by Peter Holleran
PART TWO - A NON-DUAL EXPLORATION OF SANT MAT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Spiritual Need for Precise Articulation and Deep Thinking
The Nature of Planes and Bodies
Atman, Brahman, Sach Khand, Anami
More Depths on Planes, Bodies, and Non-Dualism
Awakening and Re-awakening
Replicated or Reflected Planes
Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya: the Grandeur of a Master
The Advantage of the Non-Dual View
Shabda as the Creator: A Non-Dual Perspective;
Shabda not Creator but a “Liberating Presence within Relativity”
A Buddhist Creation Story
Some Teachings of Buddha and Christ Compared
Creationism Unmasked
Non-Dual Relief from Within Sant Mat!
What is the Sat Purush? - Eternal, Universal Guru
A few points on Simran, Spiritual Intuition, and Hierarchies
of Inner Masters
“It’s All Too Much for Me to Take” - Mind-Bending Thoughts on Holarchy,
Hierarchy, Time, Space, Relativity; the story of Lila
“IF THERE’S A HELL BELOW, WE’RE ALL GONNA GO”
Multiple Emanations/Simultaneous Incarnations and their meaning
for notions of “Creation”
Kabir and the Four Ages: Yugas and other Cycles
Saarsathi - another strange teaching to worry about!
Sant Mat and Buddhism
Shabd Yoga as a Jnana Path
Thoughts on Dissolution and Grand Dissolution in Sant Mat
Beyond and Beyond the Beyond
After Death: What Happens? - Integral Realization and a Non-Dual View
“The inward and outward are indissolubly united and form a single great eternal Current.”
- Anandamayi Ma
“The Word or Naam is synonymous with all that is Life." - Sant Darshan Singh
“Brahman and Shakti are one.” - Sri Ramakrishna
"Nada, the first Sound of Creation, the Breath of Brahma who can never sleep, can never rest, otherwise the Creation will disappear into Nothingness." - Irena Tweedie
"Either you remain, or He remain - not two!" - Sant Kirpal Singh
Note: upon editing the following it was clear to the author that this section, when posted as a website article, while overall of use to suggest alternate ways of viewing certain metaphysical concepts, still needed much work. So we beg the reader's patience. In particular, there was too much use of assertion, especially in the beginning sections, where words such as, "perhaps", "maybe", this is one way of looking at things", "the Sat Purush might be thought of in this way", or "it is uncertain", would be better choices of words. So take what seems valuable to you, and see if by the end certain ideas become more clear. It is difficult to do such a comparative study, and that is more or less virgin territory. Above all, we suggest not holding too tightly any particular doctrine or point of view. Lastly, this is the most ‘heady’ part of this book. Thankfully - for some - it is not the longest! However, this may be a time to insert a number of quotes by sages on the right use of the intellect in the spiritual quest, before we begin our discussion on further, perhaps novel, Sant Mat esoterica. One more note: scattered throughout this book are comparative references to non-duality, but this Part Two delves into this in much more depth of focus. There are comments about Ramana Maharshi and other similar sages, for instance, and the practice of self-enquiry viz a viz concentrative meditation and so on. Many initiates of Sant Mat have been attracted to such teachers in recent years, for various reasons. Often there is quite a tussle internally about how to come to terms with more direct teachings such as advaita. Not infrequently questers may feel like Neo in the Matrix, and practically have convulsions confronting their simultaneous attraction and repulsion to the messages of those teachings. No worry. One will know if there is an attraction, even if one also feels he cannot do such a practice, like, for instance, the famous “who am I?” enquiry. But it should be remembered that self-enquiry is not limited to that exercise, which relatively few are suited for or ripe enough to engage fully and fruitfully, as even Ramana himself at times admitted. Questioning one's assumptions, beliefs, and points of view, however, by from time to time asking oneself, “how do I know that this is true?”, “what does this actually mean?”, “why do I believe such and such?”, “who says I have to do, and why am doing, this or that?”, and so on, are also self-enquiry. When watered with the sunshine of one's attention, curiosity, interest, imagination, love and affection the initial dry ground will yield and bear much fruit. It is a healthy endeavor and will do one no harm. Many would do well to incorporate some of this into their practice, if only to balance a host of traditional baggage they have come to unnecessarily labor under. That is, in fact, one of the principle reasons for the writing of this book.
The Spiritual Need for Deep Thinking and Precise Articulation
“Believe nothing you have read or anything you have heard, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with common sense and reason.” - Buddha
"If anybody could easily fulfill the injunction, "Know thyself," it would not have been considered a divine precept." - Plutarch
“Wherever you find two doctrines contradicting each other, it is a certain sign and warning that
there is a logical fallacy somewhere…Epistemology is the enemy, the devil of yogis, mystics and religious teachers because it pries into the truth, the source and validity of the knowledge they claim. Therefore it is the most difficult part of philosophy…Yoga is easier than philosophic doubt, which involves intellectual difficulty and thinking. When people say that it is said by so and so in scripture or authority, that is because they are intellectually lazy, they do not want to think, their minds want rest. Mandukya Upanishad points out that it is the man who thinks who alone can understand it. Mandukya goes to the very root of the matter. It deals with Truth.” (1)
“The yogin takes to Consciousness as power and thus the way to Consciousness of Truth is blocked. Power is objective and you become enamored of that power, never wanting to get beyond...The method of direct approach to the Truth (vicara-marga or the path of discrimination) is found only very rarely, even in the higher Indian scriptures; and that again as mere assumptions only, and seldom elaborated upon. Hence, it has always its virgin novelty.” - Shri Atmananda (2)
"So long as a mystic is unable to function fully in his intellect, why should he expect to function clearly in what is beyond intellect?…When the aspirant has great devotion to the Overself but little understanding of it, Nature will halt him at a certain stage of his spiritual career and compel him to redress the balance...Just as the religious devotee will be moved sooner or later to seek personal experience if he lacks it, so the mystical votary will be moved to seek intellectual enlightenments if he too lacks it….They come to religion seeking consolation; he comes to philosophy seeking truth; the two aims are different. But in the end the philosopher experiences consolation and the religionists take a step towards truth.” - Paul Brunton (PB) (3)
"In spiritual circles it has become an article of faith that a the quest for spiritual knowledge is an 'intellectual' and therefore misguided pursuit. But it should be noted that anyone seeking enlightenment through the 'heart' or other paths would necessarily be motivated by the intellectual belief that he or she was limited, inadequate and incomplete i.e. unenlightened. To pursue experience is natural but to pursue it at the expense of understanding is foolish because it is only misunderstandings about our true nature that make us think we are unenlightened in the first place. The Self realized beings who went before left a vast body of information to help us purge erroneous concepts that stand in the way of appreciating who we really are…A truly open mind will inquire before, during and after any and all experiences, worldly or spiritual. If it thinks a mystic experience is the last word and stops asking questions, it will fail to convert its indirect self knowledge into direct knowledge.” - James Swartz (4).
"Plotinus even delivers a warning, and he says [in The Enneads] that we must TEACH OUR SOULS....So right there he's warning us that we must have the correct doctrine, or we will misunderstand the experiences that we have...If you can ask an intelligent question, that shows that you already understand. To formulate a question precisely is already quite a feat of knowledge…Thinking is a very difficult thing. It's very hard. As a matter of fact, one man, Swami Nikhilinanda, made the statement that man would rather die than think...The analysis of cognition is a very strict rational activity. It requires the utmost and demands the utmost. But it will give you in return a real reward. If a person says, "Well, I see the sun rise, and you can't convince me that it doesn't rise," then there's no sense arguing, talking, because he wants me to prove something, but he won't accept reason as the guide. And if you don't accept reason as the guide, then there's no sense arguing or having a discussion." - Anthony Damiani (5)
"The best among sages can, without hesitation, give complete answers on matters relating to Realization and the sublimest truths. He seems to be spontaneously animated when discussing matters pertaining to jnana (knowledge) and is never tired of their exposition." - Tripura Rahasya (^)
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"He [the sage Yajnavalkya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad] exemplifies a major characteristic of the guru, namely, to teach fully, holding nothing back. Although different teachers use different methods, the authentic guru holds nothing in reserve; he teaches all that he knows and experiences. According to the texts, Yajnavalkya exposed principles relentlessly until understanding took place. These early teachers, though their teaching was frequently obscure and esoteric, were not part of a closed society. There was no fear of a free exchange of ideas even among the teachers themselves. Above all, they were concerned for the lineage of sacred wisdom and the necessity of its transmission." (7)
“In almost every person, every religion, every group, every teaching, and every teacher, there are ideas, beliefs, and assumptions, which are overtly or covertly not open to question…Often these unquestioned beliefs hide superstitions, which are protecting something that is untrue, contradictory, or being used as justification for teachings and behaviors that are less than enlightened…The challenge of enlightenment is not simply to glimpse the awakened condition, nor even to continually experience it. It is to be and express it as your self in the way you move in the world…In order to do this, you must come out of hiding behind any superstitious beliefs and find the courage to question everything. Otherwise, you will continue to hold onto superstitions that distort your perception and expression of that which is only ever AWAKE.” - Adyashanti (8)
” ‘Thinking hard’ hurts. It turns the sharp point of truth back upon the thinker. It pricks the bubble of ego complacency blown up by thinking easy. Its sharp wound forbids the forgetfulness which is the goal of evasive thinking. If one can forget the inner experience and its challenge can be evaded, the ego can remain comfortably unborn in the womb of the already known.” - Francis G. Wickes (9)
“Most people don’t think because it is hard.” - C. G. Jung
“Some men would rather die than think.” - Swami Nikhilinanda
"To have a settled opinion disturbed, pulls up your moorings; we have to start all over again. And so we hate the man who disturbs those settled opinions. If you do not believe it, watch your feelings the next time someone proves to you that the theory you have so carefully cultivated in the garden of your mind, watering and weeding it, is rubbish; note how you feel when he tramples on it ruthlessly. He has done you a service; put you on the track of truth. Are you really grateful? Or do you want to slap him?" - Norman Angell (10)
Yet, alas, we must have compassion. There is a reason a majority of mankind is averse to deep thinking. Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) wrote:
"The greater part of men are much too exhausted and enervated by their struggle with want to be able to engage in a new and severe contest with error. Satisfied if they themselves can escape from the hard labor of thought, they willingly abandon to others the guardianship of their thoughts."
We plead guilty of that, too. Yet, we place before the reader one final thought. There is certainly a time to think and a time not to think. The anti-intellectualism of some modern spiritual teachers, however, was not found with the ancient sages. That is only the teaching of meditation masters who value the apparent destruction of the mind in samadhi to be the only way to truth.
The Nature of the Planes and Bodies
Okay. Now it is time to put much of this together so that we can understand it - somewhat - or perhaps in a new way. How is Sant Mat unique, and how does it differ from Buddhism, Ramana, and other sages? What happens after death for the initiate? How is Sant Mat a non-dual path after all? In the next three sections I have had significant help from a sharing of ideas with Mark Sullivan. That's the only satisfactory way of dealing with this material, to get more than one mind working on it, it is so complex. Much of this is a reasonable summary based on a combination of personal experience, best intuition, and a general consensus of views from many sources based on both study and personal contact. Still, at best it is but one among various competing pictures. We are well aware, for instance, that much of this may conflict with traditional Advaita, for instance, especially in matters relating to reincarnation. We are setting forth what must only be tentative explanations from within relativity and not of the Absolute. In all schools the esoteric teaching method is one of the ultimate retraction of all forms preliminary positions used as pedagogical methods and pointers. It must be so given the paradoxical nature of reality to our limited perspectives. Therefore, with this understood, the reader must exercise his discrimination and due diligence while reading this material. No claims are made for its complete perfection. The same process of sharing and checking may some day be said of an evolutionary synthesis among the world's spiritual traditions, which may be an eventuality we are only now seeing the beginnings of.
