48

Solar plane

(Yamuna)

In the sixth chakra the player establishes a harmony between the male, solar principle and the female, lunar principle. This harmonious blending of the elements creates a witness-self, which is neither male nor female but a complete balance of both.

The solar plane is the plane of male energy. As long as a player is either masculine or feminine he cannot accept the opposite nature in himself, just as a player in a team on the playing field is unable to judge his own actions because his personal attachment to the game denies the possibility of right perception. But the one acting as the referee is beyond personal involvement. He is not committed to any team. He is the witness-self who is able to see the fouls committed by the player.

When the player vibrating in the lower chakras is tinted by the solar plane, his primary concern becomes destruction, power, identification of self — just as too much sunlight would burn the planet. To balance the sun, moon is needed. The player who lands here after passing through wisdom and right knowledge realizes this and learns to balance his own play of energies.

Below the sixth chakra solar and lunar energies entwine each other; but in the sixth chakra they meet and become one. This sense of oneness characterizes the plane of austerity.

To better understand the nature of solar and lunar energies and their function in the human organism, we have but to look at the example of the storage battery. Like a power cell, human beings have an anode and a cathode, positive and negative nodes. When both are placed in a solution capable of conducting a current, electricity is generated. The anode is positive and generally made of copper — which is red, a sun metal and aligned with the fire-sign Mars. For the cathode, zinc is used — a moon metal, bluish-white. The electrical charges gather around the anode, and through the anode we draw electricity. This electricity symbolizes the electrical (male) principle in the human organism.

In the human body the pinguid nerve is synonymous with Yamuna, the solar plane. The solar energy is directly connected with the right nostril. When the right nostril is used, pingala dominates and there is a slight change in body chemistry, breath, and pulse. Pingala is the energy source for all creative actions and makes meditation impossible while the right nostril operates. In pranayama yoga techniques, the sun breath is often required. This simply means the aspirant should breathe through his right nostril.

Yamuna is one of the three holy rivers that meet at Prayag-Raj (now Allahabad) in the Uttar Pradesh province of northern India. Krishna was born near the banks of the Yamuna.