The Yoga of Snakes and Arrows is based on Leela, a game in which each of us is a player acting out his role. Leela is the universal play of cosmic energy. It is divine play that is present in the nature of the Supreme Self. It is this playful nature that creates the world of names and forms—the phenomenal world. Leela is life itself, energy expressed as the myriad forms and feelings presented continuously to the self.
The essence of the player is his ability to become, to adopt a role. That which is the essence of the player can enter into any role. But once the player enters into the game, once he assumes the identity of the person he adopts, he loses sight of his true nature. He forgets the essence of what it is to play the game. His moves are decided by the karma dice.

As there are moments when sunlight momentarily illumines the patterns of waves, and flows in a river, so too there are moments when the clear light of consciousness reveals the patterns in the player’s life role. At those moments the nature and flow of life energy stands forth as though in relief. At those moments the player loses his attachment to his role and begins to see his life as a part of a larger whole.
The purpose of Leela is to help the player gain this ability to withdraw from his identifications and see how he might become a better player. For the game of Leela is a microcosm of the larger game of self-knowledge. Contained within the seventy-two spaces of the game board
is the essence of thousands of years of self-exploration, the heart of
Indian tradition.

As the player moves from space to space, square to square, he begins to see patterns in his own existence, emerging with ever-deepening clarity as his understanding of the game broadens. His sense of detachment grows as he sees each state as temporary, something to move beyond. And once the temporarily of any space becomes a reality for the player, he can detach from that space and let it go as he seeks to discover ever more about the wonder that is Being.

As with all games, here too there is a goal, an object to be attained. Because the essence of the player is his ability to identify, his only chance of “winning” the game is to identify with that which is his Source. This is Cosmic Consciousness, the essence of pure Being, which transcends time and space, knows no limits, and is infinite, absolute, eternal, changeless, the All, without attributes, beyond both name and form. The game ends when the player becomes himself, the essence of play.

The saints who invented the game of Leela used the game board to recognize the present state of their own being. By observing their course of movement from one plane to another they could practically observe which snakes brought them down and which arrows took them up. The moves were decided by a karmic dice, yet the dice when thrown indicated their own evolution because it represented the present state of the player. They consciously observed the pattern through which they were moving, by playing the game time and again and watching carefully their own reaction while landing on a snake or an arrow. Observing their own inner self, they could tell whether they had understood what it is to be not involved. At the same time, the network of the game gave them a deeper insight into the principle of the divine knowledge on which the game board was based. It was a study of scriptures and discovery of the self at the same time. This is the uniqueness of Leela, the yoga of snakes and arrows, the game of self-knowledge.

Originally called Gyan Chaupad (literally Gyan = knowledge; Chaupad
= a game played with dice: so “Game of Knowledge”), the game Leela
was designed by the seers and saints as a key to inner states and to learn
the principles of DHARMA —usually called Hinduism.

With its snakes
and arrows and seventy-two squares representing seventy-two planes,
the game provides a key to the knowledge of the Vedas, the Shrutis,the
Smiritis, and the Puranas.

Playing the game is playing with the mani­fested divine knowledge found in the aphorisms and doctrines of yoga,’ of Vedanta,’ and samkhya, which flows in the body of the Hindu tradition as philosophy and lifestyle. While playing, one automatically moves through different squares of the game board. Each square has a name, representative of an inner state as well as a plane. Each name triggers the mind and brings the consciousness of the player to contemplate and ponder the concept behind the word as long as he stays in that square. After a few minutes of playing, the game board starts to play with the mind and intellect of the player—as well as the ego, the strong sense of self-identity, the “isness” of the player.

Neither the author nor the date of origin of the game now we called Snakes and Arrows is known.
As a general rule in the Indian literature tradition the name of the author is considered unimportant. He is but a
pen in the hands of God, a tool of expression; and so the name has not been recorded. The influences apparent in the formulation of the game point to an age of at least 2,000 years.

The copy used as the basis of this particular translation was preserved by the family of an author of commentaries, living in Uttar Pradesh about 150 years ago. The present author now has another older, but incomplete, copy of the game board in his possession, which he purchased in Rajasthan from an antique dealer. This copy is much older, but because it is not complete it was not used for writing this version of the commentaries.

A book of chants containing schlokas accompanied the game board. With each toss of the dice the player intoned the appropriate chant for the space in which he landed. The schloka described the nature and meaning of the space, represented by a square in the game board. Unfortunately, the book of chants has been lost, and it has become obligatory to write a commentary, showing the network of philosophical ideas indicated by the names of the squares and also introducing the method by which the game board can be used by those who are interested in knowing and playing the game. However, each Sanskrit term has a well-defined connotation within the context of the tradition from which the game sprang. In addition to these definitions, along with information obtained from saints (who played the game when they were young and when they joined their order) and the terminology used in the game board itself, some knowledge came to the author from his own family tradition. All this forms is the basis of this commentaries.

The creators of the game saw it foremost as a tool for understanding the relationship of the individual self to the Absolute Self. Played at this level, the game enables the player to detach himself from the illusion that his personality is firmly fixed. He sees his life as an expression of the macrocosm. Not his identifications but the play of cosmic forces determines the fall of the dice, which in turn determines the course of his life’s game. And the purpose of this game he sees as nothing less than the liberation of consciousness from the snares of the material world and its mergence with Cosmic Consciousness.

Just as one drop of water, taken from an ocean, contains all the elements present in the ocean that was its source, so too is human consciousness a microcosmic manifestation of Universal Consciousness. All that man can ever know already exists as a potential within himself. For all that man perceives is a product of his sensory organs.

Events in the phenomenal world trigger the five sensory organs (ears, skin, eyes, tongue, and nose). The affected sensory organ initiates in turn a biochemical process, which passes through the central nervous system to be manifested as variations in electrical activity in certain areas of the brain. This play of electrical energy is a gross manifestation of that aspect of consciousness called mind.

The mind presents sensory data to the intellect and ego for evaluation and action. It is from the sensory perceptions that all the desires arise. And desire is the essence of the game—the player would not play had he not the desire to play. Desires are the motivations of life: man lives to fulfill his desires.

Desires can be grouped in three classes, depending on their nature: physiological, sociological, and psychological. The physiological desires are those necessary for survival of the organism. Eating, drinking, sex, and sleep are major physiological desires. The sociological are physiological desires colored by the social context. Rather than one house, a man wants five. His need is for one the desire for five—a social overlay. His desire for objects of luxury and a better status in society, which he can easily get by display of his achievements, is something that is social, and these desires are different in all parts of the world. Psychological desires all stem from the desire for identification of the self, the ego. The desire for inner growth and spiritual achievements is also a product of the ego. How strange it is that through this path one can lose the ego altogether: the great egotism of becoming egoless.

Physiological needs are recognized by all societies. No
are placed on their fulfillment. Sociological desires vary from society to society. Psychological needs are common throughout the planet, and include man’s complexes and achievements, disturbances and honors, enjoyments and traumas.
All these desires result from sensory perception and the faculty. All are biochemical states of the organism: all desires express
themselves inside the organism as chemical states. As they produce chemical states, so can they also be provoked by the use of chemicals.

The physiological desires are often called animal needs, for they are the desires man has in common with all other animals. Psychological desires are often called higher needs, for they are concerned with the attachment of ego and the sense of fulfillment that comes from complete identification with the object of desire.

Whatever the source of the desire, the ego acts to fulfill it through five work organs (hands, feet, mouth, genitals, and anus). The action comes only after the sense perception, which was its source, has passed through the mechanisms of mind and intellect.
Each action triggers a reaction. The quality of the action determines the quality of the reaction. The reaction is manifested as a change in working consciousness. Negative actions entrap the player; positive actions liberate. “As ye sow, so shall ye reap”: this paraphrase of a Bibli­cal saying points out the law of karma.

Any action the player takes is proper as long as he realizes that all
actions plant karmic seeds, which may not bear fruit for years. The fruits of karma may not even manifest in the present life but may submerge only to reappear in some future incarnation. It is these karmas from past lives that determine the course of personality development in the individual.

The real job of the player is to recognize these karmas and their effect on his being. From this awareness comes the knowledge required to raise his level of consciousness. This is the job of karma yoga.’ And the phenomenal world is the stage on which the Leela (divine game) of karma is staged.

To understand the phenomenal world we must, then, become scientists of the self, exploring the organization of our own consciousness, the planes on which we dwindle all our lives, the snakes that we encounter, and the arrows we find in our upliftment. It is here the game of Leela serves its highest purpose. For it is a map of the self, the playground of the One-becoming-many.

1. Dharma: that which is inherent as law in the very nature of all existing phenomena, that which supports and holds the universe together. It is not merely a set of beliefs having no connection with living, but is rather a set of principles for a harmonious and beneficent life. It is a practical doctrine. The etymological meaning of dharma is also “that which binds together.”

2. Vedas: divine knowledge, perfect knowledge, which is omnipresent and sustains all that is manifested. This knowledge is directly realized by rishis (saints, seers, yogis) through samadhi. This knowledge is available as four scriptures:

a. Rig Veda.
b. Yajur Veda.
c. Sama Veda.
d. Atharva Veda.

Each Veda has three generally recognized divisions:

a. Samhitas: collections of hymns or mantras.

b. Brahmanas: containing precepts for establishing the mantras and ceremonies. They are treatises on rituals but are interwoven with many illustrative stories, philosophical observations, and profound ideas.

c Upanishads: philosophical treatises, based on interpretations given by rishis to whom this knowledge was revealed.

3. Shrutis: cosmic sound frequencies, floating in the cosmos as richis (incantations) revealed to rishis (visionaries). They contain the knowledge of the system by which the energies were vitalized in the universe at its beginning and are still directed by Cosmic Consciousness. Vedas are Shrutis.
Smiritis: practical application of divine knowledge and laws inherent in the objects of the manifested universe. These treatises contain laws that make life divine. They are numerous, but four of them are very much quoted by scholars as the chief Smiritis:
a. Manu Smiriti.
b. Vagya Valka Smiriti.
c. Shamkhya Smiriti.
d. Parashara Smiriti.
Vedas are Shrutis, and all books dealing with the law of dharma are the Smiritis from which the basic structure of Hindu tradition was built by seers.

5. Puranas: next in order after Shrutis and Smiritis. They illustrate the philosophy of the Vedas through stories (from history) of those whose lives reflected the practical application of the law of dharma.- They are allegorical in nature and explain the highest philosophy in a very human way. This is the reason the Puranas are called the fifth Veda.

6. Yoga: literally, to join, to unite, to add, union. It is a science of inner growth, which gives peace and the capability to stop mental fluctuations and modifications, which are the root cause of sufferings, miseries, and pain. It provides the ability to rise above the realm of the senses into habitual one-pointedness, undivided attention, perpetual peace, and enlightenment. It has numerous schools, which suggest and provide, each in its own way, methods for an overall development and growth of physical body and psyche (union of solar and lunar principles, control over the autonomic nervous system, etc.). Broadly it can be divided into three branches:
a. Karma yoga: yoga of selfless action.
b. Gyana yoga: yoga of cessation of mental modifications by negation, reaching the ultimate truth.
c. Bhakti yoga: yoga of devotion, love, and surrender.
Famous schools of yoga include:

a. Raja yoga: yoga of the eightfold path—yama, niyama, asana, pranayam, pratiyahar, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi.

b. Hatha yoga: yoga that deals with the training of the senses by working with the body. It helps in achieving the goal designed by raja yoga.

c. Naad yoga: yoga that deals with the sounds of the inner world.

d. Laya yoga, and cosmic sound; also known as kriya yoga or kundalini yoga.

7. Vedanta: the philosophical doctrine, also called Uttar Mimansa that dominates Indian thought to the present day, dealing with the nature of the self and discriminating between the real and unreal. It explains unity in diversity, the knowledge of noumena. It teaches one to climb from the idea of the individual self, which seems to be a reality apart from Cosmic Consciousness, to the thought that one is a part of the Supreme Self, the Brahman, and can unite with him; and finally that he is and ever has been the Cosmic Consciousness, veiled from himself by ignorance. Vedanta is the science of Self without attributes, and teaches “Thou art That.”

8. Samkhya: the system of numbers; primarily an account of how creation started. It deals with the evolution of the manifested world.

9. Schloka: a Sanskrit verse.

10. Karma yoga: the yoga of selfless action (karma means action). Actions cover all acts done by the individual from birth to death. A player who performs karma with attachment uses any means that serve his purpose and in his selfishness causes harm to others. One who is not attached to his actions, and performs actions because they are unavoidable, performs karmas with a disinterested interest and does not adopt wrong means. Kar­mas performed by right means do not harm anybody and are in accordance with the law of dharma. Dharma is inherent in the player’s own nature, if he performs karmas that coincide with the natural bent of his mind.

Four things are necessary for playing Leela: the game board, a dice (half a pair of dice), the commentary section of this book, and an object, such as a ring, that belongs to the player and is small enough to fit in the squares; this serves as the player’s symbol during play. The rules are simple. Each player places his symbol in square 68, the square of Cos­mic Consciousness. One by one, the players throw the dice and pass it on to the player on the right (this conforms with the natural movement of upward-flowing energy).

The first player to throw a six moves to the first square, genesis, and from there to the sixth square, delusion. Until a six is thrown, the player must wait unborn in Cosmic Consciousness. Each time a six is thrown, at any stage in the game, the player rolls the dice again. The exception to this is that a player who has rolled three sixes in a row (and has moved eighteen squares), and then rolls another number, must return to the place where he started before he began to throw the sixes, and move whatever number of squares is shown on the fourth roll. If, for example, a player throws three sixes and then another number on his fourth roll at the beginning of the game when his first six took him into play, he then returns to genesis (square 1) and counts forward the number shown on the fourth roll. But if, instead, he rolls four or more sixes, he continues to take additional turns until a number other than six is shown, at which point he moves the total number of squares he has thrown and passes the dice.

When the player’s symbol lands on the base of an arrow, he moves the symbol upward along the shaft of the arrow to its tip. If he lands on the head of a snake, it swallows him and deposits him at the tip of its tail. In this way, egotism leads to anger and spiritual devotion leads to Cosmic Consciousness. Thus the player throws the dice and moves back and forth and up and down the board, taking care to move through the squares in ascending numerical order.

Returning to the sixty-eighth square is the object of play. If the player should reach the eighth level but pass by Cosmic Consciousness into the sixty-ninth, seventieth, or seventy-first square, he must wait to throw either the exact number required to land on tamoguna, the seventy-second square, or a lower number that would allow him to move one or two squares. From rajoguna, the seventy-first square, the throw of a one will return the player to earth, and back into the game.

Play ends only when the player lands exactly on the sixty-eighth square, either by the arrow of spiritual devotion or by numerical ascension (such as being on square 66 and throwing a two).

In the course of play, the player will usually find that he has a characteristic pattern of landing on the same arrows and the same snakes. The game will take on its fullest meaning when the player reads and understands the commentaries, wherein are explained the meanings of each space, arrow, and snake.

If the player lands on square 69, the absolute plane, he cannot reach Cosmic Consciousness, which is square 68. In that case he has to reach Square 72, where tamoguna can bring him back to earth, after which he can reach Consciousness by gradual progression or by throwing a three and reaching spiritual devotion—the direct arrow to Cosmic dice are useless, since he cannot make use of them any more than he can make use of a six when he is on 67. Throwing a one can bring him to 68, the place where the game stops, but the game continues if he throws a two, three, four, or five.

To have full advantage of the game, the player should note down the course adopted by the symbol that moves with the throw of the dice on the game board. In a series of such recordings he would discover some common features: some friendly snakes and helpful arrows. This would compel him to find out the relationship between external and internal patterns. Saints have used this method to discover their inner pattern: it makes Leela, the yoga of snakes and arrows, a game of self-knowledge­” Gyan Chaupad.”

Our perceptual world comes to us through the mechanisms of mind and intellect, which alter, color, and reject. Perceptions are received through organs that cannot perceive more than a millionth part of the total electromagnetic energy spectrum.

Thus the world that is known to us at any given moment is but one of an infinity of simultaneous events, any one of which could be perceived in an infinite number of ways because of the infinite number of possible organizations of mind and intellect. The possibilities are quite simply beyond comprehension.

Western science has specialized in the study of the sensory realm:
the perceptual, phenomenal, material world. Its explorations have been carrying material science to a unifying point, a set of principles operating throughout the known cosmos. These principles transcend time and space.

The light we receive from some galaxies is over 100,000,000 years old, yet it follows the same rules governing the light from our own sun, which is only nine light minutes distant.

These principles are expressed in formulas such as E = mc2 and 3A3 (the organizing principle of every diamond in the universe). From diversity we are approaching a unity, expressed in the formulas of the physical ac sciences.

The Western mind has created a periodic table of the elements, which
lists 103 fundamental organizations of matter. This is the essence of the West’s understanding of the phenomenal world.

Eastern man, however, pursued a different course. In India, particularly, a temperate climate and the easy cultivation of crops did not force him to devote his energies to the struggle for survival that motivated the development of natural sciences in the West. Eastern man worshiped nature as a kind Mother principle and did not develop a conquest of nature that would prevent his own survival. The scientific spirit of Indian sages and seers turned inward to investigate the complexity that is human consciousness. Hence the science of tantra, yoga, and the ideas expressed in the Upanishads.

As general principles were discovered operating in the phenomenal world, so too were principles discovered in the operation of human consciousness. Yogis explored the labyrinth of the self and discovered seventy-two primary states of being. These states are the squares of the game of Leela, a periodic table of consciousness.

Within the seventy-two states, man acts out his karmic drama, play ending only when he attains total understanding of the game—Cosmic Consciousness. Play can be interrupted by the cessation of the principle of desire, but without a complete understanding of the game the true end of the game does not occur: desires are seeds of karma, and they can sprout any time they find suitable conditions to germinate. The player tosses his die, letting the forces of karma determine where he lands. He moves through the spaces and the various planes, up arrows and down snakes, until he is able to vibrate harmoniously everywhere, in all spaces. Ups and downs must lose their meaning.
The tossing of the dice provides the variable link between the players
symbol and its movement across the game board. It is in the fall of the
a dice that the principle known as synchronicity operates. Synchronicity is term coined by the psychologist Carl Jung to explain the links times form between two seemingly unrelated events in the phenomenal world.

Synchronicity is the fulfillment of a need by some agency outside the conscious control of the individual self. It is most easily understood in the context of interpersonal relationships. In a sense, synchronicity is being in the right place at the right time; and in reality, it is a continuous process.
In the game of Leela the need is understanding, the knowledge of how and where the player is experiencing at a given moment. The outside agency is karma, which determines the fall of the dice. Leela is a game of synchronicity. Synchronicity simply means that all events in the phenomenal world are related and can be understood in their relationship if only a proper link can be forged. This game is such a link.
To strengthen the link, the player supplies an object of personal meaning to represent himself on the board. This is his symbol, and it moves across the board in accord with the tossing of the karma dice. What is important is the pattern of movement of this symbol across the board. To understand this pattern—and the nature of the stages through which the player travels—it is necessary to understand more of the thinking on which the game board is based.

There is no death in this game. There are ups and downs, and changes in vibration levels, but there is no death. The spirit that is the individual self playing Leela does not die. It is the symbol, the body, moving across the game board with the toss of the karma dice, which changes form. The individual self is a portion of the Lord, a limited manifestation of Cosmic Consciousness, the Supreme Self. The Divine dwells in the inmost being of man and cannot be extinguished. There is a vital unity of soul and body in man, as in the symbol and the player. The end only comes when the player reaches Cosmic Consciousness, the eternal state, the path from which there is no return. Here the player becomes the divine existence, beyond all modes and qualities. This is liberation. Death is change in form, not in spirit. It does not even exist on the material plane, because matter also is neither created nor destroyed but only changes form. Change of form is not real; it is a transitional phase in the world of phenomena, which is also an aspect of the Supreme, a reflection of the Supreme Self. The cosmic process is an interaction between the two principles of Being and not-Being.

If we look at this game as a microcosm, we will find the complete octave of the macrocosm. As in a living organism the energy moves from plane to plane, from conception to birth, childhood to adolescence, youth to old age during a span of years, so the player operates from seven psychic energy centers moving up and down from chakra to chakra, and there are corresponding observable changes in his gross behavior.

Human life is a series of cycles: seven days for establishing conception, that is, for establishing the chemical nature; seven months to complete the formation of the body in the womb; and the seven major cycles of seven years each—the length of a complete lunar cycle—during which one moves through each of the psychic centers. In the game of Leela each of these seven cycles constitutes one horizontal row. The first center is the first row, and so on.

In the first cycle, to the age of seven, the player is too much himself—self-centered.

In the second cycle, seven to fourteen, he starts relating to a group of friends and living in the realm of fantasy. Attraction to the opposite sex, development of the aesthetic sense, and an interest in the fine arts also start at this age.

In the third cycle, fourteen to twenty-one, he wants to establish his identity. He wants power and affiliates himself to a group or ideology.

In the fourth cycle, twenty-one to twenty-eight, he begins to develop a sense of responsibility. He can now understand about others and appreciate their attributes.

In the fifth cycle, twenty-eight to thirty-five, he starts instructing others from his own experience and assumes the role of a teacher, often with the responsibilities of parenthood.

In the sixth cycle, thirty-five to forty-two, he becomes an observer
of his own energy patterns and reviews his past karmas in the light experience. In the seventh cycle, forty-two to forty-nine, he is generally well settled and lives his life with the aim of finding and merging with truth.

This is the normal course of human development, but the environment into which the player is born dominates his pattern of thinking to a very high degree—and the karma dice leads a player into the mouths of so many snakes of attachment that many people spend the whole of their lives on lower levels. There are others for whom all snakes seemingly vanish, and arrows magically appear to boost them to their goal in four or five moves.

The seven planes through which the player must pass before he reaches the eighth plane—the plane beyond all planes—are the seven chakras. Normally, energy would flow through these centers in a pattern synchronous with the vibrational rhythm of the player. During every twenty-four-hour period, life energy passes through all the seven chakras. At sunrise it is in the third chakra, and after sunset it comes to the seventh. Thus the energy is influenced by solar, lunar, and gravitational forces. But since few of us can live a pure and natural existence, complex blocks are formed in the energy pathways. It is not able to flow regularly and properly through the organism, creating a disparity between the mental and the chronological ages.

Each chakra has particular characteristics that enable the player to determine where he is vibrating at any given moment, particularly with the help of this game.

The first chakra is located at the base of the spine, midway between the anus and the genitals. Individuals vibrating here are insecure and are primarily concerned with physical survival. The sense of smell is dominant. The element of the first chakra is earth—the grossest manifestation of reality—and its color is yellow. The main problem of this chakra is violent behavior, which can arise from deep-rooted insecurity. However, the same insecurity can be a positive factor, as the motivating force behind the development of material technology. First-chakra people sleep ten to twelve hours nightly, on their stomachs.

The first chakra appears as the physical plane, the fifth square on the first row of the game. It is the plane of genesis, maya (the illusory per­ceptual world), anger, greed, delusion, conceit, avarice, and sensuality.
When a player enters into the game he has to pass through these nine squares. There are no arrows to lift him out of the first chakra, because these aspects of the first chakra are fundamental to human existence. If he does not feel concerned with society’s value judgments, then he will know that all these things are important for human life. But if he is con­cerned with the world and its judgments, then he will say, “Well, anger is very bad. Greed is very bad. Vanity is very bad. All these things are very bad.” They do create disharmony and bad body chemistry, increase selfishness, destroy inner peace, and so on, but as Shakespeare reminds us, “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” If we look deeper, from the point of view of survival (toward which first­ chakra consciousness is oriented), we will see that without attachment, without greed, without a craving to find something more, life stagnates. If there were no anger and no vanity, the fun of the theater (Leela) would be lost. These various moods and temperaments provide color, the basic impetus for individual development. They are thought to be bad things, because they are connected with the lower, animal self. But we must see that they are also responsible for the growth and development of our rational, human, and divine self.

By mastering the first chakra the yogi obtains freedom from disease. By overcoming basic hang-ups he becomes open to knowledge, and no longer asserts himself so much. He learns to abstain from lower desires and attachments. Tantric scripture says he can become invisible if he wishes to.

In the second chakra, the player is caught up in the perception of his sensory organs. It is located in the region of the sex organs, with taste being its dominant sensory mode. Water is its element, and so it is char­acterized by luminous white or light blue. The principal problems associated with this chakra are corruption and disorder, ensuing from the loss of energy that comes from overindulgence in the sensory domain, and fantasy. But this same sensuality is the impelling force responsible for all the creative arts. One who vibrates in the second chakra sleeps eight to ten hours nightly in the fetal position.
The second chakra contains two arrows—purification and mercy—and two snakes—jealousy and envy. It contains the astral plane, the plane of fantasy, and the plane of joy. Here are found nullity and also entertainment, the essence of the spirit.

By mastering the second chakra the yogi becomes generally beloved. He can command the love of any animal or beast and can control the elements. He is freed from all his enemies and illuminates like the sun. He becomes well versed in prose, poetry, and reasoned discourse and can conquer lustful desires.
In the third chakra, the dominant characteristic is the recognition of the ego and a search for the immortality of the embodied being. As a fetus in the womb one receives nourishment to sustain development from this center. It contains the great junction of the right and left sympathetic chains with the cerebrospinal axis and is located at the root of the navel in the lumbar plexus, with connected sympathetic nerves concerned with the production of sleep and thirst. Sight is its dominant sensory mode. Fire is its element, and red the associated color.
The main problem of this chakra is exertion of power, imposing the will of the ego on others. The positive attribute is the organizational skill generated out of the altruistic use of power. One who vibrates here generally sleeps six to eight hours nightly on his back.

This third chakra is the celestial plane, and it contains three arrows—selfless service, dharma, and charity. There is one snake—bad company. It is the plane of sorrow, good company, atonement, and karma.

By mastering the third chakra one is able to destroy sorrow and dis­ease and gain knowledge of different lokas (worlds). One develops the healing power. It is a chakra of stability, accumulation of power, accomplishment, command, control, and the worldly achievements necessary to ground one’s ego.

In the fourth chakra the player becomes aware of karmas, the behavioral patterns of his life. He is vibrating from the heart region, the seat of the celestial wishing tree. The heart is the abode of the conscious principle—the life—and seat of prana. This chakra is the center of the seven: three are above and three below. Thus the heart chakra is influenced by higher and lower forces simultaneously. Air is the associated element, the color is smoky gray-green, and the sensory mode is tactile.

The main problem of the player here is a tendency toward imbalance, spending too much time trying to rectify that which was. Faith (bhakti) is the motivating force in his life. He sleeps on his left side, five to six hours nightly.

This is the plane of balance, and apt religion is the arrow that takes the player higher. The snake is irreligiosity, which takes the player back to delusion. Here are the planes of sanctity, fragrance, and taste. Here also are purgatory, good tendencies, and clarity of consciousness.

By mastering the fourth chakra the yogi becomes like Jupiter, the lord of speech. His senses are completely under control. He is dearer than the dearest to women. His life is inspired, and poetry flows in his speech like a stream of clear water—uninterrupted. Scriptures say he is able to transfer himself to another body. His very presence is inspiring, and he has no enemies. He gains the power to become invisible, and unnoticeable, and he can levitate at will. He is able to see objects of both the visible and invisible universes and has the ability to travel any part of the world by the exercise of his willpower. He gains mastery over time.

In the fifth chakra the player has realized compassion and wants to share with others how he has been able to resolve those karmas he has confronted. This chakra is located in the throat, at the junction of the spinal cord with the medulla oblongata. It is the chakra of gyana (also spelled jnana)—knowledge. The player becomes a knower, a gyani (jnani). Without formal instruction and study he becomes knowledge­able of all scriptures (shastras). He is constant, gentle, steady, modest, courageous, and free from diseases and sorrows. He is merciful toward everybody; he has no expectations. The main problem is authoritarianism: “This is the only way.”
Beyond the realm of the senses, this chakra is the center of akash (ether). The elemental color is smoky purple. The player who vibrates here meditates on soham (so = that; aham = I am): “That I am”—the sound his breath makes as he inhales (so = sound of inhaling) and exhales (ham = sound of exhaling). His obsession is logic, and his boon understanding. His intellect becomes free from the impurity of worldly pursuits, and he can see past, present, and future within himself. Meditation upon the pit of his throat enables him to overcome hunger and thirst and to achieve steadiness. He sleeps four to five hours nightly, changing sides.
The fifth chakra is the human plane, and right knowledge and gyana (jnana) are the arrows that can take the player up. Ignorance is the snake. It is the plane of the positive, negative, and neutral life-breaths (prana, apana, uyana). Here he is born as Man (a representative of higher con­sciousness as opposed to animal nature), and gains the understanding of energy, Agni (fire).
One who masters the fifth chakra can rejuvenate himself at will. His presence opens one to the knowledge of the Self, and in it one is able to understand the mysteries of nature and recognize the presence of divine knowledge in every existing phenomenon.

In the sixth chakra the dominant concern is tapasya, the austere task of raising consciousness ever higher. This is the center of com­mand (agya, also spelled ajna) over movements. The player vibrating here has no problems. He is beyond seeing any possibility as a prob­lem. He is centered in the third eye, the region of the pineal gland. He meditates on the sound Om, and on the sound of his breath, which he now hears as hamsa (ham = I am; sa = That) “I am That.” There is a difference between soham and hamsa. In soham the yogi is in duality—he relates himself to the Supreme Consciousness, saying and feeling that That (Supreme Consciousness) I (individual conscious­ness) am. In the sixth chakra the duality dissolves, and undivided unity establishes itself in his consciousness. He is no more himself the individual, but he realizes that he is the Supreme Consciousness. He dwells in that union and meditates on his true nature. He is beyond the realm of the elements.

Conscience is the arrow here, and violence the snake. In this, the plane of austerity, we understand the operation of the solar, lunar, and neutral currents. Pingala and ida, which are the carriers of solar and lunar currents, come up to here from the mooladhar chakra and go to the nostrils, right and left, functioning with the breath. A carrier of ne­tral currents and kundalini, sushumna moves into the Sahasrara. From this plane, spiritual devotion—bhakti—can take the player directly to Cosmic Consciousness, the only direct path to liberation in the game, beyond both earth (the place of refuge) and the liquid plane (the plane of fluidity).

The player who masters this chakra obtains great psychic powers, and all karmas earned by him during different lives in the past are destroyed.

In the seventh chakra the player is beyond all pleasure and pain. He dwells in the thousand-petaled lotus at the crown of the head. Scriptures mention that one who establishes himself here in the sev­enth chakra becomes a master of eight siddhis: (1) anima, the power of becoming, (2) mahima, the power to enlarge, (3) garima, the power to become heavy, (4) laghima, the power to become light, (5) prapti, the power of reaching anywhere and everywhere, (6) prakamya, the power to realize all wishes, (7) ishatva, the power to create, and (8) vashitva, the power to command all. These powers, or siddhis, make him siddha-purusha, a real master, who by will can create anything. He does not become inert or inactive but is filled by the light of Supreme Consciousness and bliss.
But it is here that egotism can overtake him, and the siddhis, which are a great asset, can prove fetters; or inertia, tamas, can draw him down to illusion. On realizing the plane of reality he can experience positive and negative intellect—the latter a snake, which draws energy down to the second chakra. This is the plane of happiness, the gaseous plane, the plane of radiation, and the plane of primal vibrations.

The eighth horizontal row is beyond chakras. The seat of Cosmic Consciousness, it is the plane of the Absolute. Each of these nine squares is a God-force: the phenomenal world, inner space, bliss, and cosmic good. There are three phases of energy, which manifest with creation: (1) the dynamic/positive, (2) the inert/negative, and (3) equilibrium—rajoguna, tamoguna, and sattoguna. Tamoguna is responsible for evolution; sattoguna for dissolution or liberation. If Cosmic Consciousness is not realized, the player has to descend to earth to rejoin Leela until he achieves liberation by reaching and landing in Cosmic Consciousness. Tamoguna takes him back to earth, the playground of karma, where he must work his way back up from the sixth chakra.

Leela is the nature of Supreme Consciousness, the playful nature. The phenomenal world is manifested Leela. The play is beginningless as well as endless. Leela is the great adventure and the great discovery. Again, and again, and again, and again—without any loss, and without any gain—this endless game is played. Those who realize the play in the game are not caught by the game board and know it as the Leela (divine game) of Leela-Dhar (Cosmic Consciousness). Those who identify with the squares and planes of the game board are played by the game board; and the game board becomes maya, the great veiling power that binds the mind. It is maya that creates the phenomenal world. It is Leela that makes it a great adventure. Tamas brings the player to maya—and boundless love and spiritual devotion to Cosmic Consciousness. Spiritual devotion is the great discovery in the game board of Leela, created by maya of Supreme Consciousness in order to enjoy himself—to play hide and seek with himself. There is no purpose and no responsibility in Leela. In the words of Maharishi Ramana:

The ideas of purpose and responsibility are purely social in nature
and are created by mind to exhort Ego. God is above all such ideas.If God is immanent in all and there is no one except him, who is responsible for whom?
Creation is expression of inherent laws in the source of creation.

This inherent law is the playful nature of the Divine, which is Leela.

The Indian tradition describes great significance to nine basic numbers, 1 to 9. Each number corresponds to a set of basic attributes, which contain keys to understanding the workings of the subtle life-force in gross manifestation. This is the teaching brought to the West by the Greek Pythagoras, a student of the Arabic version of Indian numerology.

In fact, not only do numbers count, but they give an account of the countless idea-forces working through human consciousness and the phenomenal world. They help the mind to have a definite idea of the perceptual world. In this beginningless creation there is neither first nor last, because all is one number. Actual digits are only the manifested forms, which appear as evolution starts and disappear or merge in their source with the dissolution of the phenomenal world. Everything that exists is disposed according to number, each a part of the whole (Brahman, Supreme Consciousness) manifesting himself. The whole is boundless, countless, no number, zero, the start of Leela, the cosmic play.

At the beginning is the separation of Being from non-Being. Sound, naad, is the first to evolve. Sound contains the twin aspects of sound and beat. Sound represents energy in its original vortex form. Beat is a pattern of vibration experienced in linear form. Sound creates space, and beat creates time. Each sound has a wavelength, and each wavelength exists in time. The measurement of a wavelength is the time that the wavelength takes from its origin to the end.

Platon regarded numbers as the essence of harmony and harmony as the basis of both cosmos and man. Balzac, the French novelist, called the numbers “incomprehensible agents.” According to him, distinctions between different forms of existence are differences in their qualities, quantities, dimensions, forces, attributes, and nature. These differences are not in the essence, but in the material content, which is arranged in different patterns. These patterns, when observed closely, vary only in numbers. The difference between an atom of copper and one of gold is but a difference in the number of particles they contain.

The arrangement of the playing board of Leela is based on a foundation stone of numerology. The board is a numerologically balanced perfect rectangle. It contains eight horizontal rows from bottom to top. Eight is the number of the manifested universe, prakriti, which is compose the five elements, or mahabhutas (ether, air, fire, water, and earth) and the three forces—mind, intellect, and ego (manas, buddhi, ahamkar). The vertical columns from left to right total 9, the number of the Absolute, Supreme Consciousness (the eight of prakriti plus one—Consciousness). Nine is the completion of the series of simple (basic) numbers and is therefore the number of completion. Thus there are seventy-two squares making up the field of cosmic play. Seventy-two when reduced to a simple whole number again becomes 9 (7 + 2 = 9).

In the serpentine motion of play, the start of each horizontal column begins with a number reducible to 1 and ends on a number that reduces to 9. For example, the second horizontal row begins with 10 (1 + 0 = 1) and ends on 18 (1 + 8 = 9). In addition, each horizontal row contains nine numbers, which when added together yield the number 9. The first row totals 45 (4 + 5 = 9), the second 126 (1 + 2 + 6 = 9), the third 207 (2 + 0 + 7 = 9).

Each vertical column, except the central one, contains just two basic numbers. The first column consists of 18 (1 + 8 = 9), 19 (1 + 9 = 10 = 1), 36 (= 9), 37 (= 1), 54 (= 9), 55 (= 1), and 72 (= 9). The second vertical column yields 2s and 8s, the third 3s and 7s, the fourth 4s and 6s, and the fifth the only exception—all 5s. From here the order reverses (6s and 4s, 7s and 3s, 8s and 2s). So each vertical column, except for the middle, contains two fundamental integers, which when added together produce 1. The central column, the column of balance, contains Ss; and two 5s yield 10 or 1. In addition, the sum of each vertical column is 292, which becomes 4 (2 + 9 + 2 = 13 = 1 + 3 = 4), the number of rational organization, tangible achievement, the formless square.

Birth is entry into the karmic play. The die is the karmic player, and the individual self a symbol that moves from house to house, wherever the die determines. Before taking birth one is beyond the game. Once birth is taken, one is bound by the law of karma. This world is karmaland.

Desire leads the player to accept the bondage of karma. If one has no desire to play, one will not be attracted toward the game. But play is in the nature of consciousness. In the beginning there was no play; but the playful nature of consciousness could not remain motionless, with out playing. So… “Let there be light.” Let there be play. The Absolute became many from One, to play the game.

Once the decision to play is made, the player must abide by the rules (dharma), the bondage of the karma die.

It is here that the player first enters into the game after throwing a six. When the five subtle elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth) and one consciousness unite, these six initiate the movement of the player’s symbol across the board. Each birth is the opening of a new game, and the object of attainment in each game is the same Cosmic Consciousness. There is no other directive, no other goal, no other purpose in playing the game. The game is just to complete the cycle. Birth is the key. It opens the doors of the game, and the player begins to vibrate as he starts on the eternal voyage, his journey toward completion.

One is the unity responsible for all manifestation. Like all odd numbers it belongs to the sun family. One especially denotes the sun, which is the unity responsible for the birth of this planet. One represents independent personality, independent decision, independent life, the search for something new, novelty, originality.

When one accepts entry into the game as a player, awareness of unity is lost in the obsession (fascination) of play. This taking over of consciousness is the fun of play. The One becomes many, to play a game of cosmic hide-and-seek with itself. To fulfill his ego, the player sets up the game and its rules and commits himself to playing them out to the end.

The One is reality. Multiplicity is illusion. This illusion of multiplicity is created by the veiling power of the One (the Supreme consciousness). This veiling power is called Maya Shakti, or maya. This veiling Power creates the illusion of me and mine, or thee and thine, which creates ignorance in the individual consciousness. Those who realize this ignorance call it avidya (a – no; vidya – knowledge; thus ignorance, or absence of knowledge). So maya is also called avidya by yogis. This ignorance comes to individual consciousness through the mind; that is why yoga is a practical device to stop the modifications of mind, and yoga’s aim is to arrest mind, to stop the inner dialogue, to go beyond the mind and realize one’s true nature, beyond the illusion of me and mine.

The world of names and forms is maya. Maya is the stage and setting within which the player enacts his microcosmic tragicomedy. Maya is the play itself, presenting the player with situations and patterns that offer him subtle clues to the understanding of his own true nature.

This illusion can be seen at every level. The human body itself is not a unit of existence, but is composed of countless numbers of cells and micelles. If each cell starts growing a sense of me and mine each human body will become a subcontinent. It is an individual ego (ahamkara) that creates separate units of existence (illusion). Ego cannot function without mind, as mind cannot without sensory organs. After realization of Truth through a direct experience of reality in samadhi, Maya Shakti can be understood and the human psycho-drama can be observed as divine play, as Leela.

Maya Shakti is the power that brings forth the evolution of the phenomenal world. It makes this possible by an interplay of the three gunas sattva, rajas, and tamas.

Cosmic Consciousness becomes individual Consciousness by its own maya. In Hindu literature maya has been described in very many contexts, and yet it is impossible to explain all about it—it is as infinite as Cosmic Consciousness itself.

The only job confronting the player is the realization that he is
a player, that the sense of separation he feels is illusory. All that the player perceives of the phenomenal world exists within himself in the form of sensory input and is illusory. Modern sciences that try to investigate the nature of truth verify this statement. Both modern science and ancient wisdom believe in a single primordial substance to which the various forms of matter can be reduced. All phenomenal existence is but one of the many manifestations of the same underlying unity.
The elements are varied forms of this one substance. The variety of our experience is due to the permutation and combination of atoms of the matter into which this primordial energy materializes. This diversity is unity is illusion and is caused by the veiling power of supreme Consciousness. All that the player perceives of the phenomenal world exists within himself. One takes birth to play the game, to discern the subtle at work within the gross. The game is to reach unity, to end duality.

To understand the nature of anger, it is essential to understand the nature of the ego. The ego is that which identifies itself as the “I”. Man in the process of his development passes through a sequence of identifications. After birth, the child first begins to feel as a separate being when he understands his separation from his mother. Then identification with other members of the family takes place, he takes their behavior patterns and forms of thinking as their own. Then the child connects himself with peers of the same sex. Then he seeks his identity among the representatives of the opposite sex. The journey ends when the ego eventually identifies itself with the Absolute and merges with the Cosmic Consciousness.

In the process of identification, the intellect stores information obtained in the course of development also participates in the process of identification – the value judgments obtained from those with whom this person identified himself most strongly (for example, from parents) are especially important here. The true inner “I” knows that all reality is contained within it. However, the self identifying “self” will exclude those aspects of reality that are considered evil by those with whom this “I” correlates.

Anger is an emotional and chemical reaction that occurs when the ego is confronted with some aspect of one’s personality that has been rejected as evil. The collision with this negative aspect is experienced as a threat to existence. In fact, there is a threat only to identify the individual with this or that evaluation of what is happening. In this case, the ego projects the rejected aspect of the personality to the one through whom this aspect manifests itself, and directs its energy to remove the undesirable aspect. Such is the nature of anger.

Anger is a manifestation of diffusion, weakness. This cell serves as the tail of the serpent of selfishness. Anger directs the player’s energy down, which brings him to the level of the first chakra. When the ego is hurt, we feel anger. Anger is uncertainty, the main problem of the first chakra.

