In my last blog, I had mentioned that events happening at physical level happen beforehand at the astral – spiritual level. (The link of this last blog post is http://karmasutratkos.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/do-events-happen-first-in-spiritual.html )
I had also mentioned that in order to perceive the footprints of those events in the CSB (‘Cosmic Sensitivity Barrier’ area referred to in detail in Chapter 1 of my book ‘Karmasutra The Karma of Sex’) ourselves, we would need to silence our brain. Instead of using the word ‘silencing the brain’ there is another way to put this whole idea. This is just another perspective. I call it the blood circulation perspective of meditation.
The gist of this perspective is that in order to increase the spiritual receptivity, we must keep maximum blood supply in the brain area called CSB and in the superfine blood vessels above the neck area so that the overall sensitivity of the mind increases. One important note here- for our spiritual awareness the quality, quantity and other parameters of the blood supply must be present more in the Cosmic sensitivity region (than in the other areas of the brain). Some drugs and various other methods often keep the blood supply in certain areas of the brain but this is not enough for spiritual receptivity. For example, if I am constantly keeping accounts, monitoring my business profits and losses, there may be a very good blood supply in the area of my brain dealing with maths, profit calculations and memory, but this may not result in spiritual sensitivity benefits. Similarly, some people chew herbs, energy drinks, ghutka, have tea or coffee etc. (which we might refer to as 'stimulants') so that blood supply remains in the head area. Of course, this might work to improve the brain function and mental sharpness - often temporarily, but there is little evidence, that the spiritual receptivity will be improved. (Some drugs of a psychedelic nature may create some more perceptual sensory experiences close to spirituality, but it is not the same as improving spiritual receptivity.)
Again, if we indulge in heavy exercises such as running etc. there is a very good pumping action by the heart and blood reaches most corners of our body in greater pressure. This is very good for our body and many of our brain functions such as logic, quantitative areas, memory and has great benefits for overall immunity and good health. That is because, in the first place, many of our bodily health disorders result from improper blood supply to certain parts of the body.
However, this exercise regime does not always greatly improve the area of Cosmic Sensitivity area. That is because this CSB area does not merely need good voluminous supply of blood at a high pressure, which is what happens in case of athletes, but blood supplied with some optimum pressure, optimum flow and other parameters, which are not met by exercise alone, but by meditation (and to an extent by calming prayer/chanting) etc.
In other words, if too much blood drains into other areas of the brain or to other areas of body or if there is blood but not at the optimal pressure, flow and chemical composition, then the cosmic receptivity area is not nourished well enough to increase our spiritual sensitivity. Therefore it is a good idea, if we are working on this aspect of spiritual receptivity and sharpened intuition, to prevent lot of unnecessary blood flow to other areas of the body if we want to keep our spiritually receptive area of the brain well nourished.
Another aspect which hampers this smoothness of blood supply to CSB area is stress. If we are constantly stressed - running to catch trains, running to push things at work and so on, this stressful life disturbs the blood flow in the brain receptivity area. We can always reduce this stress to a great extent by doing exercise, yoga etc. . However, with exercise, yoga, stress busters, mini-meditation sessions etc. we might neutralize the bad effects of stress, but it is not often enough to nourish the CSB area.
Again, as mentioned in the book 'Karmasutra', if we lead a life where we have to conceal many aspects of our thoughts or deeds from others, then this results in a blood flow of some different composition which does not help our spiritual sensitivity. I have explained this in the book Karmasutra as ‘congruence’. In fact, this 'incongruence' (between our thoughts-words-deeds) is another form of mild stress. For true spiritual progress and of course for good quality blood supply there must be not too much difference between our thoughts, actions and words.
Besides these minor effects, there are other macro factors which drain our blood supply from the head region. Which are the other most common areas of the body that we lose our blood flow to? Firstly, if we love food and eat heavy meals consisting of meats, heavy fats, alcohol, soft drinks, proteins or high carbohydrate or high calorie cooked meals, our digestive system is busy. A lot of our blood drains from our above-the-neck region and moves towards the various organs of our digestive system. No wonder many of us feel very sleepy after a heavy meal. If we smoke or drink heavily, these toxins also get into our blood flow and interfere with the quality and parameters of blood supply needed by our spiritual sensitivity area.
Another macro activity to which we lose our blood flow to, is the genital area, in case we love our sexual activities. After a bout of sexual activity, a lot of blood supply remains in and around our genital area for some time before it can be re-directed back to the brain enough, to nourish the spiritual receptivity area. Some people have said that Shirsasana (the head stand yoga pose) is useful to bring blood supply back to the head region, for some time. Indeed shirsasana is helpful partly due to the flow of blood due to sheer gravity, but a heavy meal which includes alcohol etc. or sexual activity after shirsasana takes it back downwards drastically.
Lastly, taking bath in too cold or too hot water, too different from our body temperature immediately causes some changes in blood circulation. Of course, cold water bath has several health benefits and I am not discounting any of it, including improved blood circulation, but unfortunately for the novice spiritual seeker it causes lot of blood circulation and movements which could cause some disruption. For the seeker who has reached a certain level of mental equilibrium cold water bath is excellent, especially in a river etc. because of certain cleansing effects at a spiritual level.
Too much of any sensory experience also causes blood to desert the brain and go to that organ. So if we are watching TV or cinema for long hours, seeing something etc. the eyes will start making demands on the blood. That is why meditators often try to keep their eyes closed so that too much light is not taken inside through the eyes. Also, our eyes are the entry point for a large amount of information absorbed about our material world. Hence, keeping eyes open means leaving the information gates open. This will immediately activate the information processing corners of the brain itself and some blood is lost immediately from the spiritual sensitivity CSB area to the other parts of the brain which process information received through the eyes.
However, since we also live in this world, it is not always feasible to meditate (or pray) with our eyes closed. For example, if we are working or travelling in crowded trains we might not want to receive comments from/be judged by others. In this situation, a good balance is to open the eyes, but not 100%. Imagine opening the eyes but only to the extent of 80%. That way, people think our eyes are open, but at the same time we are reducing the light in-take by 20%. Although this might look like a minor difference, these small things impact those who do not want to disturb their spiritual sharpness. Too much time spent in passionate high-speed, intense conversations, will do the same too in terms of moving our blood flow and supply. Similarly, if we are too involved in building and increasing the size of our egos, some other parts of our brains are getting more blood flow, not the spiritual area. (On some techniques for reducing our egos, which I have gathered from some great practitioners, I hope to write another blog soon).
Besides all these above factors, as we get older, our finer blood vessels tend to lose their elasticity and suppleness and we might need longer hours of meditation to achieve the same results.
All these little and big efforts become worthwhile, when our spiritual receptivity area becomes sharper and it is possible for us to ‘feel’ the print of events in the spiritual-astral sphere and then take corrective measures to prevent, or at least mitigate those negative events which have already happened, from replicating itself on the material plane/earth.
Through this post, I am not trying to say that everyone should avoid enjoying good food, the company of friends or avoid enjoying sexual activity. However, if someone is a spiritual seeker genuinely and is wondering why he/she is not progressing sufficiently, this article might be of some technical help. As I mentioned in my last blog, whatever is written below is my personal understanding, distilled from various direct and indirect sources. Please feel free to completely disagree with it or disregard it totally.
©Staju Jacob, 2016.
Staju Jacob is the author of the path-breaking book Karmasutra The Karma of Sex, which deals with the karmic spirituality of consensual sexual actions. This book is available globally on various Amazon sites in Paperback and Kindle, Sony Kobo, Google books, Iphone Ibook etc. He may be contacted on Twitter @KaRmasutraTKOS
