The Right, the Left, and the Centre

Sahaja Yoga is about gaining self realisation, and developing, through meditation, those powers, those perceptions, that knowledge of the spirit, that oneness with Divinity which self realisation grants.  All of us are born with a life force, a seed of God’s love, within us.  It is known by its sanskrit name, kundalini, and it resides at the base of the spine.  This seed, sprouting, can rise up through the energy centres that exist along the spine, eventually piercing the crown of the head and emerging as a cool energy that can be felt. 

The realisation of the self is just that – the process of gaining, and becoming conscious of, the self, the spirit.  The spirit, in other words,  becomes manifest on the central nervous system.   In earlier days this process was a most arduous one requiring long term sacrifices and dedication.  Now, however, it has become possible for us to receive our self realisation very easily, and very sweetly.  This is because Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, discovered, in 1970, a simple way of granting the moksha, the enlightenment, the liberation, the rhu, self realisation – all names for the same thing.  If the desire is strong, and the circumstances are appropriate, self realisation, with all its wonder, can be gained. 

Self realisation draws our energy, our attention, into the central path of our being.  This implies of couse, that there are other parts of our being that are not so centered.  Indian philosophy can help us here, especially since it is concerned with doing, being, living – not, as in the West, where philosophy is concerned with thinking and giving active shape to thought.

Indian philosophy holds that the attention can flow along the raja guna – for simplicity we call it the right side, the tama guna – which is the left side, or the satwa guna – the central path.

So, let’s consider the right side first.  What is it?

The right side, in its extreme, can be demanding, aggressive, hard-edged, harsh, sun-bright.  It’s about self-promotion.  It’s concerned with tomorrow, projecting into the future.  And being in the right side can cause tensions, anger, even violence.

And the left side, the tama guna?

Again, in the extreme, it is emotional, pulling on memories, moon-lit.  It’s about the pain of lost joys, it’s regretful, yearning.  Its all about yesterdays and sorrows.  Being in the left side can cause insecurity, depression, opting out.

And between left and right, there’s the centre.

The centre is balance, grace, .  It is gently confident, drawing us into ourselves, reflective.  A song that sings of the centre says, “Come, the Mother calls you to go deeper in silence, to find the earth of your beginning; that innocence within you, that innocence unfolding from which flows the rivers of your soul.”

The left and right channels are, of course, part of our being.  A very necessary part.  They are not all bad.  We can have good memories and make good plans.  And when we are centered, when we are balanced,  the left and right sides play their appropriate roles.  However, when aspects of the left or the right start to predominate, start to take us over,  then we run into troubles.  In the far left, insecurity can turn into depression and even forms of cancer – in the far right, heavy thinking and anger can turn into diabetes or violence.  It’s the peace and open-heartedness we can achieve through our self realisation, granted to us through the grace of Shri Mataji Normala Devi, that brings everything into the good balance.

Marshmallows

There was a study done in the 1960’s which illustrates the nature of these left, right and center tendencies in children. The study, called ‘The Marshmallow Test,’ was intended to shed light on the nature of emotional self-control. Initiated by a psychologist by the name of Walter Mischel, the study involved a number of 4 year old children.

Each child had a marshmallow put down in front of them. They were allowed to eat the marshmallow when the experimenter left the room, but if they waited until his return, they could have two marshmallows!  The experimenter then left for up to 20 minutes. A number of the children were simply unable to hold out,  and ate the single marshmallow. Others, however,  were able to put off eating it, in favour of having the double treat upon the experimenter’s return.

What was remarkable however, was that 12-14 years later, the children who were unable to hold out, had developed many traits of the left side. They tended to shy away from social contacts, to be indecisive, to be easily upset by frustrations, to see themselves as unworthy, and to still be unable to put off self-gratification.

Of the children who resisted the temptation of the single marshmallow, we find two distinct groups; those who we would call right-sided, and those who were more centered. Those of the right side, when tracked down in adolescence, were characterised by self-assertiveness; they embraced challenges; pursued goals, were quick to take the initiative, were often aggressive..
                                                                       
Those who were of the centre, who were also able to withstand temptation in the Marshmallow Test, were characterised as self-reliant, confident, trustworthy and dependable.

Where the left sided child is simply unable to resist, and the right sided child has to exercise strong self-control, the centred child remains detached, distancing him or herself for as long as is required, doing so with little effort. Such a child neither implodes nor explodes in the face of difficulty; respondng to it with the appropriate attitude that best serves themselves and those around them.

