Meraj Of Prophet Muhammad
"The experience of the Meraj, like the rising kundalini that Abdula had seen, would not only revolutionise Mohammed's awareness but send out shock waves which resonated in the unconscious of all Arabians and later, all the world."
surah 97:1-5 Al-Qadr (Night of Power)
1. We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power:2. And what will explain to thee what the night of power is?
3. The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
4. Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Allah's permission, on every errand:
5. Peace!...This until the rise of morn!
surah 97:1-5 Al-Qadr (Night of Power)
(Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an, 1989.)
Meraj Of Prophet Muhammad
"There are a number of legends about the early life of Mohammed, founder of the religion of Islam.
It is said that just before Mohammed's birth his father, Abdula, dreamt of his unborn son. He saw growing from his child's back a tree, which climbed upward, and reaching its full height emitted a light that spread around the world.
Most Muslims interpret the dream and its imagery symbolically. The tree would of course represent the religion of Islam, supported by Mohammed. The light is the wisdom of his teachings that have truly been globally disseminated.
However we also know that the tree in Mohammed's back could be the tree of life' and is a common symbol in Middle Eastern and Islamic culture. Carl Jung, after years of studying the language of the unconscious, interpreted the tree of life as one of the universal unconscious's synonyms for the Kundalini.
The Kundalini, said Jung, is a spiritual energy best documented by (but by no means exclusive to) the yogis of India. It should not at all be surprising, should we take an open-minded and closer look at Islam, that as with the other great religions, we find a deeper, more mystical and universal message: that of self realisation and the mechanism by which it occurs — Kundalini awakening. Every culture and religion has had individuals who have achieved a living, spontaneous, direct experience of their religion. A dynamic, suprahuman awareness that went beyond dogma and blind faith. The Gnostics of Christianity, the Yogis of Hinduism, the Fang-Shi of Tao and the Sufis of Islam all achieved these states and each have spoken of experiences that, despite differences of appearance, are strikingly similar in content.
Let us then look at Abdula's dream from a yogic perspective. We can suggest that he actually saw the uniquely powerful Kundalini of his son. The ascent of Mohammed's Kundalini was not simply of individual importance to Mohammed but had global, even cosmic significance. For the light, the divine energy of Mohammed's Kundalini, was about to affect a spiritual and cultural revolution in Arabia. Mohammed was the vessel through which the universal unconscious, or divine', or God' was about to act.
As a child and young man Mohammed showed few signs of his prophetic destiny. He was well known for his moral integrity and good character but it was not until his forties that he became aware of his true purpose. Through a series of transformative experiences Mohammed was prepared for his divine role. These experiences culminated in the amazing Meraj (or Ascent').
The experience of the Meraj, like the rising kundalini that Abdula had seen, would not only revolutionise Mohammed's awareness but send out shock waves which resonated in the unconscious of all Arabians and later, all the world.
Through the Meraj Mohammed realized the need for the establishment of a new culture. He was to establish a creed that went beyond the petty tribal boundaries, blood feuds and violent practices prevalent at the time. To go beyond such ingrained behaviour patterns Mohammed drew upon an awareness of superhuman proportions. He transcended the limitations of the human mind and tapped into the universal intelligence. His vision then became universal: to unite the peoples of Arabia under a system of morality, justice and compassion. A system that would serve as the foundation for one of the greatest civilisations in recorded history.
The Meraj gave Mohammed the confidence, wisdom and superhuman energy to attempt such a revolution.
In this visionary experience the angel Gabriel escorted Mohammed from his humble quarters to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. There the Buraq, a fantastic steed with the body of a horse, the head of a woman and the wings of a bird, greeted him. She shone with dazzling white brightness and her tremendous strength bore Mohammed up into the cosmos through the various divine dimensions.
Gabriel escorted Mohammed on the Buraq through the seven heavens. Each heaven had its own guardian angel and resident prophet who ruled the dimension in accordance with God's laws. Mohammed bowed to guardian angels who determined his readiness to enter into their heaven, and then Mohammed respectfully paid homage to the reigning prophet. The prophet in turn blessed Mohammed and ushered him on to the next heaven and so on.
At the sixth heaven Gabriel brought Mohammed to the verge of the seventh. The archangel said that he himself could go no further. This, the seventh heaven, was the last frontier between god and man and Mohammed was ushered into the place described as the abode of God almighty.
Their Mohammed saw a beautiful, radiant tree with wondrous multicolored leaves. It was here that he communed with God and learned of his true purpose.
