Pranayama

In J. Donald Walters' book The Essence of Self-Realization he discusses various talks and advice his guru Paramhansa Yogananda gave to his disciples. In a chapter titled "The Highway to the Infinite¹" I have excerpted a few interesting lines:

My guru, Sri Yukteswar, liked a chant that I have translated, two lines from which go, 'Pranayama be thy religion. Pranayama will give thee salvation.'

Pranayama means control of the energy in the body, and its direction upward through the spine to the brain and to the Christ center between the eyebrows. This alone is the pathway of awakening. It isn't a matter of dogma or belief. It is simply the way we were all made by God.

The consciousness enters the body by way of the brain and the spine. When the sperm and the ovum unite to create the physical body, they do so at what becomes the medulla oblongata, at the base of the brain.

From this medulla, the life force moves out into the brain, down the spine, and into the nervous system, then on to the muscles, etc., creating the body.

The way out of the body, then, is to reverse this process. The difficulty in doing so lies in the fact that the life force is already conditioned by birth to continue its outward direction--through the senses and onward to the environment as it is perceived through the senses. Thus, we think to possess the world and to enjoy it through the body.

We can never experience anything outside ourselves, however, except vicariously, as the senses report their impressions to the brain. We may try to expand our understanding of the world by study, or our enjoyment of it through sense pleasures. The fact remains, we can never know anything except through the medium of the senses, so long as the life force remains trapped in the body.

There is a way out, however. It is for the life-force to merge with the cosmic energy; for the consciousness to merge in the infinite consciousness.

The way to accomplish this end is to withdraw the life force from the senses, and center it in the spine; to direct it upward through the spine to the brain, and thence out through the Christ center between the eyebrows.

The ego is centered in the medulla oblongata. This is the negative pole of self-consciousness. The positive pole is situated at the Christ center. Concentration at this center--in the spiritual eye, the seat of spiritual vision--projects the consciousness beyond the ego into Infinity.

The spine is the highway to the Infinite. Your own body is the temple of God. It is within your own self that God must be realized. Whatever places of pilgrimage you visit outwardly, and whatever rituals you perform, the ultimate 'pilgrimage' must be within. And the ultimate religious rite must be the offering of your life-force on the altar of inner God-communion.

Vivekananda

Much of the Yoga philosophy of India centers on these tenets. Swami Vivekananda also speaks of the importance of pranayama²:

According to the Yogis, there are two nerve currents in the spinal column, called Pingalâ and Idâ, and a hollow canal called Sushumnâ running through the spinal cord. At the lower end of the hollow canal is what the Yogis call the "Lotus of the Kundalini". They describe it as triangular in form in which, in the symbolical language of the Yogis, there is a power called the Kundalini, coiled up. When that Kundalini awakes, it tries to force a passage through this hollow canal, and as it rises step by step, as it were, layer after layer of the mind becomes open and all the different visions and wonderful powers come to the Yogi. When it reaches the brain, the Yogi is perfectly detached from the body and mind; the soul finds itself free. We know that the spinal cord is composed in a peculiar manner. If we take the figure eight horizontally (∞) there are two parts which are connected in the middle. Suppose you add eight after eight, piled one on top of the other, that will represent the spinal cord.

The left is the Ida, the right Pingala, and that hollow canal which runs through the centre of the spinal cord is the Sushumna. Where the spinal cord ends in some of the lumbar vertebrae, a fine fiber issues downwards, and the canal runs up even within that fiber, only much finer. The canal is closed at the lower end, which is situated near what is called the sacral plexus, which, according to modern physiology, is triangular in form. The different plexuses that have their centers in the spinal canal can very well stand for the different "lotuses" [or chakras] of the Yogi.

.......all the sensations and motions of the body are being sent into the brain, and sent out of it, through these wires of nerve fibers. The columns of sensory and motor fibers in the spinal cord are the Ida and Pingala of the Yogis. They are the main channels through which the afferent and efferent currents travel. But why should not the mind send news without any wire, or react without any wire? We see this is done in nature. The Yogi says, if you can do that, you have got rid of the bondage of matter. How to do it? If you can make the current pass through the Sushumna, the canal in the middle of the spinal column, you have solved the problem. The mind has made this network of the nervous system, and has to break it, so that no wires will be required to work through. Then alone will all knowledge come to us — no more bondage of body; that is why it is so important that we should get control of that Sushumna. If we can send the mental current through the hollow canal without any nerve fibers to act as wires, the Yogi says, the problem is solved, and he also says it can be done.

This Sushumna is in ordinary persons closed up at the lower extremity; no action comes through it. The Yogi proposes a practice by which it can be opened [pranayama], and the nerve currents made to travel through.

