Acharya Tulsi
The Centre of Knowledge in the brain containing a thousand names.
Whose mark is knowledge-oriented consciousness;
The Centre of Peace, the source of joy in the frontal lobe,
Let man explore! It is a fitting occupation.
Or concentrate on the Centre Of Enlightenment for spiritual exaltation!
The Centre of Intuition also known as the Centre of Command
In the middle of the eyebrows, happily
observed with a mind simple and straight!
While talking about body-perception you made a mention of the psychic centres and told us what these are. Will you now kindly name these centres? And where are these to be found? And what influence they exercise on man? When do these lie dormant and when are they awakened?
There are numerous psychic centres in the human body. All of them have not been discovered, nor is it possible to know them all. As already mentioned earlier, when the whole body becomes karan , i.e. ‘superfunctional', every bit of it becomes a centre of consciousness. Still certain centres have been individually identified. In the practice of preksha dhyana today, sadhaks are told to meditate on thirteen centres. Their names, positions and effects are by now clearly known. These are dealt with below.
There are two important systems in the human body---the nervous system and the endocrine system. The most important part of the nervous system is the brain, which controls all our knowledge and action. The whole empire of the body runs on signals from the brain. The middle part of the head, the crown is extraordinarily important from the point of view of sadhana. The centre of transcendental consciousness is located there. This is our Jnan Kendra, the Centre of Knowledge. In the terminology of Hatha Yoga it is called the Sahasra Chakra (the thousand-petalled lotus, the upper cerebral centre.) Both the right and the left parts of the brain are connected with consciousness. The physiologists say that the left part of the brain is used for language, mathematics, logic, etc. and the right part is the receptacle of wisdom. The Centre of Knowledge is more allied with the right part.
The development of Jnan Kendra, the Centre of Knowledge, leads to the awakening of insight. The awakening of insight is also associated with the forehead. The pituitary gland is its principal centre. Yet it seems that the subsequent development of insight is possible only through Jnan Kendra, the Centre of Knowledge. From this viewpoint, meditation on Jnan Kendra is very important. The total development of mental knowledge is accomplished by activating this centre. If Jnan Kendra, the Centre of Knowledge, remains dormant or inactive, a man, despite vigorous effort, cannot develop his insight, whereas if this centre is roused, every step taken by an individual takes him nearer his destination. In the comprehensive activity of this centre, the possibility of omniscience cannot be denied.
In spite of the development of knowledge-oriented consciousness, one can have no peace unless one is delivered from internal passions. Should a man concentrate on the psychic centres to achieve victory over passions?
In the front part of the head, in the sliding line of Jnan Kendra, the Centre of Knowledge, there is located a special psychic centre, which has been identified as the Centre of Tranquillity, Peace. This centre accounts for man's strong emotions. It regulates human passions and body-temperature. With the purification of the Centre of Tranquillity, all passions and strong emotions are extinguished of themselves. This centre is therefore also called the Centre of Passions and Their Extinction. As long as it remains unrefined, it is known as the Centre of Passions. But on being purified, it becomes the Centre of Tranquillity.
Man's consciousness, his dispositions, habits and illusory actions have all their respective centres for manifestation present in the body. However, it has not yet been discovered as to where precisely a particular centre for the manifestation of a particular disposition is located. The physiologists and the psychologists did some research on this subject and found out the centre, which regulates passions. The ancient masters of spiritual too, had undertaken research on this topic but their discoveries were forgotten during the middle ages. Through a comparative study of the conclusions arrived at by the modern and ancient researchers and through our own research we have tried to locate various centres. To some extent our effort has been successful and we have been able to, identify them. This discovery has increased the utility of meditation on the psychic centres.
According to the psychologists, emotion is man's fundamental disposition. There are two kinds of emotion - internal (urge or impulse) and external. The control of external emotion is not good from health point of view. But if the urges and impulses are not controlled, the situation becomes positively harmful. Those who have meditated long on the Centre of Tranquillity have been found to succeed in controlling their urges.
According to a belief there is a third eye in our body. Is it really so? If yes, does one of the psychic centres constitute this eye or does it have an independent existence? Where is it located?
Just below the Centre of Tranquillity is another important centre called Jyoti Kendra, the Centre of Enlightenment. Here is located the pineal gland. The physiologists have not been able to gather much information about it. Recently, some discoveries have been made about it on the basis of which its importance is being assessed. As a matter of fact this Jyoti Kendra, the Centre of Enlightenment, is called the third eye.
Some people recognise, Darshan-Kendra (The Centre of Intuition) or Agya-Chakra (The Centre of Command) to be the third eye. From another point of view, Darshan Kendra (The Centre of Intuition) and Jyoti Kendra (The Centre of Enlightenment), may both be called the third eye, but the latter, because of its usefulness has a greater importance. Jyoti Kendra (The Centre of Enlightenment) is the centre, which annihilates anger. By meditating on this centre, wrath dissolves very soon. From the point of view of brahmcharya , too, this centre has great utility. It has been recognized as the controlling or master-gland. It controls the secretions of all the lower glands. The purification of this centre resolves many of our physical and psychological problems.
For the third eye you have suggested the names of both Jyoti Kendra (The Centre of Enlightenment), and Darshan Kendra (The Centre of Intuition). You also gave some information about Jyoti Kendra. But where is Darshan Kendra? And what is its function?
The location of Darshan Kendra (The Centre of Intuition) is the pituitary gland. It is positioned between the two eyebrows. Concentration on this centre turns preksha into inner preksha, and it turns wisdom into intuition. At this stage, a man's personality becomes wholly introversive. With the evolution of introversion, outside factors cease to be obstructions. From the point of view of sadhana, this point on the forehead, may be said to be a great boon. If we make use of it with full consciousness, concentration and will power, it can transform our lives beyond imagination.
What is the basis of the nomenclature of these centres?
The centres have been named on the basis of their functions and the results achieved through them. In the ancient texts are to be found names of the body-chakras . In the Tantra-Shastra and Hatha-Yoga, for example are mentioned certain names. But our finding is that there are not only six or seven chakras in the body; rather there are to be found hundreds of centres of power and consciousness. Out of these some important centres were selected and experiments of meditation performed on them. The experience thereof naturally formed the basis of the present nomenclature. No texts were consulted, nor any deliberation's held for finding suitable names for the psychic centres. In the very process of their exposition, certain names happened to suggest themselves and these appeared to be appropriate. What results does meditation on a particular centre produce in the body, in the mind and in life? With such a basis formulation, we had also in mind the objective of making the names of the psychic centres significant and intelligible.
