Part I: Chapter II / II – (vii)

a) Dhyan as a System of Yoga – The Yoga of Contemplation

Having considered the essentials of dhyan, we are now in a position to study dhyan as a form of yoga in itself. The mind is all-pervading. Kabir says that manas has its seat in every heart and hence occupies just a middle position in the human system. The mental current is always building its own spheres, and it does so particularly as it descends below. This central position of the mano-mai covering gives it a peculiar importance. It has two sheaths above it, the Vigyan-mai and Anand-mai, and two below it, the Pran-mai and Anna-mai. If it turns upward, it gets cognition of wisdom (enlightenment) and bliss. If it turns downward, cognition of the pranic and the physical world.

• Ajna Chakra, the region of the third eye, behind the two eyebrows, is associated with the anand-mai kosh.

• Kantha Chakra, the region between the third eye and the hirdey, is the centre of the vigyan-mai kosh.

• Hirdey Chakra is the region of the hirdey (heart), where the pranas or the vital airs reign supreme. It is the centre of the mano-mai kosh.

• Nabhi Chakra, that part of the hirdey region which extends down to the navel, is the centre of the pran-mai kosh.

• Indri Chakra, the region of the navel extending down to guda, is the centre of the anna-mai kosh.

• Guda Chakra is the basal plexus or the root wherein are rooted all the subtle or nadis.

All the five sheaths (koshas) are the different seats from where one can operate at different levels; the upper two being spiritual, an the lower two being sensory planes.

Anand-mai sheath is the karan or the causal body (the seed body) from which everything else below springs, viz., the subtle and the physical planes below. Vigyan-mai is closely associated with and is the nearest to it.

The three sheaths, vigyan-mai, mano-mai and pran-mai, together constitute the suksham or the subtle body in man, which is the connecting link between the other two, the anand-mai above, and the anna-mai below, or the causal and the physical, respectively.

The anna-mai kosh is the inner lining, so to say, of the physical body and is closely related to the pran-mai kosh.

In all the three bodies, the mind is the active agent, activated as it is by the life-power of the soul, in the life and light of which it works. To all intents and purposes, the mind power alone is seemingly the force that works and keeps all the other four koshas in order. In the physical body, it is the seat from where the five sensory and five motor powers carry on their operations in the physical plane. Similarly, it is from here (i.e., the mind) that the ten subtle (pranic) powers along with the mental powers of the chit, manas, budhi and ahankar, carry on their work in the subtle plane. Again, it is the mind which when stilled carries with it all the latent and noumenal impressions and reflects the spirit’s Light and Sound. This then is the vast sway of the mind which extends from the physical to the causal planes, and hence it is often called Triloki Nath or the Lord of the three worlds. In the causal plane it serves as a silver screen, which takes and reflects the spiritual vibrations both in the form of Light and Sound.