...Now the centre where all these residual sensations are, as it were, stored up, is called the Muladhara, the root receptacle, and the coiled-up energy of action is Kundalini, "the coiled up" [like a serpent]. It is very probable that the residual motor energy is also stored up in the same centre, as, after deep study or meditation on external objects, the part of the body where the Muladhara centre is situated (probably the sacral plexus) gets heated. Now, if this coiled-up energy be roused and made active, and then consciously made to travel up the Sushumna canal, as it acts upon centre after centre, a tremendous reaction will set in. When a minute portion of energy travels along a nerve fiber and causes reaction from centers, the perception is either dream or imagination. But when by the power of long internal meditation the vast mass of energy stored up travels along the Sushumna, and strikes the centers, the reaction is tremendous, immensely superior to the reaction of dream or imagination, immensely more intense than the reaction of sense-perception. It is super-sensuous perception. And when it reaches the metropolis of all sensations, the brain, the whole brain, as it were, reacts, and the result is the full blaze of illumination, the perception of the Self. As this Kundalini force travels from centre to centre, layer after layer of the mind, as it were, opens up, and this universe is perceived by the Yogi in its fine, or causal form. Then alone the causes of this universe, both as sensation and reaction, are known as they are, and hence comes all knowledge. The causes being known, the knowledge of the effects is sure to follow.

NOW, on the day before the Sabbath day, the twelve disciples who had received the call were met with one accord in Jesus' home.
2) And Jesus said to them,
This is the day to consecrate yourselves unto the work of God; so let us pray.
3) Turn from the outer to the inner self; close all the doors of carnal self and wait.
4) The Holy Breath will fill this place, and you will be baptized in Holy Breath.
5) And then they prayed; a light more brilliant than the noonday sun filled all the room, and tongues of flame from every head rose high in air.
6) The atmosphere of Galilee was set astir; a sound like distant thunder rolled above Capernaum, and men heard songs, as though ten thousand angels joined in full accord.
7) And then the twelve disciples heard a voice, a still, small voice, and just one word was said, a word they dared not speak; it was the Sacred name of God.
8) And Jesus said to them,
By this omnific Word you may control the elements, and all the powers of air.
9) And when within your souls you speak this Word, you have the keys of life and death; of things that are; of things that were; of things that are to be.
10) Behold you are the twelve great branches of the Christine vine; the twelve foundation stones; the twelve apostles of the Christ.
11) As lambs I send you forth among wild beasts; but the omnific Word will be your buckler and your shield.

---From Chapter 89 of The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ

Thus the rousing of the Kundalini is the one and only way to attaining Divine Wisdom, super-conscious perception, realization of the spirit. The rousing may come in various ways, through love for God, through the mercy of perfected sages [as demonstrated by Jesus above], or through the power of the analytic will of the philosopher. Wherever there was any manifestation of what is ordinarily called supernatural power or wisdom, there a little current of Kundalini must have found its way into the Sushumna. Only, in the vast majority of such cases, people had ignorantly stumbled on some practice which set free a minute portion of the coiled-up Kundalini. All worship, consciously or unconsciously, leads to this end.

Kashmir Shaivism

In Kashmir Shaivism, we also find references to the importance of the Sushumna by way of Swami Muktananda and his commentary of the Shiva Sutras³:

Goddess Samvitti, Citi Shakti, expresses Herself in countless ways, assuming countless shapes and forms. She fills the whole gross and subtle cosmos. She is the indweller in all creatures, beyond the grasp of the senses. She makes the body--consisting of seven constituents and 72,000 nadis [channels]---and enters it as prana. She is present everywhere in the body in subtle form. There She causes prana to move through the nadis at lightening speed....

Of the 72,000 nadis, one hundred are important. Of these one hundred, ten are very important. Of these ten, three are outstanding. And of these three, one is the most significant. That is sushumna nadi, or the pathway of the great Kundalini. All the other nadis are supported by it. ...If this central nadi is not unfolded, a person cannot evolve. The unfolding of the central nadi is an aspirants pilgrimage, his path of Self-realization.

Great Pyramid

As you can see, this concept is most important in a country where the most ancient religious concepts were formulated, India. But what does all this have to do with the Great Pyramid? It is my belief that the upper passageways and chambers of the Great Pyramid are a representation in stone of the pathway of the great Kundalini. See the illustration below:

In this scenario, the Queen's Chamber would represent the dormant form of the Kundalini, which, once activated, is felt, or connected to, or travels to, the Muladhara chakra at the base of the spine. This then opens up to the sushumna channel or nadi which is represented by the Grand Gallery. It's relative size and beauty indicates its importance as opposed to other passageways in the GP. This leads to the Great Step (which represents where the spinal cord ends), the Antechamber (medulla) and the King's Chamber (the brain):

The Christ center is represented by the ceiling  above the King's Chamber. As noted by Yogananda in the excerpt quoted above:

The ego is centered in the medulla oblongata [antechamber]. This is the negative pole of self-consciousness. The positive pole is situated at the Christ center. Concentration at this center--in the spiritual eye, the seat of spiritual vision--projects the consciousness beyond the ego into Infinity.

