"As particles of matter combine in space, so mind-waves combine in time."
– Swami Vivekananda
The three barriers or psychic knots circumvent our energy flow, separating individual from cosmic consciousness. Although these psychic barriers do not exist in physical form, they are quite real and their influence is very tangible. They exist in the collective unconscious mind of all beings, which makes them a mental reality. They exist as effemre, ever-present, pulsating in the background...
Contrary to popular belief, these three barriers were common knowledge before Hinduism and Buddhism. They date as far back as the earlier teachings of shamanism. However, in comparison to prehistoric doctrines, our scientific acceptance of this phenomenon is rare. These barriers exist as an intrinsic part of the subtle energy system. As previously mentioned, they circumvent the energy flow. This means they also direct the flow of the energy-currents between specific areas. As long as the barriers are in place, these energy-currents don't flow in a unified manner. They can cooperate as well as co-exist to excellent degrees, but they do not function as one.
In the field of transpersonal psychology, the three barriers represent hindrances in your consciousness development that must be overcome to proceed to higher levels of awareness. In death, these 'psychic barriers' prevent us from striving for liberation from the cycle of rebirth or more suitable incarnations. In life, they bind us to this worldly existence, as we know it, by influencing our perception. They represent three overall consciousness states associated with the seven primary energy centres. Each also correspond to states of consciousness within those states. Needles to say, without overcoming these barriers, we may not attain higher levels of awareness, which means we cannot break the cycle.
When scientists speak of a unified energy field, they do not yet officially recognise that these psychic energy 'loops' are very important in the process of consciousness evolution and ultimately to the process of light transmutation. Our scientific understanding, involving a theory of everything, is incomplete without advancing life, death and rebirth. The unified energy field exists on variant scales. On a larger scale, the energy field of Existence remains in a unified state, where it exists in perfect equilibrium. On a smaller scale, there are life-forms, who through dedicated work managed to 'unify' their bio-electromagnetic field. In terms of advanced biophysics, unification only has two outcomes: Absorption or Dissolution. The difference is that when consciousness is absorbed by the unified energy field of all existences as one, self-realisation occurs. Conversely, in the case of dissolution, 'we' are dormant in the absence of consciousness.
Birth, death and reincarnation are integral aspects of our journey to infinite awareness. However, we should not believe anything we read or hear. We must find the truth of existence for ourselves. Just because it sounds good or feels right does not make it true. Follow the evidence at all times. Do not take anything for granted. Question everything. More importantly, do not be mislead or silenced.
In actuality, we can only realise our true nature, once we know it for ourselves. We may extinguish all our desires, even break our alliance with karma, but in the absence of real knowledge, this will be short-lived. The enlightened could be offered a seat in the highest heaven, but they would, if given a choice, decline to free others from hardship...That is when we can come close to understanding what it may take to realistically attain the higher levels required to overcome injury, disease, ageing and death. Evolution does not just occur, it happen when a species develops in a specific direction through they way they spend their lives.
When fanciful ideas of comfort, luxury or pleasure no longer appeal to us, for we realise that we already are and have all that we could ever wish for...That is when it will all dawn on us, but only when we find the absolute truth for ourselves.
The psychological barriers symbolise hindrances in your development we must overcome to proceed to higher levels of understanding. In death, these 'psychic knots' prevent us from striving for rebirth in higher planes and/or self-realisation. In life, they bind us to our worldly existence, as we know it. Without piercing them, we may not transcend the limitations of the material continuum, because we remain bound by their illusory hold over us. We are one in heart, mind and spirit...We have taken form as the multi-verse, when in truth, we are the all- pervasive Infinity prior to its the many worlds…
Location: Below the Navel Associated Chakras: Root & Sacral Chakra
Piercing this knot can be painful when the necessary assistance is not provided or the conditions are not ideal (i.e. the spine, back and neck are not in alignment). However, untying the perineal knot can be a liberating, truly blissful experience. Sri Ramachandra refers to this as a little taste of bliss, which encourages the practitioner to continue their spiritual progress. Awakening the cosmic energy (Kundalini) dormant at the bottom of the spinal column weakens the first psychic barrier, as much as it can pierce it under the right circumstances.
