Our heads have a small endocrine gland which produces hormones responsible for modulating our sleep patterns. The gland is right at the center of the brain, between the two halves of the brain, at the thalamus joint. The gland is shaped like a cone and hence, called the pineal gland. Believers say that the pineal gland, once activated to its full potential can let us travel through dimensions, look through the future and have the supreme knowledge of every unknown mystery of the universe. Let’s find out a bit more about this controversial “Third Eye” which may or may not be the gateway to Enlightenment.

The Buddhist connection

The pine-cones in Buddha’s hair is not the only connection with the apparent belief that the pineal gland is the third eye. Quite interestingly, according to Mahanaya Buddhism, it takes 49 days for soul to be reborn after death which is the exact time taken by the pineal gland to develop in a newborn fetus.

Scientists have studied brain scans of Tibetan Buddhist monks and found an increased activity in their pineal glands during meditation.

The pineal gland is an eye according to science

Ancient Vedic texts and many mystic traditions all over the world have regarded the pineal gland as a third eye.

In 1886, E. Baldwin Spencer and H.W De Graff, two micro anatomists, discovered that the pineal gland has all the features of the external eyes such as the pigmented, retina cells, and it also responds to light directly as well as through the nervous pathways of the external eyes.