Post by Yogavatar सौन्दर्य on Feb 11, 2024 15:29:28 GMT
Hridayakasha dharana, concentration on the heart space, is a
vedic meditative process involving the three bodies of prajna, tejas
and vaishwanara. In this process the light is experienced in the
heart. There are many Upanishads which give descriptions of the
hridayakasha dharana techniques. These are techniques dealing with
the intensity of emotion and feeling, creation of an emotion, colours
of an emotion, changing of an emotion and also the dimension
beyond emotion. These are not the conscious emotions which we
deal with normally in daily life, but the deep, subconscious feelings
which are far more intense. These emotions have to be experienced
and relived in order to break the conditioning of the mind. The
psychotherapeutic aspect of meditation has its roots in hridayakasha
dharana.
Daharakasha dharana, concentration on the space of the lower
regions, is comprised of the techniques found in the kundalini
literature. These practices involve concentration on specific images
in the region of mooladhara, swadhisthana or manipura. Here one
sees a lotus flower, a colour, a symbol, a deity, an animal or an
element. This detailed awareness of the chakras is daharakasha
dharana. In particular, one builds up an understanding of the active
role of the elements or maha bhootas of earth, water, fire, air and
ether or space.
Vyoma panchaka: five subtle spaces
Once one is established in the subtle awareness given by
daharakasha, which gives insight into the way one’s inner experience
is influenced by the maha bhootas and their interaction with the
senses, instincts, emotional and mental states, one comes to vyoma
panchaka. Vyoma means ‘space’ and panchaka means ‘five’.
In the Yoga Upanishads the vyoma panchaka practice forms part
of taraka yoga, which takes one across the ocean of samsara into the
transcendental unmanifest dimension, and is therefore part of laya
yoga. However, this is for practitioners who experience the vyoma
panchaka spontaneously, without effort. For aspirants who need to
build up the experience in stages, the practice becomes part of the
effort to perfect dharana and can therefore be classified as raja yoga.
Daharakasha, hridayakasha and chidakasha, the three gross
spaces, are experienced in the conscious and subconscious. But the
experience of the five subtle mental spaces, collectively known as the
vyoma panchaka, is in the realm of the unconscious and
superconscious. For the yogi who has developed the drashta, or
witnessing consciousness, the ‘unconscious’ does not refer to absence
of awareness but rather to the absence of vrittis, the previously
known structures or modifications of the mind. The vyoma panchaka
lead the practitioner through previously veiled realms of experience,
through the unconscious and beyond.
These five spaces consist of: guna rahita akasha, param akasha,
maha akasha, tattwa akasha and surya akasha.
1. Guna rahita akasha is the attributeless space. The word guna
means ‘attribute’ or ‘quality’, rahita means ‘without’ and akasha
means ‘space’. The final experience in this akasha, taken literally
from the scriptures, is that ‘in the morning a complete ring of
sunlight or flame of fire is seen’. This description gives some idea of
what guna rahita akasha is. It is seen that after one has passed
through the experiences of the three spaces and beyond the
conscious and subconscious planes of life, then at the unconscious
level prajna purusha or the prajna identity is perceived as a
luminous body.
A ring of fire or sunlight, representing the luminous body, is
beyond the known attributes of the manifest and physical
dimensions. It is beyond the realm of physical and mental gunas.
Maintaining this vision or visual experience for an extended period
is the experience of guna rahita akasha. The vision of prajna is not
involuntary vision, it is voluntary vision. Just as we can imagine the
image of a rose or of any other object if we wish, in the same way, this
vision becomes a voluntary visual experience.
2. Param akasha is described as ‘deep, dark space with a twinkling
star-like light’. There is a state of perception known as shoonya or
nothingness. Here total absence of light, cognition and knowledge is
experienced, with just the awareness remaining in the form of a tiny
star or point of light. It is self-contained awareness, not dissipated or
expanded awareness, but a fixed, luminous point of awareness. From
this, a meditative process has been developed known as shoonya
meditation. There comes a point after this where there is total
absence of external and internal awareness, and only awareness is
active. That state is the experience of param akasha. Param means
‘supreme’, therefore, this is the ‘supreme space’.