Where attention goes, energy flows. Therefore, when we are pre-occupied with the physical world, our survival, procreation and/or sensory pleasure, we are engaging our lower 2 energy centres that directly correspond to lower states of consciousness. When we predominantly bounce between these lower states, we often become mildly to extremely self-obsessed and in need of constant feedback to mask our insecurities. At worst, we become very materialistic and goal- oriented narcissists with little consideration for ethics. At best, we understand that physical safety is an illusion without experiencing the urge to self-destruct as a consequence. For example, locking our front door cannot keep us safe, but we still lock it for the sake of common sense. When we feel genuinely secure within ourselves, the ground underneath our feet could shatter unexpectedly. We no longer hold onto the ever-changing part of what we once perceived as our identity. We come to understand why we are bound by cause & effect.
All meditation is practice for meditative concentration and absorption. The word 'practice' should be taken very literal here. Meditation is preparation for direct or indirect contact with the subtle levels of reality, including the absolute, cosmic essence of infinite Existence. Yet, before we can successfully initiate contact with our higher aspects, as it may, we must prepare our mind-body complex for the experience. Otherwise, it might drive us insane.
Before we continue, it ought to be acknowledged, at a certain point in our consciousness development, we can no longer consume the meat of any living creature. Consciousness cannot rise above a certain level without complete renunciation from animal products, as a show of divine, selfless love that transcends the boundaries of our race consciousness. The heart may not open. However, the universe can often give us exactly what we desire or ask for...at a cost. The price of consuming animals, slaughtered for our culinary enjoyment, is that we will meet the same fate (in this form, theirs or another). With the same stroke, we cannot raise our vibrational frequency to higher levels, while our excess consumption paves the way for the sixth mass extinction concerning all species on this planet. We are responsible, even if we are very careful not consume animal products, since we are allowing mass extinction events to pass without intervening... It is our collective responsibility and that of any sentient being currently observing this process. One cannot untie the first knot, as long as our desires continue to yield negative effects. Desire is that which gives karma its momentum...It is the force, which drives our actions.
Force cannot be destroyed, it can only be dissipated. So, cause & effect cannot lose its momentum, until all worldly desires have dissipated in their entirety. Even if the body dies, our attachments or aversions accompany us to the nether- regions of the cosmos along with the ego...
Crazy Fact: Whenever we are somewhere looking for something, where we should not be looking (or when we are doing something that we should not be doing, even if it is solely through association), things go terribly wrong. The effect of the cause varies on a temporal scale from wasted time, pain, suffering to premature death, but it is tangibly real and directly related to the cause...as if, the material continuum has an inbuilt moral compass. (Though it is hardly recognised Hubbard put this phenomenon on the map as an empirically-testable 'form of karma', the implications are astoundingly far-reaching.)
At this level of consciousness, the energy-current is predominantly downward- flowing, unless the first psychological barrier inside the root energy centre has been overcome. In death, this also implies that the individual consciousness is often re-assimilated or re-allocated to more instinctual states (until reincarnation into a vessel capable of sentient consciousness and/or self-realisation becomes possible in accordance with cause & effect).
It may be interesting to know that animals often reincarnate into human form after being slaughtered for their meat, as cause & effect on a moral spectrum. Although this has been common knowledge since before the Vedas, it is scarcely explained in the West, as the consequences of animal consumption would significantly dent the profits, if we accepted conclusive proof.
As consciousness is propelled out of the body, in the instance that the current of energy flows downward, the individual consciousness is thought to transmigrate to the denser regions in the astral plane. According to the Upanishads, after an our body 'wears off' and is discarded, we reach a disembodied state. Although we may realise ourselves as Existence, liberation/moksha is not an after-death state.
Desirelessness: Think of the psychological barriers as safety valves. The first safety valve serves to ensure our physical survival, until we attain higher levels of consciousness. At this stage, needs manifest from desires without deeper understanding about their origin, causing inner conflict. Hence, we often express them through paradoxical, counterproductive behaviour. Before the perineal knot can be successfully loosened to be untied, we have to discard all hopes, wants and cravings, even the desire to be desireless.
Once this has been achieved, survival-orientated behaviour, sense gratification or procreation are no longer defining qualities of the personality. When we rise above this level, we cease to complain, pursue selfish goals or hoard resources. We develop an imperishable trust in the process of life that is based on the experiential knowledge we have gained...
We begin to recognise all our physical attachments and aversions are rooted in a desire for something else entirely. They stem from a deep urge for wholeness that creates a bottomless pit within, which we cannot fill with anything conceived in the relative space. It can only be quieted complete through contact with the source of the whole itself.
