Chapter 11: From Body to Cosmos – The Universal Pattern

The story of existence never stops at the boundary of skin or skeleton. What appears as the human body is not an isolated lump of matter that stands apart from the universe, but a continuing expression of the same laws, the same intelligence, the same hidden pattern that stretches from the deepest atom to the widest galaxy. When the thread of reflection that began in the mystery of memory and death is carried further, it naturally points to a vision even larger: that the body is not separate from the cosmos at all. It is cosmos in miniature, cosmos folded into form, cosmos breathing through flesh, blood, and bone.

Anyone who looks carefully will see the signature of this grand design hidden everywhere. The lungs of a human, for instance, branch out into finer and finer networks of bronchi and alveoli in a structure that is practically indistinguishable from the branching of trees in a forest or the winding course of rivers across a continent. Each time the breath expands into the lungs, it is not different in essence from the way rivers pour into tributaries, or roots split beneath the soil. It is the same branching fractal, endlessly repeating at different scales. And when one gazes at images of galaxies, with their spiraling arms of stars, or the faint lines of electrical discharges flashing in the sky, the resemblance becomes undeniable. A single pattern seems to be playing endlessly on the canvas of life and matter, shaping lungs, shaping trees, shaping rivers, shaping galaxies.

Such patterns are not accidents. They point to a universal mathematics that flows like hidden music through creation. The golden ratio, for example, appears with uncanny consistency in the proportions of the human body (for example, the ratio of the total height to the height of the navel is often close to 1.618), in the spiral shells of mollusks, in the arrangement of seeds in a sunflower, in the double helix of DNA. The golden ratio is about 1.618. If a line is divided into a long part and a short part, then (whole ÷ long part) = (long part ÷ short part) ≈ 1.618. It appears in nature and art—like sunflower seeds, snail shells, human body proportions, and famous paintings—because it looks naturally balanced and beautiful. When sculptors of ancient Greece carved their statues, they sought this ratio instinctively, believing it to be the mark of divine harmony. Today, biologists and physicists confirm the same truth: life builds itself following this mysterious proportion. It is as if creation itself chooses to appear beautiful, to mirror a hidden order, and to reveal that behind apparent randomness lies a secret rhythm of pure awareness.

One does not need complicated theories to sense this. The curve of a leaf, the symmetry of a snowflake, the spread of a peacock’s feather, all whisper the same message. The body is not only a product of nature, it is nature compressed into a form. As in the cell, so in the star. As in the atom, so in the galaxy. The microcosm and the macrocosm mirror each other endlessly, each carrying the holographic imprint of the whole.

This insight has been sung in different ways by sages and scientists alike. The rishis of the Upanishads proclaimed long ago that the self inside is not different from the vast Brahman outside. Modern physics, when it speaks of quantum entanglement, hints at the same truth—that even when particles are separated by unimaginable distances, they remain linked by a hidden unity. The same intelligence that decides the fate of a subatomic particle collapsing into one event out of countless possibilities is present in every pulse of thought and every beat of the heart. Quantum collapses are determining every activity at every moment, whether inside or outside the body. That intelligence is what ancient seekers personified as Brahma, the creative deity sitting on a lotus, from whom all forms arise and into whom they dissolve.

Yet in the ordinary flow of life this reality becomes veiled. It is said that mental waves, like restless ripples on the surface of a pond, cover the calm depth of awareness that lies behind. But this is not to be mistaken for any physical light or material radiance. It is the nature of awareness itself, self-experiencing, silent, without second. The trouble begins when indulgence in the world makes one forget this background awareness. Then what remains is a fall into a kind of slumber, an absence. That absence is like a blank comma in the book of life, or the gap of deep sleep. It is not the same as the zero of pure awareness.

The difference between these two zeros is profound. The zero of ignorance, as in deep unconscious sleep, is the absence of everything—even the sense of one’s own being. Nothing is present, not even background self-awareness; it is a void of non-experience. Yet, I perceived the departed soul of a close acquaintance as a wave-less sky, a zero-like vastness, yet still feeling localized and compressed or subtly suffocated due to the subtle impressions of encodings in it, but fully self-aware. Through that subtly encoded vastness, she expressed that she was not different from her living state—her consciousness remained continuous and alive, with all her past lives encoded in her wave-less space form. I also perceived her as part of the same continuity of livingness, without any interruptions—full of even more freshness and vastness. It seemed as if she had never died at all.

This suggests that the apparent loss of awareness immediately during and after death can be temporary, a rebound effect after intense worldly experience, like deep sleep following a long journey. In bound souls, awareness returns soon in an encoded form within the sky of their being, while in liberated souls, pure awareness shines unbound, free of all encoding and form. The zero of pure awareness is exactly the opposite of encoded awareness: it is fullness hidden as emptiness, presence without form, a self-experiencing reality that needs no object to prove itself. One is absence, the other is essence. One is loss, the other is liberation. Encoded awareness, however, is neither truly empty nor truly fulfilled—it is like a half-filled pot, partially filled with water and air, whereas pure awareness is like an empty pot naturally full of air, completely full in its own way. Encodings can never fully occupy the endless pure awareness, because the physical world that generates subtle encodings is limited. That is why fulfilledness is never achieved by the bound soul. In contrast, the absence of all encodings in a liberated soul allows pure awareness to be immediately full of zero-space making it fully fulfilled and empty together. It is just a blank philosophical idea, not meant to be explored deeply, but to encourage yoga practice to directly experience the fact.

The patterns of body and cosmos invite the seeker to recognize the distinction between appearance and reality: what seems separate is in truth inseparable. A river’s flow is not separate from the cloud that gave it birth or the ocean that waits at its end. Similarly, thought, memory, breath, and bone are not separate from the universal energy that sustains them. To mistake the body for an isolated lump is to forget the river’s connection to the ocean. To realize the body as cosmos in miniature is to rediscover the background ocean of awareness that never vanishes, even when forms dissolve. When the physical connection of body with cosmos is contemplated, the non-physical connection of bound awareness with pure awareness also reveals itself—for wherever the container goes, the content goes with it. This is the secret mantra of moving to the non-physical with the help of the physical.

There are always two ways of life that appear in society. Some individuals walk fully into the world, immersed in duty, family, business, responsibility, karma. Others retreat, renounce, and dedicate themselves wholly to inner search. Both paths look opposite in the eyes of people, but both can arrive at the same awakening. If such a karmayogi or such a renunciate touches the state of nirvikalpa, they know from within its worth, a worth that cannot be explained to those outside. To the ordinary crowd such a person may even appear foolish type, a laggard type who has lost interest in the games of the world. Yet, society often sees a difference: the karmayogi who turns into a dhyana yogi is respected as genuine, for he has tasted the world fully and then transcended it on finding a higher treasure. But the one who remains a dhyana yogi from the beginning may appear strange or lifeless to the public, even though he may be equally genuine, for people think he has never known the taste of the world and therefore avoids it like a timid creature. Such is the misunderstanding of those who cannot see the inner flame that burns quietly beyond the world’s games.

At the heart of all this lies the same universal intelligence, deciding moment by moment which possibility will collapse into actuality. In quantum language, it is the wave function collapsing into one outcome while others remain unrealized. In ancient language, it is Brahma choosing to manifest a world out of countless latent potentials. The wonder is that this intelligence does not operate only in the farthest galaxies or deepest atoms. It is pulsing right now in the thoughts passing through the mind, in the choice to breathe deeply or shallowly, in the gentle branching of a nerve fiber inside the brain. To awaken to this is to see that one’s own life is not apart from the cosmos but is cosmos in motion. That is why the Vedic people saw conscious gods in every part of nature—air, water, sun, planets, fire, and all that exists. They were not worshiping lifeless objects nor they were experts in quantum science but recognizing the play of intelligence shimmering through every element. They were recognizing the deep essence of the quantum wave of superposition collapsing into a single outcome experientially, not merely through the physical experimentation that science is reaching today after so much hue and cry. To them, every force of nature was a living expression of the same cosmic awareness, worthy of reverence, for nothing in creation was outside that one intelligence.