This beautiful and inspiring vision has motivated millions of Muslims for more than a thousand years. Its significance becomes even more universal when we examine it from the perspective of kundalini awakening, using the symbolic language of the universal unconscious.
The seven heavens through which Mohammed passed must of course correspond to the seven chakras that exist within the human body. Each chakra, say the yogis, is the abode of a special deity whose character embodies the chakra's innate spiritual qualities. The human chakra system is a microcosm for the entire Eastern pantheon of gods, goddesses and heavenly beings. The prophets and angels that Mohammed encountered in each heaven could well have been these same inner deities that the yogis personally discovered through intense meditation.
The seventh heaven or chakra is the Crown Chakra' also termed Sahasrara. Yogis have described it as the most important of all the chakras for it represents the ultimate level of mystic awareness.
Like all the chakras it has a specific number of petals (in this case more than a thousand)|. Each chakra not only has a specific number of petals but also a specific radiant colour. The sahasrara's appearance however is said to contain all the colours of the rainbow for it contains within it all the aspects (and hence the colours) of the six other chakras below it.
Such ancient yogic descriptions of the sahasrara could logically correspond to the resplendent and multicoloured sidrat which Mohammed encountered in the 7th heaven.
The kundalini is a feminine energy often described as an inner goddess' or mother energy'. Her ascent from the sacrum, through the chakras located in the spinal cord, is the process of self-realisation. When the kundalini arrives in the crown chakra (sahasrara) the seeker experiences the complete transformation of awareness. One is taken beyond the limits of the human mind into the mystical states of meditation described by sufis and yogis alike.
In fact C.G. Jung described the kundalini as the divine feminine or God the mother'. Notably, Mohammed's vehicle for his own ascent through the heavenly dimensions was the lady-faced, dazzling buraq. The buraq could well be a feminine, Arabic synonym for kundalini.
In conclusion Mohammed's ascent through the seven heavens was, in fact, the ascent of the kundalini, taking his consciousness with it, to divine union with the god almighty.
It is no coincidence that the entire Meraj is described to have started and finished in an incredibly short period of time: While sitting in his room Mohammad heard someone grasp the door handle and the sound of the latch clicking was the last thing he heard before Gabriel's appearance and the duo's departure on their spiritual journey. Mohammed's return to mundane experience restarts with the next few clicks of the same latch movement. In other words the entire experience occurred in a sort of no-time'. This is not an unusual proposition since meditation is a state of awareness created by the ascent of the kundalini through the chakras. As it pierces the sixth chakra (third eye' or Agnya) and seventh, it takes the meditator into the state of thoughtless awareness' (Nirvichara Samadhi) and beyond. This is a simple state where one experiences true mental silence, beyond the normal mental awareness of past/future, cause/effect.
The mind, as this editorial column has often discussed before, can only deal with the dimension of past and future, cause and effect, thought and memory. However, the state of meditation begins in the spaces between the thoughts'. This is the numinous dimension where there is no passage of time but only a singular, silent, eternal, thought-free and joyful experience.
It was from this dimension of awareness that Mohammed perceived the divine vision of a universal culture and spirituality. Through his meditative vision he learned of humanity's higher potential thus his mystic perception of the universal spirit and its presence within each of us became the template upon which he sought to fashion a new society whose foundations lay not in issues of common material interest but in the unique awareness of Self-Realization. Mohammed was, in fact, laying the first building blocks for the emergence of a spiritual civilization that may only now come into fruition." [1]
Prophet Muhammad was at all times besides His wife when He experienced this mystical journey (Meraj) to heaven. Kash made about 1300 such journeys to heaven. Prophet Muhammad made the journey within. Kash also made these journeys within. Both reached the mystical heaven within, the Sahasrara or Kingdom of God.
However, in no way is Kash compared or elevated to Prophet Muhammad. Far from it. But there is a reason he met Prophet Muhammad, a reason absolutely necessary to confirm what the Qur'an reveals about His Ruh (Spirit) and the announcement of Al-Qiyamah. These exacting pre-ordained conditions beyond human manipulation form the phalanx of Sure Signs that commences Al-Qiyamah.
WA-LAA UQSIM BI-AN-NAFSAL-LAWWAAMAH
I do call to witness the Resurrection Day;
And I do call to witness the self-reproaching Spirit.
Concerning what are they disputing?
Concerning the Great News. [5889]
About which they cannot agree.
