is the witness inside us a self is already enlightened and merged with god or sadhana is necessary
—sandy, usa
Dear Sandy,
Fortunately our hair are not our only, and not even our most important, antenna for cosmic prana. Its main entrance point in the body, according to Yogananda, is in the medulla oblongata. We can attract prana also from the rays of the sun, especially if we consciously concentrate on receiving it (the prana). We can attract energy from air we breathe, and again especially if we concentrate on the energy which is behind the oxygen, as we breathe deeply. We can attract lots of prana from our food, especially from uncooked food, as plants store cosmic prana. Somewhere Yogananda writes that we can attract prana from the earth through our feet, and I think many people can feel it when standing barefoot on the grass (my guess is that the trick once again lies in the conscious effort to pull the energy into the body: the stronger the will, the stronger that flow of energy).
So as you see, long hair is an aid for receiving cosmic prana, but if men should loose them they don’t need to despair as they have plenty of other ways to go.
Many yogis even shave off their hair completely, as a symbol for their renunciation of all outward ties. If these yogis are deep, they will get their energy from within, from the inner flow of prana which is always fed by the powerful cosmic current. Cosmic energy (shakti) is manifested in us as the kundalini energy at the base of the spine. Once that flows, certainly it hardly matters if our hair is long, short, or absent.
Still personally I love the tradition of long hair amongst yogis… but that is only my taste. Look at his one and you’ll smile: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/5549162/Pictures-of-the-day-16-June-2009.html?image=3
Joy to you,
jayadev