Anger is a serious obstacle to spiritual growth. The nature of anger is a fire that burns everything. But if anger arises without any personal feelings, it is impersonal, then it purifies. Anger is the quality of Rudra, the god of destruction. Rudra’s anger is not based on any personal reasons, so he does not destroy Rudra himself, but evil that causes disharmony and imbalance. Anger, caused by some personal reasons, devours the good qualities of the individual and leads to a fall. Impersonal anger destroys the cause that caused it, evil. Anger is the reverse side of love. We do not get angry at those with whom we do not identify ourselves. Anger excites the nervous system and completely stops the work of rational thinking while it exists in our system. On the one hand, it cleanses the body and looks like fire purification by action, but the price is too high: the level of vibration is lowered so much that the player has to start the game again from the first row.

Anger can be expressed in two ways – violent and non-violent. When a nonviolent method is adopted to express anger, this gives the player a huge moral force called satyagraha (satya-truth, agraha-persistence, constancy). This becomes possible if the player is able to remain calm even when actually experiencing anger. In this case, anger becomes impersonal and directed against evil. It is based on love, love of good, truth. Such anger helps spiritual growth and is divine.

Three encompasses the qualities of creativity, expression and stability. As a representative of a family of odd numbers, it is dynamic and positive, responsible for creating and maintaining a form. It is associated with the element of fire, which in man manifests itself in the form of anger. On the other hand, the same element can manifest itself as diligence, perseverance. Thus, the characteristics of the number three are strength and determination.

Three is the number of Jupiter. Jupiter is a symbol of courage, courage, strength, power, diligence, energy, knowledge, wisdom and spirituality.

The feeling of separateness brought about by taking birth creates a craving for fulfillment. In order to function in the world, the player must first make certain his physical needs are met. In order to join the game the player must eat, have a place to rest, and have clothing to wear. Material survival is the primary concern in the first chakra.

Greed arises when the player confuses his sense of unfulfillment with the need for material survival. Having attained the basic necessities of life, he still feels empty. All he has learned is how to maintain his physical existence. So he employs these basic survival skills to acquire more and more material belongings in the hope of fulfilling himself.

The more he acquires, the deeper his compulsion becomes. His sense of emptiness reaches the level of panic as his actions become increasingly desperate. The legend of King Midas and his touch of gold is a classic Western tale of the consequences of greed. This craving for material success is also the root cause of all military conquest.

Greed comes from insecurity, and insecurity from misidentification of Self. When a player does not believe in God, he does not believe in providence. Greed is the tail-end of the snake of jealousy. Greed makes a player short-sighted. He does not realize that greed is ultimately pointless. In the end, all material possessions are left behind, whether willingly or by the intercession of death. But greed can prove an asset in spiritual growth it one becomes greedy for spiritual experiences, knowledge, and love.

The player who falls into greed also opens the gates to maya, anger, and all other first-chakra problems.

Four is symbolized as a square representing the four dimensions, the four directions. It symbolizes the earth element. As a member of the family of even numbers, 4 tends toward completion. The impetus for completion, carried to its extreme on the material plane, becomes greed. In numerology, the number 4 is ruled by rahu, the north node of the moon, also known as the Dragon’s Head. In western numerology, 4 is ruled by Uranus. In occultism, it is always written as 4-1 and as such is considered to be related to the sun as well.

A portion of unmanifested reality transforms itself into the world of names and forms. The world of names and forms exists in seven different lokas, or levels, which exist in an ascending scale.

These lokas mark the stages of evolution of the consciousness of the individual. As he evolves, so he moves and undergoes modifications in his nature. Through these planes the consciousness is able to realize its true nature.

Each of these lokas, or planes, is a definite region, marked off by the nature of the matter of which it is composed. (See square 32, plane of balance.) These lokas form the spine of the game board.

They are all in their definite order in the central row of vertical squares.

As it is in the macrocosm, so is it in the microcosm. The lokas are located in the human body along the spine, at the chakras, the psychic centers. With the evolution in the psyche from level to level comes evolution in the man himself.

The physical plane is located at the base of the spine, the site of the first chakra in the human body—and on earth in the phenomenal world.

The physical plane is located at the base of the spine, the site of the first chakra in the human body—and on earth in the phenomenal world.

Earth is made of five elements, which exist in solid, liquid and gaseous forms—as radiant, etheric, and superetheric matter — the various stages of existence of atoms of matter, whether defined as form or undefined. The earth element, under all conditions in all circumstances, is dominant in them, and they materialize as earth slowly and gradually.

Other planes mentioned in the game board each fall in a certain horizontal row and belong to these seven lokas. The lokas, other than the seven seated in the spine of the game board, are special regions situated within the seven — like cities in provinces, provinces in countries, and countries in continents.

The physical plane encompasses genesis, maya, anger, greed, delusion, conceit, avarice, and the sensual plane—its right and left sides, its positive and negative aspects.

When the player moves on to the physical plane he becomes trapped by the lower self. This is just one phase of the game. No one stays in the same place all the time. Each throw of the die is an opening to a new world.

On the physical plane the player is mostly concerned with material achievements. Money, house, vehicle, food, and physical power are com­ mon themes. His recreation is bodily involvement, sports involving com­ petition and physical contact. His fun can too often include violence. His major achievement is craft.

The physical plane is related to earth, matter, and mother. It is the storehouse of energy, the dwelling place of kundalini—the psychic energy the yogi seeks to raise up through the seven chakras. Without realization of the physical plane, realization of all other planes is impossible. There are no arrows leading from this plane, this horizontal level. All players must pass through it before reaching the other dimensions.

Seven snakes lead here from other planes, demonstrating the primary importance of realizing the nature of the grossest level of manifestation.

Five also are the work organs man employs in the creation of karmas – hands, feet, mouth, genitals, and anus. And there are five sensory organs for five sensations — ears for sound, skin for touch, eyes for sight of form and color, tongue for taste, and nose for smell. Five is the number of balance – 1 with 2 on each side. The ruling planet of number S is Mercury. Mercury is gentle, the high thinker, scholar, and lover of entertainment, and also is connected with business and physical comforts.

Moha in Sanskrit means attachment. This attachment is the real cause of bondage, bringing the player time and again to the phenomenal world through a series of births and rebirths. It is said in scriptures that four obsessions lead the individual consciousness into a downward flow of energy; they are obstacles in spiritual growth. These four are called

Kama: desires, sensuality

Krodh: anger, aggression, violence

Lobh: greed, dissatisfaction

Moha: attachment, delusion

While illusion, maya, is the phenomenal world itself, delusion is attachment to the phenomenal as the only possible manifestation of reality. Delusion beclouds the mind, rendering it unfit to perceive truth. Delusion is the product of irreligiosity— religion meaning here not a code of conduct and morals (ethics) but a life lived in harmony with the laws of the universe.

“Whatever should be adopted, that is dharma,” advises an old San­skrit saying. Dharma is the nature, the essence, the truth of phenomenal existence. When a player does not follow the law of his own nature, which is beyond all illusion and delusion, he becomes mired in delu­sion. One has but to understand that existence is a game. With this realization, the delusion of being a self-directed player vanishes. And with the disappearance of the delusion, bad karma too vanishes.

Delusion is the first square on which the player lands after throwing the six he needs to enter the game. In entering play, the player accepts temporary bondage to the material realm. After the player is born, he is conditioned to accept the particular circumstances of time and place as binding. The reality of the moment is perceived as the reality of all moments. Change is inconceivable. He has fallen into delusion.

However he gets here, by taking birth or by falling prey to the snake of irreligiosity (the use of bad means, selfish measures), the player inevitably passes through delusion. Once he sees his dharma and recognizes that change is not only possible but necessary, he is ready to move on. But as long as he sees his own way of perceiving the world as closed and complete, he is destined to return here again and again.

Because of its nature as a combination of two odd numbers and two even numbers (two 3s and three 2s, or five combinations of pairs), 6 is a perfectly balanced number. Related to inventiveness, creativity, and the fine arts, six is a moon-family member and is associated with the planet Venus. Venus is the most shining and brilliant of all the planets and can be seen by the naked eye as the morning star. In Hindu mythology, Venus is the teacher of demons. Those who dwell in delusion love sensual pleasures, spend their energy in the fulfillment of desires, are victims of anger and greed, act against the law of dharma, and are irreligious and extremely selfish.

Conceit is self-deception, false pride, building castles in the air. The word mada in Sanskrit means self-intoxication. The player is intoxicated by false vanity, pride, power, possessions, accomplishments, or achievements.When he has any kind of delusion about himself, he is taken over by mada.

After entry into the game the player becomes subject to mada, con­ceit, false identification of all kinds. Pride and vanity are two great intoxicants – and one drinks them in bad company. Bad company, the outcome of delusion and greed, is the snake that leads the player to conceit. In this space the player is completely trapped by his own game. The bad company he keeps is a manifestation of evil desires.

Everyone plays his own game and throws his own dice. Once the dice is cast he has no option. A player with no desires does not seek out company. But since desire is in the nature of the game, the seeking out of company is inevitable at some point in his development. The player needs a group to reinforce new identifications. The danger comes when the player is overwhelmed by his desires. His behavior patterns alter
radically. The right no longer seems right, nor the wrong improper. His desire must be sated at any cost, and thus he creates bad karmas and keeps bad company—those who support him in his wrongdoing. As a man is known by the company he keeps, the player can stop generating bad karmas by seeking out good company.

A sun-family member, 7 is associated with Saturn and the principle of darkness. Seven are the days, the notes of the musical scale, the days of the week, and the chakras. One with two odd numbers (two 3s) on either side, seven is the number of the problems of adjustment. Seven is lonely in nature, and aspires for completion.
Seven is associated with ketu, the south node of the moon, also known as the dragon’s tail. In modern Indian numerology, the number 7 is ruled by Varuna, the deity presiding over water, which is related to the planet Neptune in Western numerology. Seven is the number of writers and painters, who, when not evolved, live in false pride and are famous for building castles in the air and being always anxious about the future. They dislike following the beaten track and have very peculiar ideas about religion. They create a religion of their own and spend their life in amusement.

Conceit leads the player to feel envious of others. He is so obsessed with
the delusion of being a separate reality that no means of fulfilling his desire seems unjustifiable. After all, thinks the conceited player, I’m so much better than others that I deserve what they have. So in this game avarice is linked with the snake of envy—for it is the envy created by conceit that leads to avarice.

In the state of avarice the player has an active dislike of other players. He is too good for them, and what they have is also too good for them. Therefore, he reasons, what they have should be his. He becomes spiteful and lusts after the material belongings of his fellows. This contrasts with greed, where only the material is seen. Avarice is greed coupled with envy. As he becomes more avaricious his thirst for wealth increases, and all the other first-chakra problems begin to plague him.

Eight is a number that decreases when multiplied: 8 x 1 = 8; 8 x 2 16 = 1 + 6 = 7; 8 x 3 = 24 = 6; 8 x 4 = 32 = 5; 8 x 5 = 40 = 4; 8 x 6 =- 48 = 3; 8 x 7 = 56 = 2; 8 x 8 = 64 = 1.

When eight realizes 9 — thus 8 x 9 = 72 — it becomes 9, and on the next cycle it returns to its original state, 8 x 10 = 80 = 8. This phenomenon is synonymous with the cyclical nature of all reality and the process of human existence gross. The subtle diminishes as the gross increases, until the heart of the penetrated and becomes subtle again. Thus every increase decreases; every decrease increases. Nothing is ever lost. Only the nature of manifestation changes.

Among the moon-family numbers, 8 represents the octave, the eight dimensions, the eightfold maya (three gunas and the five subtle ele­ments). In numerology, 8 is the moon’s north node, and it is associated with the planet Saturn. This is a complex planet, difficult to understand. It has many ups and downs, and terrible struggles. It is an “airy” planet, associated with darkness, and is symbolized as a silent thinker or a servans, introspective and materialistically minded. People born under the number 8 collect wealth as a hobby and are subject to addiction and vice. But they are wise and experienced and have a special ability to judge people.

This is the ninth square of the first row. Nine is a complete number, an odd number, and marks the completion of the first row. It is a ladder leading to the second level of consciousness, which begins with purification. After taking birth into the game, the player has to pass through the sensual plane before he can enter into the second level.

Kama in Sanskrit means desire, desire of any kind and every kind — for name, fame, wealth, success, family, position, accomplishment. Any kind of desire, ambition, or noble or nonnoble aim is kama. And kama is the first stage in evolution. If there were no desire there would not be any creation.

So kama-loka is a plane of desires. But since all desires have their origin in man’s sensual nature, this is known as the sensual plane. It is directly linked with ignorance, the lack of knowledge. One may come here through the mouth of the snake of ignorance or through the gradual exploration of the first chakra. Nine, a member of the family of odd numbers, signifies completion and perfection. It represents force and energy. Multiplied by any other number, it retains its identity and integrity; thus: 9 x 1 = 9; 9 x 2 = 18 = 1 + 8 = 9; 9 x 3 = 27 = 9; 9 x 4 = 36 = 9; and 9 x 23 = 207 = 9; 9 x 376 = 3,384 = 9; 9 x 280 = 7,380 = 9. There are nine gates of the body through which the vital energy, prana, leaves at the time of death: the mouth, the two nostrils, the two eyes, the two ears, the anus, and the sex organ. During a day of twenty-four hours a man breathes 21,600 times, which reduces to 9. The day contains 1,440 minutes, also reducing to 9. The normal duration of the dominance of one hemisphere or one nostril is about 900 breathes (60 x 15) reducing to 9. There are nine major nerves of the body. 9 goddesses , navdurgas, are worshipped in Hindu religion. There are 72000 nerves in the body, called nadis. These are carriers of prana, the vital life-force, and their total also reduces to 9. There are nine planets in the solar system influencing life on planet earth, known as Navgrhas. In numerology 9 is the number of Mars, which shines in the sky with a beautiful red glitter.

For a time, the player feels comfortable on the sensual plane. But soon the downward flow saps his vital energy, leaving behind feelings of emptiness and confusion. At this moment purification draws his attention. Purification is the first arrow of the game and provides the opportunity to transcend all second-chakra problems. If after passing through the first chakra he lands on purification, the player purifies himself of all first- and second-chakra problems and rises immediately to the celestial plane.

Purification always refers to an increase in the vibrational level of the being, which causes energy to flow in an upward direction. Purification can be achieved through altering the behavior of the sensory organs, the work-organs, and the normal pattern of daily existence. There are five windows in the castle of consciousness. Through these windows, the enemies (impurities) enter into the castle and attempt to destroy the king. By closing these windows, or by maintaining a proper watch, the player can keep the castle pure.

Purification of the ears is accomplished by withdrawing the power of hearing from the outside and attending to inner sounds. Purification of the eyes comes when they are closed, and all attention is focused on the third eye, at the center of the forehead just above the brow line. Purification of the tongue, the window of taste, can be attained by eliminating sweet and salty tastes from the diet. Purification of smell is done through closing the nostrils and retaining the breath in the lungs for as long as possible (this also helps develop the habit of deep, slow breathing). Rubbing ashes on the skin purifies the sense of touch, making the player immune to sensations from the epidermal nerves.

Through the process of sleep-fasting – going without sleep day and night for one day or several—the player can purify himself of inertia, dullness, drowsiness, stupidity, and ignorance. By speech-fasting—going without uttering a sound for extended periods—the thought process becomes purified. Food-fasting purifies the body chemistry. In addition, going through hardships purifies the player’s personality, listening to scriptures and divinely inspired poetry purifies his inner self, humming purifies his nerves, and concentration and meditation purify both mind and body. Celibacy also is one of the methods of purification, a hard but very effective way of changing the vibrational pattern.

It is said in scriptures that gandharvas are “His” musical notes. The
word gandharvas in English can be translated as celestial musicians.
They come under the eight kinds of creation that cannot be perceived
by the normal eye; but they have the power to adopt a form at will. They are not composed of gross material particles, for they dwell on the astral plane. Their wives are called apsaras (nymphs), and together in every manner they entertain God and those who have by their evolution reached this plane. They have surrendered themselves for the entertainment of the gods of the celestial plane. As celestial musicians they live in harmony with divine music. In the stories of the Puranas there are numerous references to the acts of gandharvas and apsaras. They are initially free from the cycle of birth and death — but if they do not act in harmony with their state of being, they fall to earth from heaven, and take birth as human beings. But wherever they exist, they provide entertainment.

The player enters into the state of entertainment after purification. This space is an expression of inward joy, a feeling of rhythm, a sense of harmony. Entertainment makes him light and provides the incentive for recreation and amusement. Entertainment brightens mundane existence and provides new avenues, new vistas, new horizons. All the fine arts
are a product of this state, which belongs to the second row of the game
and is an attribute of vibration in the second chakra. But entertainment exists at all levels. This game board, Leela or Gyan Chaupad, is an entertainment for the saints.

Life is based on the principle of entertainment—fun. And life can be perceived as entertainment when the player has transcended the level of the first chakra (security). The essence of spirit is entertainment. The whole of the creation is an entertainment of energy – by Shakti, the mother principle, the Absolute, God . . . or whatever the Supreme Player may be called. If the Divine Play (entertainment) were not itself involved in the game, then the One would not choose to become many. It is in the process of entertainment that the One becomes many. To entertain is to accept. To accept is to surrender. And to surrender is to dissolve and become One.

Envy is the first snake of the game. Its bite brings the player down from
the second chakra to avarice and to all else that comes with vibrating in
the first chakra. Time and again this little snake catches the player and
brings him down. When he lands in envy he feels a lack of confidence in
himself and resorts to first-chakra strategies for overpowering his desire.
In the process of the game, this serpent helps the player to purify his
thought process.
In the game of life, energy moves from below to above. The player
wants to leave the lower planes and reach the summit, forever abandoning the problems he encountered below. But this attitude runs contrary
to the very essence of the game. He has to play in all the planes, and above—wherever his karma dice leads him.
But nobody wants to remain low. When the player does not vibrate correctly the snakes get hold on him. And by his own throw of the dice the player comes and goes up and down. Envy is felt when the energy is down, The player has only by karmic chance reached a higher plane and really does not deserve to stay there. He cannot, in fact, remain there, because negative vibrations are still present in his being. At such times he feels envious of those he sees who are able to remain steadily on the higher planes. This envy is a negative reaction, which draws his energy back down to the first chakra, where he must work out more karmas.

Antariksha is the space between the physical plane, which is earth, and the celestial plane, swarga, which is heaven, the kingdom of God. This space is neither on earth nor in heaven, it is between the two planes. Neither here nor there, no-where: nullity.

Nullity is a state directly linked with the unstable negative intellect. When a player lacks awareness of the purpose of his being, feelings of meaninglessness (existential angst) and futility flow through his consciousness. He has no sense of purpose, leading him to seek out the company of his fellows. But the lack of vital energy creates such feelings of futility that he does not stay in any one place, though he dwells continually in negativity.

Nullity is a manifestation of the second chakra and the cause of inactivity, instability, and restlessness. Everything loses meaning. Noth­ing excites. The identification of personality is completely lost, resulting in an imbalance of the mental state. All this happens because the player lacks the energy necessary to function in the higher planes. The depletion of energy in the pursuit of sensory objects is the fundamental trap of the second chakra.

Bhuvar-loka is a plane next to the physical and closely related to it, but it consists of more subtle matter. There are seven basic planes, or lokas, It reflects the state of being or the degree of personality development. The element of water dominates at the level of bhuvar-loka, same as in the second chakra generally. The astral plane is located immediately above the physical.

This is a plane of dreams, fantasies and soaring imagination. In this state the player realizes the incredible diversity of the world around him. A picture of the diverse opportunities and goals that he could achieve unfolds in front him. This awareness encourages the player to participate more actively in life. Material needs of the first chakra are satisfied, and now he sees that life is much more interesting and diverse than he could imagine when he was preoccupied with obtaining livelihoods.

Now he is financially secure, his success is beyond doubt. So on a wave of self-confidence, his creative imagination is released. However, fantasies require energy more than any other kind of human activity.

The player diverts his entire energy resources to building castles in the air. He strives to get away from the physical world through the pursuit of enjoyment, pleasure, and identification with others.
Enjoyment of the sensory organs is the impelling force of his life so long as he vibrates here. This is the plane wine, women, and song. Sexuality becomes a primary means of self-expression—which can be a tremendous drain on the vital energies.

The player dwells in the worlds of feeling, emotion, idea, and meaning and uses them as the basis of his fantasies. Thus the second chakra is the starting point of all the creative arts. Fantasy is the power behind creativity.

The astral plane is the dimension of psychic space midway between heaven and earth. The player has dwelt on the lower levels, and his imagination brings the possibility of heaven within reach. The danger is that he may let himself be carried away by his fantasies, which drain his energy and leave him exhausted.

Naga-loka was supposed to be the underworld. As there are seven lokas above, so are there seven below. Lokas below are situated under water. The ruler of each underworld is a different kind of being. One of these seven is Patal. The rulers of one region are serpents (nagas). In mythol­ogy these nagas are supposed to be semidivine beings with a human face and the tail of a dragon. Nagas also exist as a sect of initiate hermits who are masters of great wisdom: nothing is hidden or could be hidden from them. Thus naga-loka is the plane of fantasy. It is not above the physical plane but below—submerged under water in accordance with the nature of fantasy.
The player who lands here enters fully into the realm of the fantastic.

Here his imagination soars wholly beyond the physical plane and into the infinite potentialities of human existence. He sees no limits on his nature. There is nothing he cannot do. He pours his energies into exploring his fantasies; emerging with works of art and new ideas and inventions. He explores the world his senses present to him, seeking ever more stimulation for his imagination. He uses his sensory input to create new combinations never before experienced. Here is the plane of speculation, of “What if?” No restraints are placed on the bounds of the imagination. Nothing is too fantastic or bizarre to be considered.
In entertainment the player became aware of possibilities. On the plane of fantasy he is immersed in them. Many of the finest works of art have come from this surrender to the unrestrained imagination. But if the imagination is allowed to soar too high and too long, the player loses contact with the reality of his everyday life—and the snake of jealousy lurks just ahead, to catch him if he becomes too caught up in the fantastic to see what lies before him.

In Sanskrit naga means snake. Thus the plane of fantasy is also the snake plane. The snake is synonymous with energy. The kundalini, which the yogi seeks to raise through his efforts, is often called the serpent power. The devil often appears in the guise of a snake. The snake is the embodiment of movement and the animal that best represents the nature of the player vibrating in the second chakra. It implies flexibility and the protean ability to change form. As the snake seeks shelter in the hollows of the earth, so does the player who lands in the second chakra.

When the player allows his fantasies to carry him away, the resulting loss of energy can bring him to the square of jealousy — the basic second chakra problem. Jealousy is a condition of mental imbalance resulting from suspicion and the fear of rivalry and unfaithfulness. It is a form of insanity, which troubles the mind of the self-intoxicated player. His ability to fantasize allows him to swell his ego out of all proportion. He loses the ability to distinguish between what is possible and what is. His confusion stems from his overindulgence in the fantastic.

He begins to suspect others when they fail to conform to his own self-image. In love he is jealous and fearful of rivals. His self-doubts grow, and soon his energy is drawn back to the first chakra, where he becomes caught up in greed.
Jealousy nurtured his lack of self-confidence, which bore fruit as insecurity, the basic first-chakra character trait. His lack of self-confidence also leads to self-hatred, which is then projected outward as the hatred of others.

To regain his sense of self-confidence he must reexperience the first chakra, where he can lose his insecurity and again raise his vibrations.

Mercy is a divine attribute present in the player, holding such power that it moves him directly from the second chakra to the eighth, and the Absolute plane. Mercy is a surrender to compassion of such potency that the ego is swept aside in an out rush of feeling so intense that the eyes fill with tears of joy and the heart pulses in exultation and cosmic love. For the moment he is at one with the Divine.

Mercy is the most positive face of the second-chakra ability to imagine possibilities. The state of mercy is created when compassion is extended to one through whom the player’s self-identification was injured. Instead of striking back, taking an “I for an I,” the player turns
the other cheek.

The ability to imagine gives the player insight into the motivations of others. The player sees that it was he himself who allowed the hurt,
that the other was not responsible. He knows that both he and the other
are players in a cosmic game far beyond their present level of comprehension. He sees that he too could have caused the injury to another. He
recognizes that there are higher levels of vibration, and that only one who attains the insights gained in vibrating on those planes can judge another. He extends this, the essence of compassion, to the other player in the form of forgiveness. This very realization frees his consciousness from self-identification, and he soars up to the Absolute plane.

In Sanskrit there is a saying: daya (mercy) is the foundation-stone of dharma (righteousness). Without mercy a truly religious nature is not possible. Mercy, kindness, forbearance, temperance — all in time enrich the good in man and help him in the refining of his emotions, the formation of his character, and his ethical development. The barrier of personality is swept away, and his mind becomes a reflection of the Divine. Mercy is a surrender. However, an act of mercy cannot eliminate all past karmas, so the player must roll until the snake of tamo guna bites him. Then he is swallowed and taken back to earth to fulfill his mission.

Here at the end of the second row, the second plane, the second chakra, comes a feeling of deep satisfaction. The player knows he has moved away from envy, nullity, and jealousy. He is moving away from the realm of fantasy to encounter the real world, the stage of karma yoga. He does not know how soon he will reach his goal, Cosmic Consciousness, but he knows that the levels of being can be transcended, that the energy can be raised. The feeling of anticipation for his encounter with the world quickens him, and he begins to feel deeply on every level of being. There
is a challenge ahead of him, but there is also the abiding satisfaction
comes with completion. One phase has ended; another is about to begin.
It is at this moment of transcendence that the spirit of joy pervades his being.

He has passed the first chakra; there is no fear, no insecurity. He has completed the second chakra; he has risen above sensual desires. What lies ahead is the joyous task of karma yoga. He feels on top of himself and the world. He is fired by the spirit of the quest. The sense of time disappears. Joy is always eternal, however brief its duration. The awareness of space passes away. Joy knows no limits. But the joy cannot last forever. Soon the forces of karma begin to work, and the task of moving through the third level begins.

This, the plane of action, begins the third row of the game and the exploration of the third chakra. The only desire that remains true for all times and places is the desire for fulfillment. All other desires are manifestations of that one desire: the desire for completion, for self-realization. So on whatever level the player vibrates, on that level does he seek fulfillment.

In the first and second chakras the desire was manifested as the pursuit of money and sex. In the third chakra the dominant concern becomes identification of the ego and achievement of power.
First­ chakra people work neither for themselves nor on themselves. They are usually employed in aiding the fulfillment of some third-chakra per­son. In the second chakra, desire flows in the direction of the senses, and the exploration of the sensual realm consumes the energy.
It is in the third chakra that the player becomes conscious of the social and
political influences on the development of his personality. Thus the player becomes self-conscious. Egotism becomes the impetus of action, as the ego seeks to extend its influence in ever-broadening circles. In this fashion karma-loka makes one face reality from a more realistic perspective. Second-chakra fantasies fall before the practicalities of the world. It is a moment of sobriety. At this point one becomes aware of the law of karma.

Each thing is in a constant state of interaction with all other things. On the level of energy, karma determines the frequency of vibration, which on the gross level is manifested as the player’s behavior patterns. Karma is the cause of the cycle of birth and rebirth. And karma alone can win for the player liberation from the cycle, creating both bondage and liberation.

Basically, the player has karmic responsibility for his self. This self can be divided into manifested and unmanifested, body and being. So there are karmas toward the body and karmas toward consciousness. Body is world: body contains all the elements of gross manifestation. So karmas toward the body are karmas toward the whole world. Con­sciousness is the essence of the world; so karmas toward consciousness also cover the whole world.

Those karmas that raise the vibrational level are known as virtues; those that lower it are vices. Charity is a human virtue that exists on the third-chakra level. It lifts the player above the problems of the third chakra and transports him to the fourth level of the game, the plane of balance.

As a virtue, charity is a manifestation of the Divinity, which is the essence of consciousness. When the player lands on this square, he identifies with the Divinity—present in all—and performs acts of charity without desiring any personal benefit from his karma.

A feeling of elation is experienced during the performance of the act of charity. This is the raising of energy from a lower level to a higher one. That is why all human religions have stressed the significance of charity and included charitable acts in their rituals. The reality of need and the desire to share are the two factors at work at the base of the game. Charity satisfies the developing ego and breaks the bondage of third chakra.

Charity is one of the most important pillars of the plane of karma. It is the motivating force behind man’s highest institutionalized activities — the mergence of compassion with the third-chakra penchant for organization.

When the player has risen above the press of material and sensual desires, he gains the awareness that in the course of gratifying his lower needs he has caused harm to others. He has acted blindly in his search for fulfillment, without awareness of the consequences of his actions. When he lands on the plane of atonement he sees that by the use of wrong actions and wrong means he has created wrong vibrations within himself, which prevent the attainment of inner peace.

In search of that inner peace he lands in atonement to make up for the wrongs he has done, to make up for errors in conduct, to atone for his follies. It is a time of great emotional turmoil. There is a keen and pressing desire to rectify the negative karmas, the vices he has entertained.

Atonement is also the square for second-chakra personalities who have landed in the third chakra and feel guilty for their inability to adjust to vibrating at a higher level. In both cases, atonement produces positive results and helps in the upward flow of energy. The player atones by following the law of dharma, which is the true nature of everything. Atonement puts one in tune with dharma—which is the next square of the game.

Dharma is whatever is right. Dharma is an ever-evolving, ever-flowing principle. Dharma is an atemporal, aspatial force working in human existence. Dharma is constant, but its form varies from situation to situation. It lives in the depths of reality. The player who finds the stream
of dharma dwells in reality and becomes at one with it (at-one-meant
follows atonement).

Conscious action is dharma—conscious action in accord with the reality of the moment. Learning to act consciously is learning to act in accord with the principles of the cosmos. So dharma is that action which accords with cosmic knowledge.

There are ten signposts of dharma, all of which must be present if the action is to accord with the law of dharma: firmness, forgiveness, self-command, restraint (nonstealing), cleanliness (purity), control of the sensory and work organs, intellect, right knowledge, truth, and absence of anger.

Whatever you feel is genuinely good for yourself is good for others. There is no dharma like doing good for others. There is no adharma, vice, worse than causing harm to another. Dharma can best be understood when related to conduct. Yet it is far more than a code of conduct, of morality and ethics. These are attributes of dharma but not all of dharma. Ethics is a reflection of dharma, not dharma itself.

The dharma of fire is to burn. The dharma of water is to quench. It is the dharma of water to create taste, as it is the dharma of fire to create color and form. The innate, essential nature of a thing is its dharma. And there is no escape from dharma. The moment there is a deviation the energy flows downward, drawing the player down with it. The arrows on this board are dharmas, virtues; the snakes adharmas, vices.

Though dharma exists always, beyond form, it assumes a special form for each player. It is the dharma of the player who lives in a cold climate to wear warm clothing. It is the dharma of the hungry man to take nourishment. It is the dharma of the student to meditate and partake of sadhana, spiritual discipline. It is the dharma of the child to play freely, without care for the world of the spirit. It is the dharma of the elderly to dwell in the realm of spirit. Dharma is the truth that holds all existence in proper relationship.

Dharma is the scaffolding on which is constructed the edifice of the self. As long as the building is not complete, the scaffolding holds the structure erect. The minute the building becomes self-supporting the scaffolding is removed and used for other unstable, evolving new buildings.

Swarga-loka, the heaven world, is the third loka of the seven planes of existence. These three — bhu-loka, bhuvar-loka, and swarga-loka­ belong to a category of planes that perish at the end of a day of creation — a day of the Creator, Brahma — and are reborn with the dawn of the succeeding day. On bhu-loka, the physical plane, all exists on a physi­cal level; on bhuvar-loka, the astral plane, the desires are at work; and on swarga-loka, the celestial plane, work is carried out at the level of thoughts. On this plane the fire element is the ruling power, and all that exists on this level of existence is made up of particles of fire—luminous, lustrous particles of light— and that is why the beings in swarga-loka are self luminous. Shining angels and gods are mentioned everywhere in all mythologies.

In the first chakra the player longed for security and sought possessions that would protect and nurture him. In the second chakra he explored the world of the senses and strove for sensual gratification. On reaching the level of the third chakra he begins to see beyond the material and sensual realms and to fathom the nature of his ego, his personal identity. So here the concern is that of providing immortality for his identity-construct.

Once this desire for ego-immortality springs into his heart, the celestial laws attract his attention as he tries to fashion for himself a heaven from his own desires. The heaven he conceives is a plane full of all that his self requires for pleasure, joy, and happiness. He realistically sees the World as full of pain and suffering, rises and falls. He craves a pleasure
that is infinite, without cessation or variation. This is the space known as heaven, nurtured by the religions of all peoples. Even Marx, that athe­istic third-chakra philosopher, could not do without a heaven. He called his ultimate goal the classless society.

Heaven is a manifestation of third-chakra desire. If we detach ourselves from value judgments we can see it as a genuinely higher plane, one attained from the second chakra by purification. Heaven is the lure used to sway errant first and second-chakra sheep back into the spiritual fold, and it has been used by saints and prophets of all religions to raise the spiritual level of the masses.

In the Hindu tradition heaven is the domain of Indra. He is the one who has mastered his indryas, the five organs of perception and the five organs of action. One who masters these organs becomes lord of Heaven and dwells in this space. Heaven is the dwelling place of saints, bhak­tas (spiritual devotees), high karma-yogis, and the celestial dancers and musicians (see square 11).
To one who has mastered his organs of perception and action, everything exists as it does on the physical plane but in harmonious and divine form. There are no lower desires, no violence, no attachment, no greed, no jealousy, no avarice, no anger, no sensuality, no nullity. There exist instead purification, recreation, mercy, joy, and an infinite life to enjoy. Heaven is the edifice constructed with the scaffolding of dharma.

In the search for ego identification that characterizes third-chakra activities, the player seeks out groups to support him in his quest. He is aware that alone he lacks the strength to fulfill his desire, and he seeks
on a similar path to form a mutually supporting group.

If he is vibrating wrongly, he may find himself in a group that does not act in accord with dharma. Then he finds himself in bad company, a snake that bites him and takes him down to the first chakra and conceit.

In bad company his wrong character traits are either ignored or extolled. The power generated by group activities may cause his ego to swell and his selfishness to grow. He deceives himself into thinking his actions are in accord with dharma. The further he deviates from the path, the greater his conceit grows. He soon finds himself back in the first chakra and must seek purification or entertainment.

In bad company, personal problems are seen as caused by others. The terrorist, the political conspirator who resorts to any means to attain his aim, is the extreme example. He is deluded by those in his circle into thinking that assassination is correct. He feels that by killing another he can fulfill the desire within himself. He sees his own aims as the right aims for everyone. This deviation from dharma, this gross abuse of personal power, is a characteristic third-chakra problem. This abuse draws his energy down.

Bad company is adharma. Only by acting in accord with dharma can the player extricate himself from this trap.

The player who begins to follow the path of dharma in the third chakra soon begins to find himself in the company of others who are seeking to realize that which is best in themselves. Within this group, the player finds his energies raised by the affirmation that comes from knowing others are seeking the same goal. His third-chakra quest, extending his ego, takes a new turn. This positive association, this good company, is su-sang.

For the one who seeks to realize spiritual values within himself,
sit-sang usually takes the form of an organic fellowship formed around the person and teachings of a fourth- or fifth-chakra person. Bad company usually revolves around a charismatic third-chakra leader. The player and those in his group cooperate to emulate their teacher, to incorporate what the teacher gives into their own identities.

In good company vices are not extolled. The players, with the aid of the master, serve as mirrors for each other so that both good and bad tendencies can be observed and acted upon. While conceit is the outcome of bad company, compassion develops from good company.

Good company is essential for the player. It provides him with the opportunity to grow away from old identifications in an atmosphere of trust and compassion. Vestiges of first- and second-chakra problems gradually disappear as he learns to confront and work with all aspects of his self.

Good company is the positive side of the third-chakra drive for affil­iation and identification. There are no more traps to bar his way to the fourth level of the game, the plane of cosmic mind and balance.

Sorrow is the term used to describe the alteration in body chemistry created by a loss. This loss of energy (or pressure) creates a state of depression in the organism. Sorrow and joy represent two ends of the emotional continuum. Joy is a state of expansion, extroversion, and elevated vibrations; sorrow is a state of contraction, introversion, and depressed vibrations. In both, the sense of time vanishes, and the moment seems eternal.

In sorrow the breathing is constricted and repressed. The blood is drawn inward to the vital organs. The complexion is one of pallor. In joy the breathing is unrestrained and fluid. The heart opens and blood courses
trough out the body. The complexion is glowing, vibrant, vital.
Sorrow is a blanket, which wraps the player in its folds and blinds his vision.

He cannot see anything outside the blanket. No ray of hope his vision and no light can penetrate. The more the player fights to extricate himself, the deeper he finds himself entangled. He feels himself weak, helpless He is torn between his intellect, which tells him there is a way out, and his feelings, which proclaim the state eternal.

All that is required of him is to stand up and throw off the blanket once and for all. There is clear sky outside; but within the heavy woolly karmic blanket there exists only confusion and the complexes created by fantasy. Like a child afraid of the dark, cowering under his blanket, he imagines dark terrors lurking just outside, ready to consume him if he but shows himself.

Sorrow can be a temporary state, as in the sorrow created by the seemingly senseless murder of a child, the innocents slaughtered in war. Or it can become the way of being, a permanent imbalance in body chemistry created through the mechanism of suppression.
When suppression is at work, the player knows there is an aspect of himself he does not choose to confront. Confronting it means loss of identity, acceptance of the unacceptable. Yet suppression creates pain.
The blocked energy must express itself, and pain becomes the medium. Here sorrow is the dragon that swallows its own tail. Expression of the inexpressible would create pain and loss of identity. Non expression also brings pain, confusion, and the loss of identity.

In sadhana, following a spiritual discipline, sorrow can be a manifestation of the awareness of separation between devotee and deity. The third chakra is the plane of identification. The aspirant seeks to identify with his deity. Repeated failure brings him to sorrow. The player feels an awareness of the Divine, and craves nothing more than the realization of that Divin­ity within himself. Yet the separation seems an impassable chasm. He sees the first- and second-chakra problems that repeatedly trap his energy. He senses the Divine yet feels himself unworthy, unable to know it.

There is a way out and selfless service, the next square, offers hope.

Charity is an action, performed frequently or infrequently. Selfless service is an attitude, a mode of being. Parmarth is living without the self yet harmoniously with the world, while doing a right job and retaining consciousness of the moment.

Parm means supreme. Arth is meaning, the purpose for which an action is performed. That which is done for the supreme is parmarth. Supreme may mean God, or it may mean a cause for which the player chooses to dedicate his existence. It is a giving up of self for a higher cause.
When a player understands his role in the drama and knows that the individual self is but a vehicle for realization of the Supreme, all that he does ceases to concern him. He only does his duty and acts out his role in the play. He does not know what the final outcome of his actions will be. When he does his duty without thought of right or reward he becomes selfless. And then all his acts are parmarth.

Living in parmarth is possible only when the player realizes that rights follow duty and that rewards are the fruits of action. Duty and honor (rewards) are byproducts of the game, not the final goal. As long as the player exists within a body with five organs of action, karmas are inevitable. The player’s choice is whether to become concerned about rewards and punishment, honor and humiliation, or to devote his life to understanding the nature of the game and living unconcerned with whatever happens, continuing to perform his duty.

A reward is in nobody’s hand. Countless factors affect the outcome of every momentary situation. Whatever happens is whatever was possible at that time. If the player has no hopes and desires, every becomes an achievement. When he gets away from the false concepts of
profit and loss, he enters on to the plane of selfless service.

Selfless service is an arrow that lifts the player to the human plane.
Performing his duty in a right manner, giving up the self to what has to be done, brings about the loss of identification that is the greatest problem in the third chakra. The individual ceases to exist as a separate entity and becomes part of a larger whole.

Examples of this third-chakra selfless service can be found in organizations—one of the primary forms of expression on the celestial plane. Charitable institutions, grant foundations, and professional volunteer service groups all constitute forms of selfless service. Selfless ser­vice is exemplified in the lives of Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King jr., and Nathan Hale (“I regret that I have but one life to give for my
country”).

Sudharma, apt religion, means adoption of the course of action best suited to the player’s own self. Sudharma is living in harmony with the laws of the game. It is the course of action that allows the player to throw his dice without care of where he lands.
Sudharma literally means one’s own dharma. What is one’s dharma? What is one supposed to do? If dharma is a code of conduct, then it should be common to everyone. Then nobody would have to do any thinking. Everyone would adopt the same mode of living. But people are people, not machines. They have individual differences, and those differences are the products of numerous factors. Not everyone is born at the same time or of the same parents. Parentage, environment, atmosphere, latitude and longitude, and geographical, anthropological and sociological conditions differ from individual to individual. Everyone is born with a set of qualifications and disqualifications.

Attaining balance
Ideal is not real. No one can completely submerge himself in the law of dharma prescribed by a particular religion or individual. Everybody has to understand his role in the game. He has to follow his own path to liberation. The rise and fall in each individual life determines the course of play.
Sudharma means to keep up the spirit that one is ever evolving while never adopting unfair means in the course of action. Sudharma is to believe in liberation, in merging with Cosmic Consciousness. Sudharma is nonattachment to the rise and fall of maya.

If the player is a musician he will find his sudharma in music. A painter will find his through his own art. There are seven psychic cen­ters in which the player vibrates. Wherever he feels comfortable, there he should try to evolve his energies into new patterns. This is the only sudharma.

All religious codes of conduct are but external aids in the task
of understanding one’s true nature, one’s sudharma.
Once the player begins to understand his sudharma, religion becomes internal, a way of life. Rituals lose their import. Life itself becomes an act of worship. The player is ready to move on to the plane of austerity.

Until the player lands in the fourth chakra, dharma is a meaningless term. He has to identify with a group or ideology in the third chakra. In the second he identifies with his senses; in the first with his ability to ensure bodily survival.

