Doing breathing exercices I see a golden ring, inside a blue pupil and in the center a white light. I think it is the third eye. Now sometimes the pupil get green or red. What does that mean?
—Myriam, Switzerland
Dear Myriam,
The golden, blue, and white lights that you experience do describe the spiritual (or third) eye. The spiritual eye is the name for the positive pole of the 6th or ajna chakra located at the point between the eyebrows. It is the center of enlightenment, our soul awareness. We seek to deepen concentration at that center until our awareness is there at all times. When we live with awareness entirely centered at the spiritual eye, we come to know we are an individualized expression of God, that we are sustained by God, and we serve as God’s instrument in this world. The spiritual path is about improving our knowing of these truths.
When the spiritual eye is beheld clearly, it is a golden circle of light surrounding a field of deep blue. In the center of this blue field is a white star with five points. When the spiritual eye is beheld imperfectly, it is seen as a dim violet light with a faint circle around it, and an even fainter dot in the center. The spiritual eye is not imaginary. It is something one actually sees in meditation, when the thoughts are stilled, and when the intellect functions on its own higher, intuitive level.
In meditation people often see shapes and colors behind closed eyes and specifically in the spiritual eye area. It is not that unusual for it to happen. It is best, of course, to see the spiritual eye as it appears in its highest spiritual manifestation. When other colors are seen it means that your astral (or energy) body with its components of colors/lights/sounds is awakening. There is no specific meaning to red or green or whatever. In Yogananda’s teachings it is also said that when seeing colors in meditations or in dreams, that the clearer and brighter they are, the more indication that they are from your higher astral aspects, as opposed to dark and muddy colors or blackness. When you have visual experience that is not the spiritual eye simply offer the experience up into the Divine Presence as you feel most close to and return to your meditation practices. If you see the spiritual eye place your attention there and dive into the center of it. Here is a link to a guided meditation on the spiritual eye on our website which you might enjoy.
Whether or not you behold the spiritual eye, by meditating at that point between the eyebrows your consciousness will gradually rise until at last it passes the portals of human awareness and enters the state of ecstasy or samadhi. To concentrate at that point, look upward – not crossing your eyes, but converging them slightly as though you were gazing at your thumbnail outstretched above you. The important thing is that your attention, not your eyes, be focused on that point in the forehead. Don’t try forcibly to bring your eyes to a focus, but gaze mentally at that point, and let the spiritual eye draw you into itself.
Many blessings,
Nayaswami Mukti
