(Just posted this in Sahaja Yoga Friends and Family - but thought it fits quite well here too in Sahaja Yoga Arts..)
Dear Sahaja Yogi Brothers and Sisters.,
In the Eighties Shri Mataji gave quite a few of us the idea of writing a thesis, as part of our university courses, on subjects that would be particularly relevant to the universal truth of Sahaja Yoga... The same happened to me, during a visit to Shri Mataji's house at Brompton Square in 1982. Mother gave the idea to write an art history thesis on the Vibrations that are depicted around the heads of saints, and 'even come out of Christ's ears'.
Finally, I would like to start publishing some of the findings, the main one of which is that the Ancient Eastern pure knowledge, the 'Nirmala Vidya', about the fact that the Blessings of God are bestowed upon us at the top of the Sahastrara, was common knowledge in our Western Christian traditions.
There is written evidence (I will give more details later) that scholars in the middle ages here in Europe knew that the the Highest reward of man by God, which is called Beatitudo (Bliss), it is the 'conjunctio animae at Deum' (the connection of the Soul with God [or ...Yoga!]), and they described that this Bliss is metaphorically represented by a golden crown, located at the top of the head, or Brahmarandra. That crown, that represents this Ultimate Reward, is called the 'Corona Aureola'. How amazing is that. Yoga and the experience of Bliss at Sahastrara were common knowledge here in the West! Nothing exotic about it. It is part of our ancient Culture. The sad side of the story is that in the 18th C. AD the Church eliminated this Divine knowledge out of its liturgical texts.. for some unknown reason.. This could be subject of an intriguing investigation. Did the leaders of the Church want to avoid that people became aware that the Ultimate goal of Spirituality is Union of the Self (in the individual) with God (in a direct relationship) - which would eliminate the need to have a priest or church as intermediate between God and the people? Yoga as threat to the raison d'etre of the institutionalised priesthood..?
The beauty about the 'Corona Aureola' theory is that the whole of Western art, from the early Middle Ages until the 18th century, is full of evidence that this knowledge was well established and permeated throughout our culture - in many different forms of religious or artistic expression: liturgical texts, theological treatises, hymns, poetry, miniatures or illuminations of manuscripts, panel paintings, retables, sculptures, etc..
An example of such expressions that carry the knowledge that yoga takes place at the top of the head is the attached picture of an alabaster 15th century statue depicting the 'Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin Mary' (I found this online and the description is: 'The Virgin, serenely smiling, sits with Her hand palms [raised towards the viewer], in a gesture of prayer' [read: blessing Her devotees] as She is crowned with a triple crown by 'the Trinity'. To the left, the Son touches the crown with his right hand and with his other arm holds the cross-staff: he is crowned with what appears to be a triple torse or crown of thorns. To the right, a crowned God the Father touches the Virgin's crown with his right hand while his left rests on an orb. Top centre, the dove of the Holy Spirit holds the finial of the triple crown in its beak. Below the bare-footed figure of Father and Son are angels playing musical instruments.' -http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/medieval/zo…)
The religious text of the time, for instance the writings of Bede, Thomas Aquinas and Durandus, spoke of the triple 'corona aureola' as a reward that was only reserved for the highest saints, who enjoy a very special 'beatitude' (bliss) - because they went above and beyond normal saintliness.. in THREE different ways: through Virginity, Martyrdom (those who died for their Faith) and Doctorship (the knowledgeable ones who converted others to Faith and guided them on the path righteousness (Dharma). In the ancient texts where this is described we see that Mary and Christ were the only personalities that were recognised as having these TRHEE qualities all at once. They won three main battles on this Earth, the battles against the three enemies of the Soul.. : (1) what was called the 'Flesh' (lust), (2) The World (worldly power) and (3) the Devil (impure knowledge). Mary and Christ overcame these three main enemies, temptations - whereas other special saints usually overcame only one of them: as Virgins they remained untouched by lust, as Martyrs they remained unmoved by 'the world' (worldly power) and as Doctores, through their pure knowledge they remained unwavered by temptations by the devil and convinced others to follow them in the path of Dharma. The Virgin Mary and Christ were recognised as having these three qualities all at once - and were therefore represented with three crowns.
I would like to make a side note about the Tiara - a head dress that is built with three layers of crowns. It's form is derived from this theory, and that God Almighty would wear a Tiara is understandable. It is of course questionable that any human (.. I refer to our popes..) would have dared to wear the Tiara - as the combination of three Aureola crowns was reserved for only the Highest Divine personalities...
In the 15th Century alabaster statue (see picture), Mary is being crowned by the Father and the Son, but not with a regal crown.. (yes one of the names of the Virgin Mary is 'the Queen of Heaven', and yes, therefore Her Crown is often regal..), but in this case we see a Triple crown... It is a metaphor of the Triple Bliss which Mary enjoys - because of Her Supreme State, of being at once a Virgin, a Martyr and a Doctor: (1) She is obviously the Virgin Mary, (2) She suffered more than anyone as she personally saw her Son, the Son of God, dying on the cross at the hands of humanity (just imagine seeing your own child being killed on a cross in the same way - it is unbearably painful and worse than the own pain of a martyr; this thought is even worse when you realise that this humanity is her own Creation, Her children…), and (3) She was known at the First Teacher of the Church as no one else would have known the early stories of the Flight to Egypt, Birth of Christ in the manger, the very fact that Christ was divine, the Adorations of the Magi, the Youth of Christ and his early expressions of Divinity in the Temple.
Finally, an amazing revelation in this alabaster statue is the fact that it was known that the Holy Spirit, known in our dear Sahaja Yoga as the Paramchaitanya, plays a very active role in bestowing these supreme blessing at the top of Sahastrara: the Dove, which symbolises the Holy Spirit is in fact holding in its beak the third Corona Aureola, the small crown at the very top, and is placing it on top of the two other crowns held by God the Father and Her Son.
Jai Shri Mataji,
Merry Christmas everyone