Chakra/Kundalini/Tummo & Urdhvaretas
Question
Dear Dhananjay,
First of all I want to thank you. Your posts have
helped me a lot and I'm sure they help others as
well.
I've read somewhere else that brahmacharya causes
energy (prana, I think) to flow upwards through
the chakras, thereby conducting the process
called kundalini. I have some questions
about this process.
1) Are the 3-7 chakras of one who masturbates frequently
empty or simply energy deficient?
2) From what I understand, it takes about 12 years
for the kundalini to rise completely (through all chakras).
Approximately how long does it take (for a brahmachari)
to rise to the 3rd chakra?
3) I read somewhere that prana or chi gets stored
somewhere in the belly region; in chinese medicine
they call this place the lower dantian. When it
gets filled, the energy starts going upwards
thanks to brahmacharya. Can you do something
else to help the process? Or must the energy go
up on its own with bramacharya? In other words,
do we have control over the energy?
Two other minor questions that I have:
Have you ever heard of "tummo"? Apparently
it's a practice that generates heat. What's its
connection with brahmacharya?
As for the Urdhvaretas. Are they immortal?
Thanks in advance.
Answer
1. Prana (vital energy responsible for life) depletes heavily through masturbation. Hence all Chakra-s weaken and become susceptible to toxification.
2. It need not take 12 years for Kundalini to rise to the 7th Sahasrara Chakra. It can occur as early as within 2 years of the right practice (as in the case of advanced souls) or may take many lifetimes as well. The time taken depends on ones evolutionary level, present efforts and most importantly the grace of God.
3. Based on the kind of activity the Brahmachari indulges, Prana automatically channelizes in that direction. If he is a sportsman, his energy flows to the concerned muscles in abundance. If he is a scientist, towards his mental faculties and if he is Yogi seeking self-realization, he sinks into deep meditation seeking the absolute truth. These processes are automatic.
4. Tummo represents the process of channelizing Prana through the 3rd Manipura Chakra so as to generate enormous heat both within and without the body. It is nothing but utilizing the Kundalini power to generate heat. Advanced Buddhist Siddhas-s living in high altitudes under snowy conditions such as in caves sometimes use this technique to keep themselves warm. When mastered, the Yogi can sit without clothes in sub-zero freezing conditions day after day in meditation, his body being warm all the time. Due to the difference between his body temperature maintained through Tummo @ (say 33 deg celcius) and the atmospheric temperature (say -15 deg celcius), the snow or ice around him starts melting resulting in a small puddle of water.
Every Yogi cannot perform Tummo. Only an advanced Siddha who has mastery over the Pancha Mahabhutas (5 elements) becomes capable of the technique. It is the power of Prana which is again used in this practice and Prana gets conserved by no other means than Brahmacharya.
5. When a child reaches puberty, Bindu (seed) stored in the Ajna Chakra starts to flow down & the downward flow of Prana into the sexual organs activates, whereupon they mature. The gates for the downward flow of life energy governed by Bindu are then thrown open forever. With every loss of Bindu (seed) the body degrades and deteriorates. It is very difficult to close these gates again and stop the flow. When through great efforts at a life of Yoga and strict Brahmacharya under the grace of the Lord the Yogi stops this flow and reverses it back to the brain, he is known to have become an Urdhvaretas (Urdhva-Upwards, Rethas-sexual fluid One who retains his seed in the brain). Bindu (seed) then stops flowing down in such a Yogi; as a result of which Veerya (semen) also stops being produced. It is retained as Soma (nectar) in the brain. Ageing slows down drastically thereupon. The Urdhvareta Yogi is then the equivalent of a Deva (celestial God) in rank and not a human, though occupying the physical body. This is all is meant by Urdhvaretas.
True immortality comes only when one attains Kaivalya (liberation), for as long as there is no liberation, there is rebirth in the physical body or astral body which one day has to die. This body made of the elements cannot last forever (though it can be maintained for hundreds of years under certain criterions by advanced Yogi-s) as its constituents themselves as Asat (unreal). Hence being an Urdhvareta does not confer eternal immortality. For that, one has to revert to his true state of the Atman which is always eternal & immortal, via liberation.
ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)