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Concentration
by J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda)
from Meditation for Starters
 

It is time to consider in greater depth the significance of concentrating at the point between the eyebrows.

This point is known as the Christ center, or, in Sanskrit, as Kutastha Chaitanya. It is here that the meditator, when deeply concentrated, beholds the spiritual eye or third eye, a phenomenon that has been known since ancient times.

Legends thousands of years old describe this third eye as being situated in the center of the forehead. Artists have depicted it as a half moon. Modern scholars dismiss the entire concept as fanciful, or as merely symbolic. But then, few scholars know much about meditative practices; the understanding they admire is intellectual. It has been interesting to me over the years, when I’ve described the spiritual eye to people who were new to meditation, to hear some of them exclaim, "Oh, so that’s what I’ve seen!" The spiritual eye may have appeared to them during early attempts to calm their minds, or even as they were on the point of falling asleep.

The spiritual eye is a reflection of the astral light in the medulla oblongata [located at the base of the brain]. The Christ center, where it resides, represents the positive pole of the medulla which is, as I said earlier, the seat of ego-consciousness. When this light is beheld perfectly, it takes the form of a five-pointed star set in a field of deep blue or violet light, and circled by a shining ring of gold. In a state of ecstasy, the consciousness penetrates the spiritual eye and enters the inner realms. Truly, as Jesus Christ put it, "The kingdom of God is within."

The consciousness of most human beings is centered in the medulla oblongata. Everything they do, think, and perceive, being centered in ego-awareness, originates from this point of awareness.

The consciousness of enlightened beings, on the other hand, is centered in the Christ center between the eyebrows. All their actions, thoughts, and perceptions originate from that point.

It is good to deepen your awareness of the medulla, since it is the point through which consciousness and energy must pass in order to reach the Christ center. The goal, however, is to reach the Christ center. To remain blocked in the medulla would be to feed ego-consciousness. (Notice, in this context, the way proud people tend to hold and move their heads.)

In meditation, concentrate at a point midway between the eyebrows. Raise your gaze upward—not crossing the eyes, but focusing them on a point somewhat beyond the forehead at about the distance of your thumb when you hold your arm extended above you. Don’t be too exact in this matter, however. The important thing is that your attention be focused at the point between the eyebrows.

Remember those signs that one used to see at rural railroad crossings? "Stop! Look! Listen!" That is what you should do now:

Stop worrying and planning. The world will still be there when you come out of meditation. Leave things, for this brief period, to their own devices.

Don’t look, merely: Gaze deeply into, and behind, the darkness you behold at the point between the eyebrows when your eyes are closed. The more intently you gaze, with deep calmness, the sooner you will behold at the center of that darkness an island-like area of blue or violet light, surrounded, perhaps, by a faint circle of white. The light may be dim at first, but it will present the beginning of what will take shape, in time, as the spiritual eye.

Listen!—not with the ear only, but with your entire being. Feel yourself in sympathetic resonance with the vibrations of inner silence.

The ancient Greeks, who were in closer contact with the Eastern teachings than people generally realize, referred to the "music of the spheres." This was a poetic description of a phenomenon that was treated at length by the sages of ancient India: a sound that emanates from the heart of creation, bringing consciousness into outer manifestation, maintaining it, and dissolving it back again, finally, into the Infinite Spirit. This sound is the "Word" of the New Testament. It is the "Amen" of the Book of Revelation. In India, this cosmic sound was given the name AUM.

Listen intently in the right ear, especially, to any subtle sound you hear. It is not likely that you will hear AUM clearly at first, but concentration on any internal sound will help you gradually to attune your consciousness to the subtle Cosmic Vibration.

The spiritual sounds are usually heard in the right ear, not in the left. If you hear them in the left ear, try to bring that perception gradually to the right ear. Unite your perception of them with the stillness at the Christ center. Surrender your mind, heart, and body to the Infinite Vibration.

The point between the eyebrows is the seat of concentration in the body. Notice how, whenever you concentrate deeply, you have a tendency to knit your eyebrows. Notice also how you tend to look upward. People with powerful concentration will often have one or two deep furrows in their foreheads between the eyebrows.