When the patterns are followed deeper, the thrill grows. A child looking at a snail’s shell sees only a pretty curve. But if eyes are sharpened, that curve is the golden spiral, the same that governs hurricanes, galaxies, and the unfolding of a pinecone. The pattern repeats endlessly, whispering that nothing is random, everything is woven in rhythm. And when these patterns are mirrored inside, when the mind sees itself as fractal extension of universal mind, then wonder turns into reverence. Means, When the mind realizes that the same intelligence—collapsing quantum possibilities into form and shaping galaxies—also shapes its own thoughts, amazement naturally deepens into reverence.

The journey from body to cosmos is not merely a scientific curiosity. It is an emotional discovery. To realize that the veins inside the hand flow like rivers across the earth, that the alveoli in the lungs mirror the blossoms of trees, that the pulse of DNA carries the same spiral as galaxies, awakens a sense of belonging that no philosophy class can teach. The body ceases to be just “mine” and becomes a sacred bridge to the universal. Each breath, each heartbeat, each step, becomes part of a cosmic dance that began before time and will outlast death.

This adventure does not demand withdrawal from life. It demands only a shift of vision. A trader at his stall, a mother at her kitchen, a student bent over a notebook, a monk in meditation—all are participants in the same universal pattern. To see the body as cosmos in form is to remove the artificial boundary between sacred and ordinary. Everything becomes sacred when seen as expression of the same intelligence.

Yet the suspense of this vision lies in its simplicity. The closer one looks, the more it becomes clear that there is no separate ‘inside’ and ‘outside.’ The cell is already a star, the star already a cell—intelligent quantum collapses happening everywhere, every moment. The body is cosmos condensed, the cosmos body expanded. What remains is only to awaken to this recognition, to let the restless waves of mind grow quiet so that the background ocean of awareness shines forth again. As the body mirrors the cosmos, so the mind mirrors the cosmic mind—pure awareness itself. There is no real separation. Then absence turns into essence of pure awareness, and foolishness turns into wisdom.

In this recognition the journey that began with death and memory flowers into cosmic belonging. The body is not a prison but a portal. The patterns in the lungs, the golden spirals in DNA, the fractals in rivers and galaxies are not coincidences but signatures left by the same intelligence, reminding every seeker that the self within and the universe without are not two. They are one song, sung endlessly through countless forms, waiting to be heard in the silence of pure awareness. Simply put, The self and the universe are not two but one reality, expressing itself through endless forms. When the mind is restless, its noise fragments reality into separate pieces, like ripples breaking the reflection of a clear lake. But when it grows silent, those distortions fall away, and awareness shines by itself. In that stillness, it becomes evident that the self within and the universe without are not two, but one seamless whole. Only then does Sharirvigyan Darshan find true contemplation, for contemplating it reveals pure awareness—and pure awareness, in turn, deepens that contemplation.

Chapter 9 – Healing from the Inside Out

Human life is not just a chain of days and events. It is a flow of patterns, shaped by awareness, taking form as the body and mind we live in. In the last chapter, we saw how consciousness links experiences together and turns possibilities into reality. Now, we look deeper—into the body’s power to heal itself from the inside out.

Most of us are taught to think of illness as something that “attacks” us from outside—a virus, a germ, an injury. But seen more deeply, illness is often a disturbance in the body’s natural balance. It is like a musical note going slightly out of tune. The instrument is still there; it just needs the right vibration to return to harmony.

The human body is not just flesh and bone. On a finer level, it is a field of information. Every cell and atom follows a kind of invisible blueprint. That invisible blueprint can be understood as the subconscious mind, because the subconscious stores the deep patterns, memories, and beliefs that quietly shape how the body functions, heals, and responds to life—often without our conscious awareness—acting like the hidden master plan the body follows. When this blueprint is clear, the body is healthy. When it is disturbed—by stress, shock, or unprocessed emotions—the body’s image of health becomes blurred. Real healing happens when that inner pattern is restored. Then, the body’s physical parts follow naturally. The inner pattern or blueprint means the subconscious mind’s pattern becomes clearer through meditation and spiritual practices like dana (charity), tapa (discipline), and vrata (sacred vows), which purify hidden impressions and restore the mind-body field to its natural harmony, allowing the body to heal more easily.

Modern medicine sees disease as a chemical imbalance or physical damage. That is true, but these are often the surface effects of a deeper cause—the disturbance in the body’s energy or information field. I refer to the subconscious mind as the body’s energy or information field because it silently stores and transmits the mental-emotional patterns as information and energy that influence the body’s chemistry, cell behavior, and overall balance—acting like an invisible control network that links mind, energy, and physical form. Quantum physics tells us that many possible states exist at once. In the body, this means every cell can “choose” between states of health or illness. The choice depends on the signals it receives from the surrounding field.

From this point of view, the work of a healer is not only to fight the disease, but also to guide the body back into its natural rhythm. A certain threshold of subconscious clarity is needed for the body’s natural rhythm to hold; when clarity drops below that point, distortions build up in the mind-body field, and disease begins to appear. This is why some therapies—sound, light, gentle touch, meditation—can help. They are not magic; they are ways of sending the “right song” back into the body so it remembers how to be well.

Even the so-called placebo effect is proof of this. When someone truly believes they will heal, the belief itself changes the body’s energy blueprint. “Blueprint” is just a metaphor to make the idea visual, but it directly means the body’s energy field or subconscious pattern that belief can influence and change. It is not the pill but the mind’s certainty that triggers the body to repair itself. Far from being “just imagination,” it is one of the clearest examples of the mind’s healing power.

Deep spiritual states also create a powerful healing field. For example, Nirvikalpa Samadhi is often misunderstood as withdrawing from life and sitting in emptiness. But it is really about living and acting with the understanding that the doer, the action, and the result are one. When the sense of doer, action, and result being one is realized, stress and inner conflict drop sharply, which prevents new subconscious disturbances from forming—helping the body stay in its natural state of health. Simply saying, nirvikalp samadhi clears the subconscious mind. A person in this state naturally radiates balance and calm. Just being around them can help others’ patterns return to harmony.

In yoga, practices like Yam and Niyam are not strict rules but ways to keep the body’s field clear and steady. They prevent disturbances before they appear. A karmayogi—someone who works in the world with selfless awareness—may look fully engaged in life, but inside they are in deep alignment, already healing themselves and influencing others.

Healing and self-realization meet in the quiet space between thoughts. When we pause and rest in awareness, the mind’s noise settles, and distortions fade. This is not emptiness in the dull sense, but a full and alive silence where the body remembers its original state of balance. It means that in moments of pure awareness—when thoughts pause like in keval kumbhak—the mind becomes still, the subconscious clears, and the body naturally returns to its healthy, balanced state; this silence feels vibrant and alive, not blank or lifeless.

The brain adds another mystery. Neurons send electrical signals in two-dimensional patterns, yet we experience a rich, three-dimensional world. This shows that depth and reality are not purely in the brain’s matter, but in how consciousness shapes information. In a hologram, if the source plate is clear, the image is clear. Healing works the same way—clarify the blueprint, and the whole picture changes. It means that just as a hologram’s image depends entirely on the clarity of its original recording plate, the body’s health depends on the clarity of its inner pattern or subconscious; when that inner “source” is clear, the outer physical condition naturally improves.

Life also gives us natural phases of alignment. In youth, energy flows strongly, and engaging fully with life strengthens harmony. Later, as the body slows, deeper stillness and states like Nirvikalpa come more easily, keeping the field aligned with less outward action. It means we have a better opportunity in youth to experience energy-awakening–based Savikalpa Samadhi, while in later life, silent Savikalpa Samadhi and even Nirvikalpa Samadhi can naturally arise as a result of the earlier energetic awakening.

In physics, the wavefunction holds all possible realities. What becomes real is chosen by the conditions at the moment. Healing is about tuning the conditions so the healthiest possibility becomes the natural choice. It means that, just as physics says all outcomes exist until conditions decide which one appears, the body also holds many possible health states, and by creating the right mental, emotional, and physical conditions, the body naturally “chooses” the healthiest state to manifest.