Tips & Tricks: There was a time, when I was working over 230 hours a month without much sleep...And at the end of every paycheck, I would just about cover the rent, bills, university and maybe £10 for food that'd have to last the month. At times, it would not even be enough to keep the heating on during winter. As the recession worsened, more and more cutbacks became necessary. It made me realise that our aspirations define us only as intensely as that which we are willing to sacrifice for them. They drive us to take actions, in search to fulfil our innermost dreams in the external world. The more energy and resources, we divert to our goals, the higher is the likelihood, we may succeed, but exceptions make the rule. In any case, until our goals have been achieved, we are often caught in an uphill struggle. It is easy to be lured into situations, which force us to question whether we are actually going anywhere or if we can even get all the way to the top...So, we compromise. However, once we begin to settle for less without any chance for improvement, where will it end? More often than not, when we make concessions, they are rarely mutual. With our superiors, we don't dare be as bold as to make unreasonable demands, especially after a set-back. (Despite the fact that we may be getting royally screwed for undue causes, we have to maintain our resolve.) With our partner, we genuinely strive to reach an agreement based on reciprocity, but no battle-plan survives the first shot. Although resentment invariably builds up for accepting standards that are less than desirable or morally acceptable, these feelings are frequently suppressed. We aim to keep them in check, yet we cannot do so indefinitely. The probability is that our true thoughts will surface under the pressure of extreme stress and/or emotion...that eventually, after the lid blows when it's least expected, we look inside ourselves to realise our entire life-choices were built on compromise. We feel as if we spend every day stuck in a routine built on misery. We work a menial, dead-end job to earn just enough money for rent or food, but we accept that'll never change in this life, since we have nothing to offer the powers-that-be. In doing so, we demean, shackle and torment ourselves by settling for what we know in our hearts, we wouldn't ask anyone else to settle for. The way we spend our days is ultimately how we will have spent our lives. Our daily habits are a large part of our routine. They affect our personality in predominant ways. Statistically, they become what'll kill or heal us in the end.
When we step out of character, we not only violate our own expectations. We disappoint others. We let down every member in our global community by not standing up. Our society is founded on settling for detrimental standards. Clean air, food, water and power are a remnant of a distant past, so we accept the disastrous options available to us. We tell ourselves that it is only temporary, as the influential leaders of our societies could not sell products with severe effects on our health and environment for the sake of profit. They provide us with far too many options for all of them to be immoral, but the truth is they are...
Everything we choose in this world has its purposes, but more importantly, its designed consequences, particularly non-choices.
The perineal barrier starts with renunciation. It creates the foundation for our practice to cultivate progressively higher levels of awareness. As stated previously, all our needs exist for a purpose, which can either be overcome through deep inner realisations or manipulated for personal gain. Could you imagine getting up in the morning without craving nicotine, caffeine, soft-drinks or animal products? There are perhaps a handful of products on the global market that remain unaltered by toxic chemicals used as additives, preservatives and/or flavouring. Unless you grow your own vegetables and raise your own livestock, you are affected! And even then, your livestock is probably in danger and your crops at risk of failing, so you are equally affected! Ultimately, if we breathe the same air, your health is endangered! There is no escape, as the environmental consequences concern every living being being driven toward mass extinction.
Those of you, who have tried to give up processed food, drink and/or chemical substances will know that nausea, headaches and weight gain/loss are common side-effects. Essentially, we begin to suffer from withdrawal. When detoxing, embrace the challenges that come with the experience. They are a vital part of your success. Also, there are countless tricks to speed up the process and soothe these symptoms naturally. In rare cases, as a result of prolonged exposure, people can present with intense symptoms, which usually reach their peak in two weeks, before they slowly lessen. Getting through the first month gives us the opportunity to learn how to cope with change and stress more effectively. This notwithstanding, before you engage in any of the techniques listed in this book, take a few minutes out of your daily schedule to reflect upon your thoughts and behaviour. There are countless little things that can annoy, anger or frustrate us in retrospect. We can easily lose ourselves in the moment or relapse back into old patterns, if we don't keep working on ourselves after we've started.
Keys to Overcoming Adversity: Look for a transcendental anchor, which allows you to maintain a calm, composed exterior that radiates an air of contentment from within. Internally, you may initially experience some discomfort, but hold onto the anchor. It can be the image of a formless deity, tranquil scenery or higher goal. The discomfort will vanish as soon as you've identified and dealt with its many sources. Figuratively speaking, to bite your tongue requires much more self-restraint and willpower than to simply go with whatever feels natural. What feels natural is often conditioned behaviour, designed to reinforce whatever we require it to reinforce at the time. It is inherently injurious to others as well as ourselves. For example, what you say, when it doesn't need to be said and what you don't say, particularly when it needs to be said. Be honest, but kind with your thoughts or words, even when the truth may be painful or not remotely what people want to hear. Otherwise, learn to remain silent, until the right time.
