Yoga Of Inner Light And Sound

Author(s): Achyutanand Swami, Praveshkumar Singh
Publisher: Santmat Sangh Samiti Chandrapur

Page 20

Yoga of Inner Light (Bindu Dhyān)
Yoga of Inner Light (bindu dhyān) has been variously referred to as 'drishți yoga', jyoti yoga', 'drishți sādhan' etc. by sages & sants. The smallest possible mark is called point (bindu). A bindu or point is defined as that which exists but does not occupy any space. A point drawn with even the sharpest possible tip of a pencil or pen would surely occupy some space. Thus, it is not possible to draw a point in the outside world, because however finely or minutely a point is drawn, it would certainly possess some length, breadth & thickness, whereas a real or absolute point must have neither of these. Two lines intersect each other in a point. However, it is equally impossible to draw a real line either, because a line is that which possesses length but must not have any width or thickness. Such a line is not possible to draw in the outside world. It is why in geometry lines and points are assumed to exist - we say, for example, "Let (say) A be a point or vertex", "Let AB be a line", or "Let AABC be a triangle" etc. To put in a nutshell, all lines in the outer gross world have to be imaginary, unreal, fictitious or conceptual. The real line is the current or line of our sight (drishți). How long the current of sight or vision (drishti) can be is beyond imagination. Our drishți reaches stellar objects such as the sun or stars. Had it not had this reach, it would not have been possible for us to see them. A point is formed where the two currents of sight (of two eyes) meet. Such a point is a luminous or radiant one. This is so because the current of sight also is a radiant one. Even in the outside, the colour of a point formed on a paper depends on the colour of the ink in the pen or the colour of the pencil-lead - red ink will produce a red point and black ink will produce a black point. Going by the same logic, where two luminous currents of vision meet together, a lustrous brilliant point is created, because our drishti itself is lustrous, is permeated with light. This is why the point that is sighted in the inner sky also is a shining or radiant one. Authors of Upanishads have described the 'bindu dhyān' (meditation on the radiant point within) as meditation of higher order:
"Meditation upon the dazzling point, which is the universal soul and is located in the (yogic) heart, is meditation of the highest order."
There are three ways of practicing 'bindu dhyān', as has been referred in Mandal Bindu Upanishad:
"There are three ways of looking at that - 'amā (or amavasya) drishti', 'pratipadá drishti' and 'pūrnimā drishti'. To gaze fixedly i) with both the eyes fully closed is called 'amā drishti', ii) with both eyes half open is 'pratipada drishti', and iii) with both eyes fully open is known as 'pūrņimă drishți'. The target at which the drishti is focussed should be in the front of the nose. Practising this yoga quietens the mind. It also causes the respiration to cease. Out of the afore-mentioned three methods of seeing namely, amāvasyā/amā, pratipadā and pūrnimā, the first one namely, amādrishți (which means concentrating one's sight keeping both the eyes fully shut) is easy and harmless. It is, however, important to keep in mind here that we should abstain from laziness and being lulled in to sleep. In the practice of amā drishți