First, here is a more concise but also intricately described and compiled version of the Sant Mat schemata given towards the beginning of Part One, with some new points of interest, which one might look at (see http://www.beezone.com/kirpalsingh/the_souls_journey.html). Besides the usual advise to avoid the 'left-hand path', it also mentions that in higher regions there is the possibility of being allured onto a 'right-hand path' which will lead one to higher places but which are essentially dead-ends. Hence the necessity of a living master who can guide the soul. All of the descriptions of tunnels, left and right, etc., in higher regions, have made me at times wonder if these regions are in the folds and passageways of the brain, but on closer inspection, with what little experience I have had, has led me to a more generous conclusion. When one goes deep enough in meditation with the help of the shabda-brahman - the real higher Power, Enlightening Presence, Saguna Brahman, Adi Buddha, Cosmic Christ, or Logos built into the relative worlds, created and uncreated - one knows one is at least beyond the limited confines of the physical body, even though, all is still within consciousness or Mind. And yet this in turn gives the body a new meaning, beyond the limited parameters of conventional mysticism. It is no longer something one is in, but becomes a presentation of consciousness. That is to say, one can experience the shabd in an ascending or descending mode, and likewise one can experience the soul ascending as well as coming down or being overshadowed and outshined by one's formless Spirit or true Self right here and now, with a fullness in and as the body manifesting as if you are coming forth from a hiding place within. This is easier experienced than described; however, the usual sadhana of Sant Mat will not encourage this trajectory of consciousness and in fact may well prevent it. In short, this new birth must be infused in the soul by Grace, often after the soul's apparent demise! There is nothing one can do to make it happen, and it may only happen after one utterly fails in the path as generally presented. We will be giving clues and hints throughout this book for what may be something entirely new for most seekers on this path, in case one finds oneself walking this way. The embodiment dimension of the path is a secret only now being presented more widely in various teachings. For now we will confine our discussion to the more mystical and yogic aspects, but hopefully with some new insight for the seeker.
My limited experience is that the inner experiences are mostly non-physical, although at some level they also interpenetrate that realm. They are no less real than the physical world, in some ways more, being less veiled, but still relative, until one sheds all so-called coverings [‘so-called’ because in Vedanta they are considered
expedients or modifications of consciousness and not actual ‘things’] and reaches Sat Lok. While experiences in relativity they should not be called strictly imaginary, as some Vedantins and Upanishads such as the Mandukya say, inasmuch as they are said, in some schools, to be projections of a Cosmic Mind, Isvara, the Creator or Sat Purush. To say that Hiranyagarbha and the dream state (taijasa) are identical, for instance, does not seem to do justice to the macrocosmic experience, although the analysis is correct regarding the similarity of the nature of the experiences. “Imagination” should perhaps be placed in quotation marks here.The personal imagination is not as orderly as the macrocosmic one, for instance. And at the next to the highest level one must be sure to qualify his statement by referring to it as the penultimate level of the imagination - as some philosophers do - to avoid gross confusion.
The true nature of all these phenomena is, of course, non-dual - when realized as such - and so can not be categorized one way or another - real/imaginary, inner/outer, up/down, descending/ascending. Phenomena like nadis or tunnels are part of relative experience, but referring to them in ways like “only imaginary" can have a teaching value, but may be more of a tool rather than a 'true' picture of reality. In a certain sense we can say that the sense of solidity of a door is 'imaginary', maya, unreal, illusion, but until a rather advanced level of realization, we had better open the door to pass into the next room. So from deeper levels all these things are not the deepest understanding - chakras, planes, ascending/descending, trances, karma, bodies, time, tunnels, etc. But just as walking through doors is not a relative experience most of us are likely to transcend in the near future, so all this other stuff is a 'relatively' real part of experience. Some of it, though, is more subject to our personal beliefs than others, so experiences like what happens during death is not entirely the same from person to person. Sri Aurobindo spoke of 'annexes to the subtle realms', that is, personal hells superimposed on the relatively real universal projections. So, some aspects are universal, and some are personal. But overly simple dismissive statement such as calling the light and sound illusory, or, as Ramana once told someone, a 'deep samskara or tendency for experience', or similarly calling planes or tunnels maya, is awkward and incomplete metaphysics - not the most elegant way to honor both absolute and relative dimensions of experience. A great Zen master was once asked 'how do you relate to the idea of karma?' (a relative principle) He said 'a Zen master does not ignore karma.’ Nor does he probably ignore doors and walls.
Are the various higher planes contained in the brain? As discussed in Part One, this is not an easy yes or no answer. Yogis who say so are experiencing reflected versions of the higher planes, says the usual Sant Mat position. But one does appear to go through the brain-core, as Rumi mentioned in some of his lyrical verses, and people experience visions of light and subtle audition there. But the inner realms and bardos, after death, are definitely trans-physical. Near-Death Experiences (NDE’s) when brain activity has stopped are strong evidence. When one passes through the visions of light that are within the reach of the brain, pierces the moon, star, and sun, and is then pulled up by the big bell sound, he exits (or, speaking from a philosophic perspective, appears to exit) the body (or lower portion of the body) and enters the astral world. This may or not be the thousand-petalled lotus as described in yoga, and is certainly not the end of the road on this path, but, it has been asked, can this be bypassed through a non-dual realization that is solely physical plane based? This, too, is difficult to say. Such paths often dismiss the soul, (although that, too, is arguable and complicated, as discussed in Parts One and Four). True, these planes with corresponding bodies of one's own (astral and causal; or astral, mental, and causal, depending on the system) are temporary and within the realm of space and time (in Sant Mat, Kal and Maha-Kal), compared to one's formless identity on the spiritual planes beyond. That is perhaps why Sant Rajinder Singh says you will know for sure you survive death when you reach the third plane, Daswan Dwar, as this is said to be the plane of final rest for many initiates between rebirths - for those who need to reincarnate. The average soul, it is said, does not have conscious access that far up, and is limited to experiencing one or the other of the astral heavens before passing into unconsciousness before rebirth. To complete the death process, one must also drop the astral and causal bodies, which is normal. This is known as the 'second death'. Therefore, to be beyond these bodies is to know that something real survives, even if the knowledge is not permanent, when and if one is reborn with a new body and brain. However, sages maintain one can also and certainly realize that one is deathless without having this mystical experience.
One of the great modern masters of these intermediate regions with a highly sophisticated knowledge of the workings of the planes, reincarnation, and so on, was the master from Cyprus named Daskalos. He made a point about this issue in an interesting way - he said 'the brain cannot think. The mind thinks. The brain is simply a receiving station where the mind imprints its thoughts in the physical body'. In other words, not only are these lower planes not enfolded in the brain, even the power of thought does not have its seat there, but rather is in the mind, which by a kind of vertical telepathy, imprints in the brain thought and reason. This might serve as an explanation for the possibility of animals becoming liberated. While it is usually accepted in the yogic traditions that only in the man-body, with an advanced brain equipped with a self-reflective neo-cortex, is the process of self-realization possible, Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi felt that animals, too, could also attain liberation. If such a brain is not really necessary, and although it might be the exception to the rule, dependent on a Master's direct influence, then that would account for the famous case of Lakshmi the cow abiding in nirvikalpa samadhi and also reaching mukti, according to Ramana's own words.(http://bhagavan-ramana.org/lakshmi.html).
Daskalos teaches that the soul knows its deeper self behind the outer personality of the three bodies, and comes to final rest between incarnations at the third inner plane. Reaching even the first inner plane can bring strong conviction that one survives death, but at this level one has not yet fully dropped identification with the astral and mental (or causal) bodies, which are also not only temporary like the physical, but are also veils that usually obscure the consciousness of the higher, formless 'bodies' beyond these, which include formless realization of a continuity of experience beyond each cycle of incarnation. Hence the temporary bodies are said to be ruled by Kal, a type of 'time' linked to form experience, while the supracausal planes are ruled my Maha Kal, which rules the meta-time of the higher self that remains conscious of the story of evolution from life to life. So coming to that level of identity really drives home the relative truth of this deeper level of our spiritual nature beyond temporary bodies, physical and subtle. That is likely why Rajinder Singh made the remark about the third plane.
Again, even when going to the lowest of these inner regions, if done so with real clarity and presence, one immediately feels one is in a realm with greater relative reality greater intensity of feeling, greater vividness of sensation and perception, by comparison with which the physical world seems foggier, denser, heavier. When experienced in a way that reveals the relative nature of each realm, physical and astral, for instance, the physical by contrast seems less substantial and more restrictive. From a non-dual point of view this difference is relatively inconsequential, for in the non-dual view one no longer identifies with a sense of limitation versus freedom. But this non-duality, it seems reasonable, must be realized on every plane. That is the reason for the various jhanas or degrees of absorption - combined with vipassana or cultivation of mindfulness and insight - in Buddhism. [This is not to say that the various samadhis and jnanas in Buddhism precisely correlate to the planes in Sant Mat; after reading the above material, it seems likely that they may not. One big potential difference is that they are described as achieved without the help of the shabda-brahman, the primal manifestation of the Sat Purush, and the grace of the Master Power, or the human master who is at-one with that God-Power].
However, the Buddha himself warned that one can get attached to these higher experiences, and without understanding one may return without realizing the non-dual truth. This is why traveling to a higher plane by itself is not necessarily wisdom - though it can be used to cultivate wisdom - for just because a higher, heavenly world allows greater freedom of expression and fulfillment of desire, does not mean that one no longer has desire or the dualism that desire is rooted in. That is why it is sometimes said that non-dual contemplation and cultivation optimally will occur at each level. So the true nature of what these various planes really are, and how that relates to spiritual development, is quite complex. It is possible that the current systems that exist in our world for understanding them will be considered very primitive from the point of view of future cosmologies.
Doubts can come up, and that is why it can be good to keep sharing our experiences and such with each other (the general world 'sangha'), to reinforce our understanding.
Kirpal was asked if he thought Anami was the highest plane, and he apparently said "I think so, but if you here of anything higher, tell me - I want to know about it". The following may not be higher, but it is a teaching worth mentioning - and then perhaps forgetting. The teachings that Theosophists like Blavatsky say they received from higher bodhisattvas in various parts of the world like Tibet, India and the Middle East, included a cosmology that said that, not only, as many teachings say, are the divisions of the universe into great planes mirrored in each plane so that each plane has many (usually said to be seven) sub-planes, but that also this mirroring works in reverse, so that the various world or planes we know from various systems are actually the subdivisions of the cosmic physical universe. And in this view, there is another octave of 'planes' beyond the highest normally spoken of, but that any contact with them will appear completely transcendental to our physical consciousness.This is very advanced, and would be like trying to teach calculus to a one year old. If this is true, it is a good thing that one does not seem to need to ascend through all these world to have liberation, as liberation seems to almost move in a different direction, as if the planes were laid out in one direction, say vertically, whereas access to the Absolute can seem more of a horizontal awakening. That there are states that feel more whole, transcendent, liberated, universal, that they can be accessed in our ordinary state, and that the more we develop them, the more peaceful, free, compassionate and lucid we become.
Kirpal Singh quoted Guru Nanak, saying:
"He who goes beyond the Sat Lok,
He knows the Incomprehensible and the Inexpressible.
It is in the Nameless that the Saints live,
The slave Nanak finds peace in Him." (11)
This is enigmatic, as Sat Lok or Sat Desh (composed of Sach Khand, Alak, Agam, and Anami - the Nameless) is usually spoken of in Sant Mat as the First Grand Division that came into being by Divine Will, and yet we are here advised to go beyond Sat Lok. As seen in Part One, some schools within Sant Mat and Sufism even propose several more planes beyond Anami as part of Dayal Desh. From our view, this is all more likely to be considered as a deepening; it is certainly beyond the individual soul as we know it. And, then, there is also the “Stateless State” to come to terms with.
We also have the enigmatic words of Kirpal, who said to his master, Sawan Singh:
“Hazur! The peace and security that I have in sitting at thy feet here cannot be had in higher planes.” (12)
And:
"When Baba Sawan Singh once wrote that he did not even yearn for Sach Khand (literally “True Region,” or the home of the Soul, a division of Sat Lok) but only prayed that he had “Love and faith at the Satguru’s holy feet,” Baba Ji was extremely pleased and replied that such self-surrender was “indeed the highest karni” (discipline) and assured him that “he who had such a love for the Master would certainly reach Sach Khand, and passing through Alakh, Agam, and Anami-Radhasoami, get merged in the Wonder Region.” (13)
So there is a great mystery hidden in the words of these saints. Daskalos put it in another way:
"Suppose you ask me, "Where do you prefer to be, within the self-abundance of non-conceiving being, where we find what we call happiness, or within the trials and tribulations of our phenomenal existence?" Believe me if I have a beloved person near me, to gaze into the eyes of, to smell and caress the loved one's feet, I would say I prefer that. Call it weakness, call it whatever you like, still it is an attribute of our beingness not of our existence. Maybe this is the same urge within the Absolute Beingness itself that brought about the creation of the worlds." (14)
“I saw You and became empty.
This Emptiness, more beautiful than existence,
it obliterates existence, and yet when It comes,
existence thrives and creates more existence! “ - Rumi
There was a story about a great Zen master who preached all of his life about the unimportance and illusory nature of the material world. At his deathbed his disciples gathered around him for some words of wisdom and all he said was, "I want to live, I want to live." Dismayed, they asked him how he could say that. "Really, really, I want to live," he repeated before passing away. That was his final lesson.
