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300 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
Leadbeater claims that there are discrepancies as to the number of petals in the lotus, although he states that this is not important. For example, he indicates that in The Yoga Kundalini Uþanishad 16 petals are described instead of the usual 12. The Dhyanabindu Uþanishad says that the lotus of the heart has 8 petals, but according to Leadbeater, this work is probably referring to a secondary heart chakra.
There is one more important point Leadbeater makes about this
chakra:
In the center of the heart lotus a trikona or inverted triangle is figured. This is not a feature of all the centers, but only of the root, heart and brow chakras. There are in these three, special granthis or knots, through which kundalini has to break in the course of her journey. The first is sometimes called the knot of Brahma; the second that of Vishnu; the third that of Shiva. The idea, which this symbolism seems to imply is that the piercing of these chakras in some way involves a special change of state.12
The granthi or knot associated with the heart center represents a major challenge to contemporary psychology. It obstructs the evolution of consciousness to the next level, and to pass through it requires a whole new orientation to inner and outer reality. As a matter of fact, the nature of this obstruction—the ignorance and fears that hold us to duality—and the dynamics of its transcendence, leading to a marvelous leap in consciousness and our capacity for intuition, creativity and empathy, is the subject of this book.
In short, one must awaken to the reality that man is divine and that duality is a delusion—and turn from a basically self-centered selfish existence revolving around self-gratification of the senses, desires and ego, to an existence of selfless service and love without desire for rewards. And as described in Part I of this book, in order to see divinity or non-duality, one must have the courage to face mortal fear—to face physical death and the realization that our own ego is insignificant.
Although mainstream psychology is little aware of the dynamics of this kind of transcendence, there are contemporary writers and therapists who are. Let’s turn our attention to the field of trans- personal psychology13 and the work of Ken Wilber.