Verily, they shall soon (come to) know!
Verily, verily they shall soon (come to) know!
surah 78:1-5 Al Naba' (The Great News)
"5889. Great News: usually understood to mean the News or Message of the Resurrection."
Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an, Amana Corporation, 1989.
Types of Kufr (Disbelief) — Adapted from 'Tafseer ibn Katheer'
1. Kufrul-'Inaad: Disbelief out of stubbornness;
2. Kufrul-Inkaar: Disbelief out of denial;
3. Kufrul-Kibr: Disbelief out of arrogance and pride;
4. Kufrul-Juhood: Disbelief out of rejection;
5. Kufrul-Nifaaq: Disbelief out of hypocrisy;
6. Kufrul-Kurh: Disbelief out of detesting any of Allah's commands;
7. Kufrul-Istihzaha: Disbelief due to mockery and derision;
8. Kufrul-I'raadh: Disbelief due to avoidance;
In Abdullah Yusuf Ali's commentary Kufr, Kafara, Kafir, and
derivative forms of the word imply a deliberate rejection of faith, revelation and truth of the Holy Qur'an:
"The culmination of Allah's Revelation is in the Qur'an, which confirms
previous scriptures, corrects the errors which men introduced into
them, and explains many points in detail for all who seek right
worship and service to Allah—whether they inherit the previous Books
or not. It is a universal Message ... The worst and most hardened
sinner is the man to whom Allah's Signs are actually brought home and
who yet prefers Evil and turns away from the Light of Allah. The
Signs may be in the words and guidance of a great Teacher or in some
sorrow or warning, but from which he deliberately refuses to profit.
The penalty—the Nemesis—must necessary come eventually."
According to Ibn Taymiyah (1263 - 1328) "kufr is
the attribute of everyone who rejects something that God has
commanded us to believe in, after news of that has reached him,
whether he rejects it in his heart without uttering it, or he speaks
those words of rejection without believing it in his heart, or he
does both; or he does an action which is described in the texts as
putting one beyond the pale of faith."
However, this explanation of kufr is most lucid and applicable to the sheer gravity, importance, and dire consequences of this universal Message of Al-Qiyamah (The Resurrection):
"Just as faith for Muslims has to do not with believing but with knowing, so
kufr, rejection, is not a lack of belief, not an intellectual position that holds that something is
otherwise than is the case, and certainly it is not mere ignorance. Rather it, too, like its correlative iman, presupposes knowledge; for it is an active
repudiation of what one knows to be true. This is why it is a sin, and indeed a (the)
monstrous sin. It is the one final, cosmic (or some would say, the one final human) wrong;
the deliberate saying of 'no' to what one knows to be right." (Wilfred Cantwell Smith, On Understanding Islam: Selected Studies, 1981, page 154)
Therefore most of the Al-Kufr ul Akbar (major disbeliefs) are applicable to
those rejecting or disbelieving Allah's (SWT) Signs and surahs
upholding the collection, promulgation, recital, explanation and
warning of the following:
i) His Call to witness Al-Qiyamah (The Resurrection);
ii) His Call to witness His Ruh (self-reproaching Spirit);
iii) His Call to heed Al Naba (The Great News);
iv) His Call to participate in Al Qadr (The Night of Power and Destiny);
v) His Call to confirm His Revelations, Signs, and Warnings (of i-iv).
Thus kaffir (non-believer) here is applied to all humankind,
both Muslim and non-Muslim, who reject the Call that God has commanded us
to believe in after His Revelations, Signs and Warnings have reached us.
The Qur'an clearly warns that many will disbelief, even mock, the
Great News and Sure Signs of Al-Qiyamah.
So be forewarned, and in the Hereafter never deny deliverance of this clear Warning:
"O ye assembly of Jinns and men! came there not unto you
messengers from amongst you, setting forth unto you My signs, and
warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours?" Qur'an 6.130
And those still rejecting, hesitant or unable to make up their minds even after hearing the Great News and shown the Signs,
Allah (SWT) questions: "Are they waiting until the Hour comes to them
suddenly? All the Signs thereof have already come. Once the Hour
comes to them, how will they benefit from their message?" "Why do
they not study the Quran carefully? Do they have locks on their
minds?" Qur'an 47:18-24
The last paragraph is yet another warning from Allah (SWT) that
prior to the Wrath of the End (Al Qariah) humans are offered the
Mercy of the Resurrection (Al Qadr). And once the Hour of Al Qariah
comes to them, how will they benefit from their contemporary message of Al Qadr i.e., from the Great News of the messengers from amongst you? How will those reading these lines benefit if they continue to doubt and wait, and the Striking Day comes suddenly?
