One of the meanings of the word rasa is "relationship," referring to the
aesthetic pleasure coming from interfacing with another. The different rasas, or
flavors, of love correspond to a strong feeling of luminous, intense, pleasurable
joy, which seems to come from what is called the root of the palate. The
palate is located approximately at the pituitary gland, and is felt by releasing
the soft palate as if subtly smiling. The quintessence of all of the rasas
is called amrta, or nectar. its primary quality is compassion. The nectar
drips down through the petals of the sahasrara, the thousand-petaled lotus,
to the reservoir just above the root of the palate called the moon. When mula bandha
or yoni mudra, is done well it causes nectar to drip from this moon
and that nectar fills all of the nadis, transforming one’s body and every sensation
the experience of consciousness and joy.
The misperception that tantra is exclusively a group of practices
having to do with sexuality also stems from the fact that yoga involves
the awakening of the power of the serpent ltundalini, which is imag-
ined coiled up and asleep, blocking the opening of the central channel.
When awakened she uncoils, opening the mouth of the central channel;
she then turns around and enters the susumni. Her movement in this
central channel, the middle path of the subtle body, causes the mind,
the citta, to drop into deepening layers of profound meditation. There
is an obvious parallel between the sexual potential that rests within the
body and the presence and awakening 0F this serpent that dwells above
the center of the pelvic Floor. This coiling of the sexual energy, which is
the normal state For most people, blocks the central channel and causes
us to project our sexual desires externally onto sense objects. The citta
(mind and intelligence), which follows the prana, also then coils and
superimposes symbols onto processes, creating in the mind the appear-
ance of separate sense objects. In this light we can see that kundalini
represents more than just sexual desire; she is also the desire to know
things, the craving not to sulfer, and the aspiration for liberation For
oneself and for all others. A balanced study and practice of yoga brings
attention to the true nature of others and the mind, and to how many
aspects of life are interconnected. An unbalanced, exclusive Focus on
obscure tantric practices having to do with uncoiling our sexual energy,
without proper grounding in the truth of impermanence, may put us
in the situation of being obsessed by imaginary powers and ruled by
the ego. There are high intoxicated states of mind in which we still split
desire, sensation, and Feeling into subject and object. The subject-object
divide revolves around the ego and stems From the primordial igno-
rance (avidyi), which has gotten us into this situation in the first place.
In the skilled practice of tantric yoga there is the awakening of internal
energy and an experience of the full intensity of sensation and feeling
we term sexuality. In that awakening, when the practice is balanced.
there is a release of the cgo’s tendency to grasp onto the division of sub-
ject and object, so that the cause of great frustration and suflering does
The next thing that evolves out of buddhi is called ahamkara—the I-maker or the ego function. Though essential to establishing form and
organisms in this world, it can become the stem of endless suffering and
loneliness. Within the Samkhya system ahamkara is considered to be a
sacred process that occurs within prakrti. It has been called the cit-acit
granthi, the knot that ties together that which is cit or pure conscious-
ness (purusa) with that which is acit or unconsciousness (prakrti). The
knot forms as a mysterious sense of a subjective “If which continuously
collects images, theories, and beliefs about itself as separate from others
and from its environment. It arises from basic ignorance, the confu-
sion of purusa with prakrti. It causes us to quickly create subject-object
relationships in the sense fields by endowing countless small sections of
prakrti with self, thereby pulling objects out of their backgrounds. The
ahamkara, the ego, then accepts or rejects the objects according to its
perceived need to protect and maintain itself as a separate organism,
blocking the inherent flow of information within the buddhi that
would lead to truer perception and insight. This confusion of ego, this
blocking of the intelligence of interdependence, is still ultimately the
gunas acting on the gunas and is every bit as sacred as any of the other
manifestations of prakrti, any other perception or insight, and any of
the other processes of the buddhi. In fact the ego is essential to life
because it allows us to at least temporarily draw boundaries and iden-
tify particular things—this body, this thought, this object— as separate
from everything else.
To understand the importance of ahamkara, imagine it as a seed.