Clean eating does not mean we have to abstain from that which we enjoy. It means we can discover healthier substitutes that actually support our journey to self-realisation. Moderation through understanding is the key to find balance in all areas of life, therefore educating yourself beyond societal/cultural biases is essential. Trust nothing, question everything, because nothing is as it seems. No matter how well we think we truly know something or someone, one day we will realise we only know a fragment of what there is to know... For instance, over- stimulation of insulin through the consumption of dairy products and sweet foods increases IGF-1 signalling as a direct by-product of the Western diet. This is a root cause of innumerable acquired and hereditary diseases...
Society has been engineered in such a way that it is an obstacle to higher levels of consciousness. In turn, moderating our habits or even exposure to the outside world directly inhibits our development. In other words, what we need to survive prevents our long-term survival. By cutting down on the consuming addictive/ toxic chemicals within modern society, we can extend our lives by over a decade and lead by example.
From a medical standpoint, if we are provided with no other alternative than carcinogens and other toxic foods, it is advised to reduce the amount consumed to the bare daily minimum. Conversely, prolonged caloric restriction has its negative effects, when it is not compensated for through 24h meditation. Although hunger for the first week is common, the body will naturally adjust. Eating less is only effective, when you are selective. Choose vegetables, fruit, whole-grains and decent fats over processed food.
Moreover, a large number of endocrine disruptors have behavioural side-effects. They play a significant role in increased stress / anger levels in the mainstream population. So, please do not underestimate the deadly serious health risks of our modern lifestyle and its environmental impact.
As Swami Krishnananda once wrote "We cannot enjoy an object unless we appreciate it, and this appreciation is the recognition by the mind of certain characters or values in the object which the mind itself is lacking." Through attraction to an object, the mind aims to discover that which it believes to be lacking. In other words, desire toward external objects is the mind's way of trying to make itself whole. However, as there are so many things in the world... The mind jumps from one desire to another, experimenting with each one. It may eventually dawns on the mind that the stimulation provided externally is a temporary solution to a permanent search. The mind cannot become whole through the finite, only the infinite, but it cannot realise this for as long as it comes second to the senses. When the mind attempts to discard its sorrows or attachments, it is often guided by senses. Hence, it can lead it in the opposite direction. In self-realisation, the deeply felt needs for food, drink and sleep diminishes as the internal desire for it dissipates, until it disappears in its entirety.
Truth be told, when a certain state has been attained, all our needs are self- sustained. We no longer needs to drink, eat or sleep. Until this point, a vegetarian and/or vegan diet has to be nutritionally dense and varied enough to fulfil all our basic nutritional requirements. When the need for sustenance decreases over time, the seasons no longer have an effect on the advanced spiritual practitioner, nor does terra-forming for that matter. Until then, we have to ensure that we do not harm ourselves or harm others more than necessary in order to survive. However, we must also take responsibility for our choices. We must show compassion for the negative consequences of our decision toward ourselves or others, even if we simply admit it to ourselves.
We must learn to see everything around us for what it actually is to shed our identity in the search for our true self. In the latter sections of this book, it will be explained how an individual can become capable of surviving in any environment, such as zero-G, or even on planets with almost oxygen-free/deadly toxic atmospheres. However, to master such 'extraordinary' skills, we have to start building a solid foundation for our development, which is (automatically) moral behaviour, correct diet, decent posture, deep compassion through understanding, meditative concentration and contact with cosmic consciousness.
"The whole universe has been manifest for the purpose of providing the field of experience for the individuals therein, in order that they may gain salvation, ultimately, through experiences of this kind." (Swami Krishnananda, Bhogāpavargārtham dṛśyam, II.18)
Behavioural consistency, a correct diet and mastery over the breath are key to unlocking the secrets that dwell within. To prepare the body-mind complex for higher levels of consciousness, we must realise for ourselves that conceptual ideas, such as death and immortality, are solely matters of appearance. They are relativistic notions, which do not exist as we understand them... Everyone wants to be young forever, yet only when we don't mind whether we age gracefully without complaint or walk this Earth in a youthful body, may we empathise with what is required to gain a more accurate understanding of the Self.
