Throat chakra
00:00:06 Speaker: Welcome, friends in this awakening world. Today I want to talk about the Vishuddhi chakra, the throat chakra on the path of self-realization. And, um, this isn't a creative endeavor to create something specific. It's really a, remembrance of yourself, but also a remembrance of the chakras as a path to liberation, as a path to self-realization. And a lot of how these teachings have become is a lot about the relative self. It was that their potentiality, uh, to actually point you deeper and to also sort of help you unhook from distinct identifications and to actually also prompt this, final journey of the soul has largely been forgotten. And if the chakras are just perceived as these relative energetic centers, subtle, energetic body centers. Then If you meditate on them and if you work on them, then they often actually pertain to karma, like to specific karmic, karmic appearances that actually then reveal themselves stronger as you meditate on these centers. Now how I present the chakras is really as a means to point you back continuously. Each one of these courses is a tremendous pointer for you and a tremendous opening and a tremendous exploration also, but no longer from the relative self, but from awareness, from the continuous recognition of who you are actually in truth. And then the potentiality that lies in each one of them. Now, the previous chakras, if we look at them, it is this first opening to yourself as awareness, a different form of looking onto appearances. Not any more from inside sense perception. And then you're starting to actually see from reality. You're starting to see what are all these different appearances? What is the body as seen from awareness? What are emotions as seen from awareness? What is this whole egoic construct as seen from awareness? Now if this deepens and if you come more strongly into the heart, then there is usually also more already of this understanding that everyone is a part of you. Everyone arises within you as awareness. There's more of an understanding and an experience, but also the wisdom, like a real understanding what is actually this unified nature? Now the heart is still very invested, usually also in service in the outside world. And if you are very heartful, even if you haven't explored that, it's very giving, very service oriented usually. Now as you, um, come to the throat, this is also another turning away. It is a very strong actually turning now to the seer. You know, if you could if you could see it as a progressive path, as a very subtle path. There's an opening to you as awareness, to you as consciousness. Starting to see from reality, starting to glimpse reality. Then discrimination starts between what you are and what you have falsely identified with. And then comes more and more as you're no longer also, for example, in witnessing. As you're no longer so drawn into, you know, into appearances, into staying out of them, into detaching from them, into negating them, all these kind of things. There's more and more interest, actually, because appearances start to homogenize. You know, it's just appearances. Your your mind doesn't go into them. That's the momentum when you just watch them without feeling instantly pulled into them. And also with then also being able to watch, you know, deeper from deeper structures watch actually also the response to those appearances. And so appearances become more and more homogeneous. And then automatically you start being interested in what is the seeing into the seer itself. Awareness itself. There's a sort of a turning now as you can imagine, this turning could be symbolized by the Yogi going into the cave. And what's really necessary at this point, you know, even though this point could always be. But what's very necessary is silence and is, is this withdrawal from this world of form. This is when the ancient yogis went into their caves. This is when people went to the forest. This is when people were no longer interested in social, you know, social connection, social structures. It is really going inside. You want to realize what you are. It is this. It is this intensity and this intensity to, to to want to know what you are. This intensity of opening yourself also towards yourself and towards that inner process also needs to be given. I don't actually think that there's, um, you know, obviously realization also happens. Yeah. To certain people. Yeah. But most of the time there's a true intensity and intensity in seeking and intensity in wanting to find out, an intensity of not stopping, an intensity of taking this independent of what happens, an intensity to turn away from, you know, what, what has been before, an intensity to go inside a real, you know, a real letting go of that for that time of discovery, for the time of finding. Now, what also opens itself as you come to the throat and as you come to know yourself as awareness, and start actually also questioning deeper, inquiring into what is that self, but also what is that seeing? Like, what can I still say about awareness or consciousness? Like a real, a real trying to actually figure this out even also, you know, and one of the things that that you can confirm to yourself at this, at this stage is the nonlocality is really starting to see from awareness, seeing all these appearances starting to question into, into this awareness and seeing it has no boundary. It is non-local. It is no longer localized. It's also those kind of, you know, those kind of findings that you can have that you're