To heal from the inside out is to remember that the body is not a machine needing only external repair, but a living hologram in constant contact with infinite intelligence. At any moment, the song of the field can change—and when it does, the atoms follow. Whether through belief, sound, selfless work, or deep silence, we can invite the body back into its natural rhythm.

True healing is not about escaping the world or clinging to it. It is about walking through life as both healer and healed, knowing that the blueprint of wholeness is always present. Every mindful step strengthens the song of health. Every breath taken in awareness is a gentle return to balance. In this way, healing becomes not a struggle, but a natural expression of living in tune with who we really are—a spark of consciousness, shaping itself into the form of a healthy, living human being.

Keval Kumbhak, Prana–Apana Balance, and the Quantum Nature of Thoughts

There is a certain moment in deep meditation when the breath simply stops.
It is not forced. It is not held. It just… disappears.

This is keval kumbhak — a natural cessation of breath. For me, this happens when the up–down oscillations of pranic energy at a chakra slowly merge into a central still point. The wave’s amplitude reduces and reduces until it reaches zero.

In that zero point, I notice something striking — the mind is gone.
No thoughts, no images, no mental chatter. Just an absolute stillness.

Zero Amplitude – Zero Thoughts

While sitting in that state, it feels as if all mental activity has stopped. But thinking deeper, I realized: maybe the mind has not truly stopped existing. Maybe it is still active somewhere, just not where my awareness is looking.

When the amplitude of the pranic wave is at zero, my attention is also resting in that zero point. Thoughts may still be forming somewhere in the “mind-field”, but in this zone, they are simply not perceptible.

It’s like looking at a large movie screen but focusing on one tiny, blank center spot — all the action at the edges is still playing, but you don’t see it.

Breath Amplitude as the Thought Gateway

As I slowly come out of that deep point and start observing the breath’s movements again, I notice something:

The moment the breath-wave amplitude increases, thoughts start appearing. Small amplitude → few thoughts. Larger amplitude → more thoughts.

It’s as if the breath’s oscillation opens the gate for more of the mind-field to become visible. The breath amplitude acts like the size of a window — the bigger the opening, the more thoughts can pass into perception.

The Quantum Analogy

This reminded me of quantum wave mechanics.

In quantum theory, a particle’s probability of being found at a certain location depends on the amplitude of its wavefunction. Zero amplitude means zero probability — the particle simply won’t be found there. Means, the probability of finding a wavy quantum particle increases in direct proportion to its wave amplitude, with zero amplitude meaning zero probability.

My experience felt similar:

  • Mind = quantum particle
  • Thoughts = particle detections (collapses)
  • Breath/pranic amplitude = probability amplitude for perceiving thoughts

At zero amplitude (in keval kumbhak), the probability of detecting a thought is effectively zero in the zone of observation. When amplitude rises, the probability rises — thoughts appear.

Orch-OR Connection

Orch-OR (Orchestrated Objective Reduction), proposed by Hameroff and Penrose, suggests consciousness arises from quantum collapses in microtubules inside neurons.

In my case, I don’t think those collapses stop entirely in samadhi. Instead:

  • Collapses (thought formations) still happen in the mind-field.
  • But my awareness in deep meditation is focused on the zero-amplitude center, where no thoughts register.
  • When pranic amplitude grows, awareness spreads over a wider zone, catching more of these collapses as thoughts.

It’s a subtle but important difference:
The mind’s activity might still exist in potential form, but in samadhi, I am tuned into a region where it doesn’t show up.

The Practice-Based Side: Prana–Apana Tactics

In truth, this is not just a passive state that “happens” — it can also be reached deliberately through classical yogic techniques.
It involves balancing prana (upward-moving energy) and apana (downward-moving energy) in specific ways:

  • Making one dominant over the other
  • Reversing them — sending physical breath in one direction, mental breath (visualized energy) in the other
  • Colliding them so they meet at a chosen point in the body
  • Merging them completely into a single unified flow

The “mental breath” here is not literal air but the directed pranic flow in awareness. The “physical breath” is the actual inhalation/exhalation movement. These two can be made to work in opposite or complementary ways.

When they fully merge or balance, their oscillations cancel out, creating the still-point — the zero-amplitude zone I described earlier. That is where keval kumbhak naturally occurs, and thought perception drops to zero.

This is why it is hard to explain literally — without direct practice, the idea of “moving physical breath one way and mental breath the other way” sounds abstract. But in practice, it is as real and mechanical as adjusting two water streams so they meet perfectly.

Why This Feels Unique

I have read yoga texts, studied some Kashmir Shaivism, and explored modern quantum-consciousness theories.
Yoga speaks of chitta vritti nirodha (stilling the mind waves).
Kashmir Shaivism says vibration (spanda) never fully stops, but one can rest in the bindu (center).
Science says breath influences brain rhythms.
Orch-OR says quantum collapse underlies awareness.

But I have not come across anyone directly mapping breath/pranic amplitude to the probability of perceiving thoughts, using both lived yogic experience and quantum analogy.

This feels like my personal discovery — a bridge between keval kumbhak and quantum perception theory.

The Simple Takeaway

In keval kumbhak, the mind does not truly vanish — it simply becomes unobservable when awareness rests in the zero-amplitude point of the pranic wave.
As breath amplitude increases, the observable field expands, and thoughts return in proportion to that amplitude.

It is not about stopping the mind entirely; it is about where the lens of awareness is placed.

In the deepest stillness, the movie of the mind is still running somewhere — but I am looking at a blank spot in the center of the screen.

When the Breath Moved to My Ajna Chakra

🌸 Happy Janmashtami! 🌸
On this sacred day when we rejoice in the birth of Lord Krishna, a quiet celebration unfolded within me — a new birth of awareness, as the breath began to awaken in the Ajna Chakra.

Today something new happened in my meditation.
Earlier, my subtle breathing seemed to come from the Anahata Chakra — a gentle rise and fall at the heart center. But this time, my awareness settled fully in the front Ajna Chakra between my eyebrows, and something extraordinary unfolded.

It felt like the Ajna itself was “breathing.” There was a subtle constriction as prana moved downward, with awareness contracting into a fine point, and a gentle relaxation as prana moved upward, with awareness expanding like a soft glow. This rhythm was continuous — like respiration — yet my physical breathing was barely noticed. Air still flowed in and out of my lungs, but it seemed irrelevant. At times, it even felt like the breath had stopped entirely.

From a yogic perspective, this is when the chitta (mind-field) and prana (life-force) synchronize at the Ajna. The normal link between mind and chest breathing fades, replaced by a pranic tide in the head. This is a pratyahara–dharana fusion state: senses withdrawn, awareness steady, yet alive. The physical lungs continue their work in the background while awareness rides only the subtle rhythm. This can lead naturally to kevala kumbhaka — the effortless, breathless stillness.

I learned that Ajna breathing happens when the ida and pingala energy channels merge at the Ajna, creating a tiny “micro-pump” in the pranic body. The sensation is like the Ajna itself is inhaling and exhaling. It sharpens inner vision and steadies meditation, but it can also pull prana upward so much that grounding is needed to stay balanced. A simple way to do this is to keep a thin “awareness-thread” down the spine to the Muladhara Chakra while meditating.

We also explored how this can evolve:

  • Path 1: Stay in Ajna breathing and stabilize it until samadhi readiness is natural.
  • Path 2: Let Ajna’s expansion phase overflow into the Sahasrara Chakra, where the breathing becomes spherical and almost timeless.
  • Path 3: Occasionally cycle awareness through all chakras to keep the whole system alive and balanced while still rooted in the higher centers.

From this, we shaped a single practice:

  1. Start with Ajna breathing for stability.
  2. Let expansion naturally drift upward into Sahasrara breathing.
  3. Before ending, cycle down and up through all chakras a few times to ground and integrate.