3. Maha akasha is described as a ‘bright like the middle of the sun,
which no eyes can see’. You cannot see the brilliance of the sun by
going into the middle of it. This shoonya state is evolving. Initially
there was total darkness with just a point of light, and that
represented awareness. The recognition of that point of light is
drashta, observing the awareness. But here the merger of drashta
with that awareness takes place so that the whole personality is
engulfed by total awareness. It is like being in the centre of the sun,
surrounded by brilliance and light. That is known as maha, the
great.
4. Tattwa akasha is the elemental space. The word tattwa means
‘element’, but here the experience is not of the five gross elements
which we know as earth, water, fire, air, and ether, but of the seed or
essence from which the elements are germinated. In this space, the
tattwas exist in a dormant state, and so there is no activity, no motion
which is expanding outwards. There is perfect stillness or quietness
where each faculty is centred in its own being, so there is no action,
nor is there any seed which creates action in the form of desire. In
this space the concept of duality has vanished, all experiences
relating to name, form and idea have disappeared and there is
absolute stillness.
5. Surya akasha is the luminous space of the sun or the soul which
is pure and untainted. The word surya means ‘sun’, but it is also
interchangeable with atma or ‘soul’, which is the internal, selfluminous principle and illumination. The space of surya or atma is
considered to be the source of light which is manifest in every visible
and invisible object of creation. It is both seen and unseen. This
space is a permanent reality and it is illumined by the tattwas or
elements. It represents the pure form of the tattwas at the time of
their creation.
These are the vyoma panchaka or the five subtle spaces of which
we build awareness in the intermediate stage of lakshya dharana. As
the consciousness becomes stabilized in subtler perceptions, the
practice takes on a new dimension, becoming part of laya yoga,
where individual consciousness dissolves in the knowledge of the
absolute.
Yoga Darshan by Swami Niranjan
vedic meditative process involving the three bodies of prajna, tejas
and vaishwanara. In this process the light is experienced in the
heart. There are many Upanishads which give descriptions of the
hridayakasha dharana techniques. These are techniques dealing with
the intensity of emotion and feeling, creation of an emotion, colours
of an emotion, changing of an emotion and also the dimension
beyond emotion. These are not the conscious emotions which we
deal with normally in daily life, but the deep, subconscious feelings
which are far more intense. These emotions have to be experienced
and relived in order to break the conditioning of the mind. The
psychotherapeutic aspect of meditation has its roots in hridayakasha
dharana.
Daharakasha dharana, concentration on the space of the lower
regions, is comprised of the techniques found in the kundalini
literature. These practices involve concentration on specific images
in the region of mooladhara, swadhisthana or manipura. Here one
sees a lotus flower, a colour, a symbol, a deity, an animal or an
element. This detailed awareness of the chakras is daharakasha
dharana. In particular, one builds up an understanding of the active
role of the elements or maha bhootas of earth, water, fire, air and
ether or space.
Vyoma panchaka: five subtle spaces
Once one is established in the subtle awareness given by
daharakasha, which gives insight into the way one’s inner experience
is influenced by the maha bhootas and their interaction with the
senses, instincts, emotional and mental states, one comes to vyoma
panchaka. Vyoma means ‘space’ and panchaka means ‘five’.
In the Yoga Upanishads the vyoma panchaka practice forms part
of taraka yoga, which takes one across the ocean of samsara into the
transcendental unmanifest dimension, and is therefore part of laya
yoga. However, this is for practitioners who experience the vyoma
panchaka spontaneously, without effort. For aspirants who need to
build up the experience in stages, the practice becomes part of the
effort to perfect dharana and can therefore be classified as raja yoga.