Left to Right to Centre 

There’s yet another interesting aspect of these left, right and centre matters:  in many ways progress – natural growth – develops from left to right, and from right to centre..   A new born baby is a left-sided creature in that he or she is dependent for survival on others,  Later, the a young child is concerned entirely with his or herself, there is no other viewpoint, eveything is seen, needed, felt, explored, as an individual, nothing else matters.    Later agin, the child starts to becomes conscious of other people’s needs, begins to see alternative points of view, starts making plans, starts moving into the right.  Some adolescants don’t fully make this transition.  They stay withdrawn, sectretive, uncommunicative.

The same progress is typical of the seekers of truth.  We tend to begin in the left, withdrawing from the rat-race to feel things through, longing for patterns, answers.   Exploration, study and experiment will take us into the right.  And, if we are lucky and make the right discoveries - like, in our day and age, the grace of Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi - we arrive in the centre with the possibility of attaining  Divine knowledge, perception and joy.

The painter Picasso is an interesting example.  After his apprentice years spent copying great artists, he became famous for sad, left-sided blue and rose paintings.  Then he moved into the right, exploring cubism and collage, painting harshly-coloured abstracts, before settling, through an interest in neoclassicism into a balance where he gained his self realisation.

Emotional Intellegence

In 1996, there was a book published called Emotional Intelligence, written by Daniel Goleman. The book’s thesis is that Emotional Intelligence is more important than IQ. While IQ relates strictly to our intellectual capacity, Emotional Intelligence is about how we deal with our personal lives and the world around us.

Goleman believes there are two personality types that have problems when it comes to Emotional Intelligence: one that is too emotional, the other that is too intelligent. The problem with those who are too intelligent, says Goleman, is their feelings are stifled. They find it difficult to recognise their own feelings and the feelings of those around them. They are unable to empathise with others, and hence can have poor social skills. We know in Sahaja Yoga that such people are right-sided. Their ego, in this case is intellect-oriented, and exists at the expense of their feelings. While society may reward such people for their capabilities, there is often much to be desired when it comes to their personal lives, and their effect on others.

We also know that people who are aggressive, who are money-oriented, power-oriented, who are fanatical, are also right sided. In every such case, there is an inability to connect with their feelings.

Those who are too emotional, Goleman says, suffer from what he calls ‘Emotional Hijackings.’ Their state of being is often ‘hijacked’ by depression, excessive worrying, alienation and feelings of inadequacy; in short, problems of the left side. While everybody’s mood changes throughout the week and even the day, the swing between moods with such people is usually more pronounced.

The sign of someone who is emotionally intelligent, is his or her ability to recognise their own emotions, but not to get hijacked by them. They are people who treat themselves and others with respect, patience and detachment. 

The Balance

Often, if were dragged into the left side, or pulled into the right side, we lose touch with those around us. We become individualistic. Either we’re withdrawn and unwilling to communicate, or we’re too full of ourselves to care what others have to say. In both cases our connection with other people becomes undermined.

When in the centre, we automatically become collective. There is a desire to connect, to communicate. It is a joy to be in the company of others. All apprehension and suspicion vanishes completely. All disregard and arrogance melts away.

The famous psychologist Carl Jung spoke at length about this. He called it Individuation. He said we have both a collective side and an individual side. The problem is that people identify with one or the other. If we become too individualistic, we neglect our social responsibilities; and if we are too socially oriented, we neglect our inner selves. Individuation is a sort of harmonising of these two sides. By working out who we in fact are, through a realisation of the self - self-realisation - our uniqueness unravels. We are then able to fit into the collective pattern in a more creative and natural way.

In order to attain this sense of the collective, however, we must become balanced. Our thinking function and our feeling function, need to be kept in their rightful place, since over-development of either, takes us away from the Self.

However, our seeking, our search for some meaning in this world, is a very personal journey. We make discoveries and draw conclusions, not in a social setting, but within ourselves. If we are on the right path, then this journey is nothing short of profound. There are times, where the world seems to stop at the moment of some significant realisation; a realisation that encourages us further along our path. God, or the all pervading power, seems to touch us on such occasions.

However, the nature of our spiritual development changes with time. At some point there is a subtle shift, or transition, from a very personal, individual journey, to one that has a collective dimension. It seems that the seedling not only has to learn to adjust to the earth, but also to exist amongst others of its own kind.

Self Realisation

To move into the Centre, to gain the balance, to share the joy of individuation, to achieve emotional intellegence, to open up the spirit to the Divine, to awaken to life force within, to experience the well-being, peace and health of profound meditation, the first step is to gain self realisation.

And this can be gained by contacting Sahaja Yoga, the meditation group set up by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.  Look in the phone book.  Keep an eye open for posters.  In Australia ring 1300 724 252.    There are Sahaja Yoga programmes all over the world.   No charge is made.  Sahaja Yoga is free.