Agnya Chakra

The Agnya Chakra is situated in the center of the brain area, and represents the sixth stage of man’s evolution. We can identify its position as the middle of the forehead. It is the gateway to the Sahasrara Chakra, and so will not allow the Kundalini to rise above if there are any impurities in the mind. When the Kundalini passes through this Chakra, our thought waves elongate so that the space between the two thoughts grows wider. This space is silence, and as the petals of the Chakra open up, silence blossoms in the center and spreads outwards, pushing our thoughts to the periphery of our awareness. This is where the state of "thoughtless awareness" happens. In this state we actually feel the beautiful silence, the stillness, which is at the heart of creation.
The primary quality of the Agnya Chakra is forgiveness. At this point in our evolution man had developed a sophisticated society, but with this sophistication came the problem of ego - the idea that he was doing it all. This problem of I-ness was accelerated by the continuing success of these material gains - flourishing civilizations, world trade routes and other such trappings. The natural result of this could only be an inflated Ego, and this arrogance was further fuelled by the conditionings of upbringing and environment (e.g. from parents and friends), the perils of the Superego.
The human mind is divided into an Ego and Superego. These are located at the uppermost endpoints of the channels of Ida Nadi (the Moon Line or Left Channel) and Pingala Nadi (the Sun Line or Right Channel). These two channels cross over at the Agnya Chakra. Everything which relates to the past (such as memories, conditionings, and emotions) accumulates as a residue in the Superego on the right - having crossed over from the Left Channel. Everything which relates to the future (such as thinking, planning, action, etc.) likewise accumulates as a residue, but in the Ego on the left side of the brain. We can liken these residues to hot exhaust gasses which come from too much activity in the particular channel.

So, for instance, as we overexert ourselves in planning for the future (next years holidays, next years birthdays, etc.) we generate an excess of energy in the Right Channel. This is actually a process of exhausting the channel as it takes away the natural balance of the channels by emphasizing one at the expense of the other. This excess energy rises like a smog obstructing our Spiritual growth. Before our Realisation each of us are in varying states of imbalance in our channels, and the result is a varied smog consisting of Ego and Superego exhaust, which drift together to obstruct our Spiritual ascent up through the Central (Sushumna) Channel. The Kundalini simply cannot penetrate the combined smog to complete our Yoga at the Sahasrara Chakra.
It is because of this state of affairs that the fontanel area (the soft area on our skull that we are born with) calcifies and hardens at a fairly early age, and we begin to develop our separate identities and our concept of I. As the Heart then starts to become enveloped by the Ego, we lose sight of the Spirit and identify only with the one we call I. It is not that we should want to destroy our Ego, it has a very useful place in our being. Without it we would not be able to act at all. But we need to bring it into balance with the Superego in order to create a space through which the Kundalini can ascend to pass into the Sahasrara. And controlling Ego is a hard task to master.

Forgiveness (and forbearnance) and humour are perhaps the most effective methods. The Ego is a creature of action. It thrives on doing - on punishing for a wrong, on effecting a change, on obtaining a desire. By practising forbearance, we slow down the fuel of the Ego, we force the Ego to wait. By so doing our Spirit then has the time to shine through in our action, and the true course becomes manifest.

Humour also provides a strong dose of medicine for an Ego in full flight. It is easy to deflate the balloon of Ego and pull it back into proportion by pricking it with a pin of humour. By watching the Ego as a witness, we can begin to see its subtle tricks and manipulations, and then we see the joke of it all. We can never fight the Ego, that is a contradiction of terms (fighting requires action, the action is Ego, Ego fights Ego...?) We can only bring it down with our laughter, and then our Heart will break through its stranghold.

The Ego and the Superego border the outlying regions of the subtle universe. The Superego is in the Individual Subconscious realm, where all of our past knowledge and experience is stored. Beyond this is the Collective Subconscious, which is the area where spiritualists and mediums ply their trade of the past. The Ego is in the Individual Supraconscious, the realm of the future. It is in the Collective Supraconscious that clairvoyants, visionaries and seekers of power conduct their business of the future. Exploration of any of these realms is extremely dangerous. Shri Mataji says they are essentially the same: "It makes no difference if it is the black fumes of the coal (subconsciuos), or the yellow fumes of the Benzol (supraconscious). Both are equally suffocating."
Amongst other things, the Agnya Chakra governs our sight. We should therefore respect our eyes as a gift with which the beauty of the Divine creation is revealed to us. We should not waste or abuse that gift. To stop the eyes from wandering, or from suffering from attention on gross things, we should look at the natural things like sky and grass.