Ajna breathing feels like a gateway. Sahasrara breathing feels like stepping beyond the gate into the infinite sky. Both are precious, but Ajna gives the steady flame, while Sahasrara gives the boundless space. The key is to let it happen naturally, ride the rhythm, and stay rooted enough to live fully in both worlds — the inner and the outer.

Living Samadhi in All Seasons of the Day

I have come to realize that Samadhi is not something to be locked inside a meditation room or reserved only for those rare moments when the world is quiet. For me, it has become a rhythm — like breathing in and out — flowing through the morning, afternoon, evening, and even into the busiest parts of the day. It’s not just about the cushion; it’s about carrying that awareness like a fragrance that lingers wherever I go.

My mornings begin with yoga, the body stretching and opening like the petals of a flower at dawn. The energy starts to hum in the spine, and before it dissipates, I let it settle in meditation for a full hour. This is not a forced concentration, but more like stepping into a quiet lake and letting the ripples fade on their own. The body is still, the mind settles, and the space between thoughts becomes more vivid than the thoughts themselves. I can feel the energy in the Ajna Chakra — steady, blissful — and this alone is enough to keep the mind detached from the usual noise of the day. Morning energy work creates a potential that lasts throughout the day, making it easier to enter deep dhyana during later meditation sittings, and sometimes even bringing brief, samadhi-like naps at intervals throughout the day.

Afternoons are different. Just after lunch, I sit in Vajrasana for about 30 minutes. This is a calmer, grounding period — digestion for both the body and the soul. Vajrasana itself is steadying, and I find that meditating right after a meal in this posture helps the body stay relaxed while the mind quietly tunes itself. It’s not as intense as morning practice, but it carries a deep, homely stillness, almost like a midday nap for the inner being — except you stay fully awake. I feel the downward spinal breath is more prominent during eating dhyana due to the downward movement of life force aiding digestion. However in early morning when belly is empty, the upward movement of breath seems more prominent.

Evenings are my favorite. About three hours after dinner, just before sleep, I give myself another hour. Here, there is no need to prepare the mind — the day has already done its work of tiring the body and mind. I simply sit, and the awareness slips into its place like a familiar old friend returning home. Often, this is the deepest session of the day because the body has nothing left to demand, and the mind knows there’s no more work to be done. The transition into sleep from this state feels like slipping from the banks of a quiet river into the open sea. When you fall asleep directly, the mind may stay restless, leading to light sleep and vivid dreams, which prevents full mental rest. But if you first slip into dhyana and then let sleep come naturally, the mind is already calm and inwardly settled. This allows sleep to be deeper, more blissful, refreshing, and satisfying.

But it doesn’t end with these sitting periods. My way of Karma Yoga — through Sharirvigyan Darshan — has become the thread that keeps it all stitched together. While working, I remain aware of the body as if it were an atom: the brain as the nucleus, the electrons as shifting personalities, thoughts as orbiting patterns that I don’t need to catch or control. The body works, the mind thinks, but I stand a little apart, like the witness. In this way, the practice is not interrupted by activity; it is activity that becomes part of the practice.

There is a sweetness in this rhythm. Morning freshness, afternoon grounding, evening melting into stillness — and in between, the flowing stream of Karma Yoga. Each session is like cleaning a window so that the view stays clear. Over time, I have learned that Samadhi is not only found in long stretches of sitting but also in these shorter, daily touchpoints that keep the awareness polished and alive. When combined, they become a continuous current, humming quietly beneath the surface of everything I do.

It is important to understand that while dhyana or samadhi itself is not dependent on the mind, the mind is still required to prepare the ground for it. In the early stages, mental focus and clarity are essential to enter the state. This is why being fresh, alert, and well-rested allows dhyana to establish more quickly and with greater depth. Once true samadhi is reached, it becomes self-sustaining — the mind in that state neither tires nor drifts into drowsiness or sleep over time. By contrast, if one attempts meditation in a dull or drowsy condition, the practice is likely to slide into yoganidra or ordinary sleep rather than samadhi.

Public demonstrations such as being buried underground for days cannot be equated with samadhi. These feats are often the result of advanced pranayama skills such as keval kumbhak (effortless breath retention) or other survival-oriented techniques. While impressive, they do not necessarily reflect inner absorption, and the ego investment in performing such displays can become a subtle obstacle to genuine spiritual advancement. True samadhi, as described in the yogic tradition, is free of exhibition and rooted in inner stillness.

Chapter 7-b: The Hidden Symphony – From Localized Ripples to the Field of Pure Awareness

Friends,
I felt myself sufficiently transformed while writing this chapter. It dissolved a few deep doubts, like those related to Sankhya Vivek Khyati. Initially, I used to think it was something special, but now it feels like nothing other than Nirvikalpa Samadhi in yoga, with only the difference in words differentiating the two philosophies. Similarly, the subtle science behind the union of Purush and Prakriti, and the ignorance found in that, became clearer. I gained a new dimension regarding the witnessing. I got amazing similarity between cosmos and human body. Let us walk together again to see what unfolds ahead.

Just as a quiet lake might mirror the sky with such clarity that one forgets the water is even there, so too the cosmic field, in its truest form, is a smooth, undisturbed presence—pure, serene, and boundless. The seventh chapter previously unfolded the concept of energy and wave-fields within and beyond the human body, culminating in the realization that what appears material is, in truth, a vibrant play of non-material patterns—fields and waves interwoven through space. Now, seamlessly extending from that exploration, this chapter descends deeper—into the hidden movements of those fields, into the invisible architecture of space, and toward the sublime recognition of a field so pure, so untouched by ripple, that it stands apart: the field of pure awareness.

Begin with a single stationary charge, a fundamental entity in physics. It sits silently, yet not inert. Around it radiates an electric field—a subtle tension in space, like a barely stretched fabric. This field is localized, forming around the charge like an invisible cocoon. But disturb this silence, let the charge move—and something changes. Now it does not just sit; it dances. It begins to generate ripples in its surrounding field. Accelerate it, and those ripples deepen, becoming self-sustaining waves—electromagnetic waves, to be precise. These waves are not static imprints but dynamic travelers, pulsing outward at the speed of light, weaving through the vastness of space.

Yet, a curious condition arises here. For a charge to keep producing such waves, it must accelerate—not just move at constant speed, but continuously shift its direction or speed. Similarly, a human brain activity or learning should not be at a constant pace but should be increasing in speed day by day to spread in the world like a wave. But how could one do that without chasing the particle or brain activity endlessly? The solution is profoundly elegant: oscillation. Instead of pursuing a charge endlessly in space, let it swing rhythmically in place—forward and back, like a pendulum of light. And lo, this rhythmic movement becomes the source of continuously emitted electromagnetic waves. In a wire carrying alternating current, electrons do not travel far; they merely oscillate locally, producing ripples that propagate far and wide. But whether in wire or in space, it is this dance—this play of acceleration—that gives rise to light. The same happens in brain to. It keeps on changing subject and direction of activity rapidly instead of chasing a single subject endlessly with increasing speed that can make him mad instead of wavy. Rapdly changing gunas between satoguna, rajoguna and tamoguna also produce oscillating brain. That is why rapidly changing person is often seen successful in worldly matters.

And now arises a philosophical beauty. That which seems so material—light, heat, visibility—is not an object but a disturbance, a ripple in an invisible field. And this ripple has its twin nature: it is both electric and magnetic, each feeding the other in perfect rhythm, a cosmic choreography of mutual arising. What begins as a local ripple in the electric field gives birth to a magnetic field, which in turn regenerates the electric one, and so on, endlessly, as the wave moves. It is like Ida and Pingla nadis in the body that runs alternating with help of each other like a dancing girl, and creating central sushumna wave like em wave propagating to produce spark in consciousness. Why not call electric field ida and magnetic field pingla, and wave propagating ahead sushumna. When ida pulses strong, only then it produces pingla pulsing and vice versa alternatingly pushing ahead the sushumna pulse in between till pulsation is strong, otherwise subtle pulsation of ida or pingla like separate electric or magnetic field goes on happening always without producing perceptible sushumna pulse as em wave. Duality-full worldly working with nondual attitude produces this strong pulsation. Duality provides strong oscillation of charged brain, while nondual attitude keeps mind away from attachment to any special worldly act that can fix charged brain on single matter thus hindering its rapid and continuous oscillation. It is amazing. We keep admiring non-duality always, but duality is also not any lesser participant in spiritual evolution.