Daharakasha, hridayakasha and chidakasha, the three gross
spaces, are experienced in the conscious and subconscious. But the
experience of the five subtle mental spaces, collectively known as the
vyoma panchaka, is in the realm of the unconscious and
superconscious. For the yogi who has developed the drashta, or
witnessing consciousness, the ‘unconscious’ does not refer to absence
of awareness but rather to the absence of vrittis, the previously
known structures or modifications of the mind. The vyoma panchaka
lead the practitioner through previously veiled realms of experience,
through the unconscious and beyond.
These five spaces consist of: guna rahita akasha, param akasha,
maha akasha, tattwa akasha and surya akasha.
1. Guna rahita akasha is the attributeless space. The word guna
means ‘attribute’ or ‘quality’, rahita means ‘without’ and akasha
means ‘space’. The final experience in this akasha, taken literally
from the scriptures, is that ‘in the morning a complete ring of
sunlight or flame of fire is seen’. This description gives some idea of
what guna rahita akasha is. It is seen that after one has passed
through the experiences of the three spaces and beyond the
conscious and subconscious planes of life, then at the unconscious
level prajna purusha or the prajna identity is perceived as a
luminous body.
A ring of fire or sunlight, representing the luminous body, is
beyond the known attributes of the manifest and physical
dimensions. It is beyond the realm of physical and mental gunas.
Maintaining this vision or visual experience for an extended period
is the experience of guna rahita akasha. The vision of prajna is not
involuntary vision, it is voluntary vision. Just as we can imagine the
image of a rose or of any other object if we wish, in the same way, this
vision becomes a voluntary visual experience.
2. Param akasha is described as ‘deep, dark space with a twinkling
star-like light’. There is a state of perception known as shoonya or
nothingness. Here total absence of light, cognition and knowledge is
experienced, with just the awareness remaining in the form of a tiny
star or point of light. It is self-contained awareness, not dissipated or
expanded awareness, but a fixed, luminous point of awareness. From
this, a meditative process has been developed known as shoonya
meditation. There comes a point after this where there is total
absence of external and internal awareness, and only awareness is
active. That state is the experience of param akasha. Param means
‘supreme’, therefore, this is the ‘supreme space’.
3. Maha akasha is described as a ‘bright like the middle of the sun,
which no eyes can see’. You cannot see the brilliance of the sun by
going into the middle of it. This shoonya state is evolving. Initially
there was total darkness with just a point of light, and that
represented awareness. The recognition of that point of light is
drashta, observing the awareness. But here the merger of drashta
with that awareness takes place so that the whole personality is
engulfed by total awareness. It is like being in the centre of the sun,
surrounded by brilliance and light. That is known as maha, the
great.
4. Tattwa akasha is the elemental space. The word tattwa means
‘element’, but here the experience is not of the five gross elements
which we know as earth, water, fire, air, and ether, but of the seed or
essence from which the elements are germinated. In this space, the
tattwas exist in a dormant state, and so there is no activity, no motion
which is expanding outwards. There is perfect stillness or quietness
where each faculty is centred in its own being, so there is no action,
nor is there any seed which creates action in the form of desire. In
this space the concept of duality has vanished, all experiences
relating to name, form and idea have disappeared and there is
absolute stillness.
5. Surya akasha is the luminous space of the sun or the soul which
is pure and untainted. The word surya means ‘sun’, but it is also
interchangeable with atma or ‘soul’, which is the internal, selfluminous principle and illumination. The space of surya or atma is
considered to be the source of light which is manifest in every visible
and invisible object of creation. It is both seen and unseen. This
space is a permanent reality and it is illumined by the tattwas or
elements. It represents the pure form of the tattwas at the time of
their creation.
These are the vyoma panchaka or the five subtle spaces of which
we build awareness in the intermediate stage of lakshya dharana. As
the consciousness becomes stabilized in subtler perceptions, the
practice takes on a new dimension, becoming part of laya yoga,
where individual consciousness dissolves in the knowledge of the
absolute.
Yoga Darshan by Swami Niranjan