Welcome to day 17 of our 40 Day Retreat 2009.
Recap of Previous Talks
Yesterday, I said I will speak a little more about the three stages on the energy journey and these relate to the granthis, a Sanskrit term. Granthi, means knot, an energy knot in this case. I said yesterday that we needed to expand the awareness to really understand all that I am saying. If there is no expansion in self-awareness then you are not going to understand the things that I am saying. I also said that when the student is ready the master appears. I do believe that. I spoke about energy initiation on the journey, that we get a boost of energy that begins to lift our consciousness.
Energy Journey Through Consciousness
Just to refresh your memory I said all of life is based on two principles, consciousness, which is the very substratum of life and energy that manifests from the consciousness. In the ancient wisdom of India this is called the Shiva-Shakti Principle, consciousness – energy relationship. What I am speaking to you about is the energy journey through consciousness, that allows for expanding awareness in the consciousness and allow us to manifest more energies; different qualities in the human experience. This is extremely empowering because it says that the very essence of our being is consciousness; awareness. We are consciousness beings having an energy experience because even the gross body is an energy experience. This physical body is atoms and molecules in vibration.
Kundalini Shakti – Energy That Leads Us to Freedom
To be aware of our true nature as a multidimensional being, as a being of physical, subtle or astral, causal and consciousness dimensions we need to become more aware of our multidimensionality. At the heart of all of this is awareness, self -awareness. This is a journey of expanding self-awareness or self-identity through an energy field that leads us there. This energy we have been calling Kundalini, the energy within the person leads us on this journey to freedom, to this evolutionary journey. That energy inside of us, that evolutionary energy in humankind is called Kundalini Shakti.
As I have said, this is a journey that I was blessed to make. I had no idea that I was going to get involved in this journey of energy but in India it happened. I am sharing with you a sacred journey, a journey that transformed my consciousness, completely and radically. A journey that has empowered me, giving me tools to manage the mind, manage the emotions, and manage the physical in a very powerful way and to bring more into my human experience. I am sharing this journey principally for one reason so that I can help to awaken in fellow human beings this self-awareness that can lead to inner transformation and ultimately to a better society. We are on a journey.
On this journey there are three stages that I have found and it corresponds with these three knots that I have spoken about, the granthis. The first knot is called Brahma granthi and this brings us into spiritual awareness for the first time.
Here I will take a moment to bring in the idea of different chakras. Chakras are energy centers within us or power centers that allow us to manifest more energy and energy of different qualities in the human experience. There are different chakras within us in ascending order of finer and finer energies. These chakras are also related to the elements of life.
Seven Power Centers That Allow Us to Manifest the Source
1) At the very base of the spine, in the perineum area, physically, we have the energy center that is called muladhara, or the root center. This center is associated with the physical body. When we are so heavily identified with this center we are in survival mode, survival of the fittest. Our physical needs for survival predominate. Thank God our whole society is not in that mode!
2) Then the next center along the way, in ascending order is the swadisthana center in the sexual area. This is an energy center that empowers sexuality. These are energy centers; we call them spiritual centers, because they allow us to bring special energies from the Source into the human experience. What I am saying here is that finer energies can come into sexuality from that chakra making sexuality not just biological but much, much more spiritual.
Chakras allow for the manifestation of higher energies from the Source – Being into the human dimension, the gross dimension. Just to say that every chakra that is within you allows you to manifest energy in the human experience in different areas, which makes the chakra model such a perfect model for growth and development because it empowers every area of human activity leaving out none. That is why we believe it is a unifying model for science, religion and spirituality.
3) In ascending order the next chakra is at the navel area. This is called manipura it is a power center that brings vitality to the body, it makes the body bright, it is a body empowering center. Manipura in the language of Sanskrit means the city of jewels. When you think of jewel you think of radiance, there is a precious jewel there in the city, in the Source.
4) The next chakra is at the center of the chest, in the heart area and is called anahata chakra. This is the chakra of emotional energy. It allows us to manifest emotional energies of the highest form or highest quality in the human experience as it opens up. Chakra literally means a wheel, and in this sense it means an energy vortex, swirling energy. Anahata means the sound that is produced without being struck.So we speak of another dimension of energy that is coming without the physical contact of two objects. When we think of anahata chakra we think of waves of energy that are being produced from a Source, emotional energy. It is a very powerful chakra in the human experience. It is the chakra of love and compassion.
5) The next chakra along the way is the throat, vishudha chakra. Vishudha means pure. This chakra allows us to bring energy into our vocal communication. When this chakra is opened up it brings spiritual qualities to the voice. The voice becomes energetically stimulating. This is a powerful chakra for leaders and those involved in communication.
6) The next chakra in order is the brow, ajna chakra. Ajna means to command. It is said to be the leader chakra within us, it helps us to manage our being at every level so it is an important chakra. It is the chakra of intellectual intelligence, it is the chakra of focus and concentration, and it is the chakra of a higher order of self-awareness, where we begin to think that we are co-creators with the Universe. The victim consciousness disappears; life is as we make it. We take responsibility for the karmic journey, for creating actions. It is about us! We feel that we can go into that God space. We can enter that God space because we belong there.
