Sutra 18

[Guest guest]

>From The Sky of The Heart; Jewels of Wisdom From Nityananda:

 

 

Sutra 18

 

The centers of conscious energy below the neck

 

Relate to hatha yoga.

 

Control over these chakras is acquired

 

By controlling the universal life-force

 

In the intense practice of Pranayama.

 

The centers above the neck relate to raja yoga.

 

Control over these chakras is acquired through

 

The practice of meditation.

 

 

Just as seven chakras begin with the muladhara

 

At the base of the spine,

 

So in raja yoga seven chakras lie above the neck.

 

Beginning at the throat chakra,

 

The kundalini--Shiva's creative power--must rise.

 

 

The fruit grows at the top of the coconut tree:

 

Likewise the fruit of divine wisdom

 

Is experienced in the brain

 

At the top of the spinal cord.*

 

 

* In accordance with the highest and most secret sacred texts,

Nityananda distinguishes between the chakra systems above

the neck and below the neck, relating them to hatha yoga

and raja yoga respectively. For him, hatha yoga and the

chakras below the neck relate to the body and the mind, the

material world and its attainments. The represent duality,

accomplishment, and effort.

 

To Nityananda, raja yoga is no effort; it is non-dual and

indivisible. Thus, the chakras above the neck refer not only

to the psychic mechanism but more importantly to the

experience of pure, endless, spacious consciousness; con-

sciousness that is unlimited in any way. Raja yoga is the

continuous, unbroken awareness of the Absolute. Aum Namah Shivaya

 

Mahabhakti

M