The sarcophagus could be said to symbolize the ultimate religious rite:  ...the offering of your life-force on the altar of inner God-communion.

Or put another way, once the "weight" of the ego (porticullis stones in the antechamber) is raised up (or purified) it is eliminated as an obstruction to God-union. With that "raising up" comes a clear passageway for the serpent-like kundalini to enter the King's Chamber where you encounter the empty sarcophagus which symbolizes your realization that there is no death.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

 John 3:14-15

Illustrations by Ken Bakeman

Copyright © Ken Bakeman

The Air Shafts

There are four so-called "air shafts" located in the Great Pyramid and are yet another puzzling feature to this amazing structure. Two lead from the King's Chamber and two from the Queen's Chamber. Originally, the two leading from the Queen's Chamber were hidden from view behind the walls. They represent a tremendous amount of labor and engineering skill. Rudolph Gantenbrink has studied the shafts for years and is still at a loss to arrive at a satisfactory explanation as to their purpose:

These striking features are unique, they have neither precursors nor antecedents. There were no shafts in earlier pyramids, there were none in later constructions.

Indeed, some early books on Egyptology cite the two small rectangular indentations in the burial chamber of the later Chefren pyramid as antecedents of the Cheops shafts. But the Chefren indentations are only a few inches deep, and in no way constitute even rudimentary shafts. Since our video mapping of the Cheops shafts, we know that they are by no means simply "implied" or insinuated – they are complicated, extremely long architectural features, which required enormous extra effort to build into the overall structure. Thus, the Chefren indentations in no way constitute a parallel to or antecedent of the Cheops shafts.

Since the Cheops shafts all measure only about 20 by 20 cm (8 x 8 in.), they were obviously never designed for human passage through them. So what were they for?

Over the years, many suggestions have been made:

1) They are "Air shafts."
Well, the answer to this is a straightforward "No". The lower shafts [from the Queen's Chamber] were closed at both ends. The upper ones – if they had been left open as air shafts – would have exposed the burial chamber to birds, snakes, rats, etc., an idea certainly abhorrent to those dedicated to protecting the remains of the pharaoh at all cost.

2) They are light or "star shafts."
No! All the shafts bend, often several times. In addition, all the shafts begin, at their lower ends, with horizontal sections about 2 meters in length. So there is no way light from any source could ever have penetrated from the outside into either of the chambers. In several parts of the shafts, with the exception of the lower southern one, we even found extreme angle fluctuations. It is therefore ridiculous for anyone to claim that the shafts could ever have pointed precisely to certain stars. Given the many angle fluctuations, the shafts could be construed to be pointing at some 100 different stars, especially if construction of the pyramid is gratuitously redated to match specific stellar constellations.

3) They are water shafts.
This is nonsense. All the shafts have open joints along their floors. Any water entering from the top would disappear through these gaps and cracks long before it could ever reach the burial chamber. Not to mention the fact that the idea of water in the King's Chamber would have horrified the builders, who went to enormous effort to protect the pharaoh's remains from all outside influences.

4) They are energy shafts.
In other words, the Cheops pyramid is some kind of hydrogen power plant. This very simply contradicts at least 100 years of archeological evidence. In addition, the shafts were not completely sealed (see above) at any time, so there was no way to convey energy through them.

5) They are spirit or soul shafts.
This is the most probable explanation, based on the solid data we have available to us. At least it corresponds to the system of religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians.

But this brings us to a truly great mystery. If they were designed as soul escape routes, why were such shafts built only during one single generation? Why were none constructed before or after Cheops? Possible reasons:

1) This phenomenon indicates the existence of a religious revolution, as in the case of Akhenaten's Armana Culture. It is possible that a single generation took a radically different approach to religious rituals. But as is the case with the Armana Culture, such religious revolutions leave behind different kinds of evidence and are thus well-documented. There is no such evidence or documentation relating to Cheops.

2) The shafts simply constitute an afterthought, or an insignificant architectural change. This hypothesis defies all logic and basic engineering knowledge. The shafts, despite their small dimensions, greatly complicated the construction and required massive static changes, endless additional work, time and energy. Any builder forced to penetrate vast horizontal layers with diagonal structures faces enormous challenges and headaches. Not to mention the fact that both northern shafts had to be bent several times at different angles – a masterpiece of engineering – to get around the vast obstruction of the Great Gallery.