In the third chakra he understands karma, charity, the dharma aspect called ethics, good and bad company, atonement, the sorrows of life, and selfless service. But an understanding of his own role in the game starts only when he lands in the fourth chakra, in sudharma. Sudharma leads him to the plane of austerity and to hard penance and work on himself. Following the path of sudharma leads him directly to the sixth row of the game, the sixth chakra.

The player who lands in sudharma discovers his true role in the game and acts out his part without regard to the outcome of his actions. He knows that as long as he listens to the voice of his own inner nature he need fear nothing.

Faith in accordance with the laws of nature is sudharma. Blind faith, which disregards the cosmic principles, leads to adharma. Adharmas are those actions which are contrary to the individual’s dharma. Adharmas lead him away from his true course and back into first chakra delusion, which is the essence of blind faith.

Adharma is working contrary to the laws of existence. At sunrise everything on the planet changes. Winds, atmospheric pressures, an
temperatures change. The tempo of life increases. Sleeping at this time is acting contrary to the laws of the planet. Thus it is adharma. Looting the earth for natural resources, which are then employed without concern for their negative effects on the environment and the future needs of the planet, is adharma against the earth. Similarly, there are adharmas related to one’s own physiology. To hold tension and not release it is adharma. But to release it by adopting unfair means is greater adharma.
Adharma does not exist by itself. It is a negation of the law of dharma, an action contrary to the true inner nature. Denying one’s own self is adharma. Self-rejection and self-praise are both adhar­mas. To understand one’s position in the game is sudharma. All else is adharma.
Adharma is best understood as an imbalance in the gunas, the three primary cosmic forces responsible for all manifestation. When either sattva (conscious energy), tamas (inertia), or rajas (motion) predomi­nates, adharma takes birth. Self-destruction is the greatest adharma. It is a snake that takes one back to delusion, back to the start of the game.
The danger of getting caught by adharma is greatest in the fourth chakra, the fourth row of the game. In the first three chakras energy was devoted to the physical, celestial, and astral planes. Now, in the fourth chakra, the player attains a degree of balance and begins to understand the importance of apt religion. While he seeks his own role in the game it is possible that he might ignore the existing dharmas and attempt to start his own way, ignoring planetary laws and the laws of existence. Here faith is the key.
Faith is the essence of fourth chakra: faith, devotion, bhakti. This faith can lead the player—if he acts in harmony with his true nature, sudharma—to the plane of austerity. But if it is not in tune with his innermost vibrations, it can draw him back to delusion. This is adharma. Acting on faith alone is liable to create irreligiosity. Faith alone, without a grounding in the laws of existence, is blind faith. And blind faith is the most frequent cause of energy loss in this plane. Faith in accordance with the laws of existence is sudharma, but faith alone is adharma.

Uttam is good; gati is movement. Good tendencies flow spontaneously when the player moves in harmony with the laws of the macrocosm. When the player vibrates in the lower chakras, good tendencies do not develop. They are found here in the heart chakra, the fourth row of the game. Only when the player reaches a degree of balance within himself can good tendencies arise spontaneously. This balance enables the player to tune his own vibratory rate with that of the cosmos. Good tendencies are movements in the direction of increasingly finer tuning.

In the fourth chakra, heart and breath play a significant role. By landing in good tendencies the player attains control over his own breath pattern and simultaneously his heart rate. Good tendencies therefore help in stabilizing the development of the fourth chakra, and breath is directly related to good tendencies.
Any change in direction (or tendency) is registered by the prana, the life-force, psychic energy, or élan vital. On a gross level this change is experienced as a change in respiration. Each wrong breath pattern is an injury to the organism. Thus, when the player spoils his breathing cycle he simultaneously creates bad vibratory frequencies within himself. Good tendencies are a device to help the player keep vibrating correctly. They can be identified by observing one’s own breath pattern.

The best tendencies are those that link the player ever more closely to the rhythm cycles of the planet and the cosmos. Begin by observing changes in the self at sunrise and sunset. Arise before dawn, in time to shower and change into clean clothes for sunrise meditation. Other good tendencies include the elimination of meat and eggs from the diet, the
practice of hatha yoga asanas (postures and exercises), the regulation of breathing (see the lokas of prana, apana, and uyana), fasting, conscientious study of spiritual writings, and all the virtues contained in the game of Leela, the yoga of snakes and arrows.
The practice of good tendencies helps the player stabilize his existence so that it flows rhythmically in positive directions and away from the energy-depleting distractions of the lower chakras.

The player who lands on the plane of sanctity experiences divine grace through the understanding and knowledge of cosmic principles. Sanc­tity is a direct result of good tendencies. It is the fourth-chakra feeling of oneness with the presence of Divinity, and the ability to perceive the divine grace in all existence. This oneness passes beyond mere intellectual understanding and becomes an actual part of daily life.

Yakshas were celestial beings who dwelt in heaven. According to Hindu cosmology, creation is divided into seven classes of being: devas, yakshas (or kinnaras), gandharvas, manushyas, asuras (or rakshas), bhootas, and pishachas. Pishachas represent the lowest type of con­sciousness, the essence of which is meanness and violence. Next are the bhootas, or ghosts. These are dis incarnate beings unable to detach from the plane of earthly existence, living in the past. Then come the asuras,
beings who do not believe in a code of ethical conduct and who live in Search sensual gratification—wine, women, and song. Then come the manushyas, who believe in the law of karma and responsibility for the
consequences of their actions. Manushyas are aware of the future and of the nature of liberation. This is the plane of human existence. Then
come the gandharvas, who are consciousness devoted to the service
gods and living in harmony with the divine music. Gandharvas dedicate their existence to elevating people through sound and music. Then comes the class of yakshas, a kind of consciousness grounded in the knowledge and understanding of cosmic principles and direct experience of the divine grace. Lastly are the devas, the pure energy forms of the gods themselves.

When the player lands in yaksha-loka, questions about the nature of divine existence draw his attention. He seeks to find the links between the divine and his daily life. Only on reaching the fourth chakra is the Divinity reached on an experiential level. Before then, it has been but an abstract concept. This curiosity about the Divine and its presence in all existence, this desire to confront reality, becomes the essence of the player.

Mahar-loka is the fourth loka of the seven levels of existence. This loka is regarded as perishing at the Night of Brahma, the Creator. The first three lokas are those in which the jiva (individual consciousness) lives during the course of its evolution and is subject to the wheel of births and deaths. In this fourth loka the fire element is again predominant, but now it is not as elegant as in swarga-loka, where the bodies of its dwellers are luminous and flashing. Here the player is above the physi­cal, desire, and thought levels. Individual consciousness is colored by desires (kama) and thoughts, but now that the player has reached the state of being desireless and thoughtless, he has transcended the third level and reached the fourth, the permanent invisible world. Those Who dwell here are not absolutely free from transmigration, but they Will not be reborn in this cycle of creation because they exist in balance.

Three centers above and three below make this, the plane of the forth chakra, the balancing point of the spine of the game. From here,flows downward to the first three centers and upward to the higher three planes of being. Here is the center where the male and female energies are balanced. The player who vibrates in the fourth chakra speaks from
the heart.

He reaches maha-loka through the arrow of charity, or by passing
through good tendencies and the plane of sanctity. Here the desires of the lower chakras are stilled, and energy is no longer exhausted in the pursuit of lower aims. From the heart begins the upward flow of energy.
Here also the player transcends the intellectual understanding of Divinity that characterizes the third chakra and moves into a direct experience of the Divine within himself. Because of this sense of unity with the Absolute, it has also been called the plane of Cosmic Mind.
The heart center has long been recognized as the most important seat of feeling in the body. The heart is the dwelling-place of the emotional self. Yoga physiology attributes this fact to the location of the ductless thymus gland in the heart region. This gland is responsible for the flow of electrical energy in the body-and the nature of sense perception is fundamentally electrical. Each change in emotional tone is registered by the heart, and the pattern in which the heart beats determines body chemistry. Each change in body chemistry is understood by the mind as a certain type of feeling or emotion.
Thus the heart is more than a machine to pump pure blood into the
body and convey waste-charged blood back to the lungs. It is also a center of feeling, a psychic center. The Sufi tradition also stresses the importance of opening the heart chakra through love, or mohabbat. From here poetry begins, the transformation of the personal into the impersonal. Poetry is full of hearties vibrations, its different feelings. This center is also the source of all trans-personal psychic phenomena.

By whatever path he lands here, the player now feels relaxed. His hands automatically start making the gestures (mudras) that help balance the flow of energy through his organism. His heart becomes filled with the devotional spirit, bhakti. He is able to begin to identify himself with the rest of creation, bringing on a sense of cosmic unity.

Tender feelings and a sense of aesthetics become manifested in his behavior. The player’s voice becomes softer and gentler as he starts to speak from the heart. His voice penetrates the hearts of others, and thus without any exertion of power he attracts to himself a group of admirers striving to reach the same vibrational patterns.

The symbol of the plane of balance is a six-pointed star composed of two equilateral triangles, one pointing upward and the other pointing down. The upward-pointing triangle of this Star of David (as it has become known in the West} signifies male energy; the downward, female. This implies the balance between the two energies attained by the player who vibrates here.

Hindu cosmology enumerates fourteen major planes, lokas, seven of which are regions rising a above the earth. They are the planes of the seven chakras that constitute the spine of this game-as well as the player’s own physical spine. First is bhu-loka, the physical plane. Second is bhuvar-loka, the astral plane. Third is swarga-loka, the celestial plane. Fourth is maha-loka, the plane of balance. Jana-loka, the human plane, is fifth, followed by tapa-loka, the plane of austerity, and satya-loka, the plane of reality. The lower regions descending from the earth are atalloka, vital-loka, sutal-loka, rasatal-loka, talatal-loka, mahatal-loka, and patal-loka.

In everyday Hindu worship (sandkya) the supplicant recites a mantra (Chant), which enumerates each of the seven major lokas. As he voices the name of each plane he touches the part of the body with
which it is associated. He chants Om Bhu as with the moistened tip of
the right ring-finger he touches the midpoint between anus and genitals,
the seat of the kundalini. Then he chants Om Bhuvah as he touchees the root of the genitals, the seat of the second psychic center. The chant Om Swah accompanies the touch of the navel. He intones Om Maha as he
touches his heart, Om Janah for the base of the through, and Om Tapah for
for the third eye, the midpoint between the eyes
and slightly above the
eyebrows. Last is Om Satyam, the top of the head.

Gandha means smell, and the sense of smell is linked with the earth and the physical plane. Once the player reaches the fourth level, however, the nature of the sense is transmuted and becomes the symbol of the Divine, carrying a strong emotional impact. In the course of sudharma the devotee offers scents to the deity, in the form of either flowers or incense. Thus the fourth chakra contains the plane of fragrance, gandha-loka.

In the first chakra, odors like petroleum, paraffin, and alcohol attract the player. In the second chakra he is stimulated by strong-smelling synthetic preparations. In the third chakra these same artificial scents predominate, but they are now far more costly. When he reaches the plane of balance he realizes the futility of the inorganic, and avoids pungent,
artificial odors.
Here in gandha-loka he experiences divine fragrances in his meditation. The evolution of energy effects a change in body chemistry, and his organism ceases to produce bad odors, exuding instead a fragrance like that of lotus flowers or sandalwood.
As a measure of understanding, the sadhak (devotee) is asked to stop the use of artificial scents on his body so that he comes to know his own odors. When his body stops smelling bad, and when his stool, sweat, and breath produce no bad odors, he knows his energy has transcended the third
chakra and entered into the plane of fragrance.

Now there are only divine odors. Once and for all, the player has eliminated bad odor from his system.

While in the lower chakras the sense of taste was predominantly a mode of sensory perception, in the fourth chakra it becomes purified-taste in the aesthetic sense. One who lands in this plane is able to penetrate into the world of ideas and meanings. This penetration gives the player direct experiential knowledge of the essence of emotions and sentiments.

Rasa is love, pleasure, grace, enjoyment, sentiment, taste, emotions, beauty, passion, spirit. It is the poetic sentiment, the essence of poetry. Rasa is water in its purest form, the force that binds all creation together.

Up to the third chakra, taste-in all its shades of meaning-is devoted to lower-level activities. In the first chakra the sense of taste is totally dominated by the desire to make money. Power foods (meat especially) and prepared foods (convenience products) are the basis of the player’s diet. He uses a great deal of salt and spice. By the second chakra the energies are diverted toward sensuality, especially sex. Here foods that increase sexual stamina, such as eggs, ginseng, and fish, are his concern. In the third chakra he indulges taste for its own sake, consuming foods for different flavors and textures.

But in the fourth chakra, the heart Plane, the sense of taste becomes purified. He leaves salt and sweet
to understand the real essence of the food he consumes.

Once the player lands on the plane of taste, his taste improves in all
dimensions. His tastes in food, music, and conversation are pleasing
all, regardless of their vibrational level. He becomes a master of good
taste, appreciated by all. Thus he draws to himself a group of admires
who seek to vibrate in the same frequencies.

Until the player reaches the level of the heart chakra he lacks understanding of sudharma, apt religion. Without sudharma, freedom of action is impossible. As the player attains freedom of action he becomes responsible for the fruits of his actions. Narka-loka is the place where he bears
those consequences.

In Hindu cosmology narka is a plane situated midway between earth
and heaven. There are seven layers of narka-loka that the player must pass through before attaining heaven. His karmas are the vehicle, leading him up to the level where they vibrate. After passing through these narkas, if the player has performed good karmas he is ready to pass into heaven.

The lord of narka is Yarna, known as Dharmaraj-the lord of death.
Violence leads the player to purgatory and to the most painful vibrational levels. Each action bears fruit. This is the law of karma, and it cannot be avoided as long as the player maintains a physical existence. When the player lands in narka-loka through bad karmas he is bound to this plane by karmic ties. This is not punishment but rather purification. Dharmaraj, the lord of narka, is not personally interested in the suffering of any player. He is not a sadistic devil. Rather, his job is to set wrong frequencies right so that future evolution of the spirit can take place.

Narka is also the heart chakra itself. Attachment to feelings is narka.
The feeling of attachment is narka. Narka is negative vibration. Those
who vibrates negatively create a Narka in their home, family, neighborhood, country and world, according to their capacity. OThe player who lands in narka-loka without forth chakra understanding sees it as failure, not as record of negative karma. Only in the fourth chakra does the understanding of negative karmas in the experiential level come. The Narka-loka is seen not as the result of personal ego failure but as the sign of imperfection of action and the need to improve. In the fourth chakra comes recognition without valuation.

Clarity of consciousness is the light that illuminates the player on his passage out of the fourth row of the game and on to the fifth, the plane where man becomes Man. Swatch in Sanskrit means clear, pure, transparent. This transparency results from the purification of the opacities of bad karmas the player undergoes in purgatory.

Transparency offers no resistance to the passage of light. When doubts are clarified, the fog of blind intellect is dissolved to be replaced by the clear, strong light of inner feelings. The intellectual understanding, which dominates the consciousness up to the third chakra, does so no more. Reason here is considered an ailment, a disease of consciousness. For when consciousness identifies itself with understanding, at that time it suffers from the disease of reason, the chains of the intellect. By devotion and right faith the disease is overcome, and the player enters into the realm of Being.

When the player lands here he becomes swatch-clear, pure, transparent. The doubts that assailed him took him to purgatory and irreligiosity. But from those experiences he gained an understanding of the nature of sudharma. He has developed good tendencies an sanctified his life. He has dwelt on the planes of fragrance and taste an is now ready to join the upward flow of energy in the fifth chakra.

Knowledge of the right, and insight into the proper means of realizing the right in daily existence, are the two essential attributes of gyana. Gyana is an uplifting force, an arrow that takes the player to the eighth row and the plane of bliss, beyond the chakras. The player who understands his role in the game, and the nature of the course of action that will enable him to fulfill that role, lives in bliss.

The player realizes this wisdom only after the experience of clarity of consciousness. Only by suspending value judgments can the transmutation of energy that lifts him to the fifth chakra take place.
Gyana is not liberation. The player has yet to free himself from all those things that have clouded his mind. But he does know that the blocks can be removed, that Cosmic Consciousness is an attainable goal. Some Hindu Philosophers see gyana as the direct path to moksha, Cos­mic Consciousness. But in this game it leads to bliss. The player must
still realize the plane of cosmic good and needs a throw of two to escape the cycle of rebirth. But there is nothing wrong. He can return to earth and play the game again.

Gyana then is awareness,
not realization. Gyana is the understanding of the laws of existence and the awareness of a means to synchronize with them. The fourth chakra has already established balance, consciousness has been clarified. A true penetration into the world of concepts becomes possible. The player ceases to be attached to forms of expression and becomes drawn to the essence, the process of insight. Old relationships take on entirely new perspectives when viewed through the clear light of unobstructed consciousness. The cause of bondage is maya. The cause of liberation from maya to bliss is gyana.

As long as the player identifies himself as an individual, independent being he has karmas, and this is the cause of bondage. Gyana makes it clear that by reducing the scope and area of karma he can begin to establish himself in bliss. This is insight into the game itself.

In the first three chakras the player has been lost in the realms of delusion, fantasy, and power. Each course of action that inspired hope in him left the player in the end tired and painful. Finally, in the fourth chakra, he began to establish a sense of balance within himself. Then, with clarity of consciousness, he waded into the upward flow of energy that lifted him from the fourth chakra into the fifth. With balance, he sees his goal as attainable and adjusts his life in accordance with his insight into the process of fulfillment.

Gyana is a blank page. Whatever is written on its surface is only the illusion of ahamkara, ego. Illusion is ever changing and thus is tempo­ral. Only the page itself lasts, is atemporal. The page that remains after the writing has long since faded is gyana. This is the wisdom that makes the player understand the karmic writing on that blank
page. What gyana dictates is that it be kept intact, handed over as it was given.

Gyana is rightly placed in the fifth chakra, because here is the source of those billions of blank pages that are the essence of the world’s religious teachings. In the fifth chakra, communication with others becomes the main concern. The player seeks to convey the essence of his own insights into the game while simultaneously realizing the futility of the task.

Prana is elan vital, the life force itself. In Sanskrit it is synonymous with life and it is also the name of the lifebreath we take in with each inhalation. Prana is also the name of one of the five major airs in the body. As body air it is situated in the cavity of the mouth and enables food to pass through into the stomach. It resides normally in the area from the nostrils to the lungs, and its location near the heart preserve life from destruction.

Prana maintains the other elements of the body in balance and controls their function. With the help of prana we are able to move, think, see, and hear. From birth to death prana plays a crucial role in our lives: at birth it is the air that gives energy during delivery; at death it collects all vital energy from the body and flows out, leaving a lifeless corpse behind.

Prana is like a faithful servant, who fulfills all the demands of his master but in return does not demand any reward for his services. Like a true devotee, prana is devoted to the service of the self, consciousness, twenty-four hours a day. Yet prana is also temperamental. A slight change in the attitude of the master affects his speed and rhythm cycle. A good master, understanding the devotion of his servant, must try to help prana evolve. The methods to accomplish this are called pranayama, one of the most essential yogic disciplines.

In yoga, prana is of primary importance. With the practices of pranayama the yogi directs the flow of prana downward toward the pelvic plexus, where it mixes with apana, the air that resides in the lower intestines. When prana and apana flow together through sushumna, the central passage of the spinal column, to the top of the head, the experience of samadhi takes place—the goal of all yogic practice.

Prana is not to be confused with oxygen. The energy in the gross physical body feeds on oxygen. Prana maintains the existence
of the physical body: prana is life. To understand prana, life and consciousness must be seen as distinct from each other. Life is a vehicle through which consciousness manifests, and prana is the energizing force of life. When life ceases, consciousness does not. This is evident from the many well-documented cases of rebirth.

While prana is the air that takes in energy from outside the system through the lungs and aids in conveying food energy to the stomach, apana serves the opposite function. Apana literally means downwards, and this is the air responsible for the elimination of energy from the body. It resides in the lower intestines; it expels the child from the womb and causes downward discharges of energy. Apana is the air responsible for urination, defecation, and ejaculation.

The importance of apana is poorly understood in the West. The presence of intestinal gases is acknowledged, but they are not even listed in a separate category or class. Scores of patent remedies are available for conditions brought on by disturbances of apana, but there is no understanding of their cause.

According to Indian medical science, apana is a great friend who aids in the cleansing of the system. The digestive process releases gases trapped in foods through the chemical interaction of the foods and diges­tive juices in the intestines. These gases are produced in greater quantity when the food is improperly digested, or when the circulation of juices has been disturbed (raw foods produce more gas, as do nuts and seeds). When, for whatever reason, the gases are disturbed, they start moving upward instead of down. This unbalances the chemical system of the organism.
If the gases approach the heart they may produce high blood pressure, heart palpitations, and a heart attack. If they are
driven still higher, disorders of the respiratory tract ensue. If the gases reach the head, schizophrenia is result.

When Prana, which is charged with positive ions, is made to function with apana and forced to enter through the central canal into the spinal column, a great fusion takes place between the positive ions
of prana and negative ions of apana. This generates a great amount of energy, which helps the ascent of the dormant energy at the base of the spine, called kundalini. (Kundalini is the immobile support of all the activities in the body. It is the energy that is present, in static or kinetic form, in all manifested phenomena. This is the energy used by the organism for its survival.)

By practice of the locks prescribed in yoga, apana is drawn upward. When it reaches the region of the navel it increases the gastric fire. Then apana combined with the fire of the third chakra pierces through the fourth chakra and mixes with prana. Prana is hot by nature. This causes a further increase in heat, and both airs rise upward, creating a vacuum. The scriptures say it is through this extreme heat, caused by fusion of prana with apana, that kundalini is awakened and enters into the central canal as a serpent enters its hole. This mixing of prana and apana rejuvenates the yogi, and he becomes a young man of sixteen, full of vitality, stamina, and power.

So on this square the player becomes aware of the importance of apana in his life and learns to keep the airs of his body harmonized through proper diet and other practices.

Vyana takes pranic energy from the lungs and conveys it through all the bodily systems. It is the vital air responsible for blood flow, glandular secretions, upward and downward movements of the body, and the opening and closing of the eyelids. Vyana carries oxygen in the bloodstream into the capillaries throughout the system. Oxygen and prank energy are absorbed by the tissues, and waste products are expelled into the blood. This deoxygenated blood is thrown out into the venous system by vyana. Vyana is also the force that carries this waste laden blood back into the heart and lungs. Vyana produces sweating. We do not sweat only in certain special places but through each and every pore of the body. The only explanation for this is vyana. Sweat cannot move of itself. The air in the lungs cannot force it out, nor will the airs in the stomach, intestines, or anal region. What does, then? It is vyana—present throughout the body and crucial in balancing body chemistry through the processes of blood circulation, sweating, and coughing.

Jana-loka is the fifth plane, the abode of siddhas (evolved beings who have powers by which they can do at will deeds that look like miracles to people who are on the lower planes) and saints, who are ever absorbed in contemplation on Hari. Jana-loka is also the region where inhabitants of swarga-loka and maha-loka seek refuge at the time of Great Dissolution of all existing phenomena, after which the universe is created anew. The element that predominates in this loka is air, and the bodies of the dwellers in jana-loka are composed of pure wisdom untouched by desire. This is the loka of divine wisdom, and those who dwell here are beings of divine wisdom.

The player who lands in the fifth chakra, the human plane, devotes his life to synchronizing his life with divine laws to sustain the upward flow of
energy within himself. To stabilize himself in his experience he feels the need to communicate it to others. Thus the fifth chakra is the source of all great teachings. Its location in the throat near the voice box underscores
the importance of communication to the player who vibrates here.

The player establishes himself here by a right understanding of the
vital airs and by his passages through purgatory, clarity of consciousness and gyana.
His wisdom demands synchronization with planetary laws and his understanding of the vital airs gives them the utmost significance. Unbalancing in the airs are reflections of disharmony within planetary law. Without the cooperation of these airs, synchronization is impossible.

His understanding of the divine presence within all existence, in his passage through the fourth chakra, demands he seek Divinity within himself. Thus his attention turns to sounds, which take on significance for him. He is now able to hear sounds within himself that were inaudible before, because his attention had been aimed at the phenomenal world. Turning inward with his senses, he hears the sounds of his heart and the blood coursing through his system. These sounds open his nerves, and he becomes able to apprehend more.
While it has been said that all knowledge exists within, this becomes a reality only in the fifth chakra. The opening of the nerves produces sounds. These sounds in turn affect the psychic energy and result in changes in body chemistry. This produces a psychic state in which the player is opened to new dimensions of experience. The resultant understanding is known as knowledge.

In the fourth chakra the player has experience without understanding. The increase in energy caused by the elevation from the fourth chakra to the fifth elevates consciousness, and new perspectives come into view.

In the first chakra there are only four dimensions, called petals. hi the second there are six. The transition from the second to the third chakra opens four new dimensions, and two more are added in the transition from the third to the fourth a total of twelve. In the fifth
chakra sixteen dimensions are functioning, giving a radically new perspective
on the nature of the game. From this perspective all great religious teachings flow.

If the player who reaches the fifth chakra is part of a tradition, he becomes a new link in its development. Or he may leave and become independent thinker, a seer, a prophet, or a saint.

This is the plane on which he gains a true perspective on the nature of humanity, and it is often gained directly from the third chakra by the arrow of selfless service.

Agni is a very clear manifestation of the eternal cyclic rebirth of the same divine essence. Fire is spirit, soul, and body at the same time. Our universe and what evolves within it, including man, are the products of the god Fire. In symbolic expressions he is shown with three faces, representing three fires—pavak, electrical fire; pavamana, fire produced by friction; and suchi, fire of the gods, also known in the Rig Veda as vaishvanara, the living magnetic fire that pervades all galaxies. The word vaishvanara is often used for the Self.

The player who lands in Agni-loka is ready to assume form. Agni is the fire-god; the fire is a gross manifestation of energy. In the body, this fire is life itself. It is love and security. It was man’s security against the ravages of wild animals at the time when he lived in caves. But fire is but one manifestation of Agni. With air and water it is one of the three causes of the solidification of the earth and is thus the parent of forms. Fire is also the cause of light, which is a combination of colors. Thus fire is the cause of both color and form—the essence of the phenomenal world.
Fire is the gross manifestation of energy, its vehicle. The player who lands here understands that his body also is just a vehicle. For this rea­son, fire is regarded as the link between man and God. All religious ritu­als include the presence of Agni, the eternal witness. And because this fire-god is but an expression of man’s innate nature, the player learns
self-deception is impossible. The witness is always there. The player Who is about to take form does so with the knowledge that the role he assumes must conform to the dictates of planetary laws. Any deviation
spells deception of the self, and a downward flow of energy inevitable follows self-deception.

According
place to rest. Soon he saw a nest on the face of the eternal waters. In the nest he spread his fire. The

waters were the wives of Varuna, another manifestation of Agni. The fire-god’s desire for these women flamed, and soon they were ready for union. His semen fell and became the earth. This is the fire he planted in the midst of the nest, and this planet is his offspring.
Modern science (i.e., Western science) now believes the earth to have begun as a ball of fire (Agni). Water cooled the surface of the planet, enabling life to arise. Even now, fire remains at the planet’s core, as is demonstrated by the volcanoes that disgorge molten rock from the depths of the earth. Were this inner fire to die, life would vanish from the planet.

Passage through the Agni plan prepares the player for the adoption of the form (birth). Manushya-janma notes the accomplishment of this event. Conceived in the second chakra, nurtured and raised in the third, filled with human emotions in the fourth, now the player is ready for birth.

This birth is not registered either in the maternity hospital or in the office. But those who meet with him, can say later: “We saw a Man.” About the player who is here, you can not say that he is someone’s son. Anyone can be his father. He is the son of God, and only His One. He does not belong to any caste, creed, nation, religion. He is free from attachments and does not need any documents proving his identity. He found himself. Now he was born as a Man, and his presence is felt by all who just expect such a birth. He has a direct perception of truth, looking reality directly in the face. He lost interest in the content of groups of his followers and does not need someone else’s location. It relates only to the truth, and service to the truth becomes his sole purpose.

Man is an intelligent being. This gift of reason helps him to correlate all his thoughts, words and actions with truth. The one whose life is at odds with the true laws does not have the full right to be called a person. It is some other creature living in the human body and striving to be born as a human being.

A player falling into the field of ignorance, forgets about the illusory nature of being and becomes attached to one or another emotional states or sensory perceptions. The energy of the player, stung by the snake of ignorance, descends to the level of the seal chakra and the plane of sensuality. The loss of understanding of the nature of maya (illusion) leads to the confusion of his intellect and leads to identification with certain states.

Vidya means “knowledge, knowledge,” and – the prefix of negation. Lack of knowledge is ignorance. Knowledge is the player’s understanding of his role in the game, wherever he is at the moment. The concept of avidya refers to the level of the mind, outside of the mental realm no ignorance exists. Our perception of reality is only a reflection of our own personality. Nothing exists beyond the mind, but this does not mean that there is nothing else besides the player and his mind. The world of names and forms exists, too, but how a player perceives this world depends on the state of his mind, which in turn, is determined by its position on the playing board.

For some, this world is a place of enjoyment, for others – hell. Each mind perceives the surrounding world in its own way, considering some objects more, and others less important, in accordance with the accumulated karma player. Real knowledge presupposes an understanding of reality that is free from value judgments and attachments to objects of sense perception that are constantly changing, transient, and therefore unreal.

Only if the player can constantly monitor his own sound, the sound of his “I”, his being, only then he will not fall a victim of his mind. The mind is a tiger, living in a forest of desires, surrounded by reality, full of prey. Only by following their inner sound, the player can not fall into the paws of the tiger and avoid falling back to the sensual plane. Otherwise, he will have to start all over again to finally climb up with the arrow of the right knowledge. The field of ignorance is rightfully located at the level of the fifth chakra, in the fifth row of the playing board. Here is the field of wisdom (jnana), and only here can be its opposite – ignorance. In ignorance, the player is inclined to regard as the only reality what is written on the pure page of jnana (see comment on field 37, “jnana”). Thus, only with the ascent to a level where real knowledge and wisdom are possible, ignorance becomes possible.

Whereas gyms is awareness of truth, right knowledge incorporates behavior (practice) with awareness, a combination that lifts the player to the eighth plane and the plane of cosmic good. He is now one square away from his goal. He attains the realization that he is a microcosm of the universe, an ocean in the form of a drop. According to Hindu tradition there are fourteen vidyas, spokes on the wheel of truth. These fourteen are the dimensions or knowledge an contain all that is required for man to know and understand reality. There are the four vedas, six sastras, dharma, nyaia (logic), mimansa (critical understanding), and the Puranas. In an industrial society, however, knowledge has assumed a new guise. Now what is called been reduced to the level of information, capable of being programmed into a computer. But human consciousness is more than a computer. Right knowledge requires experience. Right knowledge adds to gyana a new dimension, that past, present, and future are one; they are aspects of single continuum. While wisdom can dictate one course of action, right knowledge can demand its opposite. Out of wisdom the disciples renounced christ. Out of right knowledge Christ allowed his own death—knowing that subtle principles always outweigh the value of material forms. Right knowledge is the food of consciousness and saves it from the snakes of irreligiosity, sorrow, jealousy, envy, ignorance, violence, ego­tism, tamas, and the inert negative intellect. Right knowledge strengthens the inner Voice. Suvidya tames the tiger of the mind and converts the forest of desires into a garden of interpersonal evolution. Vidya comes from the root vid, meaning to know. The most ancient form of knowing was the state of samadhi, in which the answer is obtained by undergoing a direct experience of reality. Thus all Hindu knowledge is known as darhan, meaning to see or to experience. Know­ing is becoming one with the object to be known. This is vidya, right knowledge. With right knowledge comes the end of the fifth chakra, the fifth row of the game. The minute the player attains a full realization of the oneness of himself and the cosmos, he becomes one with the ultimate reality and reaches the plane of Rudra (Shiva), cosmic good.
Whatever exists in the phenomenal world is not reality. The objects of sense perception change with the passage of time, evolving, growing, and decaying. But these sense-objects give every appearance of being real. Man assigns value to the objective world and develops the desire for identification with these sense-objects. Vivek, conscience, is the power that saves him from falling back into the desire for attachment with the material. It is the player’s own voice of inner wisdom that enables him to differentiate the subtle from the gross, to perceive noumenon in phenomenon. Vivek could come no earlier in the game. The first square of the sixth chakra, conscience follows the passage through right knowledge. If the player lands on the arrow of right knowledge he is immediately boosted to the plane of cosmic good. Otherwise he has to take the help of his conscience in determining the course of play. The basic elements of the phenomenal world are found up to the fifth chakra. These are the building blocks of gross manifestation. The presence of these elements influences the player’s pattern of vibration as long as he operates from those chakras. But the sixth chakra is beyond the elements. Manifested maya now has little effect on consciousness. When the player lands on the square of conscience he is immediately transported to happiness, a happiness that is possible only in the seventh chakra. In the seventh chakra the player is beyond all violence, which is cause for true happiness. The sixth chakra has traditionally been called the third eye. Conscience is the third eye. Our two eyes see only that which exist – what was the past, and what is in the present. But the third eye gives the power to discern future possibilities in the game, and that is one of the assets of the sixth chakra: insight into the future. This is no fantasy, but the direct perception of what will be. Conscience is not something we grow in the course of a single, fleeting (by cosmic standards) lifetime. It contains the insights of the race in the form of the collective unconscious. The player has at his disposal a reservoir of experience within himself, which is now at the level of conscious awareness. Conscience is the teacher that sits at the top of every player’s head the seventh chakra — guiding him throughout his life. The player can avoid social and political laws, but escape from the voice of conscience is ultimately impossible. Before the player reaches the sixth chakra the notion of conscience makes little sense. But passage through the sixth chakra is determined by the fall of the karma dice and the promptings of the inner voice of vivek.
Psychic energy in the human organism flows through the central nerve canal of the spinal cord, Saraswati. According to yoga physiology, this energy flow begins in the first chakra and vibrates successively higher as the player advances from row to row. The ultimate goal of yoga is the raising of this energy to the seventh chakra, the crown of the head. There are three basic types of energy in the human body: electrical, magnetic, and neutral. Electrical energy is sun energy and dominates the right-hand half of the body. Magnetic energy is moon energy an dominates the left. In normal states either electrical or magnetic energy’ (positive or negative, sun or moon) predominates. The neutral or psychic results when sun and moon are balanced in the body, when it begins to flow up the spinal column. Below the sixth chakra, control was not possible. Brief surges could be produced during neditation, but at seemingly random times and beyond conscious control. In the sixth chakra the negative and positive fade away; only neutrality remains. When the player lands in Saraswati he comes into the realm of the goddess for whom it was named. He is surrounded by pure music and lives in a state of vidya, knowledge. The deity of learning and beauty graces him with the ability to stabilize himself beyond the influences of the electromagnetic field of existence. He has become a witness to the game. Three nerves, which meet in the brain in the region of the third eye (between and slightly above the eyebrows), are responsible for the flow of the three types of energy. These are pingala nadi, ida nadi, and sush­umna nadi; sun, moon and neutral; magnetic, electrical, and neutral. This juncture of nerves is called prayag, a name often given the third eye. Sushumna remains invisible, while ida and pingala can be seen as the two eyes. In Indian mythology, one of the most important holy sites is Prayag-Raj, the juncture of the country’s three holiest rivers—the Gan­ges, the Yamuna, and the Saraswati. The Ganges and the Yamuna are ida and pingala. Both are visible, as are the two eyes. The river Saraswati is said to be invisible, flowing up to the prayag from the depths of the earth. This same symbolism is to be found in Greco-Roman mythology, in the form of the staff of Aesculapius, the divinity of healing. Two serpents twine around the central winged staff. The snakes are ida and pingala, the staff sushumna.
In the sixth solar , chakra the player establishes a harmony between the male, Principle and the female, lunar principle. This harmonious blending of the elements creates a witness-self, which is neither male nor female but a complete balance of both. The solar plane is the plane of male energy. As long as a player is either masculine or feminine he cannot accept the opposite nature in himself, just as a player in a team on the playing field is unable to judge his own actions because his personal attachment to the game denies the possibility of right perception. But the one acting as the referee is beyond personal involvement. He is not committed to any team. He is the witness-self who is able to see the fouls committed by the player. When the player vibrating in the lower chakras is tinted by the solar plane, his primary concern becomes destruction, power, identification of self—just as too much sunlight would burn the planet. To balance the sun, moon is needed. The player who lands here after passing through wisdom and right knowledge realizes this and learns to balance his own play of energies. Below the sixth chakra solar and lunar energies entwine each other; but in the sixth chakra they meet and become one. This sense of oneness characterizes the plane of austerity. To better understand the nature of solar and lunar energies and their function in the human organism, we have but to look at the example of the storage battery. Like a power cell, human beings have an anode and a cathode, positive and negative nodes. When both are placed in a solution capable of conducting a current, electricity is generated. The anode is positive and generally made of copper—which is red, a sun metal and aligned with the fire-sign Mars. For the cathode, zinc is used—a moon metal, bluish-white. The electrical charges gather around the anode, and through the anode we draw electricity. This electricity symbolizes the electrical (male) principle in the human organism. In the human body the pingala nerve is synonymous with Yamuna, the solar plane. The solar energy is directly connected with the right nostril. When the right nostril is used, pingala dominates and there is a slight change in body chemistry, breath, and pulse. Pingala is the energy source for all creative actions and makes meditation impossible while the right nostril operates. In pranayama yoga techniques, the sun breath required. This simply means the aspirant should breathe through his right nostril. Yamuna is one of the three holy rivers that meet at Prayag-Raj (now Allahabad) in the Uttar Pradesh province of northern India. Krishna was born near the banks of the Yamuna.
The player who lands in Ganga finds himself at the source of magnetic female energy. He experiences the nerve ida nadi, located on the left side of his spinal column. Ida nadi is the source of the body’s nourishment, attributable to its feminine (nutritive) nature. The female is magnetic, attractive; the male is electric, forceful. The magnetic energy in man is closely related to psychic energy. The player who generates more psychic energy automatically develops a personal magnetism, which attracts to him those capable of being magnetized. Magnetism is actually a balance of polarity. Magnetic power is created by the interaction of the north and south poles of any substance capable of holding energy. The flow of energy from one pole to the other encounters no obstructions, and a magnetic field forms. In the same manner, an unobstructed flow of psychic energy becomes possible when meditation is practiced during those times when the left nostril, the moon nostril, is operating. Through meditation the player lands on the lunar plane. Here he gains understanding of the female principle. He learns that a high tide in human emotions is reached on the night of the full moon, just as the ocean’s tides reach their peak during the full moon. Both are the effects of magnetism of the moon working on the planet.
Just as in the fifth chakra, knowledge had a basic meaning for the player, here, on the plane of asceticism, all the aspirations of the player are directed at the fulfillment of the hard work of repentance and asceticism. The word tapas means “selflessness,” “mortification of the flesh,” “burning.” This is the practice of meditation self-denial. Tapa-loka is the sixth of the seven main planes of being. This place does not perish with the coming of the night of Brahma. The element prevailing here is air, therefore, all combinations existing on this plane easily penetrate each other. Despite the fact that the domain of existence of the elements of creation is limited to the first five planes, in some lokas, special regions located in space, the elements still exist. Those who develop as a result of hard work on themselves, go to these worlds depending on the state of their consciousness. Tapa-loka is inhabited by great yogis and ascetics, who have departed along the path from which there is no return, immersed in deep asceticism, whose goal is to move up to the next level, satya-loka. The evolving “I” observant notices the remaining unfinished karma, and it becomes too heavy to move on. Only repentance and the flame of austerity can burn it. The player reaches tapa-loka either directly, through the practice of fourth-chakra sudharma, or gradually as he progresses through the fifth chakra, develops conscience, and masters his sun/moon energy system. The experience of oneness with all reality strips the phenomenal, sen­sory world of its attractions. All the elements are now under the player’s command. His insight into the nature of the space-time continuum enables him to see the beginning and end of creation. Living in this limited body, he becomes unlimited. The player knows he is immortal spirit in a tempo­ral body. Death ceases to inspire terror. Here the player understands the meaning of “I am That” or “That I am,” known in Sanskrit as tattvam­asi, or hamsa. The player now becomes known as paramhansa. Much is said in the West of the third eye. To understand this phenomenon, the player must undergo the rigors of the plane of austerity. He must do penance. He must get away from the identification with man or woman. His whole understanding of himself must change radically. He must recognize within himself the presence of the Divine. He must feel his own infinite nature. Here the sound Om becomes his mantra. This is the cosmic syllable that creates resonances throughout his system and helps raise his level of energy. Every hour of the day, every minute, he hears his inner sound. The sound grows more and more pervasive until it encompasses all the sounds in his environment, internal and external. Whoever is in his presence becomes calm and starts hearing the same high-frequency sounds generated by his own system. Each player has a specific effect on other players, depending on the level at which he is vibrating at the time. The presence of the first-chakra man assumes either a terrifying or a pitiable aspect. He aggressively seeks Physical survival or laments his inability to attain it. The second-chakra man, concerned with sensual indulgence, seeks to charm and soothe. His challenges broader He asserts his ego wherever and whenever possible in the search roader identifications and for confirmation of the aspects he has already assumed. The fourth-chakra player inspires those around him. He has found an emotional center and produces no threatening vibrations. The player in the fifth chakra holds up a mirror crafted of his own experience, in which other players can see themselves reflected. The presence of the sixth-chakra man reveals the Divine. The other players lose their identities and inhibitions and try to merge their consciousness with that of the one who has established himself in the plane of austerity.
Earth is the great mother principle, the stage on which consciousness enacts its eternal play, Leela. Here the player understands earth as Mother Earth, not “the earth.” The player discovers new patterns and harmonies, new ways of play, totally obscured before in the mists created by lower-chakra involvement. Both Indian tradition and modern science agree that earth had its genesis as a ball of fire. What remained after the flames finished their job became earth. Earth is not only a planet but a living organism, the great mother principle who has given birth to all that exist on her breast. And as a mother carries milk, so does the earth provide nourishment, vital life-force, food, and energy. Earth is the symbol of the sixth-chakra player. She is the product of great austerity. Her awesome birth by fire enabled her to give birth in turn to the live show of energy that is her mantle. She is the essence of tolerance and forbearance. Though her children blast her body and ignite her soul, she gives them in return diamonds, gold, and Plati­num. She follows the law of dharma selflessly and does not distinguish between high and low. Thus she is rightly placed in the sixth chakra. We see her body, the physical plane of the first chakra. What we canot see is her spirit, her intelligence, her benevolence, her significance. This is the understanding that comes to the sixth-chakra player. He sees in her game the continual interplay of sun, moon, and neutral energies that mirrors the process always going on within his own microcosmic self. Seeing inner reality reflected in the great mother, the player attains insight into Leela and becomes the Player. He must still pass through the plane of violence to gain an understanding of how to be truly fluid. But once these tests have been passed he may get a direct link with Cosmic Consciousness by landing in spiritual devotion. Thus earth has nurtured her child-player to the point where he now has the ability to create his own game, to move higher or lower according to his karmas. Sometimes in the course of the game players rise up several levels as they experience the attributes of mercy, wisdom, and right knowledge. These arrows lift them to the highest plane. But since they really do not belong there, they are not assured of attaining Cosmic Consciousness. They have to make the trip anyway, and the game pro­vides them with the snake of tamoguna to bring them back to earth, to make the effort anew. Each time the player goes higher and fails to attain the plane of Cosmic Consciousness, he must return home, to his Mother Earth—the cosmic playground. And the more the player experiences earth, the deeper he appreciates the delicate balances that maintain life on her surface. To first-chakra man she is but a coffer to pillage and loot as he chooses, without regard to consequences. Sixth-chakra man recognizes the peril of this attitude as he sees the planet he loves facing imminent danger and suffering possibly irremediable damage.