What use then will be the Mercy and Compassion of Al Qadr (Night of Destiny) if the morn of the Al Qariah (Striking Day) ends His Peace?
Why doesn't the Ummah then not study the Quran with painstaking effort to avoid the errors, mistranslation and ignorance of the ulema that have presently paralyzed their minds from believing the Great News? Why don't they use their own mental faculties and intelligence to understand Al- Qiyamah, the heart and soul of the living, breathing Quran? Living and breathing because God Almighty is now talking directly to you through His Holy Book! After all, it is Allah (SWT) who has now called out to all Believers with this Decree: "I do call to witness the Resurrection Day; And I do call to witness the self-reproaching Spirit." He is specifically addressing you in particular (and Believers is general) to do so!
Only now in this modern age of universal education, mass media and publishing technology—after 14 centuries and unlike the illiterate past—is it possible to own and be sufficiently
literate to "study the Quran carefully" in languages they understand
best.* And just in case the Believers start studying the entire Qur'an, it
must be stressed that Allah (SWT) is referring specifically to those
eschatological Signs and surahs upholding His Call to bear witness of the
Resurrection! They must thoroughly examine and understand the Signs that have already manifested, and
set forth by messengers from amongst themselves.
Without question, to "study the Quran carefully" means using one's own mental faculties, not those of the ulema (Muslim clergy) who have
for centuries put "locks on their minds" and are the very reason for
the Ummah's present predicament i.e., their unprecedented kaffir-like mindset,
reaction, rejection and mocking of His Call, Signs and Great News of the Resurrection. They must know that during Al Qadr no 'graves are going to open up'
as this is His Night of Compassion and Mercy. So "Peace!... This until the rise of the morn!" (Quran 97:5)
"There is so much blind faith, there is so much of wrong ideas, so much of organizational fortresses they have built. All kinds of nonsensical things are going on in this world, but they'll all be finished."
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Vienna, Austria, 8 June 1988
"We are now in the Blossom Time, as I call it, because many flowers are born and they are to become the fruits. This is the Resurrection Time, which is described in all the scriptures. But it's not like this, the way they had described us. Something wrong with them that all the dead bodies who are in the graves will come out of the graves. I mean, how much is left out of them, God knows. Must be some bones or maybe some skulls there. So they'll come out of the graves and they will get their Resurrection!!!? This is a very wrong idea.
Once I happened to meet a fellow, a Muslim from Bosnia and he told Me, "I want to die for my religion, for God's sake." I said, "But why? Who told you to die?" He said, "Now, if I die in the name of God, I'll be resurrected." I said, "It's all wrong. That's not the way it is going to work out. Resurrection is going to work out this way that at this time, all these souls will take their birth. All these souls will take their birth and they will be resurrected. As human beings they'll have to come."
That's why we find all kinds of funny people these days, all kinds of cruel, criminal, all kinds of idiotic, stupid, I mean very queer, weird, funny ideas which find such, such a variety of people and such a tremendous population that we should understand they have to have their chance of Resurrection. But how many will come? That's the point. How many are going to come?"
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Philadelphia, USA — October 15, 1993
So Peace to all Believers bearing witness to the Resurrection (Al-Qiyamah)! So Peace to all Believers bearing witness to His self-reproaching Spirit (Ruh)! So Peace to all Believers resurrecting themselves during this blessed Night of Power and Destiny (Al Qadr)! So Peace to all Believers of the Great News (Al Naba)! So Peace until the dreadful morn of the Great Calamity, the Striking Day (Al Qariah) against the Unbelievers (Al-Kafirun)!
Last, but not the least, the Qur'an insists that ample warning of impending calamity must be always delivered by His messengers:
"That is because thy Lord would never destroy the cities unjustly, while their inhabitants were heedless." (Quran 6.131);
"Never did We destroy a population, but had its warners - By way of reminder; and We never are unjust." (Quran 26:208-209);
"And never did Thy Lord destroy the townships, till He had raised up in their mother-town a messenger reciting unto them Our revelations." (Quran 27:59);
This cardinal rule has been expressly complied with and Warning of the impending Great Calamity repeatedly announced and fearlessly upheld by the incarnation of His Ruh for more than three decades until Her retirement in 2008 at the age of 85. (Since Jesus is the mandatory Sign of the Hour [Quran 43:61], and as the Comforter promised and sent by God Almighty in Jesus' name, She has also ceaselessly glorified Christ and His Message of the Last Judgment.)