But this brings another subtle question to the surface. Are these fields already present in space, waiting to be disturbed, or are they created anew each time a charge dances? The scientific understanding leans toward the former. Space is not empty; it is already a field, a vast and subtle playground, waiting to carry any ripple with ease. The field is there even before the wave arises—smooth, serene, and unmanifest. It is only when something moves—a charge, a particle, a disturbance—that the latent potential becomes kinetic, that the ripple emerges. Similarly, ida and pingla are always there. It is the movement of meditational charged brain that determines the extent of energy transmission in these.

This is precisely why alternating current in household wires does not flood the surroundings with radiation despite its oscillating nature. The wavelength of powerline current (50 or 60 Hz) is enormous—thousands of kilometers long—while the wire, even if spanning cities, remains minuscule in comparison. As a result, the radiated waves do not build up coherently. They cancel and collapse in themselves, barely escaping into space. Only when a structure—like an antenna—is crafted in harmony with the wavelength does radiation become organized and efficient.

And now the stars begin to whisper their secrets. Without human intelligence, without deliberate design, natural celestial bodies become perfect antennas. A pulsar spins with mathematical precision, its magnetic fields aligned just so. Charged particles trapped in its magnetic grip accelerate fiercely, spiraling and spinning—emitting powerful beams of electromagnetic radiation, sweeping the cosmos like lighthouse beams. Even the sun, seemingly chaotic, hides organized thermonuclear rhythms beneath its surface. The intense heat at its core generates photons—packets of electromagnetic energy—which, after a long diffusion through solar layers, emerge as sunlight. This light, this familiar warmth touching the skin on Earth, is the ultimate evidence that the universe knows how to organize waves without needing wires, circuits, or blueprints.

But step back now from particles and stars, from wires and waves, and return to the deeper insight that began this journey—the field. All of these waves, fields, and ripples are disturbances on something. A wave cannot exist without a medium, even if that medium is intangible. In classical terms, the electromagnetic field is that medium—a subtle tension that exists throughout space. But if this field itself has ripples, then is it truly smooth? No. It is already filled with potential disturbances, like a pond ruffled by breezes. A truly smooth field must be beyond even these—beyond motion, beyond polarity, beyond opposites.

This brings forth the concept of the cosmic field of pure awareness. Unlike the electromagnetic field, which carries ripples of energy, pure awareness is undisturbed, motionless, timeless. It is not made of charge or mass. It does not require oscillation to propagate. It simply is. And yet, everything else arises from it—not as an effect arises from a cause, but as a dance arises on a stage. The stage remains unmoved by the drama played upon it. In this sense, the electromagnetic field is a playground, and its waves are the players, but pure awareness is the ground beneath the playground itself. Then why not call this vast, supreme playground Shiva, and the playground that fits within it Shakti? This is the eternal union — yet there is the Leela, the divine play of Shakti dancing and then merging once again into Shiva. This process of expansion and recession repeats endlessly. That is why the male and female enjoy the play of separation and union — to dance and to merge repeatedly. This repeated separation and union is the very essence of love.

If one looks inward, tracing perception back through sensation, energy, and thought, one reaches a similar realization. The mind moves like an oscillating charge, like up and down moods, like up and down breath movements, producing thoughts like em waves. Emotions ripple like magnetic feedback loops. The body radiates energy like a living antenna. But what receives it all? What watches the movement without moving? That is pure awareness. It is the witness field—ever present, never disturbed, beyond vibration.

What is astonishing is how closely the outer physics reflects the inner spiritual path. A charge must be accelerated to emit energy, just as the motivated sou-space must be stirred to produce thoughts and actions. Just as interaction of particle with others produce charge on it, the motivation and inspiration got by soul-space from others create a type of tension or strech on it. Yet, beyond all physical patterns lies stillness—not dormancy, but fullness. In the same way, the ultimate state of being is not a storm of experience but a quiet presence—a state where the field is known not by what it does but by what it is.

And so, as the earlier chapters explored how the body itself behaves like an energy field, like a dynamic hologram of atomic dance, this chapter brings an even deeper recognition—that all these dances, all these waves, point toward something more profound. They are signs of a deeper field, one not of energy, but of being.

Every ripple in the electromagnetic field, every ray of light, every whisper of electricity, is a visible expression of an invisible truth. That truth is that space is not empty. It is filled with potential, with presence, with the ability to express form without being form itself. And beyond even that potential is a state where no wave arises, where no charge is present, where awareness rests in itself—whole, pure, and unmoving.

This is why the body can feel energy not just in the brain but along the spine, in the chakras, in the very cellular presence of being. These are not hallucinations but inner ripples in a subtle field—a field that mirrors the outer electromagnetic field but is rooted in consciousness. Just as light arises from the dance of electrons, so too inner light of mind arises from the subtle awakening of awareness within through dancing moods and thoughts to and fro.

There is wonder in this symmetry. The same laws that govern stars and antennas apply to the self. The same ripples that leave a distant star and travel light-years to reach the Earth are echoed by the ripples of thought crossing the inner space of a mind. But both ultimately point toward the silent field—the pure field that is never disturbed, never touched, and yet allows all experience to arise.

And so the journey continues—from charge to wave, from wire to light, from body to awareness. The path winds through the outer cosmos and the inner self, always returning to the same mysterious truth: that reality is not made of things but of fields, and the final field—the field behind all fields—is pure awareness. It is the cosmic mother-field, upon which all players play, unaware sometimes that they are all made of the same eternal silence.

Many people look confused when the talk of witnessing arises. Many think the ever changing mind is the witness. But in fact, only that which is changeless can watch changing things. How can something that itself keeps changing witness or remember another changing entity? Suppose A is watching object 1. Now, if A suddenly becomes B, how can B remember the experience of watching 1—unless there is something unchanging in A that continued into B? This shows that the real witness is not the changing body or mind, but a stable, unchanging awareness. Another perspective is that everything in the world is not truly created new, but simply a rearrangement of the same underlying substance into different shapes and forms. In this view, the only real “stuff” that exists is pure awareness. The only witness possible is also this very same. Other everything that do not have even their own existence, how can they become witness. Whether see at cosmic level or at body level, the rule does not change. At both places, witness is only that same single one. It is not made from anything else—it is the source, the base, and the material of all appearances. True existence belongs only to this so called dark, silent field of unchanging, pure awareness. The luminous world also called Prakriti—what we see, feel, and think—is made up of waves, fields or charges constantly shifting and passing. How can something that is always changing be said to truly exist? And if it has no independent existence, how can it hold real knowledge and bliss? These three—existence, knowledge, and bliss—always living together, appear in the luminous, changing world because of illusion. In truth, their source lies in the silent, unshaken, dark field—the foundational sky also called Purusha—upon which all waves play like fleeting ripples. And Sankhya philosophy rightly says to separate purusha from prakriti. A mixture of both is world-originating though being a nightmare for liberation seekers. Unconscious Prakriti becomes like conscious with company of conscious purusha. But when it perishes as it being perishable by default, it becomes unconscious, because how can one remain conscious if it is even not existing. Perished can not be conscious. Due to this, purusha also start considering itself unconscious or perished or dead because it was snugly attached to prakriti. And the prakriti perishes every moment, so the purusha feels itself unconscious every moment. However, full perish is at the time of death of the body. The world is based on a lie. We purushas give existence to everything or prakriti in the world, but in reality, nothing truly exists. We share the real existence of our own souls with everything, and in return, we forget even our own existence and become non-existent—just like the worldly things we associate with. It is truly said: beware of bad company. But don’t worry. Through regular practice of Yoga, Keval Kumbhak, and Nirvikalp Samadhi, the soul gradually remembers this existence of its own pure awareness. This path is both worldly and practical—because denying the world is neither wise nor truly possible. Keeping detached and non-dual attitude with help of suitable philosophies like sharirvigyan darshan during worldly indulgment seems the only middle path for a business minded and worldly progressive person to be saved from the bite of this prakriti-serpent.