Let's look at this all again from another perspective. Part of the problem is that we have a bunch of terms from different traditions and individuals, some of which are the same, but sometimes given different meanings, and other times the words may be different, but with basically the same meaning. What a mess - atman, rigpa, soul, monad, spirit, true nature, pure awareness, buddha nature, purusha, wisdom mind, permanent personality, Self. Which of these is the same? Which are different? What are they all? Let's take soul. Some people use it to mean one's inner nature, i.e., mind and emotions. Other define it as the same as the Atman (Daskalos, Sant Mat). Some use it to mean the spiritual self that is in between the atman and the outer ego. For purposes of illustration, let's say the three main lower levels of our nature are the self that arises from identification with our temporary bodies - physical, emotional/astral and mental/causal. This can be called the temporary personality, some say personality, or the empirical psyche. Then, again using Daskalos, there is the permanent personality. Some systems call this the soul or higher self or inner self. This is a state of consciousness/identity that is made up of some combination of the higher mind (vijnandamaya) and intuitive (anandamaya), with some degree of atmic, depending on how evolved the soul is. These bodies are not dissolved at the conclusion of each incarnation. Then there is the Atman in its pure nature. To me (Hindus seem to have differing definitions) this is the level at which our identity is already in non-dual realization. But here is the challenge. The Atman (or rigpa) level of our nature, though not veiled by the lower bodies and so not involved in dualism the way the selfhood of those levels can be, is still subject to evolution in that the brightness and richness of its non-dual realization can grow. So during the course of our evolution through lives and other experiences, the Atman's realization evolves. So this aspect of our nature is paradoxical, somewhat, to the intellect. Because it is both realized in non-dualism, but is part of relativity at the same time, and so can be said to evolve.
We have an even deeper nature beyond the Atman. This is the level of our nature that realizes its own beauty unity or participation in the Paramatman or Oversoul or Sat Purush. The Atman seems to be realized in this understanding, but higher planes may represent quantum jumps in realizing this truth. Further, and not to say that this covers all the levels, there is that aspect of our nature that is the ground or non-dual nature of everything: the so-called Absolute. It is best to understand this not as a plane or realm or level of identity in the normal sense. It is quite difficult to place these experiences into a conceptual model. This seems to be a general problem that many people don't want to acknowledge - for if it was that straightforward to translate experience directly into good models, then surely there would be much more consensus about all this then there appears to be.
One of many questions is: where do the lower 'selves' come from, and how do they relate to the Atman? We have outlined a possible schema in the article, "The idea of Man” (https://www.mountainrunnerdoc.citymaker.com/the_idea_of_man.html). We do not claim it is entirely accurate, but it mirrors much of the Sant Mat description, as far as it is describable in human language. Something like this is said to happen in this way of looking at things: A 'ray of spirit' emanates from a 'deeper source' from a higher plane, which is like a breath of spirit emanated or breathed forth. It passes through different transcendental archetypes or Ideas in formless realms that condition its nature. If one of these emanations chooses or is destined to pass through the 'Human Idea', it will form an atman on the fifth plane. [This could be where Sach Khand gets its enigmatic original population of souls, a portion of which “fell” into the lower worlds, whether as a one-time event or a perpetual process - discussed in Part Four].This atman will be the individualization in the archetype of the Human Idea of that spirit, which becomes the seed potential for that Intelligence or atman to become Self-Realized within Absolute Realization. In a qualified non-dual cosmology, like Aurobindo's, this would be seen to serve a larger function of some idea like allowing God to know Itself, or evolving God in some way, although that notion is heresy in Vedanta. In one understanding of non-dualism, there is a way in which these Ideas can have a relative truth to them, and yet they are not the Absolute truth, as this is beyond concepts of causality. There can be no improving that which is beyond perfection and imperfection. What does make potential sense is that the Cosmic Presence emanates these rays of 'spirit-potential' as vehicles of serving the collective liberation/realization of worlds.
Once having passed through the Human Archetype or Idea, the atman is formed at the seed of our potential to become Buddhas or Christs. It is therefore, in its nature of remaining close to the source that emanated it, and, having its same nature, it partakes of a pure form of non-dual realization. But this realization has the potential to interact with the local environment that it was emanated into, via the Human Idea, and both be actualized in its potential for realization, as well as to illuminate the worlds it was emanated into. From here the atman's own consciousness emanates into the anandamaya and vijnanamaya bodies, forming a formless spiritual identity that, while still more 'permanent', is able to participate in the relative experiences of time, space and form in the lower planes. This becomes the center of our nature that, although illumined by the non-dual atman deeper within its nature, is, at this stage, more naturally identified with an intuitive/discriminating wisdom orientation, and is more concerned in most people with cultivating spiritual qualities (character) and relative wisdom. In service to that process, this level of selfhood will repeatedly be offered opportunity by the Nature or the Holy Spirit or Shakti aspect of the Cosmic Presence that works through nature, to incarnate in the lower worlds through a set of three bodies. These form the temporary personality, which is fresh in each incarnation as bodies, but the elementals of thoughts, desires and emotions we have created life to life will be carried over as part of the karmic patterning of experience that we are learning through. As bodies are provided in each life, just as the Atman was formed by an emanation from Beyond through the Human Idea, and the Atman emanated the permanent personality/soul, so the soul or higher self will emanate a ray of itself into the temporary bodies that make up the personality. And just as the Cosmic Presence that emanated the ray that became the atman remains on its own plane, having both remained Itself and emanated a ray of itself, so the Atman remains on its own plane, while a ray of its consciousness/beingness mixes with the first two bodies on its descent (ananda and vijnana) and make a new level of identity that is the soul, so too the soul or permanent personality, in emanating a ray that will mix with the lower bodies becoming the temporary personality, will also remain on its own plane as well. This is the same way as the fact that the sun can emanate rays and yet remain in the sky, so do our inner selves. Each time the ray reaches a new, lower plane, it is further veiled, and, so to speak, looses some light, and forms an identity with that sheath and its world. In its essence, there is one self, like a cord or thread that links all the apparent selves together. From the point of view of the Atman, there is only one self on all these planes, and they only appear to be different. But from the point of view of the other selves, until the total nature is non-dual realized, they will have their own understanding of what they are, which will cause them to believe they are separate. The soul or permanent personality, is much closer to the Atman and so has much less of this dualism, but still will not be fully non-dual in its perspective until jivanmukti is achieved.
As we grow from life to life, two things are happening. The quality of the elementals (vasanas, samskaras) of thoughts, emotions and desires that make up our personalities are gradually refined. Old ones are transformed and purified, new ones are constantly created. And as we grow the overall trend will be the refinement of these bodies and the consciousness in them, which is significantly conditioned by the quality of the elementals that are part of them. The other process that is going on is the the inner selves, soul and atman, are gradually growing in realization, which arises from the transformation of experience in a kind of upward flow or enrichment. It is as if the experience of our personalities in incarnation is food for our souls, which digest this experience and turn it into wisdom, virtue, and non-dual realization. This is an often overlooked element to consider in the matter of spiritual progress, and the great value of being incarnated. Even in the average soul with a dozen or more lives of experience, these higher levels of identity have accumulated a fair amount of wisdom and character, even if this is not entirely evident in their personalities. This is because there can be a lag between the point at which a certain stage of realization is reached inwardly, and adequate transformation of the karma in the personality will allow that realization to shine through. Also, as the inner self comes to various stages of development, within its own world it can realize and express a particular level or understanding and quality of presence.
But it is another thing altogether to express that realization in the denser bodies that make up the personality. They are not only filled with the heavier elementals of thoughts, emotions and desires generally reflecting a lower stage than the soul in itself, but the natural state of the bodies themselves is less realized, and so it takes greater illumination from the soul to create a personality that has a given level of realization and virtue than it does for the soul to actualize that stage in its own realm. [Which is one reason many illumined mystics may be quite imbalanced in their ordinary lives]. So even though the permanent personality of the average soul is a rather wise being, it is just not so deeply luminous that is can illuminate three more dualistic veils 'below' it and generate a physical personality that is enlightened. Once a personal self leaves incarnation, they will be gradually re-assimilated back into their soul, while their unresolved karma (as elementals on all planes) goes back into the storehouse, into a quiescent state. During this process more learning is said to take place as the assimilating aspects harvest wisdom from the incarnation. So, a triple process is going on in a human being. Their Atman is gradually gaining richer and richer non-dual realization. Their soul is getting wiser and more luminous, and the personality's karma is generally evolving (with various ups and downs) and the quality of the elementals that make up the form level character is also generally improving. As this process proceeds from life to life, the awareness of each of these levels will overlap the others more and more. At a certain stage, the soul will have become more non-dual in its realization, but not fully yet, and the personality bodies and energy/character will have become refined enough that it is much more profoundly mirroring the soul’s realization and will. This stage we could call 'man-making' (Sant Mat) or soul-personality integration. Daskalos, Psychosynthesis and Sant Mat, for examples, also call this stage Self-Knowledge, but they mean the self as soul, not Atman.
When this process is very far along, where the identities of the personality and soul are basically integrated, then the personality will experience itself as soul and not be exclusively identified with the bodies anymore, and much of the wealth of realization and wisdom of the soul will be actualizing in the personality. Due to the inherent differences on the various sheaths, though, it will never be possible to fully express the soul through the personality, and so there will be much that the soul understands that the personality expression will never, in a given life, actualize or realize. But the essence of the realization of the soul level, which at this stage is a level of discriminating wisdom and virtue, is illuminated by, but not yet fully identified with, the fuller non-dual realization of the Atman. So even though the essential relative love/wisdom presence of the soul was first developed on the higher planes, it has now infused into the lower bodies. In subsequent incarnations, the karma of the bodies may be rather good and so more easily be made to actualize the soul realization, but this is not always the case. Nothing is guaranteed, and one is always free to deviate or backslide. But it is hoped that this won’t happen! The next stage is that the soul, having fulfilled its 'job' of guiding, nurturing and illuminating the personality, and harvesting wisdom and character from the personality level of experience, will be free to fully cultivate non-dual realization culminating in jivanmukti. At this point not only will the non-dual realization of the atman be extended further, but will deeply illuminate not only the soul levels, but, since the soul and personality are essentially integrated, then the realization will extend further downward as well. As this is an even more rarefied realization, it must be very bright in the Atman to illuminate all the way down to the physical body so that the outer personality goes beyond soul consciousness into sahaja samadhi. The Atman was always in this state, though the richness and intensity has continued to grow, and now the personality is more and more integrated into this state. Sant Mat would call this stage God-knowledge, Daskalos would say Theosis, Vedanta sahaja or jivanmukti, Buddhist the arhat or nirvana, and Dzogchen various things like 'rigpa united with activity'.
So why does all this happen? From an absolute point of view - it is part of the Mystery. Or - it just Is. It just sublimely, tragically, beautifully, blissfully, catastrophically, ecstatically, poignantly Is. From a relative point of view, a human being seems to be a composite entity, having as an aspect of our nature elemental forces/beings provided by the Holy Spirit/Nature as both vehicles of experience and service, through which we not only learn, but also contribute to the evolution of the very lives that make up our bodies, as well as the world around us. As these energies mix with deeper parts of our nature, it forms a suffering, deluded being that yearns for liberation, which is accomplished inevitably through the process. We are also made up of an emanation from a Cosmic Intelligence, who seeds us with a ray of its own nature, out of a spirit of universal compassion and enlightenment, which acts not only as a source of grace acting from within our very own nature for our human personality, but also extends to become a source of upliftment for the whole. Humans are here viewed as a multilayered sacred process though which various relative lives from particles of matter to elementals, souls, Atmans and the Cosmic Soul all interact and realize their non-dual nature and serve collective evolution.
“The man in the soul, transcending angelic being and guided by intellect, pierces to the source whence the soul flowed. There, intellect must remain outside, with all named things. There the soul is merged in pure unity. This we call the man in the soul, and you should understand it thus: the man in the soul is he who has accomplished all this, so that he needs no further help. What he did hitherto, God now works in him. God knows him as he knew Him, God loves him as he loved Him. Thus God performs all work, and the man in the soul is bare and empty of all things. You should know what a man is like who has come to this: we can well say he is God and man. Observe, he has gained by grace all that Christ had by nature, and that his body is so fully suffused with the noble essence of the soul, which she has received from God and the divine light, that we may well declare: That is a man divine! Alas, my children, you should pity these people, for they are strangers, unknown to anybody. All who ever hope to come to God may well be mistaken in these folk, for they are hard for strangers to perceive: none can truly recognize them but those in whom the same light shines. This is the light of truth.” - Meister Eckhart (15)
Sach Khand and the Soul - are they nondual, or is only Anami or the One nondual?
