Home continuation work 
after Seminar 5: March 2013

Chakras Part 6: Ajna/Third Eye Centre
and Latifa Khafiya: Themes and Practices

Location:

The Yogic Ajna chakra and the Sufi Latifa Khafiya are both located between the two eyes in the middle of the forehead. In yogic physiology it is where ida, pingala and sushumna merge; the Sushumna continues from the Ajna chakra up to the Sahasrara (Crown) chakra, Ida terminates on the left nostril, Pingala on the right.

Yogic Meaning:
Ajna Chakra: the name Ajna in Sanscrit is ‘to command’, from the roots meaning ‘to know’ and ‘to follow’. Also called mukta triveni: the meeting of the three streams (Ida, Pingala, Shushumna).

Yogic metaphysics:
‘A yogi who has passed through the Vishuddha Chakra at the throat to the Ajna Chakra transcends the five elements and becomes freed (mukta) from the bondage of time-bound consciousness. This is where the I-consciousness is absorbed into super-consciousness.’

Harish Johari: Chakras: Energy Centres of Transformation

Excerpts from the Shat-Chakra-Nirupana:
‘Within this Lotus dwells the subtle mind (manas).Within the triangle in this chakra ever dwells the OM. It is the inner Atma as pure mind (Buddhi), and resembles a flame in its radiance. ..the yogi who meditates on this Lotus…knows no decay, and witnesses all, and is here as he is in the region of Fire, Moon and Sun (ie in the Sahasrara chakra)…the excellent yogi at the time of death joyfully places his vital breath here and enters (after death) the supreme, eternal, birthless primeval deva, the purusha who was before the three worlds…’

For the first time, undivided individual existence manifests for the sake of creation as two.
When this chakra is awakened one meets one’s own divine self, that is, the True Self, which is an innate source of deep knowledge and wisdom which resides within the individual’s Ajna centre.

The Ajna centre controls the various states of concentration used in meditation.
It commands the whole personality.
It is associated with the cognitive faculties of the mind, both mental images and abstract ideas.

Sufi meaning:
Latifa Khafiya: The term Khafi means ‘Hidden’. With reference to the evolutionary ladder of consciousness it implies the state of deep withdrawal into the depth of meaning: as Pir Vilayat would say, to arrive at the level of seeing that which transpires behind that which appears. It is arriving at the pre-programming state of the universe, at the level of Lahut.

Amat-un-Nur Tiwana

Sufi metaphysics:
From the solitude of divine Unity, through nostalgia the Divine Being exhaled the cosmos and crystallized in certain archetypal forms: that which existed in potential was expressed through the divine archetype which precedes and gives form to the divine Names. The laws of nature arose in the cosmos – modes which arose to express the divine intention. The archetype corresponds to the level of our being at a primal moment before one could speak of something individual – the seed bed as genetic code: the code to our person where-in there are innumerable possibilities. In renewing consciousness at this level [Khafiya] we have the opportunity to work creatively to unfold our sense of purpose, to become more truly who we are meant to be.

Edited from Pir Zia’s teaching January 2003

Latifa Khafiya is associated with the plane of Lahut which is the plane where the creative energy of the divine being is emerging towards manifestation.
It is the plane of the divine archetypes from which the qualities of the cosmos arise: the divine Names.
In the eternal moment of creativity, the pure form is activated through us and made meaningful in life.
This latifa offers the dialogue between the sources of our being and the way they are actuated in life.

