Sahasrara, the Abode of Light

by Eesha Sardesai

Siddha Yoga Celebration Satsang
in Honor of Baba Muktananda’s Mahasamadhi
Saturday, October 31, 2020

Sahasrara, the Abode of Light

So much of the work of being human, it seems, is about ascribing meaning to our lives and our world—and with that, acquiring some semblance of security in this vast, beautiful, complex manifestation we’re a part of. As children, we blink up in wonder at our surroundings, asking what that is, who we are, how that thing over there relates to us. This inquisitiveness—this longing to make sense of the world and how we fit into it—doesn’t go away as we get older. We just accumulate ideas and labels, customs and traditions, concepts and judgments of what’s good and of value—and to varying degrees, these satisfy our need to know.

Yet this world of ours can be unpredictable. We have our notions of how things should be, of what is right and wrong, of how we and others ought to behave. Often, however, what we see around us does not conform to our standards. Despite our best efforts to live with order and purpose, we find ourselves in circumstances that defy logic or reason.

What to do in such situations?

As students on the Siddha Yoga path, we know it’s not a matter of relinquishing our duties or otherwise “checking out.” Rather, it’s about understanding that there’s something more to this manifest world. There are reserves of strength and energy available to us that cannot be depleted, a source of meaning and purpose not dependent on circumstances we have limited control over. Within us are entire worlds untapped, an abode of light more dazzling than what our outward-facing eyes can process. We come to the Guru, we do sadhana, to experience this inner world—and to thereby bring an expanded and enlightened perspective into our life on this earth.

Baba Muktananda taught with great enthusiasm about the sahasrara, the thousand-petaled lotus at the crown of the head in the subtle body. It is the destination of our journey as seekers, the goal of our sadhana on the Siddha Yoga path.

The Prashna Upanishad tells us that crisscrossing the subtle body are 720 million nadis, or energy channels. These nadis carry the prana, the life force, through our being. When Kundalini Shakti is awakened within us by the grace of Shri Guru, this conscious and divine power begins her ascent through the central channel, the sushumna nadi, which runs parallel to the spine in the physical body.

To facilitate the transformation effected by Kundalini Shakti as she moves upward, we do spiritual practice. We chant, we meditate, we offer dakshina, we recite Shri Guru Gita. As we perform the Siddha Yoga practices, the shakti steadily purifies each of the six chakras, the lotus-shaped nexuses of nadis that lie along the sushumna. The prana, in turn, moves through the millions of nadis that branch off of the sushumna, and it dislodges the samskaras, the past impressions and karmas that are stored there. Up, up, up Kundalini Shakti continues to travel—cleansing, purifying, ridding us of the hurt and hardness we’ve collected for far too long, helping us bring greater harmony to our being until, finally, at the crown of the head, she reaches… the sahasrara.

Sahasrara, in the Sanskrit language, means “thousand spokes.” True to this description, the thousand petals of this lotus fan out concentrically, a spiraled pattern that reaches out to infinity. These petals are pristine white in color, perfect in shape, and the light they emanate is so bright it is said to have the brilliance of millions of suns.

In the center of the sahasrara is the nila bindu, the luminous Blue Pearl that Baba so often taught about. The Blue Pearl, which is the size of a single sesame seed, represents the supreme Self, and it is the point of origin of this entire universe.

To receive darshan of the sahasrara and the Blue Pearl is to experience the merging of the individual soul with the Supreme. For this reason, it is said that in the abode of the sahasrara, words stop short. Thoughts cannot reach. The sahasrara surpasses the faculties of the mind and the senses; it transcends all that could qualify or characterize our existence. Instead, what arises is the awareness of purno’ham—the pure “I am.” And after a lifetime of attaching something more to that phrase—“I am”—we reunite with the light we were before it became contracted by all our concepts, ideas, labels, and principles. The pairs of opposites (pain and pleasure, elation and sorrow), which seesaw within us when we define ourselves solely by what’s external, no longer hold sway here.

In the dwelling place of the sahasrara, we simply… exist. I am. Or, as Baba would teach people to say: I am light.

The title of this satsang is “Reside in the Realm of Divine Repose.

The Siddha Yoga path is beyond compare precisely because following this path leads us here. This is why what Baba did was so revolutionary—in bringing shaktipat diksha to the world, in teaching about and giving people the direct experience of the sahasrara and the Blue Pearl. Through Baba Muktananda’s grace, through Bhagavan Nityananda’s grace, and through Gurumayi Chidvilasananda’s grace, we actually can reside in the realm of divine repose. The sahasrara is not an abstraction. It is not an esoteric concept consigned to scriptural discourse. It is the lived experience of seekers on the spiritual path, and it is yours to know.

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    While meditating during the recent Shaktipat Intensive, I experienced a tingling sensation in the top of my head. As my awareness became more attentive, I perceived a slow movement like the opening or blossoming of a flower. Once fully opened, it released joy. My awareness shifted fully to that region, and I experienced an inner expansion with an amazing sky. Then the awareness expanded beyond my body, releasing waves of peace and joy. An inner voice guided me, saying, “This is the true resting place and your true identity.” 

    Profound, dynamic stillness permeated my being within and without. The understanding arose: That stillness is who I am. That expanse is my true existence.