This question arises because in Sant Mat teachings, Sach Khand ( a division of Sat Lok, or the region of Truth) is described in terms that suggest the Soul, even after dropping all of its koshas or coverings - the usual perceptual apparatus in the created realms - and being of the nature of pure consciousness - which is essentially non-dual by definition - still sees light and sound and scenes of one sort of exalted variety or another. Yet philosophical schools will insist that this can only be metaphorical, not literal. So this question is important in regards to those contemporary non-dual teachings that maintain that everything that is not the One is just of the ego, that the Soul as such doesn't exist, and also esoteric schools such as Plotinus and Plato, where the Soul, while not the One, is definitely an eternal existent, and transcendent to the ego with all of its intermediate regions. Let us, therefore, look at this in some detail. Sant Darshan Singh stated:
“After we cross the first three regions, the physical, the astral, and the causal, we reach the fountainhead of the Water of Immortality. And when we drink at that fountain, our soul is purified. It shakes off the shackles of the mind.” (16)
Then, in Sant Mat, after crossing the next region, the supercausal, the anandamaya kosha is shed, and one is pure Soul in a ‘realm’ known as Sach Khand, the 'native home' of the Soul. From there could be said to be the ‘flight of the alone to the alone’ - or Soul to the One - of Plotinus, or, as mystic Daskalos put it, ‘enlightened ascent to infinity’, or, in Sant Mat, absorption of the Soul into the Sat Purush which is imbedded in the Source termed Anami or Radhasoami.
So the question is whether in Sach Khand the Soul - as pure consciousness, with no bodies or koshas, beyond all created realms, mind and matter, as well as maya - is really seeing lights and scenes and hear sounds, or is that only metaphorical? And, are Soul and Sach Khand non-dual, or is only Anami or the One non-dual? First, let us propose a way of viewing the ancient aphorism, "Atman and Brahman are One", such that the criticisms of advaita (and Buddhism) regarding the non-existence of the soul or any form of individuality are put in their proper place and ancient yoga paths such as Sant Mat are not negated in an overly simplistic fashion.
Atman, Brahman, Sach Khand, Anami
The claim that “Atman and Brahman are One” is a stumbling block in the debate between advaitic schools and those that posit the reality of a Soul. It is even imbedded in some of the Upanishads, where the two in fact are often confused. Many advaitists claim that through inquiry one realizes the truth of Atman or Brahman, the terms seemingly used interchangeably as if it really didn’t matter. Yet we suggest that this can have a large impact on how one visualizes and actualizes the nature of both the path and reality Why, one may rightly ask, have two words if there is not a distinction? While it is in one sense true to say that Atman is not the same as Brahman, in yet another sense, of course, nothing is different from Brahman. The way we would like to articulate it, however, begins by asserting that Atman is the essence of, and beyond, the five koshas, and is the first level of self-nature that has as its foundation a direct realization of its identity with Brahman. On a path of inversion or ‘ascension’, Atman would be on the fifth plane (i.e., Sach Khand in Sant Mat). Yet as all planes interpenetrate, it can said to be the reality of the subjective essence of all planes or modes of the individuated being. Atman is still ‘individualized’ - PB calls it Overself (‘individual but impersonal’) while Aadi calls it Soul (‘individual impersonality’) - but it is a type of individuality that realizes all is Brahman (that which includes both individual and universal impersonality and its manifestation, and is ‘technically’ beyond even this classification). Brahman is the totality, and 'an Atman' is an individual locus of non-dual Brahman realization. So looked at from one point of view, they are the same, and from another, they are different. Thus those schools that speak of Self-realization and God-realization are not incorrect. Yet, the God-Realization part has depths.
So, is Sach Khand or Anami the main locus of non-dual realization? The following is rather deep. Mark’s explicit comments are in quotes (although much of the rest is my paraphrasing from correspondence from him):
“Sach Khand is non-dual enough! Beyond the higher mental or causal plane, states are formless. This means that one does not have a body in the ordinary sense. But one way to understand how higher planes relate to lower planes is that increasingly higher planes are more essential than the lower. So anything that exists or expresses on a lower plane will be found in essence on higher planes. This is because these are planes of universality, soul, archetype, Pure Ideas, Laws, Principles. They are realms of formless Mind, Divine Abstraction, Universality. So space does exist there, but it is Space as a Platonic Idea, and it can be explored and realized through attunement and at-one-ment, rather than through senses or reason, which gives a more profound, intuitive realization of it. So, too, the senses exist in essence form in these 'worlds', but there we do not have concrete names or even distinct or discrete sounds as in the lower, individualized dimensions, but universal sound patterns that are the vibrations of the souls of beings and things and ultimately of the Sat Purush. The deeper the plane, though, the more apparently different experiences/ideas like senses, mind/understanding, experiencer and experienced, are all collapsing into a more non-dual type of experience. Light, for instance, isn't any longer a medium of sense contact with an object that is perceived to be separate - Light is the knowing of a being or principle, it is the Light and you are the Light and the L:ight is the Knowing of it all at once. So light does not bridge a gap of separation between you and what is perceived, it is the very experience of the Knowing of it, and in that moment of Knowing you and it/they and the Knowing and the Light are all the same. So it is and isn't Light, as a human being knows it. [Ramana spoke enigmatically of the light of consciousness in this way: “We can say it is not darkness, but can we say it is not light?”] It is the non-dual essence of Light. Or Sound. Or Feeling. Or Time. Or Space. And so on. And all of this arises as such because it is held in, and is inseparable from, the emptiness or suchness which is the non-dual nature of everything Known.”
“To my mind, anyone talking any more concretely than this about the nature of experience in planes beyond the causal as having bodies, senses, locations, scenery or whatever, is talking metaphorically.”
“Granted, it is extremely difficult for us to describe or conceptualize the difference between Sach Khand and Anami, or Soul and the Absolute. But here is an attempt. All levels are 'expressions' or 'part of' the non-dual or primordial reality, but Sach Khand or Soul or Overself is a state of realizing this truth within Relativity. Sach Khand is a type of Anami or the One, but actualized or realized within Relativity, at least to a greater extent than Anami itself, which is 'beyond' Relativity, but also the seed of the state of Sahaja Samadhi when actualized in physical consciousness. The peace emanating from Sach Khand or the Soul is the blessed result of Divine Grace liberating one from the craving for separate existence. Anami or the Absolute is radically transcendental and cannot be described at all, but is certainly not 'inferior' to Sach Khand, which, as its direct, inseparable expression, cannot also not really be spoken of in human language adequately. It is true, though, that often experiences of any of these states do not at once lead to profound transformation of our human nature. Hence, there are different degrees of 'adeptship'. But actual mastery of access to these states, especially as attained in higher realms of existence, because it infuses our being and consciousness with such illumination, wholeness and love, can be very purifying, inspiring and fortifying, and even add to our wisdom. Much depends on one's prior understanding and overall maturity. For ultimately it is wisdom that is liberating, by whatever path we attain it."
"To put this another way, Anami, as experienced exclusively in inversion, is a form of non-dual realization that is not one that is being experienced as actualized within the context of relativity. Sach Khand is, although it is actualized within the formless planes. Sahaja samadhi, however, is the form of non-dual realization that is actualized on every plane of Relativity. Anami and Sach Khand are both seeds of sahaja, while also the already existent presense of non-dual realization that is eventually manifested as sahaja."
"More concisely, Anami, Sach Khand, and sahaja samadhi are all forms of nondual realization experienced in different contexts. Therefore, in their essence, they are the same. We can say, however, that sahaja represents an important stage in the individual's process of enlightenment as they illuminate all the bodies with non-dual realization, culminating in its realization on all planes, not just Sach Khand and above. From the point of view of the human desire to attain liberation, sahaja samadhi is 'better', not because it is different in its essence from Anami or Sach Khand, but because it represents the fulfillment of realizing non-dualism at the level of human nature that expresses the liberation of human nature from dualism and personal suffering. Realization of non-dualism in inversion in higher planes (such as Sach Khand and Anami) deeply transforms the essence of individuality that has inverted and absorbed itself into those levels as an 'inner' experience, but, until that same non-dual realization is manifested, such experiences do not yet necessarily represent the stage for the individual of illuminating the lower consciousness with enlightenment. Only to a degree. Not completely yet. So it is possible to, for instance, gain access in trance to experiences of the non-dual nature or essence of reality, but not yet have attained sahaja samadhi, because the latter requires integrating that into the lower planes. So the essence of non-dual realization is the same at any level, but, from a relative point of view, we can talk about ways and stages of realization and actualization of it."
"One more thing. Just as there is an individual who is ignorant (from a relative point of view), so only 'individuals' can be enlightened. Ignorance and enlightenment both happen to individuals. And therefore the Soul is not an 'obstacle' but an intrinsic element of enlightenment itself, a necessary locus for this actualization, in contrast to what many non-dual teachers may assert to the contrary."
Even in Sant Mat, then, there is a 'stage' beyond Anami, which would be full integration of the relative nature, in thought, feeling, will, and intelligence, with the Anami realization, as true and complete sahaj samadhi or its equivalent as described in many teachings. This would be Nanak's, "truth is above all, but higher still is true living." This cannot just be handed over by a guru. It is generally considered a product of long discipline and development. Even if it could be granted, in most cases one might not be able to bear the strain. Kirpal used to say to people who even asked for just higher experiences, "If a parent was asked by his child for poison, would he give it to him?" The rapid infusion of light would reveal so much of our dark nature that we would be overwhelmed with the worst in us, which must be faced gradually to be safely achieved. For any real enlightenment must be an integral one. Similarly, one longtime devotee who had done much intimate service asked Kirpal to 'take him up' to higher planes, and Kirpal replied, "well, that sort of thing could be done, but I am afraid that you would not be able to carry on here once you came back. Plus there is still some work the Lord still wants to take from you." The message here is also that in Sant Mat much is veiled until the necessary karma is cleared, and the more karma you have volunteered (knowingly or unknowingly) to be cleared, will determine when and how much in the way of such experiences one will have in this life. The second point, as mentioned, is that it is wisdom that ultimately liberates consciousness, not just experience - even seemingly of the highest kind. The meaning of any experience must be extracted, not just the having of the experience, which isn't always an automatic result. One must rationally and intuitively understand and embody one's experience for enlightenment to turn into liberation. There must be the moral development, both seeing the negatives in oneself, amending them, and also actualizing the positives, that is, aspiring towards one's sacred ideal. The good, the true - and the ancient Greeks would add the beautiful - must simultaneously become known. There is no having the one without the others. In fact, they are synonymous. So the path is a delicate and complex matter. The next section is rich.
“Can we then even speak of the longing of the Soul as existing between Sach Khand and Anami, or from the Soul to the One, in the same way as the emanant of the Soul in the created realms 'longs' for its source in Sach Khand? Not really, as desire has been so illumined by the time one 'reaches' the state or realm (for it is both) of Sach Khand that from there to Anami it does not feels like longing any more. Human terms are simply too difficult to apply there.”
“The Sants simply call the force propelling the Soul onwards and higher "love". Anami is the "ocean of Love", the "wonder region," yet, paradoxically, also described as without attributes, in almost every school. For some it may seem rather cold and impersonal to pass from Sach Khand to 'nirguna' Anami, or from relative Divinity to a transcendental Void. However, this great Void is the 'fullness of Reality', and such concerns are unjustified. The same trepidation may be said of the transition to each higher, more abstract and formless plane, such as from the lower to higher astral, or from the astral to the causal, and so on. This is due to one's attachment to the lower nature. It is not just our blemishes but our limited understanding that holds us back. But as one matures, the more subtle qualities of the higher (which contain the essence of the lower, so nothing is really 'lost') becomes more appealing and attractive.”
"From what I do know, and also from various other sources I have read and encountered, it works like something like this: each plane can seem, especially the higher ones, when viewed from lower planes, like they are more 'empty', have less 'juice', are less appealing. This is due to one still being attached to some relatively lower level of experience. But however sublime the states may be, adequate experience will eventually lead the practitioner to ripen into an attraction to what is beyond, and to become 'disillusioned' with the lower planes, as they are more veiled and therefore reflect less of the fullness of the transcendent reality. If one tries to approach a higher plane or realm before one is ripe, it may appear boring, confusing or even scary. But with adequate ripeness, it will begin to appear more profoundly fulfilling, blissful, complete and sublime. By the time one reaches Sach Khand, the veiling is so thin that the radical, primordial Reality is shining through so much that the sense of oneself as separate or needing anything else is deeply eclipsed by absorption in non-dual Presence. From here to Beyond, human language fails complete to not only describe the State, but also to explain why one 'goes higher', or 'does' anything at that stage. Perhaps one could say that it is not one's individual will or longing or desire or aspiration that leads one further, but the very nature and momentum of spirit and the Universal Will that brings the Spirit to Anami. [Ishwar Puri said that here we are beyond the individual soul, and that the t is the Totality that moves on to Anami. Yet how can consciousness ‘move’?] But frankly, these are terribly inadequate words. From another point of view we could say that, since some very fine veils still remain, that the power of one's realization, and one's communion with the Transcendental, continue to fuel a process that inevitably leads to higher and higher states of realization. For these are not simply realms of immense quiet and stillness and peace, but unimaginable realms of transcendental realization."
