Some confusion of meditation. You say eye closed and upward gaze in midway in eyebrow. Various spiritual organisations and gurus say meditate in middile eyebrow but no upward gaze, just assume to aajana chakra like lotus. I am very much confused about both meditation techniques. Please tell me what is difference and what effect these two meditation methods.
—Pk yadav, India
Dear PK,
The details of instructions for meditation technique and what is emphasized will differ among spiritual paths but the goal, self-realization, is the same for all true expressions; it cannot be anything other than that. Yogananda gave a definition of self-realization as “the knowing in all parts of body, mind and soul that you are now in possession of the kingdom of God; that you do not have to pray that it come to you; that God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all that you need to do is improve your knowing.” (From Essence of Self-Realization by Paramhansa Yogananda).
At Ananda we offer Yogananda’s teachings on the path to self-realization. In meditation, eye position helps to increase the focus at the ajna chakra, the point between the eyebrows. Eye gaze follows our level of consciousness. When our eye gaze behind closed eyes is gently uplifted as if gazing at a distance mountain peak it supports our accessing superconsciousness, that level of our consciousness that tunes in to Divine qualities and God’s presence. When the eye gaze behind closed eyes drops downward our consciousness has likely slipped into subconsciousness; mental wandering in old habits, thoughts and memories or day dreaming. If we are in our conscious mind we will want to open our eyes, as this level of consciousness is engaged in the world, the senses, our need to be active.
When we sit for meditation we assume a meditation posture that supports our efforts. We sit with a straight spine and relaxed body so the energy can flow upward to the spiritual eye. Slumped posture blocks the flow of energy and encourages subconscious mental wandering and sleepiness. Eye gaze is part of our meditation posture. We consciously uplift our eyes to support uplifting our consciousness.
I encourage you to tune into the details and subtleties of instruction in whichever path you feel drawn to and dive deep into it. It is good to stay with a path for some time even if you are not sure it is definitely ‘your path’. Too much jumping around from one teaching and technique to another is confusing especially to the new meditator. It is when we dive deep that we find guidance for our next spiritual step. God watches the heart and responds to your sincerity.
Many blessings on your spiritual practice,
Nayaswami Mukti
