How to be in Seventh Heaven

Category: Higher Purpose

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Shankar Ramani

Spiritual bliss

The dictionary describes the Seventh Heaven as a state of intense happiness and extreme joy. That is, of course, if one were to exclude the religious definitions for that phrase. Yet, whether religion or the casual use of the phrase, human beings have never had a tangible and realistic way of realizing such a state and actually experiencing it in their lives.

You can definitely achieve this in Sahaja and live it fully. It is real, practical and well within reach if you are willing to focus and work hard. The results are, of course, well worth it.

Here’s how you can experience that state, or better still, spend a more substantial part of your conscious life being in that state. Here’s also why it can be elusive in today’s world of distractions and a tremendous downward force pulling us down and away from that blissful state.

The unique state and location of bliss is built-in within your spiritual system.

Sahaja’s discovery of the 7th chakra or the Sahasrara is the apparent spiritual construct and part of our subtle energy system that gives us a heavenly and blissful state. This is nothing new. Great saints have known of its existence for thousands of years. The challenge has always been in being able to access it. Or for most people, even understanding what “accessing it” really means. Accessing it means reaching into that higher state or level through our attention, which is the primary vehicle of human consciousness.

How does our attention gain access to the 7th chakra?

Thanks to the powerful Kundalini energy and its natural movement, it does the job of raising our consciousness and getting our attention to touch the realm of the Sahasrara or the 7th chakra. So, when we meditate every time in Sahaja, we request and cause our Kundalini energy to rise and lift our attention into that coveted zone of bliss.

Why is the access or rising into that 7th chakra so hard?

There are several reasons for this. Most of our spiritual subtle energy systems are clogged with obstacles that the Kundalini energy encounters when rising and passing through the other chakras. 

Spirituality is the most subtle phenomenon within us, so these obstacles are formed due to our sub-optimal behaviors and personality traits that we acquire over time. Sometimes, they may also be related to physiological aspects or health issues.

If we were perfect and had no imbalances, the Kundalini would rush through smoothly in a split second, giving us instantaneous entry into the Sahasrara. We would then experience a state of thoughtless awareness to start with and go deeper. Beyond that, we would feel total spiritual bliss (a state known as Satchitanand – the integration of truth, attention and joy, this state is the one to achieve as described by ancient spiritual scriptures).

But as normal human beings, we live in our societies, and our attention is subject to several distractions, many times onto undesirable things. But more than external distracting influences, we have a bigger self-created obstacle within us.

Our cognitive functioning dominates our existence.

This is, in general, normal and good, for, after all, who wouldn’t want to think, analyze and behave rationally? And it’s better than those mindless, impulsive people out there, correct?

But the problem lies in that the cognitively driven behavior leads to excessive mental activity at some point – it is hard for us to control or draw a clear line as to how much of thinking is essential or even good for us. And for those skeptical of spirituality or the existence of higher states beyond the mind, it is a lot more complicated. They shut out the possibility of using anything other than just their ability to think, rationalize and present their arguments.

Unfortunately, all of this causes a serious overuse and block at the 6th or the Agnya chakra. And that chakra, while well developed in human beings to help them distinguish themselves from other living beings, becomes a complicated institution. We move over from just the problem of excessive mental activity to uncontrollable thinking. 

Then there are even further complications – we develop an excessive sense of ego within us. As we grow older, the problem becomes worse. The ego within us makes us stubborn and rigid and we develop the ego’s problematic cousin or sibling – the superego as well. The superego is the complication in the 6th chakra that makes us dogmatic, inflexible and unwilling to yield even when we’re wrong.

The net result of all this is that we’re closed spiritually to the opportunity of accessing the 7th chakra that lies beyond. Our behavior, personality and character traits are heavily influenced by the product of our own thinking and illusions rather than reality. Even worse, we may begin to enjoy our intellectual indulgence that completely shuts out the possibility and access to the higher superconscious state. We feel good about knowing things, being able to rationalize and feel secure that our lives are programmed and controlled by a lot of information, ignoring the risk of that information being flawed or heavily biased in the first place.

