Mula Bandha, Karma (Part 3) and Sri Yukteswar
November 10, 2024
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{Body}
Mula bandha
Mula bandha — a Sanskrit word meaning root lock — is a very powerful yoga technique for transferring energy up your spine and into your pineal gland. The inevitable result of mastering this technique is the attainment of high states of consciousness (such as seeing sacred geometry patterns, tapping into psychic abilities, and experiencing pure ecstasy).
Note: most yoga teachers interchange “activating your mula bandha” with “engaging your pelvic floor.” This is a great rule of thumb, but — strictly speaking — is not accurate. Mula bandha is not your pelvic floor, though it shares a similar physical location and very often gets activated alongside it.
Mula Bandha vs. Pelvic Floor
Instead, it is possible — and indeed preferred — to engage your mula bandha while keeping your pelvic floor muscles totally relaxed.
That’s why when I teach mula bandha I say “i-Lock” rather than “root lock”. Because ‘root’ often gets misinterpreted by westerners, whereas lowercase ‘i’ has no concrete associations attached to it.
The tiny dot hovering above the body of the i symbolically represents your pineal gland — the important, pea-sized endocrine gland in the middle of your skull that gets bombarded with this energy and induces higher states of consciousness.
{Mind}
What is karma?
So far we described karma as being the mechanism through which the Universe rebalances itself: what goes up must come down; what was chosen in delusion must be re-seen in truth.
Similarly, we touched on how our thoughts create energetic imbalances, thereby setting in motion the conditions for another life.
But what determines the specifics of that new life? Two things: the karma (imbalances) at the moment of death in the previous incarnation; and the specific contract of the incarnating soul.
Say you’re driving around in your beat-up 2001 Toyota Corolla, and you see a brand new Porsche speed by you.
“Oh wow,” you think to yourself. “I wish I had one of those.”
Unfortunately, you are now so preoccupied with thinking about getting a new car that you miss the red light up ahead. You bowl through the intersection, get T-Boned by an incoming car, and die. The end!
Or is it?
That singular thought is energy that has been set in motion, right? It is the metaphorical ball that’s been thrown in the air but has not yet fallen back down.
In other words, that desire for a new car is a Universal imbalance — aka karma — that seeks equilibrium, either through the conscious release of the desire for a car, or through the fulfillment of the desire for a car, both of which — because you died “prematurely” — actually require another birth to materialize.
That next birth (or a subsequent one) will contain the relative ingredients — including personality traits, socioeconomic factors, and cultural conditions — to either release the soul’s attachments, or fulfill its longings.
How to exit the cycle of reincarnation?
One must be willing to drop all small desires (to clear one’s cache of karma or to be absolved of one’s “sins”) by wholly replacing them with Truth (aka Christ/God-Realization).
{Soul}
Is it possible to be in a permanent state of joy; for all sorrow to truly banished from one’s mind? Or is that yet another unrealistic fantasy of the ego?
Joy is a natural byproduct of life exceeding one’s expectations: the fact that the conversation didn’t deteriorate into name-calling like you assumed it would; the cancelled flight turning into an adventure in your favorite city; the magician who blew your mind with a new trick.
This means being in a permanent state of joy would require that life always exceeded one’s expectations — a fairly unrealistic prospect…
…unless, of course, one managed to avoid expectations altogether. In that case — good or bad, tragic or humorous — every moment would be a total surprise, thus bringing about an endless cascade of delight.
By the way, this prospect wouldn’t require that your life have zero sorrow, impatience, or pain in it. Indeed, you can learn to be in joy while weeping at a funeral; while telling your Uber driver to hurry up; while being crucified in front of your peers.
Permanent joy (aka expectation-lessness) only necessitates your absolute certainty and trust in a divine Origin and Creator — that you see life as an out-picturing of your desires and decisions towards expansion.
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