While difficult to put into words, nevertheless the saints have tried to 'describe' it, albeit metaphorically. Plotinus also makes a lyrical attempt, which we shall soon see, which puts a sublime feeling in the heart.
First, however, how do we reach there, knowing that our source in 'Sach Khand' is also our True Nature? The sages have always placed a great emphasis on the developing of intense longing as preliminary. True, some teachers, both traditional and modern, say longing is a desire, and all desires are of the ego, and thus to be eliminated. But previously one had a million desires, and now there is only one. And, as Paul Brunton wrote, "since the last act in this spiritual drama is played by the Higher Power, why not let it decide what to do concerning the matter?" (17) Sri Nisargadatta calls this ‘earnestness', or the ‘homing instinct’. How to achieve such a quality, such a state - which is natural to our Soul - is what the quest is all about, to which there are many, many aspects. A simple analogy may be derived from the natural world. To get fruit, what must happen? First, there is preparation of the ground. Then a seed is planted - maybe many seeds. Then the tree begins to grow. To get fruit, first here will be blossoms. Before the blossoms appear, there must be rain. Need this be explained? Preparation of the ground generally includes the building of an ethical base: self-control, kindness, truthfulness, patience, ahimsa, and the enduring of the furnace or tapas of psycho-physical purification, a key to which is faith and trust in oneself and the adept's influence. The sowing of seeds are good thoughts, words, and deeds. The rain are our tears of longing, born of the conscious experience of separation. No tears, no blossoms. As PB states:
"It is better for his real progress that his eyes should fill with tears of repentance than with the tears of ecstasy." (18)
The blossoms are insight and compassion for others. The fruit is the true man, and it falls when it is ripe, as we pass into a higher life. PB speaks of this quality of longing, of aspiration, as follows:
“Aspiration which is not just a vague and occasional wish but a steady settled and intense longing for the Overself is a primary requirement. Such aspiration means the hunger for awareness of the Overself, the thirst for experience of the Overself, the call for union to the Overself. It is a veritable power which lifts one upward, which helps one give up the ego more quickly, and which attracts Grace. It will have these desirable effects in proportion to how intensely it is felt and how unmixed it is with other personal desires.” (19)
This longing - in a rarified and essential form - may justifiably be said to be what 'carries' the Soul, already beyond time and space, to ultimate union with its own, higher Principle(s), its own Source. Plotinus and calls these the Nous and the One, or in Sant Mat, Anami. However, it does not reside there permanently (again, limited language as she is also eternally one with it), but 'returns' as Soul, since she is herself eternal. In fact, Soul and the One, or Anami, are so closely related that Kirpal, as mentioned, once wrote that between a Sant (one who has access to the fifth plane, or Sach Khand), and a Param Sant (one who reaches to the eighth plane - Anami) 'there is no difference except in nomenclature'. Was he purposely vague? I don't think so, just facing difficulty translating transcendental experience into human terms. There may be distinctions within Sat Lok, but no separation as such. Plotinus also tries, however, and speaks of it beautifully:
“Suppose the soul to have attained: the highest has come to her, or rather has revealed its presence; she has turned away from all about her and made herself apt, beautiful to the utmost, brought into likeness with the divine - by those preparings and adornings which come unbidden to those growing ready for the vision - she has seen that presence suddenly manifesting within her, for there is nothing between: here is no longer a duality but a two in one; for, so long as the presence holds, all distinction fades: it is as lover and beloved here, in a copy of that union, long to blend; the soul has now no further awareness of being in body and will give herself no foreign name, not man, not living being, not being, not all; any observation of such things falls away; the soul has neither time nor taste for them; This she sought and This she has found and on This she looks and not upon herself; and who she is that looks she has not leisure to know. Once There she will barter for This nothing the universe holds; not though one would make over the heavens entire to her; than This there is nothing higher, nothing of more good; above This there is no passing; all the rest however lofty lies on the down-going path: she is of perfect judgement and knows that This was her quest, that nothing higher is. Here can be no deceit; where could she come upon truer than the truth? and the truth she affirms, that she is herself; but all the affirmation is later and is silent. In this happiness she knows beyond delusion that she is happy; for this is no affirmation of an excited body but of a soul be come again what she was in the time of her early joy [as Soul]. All that she had welcomed of old - office, power, wealth, beauty, knowledge - of all she tells her scorn as she never could had she not found their better; linked to This she can fear no disaster, nor even once she has had the vision; let all about her fall to pieces, so she would have it that she may be wholly with This, so huge the happiness she has won to.” (20)
He here gives the One attributes (i.e., ‘happiness’), although elsewhere he does not. Such is the paradox these sages face in describing what can not truly be described.
So, study this with discrimination and see if it fits. We think the saints are being kind to us in their descriptions of these lofty states, which are truly beyond human imagination - when they say one will see 'God as a person', or that the master's form, after undergoing transformations in the different subtle planes, will be seen once again as a man on a throne in Sach Khand - but this analysis correlates with the Buddhist explanation of the realms of form and formlessness, as well as with that of some traditional Hindu yoga schools.
Yet, what seems to be the essence of what can be ascribed to Anami? Sants sometimes ascribe to it the term the "Wordless State." This means perhaps God the Father, the Unmanifest ground. Beyond form. No light or sound. This is in contrast with Sach Khand which is full of light, perhaps formless, but obviously manifest. Sant Darshan Singh refers to Anami as "an infinite ocean with no shores." Whatever it is, in Sant Mat or other traditions, it cannot be known without first realizing the Soul in itself. That is to say, the Absolute or Mother Soul, or God, the infinite Mind, cannot be known by the ego, or even the disembodied psyche. One must go through the unity of ones own soul first. While this is spoken of as the Void, the Soul is also experienced as voidness, yet there is a distinction.The Soul is not the ultimate source of creation, although it re-creates the image supplied to it by its prior, the Nous or Holy Spirit within it (and within which it exists) , emanated from the One. Lesser mystic realizers may mistake the cosmic and infinite nature of their own Soul to be the Ultimate, and stop there without really understanding the nature of manifestation, or God, but it is only here that such understanding can truly begin. The point is that there is to be a deepening of the higher realization. As mentioned elsewhere in this book, various high traditions speak of three degrees of penetration into the "Void-Mind." I don't know if Alakh, Agam, and Anami fit the bill here, or if there are three further degrees of deepening within Anami. The Sant Mat literature is confusing because there are sometimes spoken of turrets, palaces, lords and what-not in these stages. Paul Brunton, however, describes what seems like would be the experience Anami like this:
"At last he has entered the absolute stillness, the glorious liberating awareness of true being." (21)
Damiani commented that here PB is speaking about entering what Plotinus calls the Intellectual phase of the soul - the highest aspect of Soul, or Absolute-Soul-in-the-Intellectual-Principle - which the Orthodox Fathers simply called the Nous. This would be beyond the soul, or unit-soul, per se - and, therefore, presumably, beyond the state of Sach Khand. Perhaps it is merger with the Sat Purusha (the Absolute or 'Parent' Soul) in the absolute Stillness. The point is that only one established or stabilized in realization of the soul could be receptive to this. Thus many newly awakened advaitins or Zennists may be mistaken in their initial realizations, and need time to simmer or cook more before declaring they have realized the Supreme. Similarly, "Don't be in a rush to declare it the Dharmakaya," say the Tibetans. Brunton continues:
"There is here no form to be perceived, no image born of the senses to be worshipped, no oracular utterance to be listened for, and no emotional ecstasy to be revealed in...Here there is neither time nor space. It is like a great silent boundless circle wherein no life seems to stir, no consciousness seems to be at work, and no activity is in sway. Yet the seer will know by a pure insight which will grip his consciousness as ti has never been gripped before, that here indeed is the root of all life, all consciousness, and all activity. But how it is so is as inexplicable intellectually as what its nature is. WIth the Mind the last word of human comprehension is uttered. With the Mind the last world of possible being is explored. But whereas the utterance is comprehensible to his consciousness, the speaker is not. It is a Silence which speaks but what it says is only that it IS; more than that none can hear." (22)
The use of the term "Void" should not be confused with the preliminary experiential 'void' of 'sunnya'; it is way beyond that, way beyond chakras, bodies and planes. But a sage, once established, could realize or access this directly within a few moments even while in the body. Damiani expands on what one is enabled to recognize once the true nature of Soul or Overself is realized:
"We would have to say something like this: that the World-Mind or Mind, the unique Mind, is that same One in all Overselves. Or, if you want, you could say that each and every Overself is a point within the World-Mind. It is from the position of the Overself where the recognition of this unique Mind could take place. Where else can it take place?...You become aware of this immense Power, this unique Being, this unfathomable Mind, this shoreless bottomless ocean, the World-Mind or Mind. You won't discover that Mind unless you are situated in the Overself." (23)
There are many ways to try to express this. Only the Soul can know God. The nature of the individual soul is emptiness or void, but here we are speaking of realizing the 'Principle of Emptiness' itself. Hence it is a deeper realization - yet of the same One Mind. The 'Silence' here is deafening, but the sage can be instructed directly from it. We are talking, obviously, about a divine stage. This is beyond the phenomenon of the mystical Interior Word, or an animated Master's Form speaking to oneself. Here, Self-Knowledge is now God-Knowledge. The Wordless State.
Without acknowledging such a deepening - whether in trance or without - all one could say was that realization of the individual-soul-as-absolute, such as in nirvikalpa samadhi, was it. Yet the world is not yet known for what it is, and for most mystics it is still a problem. The question "what is it?" has not yet been answered. The individual Soul - that which most accomplished mystics actually attain union with - not God or the One - may indeed 'create' the world for itself by projecting its own images and then experiencing them, but the 'raw material' - the master image - for that creation is supplied by the soul's parent soul - or, if you like, its own higher self within it - which the soul then receives, translates, and then projects and experiences for itself. A kind of non-duality - a welcome non-duality - is achieved when the soul or perceiver realizes it is not separate from its own experiences, but a deeper non-duality still awaits it, and understanding..
The books sometimes give the impression that once one has realized consciousness, he will see the manifestation appearing like a mist arising from that ocean. Or that one will from on-high see all of the transmutations of consciousness into subtle and then dense matter. But that is not what happens. You do not perceive the manifestation arising out of consciousness. The manifestation and consciousness are simultaneous, and the realization that the manifestation is consciousness comes through understanding. This is not automatically achieved just by sinking meditatively into the subjective logos or soul within, leaving the world and ego behind. They must still be brought into ones consciousness in the ordinary state and realized as such. That is how the world is understood and not simply, yogically, dismissed as being unreal. It is real, as a product of DivineThought, pouring through the soul. Without the proper preparation, though, one will usually not be able to connect the manifestation with the substrate of consciousness while in the body, but will either rest content with abiding only as consciousness, or parrot-like repeating that the world is consciousness. The sage knows that the world is consciousness, the mystic may not.
It is important to keep in mind that the Overself is not only realized on a particular plane; it is not 'above' or 'beyond' the chakras, the psyche, or bodies - nor does it depend on any of them. It is realized in the absolute stillness alone. So it is always available and present. Therefore we must also be careful in using the word "transcend." While there are certainly high mystic states that can be experienced by the soul, from another point of view all of those states, bodies, and worlds are within the soul itself. The insight accompanying realization of the Soul, of the Overself, is of Life itself. Soul is Life. So what do we mean by transcending or going beyond 'Life'? The manifestation is not Life. Life is what makes the manifestation possible. Damiani states:
"Life is universal in its sweep. It permeates the entire universe and makes the universe possible. It oozes out the universe from within itself. So why speak of transcending it?" (24)
One may speak of transcending the limitations of the psychic functioning, and of its purification, that is another thing. But even then it is a matter basically of understanding, not "going up high and looking down." We transcend by understanding and taking the world into ourself. We can get mystically absorbed here or there, but, even then, fundamentally the soul remains where it is. Brunton writes:
"Whenever I have used the term "the centre of his being," I have referred to a state of meditation, to an experience which is felt at a certain stage. The very art of meditation is a drawing inwards and the finer, the more delicate, the subtler this undraping becomes, the closer it is to this central point of consciousness. But from the point of view of philosophy, meditation and its experiences are not the ultimate goal - although they may help in preparing one for that goal. In that goal there is no kind of centre to be felt nor any circumference either - one is without being localized anywhere with reference to the body, one is both in the body and in the Overself. There is then no contradiction between the two." (25)
"Nearer than thy jugular vein," said Darshan Singh, and the Koran.
