By: Yogi Ashwini 

Diwali is the darkest night of the year and also the most powerful night to break away from darkness into lightf Shiva ignifying that only when it is the darkest night you yearn for light. The journey from darkness to light is the journey from mooladhar to the agya, from the bottom to the topmost, to the centre of the forehead, in the human body. Mooladhar is the seat of Ganesha, the deity of physical creation and agya is that of Shiva, who takes you beyond. 

Physical satisfaction is the first experience of a practitioner. There is nothing wrong with the physical, the body is for the experience of physical only. It is the attachment to the physical which ties one to the cycle of pleasure and pain leading to disease and ageing. The physical is temporary, it brings with it immense pleasure and leaves with pain…and leave it will, for sure. You can either be attached to it, the path to darkness or stay detached, which leads to light. 

On the night of Diwali diyas are lit and placed in front of the idols of Ganesha and Lakshmi. Goddess Lakshmi rides an owl and Ganesha is seated on a mushak, mouse. Both owl and mouse stay in darkness. A being who is at the level of moolasthan, is like an owl that is tied to maya or a mouse that runs after physical pleasures, away from light into darkness as all physical pleasures are temporary, all relationships, physical desires, the human body, they are all temporary. We all know this will go, but we are not prepared to accept it, that is darkness. This is where the journey, as detailed in Sanatan Kriya, begins, the mooladhar being represented by the tip of the nose. 

Physical satisfaction is the first experience of a practitioner. There is nothing wrong with the physical, the body is for the experience of physical only. It is the attachment to the physical which ties one to the cycle of pleasure and pain leading to disease and ageing. The physical is temporary, it brings with it immense pleasure and leaves with pain…and leave it will, for sure. You can either be attached to it, the path to darkness or stay detached, which leads to light. 

In the initial stages of Sanatan Kriya, a practitioner meditates on the tip of the nose (kaki mudra), for he desires the experiences of the physical or material. The kundalini shakti which lies coiled up at the moolsthan in a semi dormant state gets consumed in the day-to-day indulgence for such a person. As the person progresses in sadhna, the guru gradually transforms his desires, granting him the experiences of higher chakras. When kundalini rises, then excessive heat, movements and pulsations are felt in the body, at times uncontrollable …at all times, away from light into darkness, the urge becomes very strong. But a sadhak has to depend on and refer to experiences he has had and hold on, and lo and behold, the light will dawn. 

Focusing your eyes at the agya is the most difficult because it requires stilling of thoughts, and stillness of eyes is vital because the thought process wastes your energy. Energy, which is capable of creating light within you, gets depleted when you think very intently about something. These thoughts are your desires that come to you when you sit in dhyan. You think about your problems, your wants, about the darkness that you are in and that you are trying to get out of. Each time you think, there occurs a vibration in the neurons of the brain which leads to sensation through the nerves and your focus gets disturbed and experience evades you. 

For an experience to happen, seeing the light is very important. For seeing the light, it is important to have a guru who will show you the light. On Diwali, when we light a diya, it is to see the light in darkness.