While doing Hong Sau I feel a cold laser entering my crown, piercing my head and moving to my neck. My body starts vibrating forward and backward. I also experience a strong pull on my crown so that something is moving very intensely from the neck to the crown. And during this my head starts leaning backward such that my eyes are gazing upwards towards the sky. There is also a coolness in the spine after meditation. Due to this whenever I focus on the spiritual eye, my focus automatically shifts to the crown. So please guide me.
—Vivek, India
Dear Vivek,
I think some understanding of spiritual anatomy can be helpful here. At the center of our astral, deep, or energy spine is the sushumna. The seven chakras are energy vortices in the sushumna. Resting below the lowest chakra in the astral spine is the kundalini energy. These chakras are tributary points where streams of energy join the upward flow of kundalini. At the chakras the energy can flow downward and outward toward the senses and the world, or inward and upward. The downward flow provides energy to the various body parts. Spiritual qualities are awakened at each chakra when the flow is upward. As the devotee starts to awaken spiritually the kundalini energy begins to rise in the deep spine. Meditation practices are meant to magnetize and draw this kundalini energy upward through the chakras. When the yogi’s kundalini energy has completely lifted to the spiritual eye, the 6th chakra, he has reached self-realization.
It is helpful to understand why the focus of meditation practice is the spiritual eye and not the crown chakra. The cosmic energy which sustains us enters our bodies through the medulla oblongata, the negative pole of the 6th chakra. The positive pole of this chakra is the spiritual eye or ajna. The medulla is the seat of the ego, the soul attached to the body. Everything we do, think and perceive is centered in ego-awareness. Egoism is the source of our bondage to the body. Soul freedom consists in offering up the energy at the medulla to the spiritual eye. At the spiritual eye we offer all that we are into the inner light or any other divine quality we perceive there. We gradually take on the qualities of that inner reality and dissolve our identification with ego.
There is a helpful book by Savitri Simpson, a long-time disciple of Yogananda and member of Ananda, called Chakras for Starters which I quote below.
“The seventh and highest chakra (the crown chakra), located at the top of the brain, is known as the sahasrara, or thousand-petaled lotus. This is the highest chakra. All the rays of the brain go out from that point, and it is at the thousand-petaled lotus that the soul finally becomes united with God. Though it is the highest center, it must be approached through the Christ center (sixth chakra) – you can’t really reach the seventh chakra until the spine has been completely magnetized in the lower six chakras. In that magnetizing process, and by prolonged meditation on the spiritual eye, a subtle passage automatically opens up from that center to the top of the head. To attempt to approach the sahasrara by any other route would be futile; it has even been said to be dangerous for it can disrupt the flow of energy between the medulla and the crown chakra. The proper pathway is through the spiritual eye. It is important to understand that the spiritual eye is the seat of enlightenment and the crown chakra is the seat of liberation. You must become enlightened first, in order to become liberated.”
I would encourage you to use meditation technique to dive deeper into divine qualities such as peace, joy, calmness. Offer any experiences you receive in meditation such as movement of energy in the spine up to the point between the eyebrows and into the divine presence. The use of meditation technique will ground and center your efforts and take you to higher states of awareness in a gradual, integrated and not fragmented way.
At Ananda India we offer extensive teaching in meditation practice. I encourage you to take a look at Ananda India meditation courses.
Many blessings on your spiritual journey
Nayaswami Mukti
