Welcome to Day 33 of our 40 Day Retreat 2009.
Today, we continue on the journey through the chakras. The last day we spoke about the muladhara center and there was quite a lively discussion on this subject. I just want to add a few extra points.
1) Several centers can be opened at the same time
The first is that several centers can be opened at the same time during awakening. For those of us who had previous awakening in past lives, we are born back with those energies within us, so it becomes very easy to have them awakened again. We can therefore have several chakras opened at the same time.
2) Muladhara - understanding it further
We also spoke about balancing the energies and that there is a need to balance the energies within the being. Yesterday, when I told you about grounding in the muladhara, it is not that you have to stay grounded and be attentive to muladhara all the time. When you do the exercise of grounding the muladhara, that consciousness stays with you so you feel grounded. Therefore you do not have to give attention to muladhara all the time. You can give it attention when it needs attention, especially when you are doing things in the world and you need to be grounded. By coming back to muladhara and ensuring that you are grounded and performing the exercises that I showed you yesterday, the groundedness stays with you. I want you to remember that.
When a Chakra Becomes Dominant
If we are using a particular chakra, the heart, navel, sexual, throat or brow centre, then that chakra may become dominant for that particular period, but all the other chakras can support it. Sometimes you are called upon or invited by situations around you to express a certain chakra as the dominant chakra, but the others are supporting it. If you are engaged in the world and you are grounded, that becomes dominant because you want to stay in the present, you want to stay grounded and you want to stay focused on the material world. That therefore becomes a dominant chakra.
- Swadhisthana chakra: if you are involved in sexual activity and other chakras are opened, and you want your sexual activity not to be just biological, then during this activity the sexual chakra becomes the dominant chakra.
- Navel chakra: if you are involved in activity like exercising, you want to stay vital throughout the whole process, then you focus on the navel center and it becomes dominant. It brings a wonderful sense of vitality as you do what you are doing.
- Heart chakra: if you are involved in loving expressions, for example, singing or speaking and you want to create a wonderful energy in the heart space, and then the heart center becomes the dominant one while the others support it.
- Throat chakra: this is when you are involved in the throat in speaking or listening. I believe that the throat is also involved in listening. When we focus on the throat and stop the internal talk we open up the space of listening. Then the throat becomes the dominant.
- Brow chakra: when we are into thinking and into deep ideas, then the brow chakra becomes the dominant center.
Need to Balance the Energies
Any one of these centers can become dominant depending on our activities, but whilst using it, it needs to be supported by the rest. And at all times we should try to keep the centers in balance. Although one is dominant for a while, we need to come back to balance if we have done a lot of mental use or to bring us into vitality. Though one chakra may become a dominant chakra for a particular activity, we also need to come back and use all the chakras into creating balance.
I want you to remember that you do not have to go about everywhere exercising the muladhara. When you are into physical activity you need to ground, but you do not need to do it every moment. When you are grounded, that groundedness stays with you. Your whole body feels grounded, so you do not have to pull up the perineum area all the time. I want you to remember that.
Sushumna Enhances our Powers
In our normal activities the sushumna channel is not active if the Kundalini is not awakened. Enhanced power does not come to us. But the power that is coming to these chakras would be coming from Ida and Pingala. Before sushumna is opened, we draw energy from the two nadis, Ida-Pingala, to the different centres. The chakras are active in a very limited way for normal functioning. However, when sushumna is awakened by spiritual initiation or energy initiation we begin to feel this other channel coming up and supercharging the activities. The duality of day and night that comes from these centers; the heating and cooling effect, now begins to have a greater sattvic effect, a calming effect as sushumna begins to come up and become active. Sushumna is the nadi that brings the power of Kundalini up and enhances all our powers as the energy flows upwards.
In normal functioning, chakras are there and they are working, but in limited ways when we do not have the strong spiritual awakening. I want you to remember these two points.
Swadhisthana Awareness
Today, I want to focus on the Swadhisthana chakra which is the second chakra. This is a powerful chakra in the human experience. I am sure you will all agree, because sexual thought and sexual activity are predominant in the human situation. Even on the spiritual journey as we have the upper chakras awakened and we are into upper chakra activity, the Swadhisthana still has its impact and it will not be completely mastered until the brow center is mastered. So it is important to remember the power this chakra has in our activities.
Associated with Plane of Ancestors
Swadhisthana chakra is related to one of the lokas or the planes of existence. The physical plane is called the bhu loka, the material plane and that is associated with the muladhar chakra and earth or material consciousness. Swadhisthana chakra is associated with the plane of ancestors. That is where we go to when we move away from this life into the next. That plane is inhabited by all those who are governed by this procreative instinct. It is called bhuvah loka.
When we leave this physical plane and we are governed predominantly by the Swadhisthana, then we wait at that level of consciousness to come back. We are heavily involved in the cycle of reincarnation; naturally so, because sexual consciousness is predominant and procreative. We are involved in family, physical situations and sexual consciousness and when we leave this life we carry those qualities strongly with us. They draw us back into this plane.
It is only when we go to the navel center that we come to the beginning of celestial planes where there is some mastery over the sexuality. We begin to experience a higher consciousness as different from the second chakra.