    I continue to relish this experience, and I plan to deepen and assimilate it through my continued practice of Siddha Yoga meditation.

    Pune, India

    For about three years I have been feeling that my true home is the Blue Pearl. Reading these words has further increased mumukshutva in me. I was moved to learn that every petal of the sahasrara shines more brightly than millions of suns. As I contemplated the unlimited source, the reservoir of tremendous energy within, I experienced calmness and the confidence to move forward in pursuit of a long-awaited goal. I feel that there won’t be any interruption in my efforts now.

    Dombivli, India

    Several years ago I participated in a Siddha Yoga retreat in Italy. In one of the sessions, I had a vision in which I entered a room situated in the sahasrara. The room was like a milky crystal. The light in it was very special and soft; the silence was absolute.

    I saw a chair. Gurumayi was standing in the room and, when I entered, she took her seat on the chair. I understood that Gurumayi had installed herself in my sahasrara forever. I was completely in awe. I understood that I was receiving a rare and precious gift from Gurumayi.

    Since then I meditate on the everlasting presence of Gurumayi in the sahsrara.

    Milan, Italy

    Sahasrara, the Abode of Light.” Each time that I read and repeat these words, I am taken back to an experience I had several years ago.
     
    I was meditating in a meditation retreat at Gurudev Siddha Peeth. Our focus was the Blue Pearl. I was very drawn to the understanding that one could enter the Blue Pearl, that it was a state more than a vision. As I meditated, I saw the thousand-petalled lotus of the sahasrara. Their open petals were bathed in blue light, lightly moving in a soft breeze. I felt a sublime calm, a profound equipoise and bliss. I understood that this was the abode of the Siddhas, and that I too could experience this state. I remained in that state of joy for days afterward.
     
    Many years later, I am still able to reenter that space of exhilarating peace and draw inspiration from it. I remember it when I meditate, and this helps me maintain my inner state.
     
    The closing sentences of this beautiful talk brought this understanding alive for me again.
     

    New Delhi, India

    Yesterday, some hours after I’d contemplated this luminous text, I was on my way to the countryside when I saw a large photovoltaic panel mounted on a pole. I immediately realized something remarkable about this installation: the panel could tilt and rotate as the sun moved and thus make the most of the solar energy.
     
    I saw that, in this way, this system behaved like a sunflower, whose many-petalled design reminds me of the sahasrara. In the small image of a peacock feather at the end of the text, I see its iridescence in the blue light of Consciousness.
     
    I understand the sahasrara, with the inner Guru seated in its center, to be  diffusing divine energy. As I bow and turn my mind toward the Self through the spiritual practices that my Guru has given me, I spread that divine energy and fulfill my life. For me, the love and the blessings I receive from my Guru are like the waves of the petals of the sahasrara.
     

    Rodez, France

    During the first meditation of the recent Shaktipat Intensive, entitled “The Heart is the Haven,” the energy within me gathered at the top of my head, creating a gentle sensation of swaying. I perceived a field of white flowers or petals that were turned upward, and as I meditated, my mind was devoid of thought, remaining calm and serene like those gently moving petals. A joyful bliss filled my entire being.
     
    Afterward I contemplated the blessing of Shakti that had given me a glimpse of the peace and joy inherent in the sahasrara, the thousand- petalled lotus at the crown of the head.
     

    New Jersey, United States

    Reading this talk reminded me of an experience of the light of the sahasrara that I had on October 6, 1983—the first lunar anniversary of Baba’s Mahasamadhi. Four days earlier, we had celebrated the solar anniversary at the local Siddha Yoga meditation center, and I had forgotten all about the lunar anniversary.
     
    I was in bed, almost asleep, when I felt the top of my head explode. White light burst in from the top of my head, and streamed through my entire being, entering my heart and traveling up my arms, which were held aloft solely by the power of the white light. I saw Baba for a good ten seconds.
     
    After realizing what day it was, I rushed to my puja and lay prostrate on the floor in a full pranam before Baba’s photo. My being had been cleansed of all doubts. I felt complete. Baba was my Guru and he would take me to the ultimate goal.
     
    A few months later I visited Gurudev Siddha Peeth. There I beheld the portrait of Baba on the wall behind his Samadhi Shrine. Its image of Baba was the same image I’d seen on the night of the lunar Mahasamadhi.
     

    Illinois, United States

    I love the title of the satsang at which this talk was given: “Reside in the Realm of Divine Repose.” For me this title is like an invitation, giving me permission to settle there permanently.

    At the beginning of my sadhana, my mind was like a wild horse and every time I started the Siddha Yoga practices, it would snort, stamp its hooves, and shake its mane. But even wild animals can be tamed with love, understanding, and patience.
     
    With every Siddha Yoga practice that I do, so much love is always kindled in my heart. I feel this love rising within me and filling my mind. This loving energy “tames” my mind and allows me to “reside in the realm of divine repose” even though I am absolutely aware of what is going on in this world.
     

    Konolfingen, Switzerland

    This highly informative description of the sahasrara made me feel immense gratitude. My heart was overflowing with thankfulness to all three Siddha Yoga Gurus for their precious teachings and practices. How blessed we are to have been given the “spiritual technology” to attain the sahasrara—and ultimately, liberation!
     

    St. Laurent, Canada