So the question remains, why were these shafts so important for a single generation?

King's Chamber Shafts

Illustration by Ken Bakeman

Copyright © Ken Bakeman

Gantenbrink is forced to admit that the "soul shaft" theory is also untenable:

If one generation thought it was necessary to provide the pharaoh an architectural escape route for his soul, one shaft would certainly have been enough for the soul to ascend to the all-important northern sky.

But the King's Chamber is penetrated not by one but by two shafts. In Egyptian history of that time, there is no tradition of nor precedent for a soul ascending to the southern sky, which was associated almost exclusively with the sun cult.

But in fact, we find a total of four shafts. The two upper ones, leading out of the King's Chamber, and two lower ones, related to an additional room which has come to be known as the "Queen's Chamber". No one has ever been able to explain the function of that second chamber, however, especially in light of the fact that there is no tradition of any queen of Egypt ever being entombed in the pyramid of her husband.

For whose soul might those two lower shafts have been designed?

The upper shafts have outlets on the exterior of the pyramid. The lower ones do not. The upper shafts penetrate directly into the King's chamber. But the lower ones originally stopped 8 cm short of penetrating the "Queen's Chamber." 8 cm of solid stone block, with absolutely no indentation or any other indication anywhere of their existence.

Thus, those two lower shafts were constructed, at enormous additional cost and effort, to be totally invisible. (They were only discovered to exist, by a combination of intuition and luck, in 1872.)

Making the two lower shafts invisible was not an effort to protect them, or something to which they might have led, from plunderers. Prior to the first intermediate period of ancient Egyptian history, pyramid builders did not take into consideration the possibility of plundering. For them, the power of the pharaoh, in life and in death, was so awesome that no one would even think of desecrating his tomb. Thus, defensive measures at that time, e.g., plugging blocks, probably had only symbolic significance.

So for whom, if not for plunderers, did the lower shafts have to be invisible?
 

The Queen's Chamber
Illustration by Ken Bakeman

Copyright © Ken Bakeman

Perhaps Gantenbrink, by stating "symbolic significance" has inadvertently hit upon an explanation of the air shafts.  As Yogananda (and other eastern yogi masters) state, the prana becomes the body by entering at the medulla (or "mouth of God") and spreads outward to the brain and spine.

Could the two air shafts leading into the King's Chamber from outside of the pyramid be a symbolic representation of the entry and exit points of the prana? The Queen's Chamber shafts, by being hidden within the pyramid, yet pointing to the chamber, could indicate pranayama, or control of the prana within the body (therefore the shafts are sealed at both ends) and directing it towards the dormant kundalini housed symbolically in the Queen's Chamber, which then becomes activated and begins to move out. Most of mankind is in a dormant state with regard to kundalini. In this state the senses seem to promise satisfaction but in fact are ultimately never-ending and lead to misery. The rough floor in the Queen's Chamber represents the coarse nature of the senses and the niche (pictured above in the Queen's Chamber illustration) is a miniature representation of the outline of the Grand Gallery. This niche promises much but leads nowhere, as do the senses.

Grand Gallery

While the length of the Grand Gallery could be construed to relate to the human spine, it seems the ancient Egyptians also naturally thought in 3D or spatial terms. This is because you could also say the height and cross-sectional shape of the Grand Gallery may represent the human spinal column too:

The black outline is a cross-sectional representation of the Grand Gallery. Within that I have positioned a representation of the human spine. Note that the coccygeal end joins the opening of the passageway that leads to the Queen's Chamber which could be a symbolic representation of the Muladhara as noted by Vivekananda earlier:

Now the centre where all these residual sensations are, as it were, stored up, is called the Muladhara, the root receptacle, and the coiled-up energy of action is Kundalini, "the coiled up" [like a serpent]......

Now, if this coiled-up energy be roused and made active, and then consciously made to travel up the Sushumna canal, as it acts upon centre after centre, a tremendous reaction will set in.

The ultimate final goal for salvation then is to direct the flow of kundalini via pranayama as noted by Yogananda:

The way to accomplish this end is to withdraw the life force from the senses, and center it in the spine; to direct it upward through the spine to the brain, and thence out through the Christ center between the eyebrows.

Ramesses II Statue

¹ J. Donald Walters, The Essence of Self-Realization (Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity Publishers, 1990) p. 119-20.

² Vivekananda, The Yogas and Other Works, Revised Edition, (New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1953), p. 600

³ Swami Muktananda, Nothing Exists That Is Not Shiva, (South Fallsburg, NY: SYDA Foundation, 1997), p. 65

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