The Player who attains the sixth chakra realizes the unity of all existence,
Human bodies are but transient forms. The real essence of all
players exists beyond the realm of name and form. The player knows that death is just a change in the life scenario. Hence arises the danger that the player will resort to violent means, knowing full well his actions
ultimately harm no other players.

But the world is the stage of Leela and karma. Each player has the opportunity of reaching Cosmic Consciousness within his present life. The law of karma dictates that all players must be allowed to enact their dramas to the end, to finish the play. Sixth-chakra acts of violence are not excepted from the omnipresent karmic principle. This makes the plane of violence a snake that draws the player down to fourth-chakra
purgatory, where he must atone for his acts.

It has been individuals vibrating here who throughout history have launched the crusades, jihads, and other “holy” wars. The perpetrators of these vast pageants of human suffering and death always see themselves as great reformers of consciousness. Better the other player be killed than suffer his soul to live in ignorance, runs the rationale of the sixth-chakra zealot. After all, nobody really dies. . . .

Real violence is not possible before the sixth chakra. Acts of violence can be performed by players in lower chakras, but these are seen
by the players as self-defense, as reactions to an external threat. In the
sixth chakra players realize that no threat comes from outside. First‑ chakra violence arises over money and belongings. Second-chakra violence concerns sex and pleasure. The thirst for power creates violence in the third chakra. Fourth-chakra man kills to dispose of karma, to even old scores. Agnosticism is the fuel of fifth-chakra violence. In the sixth chakra establishment of a creed, cult, or religion inevitably provides the motivation for excessive force. Those responsible for man’s unholy wars have been high ascetics, who have performed hard penances in order to gain powers. But if the karmas are bad, asceticism can lend itself to a sort of dangerous solipsism. The player believes he has all the truth—that he is, in fact, God or his agent. Those who fail to agree are wrong; therefore any means is justifiable to convert them. Better they die With understanding than live in ignorance.

In the lower chakras freedom of action is not present. In the sixth chakra the player becomes his own master and gains great powers through austerity and penance. Power in himsa-loka becomes violence. The player is violent with his own self before he can perform an act of violence on another. It requires perfect self-confidence to be violent. This self-confidence does not come before the sixth chakra. What had been reaction in the lower chakras is now nothing less than a sort of spiritual anarchy.

The player’s lack of fluidity and spiritual devotion draw him down to even harder penances in purgatory, where he must truly repent from the heart to be able to go on with the game and seek the path of spiritual devotion.

Bhakti, or spiritual devotion, is based on the doctrine “Love is God, and God is love.” A bhakta-devotee is in love with his Deity. The Deity is the beloved, and the devotee is the lover. The bhakta or lover experiences separation and longs to meet or even just glimpse his beloved. Nothing else attracts him; nothing else holds his attention; all else is meaningless. Food, sleep, sex, attachments, responsibilities—all are no longer important. He is dominated by his sense of separation and cries in ecstasy to have a glimpse of the Lord. When the bhakta is blessed by divine grace he feels an undivided union, and nondual consciousness prevails. He and his Lord then are one, and a Divine experience assures the devotee of grace that comes from the Divine. Bhakti is the most direct method, the shortest way to experience the Divine. All yoga and knowledge, gyana, rests on the foundation stone of true faith, true devotion, true bhakti. There is nothing higher than love, and bhakti is the religion of love. Love is indeed God. To kindle the candle of love with the spark of knowledge, and to do the yoga of love, is bhakti. In the final stage of the opening of the sixth chakra, when the player has become liquid and pure, he understands the real value of the game. He understands reality both as it exists and as it appears. He knows the necessity of the plane of austerity, and of gyana, right knowledge, and sudhartna, selfless service. He sees too that anger, conceit, nullity, sorrow, and ignorance are all meaningful aspects of experience. He is beyond all valuations. Everything has equal meaning and validity. He knows that as long as he remains in the body his karma dice will lead him on his journey, stage by stage, square by square. He knows he will fall victim to serpents along the way, just as he knows he will find arrows as well. All around himself the player sees the same game enacted by others, all passing through the same states at different rhythms and at varying intensities. He has attained stability in himself by mastering his will. For further development he now needs an emotional center for his life. To lose his identifications he can do nothing other than identify with the Divinity, in one form or all. One form becomes every form at this moment, the moment the player lands in bhakti-loka. In whatever form he finds the Divine, all other forms are magically present. The form literally becomes the Deity, which in turn becomes the devotee, an ecstatic bhakta. Earlier the player did not accept Leela—play—as his basic nature and remained caught in sixth-chakra vibrations until his energy accelerated too rapidly and became violent. But acceptance of Leela gives him devotion to the game itself. He experiences the squares as a play of divine energy, and he feels oneness with each of them. They are all manifestations of his Lord. True bhakti, therefore, comes in the sixth chakra. Knower and known, subject and object, deity and devotee—all become One. In the sixth chakra the player understands this, and thus the many become a whole. In the fourth chakra there is duality. Unity comes after knowledge is gained, in the fifth chakra. Without spiritual devotion the player begins to think in terms of an ocean. Spiritual devotion is the arrow that takes the drop to the ocean, after the drop has first realized the presence of the ocean within itself. This is the only direct path to Cosmic Consciousness. The essence of Cosmic Consciousness could not be realized by sheer gyana or knowledge. It is spiritual devotion that converts Cosmic Consciousness into a friend and gives a face-to-face realization of the Divine to the player. Knowledge and wisdom only provide an awareness of the cosmic principle. Devotion lets the player see the Absolute manifested in all experience. The Divine presence is everywhere, in everything. Gyana makes a wise man out of the player, while bhakti makes him a divine child, ever in the warm lap of his mother and under the benevolent protection of his father. A wise man has to travel a long distance to see God. The bhakta is continually surrounded by the Deity in his myriad names and forms, in the sum total of life experience.
Aham means “I” or “I am.” Kara (from akar) means form. When the I assumes a form it becomes ahamkara. When the center of activities in the player’s individual self becomes his “I,” then his ahamkara gets trapped in the maya of me and mine. When ahamkara — which is actually the highest aspect of reality—fails to identify with the whole and becomes a lonely part, then ahamkara becomes egotism. When all the attentions of the player are directed solely toward attaining the object of his desire, the player becomes self-centered. Means are no longer important. The only good means are those, fair or foul, that hasten him to his goal. As long as he has humility and consideration, and love for others, the means he adopts will have to make sense to him. He knows his own desires are not so important that they justify causing pain to another. But when desire overcomes the player’s psyche, and he can no longer identify with humility, love, patience, respect, and consideration, he becomes an agnostic. He loses all sight values in the here-and-now, by involvement in the karmas of establishing his identity in the game. Melding with Cosmic Consciousness looks like a death to the ego, Old patterns, notions, and ideas must fall away if the player is to attain liberation. But ahamkara does not want to die. The ego wants to hold on to old identifications. This resistance increases the closer the player comes to attaining Cosmic Consciousness. Hindu seers believe that sound is the source of all creation. Sound is the subtlest gross form in which energy existed before the creation, There are fifty-two forms in which sound energy exists in manifested form (akar), and when the human organism evolved, these sounds localized themselves at the nerve endings of the psychic energy centers. The beginning sound is the simplest sound, aa. The last sound is ha. So all existence is from aa to ha. And the sense of identification that joins the aa to ha is ahamkara, the sense of being an individual self. Yogis recognize consciousness in the human organism as having four primary aspects or categories: manas, mind; buddhi, intellect; chitta, being; and ego, ahamkara. All that is received as sensory perception is mind. The understanding of sense perceptions—their categorization and evaluation—is buddhi. The enjoyment and feeling of the sense-perceptions is registered upon chitta. He who thinks he is enjoying or receiving those sense perceptions as one person is the ego, ahamkara. When this ego becomes “the only one,” every other thing becomes a means for the player to fulfill himself. Thus when ahamkara is not joined to Cosmic Consciousness it becomes egotism. Ego is a direct effect of the feeling-self, chitta. In order to play the game, this feeling-self identifies with an object that moves from square to square, sometimes raised higher by arrows and at other times dropped precipitously by snakes. When the player totally identifies with the object, becoming elated with the arrow’s rise and depressed With the serpent’s bite, he is a victim of egotism. He is too attached of play and has forgotten his own divine nature. This ahamkara does not exist before the fifth chakra, while the player is still in the process of taking birth. The fifth chakra is the plane of the birth of man, where ahamkara appears on the stage. The ego passes through ignorance and right knowledge and learns to hear the voice of his conscience as he enters the sixth chakra. But it is in the sev­enth chakra that the player really establishes his identity and begins to stabilize himself around an internal center. The player has found that he does not exist as a separate reality, that he is a manifestation of energy and must at some stage in his development merge with his source. It is here that the ego faces the danger of death and can turn into egotism. The seventh chakra is the highest plane in the microcosm of the player. Here he reaches the peak and attains all that he has striven for. There are only two possibilities when one has attained a summit: merging upward in Pure vibration and becoming formless, or falling. And the higher the player rises the farther there is to fall. If ahamkara fights the flow of sudharma, anger is the inevitable result. This draws his energy down to the first chakra, where he must begin again his climb to the top. Ego becomes egotism when the player is too self-centered. In Hindu mythology the Puranas are filled with descriptions of this egotism, which was always reached after great penance and austerity. After the aspirant attained the boon of power, and became an egotist, he proclaimed himself to be God. This false identification drew him down to first-chakra anger, greed, delusion, vanity, and avarice. The whole planet became disturbed. Earth appeared as a cow before Vishnu and asked him to relieve her of the burden of egotism. At this point as described in the epics, Vishnu, the great protector of life, assumed a form by taking birth. In Leela, the God then sets out to slay the dragon of egotism in the player, an egotism contrary to the principle of preservation. Aharnkara is the food of Vishnu. Cosmic Consciousness is his dwelling place.
Om is the one sound present throughout the universe, manifest and unmanifest. It is the subtlest form in which energy exists. Omkar is the plane of the vibrations that produce this cosmic sound by remaining true to their dharma. The player who lands here discovers Om as the true sound of all being. In the beginning there was sound, the Word. And the Word was with God and was God. This same sound can be realized by the player who abandons the trap of desire, which is mind, and meditates while creating sound with his body. Om is the basis of all knowledge, all poetry, all the fine arts. Centering on Om opens to the player all the vast resources within himself which were blocked out before by lower-chakra maya. This same sound is also a great device for relieving tension. It is a sound used by every player consciously or unconsciously. For Om is the sound of humming. Everybody hums. Poets and composers, especially, make use of this sound to inspire creativity. Om is at once Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer—the three aspects of Divinity. If the player finds himself associated with a disturbing ele­ment in his environment and wants to align himself with the harmonic rhythms of the planet, all he need do is start humming. The process makes him introverted, turning inward to unearth the vast treasures buried in the depths of consciousness, chitta. If poets and composers vibrate in the lower chakras, their humming brings forth works that relate to that level of vibration. If they vibrate higher, their works relate to that higher plane. The Hindus believe that all the Vedas came out of Om. And it is clear that the Vedas were written by saints and seers who were also poets and composers already vibrat­ing on high planes, for their work is the highest form of poetry, touched with the spark of the Divine. The player who lands in Omkar has realized the need for creating calm in his life, for simplifying his existence. Worldly distractions have kept him away from Om and the cosmic wisdom it unearths. With the simplification of his existence, each action performed is performed consciously. The player ceases to be a slave of habit. As his being becomes more finely attuned to reality, he literally hums. The humming process is Om-ing. This same sound appears in discussion when one affirms one is paying attention to the speaker. One makes pain and a humming sound —Hmm or Ah. In the form of a sigh, Om relieves both pain and tension, and changes the body chemistry by driving out bad chemicals. Humming vibrates the whole system, but most especially the top of the head – seventh chakra. In the sixth chakra Om was the sound for meditation, for bringing the player into contact with reality. Here in the seventh chakra, Om is realized – a fact ofexistense. The Vedic claim that Om enables the player to discover knowledge never present in his embodied life experience was confirmed in a study at the University of Saskatchewan. A group of 200 students chanted Om while trying to discover the answer to a question that none in the group knew. At the end of less than an hour of chanting, one in ten had uncovered the answer from the storehouse of cosmic knowledge that Om unlocks.
Vayu-loka (literally, “the plane of air”) is located in the region of satya­loka, the plane of reality, in the seventh row of the game board. This vayu is not the same wind or air as found on the physical or earth plane. It is the essence of the physical element air. Marut is the ruler of this plane. He is also synonymous with Indra, the lord of Heaven (Indra is one who has obtained supremacy over his sensual nature). Vayu-loka is a plane where the player becomes a current of energy along which the whole atmosphere moves, obtaining suprem­acy over mass and weight. Those who dwell in this region are enlight­ened souls with a light body who have not yet reached the satya-loka, the plane of reality. The player who lands in vayu-loka has made his passage through Omkar and achieved, through his karmas, higher vibrational patterns. Maruts are friends and brothers of Indra, controlling the atmosphere of the physical plane. They bring rain and fill the earth with the vital life-force. They become pranic energy on the physical plane and the life-breath of breathing souls. Air is synonymous with movement, inside and outside the body. All movements of fluids inside living organisms are due to air. Air is essential to life, and each and every cell has a vacuole (an air space). Air is thus present everywhere. The dweller in vayu-loka, being the life-force, life-breath, has the same quality as was found in the sixth chakra: his presence can be felt anywhere, or in several places simultaneously can now dissolve the essence of his being, the ego, assume a gaseous form, and float in the gaseous plane. In the sixth chakra came the liquid plane, but liquid still has a form. Gas, however, has no definite form at all. Liquid contains both mass and weight; gas does not. The player is no longer burdened but he has gained true freedom of action. He becomes weightless and formless.
Teja means light, and teja-loka is the plane of light. In the Upanishads, self or consciousness is said to have four states: I. The waking state, called jagrat, in which the self is known as vaishvanara. 2. The dream state, called swapna, in which consciousness is known as taijas or tejas—full of light, or made of light. 3. The state of deep sleep, called sushupti, in which it is known as pragya. 4. The altered state of consciousness called turiya: the unconscious/ conscious state in which it is known as Brahman, Cosmic Consciousness. Teja is the light that was created in the beginning. The world that we experience in the waking state is the phenomenal world that comes in the stage of creation before this. The phenomenal world is in the teja—in the light from which it materializes. It appears to be similar to the world of the dream state, but it is not. That state is completely made of light. The images we see in photographs look exactly like the real person, but they are different patterns of light, which vary to create an illusion of reality. Taijas is related to the astral body sukshma, which is composed of light and in which the player dwells when he dreams. To radiate is to emit light. Omkar is sound. After sound comes air, vayu-loka. And after air comes fire, teja, the subtle element responsible for all the forms of manifestation. Fire cannot exist without air, just as the player cannot land in teja-loka without first passing through the plane of air. Every substance has a combustion point, a temperature at which it bursts into flame in the presence of oxygen. Heat is the excitation of molecules. The faster the molecules move, the greater the heat. Fire comes when this movement is too fast to be contained by the material. As the player rises higher and higher his own level of vibration increases. In the seventh chakra he reaches the essence of vibration. Then, his vibrations fully raised, he passes through air and bursts into radiant flame, giving light to all those around him. When the player lands in teja-loka his light can be felt throughout the world. Though there are billions of stars in the sky, only a few are brilliant enough to be visible, and there is but one sun in each solar sys­tem. It is here that the player becomes light, illuminated. He becomes a sun, gathering around himself the astral bodies necessary to form a complete solar system. The plane of radiation is not directly attainable by any arrow. The player must reach it slowly and gradually, unless he attains illumination through the practice of spiritual devotion.
Satya-loka is the last plane of the seven main lokas seated in the spine of the game board. In satya-loka, akash tattva predominates: the player here attains the Shabd-Brahman world and is on the verge of liberation from the cycle of births and rebirths. He has reached the highest plane, beyond which lies the vaikuntha, the abode of Cosmic Consciousness. This loka does not perish at the night of Brahma, the Creator. Shabda is the word, the aum, which is itself Brahman (Absolute Reality, Cos­mic Consciousness). Shabd Brahman is the plane of primal vibrations­ – Omkar. After passing through the plane of primal vibrations the player is able to establish himself in reality. Satya is truth, reality, God. Here the player reaches his highest chakra and becomes reality, realized. Before this level the game is all a process of evolving toward this nature, his own true reality. The player who reaches here attains harmony, a balance with the forces of the cosmos. There are no obstructions to the flow of his energy. It is here that the player becomes satchitananda (sat = truth; chit being; ananda = bliss). He realizes that bliss is the truth of being. He stays in the state of samadhi as a drop rests in the ocean. He dwells in an ocean of bliss. His presence becomes divine, and he confers grace on other players. Even here the player is not liberated. There are three snakes in the seventh row of the game. The first is egotism. The second is negative intellect. The third is tamas. By reaching the plane of reality the player has escaped one of these snakes, but two are left to contest his quest for liberation. If doubt or laziness remains, the snakes will pull him down. But if the player stays in positive intellect, and his karma die leads him successfully past the snake of tamas, there remain happiness and the planes of the eighth row—and Cosmic Consciousness. He is aware of the dangers he faces, and he knows he must still perform right karmas to attain his goal. This is his realization on the plane of Reality. He realizes that not simply by vibrating in the seventh chakra will he attain Cosmic Consciousness. There are more karmas, more tests. There are no more arrows ahead of him, no more sudden upward movements of energy. He has to make his way according to his karmas.
Subuddhi is right understanding, which comes only after reaching the plane of reality. After the player reaches satya-loka he attains perfect nondual consciousness and perceives the Divine in all phenomena. Non‑ dual consciousness is real subuddhi. As long as the player is in the body, intellect plays its part. It discriminates, distinguishes, and evaluates. In the seventh chakra these value judgments no longer relate to the outside world but turn inward to discern the player’s own inner reality. Each judgment produces a change in body chemistry. These states are known as feelings. When the player reaches Cosmic Consciousness his symbol, the ring (which is his body), loses importance. But until the sixty-eighth square is reached, the four faculties of consciousness—buddhi, manas, chitta, and ahamkara—keep working. Ahamkara in its negative phase becomes ego­tism. Buddhi also assumes positive and negative forms. Chitta remains in constant action and interaction with the three gunas. Before reaching the plane of reality, buddhi does not become a self-existing phenomenon, and this is true for ahamkara as well. After the experience of samadhi in the seventh chakra, and the realization that comes from direct experience of the noumenon, buddhi starts analyzing and categorizing the experience. Here the direction can be either positive or negative. The positive way of vibrating, subuddhi, is achieved by following the path of dharma, the source of the arrow that ends here. Positive intellect joined to the flow of the player’s dharma are two of the most potent tools in the game to aid the player in his quest for liberation.
If the player does not follow the law of dharma, doubting the cosmic nature of existence and the divine presence in his every experience, he is caught by the snake of negative intellect and brought down to nullity. He can neither relate to the lower planes nor call on dharma for help. He has to pass through all the second-chakra planes of vibration unless the arrows of mercy or charity intervene. Unless he gets the aid of the arrows he must atone for his negativity and find dharma again, or else chart an entirely new course of action. Buddhi is at once a great trap and a great tool for liberation. As subuddhi it is a tool in the service of liberation. So durbuddhi is a down­ward spiraling vortex, which sucks the psychic energy back into the plane of the imagination. Durbuddhi represents the negative valuations in the player that cause him to shut out possibilities. In order to reach his goal, the player must be able to accept whatever the world presents to him. If he denies any aspect, if he doubts the presence of God in any single object, he denies God. For the Divine is reality. All is the manifestation of the One. Durbuddhi is negation, negation of the Divine. This is why the player who comes here dwells in nullity. All his energies drained in his denial of God, he finds himself in futility. Until he can accept what he has denied, until he finds dharma again, he has no hope of liberation. But nullity is a transient state. Cosmic Consciousness is the only absolute. And if the player reaches the seventh chakra again, his forced banishment to nullity can provide the insight necessary to maintain posi­tive intellect and avoid the jaws of this serpent.
A balance in body chemistry and psychic phenomena: that is happiness. Sukh, happiness, is a state the player attains through vivek, conscience, or by chanting Om, achieving samadhi and maintaining a positive intellect. Sukh comes to the player when his conscience tells him that he is very near his goal, giving him the certainty that he is nearing liberation. The feeling he experiences is ineffable, beyond the power of words to describe. He feels the happiness of the river merging for the last time with the ocean after a thousand-mile journey, a feeling of merging with his source. If in his state of happiness the player does not neglect his karmas and become lazy and inactive, there is a real chance of attaining Cosmic Consciousness within his lifetime. But if he is overwhelmed with the experience of happiness and fails to act, sensing his mission complete, the snake of tamas lurks just beside him, to swallow him and drain his energies back to the first chakra. The game tells us he still needs a six to reach his goal, just as he needed six to take birth. But if he becomes lazy, if he feels there is nothing left for him to do, there lurk tamas and illusion. True happiness is for the player who maintains his balance as he nears his goal. The game is important in its totality. His stable intel­lect enables him to discern patterns of flow, the current of dharma. He accepts whatever life presents to him. There is nothing he rejects. Even if he reaches the eighth plane and must come back again to the earth he feels the happiness that comes with knowing there is a goal that reached.
In Sanskrit tamas means dark, relating to darkness. Darkness is an absence of light. Light is knowledge; dark is ignorance; ignorance is mind. And tamas has a second literal meaning in Sanskrit: it means snake. Tamas is a dark snake, the longest snake in the game, one that inexorably draws the player back into illusion and out of the illumination of the plane of reality. In the seventh chakra, tamas is the ignorance that comes from attaching importance to sense perceptions. This ignorance comes after one realizes happiness and thinks that it is the end of the performance of karmas. But the player cannot stop all karmas. From happiness, the highest karma is a six, the lowest a one. Action cannot stop entirely. Tamas is complete surrender to illusion. The player has lost sight of the never-ending nature of play. He has forgotten that until liberation is attained the game is not over. Inaction is an attempt to avoid the law of karma. Karma is dharma in action. The player who lands in tamas has forgotten that play does not stop in the seventh row and that by attain­ing samadhi he has not attained liberation. When movement slows in the upward direction, it must still be expressed—and the only direction from the highest chakra is down. The longest snake in the game awaits the player who neglects his karmas. Three factors are at work in any event. The first is dharma, the essence of action. The second is karma, the action itself. The third is inaction, inertia, resistance. Because of the nature of the game, inaction triggers a downward flow of energy. Karmas are unavoidable. Attempt­ing to avoid them is a karma itself, an action. Attempting to avoid karma is a karma that draws the player back to the second space of the game, illusion. Tamas is synonymous with the state of deep sleep. When the sensory organs are completely withdrawn and awareness dissolves in sleep, the player is no better than a corpse, even though he is still breathing. In meditation, when all activities of the mind completely stop and the sense perceptions are drawn inward, it becomes easy for the player to slide ever so gently from the sattvic action less state into the hypnogogic state, ending in deep sleep. For this reason tamas falls in the seventh row of the game. It is here that tamas becomes a snake. At other spaces where he has vibrated, tamas has been necessary for the player. But here, in the plane of meditation (a form of inaction), tamas is a snake that changes the entire course of energy flow, drawing the player back to illusion. An attribute of tamoguna, tamas is the manifestation of the guna in the microcosm. When the same force is discussed as an attribute of prakriti, the phenomenal plane, it is known as tamoguna.
Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita defines prakriti as twofold: both mani­fested and divine. Manifested prakriti is the phenomenal world, com­posed of earth, air, water, fire, and akash, plus mind (manas), intellect (buddhi), and ego (aharnkara). This prakriti is eightfold and gross. The Divine prakriti is Maya Shakti. Krishna says to Arjuna, after mentioning the eightfold manifested prakriti, “Know my other prakriti, the higher, the life of all existence by which the universe is upheld.” This is the imperishable prakriti, the will of the Supreme, everlasting and ever pass­ing. This prakriti is beyond the seven lokas, beyond akash. The element predominant here is mahat, which is the source of all other elements: mind, intellect, and ego. Maha is “great,” and stands for tattva (ele­ment), so mahat is maha tattva — the great element — from which the eight lesser elements emerge. So therefore, gross, phenomenal existence comes from the divine prakriti. After the process of manifestation is complete, with the evolu­tion of the individual self or man, a counter evolution starts—the self wants to reach back to the source. In this process the player starts from the physical plane (which he has reached in his journey from subtle to gross) and through karma and spiritual disciplines crosses the seven lokas. When he is able to overcome tamas he reaches prakriti-loka. Up to the seventh level of the game the player confronts manifesta­tions of prakriti. But after crossing through these seven planes he has gained experience and perspective. He is able to see what lies behind the world of sense-objects, and that is prakriti. Every percept has a concept. Concept without percept is empty; percept without concept is blind. Now the player draws near the concept, equipped with the percepts of his experience. Now he understands the fountainhead of phenomenal existence. In Sanskrit prakriti means the original form of a thing, origin or source, material cause, the matter out of which anything is formed, a pattern, a woman, a mother. Prakriti is energy in its primordial form. It is energized consciousness, conscious energy in undifferentiated vibra­tion. From this state develops the phase of consolidation of energy, of differentiation, of manifestation. Out of this state consolidated energy manifests itself in three primary dimensions: 1. The material content (which is also inertia, latent potential) that forms the body of the phenomenon. 2. Action and interaction in the process of evolution. 3. The purpose inherent within the phenomenon: the noumenon. When the player lands in prakriti-loka after passing through the plane of reality, he is able to apprehend the three ones and the five elements in their most essential form.
After crossing the seventh row of the game and realizing the existence of prakriti, the player begins to merge into the source of phenomena, the great unenergized consciousness. At the moment of mergence all duality ceases. The player receives the pure experience of his own vast dimen­sions, the infinite space that lies within the Self. Ur means the feeling self. Ant means end. Uranta-loka is the place where the feeling self ends, where all sense of separation ends. The player experiences the unfathomable depths within his own self. He finds the evolution and dissolution of all creation within the space of a single breath. He sees that all barriers are illusory. He has understood the nature of prakriti and realized the oneness that lies behind all mani­festation. Now he is merging with that oneness. Here there are no feelings. The witness-self has become fully real­ized. There is no good or bad, no vice or virtue. The player is a clear lens, allowing the passage of all light without restriction. A description of uranta-loka can be found in the Puranas or Samhi­tas, works penned by seers and saints who experienced this space. They vividly described the cosmic knowledge that flowed through them. They became lenses of the lamp of pure knowledge, holding on to nothing, understanding everything.
Consciousness is truth, being, and bliss—satchitananda. Ananda is the highest truth, the essence of being. In the process of manifestation the Self is slowly covered by five sheaths. The first and most subtle sheath is anandmayee kosh, the sheath of pure being, pure feelings of pure consciousness. This is the sheath of bliss (ananda). At the center is Cosmic Consciousness. During the period of manifestation this acts as the individual consciousness. The second is the level of ego and intellect. This sheath is called vigyanmayee kosh. Vigyan is a combination of vi and gyan. Vi means beyond, gyana knowledge, mayee engrossed, and kosh sheath. This sheath, which deals with the knowledge of the beyond, is ego (which perceives itself as a separate reality) and the intellect (the evaluator). The third is the sheath of the mind, the manomayee kosh (means = mind). Mind works with the help of five sensory organs: the ear, the on skin, the eye, the tongue, and the nose. From here comes all percept of the phenomenal world, the world of desires. The fourth is pranmayee kosh, the sheath of prana, the vital life-force, the energy that operates through the five work organs and systems inside the body, including the blood vascular system, the respi­ratory system, and the nervous system, through which karmas are performed. The fifth and most gross sheath is the annamayee kosha. Anna means the grain or food from which muscles, skin, teeth, blood cells, and semen are composed—the phenomenal person. In the evolution of the inner self this process is reversed. The player goes through the annamayee kosh to the pranmayee, and crossing the four sheaths establishes himself finally in the sheath of bliss, the anan­dmayee kosh. Ananda is the chief characteristic of consciousness. It differs from pleasure, happiness, joy, and delight. These others can be explained, observed, and evaluated. They are relative states, which intellect can evaluate and categorize. Buddhi leads to gyana, the arrow that leads to the plane of bliss. Ananda is the primordial feeling of which all others are but manifestations. It underlies feeling and always exists at the heart of the player’s being. But ananda can only be experienced directly, not observed in others. A deaf-mute cannot communicate the taste of a piece of candy in words. Only movements, gestures, and expressions can be employed. Ananda cannot be described or expressed; it can only be experienced. In uranta-loka the feeling-self ended. All feelings became one when the world of sense-objects became one, since feelings are based on sen­sory perceptions. And prakriti-loka gave the player the knowledge that all sense-objects are but expressions of the one phenomenon. Here but one feeling remains, the feeling of bliss. The experience of bliss is difficult until one achieves wisdom and becomes realized. The only alternative is devoting full attention to dharma while making the gradual journey up through the planes, avoiding all the snakes.
Rudra is one of the names of Shiva. Creation is the start of a threefold activity. It is followed by preservation of manifested forms and finally their disintegration or destruction. Each existing phenomenon is therefore going through the cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction. These three processes are ministered by the three powers of the one Cre­ator, who is created by none and creates all. He creates from his will the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu), and the Destroyer (Shiva). The three are interrelated and interdependent. Creation is the divine will, and so are preservation and destruction. Without destroying the false identity—the concept of a separate reality, the individual ego—real union is not possible. Thus Shiva makes the individual consciousness one with Cosmic Consciousness. Rudra is the lord of the south in the phenomenal world and is the furious form of Shiva. He was known as Rudra because he took birth from the cry of the Creator, Brahma. By his grace the mortals live, enjoy the divine game, create, destroy, or pay back karmas—the physical plane or phenomenal world being the land of karma. Shiva also means good, good for all. He is cosmic good, alchemi­cally changing magnetic into electrical energy and sending it back to the source. This evolution of individual consciousness is completed on the plane of Rudra. Here there is only one more step to union with Cos­mic Consciousness. This is the loka, where the player’s final purification takes place. This plane is beyond the manifested universe and is com­posed of the same element as ananda-loka, the plane of bliss. Knowing, feeling, and doing are the three attributes of human con­sciousness. Knowing what? Truth. Feeling what? Beauty. And doing what? Good. For the player of the game, these three are the summum of human existence. Good (being) is chit, truth is sat, beauty is ananda: satchitananda. By following the path of satyam shivam sundarum — truth, beauty, good — the player becomes satchitananda. These three aspects of consciousness are also known as bindu, bija, and nada, and they are worshipped as the three primary gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra. Doing good requires knowledge of the right. Right knowledge can lead the player to the experience of cosmic good directly from the fifth chakra. The player who reaches here offers no resistance to the flow of dharma. He simply does his job, whatever the cosmic forces ask of him. Rudra-loka is one of the three central squares of the uppermost row of the game. These spaces are the dwelling-places of the God-forces responsible for all creation, the forces with which the aspirant tries to identify. The player who seeks to identify with knowledge of the right finds himself in the abode of Shiva. Here he realizes the right, cosmic good. The essence of cosmic good is truth, while its form is beauty.
Above and beyond all other lokas, in the region of the beyond, is Vaikuntha—the loka of Cosmic Consciousness, the prana of manifested reality. This loka is also composed of mahat, the “element” that is the source of elements and not an element by itself. Before the player starts to play the game, he accepts the importance and significance of this, the plane of Being, which is always his goal. Whatever desires lure him away from his path, this is always his highest desire—to attain moksha, liberation. Vaikuntha is the abode of Vishnu and the plane every Hindu hopes to realize after passing from the resent form of existence. The dwelling-place of Vishnu is the plane of Cosmic Consciousness because Vishnu is truth, the great protector of consciousness throughout its upward climb. The karma dice observes the vibrational level of the player at all times. The dice determines where the player must be placed and what course of action is to be adopted. The player can follow ashtanga yoga, the eightfold yoga, and evolve path by path through the eight levels. Or he can follow dharma and become a bhakta, a spiritual devotee. All paths lead to the same place. Whatever his course of action among the limitless possibilities, the player has now arrived at the seat of Vishnu. And Vishnu is the essence of all creation, Cosmic Consciousness itself, truth. It is directly above the plane of reality because the highest reality is truth. The ring that symbolized the player goes back to the finger of the one who wore it: it has lost all meaning. The game stops. What happens now depends on the player. The nature of cosmic play is simple. It is to discover by what different combinations, with what new karmas, with which companions can the player reenter the game and strive anew to seek the state that is his real home. He can continue the game of hide-and-seek with himself, or he can remain beyond the game for ever. Or he can go back to earth to see if he can help others reach the goal, thus taking the role of the twice-born boddhisattva. The choice is his. No one else can choose.
On one side of Vaikuntha is the loka of Rudra, and on the other side is the loka of Brahma, forming the triad of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva in the middle of the game board, in the topmost row. This plane is higher than manifestation: the seven major and other minor planes mentioned is and not mentioned on the game board. The predominant element again mahat. Those who have established themselves in the truth dwell here without fear of going through karmic roles again, while those who practice mercy also reach the plane of Brahma, the Creator, and dwell there fearlessly. Brahma is the creator of phenomenal existence. He is the active principle of noumenon, the force that energizes consciousness into the countless patterns and forms. His abode is Brahma-loka. The player landing here merges with this Absolute, this subtle principle. Brahma is the cosmic organizer who decrees the laws of form. Though situated immediately adjacent to Cosmic Consciousness in the eighth row of the game, Brahma cannot liberate the player. Play must go on. Brahma decrees the form of the game, but there is more to the game than form. Truth alone can liberate the player. The three gunas await the player, and the serpent tamoguna must eventually take the player back to earth, the mother. He goes back to the sixth chakra, but not without the insight into the principles of the game that he attained in Brahma-loka. This insight can help him to his goal, and on earth spiri­tual devotion waits one throw of the dice away.
Sat means truth. When liberated, truth is Cosmic Consciousness. But this same truth, linked to the karma dice, becomes subject to the three gunas, the three primary aspects of consciousness (guna means attribute). Attri­butes are qualifications of the player who is still linked to the karmic dice. Truth is the essence of existence. And in anything that exists the three gunas operate. Truth cannot exist of itself; it would then merge into Cosmic Consciousness. But the game is not finished; the ring is still there. So it is through these three gunas that consciousness will manifest itself for the remainder of the game. The player must return to earth and its game, both of which are products of the gunas. Sattva by itself will create a state of equilibrium. Activity is required, and material to be activated. Satoguna is synonymous with light, essence, true nature, and vibration at its highest frequencies. The undisturbed state of meditation that gives rise to sarnadhi comes about when sattva predominates. All that exists contains sattva, rajas, and tamas; yet nothing is purely sattvic, rajasic, or tamasic. As long as there is form, the creation of Brahma, all three are present. Only the proportions vary from moment to moment. In the waking state rajas is predominant, while sattva is in the back­ground contributing understanding and knowledge and enabling the player to act out his role. In the dream state rajas is again predominant, and the dreaming self gets education from sattva. We never see darkness in our dreams; their light comes from sattva. Dreams are a process of purification, and in the dreaming state one is not bound by the laws of the physical plane. The player dwells in his astral body—away from and outside his physical body, yet connected with it by sattvic links. In the deep-sleep state tamas is predominant, while sattva and rajas go into the background. In turiya—the state of unconscious consciousness or samadhi, trance—the player dwells in pure sattva. When one is able to transcend the gunas, one is a realized being known as gunateet (beyond guna). These gunas are the dynamic forces that bring about changes in primor­dial prakriti and help the process of manifestation, becoming active when the cycle of creation starts. They are not three different entities but are inter convertible. Sattva during the process of evolution becomes tamas, creating sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell frequencies. The converting agent is rajas. Tamas in the evolution of consciousness becomes sattva in the same way, with the help of rajas. Sattva by itself is inactive and without the help of rajas cannot change. Sattva predominates on earth from twilight to three hours after sunrise.
Rajoguna is the activity in consciousness, or consciousness in activity. After reaching the eighth plane and failing to attain Cosmic Conscious­ness, the player is drawn on by karma, activity. This activity is the cause of all suffering. It predisposes one who is acting, and he is liable to fall prey to ambition and grow fond of rewards. Any obstacle in the course of pursuing a reward, or a desire, causes pain, suffering, and sorrow. When rajoguna dominates, pain and agony can be the result. In samadhi the player dissolves rajoguna into satoguna and becomes pure light, sattva. If rajoguna remains, the player cannot attain sama­dhi, and tamas drags him back to earth. Because karmas accumulate and generate frequencies of vibration, these patterns take on form and become subject to the game. As a guna, rajoguna balances sattva and tamas. Tamas tries to domi­nate sattva. Sattva tries to dominate tamas. Both are extremes of energy in guna form. Rajas tries to keep sattva and tamas in balance and makes the world of pleasure and pain, name and form, possible. No guna can exist by itself. Rajoguna is active from three hours after sunrise to the evening when the sun starts setting. During this period the planet earth becomes active, and all the karmas concerning the preservation of life are performed. Rajas makes the player perfectly extrovert—and when he ceases to be an extrovert, rajoguna becomes an internal dialogue. Without conversation of rajas into sattva, the achievement of higher states of consciousness is not possible. By employing rajoguna in sattvic jobs one can remain in sattva while active.
After sunset tamoguna predominates until twilight and puts the whole world to sleep. As gunas, satoguna, rajoguna, and tamoguna remain in primordial prakriti. After creation starts, mahat comes into existence, in which satoguna predominates. From mahat comes buddhi (intellect); from buddhi comes ahamkar (ego), which becomes sattvic ahamkar, creating mind (manas), and rajasic ahamkar, creating indriyas (the sensory organs and work-organs) and tamasic ahamkar, creating the tanmatras. Tanmatra denotes that which is pure, not mixed. The tanmatras are five: sound, touch, color, taste, and smell. They correspond to the five great elements (maha bhutas): akash, air, fire, water, and earth. Combined, they create the individual self, in which these gunas are active in all four states of consciousness. Acting in the manifested world, they are not the pure gunas of primordial prakriti, for they have also become manifested. At that level, tamoguna becomes the greatest snake of the game board, tamas, at the end of the seventh chakra. In the eighth row the gunas are near the source and consequently purer. The last square of the board and the beginning of a new phase of cosmic play provides the form, the material for the player. It comes in the form of a snake that bites the player and brings him back to earth. Tamoguna is differentiated conscious energy. It contains light, but because of ignorance and lack of initiation it cannot evolve by itself. It needs rajas before the sattva within it will come out, reaching down to earth and taking form with the help of karma. Tamoguna veils the truth, making a serpent appear as a rope and a rope as a serpent. Darkness is the essential attribute of tamoguna, and inactivity its nature. The player who lands here immediately leaves the plane of cosmic forces and returns to earth to discover a new path to truth. What happens is known only to the player and to the One who is truth.

