Chapter 1 The Body

The music of life can only be produced through the body, this vira. The music of life and the body are entirely different things—they are completely different, something else—but it is only possible to reach it through the body, this vira. Yet this fact has not been given due attention.

Where is that vira of life? There is no vira of life other than the human body. And within the human body, there are strings that should not be too loose or too tight. Only in that balance can one enter into music. To know that music is to know the soul. When one knows the inner music within oneself, one knows the soul; and when one knows the music hidden in the whole, one knows the divine.

The body should be received like a temple, a spiritual path. The path to the great things in life, and the things worth achieving, lies within the body, and this path passes through the body.

There are two kinds of neglect. First, there are those who indulge in self-destruction who have neglected their bodies. Their life experience consists only of eating, drinking, and dressing. They neglect their bodies, misuse them, and foolishly waste them—they have ruined their instruments, their vira. If an instrument—such as a vira—is destroyed, music cannot be produced. Music and the vira are two completely different things—music is one thing, the vira is another, but without the vira, music cannot exist.

Those who misuse their bodies through indulgence are one type, while another type neglects their bodies through yoga and renunciation. They have tormented their bodies, they have suppressed them, and they are constantly hostile to them. Neither those who indulge in their bodies nor those who torment them understand their importance. Therefore, there are two types of neglecting and tormenting this vira: the indulgent and the ascetic. Both harm the body. In the West, the body is harmed in one way; in the East, in another. But we are all harming it in the same way. Those who go to brothels or bars harm their bodies in one way, while those who stand naked in the sun or run into the forest harm their bodies in another.

The body is not seen as a vehicle for a spiritual journey, a sacred temple, or an instrument for discovering the center of life. The body is viewed either from the perspective of indulgence or from the perspective of rejection—but both are wrong. As long as this is not our attitude, we are either indulgent or rejecting. In either case, our attitude towards life is neither correct nor balanced.

The human mind is always moving between two extremes—from one to the other. It never stays in the middle. Just as a pendulum swings from one end to the other and never stops in the middle, the human mind also moves from one extreme to the other.

There are some things that need to be understood.

The first thing: the soul and body have a connection in certain centers—our life energy originates from these centers. The soul is closely related to these centers; from these centers, our life energy flows into the body.

Seekers who are unaware of these centers will absolutely not be able to reach the soul. If I asked you which is the most important center, which is the most important place in your body, you would probably point to your head.

A fundamentally flawed approach to education has led people to believe that the head is the most important part of the human body. The head, or brain, is not the most important center of life energy in the human body. It's like asking a plant what its most important and vital part is. Because the flower is visible from the top of the plant, the plant and everyone else will say the flower is the most important part. So while the flower may seem most important, it isn't; the most important part is the root, which is unseen.

The mind is the flower of the plant that is humanity, not the root. The root arrives first, and the flower last. If the root is neglected, the flower will wither, because the flower has no separate life of its own. If the root is cared for, then the flower will also be cared for automatically; it requires no special effort to care for it. Looking at a plant, it seems that the flower is the most important part; similarly, in a person, it seems that the mind is the most important part. But the mind is the last thing to develop in a person; it is not the root.

Mao Zedong wrote a memoir about his childhood. He wrote: "When I was a child, there was a very beautiful garden near my mother's cottage. The garden was so beautiful, and it had such beautiful flowers that people would come from afar to see them. At that time, my mother was getting old and sick. She was not worried about her illness or her old age. She was only worried about what would happen to her garden."

The most important thing is neither the head nor the heart. Men emphasize their heads, and women emphasize their hearts, and society based on this mixture is destroyed every day because neither of these is the most important part of a person; both are things that develop later. The root of a person is not in either of them.

What is my definition of the roots of a person? Just as plants have roots in the ground, through which they draw life energy and sap to survive; similarly, in certain points within a person, there are also roots that draw life energy from the soul. This is how the body remains active. The day those roots weaken, the body begins to die.

The roots of plants are in the ground; the roots of humanity are above the soul. But it is neither the head nor the heart; it is the place where the human being connects with his life energy—and if we know nothing about those roots, then we can never enter the world of a meditator.

So where is the root of a person? Perhaps you are not aware of that place. If even simple and ordinary things have gone unnoticed for thousands of years, they will be forgotten. A child grows in the mother's womb. Through which part is this child connected to his mother? Through the head or the heart? No, it is through the navel. Life energy flows to him through the navel—the heart and head develop later. The mother's life energy reaches the child through the navel. The child is connected to his mother's body through the navel. From there, the root extends into his mother's body; and in the opposite direction, it also enters his body.

The most important point in a person is the navel, followed by the heart, and then the mind. These are all branches that develop later. Flowers bloom upon them. The flower of knowledge blooms in the mind, the flower of love in the heart. It is these flowers that entice us, and then we think they are everything. But the root of the human body and its life energy is in the navel. No flowers bloom there. The roots are completely hidden; they cannot even be seen. But this degeneration that has occurred in human life over the past five thousand years is because we have placed all our emphasis on the mind or the heart. Even in the heart, we place very little emphasis; most of the emphasis has gone to the mind.

The meditator's journey is downward, toward the root. One must descend from the head to the heart, and then from the heart to the navel. Anyone can only enter the soul through the navel; one can never enter it before that.

Normally, the movement of our life force is from the navel toward the head. The seeker's movement is exactly the opposite: he must descend from the head to the navel.

Over these three days, I will talk to you and show you step by step how to descend from the head to the heart, then from the heart to the navel—and then from the navel into the soul.