Sadhguru on Kechari Mudra and Pineal gland ecstasy

After doing the mandala kriyas [physiognomic cycle, an area within the body or the cosmos]

feel something within me is stirred up and turning me upside down...

Sadhguru: These kriyas act upon the pineal gland in such a way that your present level of experience dissolves, and you move into a completely different dimension. You move into states of absolute ecstasy and certain sweetness, even in your physical body. The Kechari Mudra, which is crucial for a successful mandala kriya, is not really complete with you. There are certain schools of yoga; they take a thin slice of bamboo reed and use it to liberate the tongue from its bondage with the lower palate so that the tongue becomes available to form a perfect kechari. This will leave a person always soaked in ecstasy. One can enjoy ecstatic states of Samadhi for a whole lifetime. See, Samadhi states are available to people only in certain periods. Here, one lives like this all the time. It's an ecstatic way of living, which is very close to liberation.

When you practice these kriyas, suddenly the prana finds a forceful upward movement, demolishing all the limitations within you. Some Native American tribes have their own system of spirituality, which you can say is a small aspect of the tantric [Referring to practice of tantra the science using mantra the sound and yantra the form. Also refers to esoteric Indian Spiritual Tradition] culture in India. In India, we have developed the whole system as a science. There, they have just discovered this one aspect of it and used it very effectively, though in a very limited way.

 

Can I tell you a joke? A man who was traveling through the prairies of the USA stopped at a small town and went into an inn. He ordered his food, stood outside, and lit his cigar. He stood there quietly, blowing smoke rings. After he blew nine or ten smoke rings into the air, an angry Native American stomped up to him and said, "One more remark like that and I'll smash your face!"

Among the Native Americans, there are many masters who are well accomplished in matters of the occult. When I was in Vancouver, I happened to meet this man and his daughter who were traveling in a fully loaded pick-up truck. They were simply ranging the country. There are no more horses, so they were using a pick-up truck. So this man was wearing blue jeans and a shirt, but he was still like that. He was an old man, maybe about seventy years of age, his daughter about thirty, and they were traveling together. We just happened to stop in a place for gas or something. This man just walked towards me, came, and just knocked on the window. Then he said, "The winds have been telling about your coming, brother," nodded and went away (laughs). They always speak in these terms, for them, it's always the winds. He said that, nodded and walked away. They're very sensitive people, who had a different sense of life together. In a way, the occult dimensions of yoga were very alive in these traditions. Maybe they do not really have a science like we have. It's a much-segregated science; it is just one aspect of the whole science. Changing bodies and things like this are quite common in their culture. There are many instances where people have exchanged their bodies and lived on, and again changed back whenever they needed to. This is mostly done with the use of certain herbs which are kept as great secrets; some of them can be highly intoxicating. Much research has been done on this.

Now the path of using any intoxicant and trying to grow---if the proper guidance and atmosphere are---can be a very quick process. One can grow extremely fast because there is a chemical support to it. Right now, we're changing the chemistry of the system with yogic practices. Using an herb is not the same as using the raw chemical, which could be very damaging to the system. An herb also functions only as per its chemistry. The Native Americans do certain practices to support it, and also use certain herbs in a particular way which helps them to loosen the rigidity in a person's limitations. It's not just about consuming something and being intoxicated. That's not the point. People who are really on the path can be totally intoxicated, but still fully aware.

The very nature of intoxicants is to make you unaware. They are using something that makes them unaware and still have to remain aware, which is a hard path, but can be a quick path if it is done in a proper presence. A tremendous experience of Samadhi can be had, but people can also go on bad trips. If somebody who is always in fear takes these kinds of chemicals, he will have an extreme fear trip hallucination. On the other hand, one who is well established in his awareness to a point that he can carry it into his sleep, for such a Sadhaka, these substances could be beneficial if used under proper  guidance, but subject to various limitations. The path of yoga offers enough opportunities for us to get high without using any external aids like that. If you're willing, I'm the greatest intoxicant. I can activate such deep states of intoxicating awareness. It is all within you. So don't you try to stop yourself? Just allow it to happen. Get intoxicated. Let everything turn upside down. This will neither bring you addiction, nor will you have a hangover.

 Excerpt form Mystic Musings - Realm of Mystic 301