One day, I got a good example of the middle path. In the evening, I had spent around 15 minutes in Padmasana. As I sat, my breathing gradually slowed down. Just then, my tiffin arrived, and my mind rushed toward thoughts of food and hunger. Somehow, I tried to continue and spent another 15 minutes attempting to regain Dhyana, but eventually, I stood up and had my dinner. Due to the calming effect of meditation, my appetite had reduced significantly, so I ate only half the usual portion. At the same time, I regretted my foolishness for breaking the state of Dhyana. After dinner, I sat in Vajrasana, and suddenly, my breath almost came to a complete standstill—for 20 minutes. Then I shifted to Sukhasana for about 30 minutes, and even with surrounding noise or slight body movements, the breath remained still and subtle, barely regaining any motion. At that moment, I remembered Buddha—how, when he had been meditating with an empty belly, his Dhyana was not reaching completion. But on the day a devotee lady offered him a bowl of dessert, and he accepted and ate it, he attained perfect Samadhi and Nirvana.

Purusha is attracted by the shimmer of Prakriti just as an insect is attracted towards the candle flame and both get perished. Prakriti is cheater. It first enjoys everything with company of purusha. Once it perishes, purush can not be saved then because both are snuggly joined to each other. That is why it is called thagini, dakini, pishachini, maya, sofia etc. in scriptures. That is why sankhya thought of school advises to separate purusha from prakriti and rest in purusha in peace. However, it is only possible with yoga that emerged from sankhya due to this very same reason. This all has been detailed only to evoke interest in yoga, otherwise blank philosophy can never reveal the truth. The state of nirvikalp samadhi is the state of this isolated pure purusha.

True liberation is not achieved by bypassing form, but by passing through it with full awareness. Only after Purusha consciously experiences the complete union with Prakriti — as in Savikalpa Samadhi — can it effortlessly transcend into Nirvikalpa Samadhi. This is why the Sanatana path, with its emphasis on idol worship, mantra, and gradual inner refinement, is not only spiritual but deeply scientific. It honors the natural journey from the manifest to the unmanifest — from form to formless.

In the cosmic state too, the same process as soul development unfolds—when the expanding world reaches its outer limit, it begins to dissolve back into the same pure mother field from which it had originally emerged.

Up to the stage of Nirvikalp Dhyana, there still remains a subtle potential for the world to arise. You can call it a weak electromagnetic field, from which the electromagnetic wave—appearing as the world—can emerge. In this deep meditative absorption, the seed of manifestation—the quiet power to perceive or imagine a world—still exists in a dormant state. But when one goes deeper and enters Nirvikalp Samadhi, even this potential is transcended. It is the stage where even the faintest tremors of the electromagnetic field vanish. In that state, there is no observer, no imagined world, and no seed of creation. That is why it is called Nirbeej or seedless samadhi. Only pure awareness remains—formless, actionless, and beyond the cycle of appearance and disappearance. From here, there is no automatic return to world-experience unless awareness itself chooses to veil itself again. The potential to form the world in pure existence is not physical—unlike the vibrations seen in earlier stages—but is entirely immaterial and experiential, existing only as pure presence, nothing else. As per another view, even in deep meditative states such as Nirvikalp Dhyana, one may experience a subtle sense of potentiality—a precondition for experience—but this may not be physical in the sense of measurable waves or energy fields. Unlike earlier states where internal experience may correlate with neural activity, subtle vibrations, or sensory imagery, this deep state transcends such phenomena. The ‘potential’ here refers to the pure capacity for awareness to manifest experience—not through energy or vibration, but through the sheer presence of consciousness itself. From a neuroscience or physics standpoint, this cannot be described as an electromagnetic field or wave. Rather, it’s better viewed as a subjective, non-material awareness—an experiential space in which forms might later arise. Any attempt to link this directly to electromagnetic fields would be metaphorical unless supported by measurable brain states or field interactions.

The term charge carries meaning beyond just particle physics—it implies a type of stress, potential, or readiness to act, much like when we say someone has been ‘given charge’ of a position. It doesn’t inherently mean a physical entity, but a dynamic condition. In this way, just as a particle becomes charged, the brain too can become charged. This creates a kind of tension or polarization within self-awareness—like a stretching or subtle stress in the fabric of inner space. This tension is experienced as the electric field. These are the finest tremors of potential—subtle fluctuations that, with a slight stimulus, are ready to unfold as electromagnetic waves, as thoughts or sensations. Without charge, there is no field, no ripple, no wave—only a clean, smooth, unperturbed state of space externally, or pure awareness internally. Charge is the seed of all movement, all experience. What we call work stress seems to be the same kind of stretch or tension in the inner sky of awareness.

Just like an officer taking charge of an office is quick to respond in office work, but a layman will take much more time to adapt to the environment first and then work through interaction with different people—similarly, a charged particle, having its surrounding space already stressed as an electric field produced by itself, is much quicker to produce an EM wave with the slightest motion, while an uncharged particle will have to create charge in itself first through interaction with other particles. In the mental sector, a charged brain, having inner space stressed as so-called darkness or ignorance produced by itself, is quick enough to produce working thoughts with the slightest energy stimulus, while an uncharged brain of a samadhistha yogi will take much more time, first developing charge inside it through people’s interactions, inspirations, and motivations. Just as small length of antenna helps oscillating charged particles to produce effective em wave, similarly, focused meditation, rather than widespread and haphazard thinking, helps in the origination of long-lasting and effective thought waves. That is why, after samadhi, there is clarity in thoughts.

If we recall the psychological essence of this whole lengthy chapter in a single paragraph, it becomes the following.

Departed soul-space, although smooth and without ripples, is stressed. We can liken it to the faintest of electric fields. It is very faintly charged. It is a localized space, although always connected to the infinite supreme space. Yet, the soul feels itself restricted locally. No doubt, space is space—there is literally no difference between local and non-local space. Both are smooth and without ripples. There’s no actual boundary between both possible. But soul-space is charged. The ego, desires, attachments, and dual lifestyle of the previous birth acted like a charged particle and made the soul-space charged and localized, virtually isolating it—through illusion—from the vast, endless, and uncharged space of the supreme soul. It has the potential to develop similar ripples of ego, desire, karma, and thoughts as were present in its previous lifetime. Hence, it takes rebirth—unlike the liberated soul, which is uncharged and feels fully one with the supreme soul. This proves that every thought and action of ours goes on being recorded in the form of the soul’s charge. This charge is what the scriptures refer to as ignorance (agyana), the veiling of the soul, bondage of soul, karma bandhana etc. and so on. This is literal bondage—like an animal gathered from open fields and tied to a peg, the infinitely existing soul is similarly localized. This description is not only literal, but based on my own experience of encountering a departed soul in a dream visitation, as described in detail at many places. The brain or soul space also becomes charged after yoga. This is because gross thoughts become reduced to mere potential or charge. That’s why it is advised to discharge it through nirvikalpa dhyana by sitting calmly at the end for an hour or two. This leads to nirvikalp samadhi or merging with supreme soul as with this even hidden potential or charge of soul space gets smoothed out. Otherwise, it will be discharged through worldly activities during the day. This worldly discharge further increases hidden charge of the soul space through new karmas and thoughts. However, this discharge—especially when helped by sharirvigyan darshan dhyana—will be centered in detachment and non-duality, as the process of charging through yoga was done with the same mental attitude. So built up charges and subsequent discharges will be less gruesome. This is opposite to the ordinary worldly charging of the brain, which is associated with attachment, desire for results, ego, and duality. Therefore, the same negative qualities remain during discharge too, which keeps increasing the soul’s bondage more and more. A similar miracle occurs through Sharirvigyan Darshan-based Karma Yoga. With it, mental EM waves produced during worldly activities are subdued to a mere charged potential. Given the right opportunity, this potential can even smooth out into a glimpse of samadhi, as happened to me. It’s a heartfelt experience—not just a literal or intellectual exercise. In a non-yogic lifestyle, charge is produced forcefully, compressing prior mental garbage and hiding it in a corner of the soul-space. This later manifests as various psychological and physiological complications, including the progressive bondage of the soul. But yogic charging is of a releasing nature. It doesn’t hide prior mental garbage or create new charge from scratch. Rather, it reduces existing mental impressions to the level of subtle potential. In this way, mental cleansing also happens. With this approach, we find readymade charge and don’t have to struggle to produce it afresh. Moreover, the charge naturally aligns with our personality and environment. We can even screen these charges—eliminating the harmful ones and nurturing the beneficial—thus allowing continuous soul development in a streamlined way. This process is deeply rooted in self-experience. In contrast, creating fresh charge is risky, and the guidance of a quality guru becomes essential. It’s well known that no one can read another’s mind; it’s wiser to mold our own charge according to our situation. It may take a little more time, but it is well-proven and deeply experienced already. In a nutshell, If the charge, potential or electric field gained through yoga by being reduced from em waves of gross thoughts isn’t smoothed out, it again redevelops into mental EM waves of thoughts through worldly activities, which then need to be subdued once more—first by reducing them back to potential state to head towards the nirvikalp state of pure awareness. It’s not hard to believe that mental EM waves produce pictures of experience on the screen of soul-space, especially when science has already shown that EM waves can produce images on a TV screen.

