Uttam gati / Good tendencies

Uttam is good; gati is movement. Good tendencies flow spontaneously when the player moves in harmony with the laws of the macrocosm. When the player vibrates in the lower chakras, good tendencies do not develop. They are found here in the heart chakra, the fourth row of the game. Only when the player reaches a degree of balance within himself can good tendencies arise spontaneously. This balance enables the player to tune his own vibratory rate with that of the cosmos. Good tendencies are movements in the direction of increasingly finer tuning.

In the fourth chakra, heart and breath play a significant role. By landing in good tendencies the player attains control over his own breath pattern and simultaneously his heart rate. Good tendencies therefore help in stabilizing the development of the fourth chakra, and breath is directly related to good tendencies.

Any change in direction (or tendency) is registered by the prana, the life-force, psychic energy, or Élan vital. On a gross level this change is experienced as a change in respiration. Each wrong breath pattern is an injury to the organism. Thus, when the player spoils his breathing cycle he simultaneously creates bad vibratory frequencies within himself. Good tendencies are a device to help the player keep vibrating correctly. They can be identified by observing one’s own breath pattern.

The best tendencies are those that link the player ever more closely to the rhythm cycles of the planet and the cosmos. Begin by observing changes in the self at sunrise and sunset. Arise before dawn, in time to shower and change into clean clothes for sunrise meditation. Other good tendencies include the elimination of meat and eggs from the diet, the practice of hatha yoga asanas (postures and exercises), the regulation of breathing (see the lokas of prana, apana, and uyana), fasting, consci­entious study of spiritual writings, and all the virtues contained in the game of Leela, the yoga of snakes and arrows.

The practice of good tendencies helps the player stabilize his exis­ tence so that it flows rhythmically in positive directions and away from the energy-depleting distractions of the lower chakras.