This is not easy material, and if you have understood even a little of the above, dear reader, you have gotten a great deal.
More Depths on Planes, Bodies, and Non-Dualism
"If we wish to overcome duality, we must allow love to take possession of us. As this love takes greater hold, the sense of ego begins to disappear, and God increasingly fills our heart." - Darshan Singh (26)
"The difference between knowledge and love is that knowledge continually tries to banish duality but love retains it as a precious treasure and itself remains without duality." (27)
Here is another way of looking at non-dual realization in terms of Sant Mat. In the state of non-dual presence (atmic realization, rigpa), when integrated with human experience, there is awareness of the world as sensations, thoughts, desires, emotions, and so on, and even advanced experiences like the Sat Purush. But, as these phenomena arise, they are accompanied by a lucid wisdom, a direct spiritual realization (beyond not only intellect but even intuition) that each phenomena that arises in one's consciousness is actually buddha-nature (or whatever one wishes to call it - emptiness, the Tao, Brahman). So there is a kind of dual perception where maya presents itself to non-dual presence/ awareness, moment to moment, as experiences of apparently separate phenomena, and remaining rigpa or atmic vision means that one does not slip into experiencing this phenomena as of a separate nature from oneself. The witness is empty. The phenomena is empty. The Sat Purush is empty. Nothing but emptiness witnessing emptiness. The power of this realization liberates the phenomena that is arising as well, so that the karmic power driving some of these phenomena is liberated by the power inherent in the fact that one 'perceived them non-dually’ (to use a clumsy phrase). This state is different than nirodha, or internal nirvikalpa samadhi, in which all phenomena have temporarily ceased arising. Many Vedantists’ immersion in this kind of nirvikalpa can have great power to enhance the clarity of one's non-dual realization, but it has no power to liberate remaining karma/vasanas because they are not being allowed to arise so the can be liberated in the presence of non-dual realization. They have been set aside in order to enter nirvikalpa trance. But it may be that experience of this state does strengthen the state of rigpa or non-dual presence when one does re-emerge. And the ego that emerges is not quite as bad; the recognition that there are higher spiritual values is not something one takes lightly. [That is also one value of repeated immersion in the shabda-brahman and higher planes].
In Dzogchen various stages of non-dual contemplation are described that are determined by the depth of power one has developed in the intensity of rigpa or atmic realization, so that, for instance, vasanas may need to arise repeatedly to be fully liberated, while in the more advanced stages the liberation of vasanas is instantaneous. Further, advanced Togal practices are employed to cause a more enhanced expansion of non-dual realization that is more like turning on a light in a room full of karmas, liberating many at once rather than in succession as vasanas usually arise in human consciousness. But all this business of karmas/samskara/vasanas being liberated as they arise in non-dual presence is really a relative and progressive view of what is happening. In the state of rigpa, there is no concept of changing, liberating, transforming, purifying. All phenomena arising are seen as a non-dual energetic (shakti) display of one's own nature, self-perfected from the beginning, and not obscuring anything.
At a higher stage, the practitioner gains the ability to access the non-dual view or realization, but only in meditation. The karmas that remain in one's nature are experienced as an obstruction that block out non-dual awareness, but one has the ability to use one's will to penetrate through the obscurations and enter 'the view' at will, non-dual presence, rigpa. At an even higher stage, one is continuously stabilized in non-dual realization, but some personal karma remains. This would be just before Sach Khand, if one is practicing non-dual vision simultaneously with meditation. But one's point of view is that these karmas, arising in one's experience, are no longer 'in between' oneself and emptiness, causing obscuration. It is as if one has moved to the other side of the cloud of thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc. that continue to arise, but now one experiences them as non-dual, so they are no longer experienced as an obstruction to non-dual realization. This is a harder realization to attain than simply accessing non-dual realization in trance, because in the latter, one has set aside these apparent obscurations to make it easier to see behind them to emptiness. This can help gain access to the non-dual state of presence, but it will not be stabilized in one's ordinary awareness until it has gained an intensity wherein phenomena are no longer experienced as an obstruction to realization, and further, each moment of phenomena is fully experienced non-dually, on all planes. This takes greater depth, so to speak, of realization.
Awakening and Re-awakening
An aspect of a true awakening is sometimes the intuitive feeling that there is 'no-self'. This basically means that one has realized something beyond the mind or egoic identity. However, this may have a number of levels and not, in fact, be the ultimate, although that is frequently asserted. We discuss this issue of levels of no-self more in Part Four, but one suggestive interpretation in the present context might be as follows. We recognize that this discussion is technically challenging, least of all since the definition of ‘causal' or 'causal consciousness’ will vary greatly from tradition to tradition. We do not claim this analysis to be correctt.
The quality of 'no I', or perhaps, 'no separate I', may reflect, not the Buddhist anatta, or the Hindu Atman, but the level of causal consciousness, which in modern esotericism is sometimes referred to as 'enlightenment', and is briefly summarized as the transcendence of identification with the lower three bodies (physical, astral, mental) - i.e., the 'lower triad' in theosophy, or the total personality - hence the feeling that there is no 'I' that one can presently identify with. The Buddha said he was in this state - ‘free of the conceit of a separate self’ - for many lifetimes before he reached his final enlightenment. This, say some theosophical teachings, is also technically marked by the union of the lesser causal body (or the portion of the causal body - the 'field' of consciousness that incarnates) with the greater causal body (sometimes referred to as the 'soul', and in which the incarnating monad rests between lifetimes). In some schools of esotericism this is known as the 3rd 'initiation' or transformation of consciousness. It is a formless, intuitive realization which grants a continuity of consciousness between incarnations [although some say there is no such unbroken continuity, even for adepts, but whose reawakening is relatively rapid and assured] and is a marked advance, the 'beginning of the end of duality', one could say. In fact, many esotericists would maintain that the level of attainment expressed by many mystics pertains to this very level, and not to the absolute as they often feel or assert. It is followed by a 4th initiation where one rises to the buddhic unity plane, more complete identification with the upper triad (higher mental/causal-buddhi-atma) and 'graduates' from the human (4th) to the 5th kingdom, which, very briefly stated, has many more advanced spiritual stages (i.e., relating to the 'Spirit', or transcendental ray of Consciousness, prior to its passage through the archtypal Idea of Man becoming an individualized human soul). But even the 3rd stage is a profound realization and can seem indistinguishable from ultimate enlightenment to the uninformed or inexperienced. This is a quite common misconception today.
Thus, esoteric researcher Lee Bladon summarizes, in his book, The Science of Spirituality:
“Causal consciousness is radically different from anything a normal person has ever experienced, and is characterized by a feeling of unity and identification with everyone and everything in the entire world. A number of books by enlightened authors describe this [as a non-dualistic] state of being where the “I” disappears. The authors usually portray their own enlightenment as a sudden awakening or realization that they were already enlightened. This tells me that they initially attained enlightenment in a previous incarnation and merely re-attained it in this life. Some mistakenly assume that anyone can instantly awaken just like they did. which misleads people into believing that enlightenment is merely an act of letting go, and does not involve “working on yourself”. This is exactly how it works with re-enlightenment, but not with initial enlightenment. You cannot become enlightened unless your monad is in the 3.7 atom (or above), and getting there requires many lifetimes of persistent effort. Most of these books only describe embryonic development of objective causal consciousness.” (28)
Without getting even more technical, Bladon is here building on the work of theosophist de Laurency, in referring to the highest subplane ‘atom’ of the mental or causal body as becoming the focus, in the upper or ‘soul’ triad of atma-buddhi-manas, of the monad as it develops out of mental consciousness. There is an actual molecular shift, as it were, in the conscious focus in one’s subtle bodies. The first six subplanes of each plane, in theosophical teachings, are composed of ‘molecules’ of varying densities of primal atoms of energy-consciousness-matter (not to be equated with the concept of’physical matter’ in traditional science, but rather 'atoms' in the sense of the smallest particles of 'existence'), while the seventh or transitional subplane is composed of atoms only. As our subtle bodies are composed of molecules and not atoms there is said to therefore be a period of unconscious swoon between transition from one plane to another, such as in sleep or after death. When the two parts of the causal body finally consciously unite, it is akin to a concept in the teachings of Paul Brunton, where he said (although perhaps not intentionally with the same meaning), “when one’s mental eyes are open to truth, they can never be closed again.” The next stage is when the center for the monad moves up to the 4.7 atom, which for Bladon is the unity plane - another name for buddhic consciousness. And then there are higher levels - spiritual, divine, and monadic - ‘beyond’ the human kingdom, essentially representing deeper realizations of sahaj samadhi.
Please don't cry, things can possibly only get worse, proceeding in this direction! Simplicity is the order of the day, but apparently not quite yet, for there are also said to be
Replicated or Reflected Planes
Mark writes:
"In Sach Khand, personal karma has been exhausted, so that the intensity of non-dual presence is not only greater, but is more fully integrated with the lower bodies, releasing more of their latent potential for expression. This is probably why there has been debate in Vedanta about whether nirvikalpa or sahaj samadhi is Self-Realization. Technically nirvikalpa feels like liberation, and in a very real sense, is, because one is in a liberated state of presence. But one's karma is not fully liberated until Sainthood is reached, so one could say that the bodies will express a higher degree of liberation at that stage, especially the causal body."
"As each plane is mirrored in every other plane, then Sach Khand, for instance, has a reflection in each form dimension. Every incarnate master who is in atmic or non-dual realization is a type of reflection of Sach Khand in the physical world. 'Shambhala' would be the planetary manifestation of a kingdom that reflects Sach Khand in the physical world (though many believe, as makes sense to me, that this would be more 'etheric' physical, as that is the physical sub-plane that mirrors Sach Khand). Since each plane reflects a version of each other in a way that is conditioned by the reflected plane, the reflection of the lower planes in the higher is more difficult to comprehend, as it is realized as the essences of lower manifestations. So, for instance, we do not have earthy objects in the formless planes, but the Idea/essence of the earth element as a pure light/sound/Idea exists there. So, too, does Time exist there, but as a pure Idea, not as a sequence of events and a sense of duration."
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I must confess, being schooled in Kant to recognize time as an a priori category of the mind determining how we perceive our experience, that I do not understand this last sentence! But in light of the Sant Mat notion of not only time or Kal but also Maha Kal, it deserves deep pondering.
"There is a reflection of Sach Khand on all three of the lower planes, and it is perfectly real. It is not someone's imagining of it. It is just as real as any physical place, though in a certain relative sense, it is more real, as it vibrates with a much greater sense of Beingness, or Reality, and so leaves one with a more powerful sense of the 'substance' of it than physical experience does, by comparison. But, when talking about journeying to higher planes, if we are talking about the deepest meaning of moving plane by plane, withdrawing from each body in turn until reaching Atman/Sach Khand, then it would be more allegorical to talk of form environments and such, even though that is very real, too. The formless experience of Sach Khand, though to our ordinary human nature may sound unappealingly impersonal or abstract, is actually even more sublime in its purity than the form level reflection. But since the part of our nature that is attuned to that level is, whether form or formless, in a more non-dual state, then the difference perhaps doesn't matter so much."
"In a sense the higher realms intermediate between the lower three worlds and the divine planes are the realms of Platonic Ideas and Ideal Forms, not forms in the material sense, but the abstract archetypes upon which manifestation is based, as well as the primal causes behind manifestation. Some of the keys to understanding the realms to my mind are these:
(1) From a non-dual point of view, the essence of the realms must be the same. Ultimately the essence of all planes is Brahman or the Non-dual.
(2) At the level of dualism, again the nature of the planes is the same. So if a lower plane can be said to be 'material', then in some essential way, all the planes are material. And if some planes can be said to be planes of spirit, then all planes must be spirit in some sense. Since one meaning of Spirit is the Non-dual, which is not against or in contrast to anything, then when we say that the higher planes are purely or deeply spiritual, then what does this mean? They are spiritual in two ways. They more readily reflect 'realization' of the Non-dual, so they seem more spiritual than the lower planes. But the lower planes can reflect non-dual realization as well, as in sahaja samadhi, so that is not a characteristic that is limited to the higher planes. The atman may be the part of us that always realizes its non-dual nature, but all planes can do that. So another meaning of spiritual that can be applied to the higher planes is that they are more universal. This is a key understanding. The non-dual and the universal are not the same, though they are often confused. The universal is part of relativity and duality, for it gets its meaning in counterrelationship to the particular, the individual, the specific.
