The Solar Plexus Centre
Visualisation
When we visualise something there is a freshness in it which is not a repetition of something that existed before. Visualisations inspire and bestow a magnetic radiance. We read in the books that there is a lotus in the solar plexus having ten petals and that the solar plexus represents the mind. We then only know as much as has been described in the books. Five of these petals point downwards and five upwards. The downward petals serve for receiving from objectivity. The petals pointing upwards embody the subjective mind and can receive effectively from the buddhic plane.
Now, if we close our eyes because we want to meditate, the lower part of the mind usually continues to work and wanders around in objectivity. Then the inferior petals of the solar plexus are active and the doors to the store of memory are open. If, however, we try to imagine something, we connect ourselves with the petals oriented upwards. Slowly, we become receptive to the subjective and experience many subtle things. Meditation and reading accompanied by imagination strengthens this process. If we read a book and do it with the imagination that we are sitting in the presence of the Master, that there is someone who explains the book to us through the book, because the Master can work via the buddhic plane, then the Master of our unity, the soul, will grow. By turning towards a higher order even the form of our physical body can be brought to a better order through the esoteric understanding of the etheric form.
By contemplating on subtle things the temple of our body opens, we indeed perceive ourselves as the temple with the inner sanctum in the lotus of the heart. Narada gave his disciples the meditation to see the Lord standing in the heart lotus of their own being, smiling, and to imagine that the light from His feet pours down to the solar plexus, so that our mind becomes enlightened. The subjective mind is the lowest point to which the universal consciousness can reach. In the wisdom teachings this point is called chitta. It is the point of light within the mind of man to which the light descends from the universal consciousness in sahasrara.
The Petals of the Solar Plexus
Up to now humanity has worked mainly with the inferior set of lotus petals of the solar plexus, since our thoughts nearly always just revolve around the objective world. Now, the superior set of five lotus petals gets activated through the work of Uranus. Uranus is the esoteric ruler of Libra, and in the body Libra rules the solar plexus. When the five superior petals become active and search for the Light from above, Uranus helps to dissolve the undesired mundane matter of mental concepts and ideas, of emotions and negative attitudes stored in the solar plexus; in this the valuable things remain. Figuratively speaking the teacher comes down from the heart to the diaphragm; there he sits and looks at the demons who linger in the lower centres, and he lifts up the humans from the inferior to the superior pole – to the throat and then to the ajna centre. The ajna centre is the seat of the soul, the solar plexus the centre of the lower man.
All feelings, impulses and instincts come from the solar plexus. The activity of the solar plexus jumps up and tries to bypass the soul. Then the soul can’t do anything; the personality celebrates itself. Whenever we speak about our personal viewpoints we work through the solar plexus. Speaking out the emotions is related to the solar plexus, and when we express our base desires the base centre is involved. If we don’t want to lose energy, we shouldn’t think from the solar plexus or the sacral centre, but from the heart. Negative thoughts like jealousy, anger, prejudices and possessiveness cripple the solar plexus and the sacral centre; eventually they cause chronic diseases. We also feel all our crises in the stomach, around the solar plexus. When we are out of the crisis we can help neutralising the crises of others. A transformation takes place through the morning and evening prayers whereby the solar plexus gets restructured, so that we can better express the Aquarian energies and serve our fellow beings.
The Alcoholic Ocean
Between the centres there are planes which are called “oceans”. There is a poison centre between the solar plexus and the heart which is called the alcoholic ocean. There man poisons himself through his own ideas and ideals. Many great people have sold themselves to their own ideals and thought that these were the truth. The have a poisoned conception of the kingdom of God on earth and want to establish it in their way. There are also intoxications about money, sexuality, greed, power… The alcoholic ocean also causes fatigue when we listen to sublime wisdom but cannot absorb it; we then fall asleep. We have to awake from this ocean and slowly lift ourselves up from the solar plexus to the heart. As we realign from what we need to what others need we rise from the solar plexus to the heart. This is part of the bridge from the personality to the soul. To be able to cross this bridge and move up to the heart the Divine sends its teachers. They try to help us so that we can gradually join the work for the Plan. We first realise from the heart the deeper purpose of our life and later the Plan for humanity.
Creating a Balance
As long as we vibrate through the solar plexus, with a muddy mixture of emotion and desire, its colour is crimson-red. The colour with the purified solar plexus is saffron or brilliant orange, like the clothes of the Indian sadhus. Its petals direct the fire in the body. If we are linked to the universal consciousness the colour is a mixture of blue and pure white. The seed sound in the centre is LAM. SAM is the sound to gain peace and poise. In order to bring the solar plexus into balance breathing exercises also help, with long and soft inhalation and exhalation. We feel the inhalation up to the solar plexus. When we exhale we feel the expulsion from the solar plexus. If we do this regularly we stabilize ourselves in a clear mental state. One of the main impacts of the breathing exercise consists in creating the balance between the energies of Prana (vital energy of the upper half of the body) and Apana (below the solar plexus), Samana. Samana is the third Prana and governs the area between the heart and the solar plexus. It keeps Prana and Apana in balance. Samana has a special relation to the stomach and concerns nourishing the body through food and drink. Through indulgences in food the diaphragm loses its peristaltic movement and the solar plexus causes a downward pull. This makes man lose his grip over the mind; he remains imprisoned on the astral and etheric levels and tied down to the grossest forms of desire for long times. It is important that children learn very early the subjective mind together with the training of the objective mind through education. Then, the five superior petals of the solar plexus can also unfold.
“Equator Equal”
The seers of the ancient times visualised the planet and its activities in relation to man. In this the ajna centre is connected with the North Pole and the base centre with the South Pole. The diaphragm forms the equator between solar plexus and heart centre. The planetary equator principle thus acts on our diaphragm, the North Pole on the ajna centre and the South Pole on the base centre. The pole star is directed to the sahasrara. Through this alignment the planetary principle and as a consequence the planetary Prana descend into us. With the fourth initiation the disciple becomes fully conscious of the earth. He can perceive every important activity taking place on the planet within his system. These contemplations are only possible after our mind has been absorbed into the buddhic plane. The north and south poles as well as the equator are the three points which first reach an agreement with the individual centres. It is a grand expansion of consciousness and it is called by Master CVV “Equator Equal”.
When we meditate upon this mantram we get a little bit aware of the subject and learn to move in balance between the higher and the lower centres. Whenever we then consciously descend below the diaphragm this is done in an attitude of love in order to help other beings.
Sources: K.P. Kumar: Mercury – The Alchemist / On Healing / notes from seminars. – E. Krishnamacharya: Spiritual Astrology. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India.