Welcome to Day 35 of our 40-Day Retreat.
Over the last few days we have been speaking about the ego expressing itself through the field of subtle energy and six centres. These centres are described in ancient wisdom as chakras in the ancient language of Sanskrit, meaning wheels of swirling energy.
We also spoke about the centres of the brow, throat, heart, navel, sacral area, and the base of the spine. Each gave the ego a certain quality: mental, vocal, emotional, vital, sexual and grounding in the physical.
The destination holds a promise of freedom
Today I want to speak about the seventh centre. Sometimes this is not spoken of as a chakra, but as a destination when all the chakras are opened. Others refer to it as a chakra.
There is a destination. It means that when the sixth centre is opened fully, the seventh is achieved. As the sixth begins to open, you will begin to experience the consciousness of the seventh more and more.
What happens in the seventh? How does it influence the ego? How does the ego express itself in the seventh? Well, just to say to you, the seventh shows us the promise of the glory of living in the human expression. It holds for us that promise – the promise of freedom, the promise of connectedness with the whole Universe in Consciousness and energy.
The promise of what is called “super-conscious awareness,” an experience of ecstasy, inner ecstasy. In the ancient science of yoga, it is called Samadhi. It is the destination in the human journey, or human experience. It is where the ego or the individual has its highest experience. If this is the goal, if this is the destination, it needs to be understood. The glory of it, the promise of it should drive us into wanting to achieve it, wanting to have it.
Qualities of the seventh
The ego, working at the other levels, is able to untie itself as it were, to evolve to this destination. So the ego in working through the other centres, the six centres in the world, provides the opportunity to move into the experience of the seventh. This is where the individual within you, the “I” within you finds its ultimate peace, its ultimate rest and its ultimate pleasure, because we are pleasure seeking beings. It finds its ultimate pleasure, or ecstasy but it’s an inner ecstasy. It is what we may call “super conscious pleasure.” It is pleasure that revitalizes the centres rather than saps the energy away.
When the ego begins to experience the seventh, it begins to experience deep peace, peace without end. When it begins to experience the seventh, the love becomes unconditional and boundless. When it begins to experience the seventh, its self-identity or its own boundaries of self-identity begin to widen and a larger self-awareness is realized. When the seventh begins to come, you feel that your self begins to expand. Your sense of identity and individuality just begins to stretch and open. The little “i” seems to be merging as it were into a bigger “I” with no end, no boundary. This is what is called the experience of Samadhi, when the little “i” begins to merge into a bigger “I.”
Experience of Samadhi
Of course in the states of consciousness, we spoke of this experience as being the witness of all the states of consciousness. And we spoke about the rapture, the rapturous experience of the “I.” that happens in the seventh. When we speak of the ordinary experience becoming extraordinary, “to see a whole world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower,” it is the experience of the seventh. This experience allows us to feel and to know that we are not just limited beings, that the Source of our being has an eternal nature.
We begin to feel that this is not the end; the physical end is not the end. We begin to feel immortal in our being. We begin to feel that there is a Source inside of us that knows everything, that there is no end to knowledge. Wisdom flows from this Source endlessly and we feel a bliss inside. It’s a happiness that is not dependent on the world, whether you have or you don’t have, possess or don’t possess. You feel a sense of inner bliss.
In ancient wisdom this is described as “Satchidananda,” that your inner being has the qualities of “Satchidananda”. The soul is described as Satchidananda. “Sat” means eternal, eternal existence. “Chid” means a Source of all knowledge, wisdom, the pure being inside of you, or consciousness, and “ananda” means bliss, a bliss that is independent of anything material; the bliss of freedom as it were. So this is the experience of the seventh. You feel fully anchored in the space.
Of course it’s a space of ecstasy, inner ecstasy. The ancient wisdom describes this state as having two essential qualities. There are two kinds of Samadhi as it were and they are called: Savikalpa Samadhi and Nirvikalpa Samadhi. It’s so wonderful to be able to gain knowledge of these states from those who have experienced it.
Savikalpa Samadhi
Savikalpa Samadhi is experiencing ecstasy with a form. Those who are having a vision of a deity, or a vision of some external spiritual icon or object of devotion, may feel a rapturous connection with the outer form. It might be with whatever form of God they conceive in their minds. They have a rapturous experience with it, and it puts them in this beautiful state. That is called Savikalpa Samadhi. It’s called super consciousness with form, in relationship to a form.
Nirvikalpa Samadhi
When form disappears and the experience is on its own, without form, without any thought construct, it’s called Nirvikalpa Samadhi - in no outer relationship but in an inner expression.
Sahaja Samadhi
One of the samadhis described, which I like very much, is called Sahaja Samadhi. It means natural Samadhi that in the state of action in the world, that unity consciousness in the world is not lost. It is there in everything.
Both in Savikalpa Samadhi and Nirvikalpa Samadhi, in the classical view, they bring rapture internally, with a form or without a form. But the description of Sahaja Samadhi is in relationship with the outer world. Of course that holds a wonderful promise to us that we can be in the world and continue to be in this wonderful state of ecstasy inside.
Little “i” transformed in the Source
These experiences and these descriptions are not fictitious. As we go deeper inside we begin to experience them and we can only understand the ancient wisdom when we have the experience. There is a lot that could be said. When the little “i” inside experiences this mergence with the big “I”, and has this relationship with the big “I”, it is completely transformed. It is reborn. The identity is never the same again. The person is completely transformed in the experience of unity with the Source. The person becomes as it were, like a child again, a child of the Universe, childlike, but not the ignorance of childhood. It is childlike - the innocence, the beauty, the essence that we see in the child, but full of wisdom.
State of Liberation – Moksha
If there is a little “i” within us, based on the creation of this form there must be a big “I” in the Universe that gives identity to the Universe itself in its hugeness. Existence shows a small “i” in terms of the individual and a big “I” in terms of the Universe. The ultimate relationship in the human experience is when the little “i” is in oneness with the big “I.” The Hindus describe this state as a state of liberation, Moksha. When the little “i” is in complete oneness with the big “I” the person is called a Jivamukta, freed whilst living in the human form. It is beautiful to have these descriptions of what the ultimate is in the human experience.
I leave you this morning with the promise of life in the seventh - The joy of living in the fullness of our being.
Post-meditation words:
I hope that you can be inspired by the possibilities that are before you in the human experience. Though we love in limited expression in the human sense, we can be connected to the vastness of the inner consciousness. We can touch freedom as we become more united with this consciousness. Every effort that is made towards this end or towards this experience is well worth it. It can take us to the ultimate experience of freedom whilst living and to the experience which is called Sahaja Samadhi - living in a natural state of inner connectedness while performing all duties in the world.
May you understand that this belongs to everyone and not just a few, and may you be blessed to experience this. It is the goal of everyone. It is the birthright of everyone. It is the destiny of everyone.
God Bless you everyone.