The problem is that it becomes challenging to extricate ourselves out of this intellectual mire of thoughts that pretty much is broadcasting inside us like a radio station every minute that we’re awake.

How do we break into the 7th heaven?

1

First, we realize the spiritual construct and the considerable impediment being created by our 6th center and open ourselves to the possibility of going beyond this center.

2

Our Kundalini awakening and subsequent meditation practice gets us started on this attempt to go beyond our mental state. Initially, we struggle to dissociate ourselves from the clutches of our mental activity. Our disorganized thoughts and the distractions around us try to pull our attention downwards and away from the higher state. This is the very reason why most new people struggle with achieving and maintaining the state of Thoughtless Awareness that is unique to Sahaja meditation.

3

Being humble and surrendering to the spiritual energy within and the all-pervading power of the universe, helps us improve and inch towards realizing more and more of the 7th chakra. Both these are hard, but possible, with a daily focus.

4

Then we take specific actions to reduce the negative impacts of the 6th chakra. We try to let go of all incidents and forgive those who are holding us back and interfering with our pure attention. The promise and attraction of the 7th chakra make it easier over time.

5

Once cleared of the inability to forgive, we try to move to a permanent style of living, where the superior divine force and energy within and all around us guide us in life. We move from a state of continuous mental activity to intuitively solve our problems in life. Many times, we try and take a pause and observe if there’s a message that this power is trying to give us. We’re more patient and willing to wait for the direction from the divine power. We begin to use our meditation to avoid thinking about everything. We develop dynamism and creativity and gradually, life becomes enjoyable and we relish each challenge.

Our attention becomes so clear that we take precise and quick action when needed. We move away from thinking and contemplating, to taking meaningful action.

6

We begin to realize intuitive solutions and messages from deep within us and use these to drive all our decisions and actions in our lives. We understand that while we like to plan and organize our lives, allowing serendipity and our intuitions in our lives is equally important.

7

The risk of our ego and superego dominating us still exists, but we know how to be aware of it and manage it, so it does not play an outsized role in our lives. At times, we can even laugh at our ego. Dynamism becomes a key component of our lives as we move away from the clutches of the superego, getting rid of all the rigidity. 

At this point, a typical meditator and especially a Sahaja practitioner may feel settled and grounded. It may take weeks or months or sometimes, years to get to this point, but everyone eventually manages to get this beautiful mountain peak.

How does being at the 7th chakra feel?

You can feel the noise and endless views and counter views in this world pass beneath you, barely affecting you. You feel like you have an ocean of patience and forgiveness, and it takes quite a lot to get you disturbed or anxious. 

You’ll never find yourself groping around to find the right decisions to make or action to take. You will be humbled by the sheer flow if the vibrations of the energy around you and into your being. Worries disappear. Those material things you used to chase, become unimportant. You emanate a sort of magnetism that people are drawn to you even when you’re silent. They cannot understand how you can be happy and calm when they’re struggling for the same – eventually, they look up to you for help.

You feel like you’ve developed some strong spiritual muscle.

Those who use the 7th chakra see meditation very differently.

Most meditators that haven’t yet found the deep experience of the 7th heaven see meditation as a technique and a time slot on their daily calendar. They go through the motions and check off an item on their list. They download meditation apps and do 5-minute meditations to stay calm. They like to read about spirituality and meditation, more than they actually meditate. They may gain a lot of knowledge about it in the process and feel good about it. They end up touching the tip of the iceberg on the experience of the meditation. They keep their “meditation” separate from their “lives.”

Those who meditate using the 7th chakra, on the other hand, can see and feel the living power of the Kundalini energy inside them, day in and day out. To them, meditation is about falling into that state, effortlessly. It’s a happening and phenomenon. They rarely worry about tactics and techniques. They may not know a lot about the intricacies of the subtle energy system, but they’re precise in knowing what part of it has a problem and needs attention. They appear to be very simple, yet, their intuitive knowledge is tremendous. They emit vibrations and a strong magnetic attraction. They live and breathe spirituality. Love and compassion comes naturally to them.