Meditation: Avoiding Pitfalls

To say that there are no dangers in Meditation is simply to show a lack of experience. Not too many westerners have lived with Eastern teachers and experienced the strict discipline of a Zen Master or a true Yogic teacher.

My very first night in the Himalayan foothills, a sadhu who did not have a teacher went out of his mind and was taken to a clinic for the yogis near Laksmanjula. He had been practicing Kundalini Yoga without a teacher, and this is risky. It can blow out your nervous system.

A young professor in a California university, an art teacher, had had a disappointing experience in a love affair and decided to go to Kyoto, Japan to study in order to get permission to enter a temple there (as well as get command of the language). When I went to Kyoto and met with him, it was easy to see what was happening; experience can alert you to the signs. I asked him if he had been leaving his body while doing Zazen. He answered yes, and was finding it harder to return to his body at the end of the session. Strangely his Zen Master had not spotted it. Later he had a nervous breakdown and had to be sent home. When I last saw him in the United States he obviously had not recovered from the breakdown. To leave the body during meditation is certainly not advised.

In Tibet, a Mantra is given, one that will open a spot on the top of the head (called the “Aperture of Brahma” by the Indians) that will allow a dying aspirant to leave through that opening while fully conscious. The problem is that repeating the Mantra constantly and doing the necessary practice one may leave prematurely.

In some practices, if the Kundalini ascends through the Ida or Pingala channels rather than through the desired Sushumna, insanity can, in extreme cases, develop. Opening the Chakras must be carefully monitored.

The danger of obsession during meditation is well known. The Catholic church practices exorcism to cure this condition, which is very real. There are many people who fool around with psychic phenomenon and hold psychic fairs without realizing the dangers. Many of them are ardent meditators.

These are but a few of the dangerous possibilities, and it is necessary to experience or witness them to truly know. There is no substitute for having a well-trained teacher. In India, during the first period of his life, while practicing Bramacharya (celibacy), the student is tutored by a Guru who gives him a good spiritual background. This is extremely useful. Knowledge and wisdom are necessities for the spiritual aspirant (I don’t mean one who reads a few books and attends a couple of lectures).

To sum it up, it is best to have instruction, not from a self-anointed one, but from an experienced expert coming from a true tradition. Meditation is invaluable if one wants to make progress and reach the Turiya state of consciousness, and the presence of a real teacher can help impart the Shakti that makes Meditation easier and more effective.

Source: The NM T’ai Chi Chih News, Feb. ’98