"I should do something to bring sense to these people (humanity). Something should happen to them otherwise what I see is a
complete disaster. It is going to happen. I do not want to frighten you
like Mrs Thatcher does about the Russians. That might be imaginary. But
this is real. I am warning you that the Disaster is going to come as destruction itself."
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
London, UK, 6 June 1983
"The Last Judgment has started. We are facing the Last Judgment today. We are not aware of it. And all the satanic forces have come out like the wolves in sheep's clothes. And they are trying to attract you and you do not judge them. You only sit down and judge the Reality. It has started! It is a fact! It has started!"
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Kingston, UK, 6 November 1980
"I have such respect for so many of them (Muslims). I wish they could accept that this is not Jihad time anymore but
Qiyamah Time, the Resurrection Time, the Blossom Time. Are they going to miss it?"
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
*
— "Muslim illiteracy worldwide stands at about 51 percent for all age
groups over fifteen. Despite a rapid increase in primary school
enrollment, only 45 percent of Muslim children aged six to eleven
attend primary school. An even larger gap exists at higher levels of
research." - Martin S. Kramer, Arab awakening and Islamic revival,
1996, page 280;
— "The vast majority of Muslims do not speak Arabic as their native
tongue" - Christine Huda Dodge, The everything understanding Islam,
2003, page 21;
— "The degree of knowledge of Arabic determines a person's
understanding of the Islamic creed. The Quran, the Hadith and Sira
traditions (Prophetic sayings and actions), and the writings of the
early Islamic scholars and jurists were in Arabic. Imam Shafei (767-
820), the founder of the Shafei School of Sunni jurisprudence,
advocated that every Muslim should learn Arabic, at least to the
point of reciting the Quran (Hourani 1991, 68). Most non-Arab Muslims
do not understand Arabic." - Elie Elhadj, The Islamic Shield, 2006, page
22;
— "If your mother tongue is not Arabic, Satan (or his troops) will
encourage you to read the Quran in Arabic. Why does he do that?
Because he knows that you will not understand enough of it. The
majority of those who learn Arabic to study the Quran do not excel
enough to understand the implication or interpretation of certain
words when used in a special way in the Arabic language. They will
have a lot of shortcomings. Many Pakistani and Indian Muslims are
forced as children to read the Quran in Arabic and still as adults
read the Quran in Arabic but they do not understand a single word of
what they read... The Quran is a message, not just another beautiful
language book. If you cannot read it in Arabic do not wait until the
day you excel in your Arabic language, because this day may never
come. Trust God and know that He is the teacher of the Quran. He will
teach in any language and to any nationality, He created all things.
Read your Quran today, (do not wait any longer,) in any language that
you can understand and master and leave the rest to God." Dr. Rashad
Khalifa, Ph.d.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
by Rebekah Kenton
This article places the chakras onto the diagram of the Tree of Life.
The chakras are connections between the physical and psychological bodies. They are situated in the spinal column but their reflections can also be perceived as whirling discs in front of the body. As for the exact physical location points in the body, there is much literature available that deals with this in detail. My reference is Kundalini Tantra by Swami Satyananda Saraswati and all quotations are from this book.
The physical aspects of the chakras have many implications for health and healing. However, from the Kabbalistic point of view it is more interesting to concentrate on the psychological aspect and evolving consciousness, and as such the chakras should be seen on the Jacob's Ladder on the psychological or Yeziratic Tree of Life.
There are seven major chakras, but there are also numerous smaller chakras connected to and governed by them. Maybe that is why there are so many different views on the subject. I hope that relating the major chakras to the Kabbalistic scheme will help to clarify the underlying principles.
According to the tradition, there are lower chakras that are responsible for the evolution of instinct in the animal kingdom and no longer active or conscious in humans. In the animal body, these inferior chakras are situated in the legs. On the Tree they can be seen as Malkhut. There are also said to be higher chakras above the Crown, and these can be seen as different levels of the Beriatic Tree. Little can be said about them as they belong to the realm of no form.
Paradoxically, the awakening of the chakras should start as high as Ajna or the Third Eye. One needs a degree of Wisdom and Understanding, a certain philosophical outlook and detachment, to be able to cope with the psychic phenomena that follow the awakening of the lower chakras.