trying to localize. Where is this center that I presumed was I? Where is this awareness to be found? Now I know I am awareness. Where is this awareness to be found? One of the great openings, confirmations that you can have is to see you are non-local, to see you cannot find any boundary in it, to see it's not temporal to see it doesn't hold all these things. These are all very subtle findings for you then in meditation, but tremendous openings and opening then to your spacious nature, namely, not to be local, not to be time bound. So in the ancient depictions, the throat chakra was connected to the element of Akasha, which is ether, space. How this element was depicted was a circle. And it goes from perceiving yourself as this dot inside the circle. You know what happens when, when, when the mind kicks in and you take on a perspective, you're actually a dot within a circle to start understanding yourself as awareness and as inherently spacious. The spacious nature already actually came to pass in the in the heart like this opening to this world is a part of myself. It arises inside of me as awareness. But obviously also the detachment. You as awareness are not an appearance at all. And you are not enmeshed in what appears. And so in this chakra discovery of the throat, you are turning your gaze, you are interested in the seer. And it makes this, this movement of the heart: I am everyone, I am everything, I start to actually really understand what that means. There's an inner standing and an insight and the experience also that the world arises within you as awareness. And this is the turning away. This is the turning to the spaciousness and the turning to the emptiness, really seeing, seeing nothing, you know, really starting to pinpoint that awareness. And obviously, in the contrast to what arises within you, in the contrast to appearances, there is this great emptiness, this great nothingness. This is something that also comes online, is to be discovered, is to be experienced because there is then this, you know, this letting go, this letting go of stance, this letting go of this assumption of self, this letting go of the belief in the self, this letting go of the world. It is you in the cave of awareness, in the darkness, in the nothingness, and to also find this. Now what comes, you know, as you're opening yourself to your spacious nature, as you're starting to understand your spacious essence or recognize your spacious essence. Recognize what you are. There is also this deepening, deepening into awareness, deepening into the nothingness, and also then deepening into the peace that you are. You know. There's a lot of reasons why people want to realize the self, or what it is that people draws you on this journey. What has drawn you now to listen to me today or onto your specific discovery? And one of them is to actually find that peace, that peace that is no longer caused, the peace that is not a fleeting feeling state. The peace that is not a thought because it isn't coming and going. It is your nature and it is this deepening. And through this deepening, there is this tremendous unveiling of the peace that you are, the inner contentment that is you. And that can also only come as you have practiced before, when a lot of these identifications and these beliefs and these assumptions of self have been shed, have been negated. So there's also a lot of this final discrimination that happens, you know, but then also this tremendous, there's just, you know, there's less and less thoughts that just are in your mind. And even as you can imagine this, you know, even if this isn't what you have discovered yet, but imagine if you had just so much less thoughts in a day, thoughts about your life, thoughts about what could happen to you. Thoughts about what happened to you. Thoughts about how this pans out. Thoughts about if there's just not that there. Imagine how, how at peace you are. You know you are already peace and this peace that is discovered. So please don't misunderstand me. It's not just a peace that is there when there are no thoughts. It's just understood as the underlying nature of what you are. As this true contentment. This peace with what is. Because you're no longer found in it. You know, even though it's not causal, but it's just the underlying nature of you is, is this peace. So in the throat, it is this deepening, you're turning towards the nothingness. You're going into the cave, you're withdrawing from the world of form. Realization is really important for you. You want to realize the self. Now, in the traditional and the traditional sense, how the chakras were seen, you know, the first two were connected to tamas. You know, it's still very dull, very like starting to wake up to yourself as consciousness or yourself as awareness, starting to get out of this emotional turmoil, this continuous response and reactivity that is entrained in the mind and trained in the mechanism of identification, it is just what it is. And then as you move out, you come to those middle chakras, there's this rajas, you know, more activity, you and the world. What is the word? You and your ego. You and being of service. Massive movement actually, you know. And then comes the movement towards sattva that is insight, contemplation, meditation, self realization, the recognition of what you are. That's why there is this. There is you know, there's, there's the heart, there's, there's so much you can do in community, you know, building in community, doing, being of service to the