# Everything from Understanding **1) Explain the idea of working at a crucial point (ne du nunpa in the Tibetan), in order to turn a chakra from a chokepoint into a center of radiance and high spiritual realizations.  Include the analogy of a tree.** The chakras can be either chokepoints or the release points of extraordinary spiritual power, if we can only release the stranglehold of the two side channels.  One way to do this is to “work at a crucial point” by concentrating our attention and our understanding of how things work at a particular chakra, also working from the outside with the yoga asanas and sending breath into the point. It is important to emphasize that if this is done incorrectly it can actually have the opposite effect, of tying up the knot tighter.  We must utilize a deep understanding of where things come from: which means that we would automatically then be using the Four Infinite Thoughts of kindness and the rest, since taking care of others is the source of all good seeds and the things they create. The example given in scripture is that we can chop away at a large tree trunk for days or even weeks before making any noticeable progress, simply exhausting ourselves.  This is like doing yoga asanas for example over a long period of time without using love and wisdom from the inside. If we do focus though our combined effort and compassion on a chakra, it’s like a person who has an intimate knowledge of the root system of a tree.  They can simply drive a wedge into a carefully determined point into the roots of the tree, and when they return in a few days the tree will have died and fallen down on its own: no need for frantic, ineffective efforts.  This wedge is our combined effort of stillness, wisdom, and also compassion. **2) Use the analogy of a balloon animal to explain how we work at the crucial point of a chakra.  Take this opportunity to give the Sanskrit word for the inner knots or chokepoints, along with related English words.  Conclude by giving the Sanskrit names for the three primary knots, and their locations.** The inner body can be pictured as containing a fixed amount of prana, or inner wind.  Think of it like a balloon animal from the circus: squeeze on the tummy, and the legs get fatter.  Squeeze on the legs, the tummy gets fatter.  When we think a negative thought, then prana is forced into one of the side channels, and they expand.  When we think a positive thought, prana flows into the central channel, and it expands. When we do think a positive thought and prana flows into the central channel from the side channels, this automatically lessens the pressure of the knots created where the side channels wrap around the central channel.  This sets in motion a positive, upward spiral where more and more prana and thought can flow out of the negative side channels and into the central channel. The knots themselves are called granthi ¢iNw in Sanskrit.  This comes from the root √granth ¢Nw! , meaning to tie.  Related English words are girth, girdle, and garden (an enclosed place). The three knots traditionally recognized by the yoga scriptures are the vishnu, brahma, and rudra knots.  These are roughly related respectively to the area of the heart (anahata) chakra; the perineal (muladhara) chakra; and the chakra between the eyebrows (ajna). **3) There is a name for the central channel which emphasizes how we can see ultimate reality when the inner winds flow freely through this channel.  Give this name in English and in Sanskrit.  Explain finally what the book called Light on the Yoga of the Sun and Moon (Hatha Yoga Pradipika) says will happen if the inner winds do flow through this channel.** The central channel is sometimes also called the path of emptiness, a term which emphasizes how we can perceive ultimate reality when the winds flow freely within the central channel. The Sanskrit word for this is shunyapadavi zUNypdvI.  Shunya of course means empty, and comes from the root √shu zU , meaning to swell.  Related English words are cave, cumulus,  and church. Padavi, meaning path, comes from the √pad pdœ , meaning to go.  The word pada pad , or foot, also derives from this root, and is found in the English words pedal, pedestrian, and centipede (a hundred feet or legs). The Light on the Yoga of the Sun and Moon (Hatha Yoga Pradipika) says that, when the winds enter the central channel fully, then “the two-sided support will come to a state of death” (III.11-12).  This is a reference to the eventual collapse of the negative channels of the sun and moon. **4) Describe briefly the “radiance at the tip of the head”; the two types of power that it can confer; and what event it is that triggers these powers.  Give the Sanskrit name for this radiant substance, along with related English words.** At the tip of the head is a concentration of what is known as the “white element,” a concentration of male energy which is related to but not the same as the semen.  When kundalini or inner fire awakens at the lower end of the central channel, this causes the white element at the tip of the head to begin to melt down through the central channel, which confers bliss, knowledge, and powers. The powers are both worldly ones, such as the ability to fly or to walk through walls, and ultimately the higher powers of an enlightened being who can serve all living creatures at the same time. The name for the white element in Sanskrit is shukla dhatu zu¬ xatu.  Shukla means white, and comes from the root √shuch zuc, meaning to gleam.  Related English words are shine, shimmer, and scintillate. Dhatu comes from the root √dha xa, meaning to set down.  Related English words are deed (something set down in writing); doom (one’s fate set down); and fact (an established thing). **5) Master Patanjali makes the statement that “all of them come from total understanding.”  What does “all of them” refer to, and how do they come from total understanding?  Give the word here in Sanskrit for “total understanding,” along with related English words.