Mooladhara Chakra (Base); Yesod
The Sanskrit word moola means 'root or foundation' and that is precisely what this chakra is. Mooladhara is at the root of the chakra system and its influences are at the root of our whole existence. In tantra, Mooladhara is the seat of kundalini, the basis from which the possibility of higher Realization arises."
The ordinary ego-mind of Yesod works and runs our lives more or less automatically. It is not until one takes steps towards spiritual development that this chakra awakens and its functions become conscious, which can be a painful experience.
All the passions are stored in Mooladhara, all the guilt, every complex and every agony has its root in Mooladhara chakra. It is so important for everybody to awaken this chakra and get out of it. Our lower karmas are embedded there, as in lower incarnations, one's whole being is founded on the sexual personality."
The awakening of any chakra is rarely a sudden event. It may take several years or lifetimes. In order to move on from Mooladhara, one has to clear the barrier of ignorance, egocentricity, attachment to physical pleasures and material objects.
Swadhisthana Chakra (Sacral); Hod-Nezah
Reaching Swadhisthana means that one is starting to penetrate the Hod-Nezah threshold of the unconscious. Usually one has to face the lowest manifestations first; there may be excessive fear (Hod) or sexual fantasies (Nezah).
This stage of evolution is known as Purgatory, and if you read the lives of many of the great saints, you will find that most of them encountered great turmoil and temptations when they were passing through this stage."
It is interesting to note, that in traditional symbolism the animal related to Swadhisthana is a crocodile. It is here that we encounter the dragon as described in mythology and fairy-stories, in other words the unconscious aspects of our psyche that are preventing us from evolving.
The way forward is keeping to the Path of Honesty. One must have detachment, which is the outcome of a thorough analysis of the situations of life. To get beyond Swadhisthana you must improve the general background of your psycho-emotional life."
Manipura Chakra (Navel or Solar Plexus); Tiferet
In the same way that the sun continually radiates energy to the planets, Manipura chakra radiates and distributes pranic energy throughout the entire human framework, regulating and energizing the activity of the various organs, systems and processes of life." Poorly functioning Manipura means lack of vitality, depression and ill health.
If this is true regarding the physical body, the more important it is psychologically. Manipura or Tiferet is the Self, the midpoint of the psyche. It is the centre of dynamism, energy, will and achievement and is often compared to the dazzling heat and power of the sun."
When the consciousness evolves to Manipura, one acquires a spiritual perspective." This refers to the position of Tiferet as the Kingdom of Heaven. In Mooladhara and Swadhisthana the consciousness is still preoccupied with personal matters and resolving old karmas, but in Manipura one starts to realize the possibilities in becoming truly human.
However at this level one may fall for money, sex and power instead of striving for truth, goodness and beauty. The temptations are becoming more subtle as one starts developing siddhis or psychic powers. Attachment to these powers often makes one believe one has arrived", thus blocking further development.
Anahata Chakra (Heart); Gevurah-Hesed
Anahata operates at the level of the soul and symbolically relates to the awakening of the heart. It is important to remember the warning about the barrier: The second psychic knot is located at this heart centre. It represents the bondage of emotional attachment, the tendency to live one's life making decisions on the strength of the emotions rather than in the light of the spiritual quest."
Awakening this chakra is the key to fate and freewill. Anahata chakra is almost completely beyond empirical dimensions. One depends solely upon the power of one's own consciousness rather than on anything that is external or concerning faith. In Anahata chakra, the freedom to escape from a preordained fate and to determine one's own destiny becomes reality." As such, it is said that there is a wish fulfilling tree in this chakra.
It seems that awakening of a chakra follows the pattern of the Lightning Flash on the Tree. In Anahata the negative tendencies of Gevurah usually surface first, like fear and pessimistic attitudes towards life. One has to remember the power of wish fulfilling at this level in order not to manifest negative wishes. It is important to have a firm and alert control over the mental tendencies and fantasies of the mind."
In order to move on, one needs to cultivate the qualities of Hesed. A positive way of thinking is vital. Also enjoying the arts at their best can be helpful. Anahata chakra awakens refined emotion in the brain and its awakening is characterized by a feeling of universal, unlimited love for all beings."