Connect with this centre and its energy through:
Element: One has gone beyond the elements:
‘The combination of the essence of all the elements in their purest form’. Johari
Colour: often violet or indigo
Sense: eyes
Gland: pituitary

Associations in the physical body:
Anterior Pituitary: secretes 7 hormones which stimulate and regulate the function of all other hormones: it acts as the ‘conductor of the orchestra’.
Hypoactivity shows as inconsistency and laziness. It affects all other glands.
Hyperactivity shows as authoritarianism, excessive will Noor Hervot

Qualities and characteristics: including from the yogic and Sufi traditions
Mind becomes one-pointed
Self-mastery
If the ajna is awakened and purified, one can remain calm in the face of release of karma accumulated in other chakras, allowing them to eradicate their impurities. [Johari]
Go beyond the desires of incarnated life and its activities

Maintain a continual state of non-dual consciousness, a sense of oneness and unity with the cosmic laws
Realization of being an immortal spirit in a temporal body

Pure conscience
Spiritual devotion

The light of divine intelligence shining through as divine consciousness
The glance of this centre is creative
Gives the power to make desires come true

Reveal the divine within and reflect the divinity within others
Know the past, present and future
Telepathic communication
Clairvoyant perception
All faculties of the mind are enhanced: will power, memory, concentration
Obstructed by:
Physical tension: need to open out the face, the ears, the eyebrows, otherwise the rising energy can be obstructed and give headaches.
Illusion

Practices for the third eye centre

1. Over many months, massage the back of your neck, under the occiput, your scalp, your temples, your forehead, around your ears. Gently massage (by soft pinching) all around your eye sockets. Stroke your face to open it out.

2. Pay attention to the colour violet visible in the outer world. Be aware of it throughout your day.
With your subtle inner sense, experience the colour violet as vibration.
For one week.

3. Be aware of how you look at objects in your world:

• look at the object’s or scene’s physical contours and textures
• look at the object or scene as energy
• see within the object or scene it’s subtle meaning or presence
• see the divine intention as the seed within the object or scene that has manifested

4. See the light within all things

5. Wazaif:
Ya Nur – Ya Alim (divine Intelligence – divine Consciousness)
When established in the repetition of this pair of wazaif, one may practice the fikr in this way:
• inhale: let the breath and consciousness be lifted to the Crown centre
• hold: turning the eyes up let consciousness be lifted above the Crown centre into Light
• exhale: releasing the eyes, let Alim, the ray of divine consciousness, radiate through the Third Eye. Direct this glance to a situation in your life so that you perceive the divine purpose in that situation.

‘If the glance of the physical eyes perceives the exemplar [the specimen or copy], the glance of the Third Eye simultaneously perceives the archetype – the seed within the tree.’ Pir Zia

Explore this mode of awareness in daily life: perceiving the archetype within that which has manifested.

6. Purifying the chakras with the Third Eye
This should be done very gently.|
After purifying the Third Eye with the practice of Ya Nur – Ya Alim:
practising the fikr, direct the glance of the Third Eye to the Base chakra, purifying the chakra. The eyes may be open or closed. 3 breaths.
Then, in turn, 3 breaths for each centre in rising order, up to the Throat Centre. With each centre, let the light radiating through the Third Eye purify the centre.
End with 3 breaths in the Third Eye and 3 breaths in the Crown centre.

7. The Master’s Glance
This is described on the homework page for Seminar 5 on the website

The Healer’s Glance
With this practice, cultivate the healing power which can emanate through the eyes.
The glance may be directed as a violet ray.

8. Theme for Meditation: Hazrat Inayat Khan on the plane of Lahut:
It is this which is expressed in the Christian symbolism of the dove. In other words it is the moment, which approaches one’s consciousness rapidly, of such bliss that one so to speak touches the depths of the whole of life and reaches above the sphere of action, even above the sphere of feeling. ‘But,’ one will say, ‘what does one’s consciousness receive from it?’ It receives a kind of illumination which is like a torch lighting another light; this inner life, touching the consciousness, produces a sort of illumination which makes man’s life clear. Every moment after this experience is unveiled because of this moment. It charges man’s life with new life and new light. Vol IV. Mental Purification ch16 p202

9. Inquiry
Seek the unity behind the diversity of life’s situations.
See yourself through the eyes of God.
Ask yourself: what divine qualities are being manifested as me?
How is God discovering Herself/Himself as me?

10. Sounds for the Third Eye centre:
Yogic: A (as in the English word ‘cat’)
Hazrat Inayat Khan: ‘ee’