Sun Meditation

To practice sun meditation, beginners should start by looking at the rising sun early in the morning. You can also look at the setting sun, but it is not as effective as at sunrise because the energy is decreasing.

If you feel any trouble gazing directly at the sun, you should focus your gaze a short distance above the sun. Try not to blink, but if you feel discomfort, blink several times, then start again. If you do this three of four times, your resistance power will be increased and it will be easy to look at the sun. Then, we can gradually increase the time that we gaze at the sun.

Beginners should start looking each day for a short period, then day by day increase the amount of time so that the eyes can gradually adapt without any harm. It is very important to maintain regular practice, as it will allow your eyes to adapt properly. Some people may experience problems in the first few days, sometimes headaches or burning sensations in the eyes, or a 'sunspot' that affects your vision. This is quite normal, and the only way to overcome these problems is to continue practising. It is similar to any physical exertion that may cause stiffness or pain; it does not last long, and it is best removed by continuing the exercise.

When you can continue staring at the sun for ten minutes, the sun will seem to disappear. The inside of the sun will appear as blue sky surrounded by a ring of light, it will sometimes appear as two suns, sometimes rotating clockwise or anticlockwise. As your concentration develops and you can gaze at the sun for longer, you will be able to see a 'black spot' in the middle of the sun. Sometimes this black spot will be bigger, at other times smaller. After practice, the black spot will remained fixed in one place. Suddenly, from this black hole, seven colours will emerge and move around the sun, sometimes clockwise, sometimes anti-clockwise. As your concentration increases, a powerful beam of light will come from the sun towards your body. In the beginning this beam of light will not touch the body, it will come towards you and then retreat back to the sun. Eventually, as your concentration improves, this light will touch your body and you will attain complete thoughtless condition. This is the start of the pratyaharam stage, and indicates the beginning of Sunyoga experience.

After being touched by this light, a vibration will start from the heart, allowing us to control three negativities; shame, hatred and fear. With regular practice this vibration will increase and you will be able to gain control over four more negativities; anger, greed, narrow attraction, ego & jealousy. As the vibration increases you will be able to control sexual desire and lust. At this point, the pratyaharam stage is complete.

The next step, as the inner vibration increases and extends from the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine to the sahasradhara chakra at the top of the head, the sadhak will experience sahaja samadhi during which he will be able to see a bright light, inside of which there will be a beautiful structure. This is the atmadarsanam stage, the 'who am I' stage, the sadaguru stage, the mukha stage. At that time the sadhak will feel, 'I know him but i have never seen' because it has always been within... our sagunabramha structure. This marks the completion of the dhyana stage.

As the inner vibration develops, we'll discover that there are two more chakras, one above the head called the ultra chakra and one below the head called the ultra balance chakra. At this point, we will be able to hear a sound, which some people call AUM, others have called AMEN, while others have called it ALAM. This is the dharana stage. At this point we can receive divine messages from the universe.

The final stage is nirvikalpa samadhi, at which point a further two chakras are discovered, one above the ultra chakra called the cosmos chakra, and one below the ultra balance chakra called the cosmos balance chakra. Our mental force will be more than gravitational force, our soul will leave the body and unite with the supreme soul.

The Thirteen Stages of Sunyoga:

1. Conquer all material desires (sexuality, anger, greed, narrow-mindedness, ego & jealousy, shame, hatred and fear)
2. Develop Divine Energy
3. Atma Darsanam - Discovery of Atma (or soul)
4. Samadhi - Enlightenment
5. Conquer hunger
6. Conquer thirst
7. Conquer diseases
8. Paramahansa - Adjusting the mind to all situations
9. Having no enemies - all enemies will be friends (including animals)
10. Longetivity (this happens when the body's vibration becomes the same as the environment's)
11. The body's vibration and earth's vibration will be equal
12. The body's vibration and sun's vibration will be equal
13. The body's vibration and the vibration of the Universe (Supreme Soul) vibration will be equal.