Kundalini and Developing Concentration

Dear Santosh,

AUM Babaji AUM.

Do you feel close to Babaji? Wonderful! You might be a beginner in meditation in this life, but not in your soul evolution.

Yogananda said you have to have been a sincere yogi in past lifetimes to be attracted to the Kriya path. So welcome back!

Yes, meditation suits you. If that heat at the sitting area has physical reasons, coming from the fistula, if it feels rather painful, then you need to find another sitting position, such as on a soft chair, which avoids that stimulation.

At any rate don’t let a physical complaint discourage you from meditation.

If however, the “rather heat” you feel is at the center of the sitting area, and if it seems unrelated to the fistula, then it is a completely different story.

In that case you have truly entered the inner battleground of Kurukshetra: on the one side there is the holy power of Kundalini, the force that tries to take you to enlightenment, while on the other side you experience the unholy power of restlessness.

Let’s assume that this is the case (I am inclined to do so), and look at these two sides:

Kundalini: So if you feel “rather heat” at the base of the spine, it is a wonderful and precious experience: Kundalini is making itself felt to you.

All serious yoga paths try to awaken that force, to lift it toward the spiritual eye.

When you feel it, try to tune into that force as being something very holy. Saints have even personified Kundalini as a goddess.

Try to feel deeply it and visualize it flowing upward. You may use the inhaling breath to draw it up the spine. Swami Kriyananda also teaches an interesting technique in his book Raja Yoga which you might try, to pull that energy up:

1) Brush your fingers upward lightly on the exposed stomach with a quick, loose movement of the wrists. With deep concentration, the hands can be made to act as powerful magnets.

Feel as you brush your fingers upward that they are drawing the energy from the lower part of your body, and flinging it up toward the brain.

2) Then place your thumbs against the head, touching the back of the earlobes and the lower part of the ears. Cup the rest of the hand around your head, without touching it, and with the fingers pointing up toward the top of the head.

Stroke the hands forward repeatedly (again with a loose movement of the wrists), and magnetically draw the energy through the brain to the point between the eyebrows.

3) Sit upright in any comfortable meditation pose. Inhale slowly and deeply, and feel that your breath is acting as a magnet to draw the energy up from the lower part of the body to the point between the eyebrows.

Concentrate breath and energy at that point to a mental count of 12. Exhale.

Should you in the future experience this energy rising strongly, it is very important for you to strengthen your physical body: maybe with a energetic hatha yoga practice, or with physical work, or with sports, sweating.

Only with a solid body will you have the base to handle that energy happily.

On the other hand, you might notice that the experience fades away. We have observed many times that a beginner has astounding experiences, merited by past- life efforts.

It’s like a “welcome back!”

Then that special experience might disappear, and the real work begins. Should that happen to you, everything is alright. Just keep going.

Now about this other side of your Kurukshetra battle: Restlessness. Don’t worry, almost all meditators have to deal with it, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Restlessness is a result of rajo guna in your life, inwardly and outwardly. As much as you can, surround yourself with sattwa guna. (If you don’t know the three gunas, please study them.)

– Avoid restless music, environments, as much as you can.

– Food has a considerable influence on our mind, so avoid tamasic and rajasic foods as much as possible. Yogananda recommends a good proportion of raw veggies in your diet, rice is good, fruit, and organic dry foods.

He also recommended milk, he said it’s good for concentration, but it should be taken separately from meals.

– In city life, in work, at home, try to be as much “centered in the spine” as you can, as calm as you can. Work on not letting anything take your inner peace from you. If we don’t have inner peace in daily life, meditation will be restless.

– Lack of concentration comes because the mind is not enough intrigued or interested.

We need to stimulate it. How?

Meditation is both an art and a science. The science is the precise technique, but the art is yours: how to make your personal meditation rich and interesting for your specific mind.

In the cinema, Yogananda said, everyone becomes a perfect yogi: fully focused and absorbed. Why?

Simply because the mind is interested. If you love something, it is hard not to concentrate on it.

So try to be an artist in meditation, enriching your meditation with whatever helps to get your mind intrigued and interested: a visualization, a mantra or prayer, an inward chant, feeling that you are offering and receiving from the universe…

Experiment and see what works for you.

– Short concentrated meditations are better than long distracted ones. Go for quality, not quantity.

– Try even breathing at the beginning of meditation: inhale, hold, exhale for the same count, like 10-10-10, or longer. Do it 6-12 times. This technique calms the mind, preparing it for meditation – Yogananda taught it.

All this should help you to keep concentrating on the spiritual eye.

May God and Babaji bless you. Never stop.

Concentration is like a muscle to be developed. But don’t strain, be relaxed in your efforts.

Remember that there will be ups and downs in your meditations. Plus I hope you have some good spiritual satsang where you live: that gives our meditations vital support.

In divine friendship,
Jayadev