This insight is not just for physicists or mystics. It is a truth open to anyone willing to look closely—at the stars, at light, at thought, or at breath. For behind it all, there is a field not of matter, not of energy, but of presence. And that presence is who one truly is—not the ripple, not the player, but the ground upon which the game is played.

Chapter 7- The Energy Body: The Bridge of Inner Aliveness

From outside, we look like a body made of flesh, bones, blood, and nerves. But as we sit quietly and close our eyes, a deeper layer of ourselves begins to appear. This layer is not visible with the eyes, but it is very real in experience. It is felt as tingling, vibration, pressure, warmth, movement, inner space, and awareness. This layer is often called the energy body. It is not a body made of atoms or particles like the physical one. It is not something you can touch with your hand or see with a microscope, but you can feel it clearly inside you—especially during deep silence or meditation. Actually it is the pure experiential body, nothing physical.

Scientists say that when brain cells fire signals, they produce small electromagnetic fields. These are natural and part of how the brain works. These fields are not just limited to the head; they spread out in patterns. Some scientists believe that this field may be linked to our conscious sense of self. From the spiritual side, many say that this field is the very bridge between soul and body. This bridge is what we feel as the energy body.

The energy body has its own structure—not of matter, but of movement and awareness. In ancient Indian understanding, this structure is described through chakras, nadis, and prana. Prana means life-force. It is not air or oxygen, but the driving power behind breath, thoughts, and emotions. Nadis are the invisible channels through which prana flows. And chakras are the subtle centers where energy collects, rotates, and transforms. These are not located on any scan or X-ray but are known by their effects. Just as nerves carry signals in the physical body, nadis carry prana in the energy body. In a nutshell, we feel a sensation both in the organ and in the brain at the same time. That’s why we perceive the sensation as being located in the organ, even though it’s processed in the brain. Normally, we don’t notice the actual transmission of the sensation from the organ to the brain. But with meditative awareness, this flow can also be perceived. This flow is called prana, and the subtle channel through which it moves is known as a nadi.

In simple words, when your breathing changes, your energy changes. When your thoughts change, your body heat, posture, and feelings change. This shows that there is a clear link between the physical and the energy layers. One affects the other instantly.

The entire setup of the energy body mirrors the cosmos. Just as the universe has galaxies, black holes, stars, and movements of energy, our inner world has chakras (like suns), nadis (like space highways), and prana (like flowing light). The same way the sky spreads in all directions, our own awareness silently fills our inner space. The outer universe and our inner structure follow the same design. This is called the micro-macro equivalence or Sharirvigyan Darshan—the science of understanding the body as a reflection of the cosmos.

Sometimes, even in normal meditation, just by thinking about the infinite sky, we begin to feel a vast peace. This shows that the deeper layers of the mind and energy body are already connected to the larger cosmos. When this connection becomes total and not just imagined—like in Nirvikalpa Samadhi—the bliss is beyond all limits. Just as Savikalpa Dhyana gives joy by visualizing the physical world, Savikalpa Samadhi brings a flood of real, living bliss. Merging fully is more joyful than standing nearby. Thinking about sunlight gives some warmth, but becoming sunlight is another thing.

Experiencing a blissful shining rod of energy in the backbone during meditation offers a profound insight—it reveals that pure energy can indeed be directly felt by the soul, not merely as a concept, but as a vivid inner reality. Ordinarily, the soul seems to be most aware of energy within the brain, where the constant dance of neural activity creates a dynamic electromagnetic field. However, with focused meditation, this perception can extend to other regions such as the spinal axis and chakras, as if the soul’s attention shifts its sensing lens from the cerebral core to the subtle network that permeates the entire body. Even great yogi Gopi Krishna used to experience his energy body in entire body system like gastrointestinal system etc. leading to his overwhelmingly tiredness. Such experiences challenge the notion that the soul is merely entangled with the physical structure. Instead, they suggest that the soul interfaces with the field—the invisible energy patterns created by the body’s bioelectric activity—rather than directly with nerves or flesh. This realization becomes even more striking during dream visitations, where one may encounter a departed being not as a solid form but as an amazingly radiant and dark together like mascara, and waveless conscious energy presence. Since the departed body no longer exists, the soul must be perceiving an energy body—a subtle electromagnetic or pranic form that carries the essence of identity. This not only validates the ancient yogic idea of the pranamaya kosha or energy sheath, but also lends credibility to emerging scientific hypotheses that suggest consciousness interacts with or arises within the electromagnetic field generated by the brain. Shifts in physical nerve activity merely alter this field, and it is this changing field that the soul likely perceives as sensation, emotion, or thought. In this light, the energy felt along the backbone—like an experientially luminous rod of awareness—is more than symbolic. It is an experiential clue that the soul’s relationship with the body is not with its dense matter but with its living vibrational field. This aligns with ancient Sharirvigyan Darshan, where the body is not seen as an isolated physical entity but as a microcosmic reflection of universal forces. The electromagnetic field within is but a thread in the greater cosmic loom—what is within the spine mirrors the current of the stars, and the soul dances in both. In essence, the electromagnetic field outside is the same as within. Nothing truly exists apart from these fields and waves. What we experience is not material, but a wave — we simply assign it a physical name and form. The shape and form of physical matter are illusions. Space itself is the field through which every wave moves — a grand, all-encompassing field. In this sense, what is God, if not the supreme or ultimate field — the mother field upon which all waves and particles, as players, dance like children at play, giving rise to creation.

Even stories hint at these truths. Like Hanuman taking the sun in his mouth—this is like the space or darkness covering the sun, as in an eclipse. Later, he throws it out, restoring light. The story shows how space itself, when taken as living and conscious in the form of monkey god, plays with light. Hanuman represents the conscious sky, the soul. Space is not empty—it is full of awareness, and that is why it can take forms and perform such cosmic plays.

So the energy body is not imagination. It is the true experience of the living, sensing self. It is connected to the brain’s electric field, but goes beyond it. It is supported by breath, thought, feeling, and deep silence. It reflects the entire design of the cosmos within. By understanding this body, one begins to see the unity of science, soul, and the universe in the simplest and most natural way.