(3) All of the planes, then, represent a spectrum of states from what, to our dualistic perception, will appear at one end of the spectrum as a plane of almost pure form, the material plane all the way up to a plane that is almost pure Spirit or Mind, ultra-universal. This last plane reaches into the very foundations of the essence of mind and consciousness itself, like the notion of Unity, Polarity, Selfhood, Infinity, or Eternality. These kinds of Pure Ideas, liberated from being perceived as being tied to any specific manifestation of them, form the very highest planes - Luminous, Eternal, Infinite, Expansive, Liberated. But they are not the final non-dual, because they are part of a spectrum of experience from form to formless, specific to universal, finite to infinite, which still partakes of dualism, and so is not fully liberated, in the original Buddhist sense.
(4) The formless, Mind, universal planes are planes of greater wholeness, cohesion and unity, because the nature of Formless Abstraction is that is moves deeper and deeper into identification with Categories of Reality, Universal Ideas, Principles, Archetypes and Laws. We shift our focus from the realm of particulars that these Universals are the Soul of, the underlying Formative Patterns that hold all specific forms in shape, as well as provide the forces that interrelate forms as laws from Love and Gravity to Karma and Time, to the realm of Universal, and we will feel timeless, blissful, whole, unified, silent, peaceful. This provides a powerful foundation for non-dual realization, but is not the same.
(5) It is easier to reflect non-dual realization in our nature that exists in these higher planes, so if we journey to, or attune to, this higher level aspect of ourselves, we will not only be aware of the universals (sometimes, at first, only as simple qualities like silence and eternity), but we will also connect with a level of our nature that has already developed a good measure of non-dual realization. This can confuse people about the nature of these planes, making people believe their inherent nature is non-dual realization. That is kind of true, but not really.
(6) The planes can be looked at as existing in a continuum divided into three main groups. The first set of planes is dominated by form, bodies, objects, individuality, matter. The highest set is dominated by Spirit, Universality, Pure Mind. The third set of planes is in the middle between these two, and has a relatively greater balance of spirit and matter, universality and individuality.
(7) There are three form planes - physical, emotional and mental (this last is really a material form of mind, not true Universal, Abstract Mind. It is filled with images, words and other forms of mind that are very personal, earth bound, form-based.)
(8) The highest three planes are planes of pure Mind - Universality. It is very hard to name these planes. The lowest of these is the fifth plane counting from the densest, most material, and is the home of our Atman.
(9) The middle plane, making seven in all, is the plane of spiritual intuition.
(10) All the planes have seven subdivisions that mirror the greater seven planes. So, for instance, the physical plane has seven subdivision, the highest three being ethereal or energetic/pranic, and is the formative foundation for the dense body. These three levels mirror the highest three planes, which in the larger divisions are the 'ethereal, Universal Planes. This etheric or pranic aspect of the physical level of our bodies is where the seven chakras are to be found. These have a profound relationship to the seven major planes, but also have other levels of meaning and functioning. The other four planes are the planes of earth, water, fire and air. They make up the dense physical body.
(11) The next two planes are also planes of form, so they are realms of shape, form, bodies, environments, objects, events, etc. They are also divided into the etheric aspect and the dense aspect. They are the astral and mental. The dense aspect of the mental plane can be called the concrete mind, as it is the aspect of our human intelligence that visualizes and names forms. The etheric aspect of the mental plane can also be called the higher or abstract mind or mental body. In some systems it is called the causal body. It is used by the higher self (atma/buddhi) for interacting with the lower planes.
(12) The fourth plane, the intuitive, is more formless, being in the middle, but still has what some have called 'formless form'. It is a meeting place between the higher and the lower, and a plane where the levels of pure mind can interact with form, and a level where our form-based human consciousness can begin to look directly into the more purely Universal planes.
(13) Mirroring the larger pattern of dividing the planes into three groups, this middle, soul/intuitive plane can be also divided into three levels. In Sant Mat the lower aspect, which is more 'tainted' with form, is Daswan Dwar, and the higher, etheric aspect is Bhanwar Gupha. This latter is the threshold to the higher trinity of planes. The exact mid-point, an point of profound equilibrium and balance between the lower and higher, is the fourth sub-plane of the fourth plane. This is called Mahasunn is Sant Mat. The place of perfect balance is also the point of darkness.
(14) Beyond all the planes is the ground of them all - the Non-dual, the Absolute. This reality can be accessed in different ways. The part of one's nature that is identified with the densest plane, the physical, and ascends through the planes, thus gathers experience and a more balanced relationship to all of them, and can then experience transcending them all 'through to the top', in which case the non-dual will seem like it is another plane above the seven planes (or nine if you count the subdivisions of the intuitive). But it is also possible to pierce through the planes directly to the non-dual from any plane. Doing this will also bring with it increasing access to all the other planes, as this liberates one from the dualistic identifications that give rise to the separate planes in the first place, so they all become accessible from the base of non-dualism.
(15) In this schemata, the anandamayakosha is the same as the intuitive body. As this is a plane that still has a balance of spirit and matter, the matter aspect gives rise to 'bodyness'. But as it is relatively more formless, partaking deeply of the qualities of the higher planes, it does not have the kind of shape the lower bodies do. It is a formless body. Hence it blissfulness. This body is also beyond the vijnandamayakosha (discriminative sheath), so lacking the more dualistic judgmentalness of that sheath, the anandamaya is free of self-judgment, guilt, condemnation, and the like, which is another reason it is blissful. It is not the bliss of SatChitAnanda, though. The latter is the bliss of non-dual awakening. This sheath is the home of a very conscious aspect of ourselves. In the average person, it is not as non-dual realized as the Atman, but it is wise and compassionate. If the average person where to immerse themselves in the anandamayakosha without actually transforming into the consciousness of that level of realization, it would go into an kind of unconscious blissful sleep, deep sleep. That does not mean that this body is an unconscious body, but rather that is how the ordinary jiva or incarnated self would experience that level. But if one is raised to that level by transforming into the anandamayakosha-self, one would experience a great illumination and expansion of consciousness. It is only one veil removed from the atman. Kirpal Singh said that it is almost like an integral part of the Soul itself."
"A few words might be said about the Intuitive Body, midway between the lower three bodies and the spiritual planes above, as this is not discussed very much in any of the literature. Although not having a three-dimensional shape like the physical, astral and mental bodies, and also being beyond time and space as experienced in the psychophysical levels, the intuitive body does have a kind of ‘formless form’ and as such is still considered a ‘body’ or ‘sheath’ that covers the innermost Self, Spirit or atman. The intuitive body contains the pure archetypes, ideas and principles that form the foundational matrix for our more concrete personality and physical life. The intuitive body is also the more permanent aspect of our reincarnating identity, being the body where the seeds of karma generated in each incarnation, as well as in our experiences in the astral and mental worlds, are stored between incarnations. It is also the level of our nature where the essential wisdom and character developed through each incarnation is integrated and preserved. While each of the three more spatially manifested bodies (physical, astral and mental) have seven major chakras, along with the primary channels or nadis, that form the foundation of each body, the intuitive body contains a more essential version of these etheric centers that expresses as a single, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional chakra or lotus that is the essence of the intuitive body of a human being. This may be called the ‘soul body’ and has also been called the ‘egoic lotus’. As this ‘meta-body’ or lotus manifests on the lower planes, beginning at the etheric mental level, it differentiates into a more three-dimensional shape with seven spatially distinct chakras and numerous lesser centers and channels. The intuitive body has been called the karana sarira or ‘causal body’ in yoga, the ananda-maya-kosa in Vedanta, the soul or higher self, and the permanent personality (Daskalos). This level of consciousness and identity is but one level removed from the atman or liberated spiritual Self.
(16) The vijnandamayakosha correlates to the higher mental body - the reasoning, discriminating, thinking body. When this sheath is illuminated with higher realization, it becomes a source of relative wisdom and moral discrimination.
[Note: for further pondering and comparative analysis, the reader will note that Ramana Maharshi on occasion referred to the 'I-thought' as the vijnanamayakosha. He said it was a reflection of the light of Atman passing through Maha Tattva. He also quoted Sankara's Vivekachudamani: "The pure "I" is always shining forth in the intellectual sheath." This is obviously a difficult concept to correlate within the present "vertical" schema of planes and bodies, and we apologize for any difficulty this presents. Hopefully some clarity will emerge before our book is through].
(17) The manomayakosha is a combination of the lower mind and the emotional bodies. It is also sometimes called the kama-manas, or desire-mind.
(18) The pranamayakosha is the etheric physical body, with chakras, nadis, and meridians.
(19) The annamayakosha is the dense physical body, the lower 4 sub-planes. The body dependent on food.
(20) Ultimately all the planes are actually interpenetrating, so that manifest throughout the whole form dimension are the universal dimension. They have no meaning without each other. And, implicit within universals are their particulars that 'express' them. The two realities are mutually interdependent and co-arising. So, if one deeply investigates the physical realm, one will gradually discover the underlying universals that the physical is founded on, and so will find the universal expressed in the particular, and the particular implicit in the universal. We can separate them out in our consciousness for various purposes, but in non-dual awareness we grow in our appreciation of their profound interdependence. This is a basis for the jnana path."
"Karma, as such, is 'plane specific'. Any attachment or aversion to anything and a given plane forms a karmic link to that plane. This is one way of looking at things. One is liberated from a plane by ceasing to be anything but purely equanimous towards it. This can be accomplished in various ways, but results in the same thing. One must not only cease to be currently tied to that plane, but must also neutralize past tendencies of attachment or aversion formed in relation to that plane. Since the physical is the coarsest plane, it is generally easiest to develop equanimity towards that plane first, then refine our detachment and realization towards subtler worlds. More advanced initiates are developing a most sublime form of non-dual realization that comes from complete indifference even to the most sublime formless realms. This, of course, is the hardest level of equanimity to develop."
"Since the three bodies are the ones that are the lower three vehicles that are temporary with each incarnation and define our human nature as beings manifest in form, when one has completed karma at those levels, one is fully liberated from human karma. There are two ways to define liberation, one, as a state of mind, and, two, as freedom from karma. At the fifth level (Sach Khand) one is both in a non-dual state of mind and has fully exhausted all three levels of human karma. At the fourth level (Bhanwar Gupha) one is also in a 'liberated' state of mind, sahaja, but the very subtle mental/causal karmas are not yet fully exhausted. But this is not so much karma that it obscures the ability of the individual to remain in a non-dual state in which they no longer experience dualism, nor do they experience the remaining karma as a problem. [I realize that Mark's view of Bhanwar Gupha here appears quite different than the one I presented in Part One]. Since they are in the non-dual view at the fourth already, they are liberated, though they have some remaining subtle or causal karma. The inner realization of a master is unaffected by whether or not they have karma yet to play out. But if there is some karma left, some integration to achieve, it will contribute to conditioning the manifestation of the body(s) of the master. Thus there may be greater degrees of Mastery despite realization of Sach Khand."
"In Sant Mat, there are apparently considered to be several levels beyond the Atman: Alak, Agam, and Anami, the latter variously also called Nirala, Radhasoami, Maha Dayal, etc.. These levels are also recognized by many schools such as in Buddhism, some schools of Hinduism (Sri Yukteswar, for example), and certain schools of Western esotericism. They may have been referred to by even Zen Master Seng Ts'an as the "realms of Suchness." One reference speaks of Hakuin referring to eternal realms for the Srakakas and Pratyekabuddhas (Arhants), Bodhisattvas, and the Buddha, beyond the traditional six cyclic samsaric realms of birth and death. The Tushita heaven is mentioned as the liberated abode where await the Bodhisattvas destined to incarnate on this earth as Buddhas. Shakyamuni was said to have waited there. This sounds much like Sach Khand."
"Beyond all planes of the relative universe is Brahman or the Tao, the non-dual or primordial reality. The non-dual is beyond all these levels and yet is the essential nature of all levels. No level is closer to non-dual than another, although some levels, particularly the subtlest three, are much more conducive to direct realization of the non-dual or Absolute. We can group the highest planes together as formless planes that give easier access to increasingly liberated non-dual realization. In these planes or levels one’s awareness and being are not only infused with direct perception of the Absolute, but also an awareness of one’s relative Self or Atman (rigpa in Dzogchen) as liberated and luminous, and being of the same substance as the Absolute. Here one also encounters the Universal Presence or Logos, the essence of all awakened Being. But even the realization one has on these planes grows, and so we must not equate these worlds with a particular level of developed enlightenment."