 The original name of this game is Jnana-chaupada (jnana is knowledge, wisdom, chaupada is a dice game; the name can be translated as “Game of Knowledge”). It was created by the holy seers of the past as a key to internal states and to study the principles of the Dharma, which is usually called “Hinduism.” Seventy-two cells of the playing board with all the arrows and snakes connecting them, which represent the seventy-two basic planes of being, reveal to us the knowledge concluded in the Vedas, Sruti, Smriti and Puranas. To play this game means to be in touch with the divine wisdom contained in the teachings of yoga, Vedanta and Samkhya, which make up the flesh and blood of the Hindu tradition. During the game, you automatically move around the fields of the game board. Each has a specific name that reflects one of the internal states, or plans of being. Once in a given field, the player begins to think about ideas and concepts related to the name of this field, until again it comes his turn to roll the dice in order to proceed to the next state. As a result, after a few minutes, the player’s mind, intellect and ego (sense of “I”) are involved in the game. Neither the author nor the time of the creation of this game, which we call Lila today, is known to us. However, in the Indian written tradition, the name of the author was never considered something significant. The author of the game was only a pen, led by the Divine Hand, an instrument that expressed the Will of the Creator, and his name was not fixed. However, the ideas and concepts on which the game is built indicate an age of at least 2,000 years. The version of the game used for the publication has been kept in the author’s family in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for about 150 years. The author has at his disposal also an older version of the game, bought from an antiquary in Rajasthan, however, it was not completely preserved and therefore could not be used in compiling this comment. A book consisting of slok verses was attached to the playing board. After each roll of the dice, the player read a verse relating to the place where he was. In slokas, the nature and significance of the spaces represented by the squares of the playing board were described. Unfortunately, this book was lost, which is why it became necessary to write a new commentary, revealing the interweaving of philosophical ideas related to the names of squares, and explaining the method of using the game for self-knowledge. In the tradition in which the game originated, the meaning of all the Sanskrit terms used is well known. Besides these
definitions, information received from some sannyasins who played this game in their youth or after joining the order, and the terms indicated on the playing board itself, some knowledge goes back to the author’s family tradition. All this, taken together, formed the basis of this commentary. The creators of the game saw in it primarily a tool that develops an understanding of the relationship of the individual “I” with the Absolute “I”. Passing through the game while maintaining this position helps the player to free himself from the illusion that has strongly entangled his personality and see his life as a reflection of the macrocosm. The number that fell on the dice is determined not by the player’s identifications, but by the interaction of cosmic forces, which, in turn, determine the development of a person’s life game. And the goal of the game is to free human consciousness from the shackles of the material world and reunite it with Cosmic Consciousness. Just as a single drop taken from the ocean contains all the elements present in its source, so the human consciousness is a microcosmic manifestation of the Universal Consciousness. Everything that a person can ever learn or experience is already contained within him as a potential opportunity. For all human perceptions are the result of the work of the senses. Events taking place in the world excite five organs of perception (nose, tongue, eyes, skin and ears). This is accompanied by a biochemical process in the central nervous system, manifested in the form of electrical activity in various areas of the brain. This play of energies is a reflection of one aspect of consciousness called the mind. The mind presents data received from the senses, intellect and ego for evaluation and action. Sensory perceptions are the source of all desires. And desire is the essence of the game – who will participate in the game if he does not want to play? Desires are the main motivating force in human life; in fact, he lives in order to satisfy his desires. Desires, depending on their nature, can be attributed to one of three areas: physiological, social, or psychological. Physiological desires are the essential needs of the body. In this group, the basic ones are the needs for food, drink, sex and sleep. Social ones include the same physiological desires, but colored by the social context.

Possessing one house, a person seeks to take possession of five more. The desire for excessive conveniences and possession of luxury goods, for a higher position in society that a person can acquire by demonstrating his achievements – all these desires are of a social nature and differ from each other in different societies and cultures. Psychological desires are rooted in a person’s desire for self-identification, in his ego. Here, the beginning of the desire for inner growth and spiritual experience originates. It is amazing that at the end of this path the human ego is lost: the greatest egoism is the absence of ego! Physiological needs are recognized in every society, and there are no obstacles to their satisfaction. Social – differ depending on the society in which the person is located. Psychological desires and needs are also known to everyone on our planet – in this area are human complexes and achievements, respect and contempt, joys and emotional trauma. All these desires arise as a result of sensory perception and ability, which we call the mind. On the physical plane, they all manifest as certain states of biochemical processes in the body and can be caused or satisfied by the introduction of appropriate chemicals from the outside. Physiological desires are often called animal needs, since they are common to humans along with other animals. Psychological is spoken of as higher needs, since they are connected with the attachments of the ego and with the feeling of satisfaction that arises when fully identified with the object of desire. Whatever the source of desire, the ego seeks to satisfy it using five organs of action: arms, legs, mouth, genitals, and anus. The result is manifested in a change in the state of consciousness. Negative actions lead the player into a trap, while positive actions lead to liberation. “What you reap, what you reap” – this proverb contains the essence of the law of karma.
Any action of the player will be true as long as he realizes that any action entails a chain of karmic consequences that can remain hidden for many years. The fruits of some actions may not manifest themselves at all in this life and, gradually ripening, will make themselves known only in the following incarnations. It is karma acquired in previous lives that determines both the present state and the direction of development of the individual. The player’s task is to recognize the presence and impact of this karma in his life. From this awareness, the wisdom necessary to raise the level of consciousness is born. This work relates to karma yoga. And this world is a stage on which the action of the divine karmic game. To understand the world around us, we must explore our own “I”, studying the structure of our consciousness, recognizing the levels at which we move throughout our lives, meeting with the snakes that lead us to fall, and arrows that symbolize spiritual ascent. It is here that the game serves its highest goal, revealing before us a map of our internal states, where “the One becomes many.”

1. Dharma is an internal law inherent in all the phenomena of this world, supporting its integrity. This is not just a set of beliefs that have nothing to do with reality, but principles that serve as the basis for a harmonious and prosperous life. This is a practical lesson. The word comes from the Sanskrit root of dhar, which means “to support, to bind together.”

2. The Vedas – divine, perfect knowledge, omnipresent and supporting the entire manifested world. This knowledge was obtained by the rishis (saints, seers, adepts of yoga) in the state of samadhi. This knowledge is contained in four scriptures:  Rigveda, Yajurveda.  Samameda, Atharva Veda. Each Veda consists of three parts: Samhita – a collection of hymns, or mantras. Brahmanas, which contain instructions for using various mantras and ceremonies. Dedicated mainly to rituals, they also contain many instructive stories, philosophical observations and deep ideas. The Upanishads are philosophical treatises based on the interpretation of knowledge left by those rishis to whom this knowledge was revealed.

3. Sruti – streams of cosmic vibrations that fill the space and have magical powers. They contain knowledge about the order in which the energies of this world were set in motion during its creation, and how this order is maintained by the Cosmic Consciousness. The Vedas are Sruti.

4. Smriti – a practical application of the divine knowledge and laws inherent in the objects and phenomena of the created world. These treatises contain laws that make our life divine. There are many Smritis, of which four are recognized as the main ones: • Manu-smriti • Yajnavalkya-smrti • Sankhya-smrti • Parasara-smrti Vedas are Shruti, and all books discussing the various provisions of the Dharma are Smriti. These books form the foundation of the Hindu tradition, laid down by ancient seers.

5. The Puranas follow the Sruti tl Smriti. They illustrate the philosophical doctrine set forth in the Vedas, using concrete cases and historical facts as examples. The richness of allegories and metaphors inherent in the Puranic style allows us to explain the highest philosophical truths in simple human words. For this reason, the Puranas are also called the “fifth Veda.”

6. Yoga literally means “unite, unite, bind.” This is a science devoted to inner growth, bringing peace and developing the ability to stop the constant fluctuations and changes in the work of the mind, which are the main cause of human suffering. It provides an opportunity to rise above the sensory level to the areas of familiar
concentration, inseparable attention, eternal peace and enlightenment There are many schools, each of which offers its own ways and methods of improving the body and psyche. Among the general goals of yoga schools, one can note the combination of the solar and lunar principles, control over the autonomic nervous system, etc. In general, yoga can be divided into three main directions: Karma yoga – yoga of selfless actions. Jnana Yoga is the yoga of ending mental fluctuations through denial, leading to absolute truth. Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of devotion, love and surrender. Among the famous schools of yoga are the following: Raja yoga – yoga of the eightfold path (yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi). Hatha Yoga — Yoga that exercises the senses by working with the body. This practice helps to achieve the goals indicated by Raja Yoga. Nada Yoga — Yoga that works with the sounds of the inner world. Laya Yoga — dissolution in a stream of cosmic vibrations; also known as kriya yoga and kundalini yoga.

7. Vedanta – philosophical doctrine, also called uttara-mimansa and currently dominating in Hindu thought. Vedanta studies the nature of the Self and distinguishes between the real and the unreal. It points to the unity behind the diversity of objects and phenomena, and gives knowledge of the true nature of things. The Vedanta teaches how from the thought of the individual “I”, which seems to be separate from the Higher “I”, one can come to understand the fundamental unity of the first and second, that all “I” are part of the One Great “I”, Brahman. Vedanta says that a person can achieve unity with Him and, moreover, understand that he is and always remained a Cosmic Consciousness, separated from himself by a curtain of illusion. This is the science of the “I” that exists outside of qualities, proclaiming the principle of “You are That (Great One” I “).”

8. Sankhya – a description of the order of creation of the world. The doctrine of the evolution of the manifested world.

9. Sloka – Sanskrit poetic stanza.

10. Karma yoga – yoga of selfless actions (karma means “action”). The actions include everything done by the individual from the moment of birth to death. A player attached to his actions uses any means to achieve his goals and, blinded by selfishness, harms others. He who is not subject to such attachment performs his actions insofar as they are inevitable; he follows his karma with a detached interest and never resorts to false means. Karma, performed with the right means, does no harm to anyone and is in harmony with the laws of the Dharma. Dharma is a law intrinsic to a player who performs karma in accordance with the inclinations of his mind.

Four things are necessary for a game: a dice, a game board, a commentary on each cell of the board, and some object belonging to the player (for example, a ring) that will serve as his symbol throughout the game. The rules are simple: all participants put their symbols on cell 68, representing Cosmic Consciousness. One by one they throw a dice, passing it to the neighbor to the right (this direction corresponds to an upward flow of energy). In order to enter the game, you need to throw six points, then the player goes to the birth cell and from there to the sixth cell (illusion). Until the player rolls six, he remains unborn in the cell of Cosmic Consciousness. Each time, at any stage of the game, when a player has a six, he is given the right to roll the dice again. Exception: if six drops out three times in a row and the player (after 18 cells) throws the bone again and receives a different number, he must return to the place where he was before he started throwing sixes, and from there go as many cells as there are points were in the fourth throw. If at the entrance to the game he throws out three sixes in a row and then another number, he
returns to the first cell (birth) and counts as many cells forward as the number of points dropped for the fourth time. If a player rolls four or more sixes in a row, then he continues to roll the dice until a number other than six falls out, and then he goes forward by the number of steps equal to the total sum of all points thrown out, after which he passes the dice. When a player hits the beginning of an arrow, he automatically rises along the pole to its tip. If the head of the snake is located in the cage where he got, he goes down to its tail. So, egoism leads to a cell of anger, and spiritual devotion leads to Cosmic Consciousness. The goal of the game is to return to the cell at number 68. If the player reaches the eighth row, but, without getting to the cell of Cosmic Consciousness, goes further and stops at the cells with numbers 69, 70 or 71, he must wait until either the exact number of steps falls out that separates it from the tamoguna (cells 72), or a small number that allows it to advance two or one step forward (1.2 or 3 are suitable for 69, 1 or 2 for 70, only one unit). The game ends when the player lands exactly on cell 68 — either along the arrow from the cell of spiritual devotion, or during a gradual ascent, for example, from cell 66, throwing a deuce. During the game, the player may find that he and the same arrows fall over and over again or that the same snakes sting him. The real purpose of the game is to study and understand the comments on each cell, explaining the meaning of each field, as well as the snakes and arrows found on the playing board. If the player stops at cell 69 (the plan of the Absolute), he can no longer get to the cell of Cosmic Consciousness at number 68. In this case, he must wait until the Tamogun snake returns him back to earth so that he can achieve Cosmic Consciousness either by gradual advancement, or, having thrown the three, through the field of spiritual devotion, from where the arrow leads the player directly to his goal. If it is on cell 71, all numbers, except one, are useless for it — just as on cell 67, it can no longer use the flaming six. If a unit falls, then he enters field 68 and the game stops, but it will continue if two, three, four, five, or six fall. To get the most out of the game, it’s good to write down the path that the character selected by the player moves. By comparing such records, a player can find some similarities between snakes that come across again and again, or arrows that come to the aid in time. This helps the player to find the relationship between internal and external and to understand his inner world. Many saints used this method to comprehend their inner structure. This is what makes Leela  a game of self-knowledge – Jnana-chaupada.

Our perceptions come to us through the mechanisms of the mind and intellect, which can modify them by adding, discarding, or modifying part of the input material. Moreover, the sensory organs cover no more than one millionth of the entire spectrum of information surrounding us. The world, as we see it at every moment, is only a small fraction of countless different events, each of which can be perceived by an infinite number of ways, since the number of combinations in which the mind and intellect can interact is also infinite. Western science has long specialized in the study of the sensory sphere: the material world, accessible to perception by the senses. The goal of material science is to find unifying principles that are valid throughout the cosmos, regardless of space and time. For example, the light coming to us from distant galaxies is hundreds of millions of years old, but it obeys the same laws as the light of our Sun, reaching us in just nine minutes. Typically, such principles are expressed in the form of formulas, such as e = mc. From diversity, we strive for unity expressed in these formulas. The symbol of Western science can serve as a periodic system of chemical elements, including more than one hundred fundamental structures of the organization of matter.
The trajectory that the player’s symbol describes in its movement through the board’s fields is important. Understanding the structure of this drawing and the nature of the plans through which it passes is necessary for the player to better understand the laws on which the game is based. There is no death in this game: there are ups and downs, there are changes in the level of vibration, but not death. The playing spirit never dies. The body is its symbol, passing from one plane to another, and only it is subject to change. The individual “I” is a limited manifestation of the Lord, the Higher “I”, the Cosmic Consciousness. The Divine dwells in the deep essence of each person and cannot be excluded from consideration. Man is a living unity of soul and body; the same unity is made by the player and his symbol on the playing board. The end of the game comes only after reaching Cosmic Consciousness – an eternal state, a path from which there is no return. Here the player merges with the Divine Existence outside of forms and qualities. This is liberation. Death is only a change of form, but the spirit always remains unchanged. Even on the material plane there is no death, since matter is neither created nor destroyed, only a change in the form of existence is possible. All these changes are illusory, being transient and mutually changing states of the material world, which also serves as one of the aspects of being of the Most High, a reflection of the Higher Self. If we consider the game as a microcosm, then we will find in it a reflection of the entire octave of the macrocosm. And just as in a living organism, energy moves from plan to plan, from conception to birth, from childhood to adolescence and further to adulthood and old age, so the player acts from the seven centers of psychic energy, moving up and down from the chakra to the chakra, which is accompanied by corresponding changes in his behavior at the physical level. Human life is a sequence of cycles. During the first seven days, all the processes necessary for conception are completed, the next seven months go to the formation of the body in the womb. Then there are seven main cycles, each of which consists of seven years. Together, they form one complete lunar cycle, during which human energy passes successively through the corresponding psychic centers. In the game, each of these seven-year cycles is represented by one of eight horizontal rows. During the first cycle, from birth to seven years, the player is almost completely fixed on himself. In the second cycle, from seven to fourteen years old, relations with the outside world, with friends are established, interest in the opposite sex is aroused. An aesthetic sense and interest in the arts begins to take shape. At this age, the player is at a fantasy level. In the third cycle, which lasts from fourteen years to twenty-one years, the player is passionate about finding his “I”, he seeks strength and power and identifies himself with one or another ideological group. During the fourth cycle, from twenty-one years to twenty-eight, the player begins to show responsibility. He becomes able to understand other people and appreciate their qualities. In the fifth cycle, from twenty-eight years to thirty-five, he begins to teach others based on his experience, often this is connected with parental responsibilities. In the sixth cycle, lasting from thirty-five years to forty-two, the player becomes an observer of the flow of his energy, he reviews all his affairs in the light of the experience gained. In the seventh cycle, from forty-two years to forty-nine, he reaches a sufficient level of development, and his life now serves one purpose – to find the Truth and connect with it.

The player’s first birth, leaves such a strong mark on his thinking, and so many snakes of affection await him on his path, determined by the dice of karma, that many people spend their whole lives staying at lower levels. However, there are others: for them, the snake does not seem to exist at all, and miraculously appearing arrows lead them to their final goal in five to six moves. Those seven plans that a player must go through to reach the eighth — a plan that is beyond all planes — are the seven chakras. Usually energy flows through these centers
according to the rhythm of the player’s vibrations, passing one after another during the day. At sunrise, she is in the third chakra, and after sunset reaches the seventh. This flow is controlled by the forces of the Sun, Moon and Earth. However, only a few of us can live in harmony and purity; therefore, various obstacles, or “blocks,” arise on the path of energy movement. As a result, the natural rhythm is disrupted, which leads to a difference between the chronological and mental age of a person. Each chakra has specific characteristics, which allows the player to determine their level of vibration at any given moment, especially with the help of this game. In the East, people followed a different course. Especially in India, whose mild climate and the simplicity of grain cultivation allowed people not to spend so much time fighting for existence, as it was in the West, which ultimately determined the development of the natural sciences there. Eastern people treated nature as a kind mother and did not seek to conquer it. The research spirit of the Indian sages was aimed at studying the complex structure of human consciousness. This is how yoga, tantra, and the ideas expressed in the Upanishads came about. Just as the outside world is governed by general principles, the inner life of man is also subject to certain laws. The yogis who explored the labyrinths of the human personality established the existence of seventy-two primordial states of being. These conditions correspond to the cells of the saw board – the “periodic system of consciousness.” Within these states, everyone acts in accordance with his karma, and the game ends only when the player completely penetrates its meaning, having reached Cosmic Consciousness. The game can be suspended by restraining the principle of desire, but without full understanding the game cannot stop: desires, being the seeds of karma, can sprout as soon as a person falls into suitable conditions for this. The player rolls a dice, allowing the forces of karma to determine his next position on the board. He goes through various plans: rising along arrows, falling along snakes, trying to vibrate harmoniously, wherever he is. The ups and downs should lose their meaning. Throwing a dice establishes a connection between a player’s symbol and his progress on the playing board. This is a relationship that is governed by the principle of synchronism. The term “synchronicity” was introduced by the famous psychologist Carl Jung to explain the connections that sometimes arise between events, which at first glance are completely independent of each other. Synchronicity satisfies the need of the individual “I” for conscious control from the outside. This can best be understood by looking at this principle in the context of interpersonal relationships. In a sense, Synchronicity means being at the right time in the right place, and in reality it is an ongoing process. The basis for success in the game is understanding, knowing where you are and what you are experiencing at the moment. External control is carried out by the player’s karma, which determines the number on the dice. Thus, the game of Pyla is based on synchronism, which means that all the events occurring with us and around us are interconnected and can only be understood with these connections in mind. To strengthen the work of this principle, as a symbol, the player is better to choose an object that has personal significance for him. This symbol is placed on the board and moves in accordance with the number of points that fell on the dice of karma. The first chakra is located at the base of the spine, between the anus and the genitals. A person at this level is usually “insecure and preoccupied primarily with physical survival.” Of the types of perception, the sense of smell dominates. The element of the first chakra is the earth – the grossest manifestation of reality, the color is yellow. The main problem at this level is violent behavior resulting from deep-rooted insecurity. But the same uncertainty can be a positive factor, stimulating the development of material technology aimed at improving living conditions. People under the influence of the first chakra sleep for ten to twelve hours, lying on their stomach. 

On the playing board, the first chakra corresponds to the physical plane – the fifth square in the front row. The whole first row also includes it, including plans for birth, maya (the illusory world perceived by feelings), anger, greed, delusion, conceit, greed and
sensuality. Entering the game, the participant must go through these nine squares. At this level, there is not a single arrow that could raise the player to the next levels, since all aspects characterizing the first chakra are fundamental to human existence. If we leave aside the assessments and judgments accepted in society, we can understand the full importance of these aspects for human life. However, if the player is worried about the judgments of the world, he says: “Yes, getting angry is bad, it’s bad to be greedy, it’s very bad to be conceited. All this is very bad. ” After all, these elements lead to disharmony, create an unfavorable chemical state in the body, strengthen egoism, violate the inner world, and so on. But it would be nice to recall Shakespeare: “Things themselves can be neither bad nor good, only our thinking makes them so.” If you look at this picture deeper, then, from the point of view of survival (in this direction, the consciousness in the first chakra is oriented), without attachment, without greed, without striving for something more, life stagnates. Were it not for anger or vanity, all the salt of the view (Leela) would be lost. This variety of moods and passions gives life a taste and is the main driving force for the development of the individual. They are considered something inappropriate, because they are connected with the lower, animal principle, but we cannot help but see that they are also responsible for the development of our rational, human and divine qualities. Control of the first chakra frees the yogi from disease. Overcoming the essentials of attachment, he becomes open to new knowledge and is no longer so concerned with self-affirmation. He learns to avoid the influence of lower desires and attachments. Tantric scriptures also say that he can become invisible if he wants to. In the second chakra, the player is captured by perceptions coming from the senses. This center is located in the genital area. The dominant form of perception is taste, the element of this chakra is water, the color is sparkling white or blue. The main problems of this level are corruption and disorder arising from the loss of energy in sensual pleasures and fantasies. But the same sensuality serves as the driving force of any creative process. A person who is under the influence of this center sleeps for eight to ten hours, curled up “with a fist” – pressing his knees to his stomach. The second chakra serves as the beginning of two arrows: purification and mercy, as well as two snakes: envy and jealousy. Here are the astral plane, plans of fantasy and joy, insignificance and a plan of entertainment. Control of the second chakra makes yoga beloved by all beings. He becomes able to control the love of any person or animal and control the elements. He is freed from enemies and shines like the sun. Such a person masterfully owns prose and poetry and defeats voluptuous desires. The main characteristic of the third chakra is the need to recognize your ego and the desire for bodily immortality. Like a fetus in the womb, a person receives energy nutrition through this center. It is located under the navel in the solar plexus and is connected with the connection point of the right and left sympathetic chains with the vertebral axis. Sympathetic nerves controlling sleep and thirst are associated with it. The main modality of perception is vision. The element of this chakra is fire, and the color is red. The main problem at this level is the abuse of one’s strength, projecting the will of one’s ego on others. A positive aspect is the organizational abilities associated with the altruistic use of one’s strength. One at this level usually sleeps six to eight hours, lying on his back.

The third chakra belongs to the heavenly plane and contains the beginnings of three arrows (on the cells of selfless service, Dharma and charity) and one snake (on the cell of bad company). This plan also contains fields of sadness, good company, redemption, and karma. Thanks to the control of the third chakra, a person gets rid of suffering and illnesses, and knowledge of various worlds (lok) is revealed to him. He also possesses healing power. It is the chakra of stability, the accumulation of power, control, control and worldly achievements necessary to strengthen the ego. In the fourth chakra, the player begins to realize the elements of his karma, his behavior and the structure of his life. His vibrations now come from the region of the heart, from where the heavenly
wish tree. The heart is the abode of the conscious principle, life, and the center of prana. This chakra is at the center of the entire chakra system and therefore is influenced by both higher and lower forces. The element is air, the color is smoky, gray-green, the dominant mode of perception is tactile sensations, touch. The main problem of the player at this level is that he spends too much time trying to correct the consequences of his actions, which leads to a loss of balance. The power motivating his life becomes active faith (bhakti). He sleeps for five to six hours, lying on his left side. This is a plan of equilibrium, and an arrow starting on the cell of true religion leads the player to higher levels. The non-religious snake brings the player back into the illusion. Here are plans for holiness, aroma and taste. Purgatory, good tendencies and clarity of consciousness are also at this level. By gaining control of the fourth chakra, the yogi becomes like Jupiter, the lord of speech. His feelings are completely subordinate to conscious control. All women adore him. The life of such a person is filled with inspiration, and poetry flows from his mouth in a free flow. The scriptures say that he gains the ability to transfer his “I” to other bodies, become invisible, and also levitate. All worlds open to his gaze: visible and invisible. By force of will, he can move to any place. He is getting out of the power of time. In the fifth chakra, the player is imbued with compassion and wants to share with others how he managed to resolve the elements of his karma. This chakra is located in the throat, in the area of ​​the junction of the spinal cord and medulla oblongata. This is the chakra of jnana (jnana), or knowledge. Regardless of formal training, the player comes to know all the scriptures, and he becomes a jnani – “knowing”. He is constant, gentle, modest, courageous and free from sorrows and illnesses. He is merciful to every being and has no expectations. The main problem is authoritarianism: “I know the only right way.” Outside of sensory perceptions, this chakra serves as the center of akasha (ether), and the color of this element is smoky purple. At this level, the player meditates on the mantra of Soham (Co – “That, It”, ham – “I am”): “It is I”. He hears this sound in his breath: the inhalation corresponds to, and the exhalation corresponds to the boor. Logic serves as his obsession, and understanding is his reward. The intelligence of such a person is freed from worldly affairs, which allows him to see the past, present and future within himself. Meditation on the throat frees him from hunger and thirst, and he achieves unshakable ™. He sleeps for four to five hours, tossing and turning. The fifth chakra is the human plane. Arrows of jnana and correct knowledge (suvidya) lead the player up, and the only snake at this level is ignorance. This is a plan of positive, negative and neutral life currents (prana, apana and vyana). Here the player is born as a Man – a representative of the Higher Consciousness opposing animal nature, and he comes to understand the energy of Agni – cosmic fire. Control over the fifth chakra allows a person to rejuvenate his body at will. His presence alone opens the way for other people to know their “I”, to understand the mysteries of nature and the presence of divine knowledge in every phenomenon. Tapasya prevails in the sixth chakra – an irresistible desire to raise one’s consciousness even higher. This is a movement control center called ajna chakra. The player at this level has no problems – moreover, he is beyond the possibility of any problems. It focuses on the “third eye” (in the pineal gland). He meditates on the vibration of Om and the sound of his breath, which he now hears as Hamsa (ham – “I am,” sa – “It, That”), or “I am It.” There is a difference between Soham and Hamsa: in Soham, the yogi is still in duality, he connects himself with the Higher Consciousness, saying and feeling that It, the Higher Consciousness, is “I”, the individual consciousness. In the sixth chakra, duality dissolves and an indestructible unity sets in the player’s mind, individual limitations disappear, and he realizes himself as the Highest Consciousness. He lives in this unity, meditating on his true nature. This state is beyond the elements of creation.

An arrow starting at the cell of consciousness leads the player up, and the snake of violence carries him back to the lower levels. On this plane of self-restraint and austerities, we come to understand the actions of the ida and the nourishment – the lunar and solar channels, ascending to it from the first chakra and then descending to the nostrils, which work in the rhythm of breathing. Sushumna, conducting neutral flows, rises higher to the seventh chakra, whose name is sahasrara. Spiritual devotion can elevate a player directly from this plane to Cosmic Consciousness. In the game, this is the only direct path to liberation, located outside the earth (place of refuge) and the plan of liquids (plan of fluidity). The control over the sixth chakra gives the player tremendous psychic powers, and all the karma acquired in this and previous lives is destroyed. In the seventh chakra, the player goes beyond pleasure and pain. He lives in a thousand-petalled lotus located on the crown of his head. The scriptures say that one who is established in this place gains eight supernatural powers, or siddhis. This is anima – the ability to decrease in size, mahima – the ability to increase, garima – the ability to increase one’s weight, laghima – the ability to reduce one’s weight, prapti – the ability to be transported instantly to any place, prakamya – the ability to fulfill any desire, ishitva – the ability to create and youritva is the ability to command everyone. These siddhi powers make the yogi the siddha-purusa, or perfect being. He is unlimited in anything and can do whatever he wants. He does not become passive or inert, but lives, filled with the light of the Higher Consciousness and bliss. But it is here that egoism can take hold of him, and the siddhis, which in themselves are valuable qualities, can be fetters. Or tamas (inertia) can drag him down into the realm of illusion. Having reached the plan of reality, the player gains the experience of positive and negative intelligence. The latter gives rise to a snake, returning the player to the second chakra. There is also a plan of happiness, a plan of gases, a plan of radiance and a plan of initial vibrations. The eighth horizontal row is located outside the chakras. This is an absolute plan, the seat of Cosmic Consciousness. Each of the nine cells here represents one of the powers of the Lord. These are the plans of the phenomenal world, inner space, bliss, cosmic good, Cosmic Consciousness, Absolute, as well as three phases of energy that appear in the process of creation. These are rajoguna, tamoguna and sattvaguna, which are respectively positive (dynamic), negative (inert) and equilibrium. If a player does not achieve Cosmic Consciousness, he must again descend to Earth and continue the game until he reaches liberation. Tamoguna returns him to Earth, where he works off his karma, moving upward from the sixth chakra. Leela is a game enclosed in the very nature of the Creator, and the created world is a manifestation of this game, with no beginning or end. Leela is a great adventure and an extraordinary discovery. This is an eternal game that we play again and again and again, gaining nothing and losing nothing. One who is aware of the existence of a game cannot be caught by the playing board. He looks at everything that happens as the divine Lipa, which Lila-Dhara (“Leading the Game”, that is, Cosmic Consciousness) plays before him. The one who comes to play with the fields and plans of the playing board himself becomes the object of the game; for him, the playing board becomes maya – a great power that hides reality and entangles the player’s mind, maya, creating this whole diverse world of forms and phenomena. Thomas leads the player into the world of maya, and boundless love and devotion return him to the source, to the Cosmic Consciousness. Spiritual devotion is a huge find for a player on the Yayla field created by the maya of the Higher Consciousness. Created by Him to enjoy, playing, hiding from himself and opening himself here and there. There is no purpose or responsibility in this game. Let us recall the words of Sri Ramana Maharishi: The ideas of purpose and responsibility are purely social in nature and created by the human mind to exhort the ego. God is above all these ideas. If He is immanent, that is, is present in everything, and there is nothing that would exist besides him, then who can be responsible here and for whom? Creation is an expression of the internal laws inherent in its source. This internal law is a game inherent in the nature of the Divine, that is, Leela.

The Indian tradition describes great significance to nine basic numbers, 1 to 9. Each number corresponds to a set of basic attributes, which contain keys to understanding the workings of the subtle life-force in gross manifestation. This is the teaching brought to the West by the Greek Pythagoras, a student of the Arabic version of Indian numerology. In fact, not only do numbers count, but they give an account of the countless idea-forces working through human consciousness and the phenomenal world. They help the mind to have a definite idea of the perceptual world. In this beginningless creation there is neither first nor last, because all is one number. Actual digits are only the manifested forms, which appear as evolution starts and disappear or merge in their source with the dissolution of the phenomenal world. Everything that exists is disposed according to number, each a part of the whole (Brahman, Supreme Consciousness) manifesting himself. The whole is boundless, countless, no number, zero, the start of Leela, the cosmic play. At the beginning is the separation of Being from non-Being. Sound, naad, is the first to evolve. Sound contains the twin aspects of sound and beat. Sound represents energy in its original vortex form. Beat is a pattern of vibration experienced in linear form. Sound creates space, and beat creates time. Each sound has a wavelength, and each wavelength exists in time. The measurement of a wavelength is the time that the wavelength takes from its origin to the end. Platon regarded numbers as the essence of harmony and harmony as the basis of both cosmos and man. Balzac, the French novelist, called the numbers “incomprehensible agents.” According to him, distinctions between different forms of existence are differences in their qualities, quantities, dimensions, forces, attributes, and nature. These differences are not in the essence, but in the material content, which is arranged in different patterns. These patterns, when observed closely, vary only in numbers. The difference between an atom of copper and one of gold is but a difference in the number of particles they contain. The arrangement of the playing board of Leela is based on a foundation stone of numerology. The board is a numerologically balanced perfect rectangle. It contains eight horizontal rows from bottom to top. Eight is the number of the manifested universe, prakriti, which is compose the five elements, or mahabhutas (ether, air, fire, water, and earth) and the three forces—mind, intellect, and ego (manas, buddhi, ahamkar). The vertical columns from left to right total 9, the number of the Absolute, Supreme Consciousness (the eight of prakriti plus one—Consciousness). Nine is the completion of the series of simple (basic) numbers and is therefore the number of completion. Thus there are seventy-two squares making up the field of cosmic play. Seventy-two when reduced to a simple whole number again becomes 9 (7 + 2 = 9). In the serpentine motion of play, the start of each horizontal column begins with a number reducible to 1 and ends on a number that reduces to 9. For example, the second horizontal row begins with 10 (1 + 0 = 1) and ends on 18 (1 + 8 = 9). In addition, each horizontal row contains nine numbers, which when added together yield the number 9. The first row totals 45 (4 + 5 = 9), the second 126 (1 + 2 + 6 = 9), the third 207 (2 + 0 + 7 = 9). Each vertical column, except the central one, contains just two basic numbers. The first column consists of 18 (1 + 8 = 9), 19 (1 + 9 = 10 = 1), 36 (= 9), 37 (= 1), 54 (= 9), 55 (= 1), and 72 (= 9). The second vertical column yields 2s and 8s, the third 3s and 7s, the fourth 4s and 6s, and the fifth the only exception—all 5s. From here the order reverses (6s and 4s, 7s and 3s, 8s and 2s). So each vertical column, except for the middle, contains two fundamental integers, which when added together produce 1. The central column, the column of balance, contains Ss; and two 5s yield 10 or 1. In addition, the sum of each vertical column is 292, which becomes 4 (2 + 9 + 2 = 13 = 1 + 3 = 4), the number of rational organization, tangible achievement, the formless square.

Birth is entry into the karmic play. The die is the karmic player, and the individual self a symbol that moves from house to house, wherever the die determines. Before taking birth one is beyond the game. Once birth is taken, one is bound by the law of karma. This world is karmaland.

Desire leads the player to accept the bondage of karma. If one has no desire to play, one will not be attracted toward the game. But play is in the nature of consciousness. In the beginning there was no play; but the playful nature of consciousness could not remain motionless, with out playing. So… “Let there be light.” Let there be play. The Absolute became many from One, to play the game.

Once the decision to play is made, the player must abide by the rules (dharma), the bondage of the karma die.

It is here that the player first enters into the game after throwing a six. When the five subtle elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth) and one consciousness unite, these six initiate the movement of the player’s symbol across the board. Each birth is the opening of a new game, and the object of attainment in each game is the same Cosmic Consciousness. There is no other directive, no other goal, no other purpose in playing the game. The game is just to complete the cycle. Birth is the key. It opens the doors of the game, and the player begins to vibrate as he starts on the eternal voyage, his journey toward completion.

One is the unity responsible for all manifestation. Like all odd numbers it belongs to the sun family. One especially denotes the sun, which is the unity responsible for the birth of this planet. One represents independent personality, independent decision, independent life, the search for something new, novelty, originality.

When one accepts entry into the game as a player, awareness of unity is lost in the obsession (fascination) of play. This taking over of consciousness is the fun of play. The One becomes many, to play a game of cosmic hide-and-seek with itself. To fulfill his ego, the player sets up the game and its rules and commits himself to playing them out to the end.

The One is reality. Multiplicity is illusion. This illusion of multiplicity is created by the veiling power of the One (the Supreme consciousness). This veiling power is called Maya Shakti, or maya. This veiling Power creates the illusion of me and mine, or thee and thine, which creates ignorance in the individual consciousness. Those who realize this ignorance call it avidya (a – no; vidya – knowledge; thus ignorance, or absence of knowledge). So maya is also called avidya by yogis. This ignorance comes to individual consciousness through the mind; that is why yoga is a practical device to stop the modifications of mind, and yoga’s aim is to arrest mind, to stop the inner dialogue, to go beyond the mind and realize one’s true nature, beyond the illusion of me and mine.

The world of names and forms is maya. Maya is the stage and setting within which the player enacts his microcosmic tragicomedy. Maya is the play itself, presenting the player with situations and patterns that offer him subtle clues to the understanding of his own true nature.

This illusion can be seen at every level. The human body itself is not a unit of existence, but is composed of countless numbers of cells and micelles. If each cell starts growing a sense of me and mine each human body will become a subcontinent. It is an individual ego (ahamkara) that creates separate units of existence (illusion). Ego cannot function without mind, as mind cannot without sensory organs. After realization of Truth through a direct experience of reality in samadhi, Maya Shakti can be understood and the human psycho-drama can be observed as divine play, as Leela.

Maya Shakti is the power that brings forth the evolution of the phenomenal world. It makes this possible by an interplay of the three gunas sattva, rajas, and tamas.

Cosmic Consciousness becomes individual Consciousness by its own maya. In Hindu literature maya has been described in very many contexts, and yet it is impossible to explain all about it—it is as infinite as Cosmic Consciousness itself.

The only job confronting the player is the realization that he is
a player, that the sense of separation he feels is illusory. All that the player perceives of the phenomenal world exists within himself in the form of sensory input and is illusory. Modern sciences that try to investigate the nature of truth verify this statement. Both modern science and ancient wisdom believe in a single primordial substance to which the various forms of matter can be reduced. All phenomenal existence is but one of the many manifestations of the same underlying unity.
The elements are varied forms of this one substance. The variety of our experience is due to the permutation and combination of atoms of the matter into which this primordial energy materializes. This diversity is unity is illusion and is caused by the veiling power of supreme Consciousness. All that the player perceives of the phenomenal world exists within himself. One takes birth to play the game, to discern the subtle at work within the gross. The game is to reach unity, to end duality.

To understand the nature of anger, it is essential to understand the nature of the ego. The ego is that which identifies itself as the “I”. Man in the process of his development passes through a sequence of identifications. After birth, the child first begins to feel as a separate being when he understands his separation from his mother. Then identification with other members of the family takes place, he takes their behavior patterns and forms of thinking as their own. Then the child connects himself with peers of the same sex. Then he seeks his identity among the representatives of the opposite sex. The journey ends when the ego eventually identifies itself with the Absolute and merges with the Cosmic Consciousness.

In the process of identification, the intellect stores information obtained in the course of development also participates in the process of identification – the value judgments obtained from those with whom this person identified himself most strongly (for example, from parents) are especially important here. The true inner “I” knows that all reality is contained within it. However, the self identifying “self” will exclude those aspects of reality that are considered evil by those with whom this “I” correlates.

Anger is an emotional and chemical reaction that occurs when the ego is confronted with some aspect of one’s personality that has been rejected as evil. The collision with this negative aspect is experienced as a threat to existence. In fact, there is a threat only to identify the individual with this or that evaluation of what is happening. In this case, the ego projects the rejected aspect of the personality to the one through whom this aspect manifests itself, and directs its energy to remove the undesirable aspect. Such is the nature of anger.

Anger is a manifestation of diffusion, weakness. This cell serves as the tail of the serpent of selfishness. Anger directs the player’s energy down, which brings him to the level of the first chakra. When the ego is hurt, we feel anger. Anger is uncertainty, the main problem of the first chakra.

Anger is a serious obstacle to spiritual growth. The nature of anger is a fire that burns everything. But if anger arises without any personal feelings, it is impersonal, then it purifies. Anger is the quality of Rudra, the god of destruction. Rudra’s anger is not based on any personal reasons, so he does not destroy Rudra himself, but evil that causes disharmony and imbalance. Anger, caused by some personal reasons, devours the good qualities of the individual and leads to a fall. Impersonal anger destroys the cause that caused it, evil. Anger is the reverse side of love. We do not get angry at those with whom we do not identify ourselves. Anger excites the nervous system and completely stops the work of rational thinking while it exists in our system. On the one hand, it cleanses the body and looks like fire purification by action, but the price is too high: the level of vibration is lowered so much that the player has to start the game again from the first row.

Anger can be expressed in two ways – violent and non-violent. When a nonviolent method is adopted to express anger, this gives the player a huge moral force called satyagraha (satya-truth, agraha-persistence, constancy). This becomes possible if the player is able to remain calm even when actually experiencing anger. In this case, anger becomes impersonal and directed against evil. It is based on love, love of good, truth. Such anger helps spiritual growth and is divine.

Three encompasses the qualities of creativity, expression and stability. As a representative of a family of odd numbers, it is dynamic and positive, responsible for creating and maintaining a form. It is associated with the element of fire, which in man manifests itself in the form of anger. On the other hand, the same element can manifest itself as diligence, perseverance. Thus, the characteristics of the number three are strength and determination.

Three is the number of Jupiter. Jupiter is a symbol of courage, courage, strength, power, diligence, energy, knowledge, wisdom and spirituality.

The feeling of separateness brought about by taking birth creates a craving for fulfillment. In order to function in the world, the player must first make certain his physical needs are met. In order to join the game the player must eat, have a place to rest, and have clothing to wear. Material survival is the primary concern in the first chakra.

Greed arises when the player confuses his sense of unfulfillment with the need for material survival. Having attained the basic necessities of life, he still feels empty. All he has learned is how to maintain his physical existence. So he employs these basic survival skills to acquire more and more material belongings in the hope of fulfilling himself.

The more he acquires, the deeper his compulsion becomes. His sense of emptiness reaches the level of panic as his actions become increasingly desperate. The legend of King Midas and his touch of gold is a classic Western tale of the consequences of greed. This craving for material success is also the root cause of all military conquest.

Greed comes from insecurity, and insecurity from misidentification of Self. When a player does not believe in God, he does not believe in providence. Greed is the tail-end of the snake of jealousy. Greed makes a player short-sighted. He does not realize that greed is ultimately pointless. In the end, all material possessions are left behind, whether willingly or by the intercession of death. But greed can prove an asset in spiritual growth it one becomes greedy for spiritual experiences, knowledge, and love.

The player who falls into greed also opens the gates to maya, anger, and all other first-chakra problems.

Four is symbolized as a square representing the four dimensions, the four directions. It symbolizes the earth element. As a member of the family of even numbers, 4 tends toward completion. The impetus for completion, carried to its extreme on the material plane, becomes greed. In numerology, the number 4 is ruled by rahu, the north node of the moon, also known as the Dragon’s Head. In western numerology, 4 is ruled by Uranus. In occultism, it is always written as 4-1 and as such is considered to be related to the sun as well.

A portion of unmanifested reality transforms itself into the world of names and forms. The world of names and forms exists in seven different lokas, or levels, which exist in an ascending scale.

These lokas mark the stages of evolution of the consciousness of the individual. As he evolves, so he moves and undergoes modifications in his nature. Through these planes the consciousness is able to realize its true nature.

Each of these lokas, or planes, is a definite region, marked off by the nature of the matter of which it is composed. (See square 32, plane of balance.) These lokas form the spine of the game board.

They are all in their definite order in the central row of vertical squares.