When we begin our journey sooner or later, we will know deep in our heart, when it is our time... One of the signs is that we'd gladly march along that road for free all by ourselves, simply because it feels morally right, regardless of how much resistance we encounter. Simply because life holds no meaning otherwise. That being said, do not let anyone stop you from achieving your goals or completing our search for the truth. In the end, you may look back and think "I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.", or you might have a few regrets, (don't we all?), but never forget to consider the alternatives. Without following your path, where would you be? Who would you be? Would you even know all that you do now? Others may consider your search unnecessary and that is their personal prerogative. However, they do not have the right to decide what helps you cope or may even lead you to discover inner peace. If they are content with their lives, let them be, just do not allow their criticism to disrupt your state of mind or end your journey before it has even begun.
Desire – Overeating leads to death, as does chronic fasting. Sleeping too much or too little is equally as unhealthy. Therefore, it is important you find the middle ground in all areas of life. Sever all attachment to the body and the senses permanently in the knowledge that the joy they bring is short-lived. Meanwhile, our attachments often yield great pain accompanied by possible complications following rebirth. It is said that the enlightened die, discarding all bodily attachments permanently. However, we can die without dying. In fact, if you follow my instructions to the letter, you'll die in every way that you once felt alive...and it'll burn, sting and hurt worse than anything you've ever experienced, but eventually you will reach a certain stage, where all worldly desires simply fall away. We no longer need or want for anything physically, emotionally or mentally once the third knot has been untied.
Mental Stillness – Combined with mental stillness, increased awareness serves as the cornerstone for our own sense of 'being-ness'. With every thought, word and deed, we invest energy in reaffirming its content and thereby our independence in a vast interconnected network of multiverses. It is an error in our perception to act as if we exist separately from this existence, any other or Existence itself. Everything is organically related. Everything is interconnected. Underneath all that we see, all does not merely exist interdependently with one another, All is One. We often feel compelled to provide feedback, even when it is not wanted. We state outright when we think others are wrong without considering their unique viewpoint. We complain when life is not going our way, but we rarely devote time to the realisation that none of it matters. All of the above are obstacles to our health as well as development. When we stress or worry, we are not in the present. Our mind is far way off in the distance somewhere, too occupied to empathise or understand... However, to attain peace through understanding, we require presence of mind and for that we must focus on the here and now. We must learn to live without hopes, expectations, fears or attachments to specific outcomes for our lives, only then can we seize the infinite potential of the present moment...
Meditative Concentration – The human psyche is not merely the operation of the conscious mind. It operates in layers that are easily disturbed. When the Kundalini is stuck at this level, incurable disease can manifest. When this first happened to me, I learnt a very important truth about myself. Instead of crying to God or an uncaring GP, I withdrew inside myself. The more pain I experienced, the deeper I wandered. Without analgesics, pain claws on the edges of the mind, until the movement in consciousness fades. It takes everything. When pain is chronic, it becomes a reality. When every breath is bereft of its healing, transformative power, it becomes as ever-present as our liberation. Although both are illusory, their hold over us visibly affects us to the point, where we can no longer deny its consequences. Hence, when we lack conscious willpower and intent, we may never heal ourselves. With terminal or chronic illness, practice has to be constant. Meditation has to be realised as life. Otherwise, our vital energies are depleted, the Hara line deteriorates and...'Game Over'...
Diet – The desire to maintain ourselves physically appears as hunger and thirst. If our nutritional needs are not attended to properly, our existence itself seems to be threatened. Our psychological existence is also affected, together with the deterioration of the body. We have to 'be something' physically, and you have to 'be something' in your mind. So, we must maintain the ego on a psychological level as a way of internal self-affirmation, yet we also maintain the physical body as a kind of external self-affirmation. Self-affirmation is a two-edged sword. Its twofold character (physical as well as psychological) is one kind of desire, which is inseparable from our relative existence. It is not a desire that emanates from the heart, but the ego. It is identical with what we perceive ourselves to be. It is a desire for a secure existence.
Location: 2in Below The Navel Associated Chakras: Solar Plexus & Heart
Two inches below the navel (at the navel point) is the point where 72,000 nerve endings come together. This barrier blocks the energy flow between the solar plexus and the heart chakra. It maintains the ego complex by circumventing the flow of "psychic energy". The barrier keeps the consciousness at this level, until the point self-realisation, where we abandon