[Advaita-l] Meditation: eyes open or eyes closes or either

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,

The place of concentration (dhAraNa sthAna) should be nAsAgra ie., tip of the nose.  
As one proceeds ahead with this practice of meditation, a luminous light starts 
appearing there at the tip of the nose.  The colour appears in 5 different hues 
which represent pancha-bhUtAs.  The  5 different colours are exactly those 
that are depicted in 5 faces of gAyatri.  This is mentioned in the maNDal brAhmaNa vidya 
which is out of the scope to discuss here.

Now, as one practices the dhAraNa of jyOti at the tip of the nose, the 
sight of the practitioner takes 3 different aspects (tad darshaNE trisrO druSTayaH)
viz., "amA pratipatpUrNimA chEti". 

The order is given below (as per the rAja yOga vidya):

1) pUrNima = Full Moon
2) pratipad = 1st day of the fortnight 
3) amA = amAvAsya or New Moon

These three sights describe the 3 stages of the sAdhana of jyOtirvidya. 

The stages from pUrNima to amA is the practice adopted where the sight 
advances from macro to micro ie., sthUla to sUkshma.  

1) pUrNima = the dhyAna is done by gazing at the tip of the nose 
with eyes "full open" (sarvOnmeelanaM pUrNimA bhavati)

2) pratipad = the dhyAna is done by gazing at the tip of the nose with eyes "half closed" (ardhOnmeelitaM pratipad)

3) amA = the dhyAna is done by closing the eyes and the gaze should be 
fixed internally (nimilita darshaNaM amA druSTiH)

When the meditation reaches this stage of "amA" sthithi, the jyOti (luminous light) 
can seen inside one's heart which is visualized as 8-petalled lotus.  
Amidst the hrudaya-padma, the centre of the bulb, this divine light is seen 
which is called "mUrta-tAraka".   

The tAraka vidya is of two types viz., mUrta tAraka and a-mUrta tAraka.  
In the former one, the Soul or the Atma is felt and also can be seen in the
form of Divine Light.  With the help of this mUrta-tAraka vidya, the 
nArAyaNa is seen inside the heart as mentioned in nArAyaNa sUktam 
as "nIlatOyada madhyasthA ......bhAsvarA / nIvAra shUka vattanvI 
pItAbhAsvat .......tasyAH shikhAyAH madhyE paramAtma vyvasthitaH......).  

The later one ie., a-mUrta tAraka siddhi is achieved when the 
manas (mind) of the yOgi units, merges, dissolves in that 
mUrta-tAraka brahman which is of the form of jyOti inside us.  
When this a-mUrta siddhi is achieved, which is also called 
a-manaska siddhi, the yOgi become jIvanmukta.

This is the rahasya of tAraka rAja yOga vidya.

Regs,
Sriram