Yoga & the Pineal Gland: Stability and Ecstasy
SADHGURU: As scientists find better instruments to study the human brain, one thing is becoming clear: there is much more to be known about the mind than we right now know. One aspect of yogic physiology that aligns with modern neurosciences has to do with the pineal gland. This gland was always recognized as being associated with the agna chakra. Today, neuroscientists say that the secretions of the pineal gland control one’s moods and experiences.
While medical sciences have made it clear that chemicals can create pleasant and unpleasant experiences within you that are very real for you. Actually, you are causing everything to yourself. The only difference is whether you cause it with or without outside help. If you simply become ecstatic right now, you are creating it without outside help. If you cause the same thing with outside stimulation, it may be the same thing experience-wise, but the end result could damage the system. Unconscious experiences, however big they are, are of no significance for one’s growth and transformation.
An aspect of yogic physiology which is totally absent in modern medical sciences is something which I constantly keep ‘on’ within myself, called the bindu. ‘Bindu’ means a tiny point. It is a particular spot on the pineal gland. If you touch the bindu, it will release secretions that make you feel ecstatic. But the bindu has another point to it which also has a secretion but is poisonous. If you tip the wrong side of the glass, then poison will spread through the system. It will spread through the system in such a way that, for what looks like simply no reason, you are miserable. A lot of people have done that to themselves. They have become miserable by doing improper things with life.
In yoga, the initial phases of sadhana are aimed at stability, not ecstasy. If ecstasy comes before stability, you are heading for a crash. If ecstasy comes after stability, it is fantastic. The processes of ecstasy were never written down. It is only in the presence of a certain being that those things happen – because they are very subjective. In some books on tantra, they have tried to write it down, which I feel is very irresponsible. Suppose you read a book where the first two chapters talk about some simple practices to stabilize yourself and the last five chapters talk about practices to take you to ecstatic levels – which one will you do? People will not go for stability, they will go for ecstasy – and they will break up.
Never aspire for anything that is not yet in your perception. Just do your sadhana. That is why traditions have always been insisting on trust. If you did not know how a plant grows, if I show you a lump of filth and the beautiful flower and say, ‘These two things are the same...’ would you believe me? It takes a crazy sense of trust. That is why we do not talk about all those things. Because this cannot be logically worked out. That is why the Guru came into the picture, because a little fixing is needed. Without a little fixing, you will not cross the line.
Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a Yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author. Sadhguru has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service. He is also the founder of the world’s largest people’s movement, Conscious Planet – Save Soil, which has touched over 3.9 billion people.