when you are not involved with life, with doing and having, the being behind it all is revealed. You get a glimpse. Once you have seen it, you cannot forget it.

Such a simple practice, but with such lasting effects! When you continue with this meditation, you will become more relaxed, more peaceful. Anxiety can't touch you easily. Whatever the external circumstances, you will find yourself able to cope more easily. Once you have glimpsed a moment of death, with deep awareness, how can the issues of life overpower you?