Greetings guruji,
I have been feeling slight pain at the christ centre from past 2 days.Should I continue with my spiritual practices?What might be the cause?
Earnestly waiting for your reply
—true devotee, india
Dear True Devotee:
It is most likely that the source of your discomfort at the Christ center (spiritual eye or Kutastha) is more physical than spiritual. Perhaps you have been focusing there with a bit more intensity than usual. So long as the pain isn’t debilitating but is, instead, a minor discomfort, I certainly would NOT suggest STOPPING your spiritual practices. I would, however, suggest that you focus on relaxing at that point.
Physically, for example, you might be raising your eyes slightly too high. Or straining the eyes near or at the point of becoming “cross-eyed.”
Consider the image or terminology of “relaxing upward” to the Christ center. Smile slightly when you look up; soften the eyes into the devotional “almond” shape of the eyes. Relax the face at large and the brain from its feverish intensity.
Meditate with and AS joy! Let the joy and peace of meditation open your heart.
In fact, before beginning any meditation or pranayama, focus first for a few minutes in the area of the heart. Feel the heart relax and be increasingly at peace. Feel that slightest of smiles beginning to form on your lips; the sweetest of eyes forming “pools of peace” — all this before looking up at the Christ center.
When you do look up, gaze not AT but THROUGH the point between the eyebrows. Swami Kriyananda would teach students to stick their arm straight out and slight up in front of them, with the thumb sticking straight up. Look at the thumb as the focal point before closing your eyes. Or gaze ahead to the point where the opposite wall and ceiling meet.
During activity (assuming you’ve been attempting to be focused at the Christ center during activity), let your awareness at that point be merely a general feeling rather than a “looking.”
All in all, I think the remedy you seek comes through relaxation: of the heart, mind, eyes, and intention. Swami Kriyananda described meditation as “an upward relaxation into Superconsciousness.” It is NOT an assault on Mount Meru!
Chant: “From joy I came; for joy I live; in sacred joy I melt again!”
JOY TO YOU!
Nayaswami Hriman