Vishuddhi Chakra (Throat); Da'at
Besides Vishuddhi being described as the void in the tantra, there is also the knowledge aspect as in Kabbalah. The more abstract aspect of Vishuddhi is the faculty of higher discrimination. Hence any communication received telepathically can be tested here for its correctness and accuracy. Similarly, Vishuddhi allows us to differentiate between Realization coming into our consciousness from the higher levels of knowledge, and the mere babblings of our unconscious mind and wishful thinking."
Vishuddhi is also known as the 'nectar and poison centre'. This would mean 'death and transformation' in more familiar terms. The nectar is transcendental fluid, 'the Dew of Heaven'. As long as Vishuddhi chakra remains inactive, this fluid runs downward unimpeded, to be consumed in the fire of Manipura, resulting in the processes of decay, degeneration and finally death in the body's tissues. When Vishuddhi is awakened the divine fluid is retained and utilized, becoming the nectar of immortality. The secret of youth and regeneration of the body lies in the awakening of Vishuddhi chakra."
Vishuddhi is also the key to psychological regeneration. At the level of Vishuddhi and above, even the poisonous and negative aspects of existence become integrated into the total scheme of being. They are rendered powerless as concepts of good and bad fall away. At this state of awareness the poisonous aspects and experiences of life are absorbed and transformed into a state of bliss."
Interconnected with Vishuddhi chakra is Bindu Visarga. Very little is known and written about it as it is beyond the realm of all conventional experience. On the Jacob's Ladder it would relate to the Yesod of Beriah, which underlies the Daat of Yezirah. Bindu is a trap-door opening in both directions." It is said to be the origin of manifest individuality. From this point or seed an object, an animal, a human being or whatever, can arise and manifest. Each and every object has a Bindu as its base. That which was previously formless assumes shape through the Bindu, and its nature is fixed by the Bindu as well."
Ajna Chakra (The Third Eye); Binah-Hokhmah
Ajna is the chakra of higher intellect. Ajna is the witnessing centre where one becomes the detached observer of all events, including those within the body and mind. Here the level of awareness is developed whereby one begins to 'see' the hidden essence underlying all visible appearances. When Ajna is awakened, the meaning and significance of symbols flashes into one's conscious perception and intuitive knowledge arises effortlessly."
Up until Ajna chakra awakens, we are under delusions. It is only after awakening of Ajna chakra that the laws of cause and effect can be known. Thereafter your whole philosophical attitude and approach to life changes." As said, it is very important to develop the qualities of Binah and Hokhmah already at the very beginning of one's spiritual journey. Only those who have reason and understanding are able to cope."
It would seem that the awakening of the Ajna chakra follows the sequence of the Lightning Flash, activating first the Binah and then the Hokhmah aspect of this level. It is said that from Ajna there is only a short way to Sahasrara or enlightenment; from Hokhmah we would see how to get there.
Sahasrara Chakra (Crown); Keter
Sahasrara is actually not considered to be a chakra; it is the source of the chakras. It is the crown of expanded awareness. The power of the chakras does not reside in the chakras themselves, but in Sahasrara. The chakras are only switches. All the potential lies in Sahasrara."
Patanjali classifies samadhi or enlightenment in three different stages. This would correspond to the position of the Keter of Yezirah on Jacob's Ladder overlapping the Tiferet of Beriah and the Malkhut of Azilut. Sahasrara is both formless and with form, yet it is also beyond, and therefore untouched by form."
There are many descriptions about enlightenment, but ultimately it is not possible to define such an experience. Super-mental awareness is not a point; it is a process, a range of experience. Just as the term 'childhood' refers to a wide span of time, in the same way, samadhi is not a particular point of experience but a sequence of experiences which graduate from one stage to another."
In the course of one's development, the chakras may be only partially or temporarily awakened. They can also awaken independently from each other and do not necessarily follow the traditional sequence. In Kabbalah, an individual whose all chakras have fully and permanently awakened would be called the Messiah."
Rebekah Kenton
(www.kabbalahsociety/chakras)
"Experience of the universal
The nature of the goal, however, introduces a paradox. Like every other aim and activity, mysticism operates in a historical context. Yet, sooner or later, it also tends to reveal a timeless stance. The mystic is both in and out of time. The eternal now is a kind of release from the temporal order. Such a release may lead to a shift from the local to the universal, to a growing sense of unity of all experience. Though not a declared or conscious aim, this result could be looked upon as a not unworthy goal as well as a pragmatic standard.
