The Essence of Sunyoga

I began reading The Essence of Sun Yoga by Sunyogi Umasankar. In the preface the author admits that the book contains only a few drops of the nectar of sun yoga, amounting to about 10%, that he intentionally left out 40%, and that 50% is inexpressible in words. However, those few drops of nectar are more than enough to satisfy a seeker. The author also acknowledges Sri Mahaavatar Babaji as his teacher of sun yoga when he spent two years in the Himalayas from 2007 to 2009. Babaji also taught sun yoga to Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov and HRM.

This brief blog post is probably less than 10% of the 10%, but it would probably take 10 blog posts to do a decent review of this book. I suggest that everyone get a copy. The author first describes three meditation practices that prepare a sunyogi for sungazing: photo meditation, eye-to-eye meditation, and meditation on the light. Before any of the meditations and before sungazing, you ask six questions without any expectation of receiving answers. They are: Who am I? What do I want? Why do I want to do it? What is the purpose of this life? What is the connection between what I am doing and what I want? What do I seek? Not having any expectations seems to be a key. For example, in the meditation on the light, don't expect it to get bigger.

In photo meditation, you gaze at a 10"x12" photo of your face, focusing on the eyes. This connects the sunyogi with the power of the Atma (soul), for the eyes are the windows of the soul. The author explains why a photo is better than gazing at your reflection in a mirror, something about eye movements breaking your concentration. At a certain point, you will begin to see a bright point of light, at which point, you can move on to meditation on the light. An alternative to the photo meditation is meditating on the eyes of a loved one such as a spouse, parent, or child. Again, when you see the light, you can stop this form of meditation. In meditating on the light, you focus on any point till you see the light. The light will become larger and brighter till it surrounds you and you see a divine form, which is Brahma or God inside you.

Then you are ready to sungaze. Sounds amazing, but that's what he wrote. In sungazing, he advises not to look directly at the sun at first but to angle (30-45 degrees) the eyes up to focus on the third eye chakra between the eyes and gaze at the sun through the third eye. Then gaze at a point 2 inches above the sun. When comfortable, lower the eyes to the level of the sun and gaze for 30 minutes. After sungazing, close your eyes tightly three or four times and relax slowly, Afterwards, with eyes still closed and focusing on your third eye, you will be able to see the bright light of God within you. You should also rub your palms together till they're hot and put them over your eyes till the warmth is gone, then massage your eyelids with your fingers clockwise. Finally, you lie down and do a progressive relaxation of your body from your toes to the top of your head.

I have seen a bright light before during meditation and suspected that it was God, but it has never expanded to the extent that I could see a form. Also, every time I sungaze, I see several bright lights in a constellation that looks exactly like the Pleiades. Also the brightest point of light is in the position of Alcyone, which is the brightest star of the Pleiades. What this means is not explained in the book, although he does have a chapter on stars, galaxies, and the black hole of the universe and their relationship to sun yoga. I suspect that what I am seeing is a star map in my third eye to guide my soul when, at the point of death, it leaves my body to return to heaven, which some claim to be Alcyone.

There is much more in this book: chapters on the chakras (more than the seven main ones), a chapter on the benefits of sun yoga (such as wisdom and longevity), higher states of sun yoga, linking with the universe, and world peace. But I will leave them for you to discover.