Generally a seed has a hard outer surface, which keeps it separated from
what is outside of its exterior shell. At a certain point, if it is a lucky
seed, it falls into the ground, and with the presence of moisture, the
outer casing begins to soften until it is suficiently supple and becomes porous. At this point there is communication between the inside of the
seed—which has information—and the external environment. It is that
exchange of information that stimulates the growth of the seed so that
transformation, life itself, can begin to occur. Likewise, we have an ego
that is like a shell that allows our potential, the manifestation of our
truest self, to develop. At certain junctures of interaction with others or
with the environment— which are usually points of illumination, trans-
formation, or insight—our ego becomes porous. If we stay present with
the process of change that we are encountering, and if we stay tuned
into the process of the gunas acting on the gunas, then we are carefully
able to let go of those things we identify as ourselves and release the
perceptions that falsely or partially identify others and other things as
separate For us and From each other. In this way we are able to assimi-
late things that lie beyond our immediate system, whether they are out-
side our philosophical system or the physical system of our body. This
assimilation process allows us to experience transformation or growth,
and in witnessing our own process of change there is the possibility of
discovering what we really are deep at the core. Yoga actually makes the
ego Function porous. Periodic letting go of ego positions and images
keeps the Function useful and healthy, allowing insights to occur. Hav-
ing no ego function would mean the death of our physical organism,
but learning to become fluid within our ego system leads to insight. The
ego, the ahamkara, is useful in that it always gives us stuff to let go of. It
is sacred in that when its contracting Function arises in us or in others,
it should be observed as it is.
Another function of the ahamkara is to facilitate a shift offocus away
from pure consciousness by turning the activity of the buddhi outward
in a relentless attempt to create a false self, or a false purusa. This process
is represented in the myth of Rama, in which Rama’s beloved consort
Sita was captured by the demon Ravana, who carried her away to Sri
Lanka. This event set off the yogic cycle of activity that is part of the
ancient epic tale the Ramayana. In the story the demon Ravana is the
ego, the false purusa, who steals the buddhi, or Sita, away from pure
consciousness, Rama, the true purusa. Rama then enlists the son of
the wind god, Hanuman who represents prana, and which cleans and
integrates the buddhi. Hanuman steals Sita back and burns down the
city, which represents the structures around the inflated ego, Ravana.
Ultimately Rama defeats Ravana in an incredible battle, and this defeat
necessitates all of the other events that happen within the story and
which are symbolic of the yoga process. The story should be read by all
students of yoga.
"[...] The prana, wich controls inhaling, can then be offered into the apana, wich controls exhaling, and we can then turn around and offer the apana back into the prana.[...]" Richard Freeman, The Mirror of yoga
"We find that when we do yoga asana and pranayama this balance naturally occurs (*equilibrio del orificio nasal dominante en la respiración), and at the end of a good practice there is a sense of internal balance, as if
the breath flowing evenly between the ida and pingala or posibly it is resting in the susumna nadi" The Mirror of yoga, Richard Freeman
"For this reason it is perfectly normal that as we exhale, a feeling anxiety arises because the apanic patterns stimulates physical sensations associated with change and dissolution" Richard Freeman- Mirro of yoga
"When the school or practice becomes difficult--which is precisely the entry point into reality-- it is at this crisis point that you really have to drop your pretenses and keep digging deeper into the experience" Richard Freeman, The Mirror of Yoga
"[...]Upon this full awakening (la fundición de los opuesto que permite la liberación de la energía Kindalini en el canal central del cuerpo sutil), the moon (identificada físicamente con la glándula pituitaria en el plano físico y el ajana chakra en el sútil) at the root of the palate--Which collects nectar (se refiere al "amrta" de ahí el proposito de la inversiones es preservar su descomposición en el sol. Manipura chakra identificado con el poder gástrico. Ténicas como el kechari mudra tratan estimular para poder ingerirlo al presionar la zona del paladar alto con la lengua) from the thousand-petaled lotus at the crown of the head (se refiere al 7 chakra)-- begins to melt and shower(dentro de todos los nadis)[...]" Richard Freeman The Mirror of yoga
"Aligment is a steady flame of intelligence" Richard Freeman
"Yoga practice itself is a simple collection of techniques for observing what is in the present moment. These techniques lead to a pure attention to the subtleties, movements and forms of whatever is present, including one’s own thoughts and freedom." -Richard Freeman
