The word "chakra" is a sanskrit term meaning "wheel" or centre on the spine governing a group of functions. Some modern writers have equated these chakras with specific nerve ganglia in the body, however, the Yogis who first became aware of them saw them as psycho-spiritual centres responsible not only for physical activities but also open to higher or Divine level of consciousness.

The outward or physical level of their manifestation is responsible for such activities as exeretion and elimination, sexual activities, digestive processes, normal heart rhythm, breathing etc., speech and conscious thought.

There is great deal of mystery surrounding the sacred Mantra OM. Many have tried to unlock its secrets yet always there will remain more to be discovered. The earliest references we have to the Mantra OM are in that part of the vedic writings called the upanishads, the oldest of which were composed between 800-400 BC. The most concise explanation is found in the short Mandukya Upanishad which commences with the words.

The Four Brahma Viharas or sublime moods are also subjects mentioned in the writings of the pali Canon and have come to occupy an important position in the field of Buddhism. They are not strictly meditations as they belong to the field of the higher emotions rather than the mind.

The following quotation from the mahasudassana sutta summarizes the nature and purpose of the exercise.

Not everyone understands or grasps what is meant by the self or what it is to be Self realized, as the self is beyond limitation except when it falls into identification, and then it comes under the law of whatever it identifies with. Our parents and educators, no doubt from what they considered to be in our best interests, tried to make us fit a mould or pattern, either to became good citizen or upright members of society.

The unhappy, failure-type personality cannot develop a new self-image by pure will power, or by arbitrarily deciding to. There must be some grounds, some justification, some reason for deciding that the old picture of self is in error, and that a new picture is appropriate. You cannot merely imagine a new self-image; unless you feel that it is based upon truth. Experience has shown that when a person does change his self-image, he has the feeling that for one reason or another, he "sees," or realizes the truth about himself.

The more that is learned about the human brain, the more closely it resembles insofar as function is concerned a servo-mechanism. For example, Dr. Wilder Penfield, director of the Montreal Neurological Institute, had discovered a recording mechanism in a small area of the brain, which apparently records everything that a person has ever experienced, observed or learned. During a brain operation in which the patient was fully awake, Dr. Penfield happened to touch a small area of the cortex with a surgical instrument. At once the patient exclaimed that she was "reliving" an incident from her childhood, which she had consciously forgotten. Further experiments along this line brought the same results.