The Pulsation

Wisdom Teachings
The Journey Inside

The eternal wisdom speaks of the universal laws of time and of nature. One of the most important laws we have to understand is the law of pulsation. It functions on every plane of activity, in the development of galaxies as well as within a cell. Space pulsates, and it pulsates also within us. The pulsating sun keeps the planets in the equilibrium of a rhythmic movement. Pulsation expresses life, light and movement. Pulsation is a double movement of two kinds of forces, the centripetal and centrifugal movement.

Expansion and contraction make the nerves and muscles within us pulsate. This generates the respiration, the peristalsis of the organs, the blood circulation and the heartbeat. It makes the nerve tissues respond to the mind and the environment. Ayurveda calls this principle of the pulsation in the body Vaata. If Vaata is disturbed, this results in different forms of weaknesses such as disturbances of digestion and loss of stability. The pulsation is also called Vayu, sometimes translated as air; however, it means the principle of movement in space which makes the air circulate.

Through the pulsation the “bubble” of the individual soul emerges out of the universal consciousness. With its rhythmic pulsation the soul enters into the body and takes its seat in the heart. The pulsation in us is also called the thread of life, which makes the heart beat and the lungs breathe. It is connected with the thread of consciousness, which has its seat in the Ajna centre on the forehead. The pulsation precedes the heartbeat. As long as the heart pulsates, the body keeps on living. At the moment of death the pulsation disappears from the physical planes. Whereas the body is put into the grave and decays, the pulsation continues to exist. We too keep on existing when we connect to the pulsation.

The pulsation is more subtle than the objective mind, it continues to work even when we are sleeping. In the evening our awareness is absorbed by the pulsating principle and comes out again at the awakening. Respiration, circulation, and digestion happen in us without being consciously perceived. The mind contributes nothing to their functioning except disturbing their rhythm through a wrong way of living and thus causing disease.

This shows us that the mind is more an outer product. When it is talkative and agitated, the respiration is increased. By consciously aligning the mind with the respiration, the breathing rhythm slows down. The more the respiration slows down the more also the mind is decelerated. Finally it is absorbed by it and we remain just as the pulsating principle. When mind and respiration merge with the pulsation, the silence of existence only remains. Respiration and even heartbeat cease for a while. Many yogis and masters have repeated this state of being and even demonstrated it over a longer time.

In order to get to the state of pulsation it is recommended to observe the respiration 2-3 times a day for 27 breathes. We don’t have to do special breathing exercises; it is only registering how you breathe. Breathing is a happening within and not a doing. We have to observe how the inhalation transforms at a certain point into exhalation and how the exhalation into inhalation. There the thoughts stop. When we keep on contemplating over this point over years and listen to the sound of pulsation, SO-HAM, we are drawn into pulsation. Then the double sound is trans-formed into the monosyllabic sound OM, and the thought-less state expands from the breathing pause into the time of breathing.

In this state of meditation we are without body consciousness and only conscious of the pulsation. With the time and with alert observation we realise that the resonance of pulsation has the ability to move upward in the spine. At first we experience the resonance in the heart, then in the little cavity at the throat centre and later in the Ajna centre. In such an advanced contemplation the awareness can move via the Ajna centre out of the body and experience the etheric existence. In times of old people have consciously left the body at transition.

The pulsating principle is the experience of an expanse of blue without form and the rising is like the flight of a bird. In the Puranas the bird of the cosmic respiration is called the eagle Garuda. The eagle, pulsating with its golden wings, rises and the sun enters into it. When we rise, the sun, the divine consciousness, can enter into us. Thus an initiate is considered to be an eagle, and it is said that many initiates existing beyond form prefer living in the form of an eagle.

We would like to deal with these advanced states without taking the preparatory steps. But as long as body, emotions and thoughts are in disorder, we cannot enter into the subtle existence. Only if we apply the information about pulsation on us and practice it over long years, our life gets regulated. Then we can turn from objectivity to subjectivity. A disciple organizes his life in a rhythmic way, in order to be able to easily work in the outer world and withdraw into the inner. Thus he expresses the pulsating life of the soul on the physical plane. How much we might read about it, it is of no use without practice. However, if we begin working with respiration and stay more and more with the pulsating principle, we come to like it and slowly the door to subjectivity opens, the entrance door of the ashram.

The pulsation works in the body in a five-fold manner, and we should understand these five pulsations in order to understand respiration. In Sanskrit they are also called the five Pranas or Vayus.

The first pulsation, Prana, is the impulse from circumference to centre. It initiates the process of inhalation and brings in oxygen. It is related to the mouth and speech, the heart and lungs. It functions from the root of the nose to the heart, and enables the intake of life energy.

The process of combustion in the body generates carbon, and this is expelled through the counter-movement, the impulse from the centre to the circumference called Apana. Apana directs the area from solar plexus to the soles of foot and controls the excretory processes as well as the organs of procreation. Imbalances of Prana have a negative effect on the respiration as well as on the develop-ment of the higher centres. Apana disturbances are connected with digestive problems and a wrong use of sexuality.

The gap between Prana and Apana, between the solar plexus and the heart, is bridged by Samana, the balancing power. Samana emerges when Prana and Apana are balanced. It is the interlude, where there is neither inhalation nor exhalation and where we can feel the subtle pulsation in the heart beat. Samana has a particular relation to the stomach, to diet, which should be well balanced. Samana causes a change of focus from a self-centered to a selfless attitude and leads to the ascending movement, Udana.

Udana moves in the area of the brain, between nose and top of the head. This pulsation is experienced in the third eye; it leads the human consciousness into the divine realms. The connection of Samana and Udana lifts the separation of the inner and the outer man and unity emerges.

The fifth pulsation called Vyana remains as the back-ground of the other four; it permeates the entire body via the subtle energy channels and the blood stream. By means of Vyana man experiences himself as an embodiment of light and realizes the light body within the material body.

These five pulsations have to be synthesized in order to be able to ascend to the higher planes of our being. This regulation is called Pranayama, regulated Prana, the fourth step of Yoga. It doesn’t mean breathing exercises, but the result of the exercises, by which the following steps can then be easily reached. If we remain consciously in the subtle pulsating principle, the goal of Yoga, Samadhi, is reached: to be one with the Lord.

K.P. Kumar: Listening to the Invisible Master / notes from seminars / E. Krishnamacharya: Spiritual Psychology. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India.