Distraction on the Journey
The second chakra is a very powerful chakra. We will find that when it is not managed, it draws our attention, our thoughts, our emotions and our activities, and influences us in a very powerful way. When we begin to pursue the spiritual journey, this can become a very big distraction because of the huge pleasure center that it is. We find ourselves fighting on the spiritual journey with the pull of this center.
Bringing Spirituality into Sexuality
Initially that will be so, but if you persevere you will come to a masterful place when the navel chakra and the heart chakra open. Finally, when the brow opens up, then you come into a masterful place. That is when you can bring spirituality into sexuality, and that is a step ahead. But it is not the final step because the final step is being able to manage sexuality completely.
Complete Mastery over Sexual Energy
You will find that when you come to the brow center, (for those of you who experience this center); this is the beginning of really mastering the second chakra in a very powerful way. When the brow chakra becomes opened and is stable, you will actually feel that you can draw energy from the second chakra right up to the brow. You can also bring energy from the second chakra to different chakras to enhance the activities of those areas. That is very powerful. The process is called transmutation of sexual energy. Then you draw the sexual energy and take it to where you want it to go.
When, and only when, the sahasrara is opened by the full opening of the ajna chakra, then you will become a complete master over the second chakra. What happens then is that you become so rooted in the divine consciousness that you witness the whole play and the whole drama without fighting anything, and understanding the nature of everything. There is no need then to engage without real purpose. You are not driven by just the worldly consciousness or any old patterns that may be in you.
Ultimately, when that happens, that is the complete transmutation of the energy. When that happens, with every breath that you take you can actually draw the sexual energy right up to the crown, or to any other place that you want. That is when complete mastery comes.
Explore Higher Levels of Consciousness
The sexual chakra can hold us in bondage to the material world and it is so important to learn how to manage it. Initially, when it is strong then we need to use mind control powerfully and to use the intellect as much as we can to keep our attention on the higher phases of the journey. Of course, the experience of the second chakra is not the highest experience. The other chakras have higher experiences of energy and consciousness, so on the spiritual journey we want to explore those higher levels as well. And the inner experience, when you bring the prana from lower down up to the brow and into the crown, the ecstasy is tremendous. It is like a super sensuous experience. It is called samadhi. When you are in that experience all the pleasures of the world seem like nothing! It is extremely important to be able to manage Swadhisthana.
Importance of Celibacy
For those people who are involved in the world, management is also required because your energies can go out of balance if you are involved in too much sexual activity. No matter how spiritual you make it. It will need to be managed if you want to go to the final destination of the crown. That is why for those who are involved in the advanced part of the journey, celibacy has to be there to completely manage sexuality.
Avoid Pitfalls; seek guidance
There is also a path through sexuality but it is an extremely vulnerable path. There are books that you will find where they speak about tantric method of using sexuality to go to a higher consciousness. But it is so filled with traps that when you think that you are there you may not be there. It requires real expert guidance. One has to be very careful if you begin to adopt that path and to have expert guidance and to develop the degree of self-control that is required. Otherwise you will be hopelessly caught in the desire and in bondage.
Have Faith on the Journey
This sexual chakra that we call Swadhisthana is just above the sexual organ. And in the meditation what we need to do is to breathe in the ujjai and begin to explore what happens as we take the focus and attention upward. For some people this may not unfold into being a powerful experience because of the lack of spiritual awakening. However, if you are spiritually awakened, this can be a hugely positive experience. You will begin to become excited when you can feel that you can move energies from this center right up along the spine.
When you do not feel it, you will need to have some faith that it is a possibility. Stay with the breath. As you begin to go in the energy body at some point you will feel it. And that is where you need to resist the urge to get so caught up in sexual thoughts or sexual fantasies to the extent that your meditations are disturbed.
Managing Thoughts with will Power
When the Swadhisthana is opened up initially, and there are old patterns in the causal body then these fantasies may come up and begin to disturb you. Then you begin to feel that even in spirituality, sexual thoughts and fantasies are so strong and very difficult to control. But that is when you have to apply your greatest amount of will power and as you persevere a little, you will go to the upper chakras and begin to feel the strength that they can give you to help you in this situation. It is extremely important to also manage your thoughts, because if your thoughts are so caught up in the sexuality, your energies will be dissipated and you will not be able to go higher. Your energies will be out of balance. Managing the thoughts is important.
Beyond Swadhisthana
This is a powerful chakra in the human experience, and of course, it is meant for procreation. If we did not have the pleasure center of the Swadhisthana, then I would not be here. You would not be here and none of us will be here. It is an important center for the human experience. But when you really want to discover your true Self, and you want to master all energies within you, you need to move beyond Swadhisthana. It requires the discipline of moving beyond the distractions and coming into a greater state of consciousness and power.
May you have the blessings of this. May you master this center and not be distracted by it. May you finally begin to feel that you can take this energy wherever you want along the chakra journey, and you can transmute this energy as you wish.
I am sure that we will discuss this more. I am always open to hearing your points of view and to getting your questions. Try to master this center, it is worth everything.
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