** “All of them” here refers to all the spiritual powers mentioned here in the third chapter, both those which are more worldly oriented (such as flying in the sky, walking on water) and those which are ultimate—the powers of an angel.  Total understanding here is the direct perception of ultimate reality, which has been facilitated by what was mentioned in the immediately preceding verse: the descent of the white substance down through the central channel, triggered by inner fire or kundalini. The Sanskrit word for “total understanding” here is pratibha àitÉa.  This is made up of two parts, prati and bha.  Prati can mean either individual or initial, in the sense of coming first.  Related English words are proud (coming first) and prow (the leading part of the boat). Bha means to shine with light and comes from the root √bha Éa, meaning to shine.  Related English words are beacon, photo, and light beam.  Together, the two parts as pratibha can refer to the first light, or dawn.  As such they take on the meaning of the dawning of wisdom, or understanding. **6) In the verses at this point in the third chapter, Master Patanjali uses a word for the powers or spiritual attainments which is also found in the original name of a famous religious figure in Indian history.  Explain.** The word that Master Patanjali uses here for spiritual powers or attainments is siddha isÏ.  This word is found in the original name of Gautama: Prince Siddhartha.  The word siddhartha means the one who achieved (siddha) the goal (artha). The word siddha comes from the root √sidh isx! , which means to succeed (to seek and find).  Related English words, through an old Indo-European root sihg, are seek, sage (a seeker of knowledge), ransack (to seek messily), and forsake (to give up seeking). **7) Why would it be true that, if we turn the combined effort upon the chakra at the heart, we can “know the mind”?  Also give the Sanskrit word used for the heart chakra here, along with related English words.  Then do the same for the different Sanskrit word which is often used to refer to the heart chakra.** In India and Tibet, the mind is traditionally considered to be located at the heart.  This is because the primordial consciousness, called mishikpay tikle or the indestructible drop, is located at the heart chakra.  Within this tiny spot of consciousness, smaller than the tip of a needle, lie all the billions of karmic seeds which have been planted by our actions but have not yet ripened: the very core of not only our mind but also of our body, our entire being, our entire world. The word used for “heart chakra” here is simply the most common Sanskrit word for “heart”: hirdaya ÿœdy, which comes from an old Indo-European root for “heart,” kerd.  The related Sanskrit root is √hrad ÿœd, which means to make a sound.  Related English words are heart, cardiac, creed (heart belief), and courage. Another common term in the yoga classics for the heart chakra is anahata chakra Anaht c³, which means the chakra (of the beating heart) which was never struck (like a bell or drum) to make it beat.  Here an is the negative prefix, which is found in English as ne, and appears in negative, neither, and neglect.  The next letter a Aa is a prefix which means upon, as in beat upon.  The final piece, hata, comes from the root √han hn! , meaning to strike.  Related words are ahinsa, gun, and hit. **8) What happens when the heart chakra opens completely?** When the heart chakra opens completely, we have an experience of ultimate love, or bodhichitta, which literally means “the mind of enlightenment but refers to the true desire to become an angel who can stand on a billion worlds and help all living beings.  This again is a kind of “mind” that we can know if we turn our combined effort upon the heart chakra. This experience occurs only for a few minutes the first time that it happens.  It feels as though a clear-colored, crystal light is shooting forth from the chest, and touching every living being.  At the same moment we see, directly, the face of every living being in the universe, and we see that we will be the one to help them reach ultimate happiness. **9) Is it easier to overcome the misunderstanding of “my world” that runs through the sun channel, or the misunderstanding of “me” that runs through the moon channel?** In general, it is more difficult to examine the nature of a subtle object such as the idea of “me,” or the mind, than it is to examine a concrete outside object such as a pen.  As such we can get to the emptiness of “me” by examining the emptiness of an outside object first: working at the sun channel to get to the moon channel. **10) Explain the example of the pen, which allows us to understand where “me” comes from through understanding where an object outside of me comes from.  Be sure to cover, clearly, how understanding the pen allows us to understand exactly the type of being we ourselves are.** If someone holds up a pen and asks us what it is, our automatic tendency is to say, “It’s a pen.”  But if they hold the same object out to a puppy, the puppy grabs it in their mouth and chew on it: for the puppy, this object is a chew toy. Neither the person nor the puppy is more “right” than the other about what the object is; it is nor more “really” a pen than it is “really” a chew toy.  How we see the object is a matter of perception; and so the “pen” and “pen-ness” are not coming from the object’s side, but rather from our side. It’s important to note that, even though the pen is thus obviously coming from our own side, it’s not the case that we can make it anything we want just by wishing it.  Apparently we are being forced to see this object as a pen.  It is seeds in our mind ripening, from when we previously gave someone else a pen, that make us see the object as a pen. From this understanding of an object outside of ourselves we can jump to an understanding of ourselves: what makes the dog a dog is simply the fact that it sees a chew toy; what makes me a human is the fact that I see a pen.