The Loop Circuit

According to Bentov the standing waves in the ventricles are within the audio and superauditory ranges. They stimulate the cerebral cortex mechanically, eventually resulting in a stimulus travelling in a closed loop around each hemisphere. The lateral ventricle lies just under the corpus callosum, the part of the brain connecting the two cerebral hemispheres. The roof of the lateral ventricle acts as the taut skin on a drum which moves rapidly up and down and thereby produces mechanical waves in the ventricles which stimulate the sensory cortex lying just above the corpus callosum. We can understand the effect of this stimulation by looking at the diagram of the cross section of the brain (see figure 3). Waves would commence at number 1 and travel down to number 22 and back to number 1 again creating a loop circuit. As the current returns to the starting point it stimulates the pleasure centers in the various areas of the brain which surround the lateral ventricle, such as in the cingulate gyrus, lateral hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala areas, all part of the limbic system, and this may give rise to the bliss and ecstasy reported by meditators whose shakti awakens. The sensory current travels around the cortex at about 7 cycles per second.

Figure 3

Gross section of the brain revealing the sensory cortex and indicating the areas of the body as mapped along the post central gyms. This is called the sensory homunculus - the symbolic man lying within the brain. After: Pennfield and Rassmussen, The Human Cerebral Cortex, MacMillan, New York, 1950.

1. toes
2. ankles
3. knee
4. hip
5. trunk
6. shoulder
7. elbow
8. wrist
9. hand
10. little finger
11. ring finger
12. middle finger
13. index finger
14. thumb
15. neck
16. brow
17. eyelid and eyeball
18. face
19. lips
20. jaw
21. tongue
22. larynx

Bentov theorizes that stimulation of the corpus callosum will in turn stimulate the sensory cortex to produce the sensations of something moving in the body from the feet, up the spine, up over the head and then down the abdomen and pelvis. It is this experience which many people associate with the awakening of kundalini. The experience of movement in the spine and body has been reported in many cases of the awakening of shakti or energy within the nervous and nadi systems. From areas as far apart as India, China, Africa and America, the symptoms are often similar if not the same. Energy is felt to rise upward and these sensations must be handled in progressive sequence in the sensory cortex. We can also theorize that if we sit in padmasana (lotus pose) or siddhasana (adept pose) that we may short-circuit the sensations in the legs so that we subjectively experience the movement as commencing in or near mooladhara. In normal situations, motor and sensory impulses usually travel in straight lines, either into or out of the brain and via the thalamus. However, in meditation we introvert and cut ourselves off from outside stimulation (pratyahara). This also tends to develop a loop circuit.

We should note that sensory signals corne to the cortex through the thalamus, the area of the brain in front of the pineal gland that we can associate with the highest functioning of ajna chakra. And it is said that ajna chakra must be stimulated if kundalini is rising because of its direct connection to mooladhara. Bentov felt that the movement of waves through the cortex is responsible for the effects of the awakened kundalini and for internal experience. From our point of view this may not be the actual kundalini experience, which transcends all bodily sensations, but would correspond to the awakening of prana shakti which ultimately leads to the kundalini experience. The gradual development of the brain may take many years before the loop circuit and the various connections develop, and enough energy can be generated to actually stimulate all the circuits involved and required.

Psychic circuits

As a result of the circular currents in the brain, Bentov states that a pulsating magnetic field is produced in each hemisphere of the order of 10 minus 9 gauss. On the right side of the brain the field is from front to back, north to south, and on the left side south to north. This would correspond to ida and pingala at this level of body energy. Bentov feels that the interaction of these waves with the environment may be responsible for the psychic experiences which are often felt as a byproduct of systematic and deep yogic sadhana. He states, “This magnetic field - radiated by the head acting as an antenna

• interacts with the electric and magnetic fields already in the environment. We may consider the head as simultaneously a transmitting and receiving antenna, tuned to a particular one of the several resonant frequencies of the brain. Environmental fields may thus be fed back to the brain, thus modulating that resonant frequency. The brain will interpret this modulation as useful information."(4) It is interesting to note that the rhythmic magnetic pulsation of the brain which is set up in meditation at 7 cycles/second is almost the same as Earth’s magnetic pulsation whose doughnut-shaped field has a strength of 0.5 gauss. These extra low frequency (ELF) waves have a predominant frequency of about 7 1/2 cycles per second, and this is called the Schumann resonance. Another interesting point is that the brain wave frequency of 7 cycles/second is the region between alpha waves and theta waves. This is the borderline between waking and sleeping, where we are most relaxed, and if we can stay awake in meditation, sets the brain up for creativity and intuition. It is the time we are most psychically receptive. Professor Michael Persinger of the Laurentian University Psychophysiology Laboratory hypothesizes that ELF waves may serve as the carriers for information connected with psychic phenomena. (5) This fits in with Bentov’s theory that our brain’s magnetic pulse of 7 cycles/second resonates with the environment to either transmit or receive information.

The five oscillating systems

Up to this point Bentov tells us there are five oscillating systems tuned to each other:

1. the heart-aorta system producing an oscillation in the spine and skull of 7 cycles/second which accelerates
2. the skull and brain up and down, producing acoustical plane waves (KHz frequencies) which create
3. standing waves within the ventricles of the brain in the audio and above ranges which stimulate
4. a loop circuit in the sensory cortex at 7 cycles/second which result in
5. a magnetic field of opposite polarity, pulsating at 7 cycles/second, and interacting with the environmental fields, especially the ELF field resonating at about 7 1/2 cycles/second.

As we meditate over a prolonged period, we begin to progress and lock in more and more of these systems so that eventually all the systems of the brain begin to harmonize and resonate at around the same frequency. We can speculate that this ultimately unifies the whole brain and results in unlocking of our dormant potential, a quantum leap to a new field of experience that yogis tell us is powered by the explosive release of kundalini. Yogis state that if we can sit still for three hours, completely immobile and aware, we will awaken our internal energies and enter into samadhi. Bentov’s model explains this.

Another interesting point is that Bentov feels that these changes in the brain most probably start in the right hemisphere, because many meditative practices develop the non-verbal, feeling, intuitive, spatial, right brain, balancing out the almost constant dominance of the logical, reasoning, rational, linearly-thinking left brain in our day-to- day extrovert, tension-filled, energy-demanding existence. He came to this conclusion because many meditators he talked to felt their experiences started on the left side of their bodies which is governed by the right brain. (6) This agrees with the work of D’Aquili who posits that inner experience is governed by activity in the right brain (7)