As it is in the macrocosm, so is it in the microcosm. The lokas are located in the human body along the spine, at the chakras, the psychic centers. With the evolution in the psyche from level to level comes evolution in the man himself.

The physical plane is located at the base of the spine, the site of the first chakra in the human body—and on earth in the phenomenal world.

The physical plane is located at the base of the spine, the site of the first chakra in the human body—and on earth in the phenomenal world.

Earth is made of five elements, which exist in solid, liquid and gaseous forms—as radiant, etheric, and superetheric matter — the various stages of existence of atoms of matter, whether defined as form or undefined. The earth element, under all conditions in all circumstances, is dominant in them, and they materialize as earth slowly and gradually.

Other planes mentioned in the game board each fall in a certain horizontal row and belong to these seven lokas. The lokas, other than the seven seated in the spine of the game board, are special regions situated within the seven — like cities in provinces, provinces in countries, and countries in continents.

The physical plane encompasses genesis, maya, anger, greed, delusion, conceit, avarice, and the sensual plane—its right and left sides, its positive and negative aspects.

When the player moves on to the physical plane he becomes trapped by the lower self. This is just one phase of the game. No one stays in the same place all the time. Each throw of the die is an opening to a new world.

On the physical plane the player is mostly concerned with material achievements. Money, house, vehicle, food, and physical power are com­ mon themes. His recreation is bodily involvement, sports involving com­ petition and physical contact. His fun can too often include violence. His major achievement is craft.

The physical plane is related to earth, matter, and mother. It is the storehouse of energy, the dwelling place of kundalini—the psychic energy the yogi seeks to raise up through the seven chakras. Without realization of the physical plane, realization of all other planes is impossible. There are no arrows leading from this plane, this horizontal level. All players must pass through it before reaching the other dimensions.

Seven snakes lead here from other planes, demonstrating the primary importance of realizing the nature of the grossest level of manifestation.

Five also are the work organs man employs in the creation of karmas – hands, feet, mouth, genitals, and anus. And there are five sensory organs for five sensations — ears for sound, skin for touch, eyes for sight of form and color, tongue for taste, and nose for smell. Five is the number of balance – 1 with 2 on each side. The ruling planet of number S is Mercury. Mercury is gentle, the high thinker, scholar, and lover of entertainment, and also is connected with business and physical comforts.

Moha in Sanskrit means attachment. This attachment is the real cause of bondage, bringing the player time and again to the phenomenal world through a series of births and rebirths. It is said in scriptures that four obsessions lead the individual consciousness into a downward flow of energy; they are obstacles in spiritual growth. These four are called

Kama: desires, sensuality

Krodh: anger, aggression, violence

Lobh: greed, dissatisfaction

Moha: attachment, delusion

While illusion, maya, is the phenomenal world itself, delusion is attachment to the phenomenal as the only possible manifestation of reality. Delusion beclouds the mind, rendering it unfit to perceive truth. Delusion is the product of irreligiosity— religion meaning here not a code of conduct and morals (ethics) but a life lived in harmony with the laws of the universe.

“Whatever should be adopted, that is dharma,” advises an old San­skrit saying. Dharma is the nature, the essence, the truth of phenomenal existence. When a player does not follow the law of his own nature, which is beyond all illusion and delusion, he becomes mired in delu­sion. One has but to understand that existence is a game. With this realization, the delusion of being a self-directed player vanishes. And with the disappearance of the delusion, bad karma too vanishes.

Delusion is the first square on which the player lands after throwing the six he needs to enter the game. In entering play, the player accepts temporary bondage to the material realm. After the player is born, he is conditioned to accept the particular circumstances of time and place as binding. The reality of the moment is perceived as the reality of all moments. Change is inconceivable. He has fallen into delusion.

However he gets here, by taking birth or by falling prey to the snake of irreligiosity (the use of bad means, selfish measures), the player inevitably passes through delusion. Once he sees his dharma and recognizes that change is not only possible but necessary, he is ready to move on. But as long as he sees his own way of perceiving the world as closed and complete, he is destined to return here again and again.

Because of its nature as a combination of two odd numbers and two even numbers (two 3s and three 2s, or five combinations of pairs), 6 is a perfectly balanced number. Related to inventiveness, creativity, and the fine arts, six is a moon-family member and is associated with the planet Venus. Venus is the most shining and brilliant of all the planets and can be seen by the naked eye as the morning star. In Hindu mythology, Venus is the teacher of demons. Those who dwell in delusion love sensual pleasures, spend their energy in the fulfillment of desires, are victims of anger and greed, act against the law of dharma, and are irreligious and extremely selfish.

Conceit is self-deception, false pride, building castles in the air. The word mada in Sanskrit means self-intoxication. The player is intoxicated by false vanity, pride, power, possessions, accomplishments, or achievements.When he has any kind of delusion about himself, he is taken over by mada.

After entry into the game the player becomes subject to mada, con­ceit, false identification of all kinds. Pride and vanity are two great intoxicants – and one drinks them in bad company. Bad company, the outcome of delusion and greed, is the snake that leads the player to conceit. In this space the player is completely trapped by his own game. The bad company he keeps is a manifestation of evil desires.

Everyone plays his own game and throws his own dice. Once the dice is cast he has no option. A player with no desires does not seek out company. But since desire is in the nature of the game, the seeking out of company is inevitable at some point in his development. The player needs a group to reinforce new identifications. The danger comes when the player is overwhelmed by his desires. His behavior patterns alter
radically. The right no longer seems right, nor the wrong improper. His desire must be sated at any cost, and thus he creates bad karmas and keeps bad company—those who support him in his wrongdoing. As a man is known by the company he keeps, the player can stop generating bad karmas by seeking out good company.

A sun-family member, 7 is associated with Saturn and the principle of darkness. Seven are the days, the notes of the musical scale, the days of the week, and the chakras. One with two odd numbers (two 3s) on either side, seven is the number of the problems of adjustment. Seven is lonely in nature, and aspires for completion.
Seven is associated with ketu, the south node of the moon, also known as the dragon’s tail. In modern Indian numerology, the number 7 is ruled by Varuna, the deity presiding over water, which is related to the planet Neptune in Western numerology. Seven is the number of writers and painters, who, when not evolved, live in false pride and are famous for building castles in the air and being always anxious about the future. They dislike following the beaten track and have very peculiar ideas about religion. They create a religion of their own and spend their life in amusement.

Conceit leads the player to feel envious of others. He is so obsessed with
the delusion of being a separate reality that no means of fulfilling his desire seems unjustifiable. After all, thinks the conceited player, I’m so much better than others that I deserve what they have. So in this game avarice is linked with the snake of envy—for it is the envy created by conceit that leads to avarice.

In the state of avarice the player has an active dislike of other players. He is too good for them, and what they have is also too good for them. Therefore, he reasons, what they have should be his. He becomes spiteful and lusts after the material belongings of his fellows. This contrasts with greed, where only the material is seen. Avarice is greed coupled with envy. As he becomes more avaricious his thirst for wealth increases, and all the other first-chakra problems begin to plague him.

Eight is a number that decreases when multiplied: 8 x 1 = 8; 8 x 2 16 = 1 + 6 = 7; 8 x 3 = 24 = 6; 8 x 4 = 32 = 5; 8 x 5 = 40 = 4; 8 x 6 =- 48 = 3; 8 x 7 = 56 = 2; 8 x 8 = 64 = 1.

When eight realizes 9 — thus 8 x 9 = 72 — it becomes 9, and on the next cycle it returns to its original state, 8 x 10 = 80 = 8. This phenomenon is synonymous with the cyclical nature of all reality and the process of human existence gross. The subtle diminishes as the gross increases, until the heart of the penetrated and becomes subtle again. Thus every increase decreases; every decrease increases. Nothing is ever lost. Only the nature of manifestation changes.

Among the moon-family numbers, 8 represents the octave, the eight dimensions, the eightfold maya (three gunas and the five subtle ele­ments). In numerology, 8 is the moon’s north node, and it is associated with the planet Saturn. This is a complex planet, difficult to understand. It has many ups and downs, and terrible struggles. It is an “airy” planet, associated with darkness, and is symbolized as a silent thinker or a servans, introspective and materialistically minded. People born under the number 8 collect wealth as a hobby and are subject to addiction and vice. But they are wise and experienced and have a special ability to judge people.

This is the ninth square of the first row. Nine is a complete number, an odd number, and marks the completion of the first row. It is a ladder leading to the second level of consciousness, which begins with purification. After taking birth into the game, the player has to pass through the sensual plane before he can enter into the second level.

Kama in Sanskrit means desire, desire of any kind and every kind — for name, fame, wealth, success, family, position, accomplishment. Any kind of desire, ambition, or noble or nonnoble aim is kama. And kama is the first stage in evolution. If there were no desire there would not be any creation.

So kama-loka is a plane of desires. But since all desires have their origin in man’s sensual nature, this is known as the sensual plane. It is directly linked with ignorance, the lack of knowledge. One may come here through the mouth of the snake of ignorance or through the gradual exploration of the first chakra. Nine, a member of the family of odd numbers, signifies completion and perfection. It represents force and energy. Multiplied by any other number, it retains its identity and integrity; thus: 9 x 1 = 9; 9 x 2 = 18 = 1 + 8 = 9; 9 x 3 = 27 = 9; 9 x 4 = 36 = 9; and 9 x 23 = 207 = 9; 9 x 376 = 3,384 = 9; 9 x 280 = 7,380 = 9. There are nine gates of the body through which the vital energy, prana, leaves at the time of death: the mouth, the two nostrils, the two eyes, the two ears, the anus, and the sex organ. During a day of twenty-four hours a man breathes 21,600 times, which reduces to 9. The day contains 1,440 minutes, also reducing to 9. The normal duration of the dominance of one hemisphere or one nostril is about 900 breathes (60 x 15) reducing to 9. There are nine major nerves of the body. 9 goddesses , navdurgas, are worshipped in Hindu religion. There are 72000 nerves in the body, called nadis. These are carriers of prana, the vital life-force, and their total also reduces to 9. There are nine planets in the solar system influencing life on planet earth, known as Navgrhas. In numerology 9 is the number of Mars, which shines in the sky with a beautiful red glitter.

For a time, the player feels comfortable on the sensual plane. But soon the downward flow saps his vital energy, leaving behind feelings of emptiness and confusion. At this moment purification draws his attention. Purification is the first arrow of the game and provides the opportunity to transcend all second-chakra problems. If after passing through the first chakra he lands on purification, the player purifies himself of all first- and second-chakra problems and rises immediately to the celestial plane.

Purification always refers to an increase in the vibrational level of the being, which causes energy to flow in an upward direction. Purification can be achieved through altering the behavior of the sensory organs, the work-organs, and the normal pattern of daily existence. There are five windows in the castle of consciousness. Through these windows, the enemies (impurities) enter into the castle and attempt to destroy the king. By closing these windows, or by maintaining a proper watch, the player can keep the castle pure.

Purification of the ears is accomplished by withdrawing the power of hearing from the outside and attending to inner sounds. Purification of the eyes comes when they are closed, and all attention is focused on the third eye, at the center of the forehead just above the brow line. Purification of the tongue, the window of taste, can be attained by eliminating sweet and salty tastes from the diet. Purification of smell is done through closing the nostrils and retaining the breath in the lungs for as long as possible (this also helps develop the habit of deep, slow breathing). Rubbing ashes on the skin purifies the sense of touch, making the player immune to sensations from the epidermal nerves.

Through the process of sleep-fasting – going without sleep day and night for one day or several—the player can purify himself of inertia, dullness, drowsiness, stupidity, and ignorance. By speech-fasting—going without uttering a sound for extended periods—the thought process becomes purified. Food-fasting purifies the body chemistry. In addition, going through hardships purifies the player’s personality, listening to scriptures and divinely inspired poetry purifies his inner self, humming purifies his nerves, and concentration and meditation purify both mind and body. Celibacy also is one of the methods of purification, a hard but very effective way of changing the vibrational pattern.

It is said in scriptures that gandharvas are “His” musical notes. The
word gandharvas in English can be translated as celestial musicians.
They come under the eight kinds of creation that cannot be perceived
by the normal eye; but they have the power to adopt a form at will. They are not composed of gross material particles, for they dwell on the astral plane. Their wives are called apsaras (nymphs), and together in every manner they entertain God and those who have by their evolution reached this plane. They have surrendered themselves for the entertainment of the gods of the celestial plane. As celestial musicians they live in harmony with divine music. In the stories of the Puranas there are numerous references to the acts of gandharvas and apsaras. They are initially free from the cycle of birth and death — but if they do not act in harmony with their state of being, they fall to earth from heaven, and take birth as human beings. But wherever they exist, they provide entertainment.

The player enters into the state of entertainment after purification. This space is an expression of inward joy, a feeling of rhythm, a sense of harmony. Entertainment makes him light and provides the incentive for recreation and amusement. Entertainment brightens mundane existence and provides new avenues, new vistas, new horizons. All the fine arts
are a product of this state, which belongs to the second row of the game
and is an attribute of vibration in the second chakra. But entertainment exists at all levels. This game board, Leela or Gyan Chaupad, is an entertainment for the saints.

Life is based on the principle of entertainment—fun. And life can be perceived as entertainment when the player has transcended the level of the first chakra (security). The essence of spirit is entertainment. The whole of the creation is an entertainment of energy – by Shakti, the mother principle, the Absolute, God . . . or whatever the Supreme Player may be called. If the Divine Play (entertainment) were not itself involved in the game, then the One would not choose to become many. It is in the process of entertainment that the One becomes many. To entertain is to accept. To accept is to surrender. And to surrender is to dissolve and become One.

Envy is the first snake of the game. Its bite brings the player down from
the second chakra to avarice and to all else that comes with vibrating in
the first chakra. Time and again this little snake catches the player and
brings him down. When he lands in envy he feels a lack of confidence in
himself and resorts to first-chakra strategies for overpowering his desire.
In the process of the game, this serpent helps the player to purify his
thought process.
In the game of life, energy moves from below to above. The player
wants to leave the lower planes and reach the summit, forever abandoning the problems he encountered below. But this attitude runs contrary
to the very essence of the game. He has to play in all the planes, and above—wherever his karma dice leads him.
But nobody wants to remain low. When the player does not vibrate correctly the snakes get hold on him. And by his own throw of the dice the player comes and goes up and down. Envy is felt when the energy is down, The player has only by karmic chance reached a higher plane and really does not deserve to stay there. He cannot, in fact, remain there, because negative vibrations are still present in his being. At such times he feels envious of those he sees who are able to remain steadily on the higher planes. This envy is a negative reaction, which draws his energy back down to the first chakra, where he must work out more karmas.

Antariksha is the space between the physical plane, which is earth, and the celestial plane, swarga, which is heaven, the kingdom of God. This space is neither on earth nor in heaven, it is between the two planes. Neither here nor there, no-where: nullity.

Nullity is a state directly linked with the unstable negative intellect. When a player lacks awareness of the purpose of his being, feelings of meaninglessness (existential angst) and futility flow through his consciousness. He has no sense of purpose, leading him to seek out the company of his fellows. But the lack of vital energy creates such feelings of futility that he does not stay in any one place, though he dwells continually in negativity.

Nullity is a manifestation of the second chakra and the cause of inactivity, instability, and restlessness. Everything loses meaning. Noth­ing excites. The identification of personality is completely lost, resulting in an imbalance of the mental state. All this happens because the player lacks the energy necessary to function in the higher planes. The depletion of energy in the pursuit of sensory objects is the fundamental trap of the second chakra.

Bhuvar-loka is a plan next to the physical and closely related to it, but it consists of more subtle matter. There are seven basic plans, or lokas, It reflects the state of being or the degree of personality development. The element of water dominates at the level of bhuvar-loka, same as in the second chakra generally. The astral plane is located immediately above the physical. This is a plan of dreams, fantasies and soaring imagination. In this state the player realizes the incredible diversity of the world around him. A picture of the diverse opportunities and goals that he could achieve unfolds in front him. This awareness encourages the player to participate more actively in life. Material needs of the first chakra are satisfied, and now he sees that life is much more interesting and diverse than he could imagine when he was preoccupied with obtaining livelihoods. Now he is financially secure, his success is beyond doubt. So on a wave of self-confidence, his creative imagination is released. However, fantasies require energy more than any other kind of human activity. The player directs all his resources to the construction of air locks. He seeks to tear himself away from physical reality in pleasures and in identification with different groups of people. While the player’s vibrations are at this level, the main stimulating force in his life remains the enjoyment of the work of the senses. This is the plan for “wine, women and songs.” Sexuality becomes the main means of self-expression, which is accompanied by huge losses of vital energy. The player is surrounded by feelings, emotions, ideas and various shades of meanings, which he uses as a basis for his fantasies. From here, from the second chakra, all kinds of creativity originate, and motive force of it is imagination. The astral plane is a measurement of the mental space located between the earth and the heavens. The player has already overcome the earthly plane, and his imagination gives him an idea of ​​heaven. The danger is that fantasies take the player away from reality, draining his energy, and may remain non-incarnate.

The Naga-loka would have to be an underground world. There are seven plans for the earthly plan and seven planes under it. Plans lying below the earth are under water. The rulers of each of these worlds are the separate classes of beings. One of the seven lower worlds is Patapa, governed by snakes (naga). In mythology, these are semi-divine beings with a human face and tail like a dragon. Nagas are also understood as a sect of hermit initiates who have attained great wisdom. Nothing is hidden and can not be hidden from their all-seeing gaze. Since naga-loka is a fantasy plan, it is not located above the earth, but under it, submerged in water in accordance with the nature of the phenomenon called fantasy.

The player falling on this plan completely immerses himself in the fantastic world created by his imagination, which takes him beyond the limits of physical reality to the infinite possibilities of human existence. There are no limits or limitations, all the energy of the player is directed to the exploration of this world and is manifested in the creation of works of art, new ideas and discoveries. He explores the surrounding world with the help of the senses in search of ever more stimulation of his imagination, trying to test her possible combinations of sensory experience. The main motive of his activity is the question: “What if …?” The fantasy of the player here knows no limits, nothing seems too fantastic or strange.

On the astral plane, the player begins to realize his capabilities, here he is completely absorbed by this dimension of mental space. Many of the best works of art arose due to immersion in this imaginary world. However, if a player loses control over his fantasies, he loses contact with the reality surrounding his reality and may find himself in the jaws of a serpent of jealousy waiting for him on the next cage.

The word naga is translated from Sanskrit as a “snake”. So the fantasy plan is also a snake plan. The snake serves as a symbol of energy. Kundalini, which yogis seek to raise through their practice, are often called “serpent power.” In Western mythology, the snake is one of the possible forms of the devil. The snake embodies the qualities of constant movement, flexibility and change in form that are characteristic of the player at the level of the second chakra. And as a snake finds shelter in burrows under the ground, so does the player whose vibrations correspond to the second chakra.

He begins to suspect other people when their actions diverge from his idea of ​​himself. In love relationships, he becomes jealous and is afraid of infidelity. His doubts grow, and soon his energy returns to the first chakra, where he finds himself in a network of greed. Nurtured by self-doubt, jealousy brings the loss of a sense of security and safety, and this is the main characteristic of the first chakra. Lack of self-confidence also leads to self-dislike, which is then projected as a hostility towards others.

To regain self-confidence, the player now has to go through the experience of the first chakra, where he can deal with its causes and increase his vibrations.

Compassion is one of the divine qualities inside the player, so strong that it raises it from the second chakra to the eighth, to the plan of the Absolute. Compassion opens the capacity for empathy so that the ego is swept away by a wave of feelings so intense that the eyes fill with tears of joy, and the heart beats in admiration and cosmic love. For moments, the player becomes one with the Divine. Compassion is one of the most positive manifestations of the ability to see in the open opportunities characteristic of the second chakra. The state of compassion is created when empathy is directed towards those whose actions have been directed against the player. And instead of giving change (“an eye for an eye”), he “substitutes another cheek.”

Imagination allows the player to imagine possible motives for the actions of other people. He sees that the other could also be hurt or offended by himself or another person. He knows that he and others are players in the space game, the meaning and rules of which far exceed their present level of understanding. He realizes that there are other, higher states that allow a person to judge about the actions of others. This understanding, filled with compassion, allows him to forgive another. This frees his consciousness from self-identification, and he soars up to the plane of the Absolute.

There is such a Sanskrit dictum: “Daya (Mercy, Compassion) is the basis of Dharma (righteousness).” Without this quality, true religiosity is simply impossible. Compassion, kindness, patience at all times contributed to the development of a good beginning in a person, helping him to cleanse his emotions, character formation and ethical development. Barriers of personality are crumbling, and the player’s mind becomes a reflection of the Divine. Compassion is a rejection of one’s self. However, it can not free the player from the accumulated karma, so now he must throw a bone until he is stung by a snake on the cage of Tamogun, which will allow him to return to earth to complete his mission.

Here, at the end of the second row, the second plan, the second chakra, a sense of deep satisfaction comes to the player. He knows that he has successfully passed the regions of envy, insignificance and jealousy. The journey in the fantasy world comes to an end, and it moves towards the real world and the practice of karma yoga. He does not know how soon he will be able to achieve his goal, the Cosmic Consciousness, but he could in his experience be convinced that he can overcome the levels of being, elevating his energy. The feeling of dislike for the impending encounter with reality hastens it so that it begins in a new way, more deeply feel all the levels of its being. The reality that awaits him ahead challenges him, but with him remains the sense of satisfaction that comes with the completion of the previous stage of development. One phase is already over, and the next one is before it. This is the moment of overcoming, and the spirit of joy fills the player. He managed to pass the first chakra, and now he does not feel fear and is quite confident in himself. Rising above sensual desires, he completed the second stage. Ahead of him is the joyful fulfillment of karma-yoga. He feels at the top of his being and the whole world. The sense of time disappears: joy is always eternal, no matter how brief its moment. The limitations of space also leave: joy knows no bounds. However, joy can not be constant: soon the forces of karma begin their work, prompting the player to move through the third level.

This plan, the plan of action (karma), opens the third row of the playing board, corresponding to the third chakra. Only one desire remains with us everywhere and at all times is a desire for satisfaction. All the others serve only as reflections of this basic desire: the desire for completion, self-realization. So, at whatever level the player is, he will strive for satisfaction – and at this level. In the first two chakras this desire is manifested as a desire for money and sex. In the third chakra, the basic need is self-identification (ego) and achievement of power. People of the first chakra usually do not work on themselves or for themselves. They usually serve the interests of people vibrating at the level of the third chakra. At the level of the second chakra, desires are directed toward the objects of the senses and energy is expended on the exploration of the sensory world. In the third chakra the player realizes the impact of social and political impulses on the development of his personality. Thus, the player begins to realize himself. Egoism becomes the main driving force of his actions, while his ego seeks to expand its sphere of influence more and more. So karma-loka makes a person look into the face of reality. The perspective changes, the fantasies characteristic of the second chakra collapse. This is the moment of sobering up. It is at this moment that the player realizes the existence of the law of karma. All things are in constant interaction with each other. At the energy level, karma determines the frequency of the player’s vibrations, which manifests itself at the physical level in the ways of his behavior. Karma is the cause of the birth-death-rebirth cycle, and only karma can bring the player liberation from this cycle. Karma (action) creates fetters, but it can also destroy them.

The player bears karmic responsibility for his “I”, which can be divided into the manifested and the unmanifested, the body and essence. Thus, there is karma related to the body, and karma associated with consciousness. The first refers to the deeds in this world. However, since consciousness includes the whole world, then karma, related to consciousness, also covers the whole world.

Karma-actions leading to an elevation in the level of vibrations are known as virtues; The same that reduce the frequency of vibrations, -like vices. Charity is a human virtue that exists at the level of the third chakra. It raises the player over the problems of this level, and he moves one step up to the equilibrium plane, located at the level of the heart chakra.

This virtue is one of the manifestations of the Divine principle in man, the essence of his consciousness. Getting to this field, the player identifies himself with the Divine, who is present in everything, and performs actions aimed at the benefit of others, without expecting any benefit for himself.

These actions fill the player with the joy accompanying the rise of energies to higher levels. That is why all religions known to mankind always pointed to the exceptional importance of such actions and included them in their rituals. The reality of the needs of other people and the desire to share-these two factors come into play at this level of the game. Charity satisfies the developing ego and frees the player from the shackles of the third chakra.

Charity is one of the most important milestones in the passage of the karma plan. This is the force that motivates one of the most sublime lines of human activity in society, which is a fusion of compassion with a propensity for organization characteristic of the third chakra.

Rising from the spheres of influence of material and sensory impulses, the player realizes that in the process of satisfying these desires he could harm others. Aspiring to satisfaction, he acted blindly, not thinking about the consequences. Getting into the area of ​​redemption, he sees that he has followed the unrighteous path and, resorting to unrighteous means, created within him unfavorable vibrations, which now prevent the attainment of inner peace. In search of lost balance, the player comes to repentance and tries to correct his mistakes. This is a time of great emotional confusion. The player experiences an acute and pressing desire to purify his negative karma, get rid of vices. Redemption is also necessary for those who, having risen to the level of the third chakra, have not yet freed themselves from the influence of the second. Such a player feels guilty because he can not adapt to a higher level of vibrations.

In both cases, repentance produces positive results and establishes an ascending current of energy. The player redeems his mistakes, following the law of Dharma, which is the true nature of all things and phenomena. The Atonement sets this comprehensive law, which is represented on the playing board by the next cell.

In search of self-identification, characteristic of the third chakra, the player is looking for a group of other people who could support him. He realizes that alone he is too weak to achieve his goals, and is looking for others following a similar path to create a group of like-minded people. If his vibrations are unfavorable, he gets into a society of people retreating from the laws of the Dharma. This is the “bad company”, and the player, stung by the snake, returns to the first chakra and vanity field.

In such a society, the bad character traits of the player are either ignored or, what is worse, extolled. The force created by the group serves as the soil for the growth of the ego and the conceit of the player. Thinking that his actions are in harmony with the Dharma, he constantly deceives himself. And the more he deviates, the stronger his self-conceit becomes. Soon, he may find that he is again at the level of the first chakra and must seek purification or amusement.

A bad company usually supports the view that the cause of personal problems is the surrounding people or society. The most vivid example is the group of terrorists, when they run to any means to achieve their goals. Justifying their actions to higher goals, they only deceive each other. It seems to them that killing certain people can satisfy their desires. They blindly believe that their goals are the only right goals for all. This deviation from: Dharma is a gross evil by power consumption, one of the main problems at the level of the third chakra. Linking with a bad company is an adharma, leading to a fall. Only by carefully following the principles of Dharma can a player save himself from this trap.

    Dharma is all that is true, right. It is ever-evolving, with the principle everywhere, force beyond time and space, guiding the existence of man. Dharma is unchanging, but its manifestations can differ in different situations. It resides in the depths of reality, and the person following the flow of the Dharma will always be in harmony with the reality of this world. Dharma is a conscious action, an action corresponding to the reality of the moment. Trying to act consciously, we learn to coordinate our actions with the principles of the existence of the cosmos. So, Dharma is an action based on the knowledge of these principles.

    There are ten basic rules of the Dharma. This is hardness, forgiveness, self-control, restraint, purity, control of the senses and organs of action, intelligence, correct knowledge, truth and the absence of anger.

    Everything that you consider good for yourself will be good for others. No Dharma is better than good works, and there is no worse adharma than causing harm. The laws of the Dharma are most evident in the application to human behavior, but these principles are much broader than rules of behavior or norms of morality and ethics. They serve only as a reflection of more general, comprehensive laws.

    Dharma of fire is to burn, and Dharma of water is to quench your thirst. Water in accordance with its Dharma creates a taste, and fire-colors and forms. Dharma is the inner essential nature of a thing or phenomenon. Following the Dharma, the player rises to the higher planes, but if he deviates, energy begins to fall, dragging him along. Arrows on a board are elements of Dharma, or virtues, and snakes are elements of adharma, or vice.

    Thus, the Dharma is unchangeable and resides outside forms, taking one form or another for each player. For a man living in a cold climate, Dharma will wear warm clothes; The dharma of the hungry is to eat. For a Dharma disciple, meditate and follow sadhana, or spiritual discipline. The child’s dharma is a free game without worries about the spiritual world. The adult dharma is the striving and assertion of oneself in the spirit world. Dharma is the truth that maintains the right relationship between all the elements of creation. Dharma – this is the forest surrounding the building of the person building. While the structure is not finished, the forests support its structure. But when the building can already support itself, they disassemble the gay and are used to create new, yet unstable buildings.

    Svarga-loka, the heavenly plan, is the third among the seven planes of creation. All these three planes-bhu-loka, bhuvar-loka and svarga-loka-are destroyed at the end of the day of Brahma, the Creator, to be reborn again at the dawn of his next day. At the level of bhu-loka, everything exists in physical form, bhuvar-loka refers to the sphere of desires, in svarga-loka, thinking comes to the fore. The main force controlling this plan is the element of fire. Everything that exists here sparkles and glows like fire, that’s is why the creatures that inhabit this plane emit light. Descriptions of glittering angels and deities can be found in the mythologies of all peoples.

    In the first chakra, the player seeks security and tries to take possession of many things that could support his physical existence. In the second, he explores the world of feelings and seeks to enjoy. Going up to the third plan, he opens a new dimension – the identification of his personality, or the ego. And his basic desire is the immortality of this self-created design. As soon as the desire for immortality for the ego enters his heart, his attention turns to celestial laws. So the player creates for himself a mental image of heaven from his own aspirations. Heaven, of which he thinks, is a place filled with everything that his “I” needs to satisfy his desires – pleasure, joy and happiness. He realistically looks at the world and sees that the world is full of suffering and pain, ups and downs. He seeks a delight that is infinite, never stopping. This space, known as the heavenly world, is nourished by the thoughts of people of all religions. Even Marx, being an atheist, could not do without his image in his philosophy. His ultimate goal he called “classless society.”

    Heaven is a manifestation of the desires from the third chakra. If we digress from value judgments, we will see that this plan rises above the levels of the first and second chakras and is reached from the second chakra by purification. Heaven is a bait for the lost sheep of the first and second chakras, whose goal is to bring them back to the spiritual path. This method was used by the saints and prophets of all religions to raise the spiritual level of the masses. In the tradition of Hinduism, the heavenly plan is the domain of the god Indra. Indra is known for having subdued to his control the indriyas: the five senses and the five organs of action. One who fully controls these organs becomes the Lord of Heaven and resides on this plane. Heaven is the dwelling place of saints, devotees, higher karma yogins and heavenly dancers and musicians (see comment on field 11, “entertainment”).

    For the organs of sense and action that subordinated to themselves, everything that exists on the material plane appears in a harmonious and divine form. There are no lower desires, no violence, no attachment, no greed, no jealousy, no money-grubbing, no anger, no sensuality, no insignificance. Instead, there is cleansing, mercy, joy and eternal life full of enjoyment.

    Player of the third chakra who follows the path of the Dharma soon finds himself in the company of people who are striving to develop and realize their best traits. Being in such an environment, the player sees that his energy rises thanks to the confirmation of the truth of his searches and the realization that there are other people who are striving for the same purpose as him. The main request of the third chakra – the expansion of the ego – comes into play again. This positive community is called su-sang.

    For people striving for the realization of spiritual values, such a community takes the form of an organic partnership that gathers around the spiritual master with the developed fourth and fifth chakras. A bad company usually gathers around a charismatic leader with a dominant third chakra. The player and his companions tend to imitate his teacher and integrate what the teacher gives into his personality.

    In a good company, vice is not cultivated. Players with the help of the teacher try to serve each other as a mirror in which both positive and negative trends are reflected. The result of being in a bad company is the development of conceit, whereas in a favorable society a person develops the ability of compassion.

    A good company is an essential factor for player development. Here he gets the opportunity to grow from his previous identifications in an atmosphere of support, trust and compassion. The remnants of the problems created by the influence of the first two chakras gradually disappear, however, as the player learns to resist and control all aspects of his personality.

    A good company is a positive aspect of the desire for self-identification and self-affirmation inherent in the third chakra. On the path of the player there are no more obstacles to the fourth level of the game, the plan of cosmic intelligence and balance.

     

    Sadness is a term used to describe changes in the body’s chemical processes caused by the loss of something. This loss and the associated excess pressure of energy create a state of depression in the body. Sadness and joy are the two poles of the emotional continuum. Joy is a state of expansion, a conversion to the outer world and exalted vibrations, whereas sorrow is a state of contraction, introversion and suppressed vibrations. In both cases, the sense of time is prophetic and the moment seems like an eternity.

    In sadness, breathing is restrained, blood flows to internal organs, a person looks pale. On the contrary, joy opens the heart, blood circulates freely, breathing is easy, the person looks radiant and full of vitality.

    Sadness is the veil that envelops the player and darkens his gaze. No ray of hope or light can penetrate from outside. And the more a player tries to get out, the more he gets confused. He feels weak and helpless. He rushes between the intellect offering ways out, and feelings that say there is no way out. All that needs to be done is to get up, throwing the veil once and for all. There, on the surface, there is a clear, clear sky and light, but inside there is only confusion and insoluble problems created by fantasy. As a child, afraid of darkness, hides under the blanket, so the player thinks that, if he opens himself, the horrors waiting outside will immediately absorb him.

    Sadness can be a temporary condition caused, for example, by the death of a child or innocent victims of war. Alternatively, it can become a mode of existence, a constant disbalance of biochemical processes created by the mechanism of suppression.

    If a person does not want to honestly look at some aspects of his personality, repression occurs. This happens when honesty to oneself threatens the loss of self-identification, the acceptance of something that seems unacceptable. Suppression leads to pain. Blocked energy must somehow express itself, and it happens through pain. In this case, depression becomes a scorpion, which stings itself. Going to the surface of what is considered unacceptable will lead to pain and loss of self-identification. Suppression also, brings only pain, confusion and loss of self.

    In sadhana, that is, spiritual discipline, depression can express an awareness of the separation between a devotee and a deity. The third chakra is the plan of identification. The disciple seeks to identify with the deity. Repetitive failures bring sadness. The player recognizes the existence of the Divine and tries to realize it within his own personality. Separation seems to be an insurmountable precipice. He sees how the problems of the first and second chakras again and again absorb his energy. He feels incapable and unworthy of the intended goal.

    And yet there is a way that gives him hope. This selfless service, represented by the next cell of the game board.

    If charity involves actions performed from time to time, then selfless service is a permanent position, a way of existence. Paramartha is life without caring about oneself in harmony with the world around them the fulfillment of what needs to be done, while preserving the awareness of the current moment.

    Param means “higher”, and artha is the goal the action is performed. Everything that is done for the highest goal, is paramartha. The higher can mean God or some other idea that the player decided to devote his life to. Selfless service is giving up yourself for the ultimate goal.

    When a player begins to understand his role in the performance and realizes that the individual “I” is meant to serve as an instrument for the realization of the Supreme, all that he does ceases to care for him. He only performs his duties, doing what is provided for his role in the game. He does not know what the result of these actions will be. Fulfilling his duty without thinking about his rights or a possible reward, he becomes self-sacrificing, and then all his actions turn into paramartha.

    Life at this level is possible only when the player understands that the rights follow the obligations, and the reward is the fruit of the action. Rights and rewards are only side effects of the game, but not its purpose. As long as the player is in a physical body equipped with organs of action, karma is inevitable. He can only make a choice: take care of reward and punishment, honor and humiliation – or devote his life to understanding the laws and nature of the game, without worrying about what is going on, continuing to fulfill his duties.

    Nobody can guarantee rewards: innumerable factors influence the outcome of any business. If a player is free of hopes and desires, every moment is an achievement for him. Releasing from the false position of acquisitions and losses, he attains selfless service, and the arrow carries him upwards, to the human plane. Exercising one’s duties in a proper manner, abandoning one’s own self for the sake of what is to be done, leads to the loss of identification, which is the main problem of the third chakra. Individuality ceases to exist as a separate unit, becoming part of a larger whole. Examples of such a ministry can be found in various organizations, which are forms of manifestations of the heavenly plan. These are charitable foundations, volunteers, rescues, etc. Selfless service is embodied in the lives of people like Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King and Nathan Hale, who says: “I only regret that I have only one life , which I can give for my country. “

    Selfless service is the last cage in the third row of the playing board representing the third chakra. Hence the player rises to the balance plan, the plan of faith and devotion.

    Sudharma, or true religiosity, means accepting the direction and mode of action best suited to the player. Sudharma is life in harmony with the laws of the game. This is the direction of the action, allowing the player to throw a bone, without worrying about where he will get to.

    The literal translation of the word Sudharma is “your own Dharma.” What is it? What should the player do? If the Dharma is the rules of conduct, they must be one for all. But if this were so, no one would have to think about anything, everyone would have lived the same way. However, people are people, not machines. They differ from each other in a variety of indicators. Different people are born at different times and from different parents. Relatives, environment, atmosphere, as well as geographical, ethnographic and social conditions are different for different people. Everyone is born with a certain set of positive and negative inclinations-no one is perfect. And no person can completely obey the law of Dharma prescribed by any particular religion or person. Everyone must understand their own role in the game. He must follow his unique path to liberation. And the ups and downs in the player’s life determine the way in which he moves through the playing board fields.

    Sudharma means maintaining a high state of mind and completely rejecting false means to achieve one’s goals. Sudharma is a belief in the possibility of liberation, merging with the Cosmic Consciousness. Sudharma is detachment from the ups and downs in the ocean of maya.

    The musician will find expression of the concept of Sudharma in music, the artist – in painting. Each player has seven centers of mental vibrations. If he feels confident at any of these levels, it is from here that he should try to develop his creative activity. This is his only suharma. All religious rules and norms of conduct are nothing more than external means that help to understand the true nature of man, his Sudharma. Once a player begins to understand Sudharma, he becomes religious internally, and religion becomes an image of his life. Rituals lose their meaning, life itself becomes a permanent worship. And the player becomes ready to move to the austerity plan.

    Until the player reaches the fourth chakra, the Dharma remains for him only a term devoid of inner meaning. In the third chakra, he must self-identify with a group of the same minded, in the second he identifies himself with his feelings, in the first-with the ability to secure his physical survival.

    In the third chakra he understands the laws of karma, the importance of charity, the ethical aspect of the Dharma, the consequences of being in a good and bad environment, the atonement and suffering of life. But the understanding of his role in the game comes only with getting to the level of the fourth chakra, on the field of Sudharma, from which he moves to the austerity plan for strict self-restraint and work on himself. Following the path of Sudharma leads him directly to the sixth row of the playing board to the sixth chakra.

    The player who enters the cage of Sudharma, discovers his role in the game and begins to act in accordance with it, not paying attention to the consequences. He knows that while he listens to the voice that is heard inside, he has nothing to fear. Faith, which is in accordance with the laws of nature, is Sudharma. Blind faith, neglecting cosmic principles, leads to adharma. In essence, all actions that contradict the individual Dharma of man are adharma. Adharma knocks man off the right path, bringing him back to the first chakra, to delusions that are the essence of blind faith. Adharma comes into conflict with the laws of being. At sunrise the entire planet is transformed. Everything changes: wind, temperature, pressure. The pace of life is increasing. If a person sleeps at this time, he acts against the laws of the planet, and this is adharma. The extraction of fossil raw materials from the depths of the Earth, which is then used without concern for possible negative consequences for the environment and future needs of the planet, is an adharma directed against the Earth. Similarly, some actions serve as adharma for human physiology. Live in constant tension, without rest – an obvious adharma. But to be free from tension, resorting to false means, will be an even greater adharma.

    Adharma does not exist by itself. This is a denial of the laws of Dharma, an action contrary to one’s inner nature. Inattention to oneself is adharma, but self-worship is also adharma.

    One can better understand the nature of adharma, if we recall the gunas, the three cosmic forces participating in the creation. If one of them-sattva (conscious energy), tamas (inertia) or rajas (activity) – begins to predominate over the other two, the state of adharma arises. The greatest adharma is self-destruction. The snake of adharma returns the player back to the beginning of the game, into an illusion. Adharma is the main danger for a player who is at the level of the fourth chakra. In the first three chakras, energy was directed toward the physical, astral and heavenly planes. Now, being in the fourth chakra, the player begins to understand the importance of true religiosity. In search of a new role in the game, he can neglect the existing aspects of the Dharma, trying to do everything in his own way, ignoring the planetary laws of existence. The key to this situation is faith.

    Faith is the very essence of the fourth chakra: faith, devotion, bhakti. This belief, if a player acts in harmony with his true nature (Sudharma), elevates him to the austerity plan. But if he descends from the right path, the same faith forces him to return back to delusion. This is adharma. Actions based only on faith lead people away from true religiosity. Faith, not rooted in the understanding of the laws of being, is blind. And such blind faith is the most common cause of energy loss on this plane. Faith, in harmony with the laws of existence, is Sudharma; just faith is adharma.

    Uttama means “good,” gati – “movement.” Good tendencies are manifested in the player spontaneously, if he moves in harmony with the laws of the macrocosm. While he is vibrating on the three lower planes, these tendencies do not develop. Their growth begins only here, in the fourth chakra, as this requires reaching a certain degree of internal balance.

    It is the state of equilibrium that allows the player to tune in unison with the cosmic rhythm. Good trends are a move towards more and more fine tuning.

    Heart and breathing play an important role at the level of the fourth chakra. Getting on the cell “good trends”, the player acquires control over the frequency of heartbeat and manner of breathing. Thus, good trends help stabilize the progress achieved in the development of the fourth chakra, and breathing is directly related to the manifestation of good trends.

    Each change in the direction of movement (trend) is reflected in the state of prana – the vital, or psychic energy of the organism. On the material level, this manifests itself as a change in the manner of breathing. Wrong manner brings the body a direct harm. That is, the distortion of the respiratory rhythm simultaneously generates unfavorable vibrations of psychic energy. Good trends help the player maintain proper vibrations. Identify these trends can be observed by the manner of breathing rights.

