THE THIRD EYE

About twenty- five times agone , when I was in Chennai in southern India, I heard a talk given by a European couple during a forum organized by Sri Ramakrishna Math. presumably related to spiritual life, the talk snappily turned kindly

 crazy when the woman

 informed the followership that her hubby’s third eye had opened in his nonage. 

 

 In the course of their donation, references were made not only to the third eye but also to chakras, ambiences , climate, and several other unnoticeable and mysterious effects. The third eye featured again in the question- answer session that followed the talk. All by each, it was good entertainment but bad education. 

 Bad education, because not only did the talk lack clarity, order and direction, but it also created new dubieties without answering old bones

 . While the content of the lecture was “ Practical Vedanta in Daily Life, ” what was legislated on the stage legislated is the right word, for it was theater and a bad one at that — was neither practical nor Vedanta. There was a lot said about healing through “ vibrational drug. ” And, of course, there was this reference to the third eye that popped up again and again. 

 

 

 The idea of the third eye is sufficiently confusing as it is. The images of numerous divinities show the third eye on the forepart, a little above the spot where the eyebrows meet. While our normal two eyes are stretched horizontally, the third eye is depicted generally but not always — as perpendicular. It might feel to present a ghastly sight, but those growing up in India are used to similar delineations from nonage, so they aren't shocked. They're used to seeing Hindu and Buddhist divinities with four or six or indeed eight arms. All this is accepted as a emblematic representation of the lesser power, knowledge, and glory of the Divine. 

 

 As symbols these are fine and also useful. Symbols point to a reality beyond them. So long as we're concentrated on the reality, we're safe. But if we remain fixated on a symbol and take our eyes off the reality which the symbol represents, we're inviting trouble. The third eye has done that to some people. Times ago — indeed before I heard the talk in Chennai — I saw a important- reputed man pointing to a little lump in the middle of his forepart as the evidence that his third eye had opened. He was serious and, alas, some people were taken in. I was skeptical also, and I remain skeptical moment. For me the evidence of the third eye lies not in some lump but in seeing commodity that our normal two eyes can not reveal. 

 That feels like a sensible and safe approach. After all, why do we need another eye when we formerly have two? We all know our eyes have their limitations. To see anything we need sufficient light, and indeed also, we see only the external form and not the inner content. I can see a person but not what the person is allowing about me. Yes, I may be suitable to guess, but that’s not the same as seeing. The third eye could be meaningful if it can, for case, make me see inside effects and inside others ’ minds. 

 

 But also why stop with the third eye? Why not also a third observance? perhaps the third observance will make it possible to hear the “ unstruck sound ”( anāhata- dhvani) or the “ music of the spheres ” or, why not, the godly air of Krishna’s flute. How about a alternate nose? Yogis, we're told, get to smell awful aromas and these aren't accessible to the normal nose. 

 It's clear that we need a new set of senses to witness what's beyond the range of our being senses. We need, in fact, a new body to witness what we have n’t endured yet — the transcendent reality or the Supreme Being or God. Sri Ramakrishna says 

 

 ‘ God can not be seen with these physical eyes. In the course of spiritual discipline one gets a “ love body, ” endowed with “ love eyes, ” “ love cognizance, ” and so on. One sees God with those “ love eyes. ” One hears the voice of God with those “ love cognizance. ” With this “ love body ” the soul cultures with God. ’( The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,p. 115) 

 In the Gita( 11. 8) Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that the cosmic form( viśvarūpa) can not be seen with ordinary eyes. He gives Arjuna godly eyes( divya- cakṣu), which makes it possible for Arjuna to see God’s cosmic form 

 

 “ with multitudinous mouths and eyes, with multitudinous stupendous sights, with multitudinous elysian beautifiers, with multitudinous elysian munitions upraised; wearing elysian libraries and vesture, besmeared with elysian scents, made up of all prodigies, resplendent, bottomless, with face turned far and wide. ”( 11. 10- 11) 

 Did Arjuna “ see ” all of this? Unlikely. How did he know that the Lord was “ besmeared with elysian scents ”? A scent can not be seen, it has to be smelt. Obviously, Arjuna had also entered a godly nose. further is yet to come. Arjuna latterly describes( 11. 21) seeing gods enter into the Cosmic Form exalting Krishna 

 

 “ in fear with joined win; ‘ May it be well! ’ therefore saying, bands of great foreseers and perfected bones

 rishis and siddhas adore you with hymns of pullulating praise. ” 

 How did Arjuna “ hear ” all of this? We ’ve got to accept that he'd acquired godly cognizance as well. Indeed godly skin — how differently could he have felt( 11. 30) the fierce, burning shafts expiring

 from the Lord and filling the whole world with radiance? 

 

 Although Krishna is said to have given Arjuna godly eyes, what Krishna had really given him was a godly body — a “ love body, ” in the words of Sri Ramakrishna with a set of godly senses. 

 The third eye is only a symbol of a whole set of extrasensory faculties which come to a person through the grace of God. God’s grace is unconditional in the sense that God sets no conditions to make the godly gifts available. They're always available. Who prevents me from getting them? I help myself from getting them. I've slammed the door shut. And now I sit in a corner and weep and wonder why God’s grace does n’t come to lift me up. How can it come if I do n’t open the door? 

 

 This is commodity I must do myself, this opening the door of the heart to let in God’s grace. The door is opened through chastity of life. “ God reveals himself to the pure heart, ” says Swami Vivekananda( CW 1. 13). Inner chastity is a source of tremendous internal, intellectual, and spiritual power. It removes a screen, as it were, off the mind. This produces deep perceptivity and clarity of perception. It's this miracle that's symbolically spoken of in the Holy Writ as the opening of the third eye or the awakening of the kuṇḍalini. 

 The world around us is full of symbols. Every object, every word, every study, indeed every person we see can be a symbol. We ’ll know our third eye has opened if we're suitable to decrypt these symbols and peer into the reality beyond. 

 

 Tagged Ramakrishna, Gita, Goddess 

                                        Source:Vedanta society Books,Wikipedia