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Ans. There are numerous psychic centres in the hu- man body. All of them have not been discovered, nor is it possible to know them all. As already mentioned earlier, when the whole body becomes karan, i.e. 'superfunctional', every bit of it becomes a centre of consciousness. Still certain centres have been individually identified. In the practice of preksha dhyana today, sadhaks are told to meditate on thirteen centres. Their names, positions and effects are by now clearly known. These are dealt with below.
There are two important systems in the human body-the nervous system and the endocrine system. The most important part of the nervous system is the brain, which controls all our knowledge and action. The whole empire of the body runs on signals from the brain. The middle part of the head, the crown is extraordinarily important from the point of view of sadhana. The centre of transcendental consciousness is located there. This is our Jnan Kendra, the Centre of Knowledge. In the terminology of Hatha-Yoga it is called the Sahasra Chakra (the thousand-petalled lotus, the upper cerebral centre.) Both the right and the left parts of the brain are connected with consciousness. The physiologists say that the left part of the brain is used for language, mathematics, logic, etc. and the right part is the receptacle of wisdom. The Centre of Knowledge is more allied with the right part.
The development of Jnan Kendra, the Centre of Knowledge, leads to the awakening of insight. The awakening of insight is also associated with the forehead. The pituitary gland is its principal centre. Yet it seems that the subsequent development of insight is possible only through Jnan Kendra, the Centre of Knowledge. From this viewpoint, meditation on Jnan Kendra is very important. The total development of mental knowledge is
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