To cure man of a provincialism of the spirit, from which more people suffer than either know or admit it, is one of the goals of a mysticism that has come of age. The true mystic is a cosmopolitan. In man's many-sided growth toward the real, a sane and mature mysticism leads to an ecumenical insight and obligation. Local colour, particulars, and uniqueness will not cease, but, in the perspective of the future and of wholeness, the universal alone will have survival value."
Britannica Online
(1994-1998 Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.)
"He was one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy of making one great truth their very life spring. He was the messenger of One God, and never to his life's end did he forget who he was or the message which was the marrow of his being. He brought his tidings to his people with a grand dignity sprung from the consciousness of his high office, together with a most sweet humility."
Stanley Lane-Poole, Studies in a Mosque
"Experience of oneness with people
The apotheosized (divinized) field of consciousness is mysticism's ultimate goal and gift to the life of an evolving humanity. It alone is fitted to mediate between the anguish of existence and the serenity of essence, between samsara ("cycle of birth and rebirth") and Nirvana (the State of Bliss). According to an American Roman Catholic mystic, Thomas Merton, "The spiritual anguish of man has no cure but mysticism."
Though the mystic goal may seem to be tied to a transcendent reality, this does not mean a sundering of all relations and responsibilities. On the contrary, it is the guarantee of a set of altered relationships and a rehabilitation of what may be called the higher reason. Intuitions that sink into private fancy and morbidity have a short life to live. As for the mystic's "yonder," it is not spatially or posthumously remote but rather refers to a different order of reality and consciousness. The healthier forms of mysticism do not abjure action or the claims of love. It is an ancient maxim that one becomes what one loves. This is how the psychic birth repeats itself in the mystic soul, as stated, for example, by Meister Eckehart, a medieval German mystic: "It is more worthy of God that he should be born spiritually of every virgin, or of every good soul, than that he should have been born physically of Mary."
The mystic is not always amorous of the beyond, leaving an unredeemed world to its own ways. Not escape but, rather, victory is mysticism's inner urge and promise. The more sober among the mystics do not merely withdraw; they also return to the base and attempt the ancient alchemy, the transformation of men. A solitary salvation does not satisfy either head or heart."
Britannica Online, (1994-1998 Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.)
"My problem to write this monograph is easier, because we are not generally fed now on that (distorted) kind of history and much time need not be spent on pointing out our misrepresentations of Islam. The theory of Islam and sword, for instance, is not heard now in any quarter worth the name. The principle of Islam that "there is no compulsion in religion" is well known."
K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, Mohammed: The Prophet of Islam
"Mystical relationship between man and the sacred
Nature of the relationship
Within man is the soul of the holy, said Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th century. This is true of society, too. As the French sociologist mile Durkheim saw it, the sacred is but a personified society. Mysticism, one might say, is the art and science of the holy. Theologically, it is but "the experience of the Holy Ghost, . . . the realization of the Spirit of Holiness." As the opposite of the profane and as a distinct and irreducible quality of the religious and mystical life, the sacred has always existed. It is indeed a mark of the real, and, when the German theologian Rudolf Otto isolated the sacred as a "quite distinctive category" of mystical apprehension, he had no lack of evidence. The emphasis, however, was not unanimously accepted. Some, like Inge, thought the sacred might as well be elicited from such ultimate values as "truth, goodness, and beauty."
According to the respective world view, the interpretation or emphasis varies, but the universal core remains unaffected. The sacred is in its own way a coherent system, though not rational. The dualists no less than the theists insist on the unqualified and irreducible "otherness," the unbridgeable gulf, even when one speaks of union or communion. It is the distance that preserves the sacred.
Christian mystics, who often speak of "union with God," generally do not imply identity with the divine, since this might lead to heresy. The 16th-century Spanish mystic St. Teresa of Avila could write with impunity: "It is plain enough what unity is — two distinct things becoming one." But most others could not be so plain and had to use special strategy to cover up traces of possible deviation from what was permissible. Even if there had been a semblance of interpenetration between man and the divine, there could be no substantial identity. "Each of these," wrote the medieval Dutch mystic Jan van Ruysbroeck, "keeps its own nature. There is here a great distinction, for the creature never becomes God, nor does God ever become the creature." The same doctrine is preached in the Middle Ages by the mystic Heinrich Suso:
In this merging of itself in God the spirit passes away and yet not wholly; for it receives indeed some attribute of God, but it does not become God by nature. It is still something that has been created out of nothing, and continues to be this everlastingly."
Britannica Online, (1994-1998 Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.)
NOTES
1. Knowledge of Reality, Yogic Insights into Islam (Issue 15)
