Day 37 – One Teaching – Seven Stars

My reading of Autobiography of Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda continues and each day I seem to find more references to a universal spirituality, the one teaching that is the theme of this blog.  Today in a footnote on page 157, Yogananda writes,

“Awakening of the occult cerebrospinal centres (chakras, astral lotuses) is the sacred goal of the yogi.  Western exegetes have not understood that the new Testament chapter of Revelation contains the symbolic exposition of a Yogic science, taught to John and other close disciples by Lord Jesus.  John mentions (Revelation 1:20, Bible) the “mystery of the seven stars” and the “seven churches”; these refer to the seven lotuses of light described in yoga treatises as the seven “trap doors” in the cerebrospinal axis.  Through these divinely planned “exits”, the yogi, by scientific meditation, escapes from the bodily prison and resumes his true identity as Spirit.”

On Day 10, we discussed the chakras as energy centers along the spine of the body.  When all seven energy centers are open and life force is free to flow in and out, our spirit becomes unrestricted as is suggested by the Yogananda quote.  Easier said than done, which is why it is “the goal of the sacred yogi.”  Human beings easily become blocked over the course of a lifetime.  Hearts harden and I suspect that very few are able to attain this state of true freedom.  For example, if our “base” chakra becomes blocked then we may experience health issues and if our “heart” chakra is blocked we can have troubles in love.

How do we become blocked?  Michael Singer offers an amazing explanation of this in his book, The Untethered Soul.  Essentially our life experiences pass through us, but some of them get trapped in our bodies, especially painful ones.  These trapped memories and our beliefs about them are stored in our bodies becoming blockages.  The next question is how do we release them?

I feel a sense of harmony when I find references within different religions that seem to point to the same general ideas about spirituality.  This may be why I consider myself to be spiritual, but not religious.  After today’s reading of Yogi, I ventured to read John 1:20 in the New Testament, as referenced above, but I am no religious scholar and I found it hard to see a direct mapping between the chakras and the seven churches referenced in the Bible.  (Each of the churches are called out by name and are said to represent physical churches in seven different cities.)  However, in the messages to the churches, the messages John shares are full of references to sin.  The concept of “sin,” while controversial, is most certainly a cause for the spirit becoming blocked.

When Jesus appeared before John to give him instructions, He, “Held seven stars in his right hand and a sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth.”  Is the metaphor that when we remove the sword and the related injuries it represents, our seven stars, churches, or chakras become unblocked allowing Spirit to become free?  Sounds like peace to me.

Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash