Verses 3.26 through 3.31
The yogi of one-pointed mental faculty who is seated in the great-lock energy seal, should practice the filling [type of] suspension of the life energy, should confine the flow of the vital air by means of the throat energy seal, and, placing both palms on the ground at an equal distance, should slowly beat the buttocks. Thus the vital air, rising above both energy channels, flows in the central energy channel. The conjunction of the moon energy channel, the sun energy channel and the fire energy channel gives the nectar of immortality, and the death of the moon and sun energy channels is brought about; after that, the yogi should purge out the vital air. Highest aspirants unceasingly perform the continued practice of this great-penetration energy seal, which, through its unbroken continued practice, bestows the great accomplishment and destroys wrinkles, gray hair, and trembling. Very secret, these three energy seals – the great energy seal, the great-lock energy seal and the great-penetration energy seal – dispellers of old age and death, igniters of the fire of yoga, bestowers of
becoming like the smallest particle and the other accomplishments, increasers of the accumulation of virtue, and permanent destroyers of the heap of accumulated sin, are practiced daily, eight times every three hours. For the learned, this is a minor beginning systematic practice.
In the great penetration and the great lock, the same posture, the same suspension of the life energy, and the same water-holder lock are present, but there is a difference between the two: it is that in the great lock there is no beating of the buttocks, and in the great penetration, there is beating of the buttocks. From one viewpoint, the great lock is the antecedent stage of the great penetration, and the great penetration is the subsequent stage of the great lock. When the continued practice of the great lock reaches its climax, the great penetration arrives
naturally. Its name is significant. It is through it that the great penetration occurs. That is, the door of the center-of-the-eyebrows is opened (unveiled, disclosed). This is the door to
liberation. The path of death is left down below it. It [the great penetration] may also be called the penetration of the command energy center. This is the field of royal yoga. From there, the stabilization of the mental faculty begins.
Placing both palms at an equal distance apart in the great penetration causes the body to bend forward, so the anus is slightly raised. At this point, the head and the gaze are turned up toward the space. In the great lock and the great penetration, filling is practiced with both nostrils simultaneously. When the aspirant assumes the position of the great lock, the beating of the buttocks occurs.
In The Shiva Samhita, Beloved Lord Kind Dissolver says, 'O mistress of the three worlds, the yogi seated in the position of the great lock, having united the downtending life energy and the uptending life energy, filling the abdomen with vital air, should beat both sides of the body.' Through this, the penetration of the creative plexus begins, and the mouth of the very kind flow energy channel is opened. First the root-lock energy seal is accomplished, then the great-
penetration energy seal appears. As a result of the accomplishment of the root-lock energy seal, the abdomen becomes completely filled with the upgoing downtending life energy. Along with this, at this time, there is also the continued practice of the swelling hold; in it, [the vital air resulting from] filling is held in the abdomen. In this condition, through the beating of both sides by the hands, the vital air begins flowing toward the brain.
Great-Seer Sage Gheranda says, 'After performing the highest continued practice of the great lock, during the time of filling, the hold should be practiced along with the flying-up lock; this is the great-penetration energy seal.' His suggestion was not to beat the buttocks or the sides of the abdomen. His suggestion was to perform the flying-up lock. The great-lock energy seal is a sign of the accomplishment of the root-lock energy seal, and the flying-up lock is a sign of the rising of the vital air.
Although the remarks of these three teachers contain many differences, their meaning is the same. When there is the moving-in-space energy seal along with the triple lock, this great- penetration energy seal is accomplished.
The entrance of the life energy vital air into the very kind flow energy channel is called 'the great penetration'. At this time, the creative plexus is penetrated, because the upheld sexual seed becomes stable, and the sustaining plexus and the dissolving plexus are also penetrated, because the life energy vital air comes into the brain and the mental faculty begins to be stable. The space in the tenth door, where the tongue stands erect, is called the sky energy center [the sella turcica of the sphenoid bone, which houses the pituitary gland]. It is part of the command energy center. It is also called the upside-down well, the well of nectar, or the hidden cave of the center of the eyebrows. This is the eighth and hidden energy center. Above the command energy center, in the center of the forehead, is a hidden energy center named 'soma' (the moon) [the pre-optic nucleus of the hypothalamus, the pineal gland, the choroid plexus of the third ventricle, and the intralaminar complex of the thalamus]. It is also called the without-old-age- and-death energy center and the freedom-from-engagement energy center. When the mouth of the very kind flow energy channel is open, the aspirant gets a splendid opportunity of drinking the nectar of immortality. Through it he becomes ageless and deathless. Through this nectar of immortality, the yogi gets the divine body. On the one hand the old body is being destroyed, and on the other hand the new fire-of-yoga body is forming. The destruction of wrinkles, gray hair, trembling, etcetera, is the first transformation of the body. Thus the yogi, stepping above death, acquires the divine body. This is immediate freedom and freedom while still alive. Only that pupil who follows the guidance given by the teacher is learned, and only he can practice these three energy seals in the correct form.
However, the continued practice of these [three energy seals] only occurs in a limited measure, because to take the life energy up to the brain, and to make it stay there, is not some easy task. Only when there is no remaining virtue and no remaining sin does the yogi get the attainment of freedom while still alive.