The Brahma Randhra

Satsang with Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati
(given at Mandala Yoga Ashram, Wales, July 1997)

Question: What is the Brahma Randhra?

Answer:

When the chattering individual mind stops, as it does in deep Meditation, one’s perception can be catapulted, so to say, through the fissure of the mind into Reality. Then one sees behind the scenes of what we unquestionably consider to be ‘real’ - our so-called ‘normal’, day to day, mundane life of ‘sticks and stones’.

In Yoga, this psychic fissure is called the ‘Brahma Randhra’ (Sanskrit, ‘brahma’, Consciousness; ‘randhra’, fissure) - the ‘Fissure into Pure Consciousness’.

In the Yogic texts, the Brahma Randhra is often identified with the fontanelle at the top of the skull, but this is just a simplification - merely a physiological way of indicating and symbolising something much deeper. The fontanelle is the part of our head, which, during daily activities (standing, walking, sitting etc.) is nearest the sky. With poetic licence, we may say that it ‘touches’ the sky in the same way that our feet touch the ground. Here, the sky symbolises the Shunya - the Sky of Consciousness. Therefore, in the same way that the fontanelle touches the sky, this psychic fissure, or Brahma Randhra, ‘touches’ Consciousness. If our perception can pass through this fissure then we can realise Pure Consciousness or the Underlying Reality.

In Yoga, this fissure is also called the ‘Brahma Dwara’ (Sanskrit, ‘dwara’, door) - the ‘Door to Pure Consciousness’. It is also widely called the ‘Tenth Door’ - the other nine doors being the nine orifices (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, anus and sexual organ) which lead to the outside world. When these nine doors are closed (i.e. when the sensory and nervous influxes and effluxes through them are stopped ) through Yogic practices (such as Mudra, Bandha and Meditation) then perception is obliged, so to say, to go through the tenth door, the Brahma Dwara or Door of Consciousness. Then we realise the super sensory and Transcendental Dimension of our Being.