The

Kechari Mudra and Prem Rawat's Meditation Techniques << >>

The Kechari Mudra and Prem

Rawat's Meditation Techniques
The

K(h)echari Mudra is a yoga position in

which the tongue is placed back and up
the nasal cavity. It is believed to have many positive effects but ordinarily cannot
be achieved without cutting the frenulum linguae, or lower tendon of the tongue, so
that the tongue can actually extend back and up into the root of the nasal cavity.
This is not something to be done lightly and was never recommended in Divine
Light Mission as it was claimed that with continual practice it could be achieved
and the Divine Nectar could then be drunk. I have never heard of any follower of
Prem Rawat's achieving this and he made it redundant in 1987 when he defined the
4th technique, no longer to be called the Divine Nectar, to be the nabho mudra as it
only requires turning the underside of the tongue up; press it against the hard
palate; extend the tip of the tongue back towards the soft palate. Michio Kushi
taught a similar technique in The Book of Do-In.

These positions are considered by some to be amongst the deepest esoteric,

spiritual knowledge known to man and by others to be complete nonsense. It is
unlikely that Rawat ever learnt (and certainly never practised) any of the yoga on
which the meditation techniques his father taught were based. He has disparaged
other theories as riff-raff, admits he cannot understand kundalini or chakras and
says the basic meditation techniques he teaches are Raj Yoga, "the King of all
Yogas", The Yoga of all the yogas. The Knowledge of all the knowledges.
In his book "Waking Up… A Guide To Spirituality Without Religion" Sam Harris,
the avowed and articulate atheist author, discusses Arthur Koestler's Journey to the
East:

It is easy enough to find fault with romantic ideas about Eastern wisdom, and a
tradition of such criticism sprang up almost the instant the first Western seeker
sat cross-legged and attempted to meditate. In the late 1950s, the author and
journalist Arthur Koestler traveled to India and Japan in search of wisdom and
summarized his pilgrimage thus: "I started my journey in sackcloth and ashes,
and came back rather proud of being a European."7

In The Lotus and the Robot, Koestler gives some of his reasons for being less
than awed by his journey to the East. Consider, for example, the ancient
discipline of hatha yoga. While now generally viewed as a system of physical
exercises designed to increase a person's strength and flexibility, in its traditional
context hatha yoga is part of a larger effort to manipulate "subtle" features of the
body unknown to anatomists. No doubt much of this subtlety corresponds to
experiences that yogis actually have – but many of the beliefs formed on the
basis of these experiences are patently absurd, and certain of the associated
practices are both silly and injurious.

Koestler reports that the aspiring yogi is traditionally encouraged to lengthen his
tongue–even going so far as to cut the frenulum (the membrane that anchors the
tongue to the floor of the mouth) and stretch the soft palate. What is the purpose
of these modifications? They enable our hero to insert his tongue into his
nasopharynx, thereby blocking the flow of air through the nostrils. His anatomy
thus improved, a yogi can then imbibe subtle liquors believed to emanate
directly from his brain. These substances–imagined, by recourse to further
subtleties, to be connected to the retention of semen–are said to confer not only
spiritual wisdom but immortality. This technique of drinking mucus is known as
khechari mudra, and it is thought to be one of the crowning achievements of
yoga.

I'm more than happy to score a point for Koestler here. Needless to say, no
defense of such practices will be found in this book.
Khecari Mudra technique:

When the tongue enters the posterior nares, and the gaze is fixed between the
eyebrows, it is khecari. This is achieved by systematically cutting the frenum
linguae, lengthening the tongue, till one is able to touch the forehead with its tip.
All the hatha yoga texts sing the glory of this mudra, and unanimously declare that
when the tongue points upwards the yogi drinks nectar, he is freed from old age
and death, and he easily enters into samadhi. It is said that khecari should be
practiced till yoga-nidra is experienced - which is when the mind is absorbed in the
center between the eyebrows.

Some yogis believe that this is similar to what the hibernating animals do.

The Yoga Vasistha suggests that for this purpose it is sufficient if the tip of the
tongue touches the uvula. The late Paramahamsa Satchidananda Yogeshvara was
also of that opinion; he declared that when the tip of the tongue is thus turned up
and back, mental agitation ceases.

The Gheranda Samhita describes a similar practice known as nabho-mudra:

"Wherever he is and in whatever work the yogi is engaged, he should turn the
tongue up and hold the breath."

Khecari means 'moving in space'. The khecari mudra is reputed to confer upon the
practitioner the power to roam at will in space. In some tantrik texts, khecari means
'air which moves in space', and kumbhaka or holding the breath is referred to as
khecaribandhanam. Khecari mudra in this sense may refer to kumbhaka.
A. Koestler. 1960. The Lotus and the Robot. New York: Harper & Row, p. 285.
Koestler was also less than impressed with the spiritual efficacy of psychedelics.
See A. Koestler. 1968. "Return Trip to Nirvana." In Drinkers of Infinity: Essays
1955–1967. London: Hutchinson, pp. 201–12.

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