Part 23: There's A Green Light In Your Head!

Did I suggest somewhere in the previous episode that X3 resembled a kondatum, a dried twig? Perhaps I ought to take back that characterization and replace it with milch cow, as my hapless protagonist can surely be milked for another story at least.

I happened to quiz X3 on his sadhana (spiritual practices) and he told me that he had been practicing kriya yoga (a breathing technique used in meditation, see 1 & 2 for more information) for very many years. He said that in the years when he had been laid low by unspecified afflictions, kriya was the thing that kept him going and eventually returned his health to a semblance of normality. I filed this information away under Health Science in my brain, after briefly toying with and rejecting the idea of filing it under Humour. The takeaway lesson seemed to be: No matter how bad it gets, don’t stop breathing! Obviously, the irony and hilarity of this moral was not lost on me.

I enquired whether his longstanding sadhana had resulted in any unusual states of consciousness. I asked him with a wink whether he had come across Nirvikalpa Samadhi yet, or perhaps that other puppy Savikalpa Samadhi. He took my ribbing in good humour and said that he was far away from such exalted states. However, he claimed that he did have one unusual ability. My curiosity piqued, I asked him what it was. He told me that he could see a green light in the area of the Ajna Chakra (a spiritual energy center roughly correlated with the center of the forehead). I told him that was really cool and tried to find out more about the nature of this green light. Was it bright like a halogen lamp or was it like an LED (light emitting diode)? I asked him if he could see my green light as we spoke. He clarified that the vision only appeared after he entered a state of deep meditation, about 20 minutes into his routine. Furthermore, he could not see anyone else’s green light, he sheepishly explained; he could only see the one in his own forehead and that too when he had his eyes closed.

What a bummer! I would have been really tickled to obtain third-party verification of my third eye. I suppose it was not to be. There was no real reason to expect that encounter to be very different from the general run of my life which had been anything but a smooth drive through green lights. The reality was red lights and traffic violations with the odd DUI thrown in. For the most part, my life’s journey has felt like riding the wrong way through a one-way street. I just sit behind the wheel in terror, not knowing when I am going to be blown up by oncoming traffic.

The most recent example of a red light is the removal of the one constant in my post-Amma life. Under severe work pressure, I have been forced to discontinue my meticulous practice of japam (chanting of a mantra). I used to do over 40 malas (rosaries) per day and had just crossed what seemed to be a landmark: 5 million in cumulative japams but Amma appears to have had enough of my counting games. With a grumble, I now move to a new regime where I will perform japam on an ad hoc basis, whenever time permits. No more counting. No longer will I need to update the cute little spreadsheet, complete with bells and whistles in the form of graphs and diagnostic statistics, that I used to maintain to track my score. Yesterday, I closed the account with a red line at the bottom and a note saying “Account terminated”. I feel like a child whose favourite toy has just been snatched away.

I am unsure whether the loss of this prop represents an advance or a decline. All I can do now, I suppose, is to stop counting and start chanting in every free moment. May ad hoc turn into ad infinitum by Her grace.

Om Amriteshwaryai Namah