7) Finally, when the doorway of ajna isopened sahasrar chakra, the crown chakra is arrived at. Sahasrar means a thousand petals. Chakras are symbolized by the lotus flower. What is note worthy about the lotus flower is that in sunlight the lotus flower opens up to the light, in darkness it closes its petals. When we think of chakras, when we are in energy fields that are dark and negative, chakras do not open; the energies of the soul do not open. When we are surrounded by spiritual energies, higher spiritual energies, chakras begin to open. Isn’t it a great symbol?
The lotus flower that symbolizes the crown is a down turned lotus of thousands of petals and the idea is that the nectar of the lotus will now flow through the entire Being. For those of you who follow the symbology of the chakras, the different chakras have different number of petals in their symbols. The petal represents a certain quality so the more petals in a chakra the more qualities are possible for that chakra.
Knowing now about these energy centers within us that empowers us, through them we have more energies to express into our world, and the higher the chakra the more powerful the energy.
Brahma, Vishnu & Rudra Granthi -Three Stages In Spiritual Growth
Now we can begin to follow the granthis and the different stages. The first journey starts with muladhara, and when we think of Brahma granthi, Brahma is the creative power of life, so a spiritual identity is now going to be created. When the chakra is not open we have human identity, “I am a human being, and I am a physical being”. When this chakra is opened we begin to feel there is a different identity here “I am not only human I am feeling the stirrings of a different identity. I am feeling some kind of energy inside of me; certainly I have a different identity.” Brahma granthi is pierced, a new identity is coming.
This identity begins to purify this human identity that we have, the material pull that is there. We begin to move away a little bit from survival needs and we begin to think more in terms of praying. Now we are not just might and right and fighting to survive, we begin to think there is something greater and we begin to pray in the primitive way to the wind god, the sun god and to all the forces of nature that we see. Some kind of spirituality begins to emerge. The human consciousness begins its path of being refined.
Of course, next to the ground chakra or the material chakra is sexual. Sexual is very close to survival. That becomes shaken up too as the Brahma granthi opens up more and more and the sexuality begins to change from just mating like animals do, into a different kind of energy. Spouses become dear to each other. There is a different kind of love that comes into the experience. The animal nature begins to become more refined.
These two chakras are dominant chakras so people can stay in them for life times and lifetimes in primitive prayer, in sexuality and its great attraction as it is pleasure based.
Then another level of the journey comes as this Brahma granthi is pierced more and more. Then we begin to feel the stirrings of another dimension of the journey, another stage of the journey, Vishnu granthi, Vishnu is the preserving quality of life. That energy that sustains life, so new dimensions open up and a new kind of power comes in, that is where you see all this power of martial arts and power of movement, bringing in a new dimension of vitality into the physical dimension. A new kind of power that revitalizes the human body, that brings more confidence, this is manipura. It revitalizes the physical that brings a new level of confidence and a new level of spirituality. Our worship becomes a little bit different. We worship energy forms, vitality forms and our idea of the Divine begins to change and we worship energy, power; not just at the physical might and right but a more refined level of worship and experience.
As we go deeper into that then the emotional being begins to stir. A new chakra begins to open up on this journey. This continues that journey of energy. The Vishnu is a refined sort of energy journey and emotions start to come into the space with the vitality. We find that poetry and art and the human expressions that are refined, is an expression of the emotional chakra opening up and we worship a little differently. Love becomes a part of worship.
Then the throat chakra begins to open up in this dimension of opening and the poetry is now expressed in song. Praises come and our worship takes another dimension and there is a feeling of purity, vishudha, purity in the expressions.
Power, vitality, uplifting emotions, beauty and purity in the speech and the song, the praise and worship takes a different form. This has a very preserving quality. It enhances the whole material dimension. But the worship is still external based. We worship the poetic things in life and the artistic things. Now we draw beautiful spiritual things and imbue them with spiritual qualities and we worship them. It brings a different kind of energy to the human dimension. We build lovely buildings and halls, engage musicians; poetry. Life takes a whole different journey. Spirituality is emerging in whole different way in this journey. Life is more preserved in this way, it is extended.
Then the stirring comes of, “Who am I? Where am I on this journey?” We begin to become more focused inside. Then a new stage of the journey begins. This is the piercing of Rudra granthi. The ‘I’ is going into a different kind of level, the ego will undergo a different kind of purification and it is going to worship differently. It is going to think of the divine in a different way. A whole new process will begin, the idea of, “I am Divine.” In the lower center we do not think so, “Divine” is outside, and “I am a servant.” Here we begin to think I feel the very divinity within me. I begin to feel “I can create as the Universe creates”. That I can take charge of my destiny, I can manage my mind powerfully. I want to know more; “Who am I?” “What is this power inside?” We begin to become aware of the Source in a different way. That we can become. This is the final leg of this journey of self-realization.
Ultimately, this is going to take us to the awareness that I exist in the divine. I am in oneness with the Source and therein lies freedom within the human experience. This is the jivan mukta experience; freed while living in a form. The brain is stimulated in a different way because these upper chakras are active. The ajna chakra, which is at the center of the brain, it begins to stimulate the whole brain, right brain and left brain. Everything is stimulated in a different way. The brain is used in a fuller way and in a greater way than normally.
These are the stages on the journey. It is an exciting journey. What can I say to you? As you make this journey your whole life is transformed magically, beautifully and powerfully. That is what I am bringing to you, this awakening and sharing, this gift that have experienced. Let us consider piercing these knots. Let us remember it is a journey of ascension so we do not want to stay down in the lower levels. We want to keep on moving, keep on moving and keep on moving. This is the destination, freedom in the human experience.
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