Meditation on the
Light in the Head

(Left: Illustration of the Chakras by C.W. Leadbeater)

(The following is part of a longer article that I have split into three parts on this site and edited by shortening, slightly. These are not the meditations from the Chakra series, but there are links to this page from there.)

To practice this meditation, close your eyes and observe your inner field of vision by focusing the attention at the point in the center of the forehead, just slightly above the point between the eyebrows (Third Eye Center or Agna Chakra). Related to the faculty of clairvoyant vision, the physical manifestation or anchorage point is the pituitary gland, which is located in a bony cradle in back of the root of the nose.

When you close your eyes, look steadily into your inner field of vision until light, color and patterns begin to appear. (This is looking with your attention and not with the physical eyes, which should remain relaxed.) When most people close their eyes, initially they see a black void. By looking steadily into this void, various colors and patterns will begin to appear. When this happens, simply observe them with your full, undivided attention as if you were intently watching a movie.

Then periodically focus all of your attention within the smallest point that you can see in the center of your field of vision, and pierce through that point. After you have done this, the light will again blaze forth from the point in a new burst of energy, and you will find yourself at a higher rate of vibration or plane of energy. With continued practice of this form of meditation, you will become immersed in a blazing sea of light, and you will become a center from which that spiritual power is radiated.

By concentrating the attention in the Sahasrara Chakra, located at the top of the head, an experienced meditator can release an even more powerful radiation of light and spiritual energy. (It may take more work to activate this chakra; the beginner can get more immediate results by looking through the Third Eye Center.) The Sahasrara Wheel is the highest chakra. Called the Doorway to the Infinite and the Brahma-Randhra or Hole of Brahma, it is the most powerful and spiritual of all the centers that can be awakened (with the possible exception of the Heart Chakra, which is considered by some yogis to be of equal importance). When the Sahasrara Chakra is fully activated in a perfected yogin or saint, the white fire of Cosmic Kundalini descends and blends with his (or her) own rising Kundalini force, and the white light of spirituality radiates for miles around.

 

Meditation on the Chakras

By focusing the attention on various locations within the body, where the chakras are located, it is possible to activate these chakras and facilitate an increased flow of energy between the higher planes of energy and the subtle body, thus releasing an increased amount of spiritual energy. There are 7 major chakras in the body which link together the physical body and the subtle energy bodies. (There are many pages dedicated to each of these in my Chakra Series.)

Chakras are revolving vortexes of energy that act as mechanisms for the absorption and radiation of spiritual energy. In the physical body, they relate to glands and major nerve centers. In the etheric body, they are like wheels with flower petals which are created by a sort of stroboscopic effect of the revolving energy. The etheric chakra flowers are connected by a sort of funnel-like stem to the gland or nerve plexus to which they belong.

In the astral body, the chakras appear as whirlpools of energy, like the eddies in a stream of water or in a basin of water when the stopper is pulled out. In the mental body, they appear as converging lines of light.

 

• MULADHARA CHAKRA—At the base of the spine, this is the seat of the Kundalini Fire Wheel when aroused. In the advanced stages of Yoga, it rises up through the center of the spine and activates the highest chakra in the cerebral cortex called the Sahasraram Chakra.
• SWADHISTHANA CHAKRA—This relates to the sacral center, the adrenal glands, and is related to the absorption of pranic vitality, which is in the air. The air absorbs this energy from solar radiation. There seems to be some differences of opinion between various texts as to whether the Muladhara Chakra or Svadhisthana Chakra relates most directly to the sexual functions.
• MANIPURA (SOLAR PLEXUS) CHAKRA—This relates to the digestive functions and vitality of the astral desires and feeling emotions.
• ANAHATA (HEART) CHAKRA—This relates to the source of spiritual energy and the higher emotions of love, altruism and benevolence.
• VISUDDHA (THROAT) CHAKRA—Related to the thyroid gland, this has to do with the power of speech and relates to Mantra Yoga and the capacity for artistic creativity. This center is activated by chanting and singing.
• AGNA CHAKRA—THIRD EYE—Located on the forehead, just slightly above and between the eyebrows. It is related to the pituitary gland and the subcortical areas of the brain. This is about the higher mind faculties of clairvoyance, scientific reasoning, willing and philosophical thought. Its development awakens the ability to see and regulate astral and mental forces on the superphysical level.
• SAHASRARA CHAKRA—The top chakra is related to the pineal gland and the cerebral cortex. It's located at the top of the head. It relates to the sound current and the faculty of clairvoyant hearing, and is the most spiritual of all the chakras. When this chakra is fully developed, union with God-consciousness is possible, and Illumination takes place.

 

By focusing the attention in any one of the chakras, the lower overtones of the concentration of consciousness in that location activates that chakra and increases the energy flow in it, making possible a conscious entry into the superphysical planes of energy.

Meditation on the first three chakras—Root, Sacral, and Solar Plexus—is not recommended because this can arouse lower emotions. This can cause psychological imbalance. It is better to work with the Heart Center, the Agna Chakra, and the Sahasrara Chakra because these are the most directly related to the unfoldment of superconsciousness. When awakened, these will automatically develop the lower chakras by changing the glandular balance of the body and by circulating new pranic forces through the energy channels or nadis of the etheric body as well as purifying and strengthening the astral and mental bodies.

The hormones that the pituitary gland secretes, regulates the other glands in the body including the thymus, thyroid, adrenal, and the sex glands, as well as other glands. Once the pituitary gland is fully activated by the development of the Agna Chakra, all other glands are brought into proper chemical balance, thus helping to properly develop and raise the vibratory rate of all the lower chakras.

In Kundalini Yoga, an advanced Yoga practice, concentration is done on the Muladhara Chakra at the base of the spine in order to arouse the Kundalini Fire and bring it through the center of the spine to activate the highest chakra, the Sahasrara, at the top of the head. If however, the Kundalini Fire is prematurely aroused and not properly directed, great damage can be done to the nervous system and to the etheric body. If the Kundalini force is not properly directed upwards, it can revert downward causing abnormal sexual desire. Therefore, arousing the Kundalini should only be done in advanced stages of Yoga when a great deal of purification of the subtle bodies has taken place and soul control over the personality is well established.

(This is covered in the Chakra Series. I include this as part of this article, but I think it is safe to say that in this day and age, most people are not going to have this experience. Many Gurus feel the same way, but I have also included quotes from one who doesn't believe it is dangerous at all.

Source: This article is part of a larger one that originally appeared as an uncopyrighted set of mimeographed sheets sometime during the late 1960s, which were freely distributed on a limited basis in San Francisco. Feel free to make copies of this article and to distribute it to to keep this information alive. Better than having it disappear into antiquity. (The author wrote this.)