    Actions leading the player closer and closer to life in harmony with planetary and cosmic cycles, serve as the best of good trends. Start by observing the changes that are taking place in you at dawn and sunset. Rise in the morning, when it’s still dark, take a shower and change into clean clothes for morning meditation. Other good trends include the transition to a vegetarian diet, the practice of asanas of hatha yoga, the study of ways to control breathing (see also comments on fields 38, prana, 39, apana and 40, vyana), periodic fasting, conscious the study of spiritual writings, as well as all the kindness of the children mentioned in the game Yaila.

    The practice of good trends helps the player to stabilize his life so that it rhythmically develops in a positive direction, free from the energy-dispersing influences of the lower centers.

    A player who falls on the plane of holiness experiences divine mercy through understanding cosmic principles. Holiness is the direct result of good trends. This is connected with the fourth chakra feeling of unity with the presence of the Divine and the ability to see the manifestation of His mercy in all creation. This unity surpasses a simple intellectual understanding and becomes a real part of everyday life.

    Yakshi are ethereal beings dwelling in the heavens. In accordance with the cosmological system adopted in Hinduism, there are seven classes of beings in the universe: devas, yakshas (or kinnars), gandharvas, manushes, asuras (or rakshas), bhutas and pishachas. Pishachi represent a lower kind of consciousness, based on violence and betrayal. Next come the bhutas, or the disembodied spirits, because of attachment, unable to leave the earthly plane of existence living in the past. Then they are followed by asuras – beings who do not recognize ethical norms of behavior, who live in search of sensual pleasures (“wine, women and songs”). The next class is manushi (people). They believe in the laws of karma and responsibility for the consequences of committed acts. Manushes can foresee the future and understand the nature of liberation. This is the plan of human existence. Gandharvas are creatures dedicated to serving the gods and living in harmony with divine music. They inspire people with the help of sound and music. Then the yakshas go-their consciousness is based on the knowledge and understanding of cosmic principles and the direct experience of divine mercy. And, finally, there are devas – pure forms of energy of the deities themselves.

    When a player reaches yaksha-loka, his attention is drawn to the question of the nature of the divine existence. He tries to find a connection between the divine and his daily life. He seeks real experience, which can only be obtained after reaching the fourth chakra. Before, this was only an abstract concept. Now the interest in the divine and his presence in the entire creation, the desire to look at the face of reality becomes the essence of the player.

    Mahar-loka is the fourth rest of the seven levels of being. It is believed that this loka collapses at nightfall of Brahma, the Creator. The first three lokas serve as arenas where the jiva (individual consciousness) lives, developing in a series of new and new rebirths. In this fourth loka, as in the third, the element of fire dominates, but here it is not so fine as in svarga-loka, where the bodies of the inhabitants sparkle and emit radiance.

    Here the player rises above the physical level, desires and thoughts. Individual consciousness can be painted with desire (coma) or thoughts, but now the player achieves a state of freedom from desires and thoughts. Having overcome the third level, the player falls on the fourth and enters a permanent invisible world. The living creatures have not yet reached complete freedom from rebirth, but they are not subject to repeated incarnations during the current cycle of creation, since they are in a state of equilibrium.

    The plan of the heart chakra serves as a point of balance of the vertebral column of the game: three centers lie above it and three are lower. Hence the energy flows down to the three first centers, and upward, to the three higher planes of being. In this center, male and female energy is balanced. The words of the player, whose vibrations are at this level, come from his heart.

    He reaches the Mahar-loka through the arrow of charity or through the fields of good tendencies and holiness. Here, the desires rooted in the first chakras are calmed, and the expenditure of energy for their satisfaction ceases. In the heart, the flow of energy begins, leading upwards.

    Here, the player overcomes the intellectual understanding of the Divine, characteristic of the third chakra, and moves to the direct experience of His presence within his “I”. Thanks to this feeling of unity with the Absolute, Mahar-loka is also sometimes called the cosmic mind plan.

    Since ancient times, the heart center is known as the main place of manifestation of emotions in the human body. It is in the heart that our emotional self lives. Yogic physiology connects it with the thymus, the endocrine gland located in the region of the heart. This gland is responsible for the flow of electrical energy in the body, and the nature of sensory perception is based on electrical phenomena. Each change in the emotional tone is recorded by the heart, its rhythm determines the chemical composition of the blood. Each change in the chemical composition of the internal environment, in turn, is recognized by the mind as a certain feeling or emotional state. Thus, the heart is something more than a machine that pumps clean blood in the direction of the organs of the body, and spent – returning to the lungs. It is also the center of emotions, the psychic center. In the Sufi tradition, a special emphasis is placed on the need to open the heart center with the help of love (mohabbat). Hence poetry is born, the transformation of the personal into the universal. Poetry is all filled with the heart, its vibrations and all sorts of experiences. This center is also the source of all transpersonal psychic phenomena.

    Regardless of the way the player has reached this place, he now enjoys peace. His hands automatically fold into mudras (special gestures that help balance the flow of energy in the body). His heart is filled with the spirit of devotion – bhakti. He is able to begin to identify himself with the whole creation, developing in himself the experience of cosmic unity. In his behavior, tenderness, gentleness and aesthetic sense are mainly manifested. His speech comes from the heart, penetrates into the hearts of others so that he effortlessly attracts a group of fans who are striving to achieve the same level of vibrations.

    The symbol of the equilibrium plan is the six-pointed star, made up of two equal regular triangles, one of which is directed upwards, and the other is down. This symbol is known in the West as the “star of David.” The triangle, directed upwards, symbolizes the male energy directed downwards – female. This is an expression of the equilibrium state reached by the player vibrating at this level.

    Hindu cosmology has fourteen basic planes of creation (lok), seven of which are located above the earth. These are the plans of the seven chakras that make up the “vertebral column” of the game, as well as the vertebral column of the player himself. The first is the bhu-loka – the physical plane, then the bhuvar-loka – the astral plane, the third is the svarga-loka – the heavenly plane, the fourth is the mahar-loka – the equilibrium plan, the fifth is the jana-loka – the human plan, followed by tapa -loka – the plan of asceticism, and satya-loka – the plan of reality. Below the terrestrial level there are atala-loka, vital-yet, sutala-loka, rasatala-loka, talatala-loka, maha-tala-loka and patala-loka.

    In the daily Hindu worship (sandhya), the worshiper utters a mantra in which the seven main lokas are listed. Speaking the name of each of these plans, he refers to a part of his body connected with him. He utters Om bhu, touching the tip of the right hand to the point between the anus and the genitals, the location of the Kunda-line. Then he utters Om Bhuvah, touching the foundation of the sexes.

    Gandha means “smell,” and sense of smell is associated with the element of the earth and the physical plane. However, when the player reaches the fourth level, the nature of sensory perceptions is transformed, becoming a symbolic expression of the Divine, bearing a powerful emotional charge. Following their Sudharma, devotees offer fragrances to deities in the form of flowers or incense. Thus, the fourth chakra includes a plan of fragrances, or gandha-loka.

    In the first chakra the player is attracted by the smells of alcohol or gasoline. In the second it is stimulated by various synthetic mixtures with a strong odor. The third chakra also dominates the fascination with such artificial smells, but much more expensive. Rising to the equilibrium plan, the player realizes the futility of everything artificial and avoids the exciting unnatural aromas.

    Here, in the gandha-loka, he tastes divine fragrances during meditation. The evolution of energy leads to changes at the chemical level in the player’s body, and his body stops giving off unpleasant odors, emitting instead a fragrance similar to the scent of lotus or sandalwood flowers.

    To develop an understanding of people practicing spiritual practice, it is suggested to stop using artificial fragrances for the body to learn its natural smell. When an unpleasant odor from the body disappears, when neither excrement, nor sweat, nor breathing carries more of a bad smell, it means that the human energy has overcome the third chakra and entered the gandha-loca – the plan of the aromas. Here there are only divine smells. The player once and for all cleanses his system of bad smells.

    At the same time, as in the lower chakras, the sense of taste was basically one of the varieties of sensory perception, in the fourth chakra it is purified, becoming a sense of taste in the aesthetic sense. A person falling into this plan penetrates into the world of ideas and meanings. This gives him a direct knowledge of the essence of emotional experiences. Raca is love, pleasure, mercy, entertainment, taste, emotion, beauty, passion, spirit. This poetic inspiration, the essence of poetry. Raca is the water in its purest form, the power that binds together the whole creation.

    Before the third chakra the taste in all meanings of this word is almost entirely directed towards the lower levels of activity. In the first chakra, the taste is completely subordinated to the desire to earn money. Food that gives a lot of strength (especially meat), and ready-made purchased food form the basis of the player’s diet. He uses a large amount of salt and spices. In the second chakra, energy is directed toward sensuality. Here, the player is interested in food that increases potency, such as eggs, fish or ginseng. In the third chakra, he strives for a sense of taste for his own sake, consuming all kinds of fine food. At the level of the heart, the sense of taste is purified. The player leaves salt and sweets to understand the real essence of the food consumed by him.

    When a player enters the taste plan, his taste is thinned in all senses of the word. His preferences in food, music, communication are pleasing to all, regardless of their own level. He becomes a connoisseur and connoisseur of good taste, recognized by all. Thus, he attracts fans who want to come to this state.

    Until the player reaches the level of the heart, he lacks understanding of Sudharma, or true religiosity. And without Sudharma no freedom of action is possible. But as soon as the player gains freedom of action, he becomes responsible for their consequences. Nara ka-loka is the place where the player responds to his “bills”.

    In Hindu cosmology, the naraka-loka is located between the earth and the heavens. This plan consists of seven layers, which the player must overcome before he gets to heaven. In accordance with his karmas, the player spends some time in each of the layers, so that then, if he also has a positive karma, ascend to heaven.

    The ruler of naraka-loka is Yama, the master of death, also known as Dharmaraja. Violence leads the player to purgatory, to the most painful conditions. Each action has a corresponding fruit. This is the law of karma, the action of which is inevitable as long as the player continues to exist physically. Bad karma leads the player to naraka-loka, to the place that corresponds to this karma. This is not punishment, but purification. Dharmaraja, the leader of the naraka, was not personally interested in the sufferings of the players who got there. His work, rather, is to correct negativity, which frees the way for future spiritual development.

    The naraka is also the heart chakra itself. Attachment to feelings is naraka, a sense of attachment is naraka. Naraka is negative vibrations. A person who radiates negativity creates narcotics in their own home, family, district, city, country or world, depending on their capabilities. Getting into naraka-loku without understanding, inherent in the fourth level, the player looks at the situation as a failure, he does not see in it the consequences of negative karma. Then it becomes obvious that naraka-loka is nothing but a sign of imperfection of actions, which must be corrected. In the fourth chakra there is awareness without evaluation.

    Clarity of consciousness is the light that fills the player when he leaves the fourth level to enter the fifth, where a person becomes a Man. In Sanskrit the word svacchha means “pure, clear, transparent.” This transparency is the result of the process of purification, through which the player passes in naraka-loka.

    Transparency means no obstruction to light. When all doubts are clarified, the veil of the blind intellect dissolves, a pure and powerful light of inner sensation comes to replace. Intellectual understanding, dominating in the first three centers, comes off the stage. Here reasoning is seen as a defect, a disease of consciousness. When consciousness identifies itself with understanding, it suffers from a disease of rationality, chains of intellect. Devotion and faith help overcome this state, and the player enters the level of Being.

    Getting on the field of svačchi, the player becomes clean and transparent. He was overcome with doubts, because of which he lost his way of true religiosity or found himself in purgatory. But this experience gave him an understanding of Sudharma. He developed good tendencies in himself and consecrated his life. He visited the plans of flavor and taste and is now ready to join the ascending flow of energy that raises him to the fifth chakra.

    Knowledge of the truth and understanding how to adapt it into everyday life-these are two essential characteristics of jnana. Jnana is the power that raises the player to the plan of bliss, located in the eighth row outside the chakras. A player who understands his role in the game and the nature of the actions that will enable him to fulfill this role, lives in bliss.

    A player can realize his wisdom only by gaining experience of clarity of consciousness. The transformation of energy, which allows him to rise to the fifth chakra, occurs only when all evaluations and judgments are suspended.

    Jnana is not yet liberation. The player still has to get rid of everything that dims his mind. But he knows that these obstacles can be eliminated and that the Cosmic Consciousness is an achievable goal. Some Hindu philosophers view jnana as a direct path to moksha, the Cosmic Consciousness. But in this game the jnana leads to bliss. The player must go through the plan of the cosmic good or throw out the deuce, otherwise he will again be involved in the cycle of rebirth. In this case, he returns to Earth and can start the game again.

    Jnana is awareness, but not ultimate realization. Jnana is an understanding of the laws of being and how to live in harmony with them. In the fourth chakra the player achieves balance, the mind is purified, and now, thanks to this, the player can really penetrate the world of concepts and ideas. The player ceases to be attached to forms of expression and tries to penetrate the essence of the phenomenon (such penetration in the West is called “insight”). In the light of a pure, unclouded consciousness, old relationships take on completely new outlines. Illusion (maya) is the cause of slavery. The reason for liberation from illusion leading to bliss is jnana.

    While the player realizes himself as a separate independent entity, he is constrained by individual karma. In the light of jnana it becomes clear that by limiting the scope of karma, he can begin to establish himself in bliss. This is insight into the essence of the game.

    In the first three chakras, the player was lost in the spheres of delusion, fantasy, power. All that gave him hope, eventually brought only disappointment, fatigue and pain. In the fourth chakra he began to balance his inner world; then, with the purification of consciousness, he plunged into the ascending flow of energy, which raised him from the fourth chakra to the fifth. Staying in balance, he sees that his goal is quite achievable, and brings his life in line with an understanding of the process of achieving it.

    Jnana is a clean page. Whatever was written on its surface is only the illusions with which the ahamkara, ego, is enveloped. Illusions are impermanent: one replaces another, but the page to which they are applied is invariable and always remains the same. In light of this wisdom, the player begins to understand the karmic letters that fill this blank page. After a while, the player wants to write these letters himself. Implementation of jnana leads to the fact that the player understands also that everything should be left untouched, word for word, as it was given.

    The jnana field is rightfully located at the level of the fifth chakra, since it is here that there is a source of billions of pure pages that are the essence of all world religious teachings. In the fifth chakra, the main concern of the player is communication with others: he seeks to convey to the people around him the understanding of the essence of the game he achieved, while realizing that it is impracticable.

    Prana is the life force. In Sanskrit it is a synonym for life and the name of the breath of life, which we receive with every breath. Prana is also the name of one of the five basic subtle energies in the body. In this narrow sense, Iran refers to energy located in the oral cavity and carrying food to the stomach. Prana is located in the area from the nostrils to the lungs and near the heart, protecting life from destruction.

    Prana maintains the balance of other elements of the body and controls their functions. Thanks to prana, we can move, think, see and hear. From birth to death, prana plays a crucial role in our life: at birth, it gives the strength necessary for successful delivery, at the time of death, it takes all the vital energy of the body and flows out, leaving behind a lifeless corpse.

    Prana is a faithful servant who satisfies all the needs of his master, without demanding any reward for it. As a true devotee, prana faithfully serves our consciousness 24 hours a day. But prana has a temperament. Even a small change in the attitude of the host affects the speed and rhythm of the cycle. A good master who understands the devotion of his servant should try to help prana develop. The methods necessary for this are called pranayama and constitute one of the most important sections of yogic discipline.

    In yoga, prana is a concept of paramount importance. Practicing pranayama, the yogi directs the flow of prana down to the pelvic plexus, where it mixes with apanoa, the energy found in the lower body. When the prana and the mill flow together through sushumna – the central channel of the spine, to the top of the head, the yogi receives samadhi experience, enriching the goal of all yoga practitioners.

    Prana should not be confused with oxygen. Oxygen supplies the gross physical body with energy. The prana supports the existence of the physical body: prana is life itself. For understanding, life prana and consciousness should be considered separately from each other. Life is the mechanism through which consciousness is manifested, and prana is its driving force. When life stops, consciousness remains. This is indicated by numerous documented incidents of reincarnation.

    While prana is a force that serves to absorb energy from the outside, through the lungs, and to transfer food energy to the stomach, apana serves the opposite function. Apana literally means “directed down,” and this energy is responsible for the release of energy from the body. It is located in the lower part of the body, and helps the child come out of the womb. It is the cause of energy output in the lower direction. Apana is the energy responsible for urinating, defecating and ejaculating.

    In the West, the importance of apana is not understood enough. Everyone knows about the presence of gases in the intestine, but these gases have never been isolated into a separate physiological category. There are many patented drugs for the treatment of conditions caused by the disbalance of apana, but there is as yet no clear understanding of their cause in the West.

    In traditional Indian medicine, apana is considered as the main force serving to purify all body systems. In the process of digestion as a result of chemical interaction with juices in the stomach and intestine, the gases contained in the food are released. These gases are produced in larger quantities if the food is digested poorly or the circulation of juices is impaired (raw food such as nuts or seeds produces more gases). In any case, when the correct movement of gases is disturbed, instead of coming out, they begin to rise, and this breaks the balance of the body’s chemical system. If gases reach the heart area, it can lead to increased blood pressure, heartbeat or even a heart attack. If they rise even higher, this leads to disruption of the respiratory system. If the gases reach the head, the result will be schizophrenia.

    When Prana, charged with positive ions, mixes with apana and is directed to the entrance to the central channel in the spine, during the interaction of the positive ions of prana with negative ions of apana, a huge amount of energy is released that awakens the energy that is in the base of the spine in a latent state and is called Kundalini. (Kundalini is the fixed basis of all the processes taking place in the body, it is the energy present in the resting or moving form in all phenomena of this world.) This same energy is used by the organism for survival.)

    The practice of locks-bans, prescribed by yoga, directs apana upwards. When she reaches the navel area, it increases the digestive fire. Then the apana mixes with fire in the third chakra and penetrates into the fourth, where it mixes with the prana.. This mix leads to a further increasing of heat, and both energies rise, creating a vacuum. It is said in the scriptures that with the help of this intense heat arising from the mix of prana with apana, the Kundalini awakens and enters the central channel as a snake crawls into its hole. This mixture of prana and apana leads to the rejuvenation of yogi’s body. He becomes full of life, enduring and energetic, as in sixteen years. In this field the player realizes the importance of apana in his life and learns how to maintain his energies in a harmonious state with the help of a proper diet and other practices.

    Vanya takes pranic energy in the lungs and distributes it in all the systems of the body. This vital energy is responsible for the flow of blood, the secretion of glands, body movements down and up, as well as for opening and closing the eyelids. Vyanya carries oxygen of blood through the system of capillaries. Oxygen and pranic energy are absorbed by the tissues, and the debris is expelled into the blood. This blood goes back to the venous system with the help of a wit, which transfers this contaminated waste blood back to the heart and lungs. Vyana is also responsible for sweating. Sweat is not allocated in any specific places, but through every pore of our body. Prana, which is vital energy in the lungs, can not do this work, The same applies to Apana, which serves to isolate the lower part of the body. Sweat can not move on its own, it is moved by Vanya energy. It is present throughout the body and plays a crucial role in maintaining the chemical balance through the processes of blood circulation, sweating and coughing.

    Jana-loka, the fifth level plan, is the abode of siddhis (beings who have attained a high degree of development and possess forces that allow them to perform actions, “supernatural” for people on lower planes) and saints, constantly immersed in the contemplation of Lord Hari (Hari is one of the names of Vishnu)

     Jana-loka is also a refuge for the inhabitants of svarga-loka and mahar-loki during the Great Destruction of all existing forms and phenomena, after which the universe is created anew. There is the element of air prevails, and the bodies of beings on this plane are composed of pure wisdom, beyond desire. This is still divine wisdom, and all its inhabitants are marked by this sublime quality.

    A player entering the level of the fifth chakra, on the human plane, seeks to harmonize his life with divine laws to maintain the ascending flow of his energy. In order to establish his experience, he feels the need for communication with others. That is why the fifth chakra is the source of all the great teachings. Its location in the throat, next to the vocal cords, emphasizes the importance of communication for the player, whose vibrations are at this level.

    The player is affirmed on this plane thanks to a correct understanding of vital energies and experience gained in the passage of fields of purgatory, clarity of consciousness and jnana. His wisdom requires synchronization with the planetary laws, and the understanding of life prions gives it exceptional importance. The imbalance of energies is a reflection of the lack of harmony with planetary laws. However, without synchronized operation of these energies, synchronization is impossible.

    The player’s understanding of the divine presence throughout the creation, acquired during the journey through the fourth chakra, forces him to seek the Divine within himself, and so his attention turns to the world of sounds that are now gaining new meaning. He becomes able to perceive inner sounds, inaudible earlier, because his attention

    was drawn to the phenomena of the surrounding world. Turning his attention and feelings inward, he hears the sound of heart and blood beating, spreading through his veins. These sounds open his nerves, which, in turn, widens his perception.

    There are known words that all knowledge is inside, but they become reality only in the fifth chakra. Opening nerves produces internal sounds. These vibrations, in turn, affect psychic energy, and this is manifested in the change in chemical processes in the body. As a result, the player’s psyche opens up to new dimensions of experience. The resulting understanding is known as Knowledge.

    In the fourth chakra the player gets experience, but does not understand. The increase in energy that accompanies the transition from the fourth chakra to the fifth increases consciousness, and new perspectives come to the player. At the level of the first chakra there are only four directions of energy movement, represented by the petals in the graphic representation of this chakra. In the second there are six. The transition from the second chakra to the third opens four new directions and two more are added at the transition from the third to the fourth – only twelve. In the fifth chakra there are sixteen directions, radically expanding the understanding of the nature of the game. This new perspective gives rise to all the great religious teachings.

    If the player who reached the fifth chakra is a member of the spiritual tradition, he can become a new link in its development. Or he can leave this teaching and become an independent thinker, a seer, a prophet or a saint.

    On this plane, the player realizes the true meaning of what it means to be human. Often this is achieved directly from the level of the third chakra with the arrow leading from the field of selfless service.

    Agni is the purest manifestation of the infinite cyclical rebirth of one and the same divine essence. Fire is spirit, soul and body at the same time. This entire world, filled with diverse beings and phenomena, including man, is born of the Divine Fire. The image of a deity symbolizing fire has three faces, representing three types of fire: pavaka-electric fire, pavamana-fire arising from friction, and shuchi-fire of the gods, called Vaishvana in the Rig Veda, t is a living magnetic fire piercing the whole cosmos. The word Vaishnavara is also often used to refer to the Higher Self.

    The player who enters Agni Loka is ready to take shape as a result of birth. Agni is the deity of fire. Fire is a gross manifestation of energy. In the body, this fire is life itself. It’s love and a sense of security. Fire protected people from attacking wild animals at a time when they lived in a cave. But fire is only one of the manifestations of Agni. Together with elements of air and water, he participated in the formation of the Earth and is the progenitor of all existing forms. Fire also serves as a source of light, which is a combination of colors. Thus, fire is the source of both colors and forms that make up the essence of the world of phenomena.

    Fire is a gross manifestation of energy, its conductor. A player who falls on this plan understands that his body is also only a means. That is why the mediator between man and God is seen in the fire. All religious rituals are performed in the presence of Agni as an eternal witness. And since the fire deity, Agni, is a reflection of human nature, the player realizes the impossibility of self-deception, because the witness is always here. A player who is on the verge of vesting in a new form does this with the knowledge that the role he will perform must conform to the dictates of planetary laws. Any deviations lead to self-deception, and this inevitably entails a decrease in the level of energy.

    Hindu mythology tells how Agni once decided to explore the universe. He took a form similar to air, and set off on a journey through the universe on the petal of the lotus. But after a while he was tired and began to look for a place to relax. Soon he saw a nest on the surface of the eternal waters. In this nest, he spread his fire. The waters were the wives of Varuna, another manifestation of Agni.

    The divine fire burned with a desire for these women, and soon they were ready for coition. Agni poured out the seed, and it became the earth. Thus, our glade is the creation of Agni, born of fire, which he lit in the middle of the nest. Modern science affirms that the Earth was once a fiery sphere (Agni). Water cooled the surface of the Earth, which created the opportunity for the emergence of life. Even now, the fire remains in the core of the planet, manifesting itself in the eruptions of volcanoes, throwing out red-hot lava from the depths of the Earth. When this inner fire dies, life on this planet will cease.

    Passage through the Agni plan prepares the player for the adoption of the form (birth). Manushya-janma notes the accomplishment of this event. Conceived in the second chakra, nurtured and raised in the third, filled with human emotions in the fourth, now the player is ready for birth.

    This birth is not registered either in the maternity hospital or in the office. But those who meet with him, can say later: “We saw a Man.” About the player who is here, you can not say that he is someone’s son. Anyone can be his father. He is the son of God, and only His One. He does not belong to any caste, creed, nation, religion. He is free from attachments and does not need any documents proving his identity. He found himself. Now he was born as a Man, and his presence is felt by all who just expect such a birth. He has a direct perception of truth, looking reality directly in the face. He lost interest in the content of groups of his followers and does not need someone else’s location. It relates only to the truth, and service to the truth becomes his sole purpose.

    Man is an intelligent being. This gift of reason helps him to correlate all his thoughts, words and actions with truth. The one whose life is at odds with the true laws does not have the full right to be called a person. It is some other creature living in the human body and striving to be born as a human being.

    A player falling into the field of ignorance, forgets about the illusory nature of being and becomes attached to one or another emotional states or sensory perceptions. The energy of the player, stung by the snake of ignorance, descends to the level of the seal chakra and the plane of sensuality. The loss of understanding of the nature of maya (illusion) leads to the confusion of his intellect and leads to identification with certain states.

    Vidya means “knowledge, knowledge,” and – the prefix of negation. Lack of knowledge is ignorance. Knowledge is the player’s understanding of his role in the game, wherever he is at the moment. The concept of avidya refers to the level of the mind, outside of the mental realm no ignorance exists. Our perception of reality is only a reflection of our own personality. Nothing exists beyond the mind, but this does not mean that there is nothing else besides the player and his mind. The world of names and forms exists, too, but how a player perceives this world depends on the state of his mind, which in turn, is determined by its position on the playing board.

    For some, this world is a place of enjoyment, for others – hell. Each mind perceives the surrounding world in its own way, considering some objects more, and others less important, in accordance with the accumulated karma player. Real knowledge presupposes an understanding of reality that is free from value judgments and attachments to objects of sense perception that are constantly changing, transient, and therefore unreal.

    Only if the player can constantly monitor his own sound, the sound of his “I”, his being, only then he will not fall a victim of his mind. The mind is a tiger, living in a forest of desires, surrounded by reality, full of prey. Only by following their inner sound, the player can not fall into the paws of the tiger and avoid falling back to the sensual plane. Otherwise, he will have to start all over again to finally climb up with the arrow of the right knowledge. The field of ignorance is rightfully located at the level of the fifth chakra, in the fifth row of the playing board. Here is the field of wisdom (jnana), and only here can be its opposite – ignorance. In ignorance, the player is inclined to regard as the only reality what is written on the pure page of jnana (see comment on field 37, “jnana”). Thus, only with the ascent to a level where real knowledge and wisdom are possible, ignorance becomes possible.

    If jnana is the realization of truth, “right knowledge” includes awareness and behavior (practice). This combination raises the player to the eighth plan, on the field of cosmic good. And now only one step separates him from the goal. He realizes himself as a macrocosm in the microcosm, the ocean enclosed in a drop.

    In the tradition of Hinduism, the fourteen aspects of Vidya (knowledge) are symbolically represented as spokes in the wheel of truth. In these fourteen areas of knowledge, everything that a person needs for knowledge and understanding of reality is contained. These are the four Vedas, the six Shastras, the Dharma, Nyaya (logic), Mimansa (critical understanding), and the Puranas. In an industrial society, however, knowledge takes on a new look. Now knowledge is only called what can be entered into the computer, that is, information. But the human consciousness is greater than the computer. And right knowledge requires experience.

    Right knowledge adds to Jnana a new dimension, an awareness of the unity of the past, present and future, which are aspects of a single time continuum. While wisdom can dictate one behavior, the right knowledge can demand the opposite. The disciples, guided by wisdom, rejected Christ. According to the right knowledge, Christ allowed himself to die on the cross, knowing that subtle principles always outweigh the value of material forms.

    Right knowledge is the food of consciousness, protecting it from serpents of lack of religion, sadness, jealousy, envy, ignorance, violence, selfishness, tamas and inertia of negative mind. Right knowledge strengthens the inner voice. Suvidya tames the tiger of the mind and turns the forest of desires into a flowering garden of evolution. The word vidya comes from the root form meaning “to know.” The most ancient form of knowledge is the state of samadhi, in which the answer comes through direct interaction with reality. Therefore, all knowledge of the Hindu tradition is called darshan (darshan means “vision” or “experience”). True knowledge is manifested when the cognizing subject and the cognizable object are completely merged. This is vidya, right knowledge.

    The field of correct knowledge completes the passage of the fifth chakra, the fifth row of the game. At this stage, the player achieves full awareness of his oneness with the cosmos, he merges with the ultimate reality and rises to the plan of Rudra (Shiva), the plan of the cosmic blessing.

    Everything that exists in the phenomenal world is not reality. Objects of perception change over time, they develop, grow and collapse. But these objects of sense perception create a complete illusion of reality. Man attaches great importance to the objective world and he develops a desire to be identified with objects of sense perception. Viveka, or discrimination, is the power that saves him, from falling into the desire for attachment to the material. It is the voice of the player’s inner wisdom, which allows him to distinguish the subtle from the gross, to see the noumenon in every phenomenon.

    Viveka could not have appeared in the game before. A player can get here only by going through the field of correct knowledge (45). If a player hits the arrow of the right knowledge, he immediately rises to the plan of the cosmic good. Otherwise, he has to resort to the ability to distinguish, in order to determine the further course of the game.

    The main elements of the world of phenomena are at levels up to the fifth chakra. These are the bricks that form the basis for all gross manifestations. The presence of these elements determines the level of vibration of the player, while his actions come from these chakras. But the sixth chakra is beyond these elements. Now the manifested Maya only slightly influences the player’s consciousness.

    When a player enters the field of discrimination, he is immediately transferred to the happiness plan located in the seventh chakra. In the seventh chakra, the player is beyond all forms of violence, which is the cause of true happiness. But there is still the sixth chakra, and here a distinction is needed. The sixth chakra is traditionally called the “third eye”. Our two eyes see only what exists, what happened in the past and what is in the present. And the “third eye” gives the power to distinguish future opportunities in the game, and this is one of the valuable properties of the sixth chakra: the ability to penetrate the future. And this is not a fantasy, but a direct perception of what will happen.

    Discrimination-viveka – this is not something that develops in us during one fleeting life. It takes advantage of the experience accumulated by generations of large masses of people and contained in the collective unconscious. Thus, the player has at his disposal a repository of experience, which is now at an appreciable level.

    Discrimination is a teacher who is at the top of each player (in the seventh chakra) and guides him through life. The player can bypass social and political laws, but ultimately it is impossible to escape from the voice of viveka.

    Until the player reaches the sixth chakra, the word “discrimination” means little to him. But the passage through the sixth chakra is determined by the fall of the dice of karma and the clues of the inner voice of viveka.

    Psychic energy in the human body flows through the central nerve channel of the posture, or sarasvati. According to the philosophy of yoga, this flow of energy begins in the first chakra and gradually rises higher as the player moves from one row to the next. The ultimate goal of yoga is to raise this energy to the seventh chakra located on the crown of the head. There are three main types of energy in the human body: electrical, magnetic and neutral. Electric energy is solar energy, it predominates on the right side of the human body. Magnetic energy is lunar, it predominates on the left side. In the normal state, either electric or magnetic energy predominates (positive or negative, solar or lunar).

    Neutral or psychic energy is obtained when the solar and lunar principles are in equilibrium, and then this energy begins to flow along the spine. Below the sixth chakra control over this energy was impossible. During meditation, short impulses can be felt, but, apparently, are disorderly and unconscious minds. In the sixth chakra, the negative and the positive gradually disappear and only the neutral remains. The Saraswati plan is the kingdom of the goddess, bearing the same name. Here the player is surrounded by pure music and lives in a state of vision, knowledge. Saraswati, the deity of teaching and beauty, gives him the opportunity to reach equilibrium and be beyond the influence of the electromagnetic field of existence. Now he can just watch the game.

    Three nerves that connect in the brain in the region of the “third eye” (just above the eyebrow) are responsible for the three types of energy. The names of these nerves are nadi-pingala, ida and sushumna: solar, lunar and neutral; or electric, magnetic and neutral. Mesgo of their fusion is called a “Prayag”, and this name is often used to refer to the “third eye”. Sushumna remains invisible, while Ida and Pingala represent two eyes. In Indian mythology, one of the most important holy places is Prayag-Raj, where the three most sacred rivers – the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati – are united. Ganga and Yamuna are ida and pingala. Both are visible, as two human eyes are visible. The river Saraswati is invisible, it flows to the priirty from the depths of the earth. The same symbolism is seen in the Greco-Roman image of the wand of the divine healer Aesculapius. Two snakes wrap around the central winged staff. These snakes –

    ida and pingala, and the staff is Sushumna.

    In the sixth chakra, the player establishes a balance between the male, solar principle and the female, lunar principle. This harmonious fusion of elements creates an “I” observer, which is neither male nor female, but represents a harmonious combination of the one and the other.

    The solar plan is the male energy plan. As long as the player feels either as a man or as a woman, he is not able to accept the opposite nature in himself, just as no player on the field is able to evaluate his own actions, because his attachment to the game and his role in it excludes the possibility objective perception. At the same time, a person acting as a judge, being outside the game, is free from any personal interest. He is not affiliated with any of the teams. He is a no-nonsense observer, who is able to see errors and violations of rules committed by players.

    When a player whose vibrations are at the level of the lower chakras is affected by the solar plane, his first impulse is destruction, strength, self-identification. Too strong sunlight could burn the entire planet. To balance the Sun, we need the Moon. A player who comes here, passing through fields of wisdom and right knowledge, understands this and learns to balance the flows of his energies.

    Below the sixth chakra, the solar and lunar energies are interwoven with each other, here they merge and become one. This sense of a single whole characterizes the plan of asceticism.

    To better understand the nature of solar and lunar energy and their function in the human body, we can consider the following example with an electric battery. Like batteries, human beings have an anode and a cathode, positive and negative poles. When both are placed in a solution capable of conducting a current, electricity is generated. The anode is charged positively and is usually made of copper. Copper is a red color, it is a solar metal, which is associated with the fiery sign of Mars. For the cathode, zinc-lunar metal, a brilliant white-blue color, is used. Electric charges collect around the anode. It symbolizes the electrical (male) principle in the human body.

    In the human body, the pingala nerve is the same as the Yamuna, the solar plane. Solar energy is directly related to the right nostril. When the right nostril dominates in breathing, pingala predominates, which is associated with slight changes in the course of biochemical processes, respiration and pulse. Pingala serves as a source of energy for all creative activities. When a person is under its influence, meditation becomes impossible. The yogic techniques of pranayama often require “solar breath”. It means simply breathing through the right nostril.

    Yamuna (Jamna) is one of the three sacred rivers that are found in Prajag Raj (present-day Allahabad), in the province of Uttar Pradesh, in the north of India. Near the banks of the Yamuna, Krishna was born.

    The player falling on this plan is at the source of the female magnetic energy. Here it is under the influence of the nada-nadi nerve, located on the left side of the spine. Ida in accordance with its female (nourishing) nature is considered a source of nutrition of the body. The woman is always magnetic, attractive, the man is electrified and full of strength.

    Magnetic energy in humans is closely related to psychic energy. A player capable of creating more psychic energy, thereby developing personal magnetism, which attracts those who are affected by this force. Magnetism is actually a manifestation of balance. The magnetic force is created by the interaction of the north and south poles of any substance capable of storing this energy. When the flow of energy from one pole to the other does not encounter obstacles, a magnetic field is created. Likewise, if a person is engaged in meditation at a time when breathing dominates through the left nostril, a continuous stream of psychic energy is generated.

    With the help of meditation, the player gets on the lunar plan. Here he acquires an understanding of the female principle. He learns that both the tides of human emotions during the full moon, and the sea tides are the result of the influence of the moon, whose magnetism extends to the entire planet. Although we know about the connection between lunar cycles and madness, the player who got on the lunar plan has nothing to be afraid of. At this level, all energy is one, and female energy loses its destructive nature. Here she appears in her creative creative manifestation. The left (lunar) nostril contributes not only to meditation, but also to the enjoyment of music, dance, poetry. Lunar respiration soothes pain, dispels sorrows, it helps restore the forces of consciousness. Ida-nadi leads the player to the lunar plan, a plan of devotion and receptivity.

    The general rule of yoga is this: the left nostril should dominate during the day, and the right one at night. Lunar respiration is necessary in the daytime to compensate for the predominance of solar energy, and solar for nighttime, in order to balance the prevalence of the moon.

    Just as in the fifth chakra, knowledge had a basic meaning for the player, here, on the plan of asceticism, all the aspirations of the player are directed at the fulfillment of the hard work of repentance and asceticism. The word tapas means “selflessness,” “mortification of the flesh,” “burning.” This is the practice of meditation self-denial.

    Tapa-loka is the sixth of the seven main planes of being. This place does not perish with the coming of the night of Brahma. The element prevailing here is air, therefore, all combinations existing on this plane easily penetrate each other. Despite the fact that the domain of existence of the elements of creation is limited to the first five planes, in some lokas, special regions located in space, the elements still exist. Those who develop as a result of hard work on themselves, go to these worlds depending on the state of their consciousness. Tapa-loka is inhabited by great yogis and ascetics, who have departed along the path from which there is no return, immersed in deep asceticism, whose goal is to move up to the next level, satya-loka.

    The evolving “I” observant notices the remaining unfinished karma, and it becomes too heavy to move on. Only repentance and the flame of austerity can burn it.

    The player can go directly to the Tapa Loka through the practice of Sudharma in the fourth chakra or gradually, moving through the fifth chakra, developing consciousness and mastering the system of lunar and solar energy. The experience of unity with reality deprives the sensible world of all its attractiveness. Not all elements are at the mercy of the player. His ability to penetrate into the nature of the temporal continuum allows him to see the beginning and the end of creation. Continuing to live in his limited body, he becomes limitless. The player knows that he is an immortal spirit in a mortal body. Death ceases to inspire terror. And here the player begins to understand what “You are That” and “I am It” means – in Sanskrit it sounds like Tat tvam asi and hamsa. The player himself now becomes paramahamsa.

    In the West, there is much talk about the “third eye”. To understand this phenomenon, the player must experience all the difficulties of the plan of asceticism. He must go through selfless work. Refuse to identify yourself as a man or a woman. All his understanding of himself must radically change. He must recognize within himself the presence of the Divine. He must feel his infinite nature. The sound of Om becomes his mantra here. It is a cosmic sound that creates resonance in its system and helps to raise its energy level. At every moment he hears his inner sound. Filled with power, this sound gradually spreads everywhere until it becomes all-consuming, enclosing all surrounding sounds, internal and external. Everyone who is near him becomes calm and begins to hear the same sound generated by his own system.

    Each player has a special impact on other players, depending on the level at which he is at the moment. The presence of the person of the first chakra produces a frightening or miserable impression. He either aggressively strives for physical survival, or bitterly complains about his inability to reach it. The person of the second chakra, concerned with the satisfaction of his sensual desires, seeks to enchant people, his voice is tempting and sweet. The player whose vibrations have reached the third chakra is constantly looking for a challenge. He asserts his “I” wherever possible, and whenever possible, in search of an even greater confirmation of the advantages he has already gained. The player of the fourth chakra inspires the players surrounding him. He found his emotional center and does not produce menacing vibrations. A player at the level of the fifth chakra holds a mirror created from his own experience, in which other players can see their reflection. The presence of the person of the sixth chakra reveals the Divine. Next to it, other players lose their self-identification, internal barriers dissolve, and they seek to connect their consciousness with the consciousness of who

    was established in the plan of asceticism.

    The Indian tradition, like modern science, speaks of the origin of the Earth from a blazing fireball. The remnant after the flame ended its work became the Earth. The Earth is not only a planet, but a living organism, the Great Mother, which has generated everything that exists now on her breast. And as a mother gives her baby her milk, so does the earth give to all living beings food, vitality and energy.

    The earth is the symbol of the player of the sixth chakra. It is the result of great asceticism. Her awesome birth in the fire allowed her to spawn a great many forms and flows of energy that filled her entire surface. She is patience and condescension. Despite the fact that her children are cutting her body and burning her soul, she gives them diamonds, gold, platinum. It disinterestedly follows the law of Dharma and does not distinguish between high and low. That is why the field of earth is located in the sixth chakra. We see her body, the physical plan of the first chakra. What we can not see is her spirit, her understanding, her generosity and kindness, her greatness. This is an understanding that comes to the player when he reaches the sixth chakra. In her game, he sees the intertwining of the sun, the moon and neutral energies, which reflect the processes that constantly take place within his own microcosm.

    By observing the inner reality reflected in the life of the great mother, the player penetrates into the essence of the Leela and becomes a Player. He must pass the plan of violence in order to master the principle of fluidity on the plane of liquids. But, as soon as these tests are passed, he will get a chance to establish a direct connection with the Cosmic Consciousness, if he falls on the field of spiritual devotion.

    Thus, until this moment, the earth fed its child – the player, but now it can create its own game to move up or down, according to its karma. Sometimes during the game, players rise to several levels, experiencing states of compassion, wisdom or true knowledge. These arrows raise them to higher planes. But if they really (according to the level of vibrations) do not belong to these plans, there are no guarantees that they will achieve the Cosmic Consciousness. Either way, they need to move on, and the game gives them a snake leading from the Tamoguna cell (field 72) to the earth’s plan, where they can make a new effort. Every time a player rises to higher planes, but he can not reach Cosmic Consciousness, he must return home to his Mother Earth.

