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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 3 - Union achieved and its Results
29. By concentrated attention upon the center called the solar plexus, comes perfected knowledge as to the condition of the body. In the commentary upon Book I Sutra 36, the various centers were enumerated and their qualities given. In this section of the book, five of these centers are mentioned and they are the five which most closely concern the aspirant, and which are the most dominant in the fifth or Aryan race, being awakened but not unfolded in the fourth race. These are: The center at the base of the spine - 4 petals. The solar plexus center - 10 petals. The heart center - 12 petals. The throat center - 16 petals. The head center - 1000 petals. With these five, the aspirant is primarily concerned. The center called the spleen was [305] dominant in Lemurian days but is now relegated to the domain of the fully functioning and therefore automatic centers, and has sunk below the threshold of consciousness. The center between the eyebrows is the one through which the light in the head is cast upon things "subtle, obscure, hidden or remote" and is a result of the unfolding of the head and heart. The three major centers are so powerful in the most unevolved person even in their unopened state that they have produced physical correspondences or glands. Their vibration is such that already in all men they sound, and through sounding attract and consequently produce a form. In the disciple or initiate these three centers not only sound but form words; they therefore command the building of vital forces and take the entire man under control. The glands corresponding to the three centers are: The pineal gland and pituitary body - Head center, The thyroid gland - Throat center, The spleen - Heart center. "Out of the heart are the issues of life"; from it the current of the life blood circulates; from its development in the Atlantean race and the consequent coordination and growth of the astral or emotional body, the heart center has become the most important in the body. Its activity and development has been paralleled by the spleen, which is the organ of vitality, of prana or physical sun force, in the body. [306] There are other glands having a close relation to the various centers but the subject is too vast to be more than hinted at here. There is not, however, the same close relation existing between the glands associated with the centers below the diaphragm as with those connected with the major centers, situated above the diaphragm. In the sutra under consideration we are dealing with one of the five most important centers, and this for the reason that: 1. It is situated in the center of the trunk. It is therefore a correspondence of the middle principle. In man in Atlantean days the three major centers for that race were: The Head - Father or spiritual aspect, The Solar Plexus - The Son or soul aspect, The Base of the Spine - The Holy Ghost or matter aspect. The soul was not then so individualized as it is now. The animal soul controlled, and consequently full contact with the anima mundi was the dominant factor. As time elapsed, the soul became more individualized in each human being, and more and more separative, as the mind aspect (the great dividing factor) dominated. At the close of this race, the three main centers will be the head, the heart, and the base of the spine. In the sixth race we shall have, the head, the heart, and the throat. In the final race of the illuminated sons of God, the seventh, we shall have as the centers through which they work: [307] The thousand petalled head center - life or spiritual aspect, The center between the eyebrows - Son or consciousness aspect, The throat - The Holy Ghost or creative aspect. Through the first, spiritual life will pour in from the monad; through the second, the Christ principle, the light of the world, the soul will work, pouring light and life on all things, and using it as the great organ of awareness. Through the last, the work of creation will be carried on, and the creative word sent forth. This general view is given so as to present to the student the vision of what lies ahead. It is, however, of no present value; most aspirants are concerned with the solar plexus and hence the necessity of our present consideration. 2. It is the organ of the astral nature, of the emotions, moods, desires and feelings and hence is most active in all. It is through it that the lower bodily functions are aroused - desire to eat, to drink, and to procreate, and through it the lower centers are contacted and work with them is carried forward. In the disciple, the heart supersedes the solar plexus; in the Master, the head. All the centers, however, are the expression of the life and love of God, and in their totality and perfection express the Christ life. 3. It is the center wherein is carried forward the great work of transmuting all the lower and animal desires into the higher. Through it literally [308] must be passed the forces of the lower nature. It gathers up the forces of the body below the diaphragm and directs them upward. 4. In the solar plexus, the animal soul becomes merged in the soul of man, and the Christ consciousness is seen in germ. Taking the analogy of the antenatal state and the germinating of the Christ in each human being, students who have their intuition developed will see the correspondence between the activity of the solar plexus and its function, and the first three and one-half months of the antenatal period. Then comes what is called the "quickening" and life makes itself felt. A rising up takes place, and the correspondence can then be seen between the natural physiological process and the birth of the Christ in the cave of the heart. Herein lies the deep mystery of initiation, and it is only revealed to those who tread the Path of Discipleship to the end. We are told in this sutra that knowledge as to the condition of the body comes through meditation upon this center. The reason is this: when man arrives at an understanding of his emotional body and of the force center through which it functions upon the physical plane, he finds that all that he is (physically and etherically) is the result of desire, of kama, and that it is his desires which chain him upon the wheel of rebirth. Hence the emphasis laid by the yogi upon that basic discrimination through which a man develops the capacity to choose between the real and the unreal and which cultivates in him a just [309] sense of values. Then follows dispassion which, when developed, gives him a distaste for the life of sensuous perception. When the aspirant can grasp the place that desire plays in his life, when he realizes that it is his emotional or astral body which produces the greater part of the trouble in his lower nature, and when he can grasp the technical side of the process which desire-energy follows, then the work of the solar plexus is understood and he can begin the great dual work of transference and transmutation. He has to transfer the energy of the centers below the diaphragm into those above, and in the process transmute and change the energy. The centers are to be found up the spine, but it aids the student considerably if he can grasp the idea of the relative localities in the body which are energized and affected by these centers. All these centers have physical plane organs which are the result of the response of dense substance to their vibration. The Three Major Centers Head center - brain, pineal gland and pituitary body, Throat - larynx, vocal cords and palate, thyroid, gland, Heart - pericardium, ventricles, auricles with spleen affected. The Four Minor Centers Solar plexus - stomach, Spleen - spleen, Sacral - generative organs, Base of spine - eliminative organs, kidneys, bladder. [310] These physical organs are results or effects; the centers are their physical cause and they are produced through the activity of the etheric centers. These details have been given and the above information collated, owing to the importance of the solar plexus in this fourth round of the fourth creative Hierarchy (the Hierarchy of human monads or spirits), the fourth center in man whether considered upward or downward. One more technical point might here be given. In the process of transmutation the student should remember that: The energy at the base of the spine must go to the head, The energy of the sacral center must go to the throat, The energy of the solar plexus must go to the heart. Splenic energy concerns solely the physical body. It goes to all the centers.
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