|
Meditation
Support
The
Way To Inner Freedom
By Paramhansa Yogananda from The
Essence of Self-Realization
My guru, Sri
Yukteswar, liked a chant that I have translated, two lines from
which go, "Pranayama be thy religion. Pranayama
will give thee salvation."
Pranayama means control of the energy in the body, and its
direction upward through the spine to the brain and to the Christ
center between the eyebrows. This alone is the pathway of awakening.
It isn't a matter of dogma or belief. It is simply the way we were
all made by God.
The consciousness enters the body by way of the brain and the spine.
When the sperm and ovum unite to create the physical body, they
do so at what becomes the medulla oblongata, at the base of the
brain.
From this medulla, the life force moves out into the brain, down
the spine and into the nervous system, then on to the muscles, etc.,
creating the body.
The way out of the body, then, is to reverse this process. The difficulty
in doing so lies in the fact that the life force is already conditioned
by birth to continue its outward direction—through the senses
and onward to the environment as it is perceived through the senses.
Thus, we think to possess the world and to enjoy it through the
body.
We can never experience anything outside ourselves, however, except
vicariously, as the senses report their impressions to the brain.
We may try to expand our understanding of the world by study, or
our enjoyment of it through sense pleasures. The fact remains, we
can never know anything except through the medium of the senses,
so long as the life force remains trapped in the body.
There is a way out, however. It is for the life-force to merge with
the cosmic energy; for the consciousness to merge in the infinite
consciousness.
The way to accomplish this end is to withdraw the life force from
the senses, and center it in the spine; to direct it upward through
the spine to the brain, and thence out through the Christ center
between the eyebrows.
The ego is centered in the medulla oblongata. This is the negative
pole of self-consciousness. The positive pole is situated at the
Christ center. Concentration at this center—in the spiritual
eye, the seat of spiritual vision—projects the consciousness
beyond the ego into Infinity.
The spine is the highway to the Infinite. Your own body is the temple
of God. It is within your own self that God must be realized. Whatever
places of pilgrimage you visit outwardly, and whatever outward rituals
you perform, the ultimate 'pilgrimage' must be within. And the ultimate
religious rite must be the offering of your life-force on the altar
of inner God-communion.
Read also the
following articles:
|
