The Throat Centre

Wisdom Teachings
The Centres

Everything that exists in space has a relation with space. With our body we are in space, yes, in reality our consciousness is space charged. Between the space in which we live and our body there is a link through the ether. The throat centre establishes this connection. The throat is the fulcrum point between the ether in us and in our surroundings, between the inner man and the body as his vehicle, between the subtle and grosser stages of existence. When we are in the throat centre, we can lift ourselves up to the experience of etheric existence. We can experience space as a pulsating being, unconditioned by thoughts, and also realise the higher sound principle in space. Through the throat we can form a transparent, radiant etheric body and work with the ether with the help of sounds.

The central work on the spiritual path consists in purifying the throat and in consciously working with it. In healing work we can invoke the subtler forces existing in space. For this we close our eyes, think of the patient and consciously invoke the life around us and around the patient through the related ethers. The healing sounds uttered through a pure throat centre have a strong radiant and magnetising effect. They are still reinforced through the invocations and healing thoughts of many people who are available in the space around us on this earth. A room which has been used for a very long time for healing purposes only is like impregnated, and thus healing can happen there much more effectively. In future years a science of space will be developed; it will give us the key for a deeper understanding of the effects of prayer, healing and meditation work.

Sound is a quality of akasha, the 5th element or ether. The sound principle in us is regulated via the throat; it is the door to akasha. Akasha is the content of space and the vibrations in space are subtle forms of sound. Through the refinement of the throat we rise from the earthly to the etheric being. The pulsation in the throat is the bird which helps us to ascend and to move from the gross to the subtle. When we feel the pulsation in the throat we have reached the throat centre. Then we see beyond the form and realise around all the forms a bluish-white ocean, which is also called the milky ocean. The blue stands for the background, the unity of all that emerges from the variety of existence. In this ocean of akasha we exist without body consciousness and without any other thoughts, only with our self-awareness, the thought of our existence.

For this experience a purity and a higher order in life are needed which neutralise the activity of the lower centres. A chastity in thought and a pure speech are needed which express constructive energies. Therefore, the throat centre is appropriately called visuddhi in Sanskrit, meaning “extraordinarily pure”. An initiate who has a good visuddhi has something magnetic in his voice. With yogis in advanced stages with a very pure visuddhi a secretion is formed from the higher throat centre which in the East is called soma, or nectar of immortality and which nourishes the system for a long time. Around the throat centre, in the region of the neck, there are very sublime cosmic centres through which we can experience the “nectar of the Pleiades”. “Esoteric Astrology” of Alice A. Bailey points out that the Pleiades play the role of the Mother to our system and provide it with nourishment, while the Great Bear has adopted the role of the Father.

In the throat centre there is the key to immortality, but also to death. Therefore, it is said that what is spoken can be nectar as well as poison. If we don’t use the throat correctly it can secrete poison. That is how some people at the time of death secrete a lot of foam which obstructs the breathing. If we speak in an intelligent, but manipulative manner, and present things to our own advantage, this is poison for the throat. Impure utterances or critical and judgemental words generate disturbances in the throat centre and on the mental plane. Fears, anxieties and depressions develop and then hold sway. A distorted throat centre also reduces discrimination. Speech loses its magnetic impact; it becomes dry, empty and superficial.

According to a holistic understanding of the centres there is a close relation between the sacral and the throat centre. The cause for a disturbance of the throat centre lies in the sacral centre and might have developed from a wrong dealing with sexuality. On the other hand, the sacral centre can also be regulated through the throat centre and the energies directed upward. If you rise from the sacral centre to the throat you ascend from the lower emotions to the pure sky.

To utter well is the most important aspect of discipleship. In the invocation of Master EK it says, “May the sound I utter reveal the Light in me.” To change the quality of our speech it is recommended to listen to or to utter sacred sounds for a certain time each day. In the ashrams of the Masters in the Himalayas mantrams and suktams - suktam means good utterance - are daily recited, so that the throat centre of humanity is restored and strengthened. The ancient Masters discovered the sound key as the best means to transform the personality.

The throat centre relates the three higher and the three lower centres. It can cause the ascent and the descent. Though its location in the body is higher than the heart centre, from an occult view it is considered to be inferior to the heart centre. Therefore the wisdom teachings say, “The throat is the fourth centre.” The throat belongs to humanity because the humans have language. Hence, the throat centre is the centre of humanity and also of the disciple. It stands between the three lower and the three higher kingdoms of nature.

To express themselves the Hierarchy functions with humanity through the disciples. For them humanity, however, is a congested bottleneck blocking the influx of energies. It has become a disease for the lower kingdoms and the planet. It is like a concrete cube through which now a channel is being bored to clean the system. In tunnel construction there is digging from two sides. The Hierarchy is, so to say, tunnelling from above downward; the Ashrams of the South are tunnelling from below upward. With this work for purification of the planetary throat centre sound is the key to invoke the higher energies. That’s why the throat centre is the most important centre for the work of Master CVV as well as for the work of the Hierarchy.

Meditating on colours is now surpassed by sound. Colour, however, can have a supporting effect. The involutionary colour of the throat centre is green, whereas the evolutionary colours are tender green, bluish green or aquamarine. These are mercurial, fast-changing colour shades. In the lighter tones they have a healing effect on throat disorders, they clear emotions, heal vulnerability and the effects of jealousy. With the syllables SREEM and EEM force can be drawn from the throat. The throat centre has 16 petals with the sound SAM in its centre. The combination of the sounds HAM and SAM connects the energies of the Ajna and the throat centre; with the mantram SOHAM we work with both centres.

In us Mercury is the Lord of the throat and of expression; the sun is the Ajna, Jupiter the Sahasrara. To contemplate on this connection brings harmony and a magnetic speech full of wisdom. When the throat is aligned with the Ajna and the Sahasrara the wisdom of the divine Plan can be expressed afresh. Saraswathi, the goddess of speech and of wisdom, called Minerva in the West, is related to the throat centre. In the pit of the throat there is the goddess of subtle speech, Nakuli Vageswari. When this goddess is realized, we can understand the subtle communications transmitted by the Masters.

Sources: K.P. Kumar: Mercury – The Alchemist / On Healing / notes from seminars. – E. Krishnamacharya: Yoga and Spiritual Healing. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India.