Shambhavi Kriya
Introduction
Shambhavi Kriya is a powerful technique that brings you the
Self-realization. It awakens Ajna chakra quickly. Shambhavi means
"pertaining to Shiva". Lord Shiva himself remains absorbed in this kriya.
The greatness of this kriya cannot be explained in words.
Technique
- Sit in any meditative posture with your spine and head erect
- Close your eyes and relax the whole body
- Now focus your awareness and inner vision at the region
between eyebrows i.e. the region of Ajna chakra
- Visualize a bright Om there
- See the Om sparkling bright light
- Mentally start chanting Om
- Try to make the Om visualization as vivid as possible
- Maintain Om chanting along with visualization for as much
time as you can
- When visualization starts fading away stop chanting and
slowly come out of the kriya
Beginners should do this practice for 15 minutes gradually
increasing the duration.
Instead of closing the eyes altogether you may adopt the following
variations:
- Let the eyes be half closed. You will see downwards instead of in
the front.
- Let the eyes be half closed and try to see the tip of the nose. This
is difficult and may put undue strain on your eyes.
As an alternative to the Om chanting and visualization you can
adopt the following variations:
- Visualize bright light or a bunch of light particles at the
region of Ajna
- Visualize brilliant white lotus radiating divine rays at the
region of Ajna
- Visualize image of your idol (deity) at the region of Ajna
Signs of correct practice
- Deep meditative state results
- Feeling of bliss and joy after the practice
- You become eager to do this kriya. Whole day you may think about
doing this kriya.
- Light is seen at Ajna
- A tingling sensation can be felt at Ajna
- You may receive divine guidance
Signs of erroneous practice
- Pain in the eyes
- Wandering mind even after prolonged practice
- No deep meditation results
- Feeling of boredom
- Feeling sleepy
- Visualization of Om fades away too quickly
Scriptural references
The above technique is mentioned directly or indirectly in the
following Yogic texts:
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika
- Gheranda Samhita
- Shiva Samhita
Bipin Joshi is an independent software consultant and trainer by profession specializing in Microsoft web development technologies. Having embraced the Yoga way of life he is also a yoga mentor, meditation teacher, and spiritual guide to his students. He is a prolific author and writes regularly about software development and yoga on his websites. He is programming, meditating, writing, and teaching for over 27 years. To read more about him go here. More details about his Kriya and Meditation online course are available here.