world, humanity, animals, the environment in community. But self-realization is about the all oneness, aloneness. It is going inside. It's an intensity to go inside, to find out. And meditation. You know, it's also it obviously, you know, it might be easier if you are in a certain environment where this is a given, or in a certain culture where this is understood. It's more difficult to withdraw or to find that space for going inside in the Western world because it's just, it's how society functions, But it's still possible, you know. And what also has to happen at that point is your discrimination. I can tell you for me, the intensity of meditation was no longer just tied to sitting down. It was all day. I was observing thoughts all day. You know, I was observing what is going on. I was not ceasing. You know, it was just what it was. And this kind of intensity needs to be there. You know, just to withdraw, to see thoughts. These are all things that the normal ordinary person usually doesn't even think is possible. And often there is this resistance towards meditation and in this movement towards the throat, towards sattva, meditation becomes so important. Meditation, again, isn't boring because it is you seeing reality. Actually, you are abiding as the self. You are starting to see what is this world? How can this be boring you starting to to see your own spacious, non-local, timeless, eternal self? This isn't boring at all. But meditation is then also no longer a practice that only happens when you sit down. It is seeing reality all the time as you are awake, as your eyes are open. You are still aware of thought. You're not, you're not. You know you're not. You're no longer. You are focused on this discovery. You want to know what you are. And for this time of discovery, like like the yogis did, or some of the masters did, or some of the Buddhist masters did for the time being. You, your focus is inside, no longer outside, no longer on what is happening. You know, no longer this. This is a turning. And yet, as you see from who is realized. It can also happen if you have a family. If you are engaged in life, all these things you can still. The intensity of turning inwards can still be there. It's just. What is your priority? You know? What is it you really want to know? Do you really want to know yourself? Do you really want to realize yourself? These are all questions that happen as you come from the heart into those upper chakras. Is it really? Is that really for you, or is it more still, you know, still to start moving out of whatever it is you're going through, but not really this discovery. Not really wanting to find out truth. Not really wanting to know what you are. There is no judgment. There is no, you know, necessity. What it is for you, but how the chakras are, um, helping you, supporting you on this path and distinctly in my course is like that. The fifth one is you starting to see spaciousness, you turning towards the nothingness. And also for all of you that are actually abiding as awareness. You know, also then finding the peace that is no longer a thought, no longer a feeling state, no longer connected to some form of circumstantial reality, but your actual nature. Something that that then just it also grows. You know, it's this peace that is found that you have never tasted before. It is that peace that is no longer of the mind. And it is also the contentment that comes out of it. And that contentment. That's why it's so different also. You know that contentment is what you are and it then shines. And this is where people start. You know, where you are, your discovery, your practice, your sadhana, however you want to call it, your discovery, where this bears fruits, bears fruits of that love. And to see everyone as yourself, bears fruit of this peace and this peace and contentment. This isn't, this cannot this often cannot be understood. There can be a contentment about taking out the trash, you know, stuff like this, contentment that you have to do this or that stuff. What the person usually, you know, doesn't want to do. But there's suddenly a, there's suddenly just this contentment with all these ordinary, with ordinary life, ordinary objects, ordinary activities, what, what lies completely beyond, beyond the scope of the person. And to imagine yourself in this complete contentment about this or that, you know, it's one, it's wonderful. It starts to untie you from these expectations on the external world to give you this or that, to make you happy. To create peace for you is the contentment just simply there. By this remembrance of what you already are. So this is the throat chakra and the movement into sattva. And on this path of self realization, it is the deepening into you as awareness. That and the deepening, the turning towards the Seer, the turning towards awareness. Starting to actually try to pinpoint awareness or to pinpoint what you are. It's a natural progression that comes when this discrimination. There's the clarity and the distance is established. Appearances are no longer pulling you and there is a growing interest, automatically, naturally, in wanting to know what is it that sees. What is that awareness and these distinct confirmations that you can then also do and must do? Confirm for yourself. Find out for yourself and it is this movement from I am everything, the heart, to I am nothing. I am empty. Great emptiness of awareness. Great spaciousness. Of your true self. Your nonlocality. No longer a point inside of a space. But the space itself. Namaste.
