Square 47: Plane of neutrality (Saraswati)

Square 47 in Leela is the Plane of neutrality, named Saraswati. Johari identifies it with sushumna, the neutral central channel of the subtle body, and describes it as going beyond the judgement of good and bad. It is a plain square in the sixth row, the first of three squares devoted to the subtle body's main channels.

What square 47 means

Johari describes square 47 as sushumna, the neutral central channel, a state that goes beyond judging things as good or bad. Yoga pictures three main channels of subtle energy running along the spine: ida on the left, pingala on the right and sushumna in the middle. When energy flows through the central channel, the mind is neither pulled towards pleasure nor pushed away by pain.

The square is named Saraswati after the sacred river and the goddess of learning and speech. Row 6 assigns the three channels to three rivers: Saraswati for sushumna at 47, Yamuna for pingala at 48 and Ganga for ida at 49. In Indian tradition the Saraswati is the river that flows unseen, which suits a channel that cannot be observed directly.

The square sits in row 6, The Time of Penance, linked to Ajna, the third-eye chakra. After conscience at 46 learns to distinguish, neutrality at 47 learns to stop labelling. These are not in conflict: one sees clearly, the other does not add a verdict to what it sees.

The teaching is that much suffering comes from judgement layered on experience. Square 47 invites you to meet events as they are before deciding whether they are good or bad.

On the board

Square 47 sits in row 6, just after 46 Conscience. Players reach it by a throw from squares 41 to 43; those who land on 44, 45 or 46 are carried away by a snake or an arrow. No arrow or snake begins or ends here, so it is a plain square, and play continues with the next throw.

The Bhagavad Gita and this square

The verse is Gita 2.48: act without attachment, the same in success and failure, for a mind settled in yoga leaves both good and bad behind. Its episode is Balarama's pilgrimage along the Sarasvati, taken when he refused to fight on either side of the great war.

Act without attachment, the same in success and failure. A mind settled in yoga leaves both good and bad behind.

Gita 2.48 · Balarama's pilgrimage along the Sarasvati

Questions to reflect on

• What would change if I stopped judging?
• Which recent event did I label good or bad before I really understood it?
• Can I act fully today while staying the same in success and failure?