Narayana, Ekarnava, and the Inner Cosmic Symbolism of Meditation

Every day, in the depth of meditation, we witness Narayana emerging from Ekarnava—the cosmic sea of consciousness. Ekarnava is not an ordinary ocean; it is the primordial, wave-less expanse, the silent substratum from which all existence arises. It is the state of Nirvikalpa Dhyana, where the mind dissolves and only pure awareness remains. In this inner vision, Narayana appears not as a distant deity but as a sattvik, luminous, and loving presence—beautiful, peaceful, and radiating all divine qualities. His emergence is not from turbulence but from absolute stillness. He symbolizes the liberating force within meditation, an image of cosmic order and divine peace that gently calms the mind.

In this vast ocean of consciousness, Narayana performs a sacred task—he destroys the demons that produce evil ripples in the cosmic sea. These demons are not literal beings but represent chaotic thoughts, restless emotions, and egoic patterns that disturb the stillness of the inner ocean. When the mind is scattered, the cosmic Ekarnava becomes agitated, like a lake troubled by wind. Narayana, in the form of a meditation image, absorbs and dissolves these disturbances, restoring silence and harmony. The practice of meditation thus becomes a cosmic act, where the inner Narayana neutralizes the mental asuras—the vrittis that bind consciousness in cycles of suffering.

The journey into the Ekarnava, or cosmic ocean of formless consciousness, happens through Narayana. The meditator first focuses on the divine form—the saguna aspect—and gradually dissolves even that, entering the wave-less ocean beyond all images. Yet, Narayana himself is like a liberating wave—unlike the binding waves of mental turbulence, he is a gateway wave that carries the meditator into formlessness. On returning from this Nirvikalpa Samadhi, when the mind resumes its worldly functions, Narayana is the first to greet the seeker, symbolizing the return to dharma, compassion, and peace in daily life.

This same cosmic pattern explains why Rama and Krishna are considered avatars of Narayana. They were not avatars only in the theological sense but because their presence naturally became meditation images for millions. Their beauty, serenity, compassionate nature, practicality, spirituality and complete alignment with divine law made them easy objects of dhyana for the masses. People spontaneously visualized them, meditated upon them, and aligned their minds to divine consciousness through their forms. This is why they are called avataras of Narayana—they descended not just to perform earthly tasks but to anchor human minds in sattva and meditative absorption.

In deeper yogic symbolism, Narayana reclining on Sheshanaga in Ekarnava represents the human subtle body. The Sheshanaga (cosmic serpent) symbolizes the spine and the nervous system, with the raised hood representing the Sahasrara (crown chakra). When prana flows through the Sushumna Nadi, the central spinal channel, the breath becomes calm, and the mind enters deep meditation. Only then does Narayana appear in inner vision—resting peacefully on the serpent of the awakened kundalini. The serpent’s hood rising above Narayana is not just mythological ornamentation; it represents the pranic energy feeding the Sahasrara, allowing the mind to expand into cosmic awareness.

This ancient imagery is not mere mythology; it is psychological and yogic science hidden in symbols. When the breath becomes subtle and still, when prana ascends the spine, the mind becomes an ocean without waves—the Ekarnava of consciousness. Narayana is both the gateway and the guardian of this ocean. He destroys the demons of distraction, dissolves into the formless state, and welcomes the seeker back with peace and love when the meditative journey is complete. In this way, the images of Rama, Krishna, and Narayana reclining on Sheshanaga are not distant cosmic tales but direct representations of human spiritual anatomy and meditative experience.

From Inert Matter to Supreme Consciousness: A Journey Through Self

When we look up at the sky, it appears still, silent, and vast. It’s natural to see it as lifeless or jada—an inert physical space. In the same way, we label objects and even dead bodies as jada because they seem unconscious. There’s no movement, no response, no sign of inner awareness. But what if this stillness is not truly lifeless? What if what appears jada is actually holding a deep, silent potential within?

Traditionally, we consider something jada when it doesn’t show any signs of life. Even a human body, once the soul leaves, is referred to as jada because the expressions of consciousness are gone. But this jada state doesn’t mean emptiness. It’s more like a tightly packed capsule—where all the impressions, experiences, and memories are compressed and hidden, like data in a zip file. That’s why it feels dense, bound, and even suffocating.

On the other hand, when something is alive and expressive, we call it chetan—conscious. A living being breathes, feels, acts, and reflects. Its inner information is not hidden—it’s in motion, interacting with the world. This openness makes chetan appear far superior to jada. The life within it flows. It explores, it expresses, it evolves. That’s why we admire living beings—they are like windows through which consciousness shines.

But even chetan has its limitations. While the conscious being can act and interact, it still carries inner burdens—deep impressions called samskaras—that shape its personality, habits, and sufferings. The beauty, though, lies in the fact that a chetan being can work on itself. It can shed these burdens through inner work—whether through spiritual practice, self-inquiry, yoga, or meditation. This path leads to something even greater.

That greater state is param chetan—the supreme consciousness. It is not just living. It is fully awakened, totally free. It doesn’t carry any burden of impressions. It doesn’t suffer from ignorance or duality. It exists in its purest form: full of satta (existence), chitta (consciousness), and ananda (bliss). This is the real sky of the self—boundless and untouched.

Ironically, param chetan may still look like jada to the ordinary eye. A realized sage may appear calm and still like a rock or empty sky. But within that stillness lies a fullness beyond comprehension. What appears lifeless is, in fact, the most alive. It’s just not agitated or noisy. It’s like a silent ocean—motionless on the surface, yet infinitely deep.

So what we call jada may just be param chetan in disguise—consciousness in rest, not in absence. The journey of the soul is to move from being unconsciously bound, to consciously expressive, and finally to being consciously free. This is the hidden evolution—from inert matter, through active life, to divine being.

And in that ultimate state, the infinite sky within us is no longer veiled. It shines in its original light—pure, luminous, and complete.

Harnessing Neti Neti for Deeper Meditation

Sometimes during dhyana (meditation), things don’t unfold as smoothly as we’d like. The breath may remain restless, the body refuses to settle, and the mind continues its habitual wandering. In such moments, the subtle movements of prana—the life force—seem to keep the system agitated. It’s as though the very thing that carries life within us also prevents us from fully resting in that silent space beyond all activity.

This is where the practice of mental chanting, especially neti neti, reveals its quiet power. “Not this, not this”—a simple phrase, yet profound in its effect. Mentally repeating it, not with strain but with sincerity, helps cut through the unnecessary. Every thought that arises, every feeling that pulls attention, every story or identity that surfaces—neti neti gently negates them. Not with violence, but with wisdom. Not this… not this…

I have come to see neti neti as a bridge—especially when keval kumbhak, the spontaneous suspension of breath, has not yet taken over. In those rare and beautiful moments when prana itself becomes still and the breath ceases naturally, no effort is needed. There is no gap to fill. The Self reveals itself effortlessly. Silence becomes solid. Awareness shines by itself, needing no reminder, no pointer.

But this depth is not always available. The body and mind often carry momentum. In such cases, neti neti becomes more than just a mantra—it becomes a companion. A whisper in the background reminding me of what I truly am not, so that what I truly am can gradually become clearer. When breath is not restful, when energy is still moving, the mind tends to seek content, to latch onto something—anything. This is where neti neti becomes a gentle replacement, a redirection away from identification, toward detachment, and eventually toward presence.

What’s unique about this practice is that it doesn’t demand that you believe anything. It doesn’t create a new identity. Instead, it un-builds. It dissolves. It peels away. It respects the structure of your being and only asks you to negate what is not permanent, not peaceful, not you.

Over time, I’ve noticed that chanting neti neti during dhyana not only helps quiet the mind, but also creates a subtle sense of inner space—like the difference between a cluttered room and one with just a mat and silence. This space doesn’t arrive by force. It unfolds gradually, like dawn. And when the space is finally there, awareness can relax into itself. Breath may still be moving, prana may still dance, but the grip of it weakens.

Of course, neti neti is not a mechanical technique. It is alive. It responds to sincerity, not repetition. When practiced with mindfulness and simplicity, it becomes a living pointer to the reality that is always here, just beneath the noise.

Whether prana is dancing or resting, whether the breath is moving or suspended—neti neti remains a quiet, humble companion on the path to the Self.