Why do we get addicted?
Why do addictions or harmful habits tend to occur so frequently?
The reason behind addictions and harmful habits of any kind is the lack of optimal functioning of the brain which leads to brain dormancy.
Such a state of dormancy is either the result of a deficiency in the neurochemicals in the brain or due to conditioning done by the family, society, and culture.
The conditioning is like a prison for the brain, where the brain can’t access its own resources.
A partially functioning brain has access to only a fraction of its resources.
Physiologically, the brain that is not functioning optimally lacks the proper balance of the neuro-chemicals, which then leads to low mood and lack of happiness in daily life.
To escape from these unhappy feelings, the person craves for external stimulation to reach a state of the happiness and excitement.
Power, wealth, sex, drugs, alcohol, food and a million more things are stimulants that keep a person in a state of excitement and pleasure.
Since all of these stimulants come from the outer rather than the inner environment, their effects are always transitory, lasting from a few minutes to a few days.
When the effect of such stimulation ends, a person is left in the misery of withdrawal, craving for fresh stimulation.
This soon becomes a cycle in which the person wants to attain the same kind of happiness and pleasure by ever more powerful stimulations, which leads to habit formation and eventually to addiction.
The person now is dependent on the external world for pleasure, and there is nothing within which can provide contentment and joy.
As a person gets more and more dependent on external sources for happiness, his or her own innate capacity to experience happiness withers and eventually becomes dysfunctional or non-functional.
Deficient functioning of the brain is almost the normal state in our world, and that is why addiction to wealth, food, objects, entertainment, excitement, drugs, and alcohol is commonplace.
Such addiction to external stimulation is leading the world towards an environmental catastrophe.
Each one of us wants now more and more stimulation through wealth, power etc.
To produce enough of that stimulation we need resources that come from the earth and our natural environment, and that drain on our natural resources is clearly unsustainable.
We are in “doing” mode all the time.
Doing is needed because it stimulates the brain and gives pleasure and excitement.
What we need is a state of non-doing where we are contented with ourselves and live on inner resources.
The human brain has a well-developed pleasure pathway or reward system deeply embedded in its core, rich in neurochemicals.
This system provides a sense of pleasure, contentment, and excitement.
The brain has the purest of wine that has ever been distilled in the evolutionary history of the universe, and it always waits for us to be tasted.
What happens when Kundalini and Chakras are awakened?
When the Kundalini energy and chakras are awakened, there is a free flow of energy connecting the chakras.
In a person, each chakra is connected to a part of the brain, just as an electrical switch is connected to a light fixture.
The switched- chakra corresponds to a part of the brain, which is then lighted.
In essence, the opening of the chakras means the opening of the brain.
Such a brain releases its own pleasure chemicals, an elixir of inner joy.
In Tantra, it’s called Amrit or Nector.
Many of the Mudras including Kechri Mudra are to stimulate the release of Amrit.
When Amrit is released, the person first time experiences happiness and pleasure which emerges from within.
Dependence on pleasure from outside diminishes or disappears.
This state of optimal functioning results in the emergence of natural austerity.
When a person is naturally austere, then he or she eats, sleeps, works, exercises, and is involved in sexual activity only as much as is needed for the health of the brain and the body.
This is not a forced austerity – rather, the body and mind function to their optimal efficiency naturally.
Although this lifestyle may seem like a frugal or austere way of living, it is actually a natural way of rich living.
The person’s senses are sharp and the brain is exquisitely sensitive and needs very little outer stimulation for pleasure.
A person lives with effortless passion.
Slowly the addictions to food, wealth, sex, power, drugs, and work disappear.
The cycle of habits is broken and the person transcends patterns.
When the brain becomes free from habits and addictions, it’s more receptive to the higher reaches of consciousness and experiences bliss.
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