    And the better, the player knows the earth, the deeper he can appreciate the elusive balance that sustains life on its surface. For the person of the first chakra, she is only a chest, from which you can take whatever he likes, without thinking about the consequences. A person in the sixth chakra is aware of the disastrous nature of this attitude when he sees that the planet he loves stands in the face of great danger and can suffer from possibly irreparable damage.

    The player who has reached the sixth chakra, realizes the unity of all that exists. Human bodies serve only transitory forms. The true essence of all players exists outside the realm of names and forms. The player knows that death is just a change of life scenario. There is a danger that the player will resort to violence, knowing full well that his actions ultimately do not cause real harm to other players.

    But the world is the scene of Yaila and karma. And every player can achieve Cosmic Consciousness during his current life. The law of karma states that all players should be given the opportunity to finish their drama to the end in order to finish the game. The violence that comes from the sixth chakra is not an exception to this ubiquitous karmic principle. This turns the plan of violence into a snake, which throws the player into the purgatory of the fourth chakra, where he must atone for his actions.

    At this level, there were individuals who, throughout history, had called for a coup d’état, jihad and other “sacred” wars. The perpetrators of this endless stream of human suffering and death always consider themselves great reformers of conviction. Let the other player be better killed than his soul will suffer, staying in ignorance, this is the logical justification for the actions of fanatics on the plane of violence. And then, because no one really dies …

    True violence is impossible until the sixth chakra. Violent actions can be performed by players in the lower chakras, but they are seen by the players as self-defense, as a reaction to an external threat. In the sixth chakra, the player realizes that there is no threat from the outside. The violence of the first chakra is due to money or other material goods. Violence of the second chakra is associated with sex and pleasure. The thirst for power generates’ violence in the third chakra. The person of the fourth chakra kills to get rid of karma in order to reduce old scores. Agnosticism is the engine of violence in the fifth chakra. In the sixth chakra, the establishment of the symbol of faith, worship or religion inevitably creates a motivation for the concentration of excess force. Those who are responsible for such pseudo-consecrated wars between people were extreme ascetics who went through severe asceticism in order to gain strength. But, if karma is unfavorable, asceticism in itself can lead a person to a dangerous kind of solipsism. The player believes that he has all the truth-that he himself, in fact, God, or at least his messenger. All dissenters are mistaken, and therefore any means will be justified in order to convert them into “true” faith. It would be better if they die with understanding than if they live in ignorance.

    In the lower chakras, there is no freedom of action. In the sixth chakra, the player becomes the master of himself and achieves great opportunities through asceticism and asceticism. The strength in the chemical lock becomes violence. The player commits violence primarily against himself, then he passes on to others. Absolute confidence in one’s own infallibility is necessary in order to justify the violence that is being committed. Such confidence does not come before the sixth chakra. What was a reaction in the lower chakras becomes now nothing more than spiritual anarchy.

    The lack of fluidity and spiritual love leads the player to the need for even greater repentance in purgatory, where he must repent from the heart, in order to be able to continue the game and seek the path of spiritual love.

    Water is cold by nature, it absorbs heat, bringing coolness. The heat of asceticism of the sixth chakra, asceticism, makes the player cruel. He needs to go through the clear waters of the liquid plan to extinguish the burning energy of violence and turn it into an even heat of spiritual love.

    Water – one of the five elements – is the binding substance of being. The human body consists mainly of water. In arid regions where water is deep in the depths or not at all, the earth becomes fragile and cracked, and we call it sand. Sand does not hold water. It flows quickly through the sand, because the individual grains of sand are unable to retain moisture. The earth becomes barren, almost devoid of life. Water, therefore, is also responsible for the fertility of the land and the growth of plants. The driving force of growth itself is heat, fire. It is he who creates the color and shape, the water adds stability. Water connects the form together and is the energy that the fire feeds on. Thus, a fire that feeds on water gives the earth the vital energy that manifests itself in the various forms of life that exist on the surface of the planet.

    Water does not have its own form, it takes the form of a vessel in which it is located. This is also the main property of the player of the sixth chakra – the ability to become what is contrary to the ego. A real game begins when a player loses his personality as a player. Before the sixth chakra and the appearance of the ability to become formless, the player was captivated by money, sex, power, karma and the search for knowledge. The game begins in the sixth chakra, when knowledge has already been received, and the illusion of identifying the player with the form has dissipated.

    Bhakti, or spiritual devotion, is based on the affirmation: “Love is God, and God is love.” The devotee-bhakta loves his Divinity. The deity is lover, and the faithful is in love. The bhakta suffers from separation and longs to meet or at least glimpse his lover. Nothing else attracts him, nothing holds his attention, everything else loses its meaning. Food, sleep, sex, affection, business – nothing is more important. He is completely absorbed in his sense of separation and in ecstasy he prays only to receive at least one glance of the Lord. When the bhakta is blessed with divine grace, he experiences an inseparable unity and establishes a non-dual state of consciousness. He and his God are now one and the Divine experience itself is the proof of the grace and blessing coming from the Divine.

    Bhakti is the immediate method, this is the shortest path to the Divine. All yoga and all knowledge, jnana, are held on the cornerstone of true faith, true devotion and love, true bhakti. There is nothing higher than love, and bhakti is the religion of love. Love is really God. To light a candle of love with the help of a spark of knowledge and practice the yoga of love-this is bhakti. At the final stage of the opening of the sixth chakra, when the player has already acquired the necessary fluidity qualities and cleared his consciousness, he understands the true value of the game. He understands reality and such as it really is, and the way it seems. He realizes the necessity of asceticism and true knowledge, jnana, and suharma, and selfless service. He also sees that anger, vanity, insignificance, suffering and ignorance are all important aspects of life experience. It is beyond any estimates. Everything has equal value and value. He knows that while he is in the body, the dice of his karma will lead him forward in his journey, level by level, square by square. He knows that, perhaps, along this way he will have to fall victim to a snake, as well as the fact that he will meet arrows.

    Next to him, the player sees how others lead the same game, as they all go through the same states, with different rhythms and with varying intensity. Having mastered his will, he achieved internal stability. Now, for further development, he must find the emotional center of his life. In order to purify oneself of self-identification, he has nothing left but to identify himself with the Divine in some concrete form or in all forms. But this does not matter, because for a player who has entered the field of bhakti-loki, each form becomes all forms simultaneously. In whatever form he meets the Lord, all others will also be found by him. The form becomes Divine, and the Divine is the bhakta itself, experiencing ineffable bliss. Previously, the player could not accept the game as the basis of his own nature, remaining bound by the vibrations of the sixth chakra. His energy grew too fast, which could lead him to violence. However, the full acceptance of Leela gives him devotion to the game itself.

    He sees in the states represented by the cells of the playing board, the game of divine energy and feels unity with them. All these are manifestations of his Lord. True bhakti comes to the player in the sixth chakra. The cognizant and cognizable subject and object, the devotee and the Divine, all become one. Much becomes a single whole.

    In the fourth chakra there is still room for duality, unity comes only after acquiring knowledge in the fifth chakra. The player begins to think in terms of the ocean, with which he will merge. Spiritual devotion is an arrow that carries a drop into the ocean after the drop is aware of the presence of this ocean within itself.

    This is the only direct path to the Cosmic Consciousness. The essence of the Higher Consciousness can not be realized, following only the path of jnana, or true knowledge. Spirituality transforms Cosmic Consciousness into a friend, and the player meets the Divine Reality face to face. Knowledge and wisdom give only an awareness of the presence of the cosmic principle. Devotion turns every situation, every moment into a meeting with the Absolute, allowing the player to see the Lord present in everything and everywhere.

    Jnana makes the player a sage, while bhakti turns him into a divine child in the lap of his Mother under the benevolent protection of the Father. The sage has a long way to go to meet the Lord. The bhakta is always surrounded by his Deity, present in the myriad of its forms and names in every part of life experience.

    Aham means “I” or “I am seven”. Kara is the “form”. When the “I” assumes form, it becomes ahamkara. If the center of activity in the player’s personality becomes his “I”, then his ahamkara is caught by maya in the trap of concepts “me” and “mine.” When the ahamkara, which in reality is the highest aspect of reality, forgets the need for identification with the whole and becomes a separate part, it; turns into selfishness.

    When all the player’s attention is directed solely at satisfying his desires, he becomes focused only on himself. The choice of means loses its significance. All means, whether honest or dishonest, are good-which bring him closer to the goal. While he is filled with humility, delicacy, respect and love for other people, the choice of means will be of importance to him. He knows that his desires are not so important as to justify causing pain to another. But when the desire encompasses the player’s psyche to such an extent that he can no longer identify himself with love, humility, patience, respect and consideration, the player becomes an agnostic. He loses sight of all the values, carried away by what is happening here and now, and is involved in activities aimed at asserting one’s individuality in the game.

    Mergence with the Cosmic Consciousness looks like the death of the ego. Old structures, representations and ideas must disappear if the player aspires to achieve liberation. But ahamkara does not want to die. The ego holds fast to the old self-identifications. And this resistance increases the more, the closer the player comes to the Cosmic Consciousness.

    The sages of the tradition of Hinduism believe that sound is the source of all creation. Sound is the thinnest of coarse forms, in which energy was before the beginning of creation. There are 52 forms in which sound energy resides in the manifested form (akara), and as the human body develops these sounds localize in the finer nerves of the centers of psychic energy (chakras). The original sound is the simplest, well. The last sound is ha. Thus, all being flows from a to ha. The state of identification that connects a with ha, is the ahamkara, the sense of the separateness of its existence.

    Yoga distinguishes in the human mind 4 main aspects, or categories: manas (mind), buddhi (intellect), cittu (being) and ahamkaru (ego). All that is received as a result of sensory perception is the mind. Understanding of sensory experience, its analysis and evaluation, is buddhi. The emotional experience of sense perception is recorded in the citta. The one aspect that thinks that he is a sensual experience and enjoys him as a separate person is the ego, or ahamkara. When the ego becomes “only”, everything else becomes a means for the player to satisfy himself. Thus, if ahamkara is not connected with the Cosmic Consciousness, it becomes selfishness.

    Ego is a direct consequence of self-awareness, citta. To take part in the game, this self-awareness identifies itself with the object on the playing board, which moves from cell to cell, then climbing up arrows, then falling down the snakes. When a player fully identifies himself with this chip, he is delighted when the arrow raises him higher, and into despondency, when, stung by a snake, falls down. He became a victim of selfishness. He became too attached to the goal of the game and forgot about his divine nature.

    Ahamkara does not exist until the fifth chakra, because until this moment the player is still in the process of being born. The fifth chakra is the birth plan of a person, where ahamkara appears on the stage. The ego passes through the fields of ignorance and right knowledge and learns to hear the voice of one’s consciousness when the player enters the sixth chakra. However, only in the seventh chakra he really achieves identity with himself and begins to stabilize around the inner center. In the course of its development, the player must discover that he does not exist as a separate reality, he is a manifestation of energy and must, at some stage of his development, merge with his source. Here the ego meets face to face with the danger of death and can turn into egoism.

    The seventh chakra is the highest plan in the microcosm of the player. Here he reaches a peak and gets everything he aspired to. Now that he has reached the top, there are only two possible ways: to rise higher and, having reunited with pure vibrations, leave all forms, or fall back down. If ahamkara wins the stream of Sudharma, the inevitable result is anger. This brings the player’s energy down to the first chakra, where he again has to start his ascent to the top.

    The ego becomes selfish if the player is too focused on himself. In Indian mythology (the Puranas), there are many examples of such selfishness that have always been achieved after severe asceticism and austerity. After the applicant sought rewards in the form of power or power, but became a victim of selfishness, he proclaimed himself to be God. Because of this false identification, he always fell down to the first chakra with its inherent anger, greed, delusions, vanity and greed. The whole planet was in a mess. In one such case, the Earth, taking the form of a cow, appeared before Vishnu and asked him to release her from the burden of selfishness. At that moment, as described in the epic, Vishnu, the great protector of life, took shape and was born on Earth. In Pyla, God goes out to kill the dragon of selfishness in the player, for egoism contradicts the principle of conservation. Ahamkara is the food of Vishnu, and the Cosmic Consciousness is its habitat.

    In the beginning was the Word (sound). And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The player can realize this sound if he bypasses the desire traps set by his mind, and will meditate, creating sound with the help of his body. Om is the basis of all knowledge, poetry and art. Concentration on Om opens up to the player all the boundless sources inside him, which were blocked before by the Maya of the lower chakras.

    This sound is also a wonderful tool that helps to relieve tension. Each player, consciously or unconsciously, enjoys this. Om is a droning, mooing sound. We all sometimes mooch something. Poets and composers often use this sound to awaken inspiration.

    Om is at the same time the Creator, the Guardian and the Destroyer-the third aspect of the Divine. If the player sees that he has come in contact with some annoying elements in his environment, all he has to do to get back to a harmonious state is to start to hum. This process will turn the focus of his attention inwards, allowing the treasure hidden in the depths of his consciousness, the citta, to unfold.

    If the vibrations of the poet or composer are at the level of the lower chakras, buzz results in the creation of works related to these plans. If their vibrations are higher, creations will be associated with higher levels of consciousness. In Hinduism, it is believed that all the Vedas originated from the sound of Om. It is clear that the Vedas were written by saints and seers who were also poets and composers whose vibrations reached higher planes, since their works are the highest form of poetry that came into contact with the spark of the Divine.

    A player who reaches Omkara’s plan has realized the need for peace and simplification of his life. Worldly concerns distracted him from Om vibration and cosmic wisdom revealed by this sound. When life becomes simpler, every action is committed consciously and the player ceases to be a slave to his habits. As his existence becomes more and more finely tuned in unison with reality, he himself becomes a source of vibrations, entering into resonance with the vibrations of the cosmos.

    When a person buzzes or mumbles, it emits a sound identical to that of Om. This sound appears in the conversation, when one person agrees with the words of the other and in a gesture of agreement pronounces “um-m” or “uh-huh.” The sound of Om is heard in a groan: it reduces pain, stress and, changing the chemistry of the body, helps to eliminate harmful substances. Humming-mooing makes the whole body vibrate, all the centers, but especially the head of the head, the seventh chakra. In the sixth chakra, Om was a sound for meditation, which brought the player into contact with reality. Here, in the seventh chakra, Om is realized as a fact of existence.

    The Vedic statement that Om allows a person to gain access to knowledge that never existed in his immediate life experience was confirmed in a study conducted at the University of Saskatchewan. A group of 200 students sang Om, trying to resolve a question whose answer was not known to any of the participants in the experiment. After an hour of singing, one of the students received an answer from the treasury of cosmic knowledge, which was discovered with the help of Om.

    Vayu-loka (literally “air plan”) is located in the area of ​​Satya Loka, the reality plan, in the seventh row of the playing board. This vayu is not that wind, or air, which is on the physical or earthly plane. This is the essence of the physical element of air.

    The ruler of this plan is Marut, one of the hypostases of Indra, the lord of the heavens (Indra is one who has gained complete control over his sensory nature). Vayu-loka is a plan where the player becomes a flow of energy, along with which the whole atmosphere moves, overcoming the force of gravity. It is inhabited by enlightened souls with light bodies that have not yet reached satya loka – the plane of reality. The player who got into the Vayu-loku already made his transition through Omkara and achieved, due to his karma, higher modes of vibration. In Indian mythology, there are also maruts – friends and brothers of Indra, who control the atmosphere of the physical plane. They bring rain and fill the earth with life force. They become pranic energy on the physical plane and breath of the life of breathing souls. Air is a synonym for movement inside and outside the body. All movements of fluids within living organisms are caused by air. Air is the essence of life. Thus, air exists everywhere. The inhabitant of Vayu-loka, himself a vital force, the breath of life, possesses the quality inherent in the sixth chakra (discussed below): he can spread his presence to any place or several places at the same time. Now he can dissolve the essence of his being, ego, take a gaseous form and soar on the plane of gases.

    In the sixth chakra we met with a plan of liquids, but the liquid still has a shape. The gas does not have any definite shape. The liquid has a weight, the gas does not. The player is not burdened with anything, he has gained true freedom of action. He becomes a being that is beyond gravity and has no form.

    Teja means “light, radiance”. In the Upanishads, there are four states of consciousness, or “I”. We list them:

    1. The state of wakefulness, or jagrat, in which the “I” is known as a Vaishwanara.

    2. The state of the dream, or svapna, in which the form of consciousness is called tejas –

    “Full of light,” or “consisting of light.”

    3. The state of deep sleep without dreams, called sushupti, in which consciousness is called prajna.

    4. An altered state of consciousness, called turiya, is a state that can not be called conscious or unconscious. In this state, Brahman, or Cosmic Consciousness, is consciousness.

    The Teja is the light that was created in the beginning. The world that we perceive in the waking state is a world of phenomena and forms, a phenomenal world that persists in the light (thege) from which it materializes. This world is like the world of our dreams, but is not it. This state is completely “made” from the light. The images we see in the photographs look exactly like real people, but in fact they are different forms of light that create the illusion of reality. Tejas, however, is connected with the astral (sukshma) body, which is made up of light and in which the player stays when he sees dreams.

    To shine is to radiate light. Omkara is sound. After the sound appears air, vanya-loka. And after the air, fire appears, teja, a subtle element responsible for the creation of all forms of creation. Fire can not exist without air, just as a player can not reach teja-loka if he does not first pass through the air plane.

    Each substance has an ignition point – the temperature at which it lights up in the presence of oxygen. Heat is the excitation of molecules. The faster the molecule moved, the more heat. Fire arises when this movement is too fast, so that the material form can withstand it. As the player rises higher and higher, the level of his own vibrations increases. In the seventh chakra, he achieves the essence of vibrations. Then, when his vibrations reach a certain limit, he passes through the plane of the air and lights up with a radiant flame, giving light to all who surround him.

    When a player reaches the plan of radiance, he lights up the whole world with his light. There are many stars, but only a few sparkle bright enough that we can see them. Each solar system has its own sun. It is on this plane that the player becomes enlightened. It turns into the sun and gathers around itself the astral bodies necessary for the formation of a complete solar system.

    To the plan of radiance there is not one of the arrows, and it can not be reached directly from the underlying planes. The player must move towards him slowly and gradually, unless he achieves final liberation, practicing spiritual devotion.

    Satya-loka is the last plan of the seven main lokas located in the vertebral column of the playing board. The element predominant in satya-loka is the akasha-tattva. Here the player reaches the world of Shabda-Brahman and is on the verge of liberation from the cycle of rebirth. He reached the highest plane beyond which Vaikuntha is situated, the seat of the Cosmic Consciousness. Satya-loka does not perish during the night of Brahma the Creator. Shabda is the word Om, which is Brahman himself (Absolute Reality, Cosmic Consciousness). Shabda-Brahman is the plan of the original vibrations – Omkara. After passing through this plan, the player is able to root himself in reality.

    Satya is truth, reality, God. Here the player reaches his highest chakra and becomes a reality, a realized being. Up to this level, the entire game is a process of development directed toward this state of realization of its true nature. The player who comes here achieves harmony, balance with the forces of the cosmos. The flow of his energy knows no obstacles.

    It is here that the player becomes Sachchidananda (sat – “being,” cheat – “consciousness,” ananda – “bliss”). He realizes that bliss is the essence of consciousness. He is in a state of samadhi, like a drop in the ocean. He is in the ocean of bliss. His presence becomes divine, and he extends mercy to other players.

    But even here the player has not yet reached liberation. Here, at the seventh level of the game, there are three snakes. The first is selfishness. The second is negative intellect. The third is tamas. Having reached the reality plan, the player escaped one of these snakes, but two wait for him ahead, challenging his desire for liberation. If the player has not managed to completely free himself from doubts and laziness, he will fall victim to one of them. But if he can keep his mind from negativity, and his karma has come to an end, he successfully passes the snake tamas and he is waited ahead of happiness (sukha), the plans of the eighth level and the Cosmic Consciousness. He realizes the dangers that confront him, and understands that he must do the right things to achieve his goal. With the realization of the reality bus, he realizes that he can not attain liberation simply by being at the level of the seventh chakra. He also has karma, which requires completion. There are no more arrows ahead, pushing it forward, there is no more sudden advance of energy upwards. He must pass his own path in accordance with his karma.

    While the player is in the body, the intellect plays its role. He recognizes, distinguishes and evaluates. In the seventh chakra these appraisal judgments no longer refer to the outside world, but are directed inward to distinguish the nature of the player’s inner reality. Each judgment produces a change in the chemical processes of the body. These states are known as feelings.

    When a player reaches Cosmic Consciousness, his symbol on the playing board (which represents his body) loses its meaning. But until he reaches the field of 68, the four aspects of consciousness-buddhi, manas, citta and ahamkara-continue to work. Ahamkara becomes egoism in its negative manifestation. Buddhi also assumes a positive and negative form. Chitta remains in constant action and interacts with three ghouls.

    Until the player reaches the reality plan, buddhi is not an independently existing phenomenon. The same is true of Ahamkara. After the experience of samadhi, received in the seventh chakra, and awareness, arising from the direct perception of the essence of the phenomena, buddhi begins to analyze the experience gained. And here both positive and negative directions are possible.

    The positive vibrations of subuddhi are attained by following the path of the Dharma – on the Dharma cell. an arrow begins leading to this plan. Positive intelligence in conjunction with the player’s Dharma flow is the two most powerful tools in the game that help the player in their quest for liberation.

    If a player does not follow the laws of the Dharma, doubting the cosmic nature of being and the divine presence in each of his experiences, he is stung by the snake of negative intelligence, gathering down on the plane of insignificance.

    He can not establish a connection with the lower planes, nor call on the Dharma for help. Now he has to go through all the plans of vibrations related to the second chakra, unless the arrows of compassion and charity help. If he does not use these arrows, he will have to redeem his negativity (cell 21 – redemption) and again find the Dharma or choose a completely new course of action.

    Buddhi, the intellect, is both a great trap, and a great means of liberation. Durbuddhi is a downwardly directed whirlpool that sucks psychic energy back to the imagination plan.

    Durbuddhi presents negative assessments in the player, forcing him to abandon the opportunities given him. To achieve his goal, the player must learn to accept everything that the world has offered him. If he denies any aspect of the situation, if he doubts the presence of God in any object and any situation, he thereby denies the existence of God. Because the Divine is all reality. Everything is the manifestation of the One. Durbuddhi is denial, denial of the Divine. That’s why the player who became his victim falls into nothing. All his energies are exhausted in his denying God, he finds himself in the void. Until he can perceive what he denied until he discovers the Dharma again, he has no hope of liberation.

    However, insignificance is a temporary state. Only the Cosmic Consciousness is absolute and permanent. If the player reaches the seventh chakra again, his forced expulsion into insignificance can give him an inner need to maintain a positive intellect and avoid the jaws of this snake.

    The feelings that he experiences are indescribable, they can not be described in words. He feels the happiness that the river experiences by connecting with the ocean after a journey of a thousand miles. This is a feeling of merging with your source.

    Eogi, being in such a happy state, the player will not neglect his karma, will not become lazy and passive, he has a real chance to reach the Cosmic Consciousness during this life. But if he is so overwhelmed by the experience of happiness that he forgets about the need to act, feeling that his mission is near the end, the tamas serpent, hidden behind him, is ready to swallow it, returning its energy to the level of the first chakra.

    The numerology of the game tells us that to achieve his goal, he again needs to throw out the six, just as he needed a six to be born and enter the game. But if he becomes lazy, if it seems to him that there is nothing else that needs to be done, here is hidden the tamas and illusion.

    True happiness belongs to the player, keeping the balance when approaching the goal. The game is important as a whole. His stable intelligence allows him to clearly see the form of the flow, the flow of the Dharma. He accepts everything that life presents him. There is nothing that he would reject. Even if he reached the 8th plan and must return to earth, he is still happy, knowing about the goal that can be achieved by him.

    In Sanskrit the word tamas means “darkness”, “dark”. Darkness is the absence of light. Light is knowledge, darkness is ignorance; ignorance is the lower mind. In Sanskrit there is also the second meaning of this word – “snake”. Tamas is the snake of darkness, the longest snake in the game, which ruthlessly pulls the player into an illusion from the radiance of the reality plan.

    In the seventh chakra, tamas is ignorance, which arises from attachment to sensory perception. This ignorance comes after the player realizes the state of happiness and thinks that this is the end of the need for karma. But here the player can not stop all karma. From the field of happiness the highest karma is six points, the lowest one is one. Action can not stop completely.

    Tamas is a complete surrender before the illusion. The player loses sight of the never ending nature of the game. He forgot that until he reaches liberation, the game is not over. Inactivity is an attempt to escape the law of karma. Karma is the Dharma in action. A player in the state of tamas forgets that the game does not stop at the seventh level and that, having attained samadhi, he has not yet reached liberation. When the upward movement slows down, it must, nevertheless, continue, and the only direction from the higher chakra is down. The longest snake in the game is waiting for a player who neglects his karma. In any action, three factors work. The first is Dharma, the essence of action. The second is karma, the action itself. The third is inaction, inertia, resistance. Following the nature of the game, inaction directs the flow of energy downward. Karma is inevitable. Trying to avoid it by itself is karma, action. Trying to avoid karma is a karma that pulls the player down to the second field of the game, into an illusion.

    Tamas is synonymous with deep sleep. When the senses are completely cut off and the consciousness is plunged into sleep, the player in this state is no better than the corpse, even if he is still breathing. In meditation, when all the activity of the mind stops completely and sensory perception is directed inward, it is very easy for the player to slip out of the sattvic state of non-action into a dream ending in a deep sleep. That is why the tamas field is at the seventh level of the game.

    It is here that Tamas becomes a snake. At lower levels, tamas was necessary for the player. But here, on a meditation plan that is one of the forms of non-action, tamas is a snake that completely changes the flow of energy, leading the player to fall back into the illusion. Tamas is an attribute of Tamogun, its manifestation in the microcosm. When the same force is discussed as an attribute of prakriti in the eighth row of the game, it is called a tamogun.

    In the Bhagavad-gita, Sri Krishna speaks of the dual nature of prakriti: it is both manifest and divine. The manifested prakriti is a material world consisting of elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether (akash), as well as mind (manasa), intellect (buddhi) and ego (ahamkara). These are the eight gross manifestations of prakriti. The divine prakrti is Maya-Shakti. After describing the octal manifestation of prakriti, Krsna says to Arjuna:

     “Know also my other prakrti, the supreme, life of all things that support this world.”

    It is the unchanging prakrti, the will of the Supreme, eternal and eternal. This prakriti is located outside the seven lokas, beyond the akasha. The element from which this plan is composed is mahat, from which all other elements, mind, intellect and ego arise. Maha means “great,” and t is an abbreviation for the word tattva, or “element.” Thus, mahat is maha-tattva, a great element that gives rise to eight other elements.

    From this it is clear that a gross, material existence is born from the divine prakriti. After the completion of the process of creation, as the individual “I” or human personality evolves, the reverse process begins: “I” aspires to return to its source. In this process, the player begins with the physical plane that he achieved in his journey from subtle to coarse, and gradually, through karma and spiritual discipline, he crosses the seven worlds. If he is able to overcome tamas, he attains prakriti-loki.

    Traveling through seven levels, the player encounters various manifestations of prakriti. But, rising above them, he acquires new experience and perspective, the ability to see what lies beyond the surface of the sensible world – the original prakriti. Each object contains a certain idea. An object that does not contain ideas is empty, just like an idea not embodied in an object is fruitless. Having a proper sense experience, the player now comes to the world of ideas. And his understanding opens the source of all creation.

    In Sanskrit, the word prakrti means the original form of the object, the beginning, the source, the material cause, the substance from which all other things are composed, and also the feminine, maternal principle. Prakriti is the energy in its original form. It is energy and consciousness, fused together in a dissolved, undifferentiated state. From this state begins the process of condensation of energies, the process of manifestation, which generates more and more diversity. From this condensed state, energy manifests itself in three dimensions:

    1. Material content (inertia, latent potential), which forms the body of the phenomenon.

    2. Action and interaction in the development process.

    3. The internal purpose of the phenomenon is noumenal.

    Crossing the plane of reality, the player reaches prakriti-lokas, and before him appear three gunas and five elements in his purest, essential form.

    Leaving behind the seventh row and realizing the existence of prakriti, the player begins to penetrate into the source of all phenomena of the phenomenal world – the great consciousness. The player merges with him, and at that moment any duality disappears. The player receives a pure experience of immense measurements, the infinite space that lies inside his “I”.

    Ur means feeling of “I”, ant – “end”. Uranta-loka is the place where the feeling of one’s separate “I” ends, any division disappears and the player plunges into the indescribable depths of inner life. Within one breath he sees the birth, development and subsequent destruction of the whole creation. He sees the illusory nature of all boundaries and differences. Having realized the nature of prakriti and the unity that underlies the whole creation, now it merges with this unity. There are no feelings or sensations. “I” fully realizes itself as an unchanging observer. There is no good, no evil, no blemish, no virtue. The player becomes like a clear crystal that transmits light. In the Puranas and Samhits one can find descriptions of the Uranta Lokas, composed by holy seers who experienced this state. They vividly describe the cosmic knowledge that flowed through them. They have become pure conductors of light from the source of knowledge, completely detached, endowed with understanding, without limits.

    Consciousness is described as truth, being and bliss – Sachchidananda. Ananda is the highest truth, the essence of being. In the process of creation, the “I” is gradually covered by five shells. Of these, the first and finest-anandamaya-kosa-is the body of pure being, pure experience of consciousness. This body of bliss, in the center of which is the Cosmic Consciousness. During the period corresponding to the creation, it acts as an individual consciousness. Next is the level of ego and intellect. This shell is called vijnanamaya-kosa. The word vijnana consists of it (“outside”) and jnana (“knowledge”). Maya means “compacted,” and kosha means “shell,” or body. This body, connected with the knowledge of what is outside, is the ego (which perceives itself as a separate reality) and the intellect (making an appraisal of all phenomena). The third shell is the sensory mind, manomaya-kosh (manas means “mind”), . In his work he relies on perceptions, coming from the five senses: ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose. At this level, there is a perception of the material world – the world of desires.

    Then comes the fourth envelope, pranamaya-kosa, the pranic body consisting of prana, the vital force acting through the five organs of action, and the internal systems of the organism-such as the cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, etc. Through these organs and systems, karma (action).

    The fifth, the coarsest shell is annamaya-kosa. The word anna means “grain”, but in the broad sense it is all food from which the physical body of a person, his muscles, bones, skin, blood, seed and other parts are built.

     The organs of action include organs of excretion, sexual organs, organs of speech, legs and hands. – Note. trans.

    The evolution of the individual “I” is carried out in the reverse order. The player starts from annamaya-koshi and, crossing the four other shells, at the end is affirmed in the body of bliss. Ananda is the main characteristic of consciousness. This quality is different from pleasure, happiness, joy or delight, which can be explained and appreciated by the intellect. All these are only relative states. Buddhi leads to jnana, knowledge, raising a person to a plan of bliss. Ananda is the original experience: all others are only its derivatives. It is beyond the ordinary feelings and constantly resides in the heart of every player. It is impossible to know about this state from someone else, even if one has experienced it: this requires your own experience. The deaf and dumb can not explain to you what the taste of a candy looks like, only motions or gestures can help. Ananda can not be explained or expressed by words: it is learned in inner experience, and nothing else.

    The sense of a separate “I” disappears in the Uranta-loka. While in prakriti-loka, the player gains knowledge of the inner unity of all objects of the senses. A sensuously perceived world becomes one and the same merge together all feelings and experiences based ultimately on the perception of this world.

    Here remains the only experience – bliss. It is not easy to get this experience without having the wisdom and not going through the path of self-realization. The only alternative is a gradual climb from plan to plan with attention focused on. Dharma, and it is necessary to avoid the bites of treacherous snakes.

    Rudra is one of the names of Shiva. The whole creation passes through three phases. The manifestation is accompanied by the maintenance of the emerging form and inevitably ends with disintegration or destruction. These three processes-creation, maintenance (preservation) and destruction are performed by the three forces of the Supreme, who are not created by anyone, but who create everything. From his will were born the Creator (Brahma), the Protector (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). These three forces are interdependent and interrelated. Creation takes place according to the will of the Lord, by his own will the created is preserved and at the end is destroyed. Without the destruction of false self-identification – the concept of a separate reality, the individual ego – a true union (yoga) is impossible. Thus, Shiva, destroying the false ego, connects the individual consciousness with its cosmic source.

    In the material world, Rudra, the ruler of the southern side of the world, is the wrathful manifestation of Shiva. He is known by the name of Rudra, since he was born from the screaming (ores) of the Creator-Brahma. By his grace mortals live and enjoy the divine game, creating and destroying, accumulating and practicing their karma in the material world.

    The word Shiva means “good” or “good”, good for everyone. He is a cosmic good, an alchemical process that converts magnetic energy into electrical energy, sending it back to the source. The completion of the evolution of the individual consciousness takes place here, in the abode of Rudra. Only one step separates the player from the union with the Cosmic Consciousness. On this plane, a final purification takes place. He is beyond the material world and consists of the same element as ananda-loka, the plan of bliss.

    Knowledge, feeling and action are the three characteristics of human consciousness. Knowing what? Truth. What feeling? Beautiful. What kind of action? Leading to the common good. For the participants in the game, these three are the highest good of human existence. The good (being) is sat, the truth is cheat, and the beautiful is ananda: Satchidananda is together. Following the path of satyam-sivam-sundaram – truth, good and beauty, the player becomes Sachchidananda. These three aspects of consciousness are also known as bindu, bija and nada and are revered in the images of the three primary deities: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

    Actions for the benefit of all require correct knowledge. Possession of such knowledge leads the player to experience the cosmic blessing directly from the level of the fifth chakra. The player who reached this place does not have more resistance to the flow of the Dharma. He simply does his job, responding to the impulses of cosmic forces that come to him.

    Rudra-loka is one of the three central squares of the highest row of the playing board, where the divine forces responsible for the entire creation are situated, to which all seek, to seek union with each, seeking liberation. The desire for correct knowledge leads the player to the location of Shiva. Here he comes to the realization of the cosmic good, the essence of which is truth, and the form is beauty.

    Rising above all the lokas, beyond all limits, is Vaikuntha, the lair of the Cosmic Consciousness, the life force (prana) of all manifested reality. This loka also consists of an element called mahat, which is the source of all other elements. Before the game begins, the participant takes on the importance and significance of this Genesis plan, which will always be his goal. Whatever desires seduced him from his path, his highest desire is always Moksha – liberation. Vaikuntha is the abode of Vishnu, the place every Hindu follower hopes to achieve by completing existence in its present form. There is the Cosmic Consciousness because Vishnu is the Truth, he is the protector of consciousness in his ascent.

    Points that fall on the dice of karma correspond to the level of the player’s vibrations. Bone determines how the position of the player on the field, and passed, and the path ahead. The player can follow the discipline of ashtanga-yoga, the eightfold path, gradually passing level after level. Or, specialize in the Dharma, become a bhakta-spiritual devotee. All paths lead to the same goal. Whatever the way of the player among all the innumerable possibilities, now he has reached the abode of Vishnu. Vishnu, who serves the essence of creation, Truth. It is directly above the plane of reality, for Truth is the highest reality.

    The ring, which serves as a player’s symbol on the field, is sent back to the owner’s finger, it loses its value. The game ends. What happens now depends on the player. The nature of the space game is simple – it is the discovery of new combinations. With what new karmas, with what companions the player can again enter the game, trying again to find a state that will be his real haven? He can continue this game of hide and seek with himself or forever remain outside the game. Or he can go back to Earth to help other seekers reach their goal by assuming the role of a twice-born Bodhisattva. The choice remains for him.

    On one side of Vaikuntha Loka is Rudra, while on the other side, while Brahma. Together they form the triad of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in the center of the highest row of the playing board. This plan is above all plans of creation – both the seven main ones and all the others, designated or not marked on the playing board. The main element here is also mahat. Those who are strengthened in the truth dwell here, without fear of the subsequent return to the fulfillment of karmic roles. Here also practitioners of mercy come, they abide in the abodes of Brahma without knowing fear. Brahma is the creator of the material world, the active principle of the noumena, the power that transforms consciousness into innumerable forms and reflections. His abode is Brahma-loka. The player reaching this place merges with this absolute power, this subtle principle. Brahma is the organizer of matter, which determines the laws of development for the created forms.

    Despite the fact that Brahma-loka is located next to the plan of Cosmic Consciousness, Brahma can not give the player liberation. The game must continue. Brahma defines the form of the game, but there is something else besides the form. Only Truth can lead a player to liberation. And now the three gunas are waiting for him ahead, and the snake that corresponds to Tamogun, sooner or later returns the player to Mother Earth. He descends to the level of the sixth chakra, but now he is armed with an understanding of the principles of the game, acquired in Brahma-loka. And this can help him achieve his goal, on earth. The path of spiritual devotion is waiting for him at a distance of one dice roll.

    Sat means “truth.” Having attained liberation, man sees truth only in Cosmic Consciousness. But the same truth, being connected with the dice of karma, becomes subject to the action of the three gunas, the three primary aspects of consciousness (guna means “quality, property”). The property and quality is inherent in the player, still connected with the game. Truth is the essence of creation. But in any existing object or phenomenon, the action of the gunas is manifested. Truth can not exist in itself, it is immediately absorbed by the Cosmic Consciousness. However, the game is not over yet – the ring, the player’s symbol, is on the field. It is through the action of the gun that consciousness manifests itself until the end of the game. The player must return to Earth to her games, both of which are product of the gun’s work.

    Sattva itself creates a state of equilibrium. Activity is necessary, and matter must be activated. Sattvaguna is synonymous with concepts such as light, essence, true nature and higher levels of vibration. Calm, unperturbed state of meditation, leading to samadhi, is realized when sattva predominates.

    Everything that exists contains both sattva, rajas, and tamas, so there is nothing that is colored by the color of only one guna. While there are various forms created by Brahma, all three modes exist. However, at different times they can be in different proportions.

    In the waking state, rajas predominate, while sattva is on the second plane, creating the basis for the display of knowledge and understanding, allowing the player to act in accordance with his role.

    The state of the dream is also basically colored with rajas, and the dreamy “I” can receive his lesson from sattva. Our dreams are filled with light, we do not see darkness, but this light comes from sattva. In the dream there is a purification, in this state we are not bound by the laws of physical reality. The player is in his astral body, outside the physical body, connected with astral sattvic connections.

    In a deep dream without dreams, tamas prevails.

    In the state of unconscious consciousness, known as turiya or samadhi, the player is in pure sattva. Liberation from the influence of gunas makes a person a realized being, gunaatit (literally it means “beyond the gun”). Gunas serve as dynamic forces that transform primary matter in the process of creation and begin their work at the beginning of each cycle of creation. They are never separated from each other, acting together and being transformed through each other. Sattva in the process of creation becomes tamas, creating vibrations of sound, touch, visual images, taste and smell. The transforming power is rajas. With the evolution of consciousness, tamas becomes sattva in the same way – through rajas. Sattva itself is not active and is not capable of change without the help of rajas. On earth, sattva predominates at dawn and the next three hours.

    Rajoguna is activity in consciousness, or active consciousness. A player who has reached the eighth row, but has failed in an attempt to realize the Cosmic Consciousness, draws on the forces of karma, activity. This activity is the cause of all suffering, it presupposes the presence of a figure inevitably falling victim to its ambitions and expecting fruits from activity. Any obstacle on the way to the desired goal generates pain and suffering. The predominance of rajoguna inevitably leads to pain and agony. In samadhi, the player dissolves the rajoguna in sattwaguna and becomes a pure light – sattva. The preservation of the rajoguna prevents entry into samadhi, and tamas draws the player back to Earth, because karma includes and generates new frequencies of vibrations that, when acquired form, become the object of the game.

    As guna, rajoguna balances sattva and tamas. Sattva and tamas are extreme manifestations of energy in the form of gunas and tend to dominate one over another. Rajas sets the balance of extremes, without which this world of pleasure and pain, of names and forms could not exist. None of the gunas can exist on its own.

    Rajoguna prevails from three hours after sunrise to evening, when the sun begins to set. During this period everything on earth becomes active, everything is included in activities aimed at maintaining life. Rajogush draws man’s attention to the outside world; If it is directed inward, the rajoguna becomes an internal dialogue. Without the transformation of tamas into sattva, the highest states of consciousness are unattainable. Yet a person can remain in sattva and during activity, using rajoguna in sattvic work.

    After sunset and before the morning dusk, Tamoguna prevails, and the whole world is plunged into sleep. Initially, like other gunas, Tamoguna is in the primary prakrita. After the beginning of the creation, a mahat emerges, in which sattwaguna predominates. Mahat gives birth to the intellect (buddhi) from which the ego (ahamkara) arises. The sattwic ahamkara generates the mind (manas), and the rajasic – indriyas (senses and organs of activity), the tamasic ahamkara gives rise to tanmatras. Tanmatra means something pure, unmixed. In total there are five of them: sound, touch, visual image, taste the smell. They correspond to the five great elements (mahabhutam): akasha (ether), air, fire, water and earth. Connecting, they form an individual “I”, in which the action of gunas manifests itself in all four states of consciousness. The gunas operating in the material world are different from the pure gunas existing within prakriti. At this level, the tamoguna becomes the largest snake on the playing board – it is tamas, a field located at the end of the row corresponding to the seventh chakra. In the eighth row, the gunas are closer to their source (prakriti) – hence they are purer. The last square of the playing board is also the beginning of a new cycle in the space game, giving the player form and matter. Here is the snake that stings the player, returning it to the ground.

    Tamoguna is a differentiated energy in the mind. Inside of it shines the light of sattva, but because of ignorance and the absence of initiation, it can not develop self-reliantly. For this, rajas is needed, then sattva can manifest and, having reached the earth, take a new form with the help of karma. Tamoguna hides the truth so that the rope seems like a snake, and the snake is a rope. Darkness is the main sign of Tamogun, and its nature is passivity. The player who comes here immediately leaves the level of the cosmic forces and returns to the ground to find a new path of ascent. What happens next depends only on the player and the One who is the Truth.