Awaken Aspiration by Raising Energy

It was not until rocket engines were built with a strong enough thrust to escape the earth's gravity that man actually landed on the moon. In the same manner, those of us who wish to get closer to Divinity can attain our goal only when we are able to generate enough upward thrust to break free of the gravitational pull of worldly desires and attachments.

The centre point between the eyebrows known as the spiritual eye, or seat of superconsciousness, may be called the inner 'moon'in man, the centre of his divine awareness.

But many a practising yogi — concentrating on this point in the hope of centring his awareness there — finds his efforts unfruitful; his consciousness remains anchored firmly to earth. He must deliberately generate more upward 'thrust'in his endeavour to transcend matter- consciousness.

Anything that increases the upward flow of energy in your body when you meditate will facilitate your efforts to focus your attention on the spiritual eye. Your measure of concentration depends entirely on how much energy you can direct in the process. Divine awakening depends upon channelling all of your energy upward, and focusing it at the point between the eyebrows.

The first battle is to generate enough of an upward flow to break free of the downward, gravitational pull of matter. For this, three things are necessary:

1) avoidance of those actions and states of consciousness which pull the energy downward;
2) upward, devotional aspiration;
3) techniques specifically directed towards raising the energy in the body.

Consider briefly the relationship between matter-identification and awareness itself. Any increase of the one always entails a decrease of the other. The gross materialist is less sensitively aware even of this world than one who lives primarily in the consciousness of spiritual realities. In the most material manifestations of spirit, rocks and minerals, consciousness is so reduced that it is latent. That's why Hindu scriptures say: "God sleeps in the rocks.”

For an enlightened yogi, matter is seen essentially not to exist, yet his consciousness is absolute. Awareness increases in inverse proportion to the degree of one's identification with matter, or form.

To free your energy from the downward pull of matter, avoid anything that dulls the mind, or increases its identification with the senses. Laziness, oversleep, mental vagueness or lack of interest, boredom, even selfishness, hatred, or pride, must be cured by daily mental injections of keen interest and enthusiasm, kindness, forgiveness, and self-forgetfulness in doing things for others. For whenever the former predominate, the energy automatically moves downward, but when the latter predominate, it moves upward effortlessly towards the brain.

You should be self-controlled, identified less and less with the senses, and more and more with the soul within. For though one experiences pleasure through the senses, the more one looks to those pleasures to stimulate one's awareness, the more, in the long run, they become dulled.

On the other hand, increasingly to abandon sense pleasures — far from producing a state of boredom — permits one's awareness to soar so that boredom becomes unimaginable. Devotional aspiration can be awakened by chanting, service or meditation.

Awaken Aspiration by Raising Energy
Times Of India