The Christ center is also the seat of superconscious ecstasy. Notice also how, whenever you feel particularly happy, you have a tendency to look upward—even, perhaps, to lift your eyebrows.

You may have read about "body language." The body has been found to reveal our mental states. Physical movements and postures are manifestations of the flow of life-force, which in turn responds to our thoughts and feelings.

When we feel depressed, our life-force flows downward in the spine and, sympathetically, in the whole body. When we feel elated, the life-force flows upward.

When your energy flows downward, don’t you notice a tendency to lower your head? to look downward? to lower the corners of your mouth, let your shoulders sag and your spine slump? When you stand, perhaps you’ve noticed that you rest your weight heavily on the heels. Your very gait is heavy.

When the energy flows upward, on the other hand, your posture changes. You raise your head. You look upward. Your mouth curves up in a smile. You sit up straight. When standing, your weight rests on the balls of your feet. When walking, you do so with a light step.

Look upward now in meditation. Send the life-force in your body flowing upward. Release it from your ego-center in the medulla, as if to free it from its earthliness. Send it forward and out through the Christ center. You are an eagle, soaring on powerful wing beats of divine aspiration.

Remember those rays of energy that I suggested you visualize flowing out from your heart center? Think of your heart, now, as a water lily. (In Eastern tradition that lily would be a lotus.) See the lily’s petals spread out in all directions, as they do when lying on the surface of a pond. Think of those heart-petals as rays of light and energy flowing out to interact with the world.

Now, mentally turn those petals, those rays of light and energy, upward. They no longer seek to interact with the world, but reach upward in love and aspiration toward the Divine. Visualize your heart’s feelings rising in devotion toward the Supreme Being, whose altar is in the brain at the Christ center. There, in the spiritual eye, stands the gateway to Infinity.

Offer yourself upward in deep stillness to the very highest that is in you.

Question: Since the seat of concentration is at the point between the eyebrows, would it be helpful to knit the eyebrows gently while meditating?

Answer: Sometimes, perhaps, not as a continuous practice. Don’t meditate with your body. Try to release your mind from body-consciousness.

Question: Would it be good for me to keep my consciousness centered at the point between the eyebrows even when I’m not meditating, and during daily activity?

Answer: It would be indeed. Yogananda stated that spiritual progress can be greatly accelerated by keeping one’s mind focused all the time at the Christ center.

Question: Can you suggest a way of keeping the mind focused there? I do so many things during the day, and must think about them as well. My thoughts get pulled away from the inwardness I feel when I meditate.

Answer: Well, it isn’t easy to be inward, particularly nowadays, with the many demands placed upon us. There are certain aspects of modern life, however, that can be turned to excellent—even to unprecedented—advantage.

Television and computer screens, for example, and the even newer technology known as "virtual reality," suggest an altogether new approach to keeping the mind inwardly focused.

One problem with visualizing the Christ center during activity is that it represents mental fixity. Everything we do outwardly, however, involves motion. It is difficult enough even while meditating to bring the mind to a still focus. During activity, this difficulty is increased a thousandfold.

Here, then, is a suggestion: Visualize a video screen at the point between the eyebrows! Project your mind through the screen, as if through a window, into a world of "virtual reality." That is in fact what everything around us is: a world of virtual reality. It is an illusion, simply—more real to us than any video we see only because it is faithful to all five of the senses, and not only to the senses of hearing and sight. Nevertheless, it is not more real, fundamentally, than any video movie.

As you act and interact with the world around you, and with others, project your consciousness and energy out to them through the "video screen" of your spiritual eye!

It is important in meditation to develop concentration. The following visualization will help you to focus your mind.

Stand mentally on the river bank, where you waited at the end of the last chapter, prevented from crossing the river by the turbulent flow of your own thoughts and feelings. Visualize yourself, now, holding a string that is attached to a balloon filled with helium. The balloon tugs at your hand as it tries to free itself and rise into the sky.

Now, release the string. Watch the balloon as it soars up into the sky, steadily becoming smaller and smaller in the distance. Watch it intently. Let all your thoughts converge on that single object. Slowly it diminishes in size as it rises above the clouds.

A breeze is carrying it toward the far-off mountains. Now the balloon rises above the mountains. As it grows steadily smaller, it disappears at last into the empty sky.

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