"The densest three planes are the most veiled. These are often called the realms of separation or maya, not because they are intrinsically less divine, but because these realms are characterized by a perception that everyone and everything is separate, limited and imperfect. Remember, each of these worlds are really states of consciousness or understanding, even though the greater maya or ‘veiledness’ of the densest realms gives rise to the illusion or appearance of concrete forms, beings and an objective universe. Many yogic schools do not recognize this, and resort to semi-materialistic explanations and descriptions. Paramhansa Yogananda spoke of ‘astral matter’ and ‘lifetrons’, while Sant Mat itself uses the terms, material, materio-spiritual, spirituo-material, and spiritual for the representative densities of the various planes. But they are all manifestations of consciousness, or Mind in Buddhist terminology. Even the bodies and koshas are more or less expedients, and not objective realities, that we use to navigate our way through the dimensions within relativity"
"Once again, the intermediate or intuitive plane is a transitional realm, with two or three divisions, depending on classification, partaking of the characteristics of both the higher and lower trinities. It is therefore a kind of doorway between the formless realms of non-dual illumination, and the more concrete realms of form, time, space and activity. We might also say that the subtlest three planes are planes of purely universal states, and the densest planes are the realms more dominated by awareness of particulars. The middle realm is the realm of intuitive awareness of the interrelation of the universal and the particular, the unity in diversity."
"Even though the higher worlds, being less veiled, can make access to non-dual realization easier to develop, this direct perception of the non-dual can be had from any plane or world, because each level can be purified and transformed so that it can reflect the Absolute. And each level gives a new richness to non-dual realization, so that until non-dual realization is developed in all levels, one has not yet developed the fullest, most balanced awakening."
Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya: the grandeur of a Master
Mark: "All of the planes and bodies interpenetrate. There is only one reality, although we must respect the apparently real distinction between the absolute and the relative, which have their own laws, until we achieve full transcendence. All planes are aspects of one truth, the truth of our individual nature and the nature of the universe (the macrocosm being in the microcosm). In Tibetan Buddhism they speak of the three kayas: Dharmakaya (or body of truth), Sambhogakaya (or body of light), and Nirmanakaya, (or physical body). Everyone has these, but they may be experienced both from a dualistic or enlightened point of view. The totally realized individual may manifest these bodies at will, for the sake of others. Thus, the Perfect Master has a human body, A Radiant form, and a Truth 'Body' or Sat Purush. In the non-dual perspective or complete realization of the adept, all of these and their corresponding energies and/or worlds may be enjoyed separately and non-dualistically as spontaneous manifestations of ones own true nature, while also knowing that they are not in essence separate from one another. They represent unlimited possibilities for the completed, non-dually realized Master, who can therefore meet you and be with you at all times and anywhere, since, in truth, he is not separate from you either. One need only be open and available to this truth. That one must do, yet even if one lacks this capacity, even then Grace will find a way to make itself own. That is one special gift of this Path."
One initiate wrote:
"Sant Kirpal Singh often repeated, “If you knew how much I love you, you would be dancing all around kissing the ground and hugging the trees.” How can we understand these words correctly? The lucky souls who have been honored with the gift of this peerless heavenly Light and Celestial Music are the most blessed beings on this planet. Such like grace is unfathomable, and incomprehensible..It is a love that has no burden, knows no burden and beatifies everything it touches. It is a love which is eternal, everlasting and unconditional. It is in fact the Love of our Creator for us...I had the truly amazing blessing to be with His Holiness Sant Kirpal Singh in Kashmir, India in 1973...As it happened the great Master had taken us on a picnic one afternoon to a remote spot near a sparkling river at the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. The scene could not have been more idyllic. The snowcapped Himalayas glistened in the distance, their scintillating presence encircling us like great ancient kings. We sat on the banks of a gushing river with water as clear and pure as a heavenly fountain. On either side lush green grass and tall pine trees cloistered around us providing shade from the afternoon sun. Master Darshan who was then the gurumukh disciple of Sant Kirpal Singh, began reciting some of his poetry in praise of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh. Suddenly a great wave of love descended upon us permeating every particle of our being. At one point he remarked, “It is a great blessing to have a living Master.” Master Kirpal abruptly interrupted him and added, “No it is the greatest blessing.” His words were so charged with love everyone immediately fell into a kind of divine stupor. With those words a single tear gracefully fell from Master’s eye and with it all creation seemed to weep. We too were carried off by this heavenly rain of grace and every eye became filled with these precious pearls of divine love. To this day, I cannot find words to express the immense love and grace I have felt then and now. Having met these great beings of Light even once in my life would have been a blessing beyond my comprehension. But to have spent countless hours, days, weeks, and months in their divine presence is a gift which is unfathomable. Each of these great Masters Param Sant Kirpal Singh, Gracious Master Sant Darshan Singh and His Holiness Sant Rajinder Singh is a gift to humanity so immense it is beyond human description and reckoning. Each has brought such precious and wondrous gifts of love and compassion to each of us and to millions of souls. How can one repay such blessings? Such divine grace is worth sacrificing thousands of lives and hundreds of thousands of hearts. I am constantly and continually in awe of their unending beauty, love and perfection."
Mark continues:
"Each of these planes of consciousness is said to have seven sub-planes that mirror the major planes. The subtlest three sub-planes of the form planes are called the etheric aspect or dimension of each plane. The three lower worlds, being realms of form, time and space, are populated by many forms of life, and are made up of countless worlds and landscapes. Just as the physical universe is made up of vast numbers of worlds such as subatomic realms, jungles, oceans, continents, planets, solar systems, galaxies, and so on, so too the astral and mental planes comprise an even greater variety of these realms, all just as relatively ‘real’ as the physical universe. So, for instance, there are astral and mental dimensions that are equally a part of the total reality of our planet, where there are events and dramas transpiring that affect the totality of the Earth. The psychological worlds (astral and mental) are populated by countless beings, all inhabiting regions that resonate with their karmic conditions. Subsequently, the various realms may be categorized according to their level of consciousness and karma, which we find named in various traditions by such terms as heaven realms, hell realms, purgatories, the realm of ‘hungry ghosts’, etc. Thankfully, on the path of Sant Mat the initiate is led straight through or beyond all of these bewitching and bewildering sub-regions."
The Advantage of the Non-Dual View
"One of the perks of the non-dual view is that it collapses stark distinctions and appearances of separation. The notion of many planes to traverse to reach a certain realization or state has the disadvantage of reinforcing dualism, making it seem like these state, experiences, realizations are so far away. That is a common criticism of paths like Sant Mat. Even though the guru (the good ones) will remind us that "in Him we live, move, and have our being", that the planes interpenetrate and so the eradication of karmas is possible continuously while in the physical form, that they are all even accessible to our intuition even though the mystical faculty is not fully developed, we still are posed with a goal that seems a long way off. Those on many so-called direct paths face the same reality, only they don't know it. For instance, many non-dual teachings like Zen or Advaita help cut through these separations, but stably realizing the desired state takes a long time, in most cases years. Integrating the implications of non-dual realization with the relative level is an almost endless process and accounts for the many stages (who knows how many?) beyond jivanmukti. When one looks at the careers of many spiritual teachers, especially it seems like for those of a non-dual bent, one may notice that it is often clear that this maturing of realization that has to do with integration with relativity is very evident, at least in their early stages of experience and teaching, and often problems in this area continue throughout the rest of their lives. Non-dual spirituality in particular is very subtle and difficult to integrate maturely, and so many realizers have weak areas of this integration on various levels. Moreover, actually having not only authentic non-dual realization, but one so integrated as to reveal all the levels of the universe and our nature to us in a state of non-dual presence, is very difficult to actualize. The pointing out instructions can make it sound so easy - just rest in your nature state; surrender to your true nature; be here now; embrace choiceless awareness. But anyone who has really tried to do this, and has any insight into what it actually does mean to realize these things will find that it is, for most people, a long path. An advantage to paths like Sant Mat is that the process describes a series of experiences and attainments that are harder to delude oneself about whether they are happening or not! If you can't rise above body consciousness, you certainly haven't reached a higher plane than that either. Now, some people who are following more non-dual paths will say that those types of experiences are not necessary, that you can attain realization without them. Well, that may be true. Many masters say so. But a true test is that anyone with significant non-dual realization theoretically should more easily develop the ability to traverse the meditative path described by Sant Mat, because significant non-dual realization will express as freedom from believing you are anything but buddha-nature, and so it should be easy with a small amount of practice for a true non-dual realizer to drop body awareness and traverse the planes, if they want. Most say they don't want to, but I challenge them to consider the same if they are actually dying!"
"An example of this is Dipa Ma. In her fifties she began doing vipassana. Within a year or two she attained a high level of realization (obviously advanced from past life practice). Her teachers then wanted her to develop samadhi power and siddhis to demonstrate to other students that these aspects of the training were also possible in modern times, and that, since she was so gifted, they figured she would develop in these areas to a high degree. They were right. Since from her vipassana practice she had advanced very far in transcending dualism and ego identifications, within a few months she mastered all eight jhanas, could enter nirodha or nirvikalpa at will, and then proceeded to master all the traditional siddhis. She mastered the elements, so she could do things like imagine the ground was water, then dive into the 'ground' and emerge all wet. She could manifest more than one body, levitate, read minds, travel into the past or future - the whole works. She did not have any of these powers for samadhi or siddhi before the training, but it all came very easily because of the depth of her non-dual realization. It may be the case that if a person does not have easy access to these kinds of states and abilities (whether or not they choose to develop them), then their non-dual insight is limited, and won't last through the after-death states, for instance."
"If an initiate of Sant Mat is really in the doldrums because of their supposed 'spiritual density' - the result of the liability mentioned above - might remember this. Saguna Brahman (the Master, the Word, Shabd, Cosmic Christ, Adi Buddha) and Nirguna Brahman (the Absolute) are both inside but also right here. They are the true nature of our experience and being here and now - not only in some other world. It is possible to experience them that way also. It is a particular approach to go within and drop the veils one by one and experience a type of journey to uncover these Realities. But it is not necessary, say many sages. Because at a deeper level, it is really just a change of understanding of the nature of what is right here. So some folks might talk about it as a path, a journey, a quest, and so on, which draws on a spacial aspect that, if approached a certain way, will be quite (relatively) real and powerful. But to the jnani (in all of us) it is also to be realized through an awakening, a change of perspective, that can take place right here in the context of our ordinary experience. If we pursue the first approach, we invert awareness and follow the sound current or a mantra (which will merge like a stream into the sound current eventually), or other methods. If we wish to realize it here and now without inversion, there are also many methods. Some of the most direct and simple are to cultivate basic qualities like awareness, presence, equanimity, contentment, peacefulness, calm, and so on. They are part of the basis for Sant Mat as well. By doing so, awareness is gradually purified, karmas released, and the non-dual will be revealed to us here and now (and Saguna Brahman, too, if we are directed how to see it, or if it just comes naturally to us due to karma). In this approach, the same veils are 'cut through', but they are not set aside, but rather more like cleansed so that they reflect the non-dual. So in this approach we can experience awakening an liberation without the inversion. For many people that is the most suitable approach, more natural or accessible. Anyway, it is worth considering this even if one is successful in their practice in Sant Mat. A little contemplation never hurt one's meditation, but will only make it stronger and more productive."
"A scan of some Sant Mat sites show them trying to correlate certain states and practices with specific inner planes. For example, 'nirvikalpa samadhi' is equated with Parabrahm, 'bhakti yoga' below that (super-causal, anandamaya kosha), gnana yoga below that (mental plane) and so on. The problem of this type of topology where one identifies different paths with different planes and bodies is, precisely, that it assumes an inversion path. It assumes that if one holds to a form like inquiry, which is presumed to be located on the intellectual plane (already an uninformed view), then one cannot pass beyond that plane with that technique. But from the point of view that all planes interpenetrate, and any plane or state can be 'realized' on any level (for instance, nirvikalpa samadhi can be realized from any dimension), then wherever one may hold a focus becomes a plane one is limited by. But the real heart of a path is the state of consciousness/realization it cultivates, which may use a seed or focus such as a verbal inquiry, mantra, breath, visualization, nada, formless awareness, etc. but that does not mean that one's realization that unfolds is limited by the plane that the focus is 'situated' on. If that were so, then it would not be possible to bring non-dual realization into the physical world, as the objects of physical consciousness would obstruct it. But they do not - not in sahaja samadhi. So this whole notion is false. A path is only limited by the practitioner's ability to realize the whole in the context of whatever their path is - devotion, inquiry, discrimination, mantra, breath, vision, etc. Anything can become a doorway to everything if the practitioner opens to that realization."
As Prakash, a devotee of Ishwar Puri, wrote on Facebook: "Some easily have inner experiences and some don't. The truth is we do not need any of these experiences to go Home. The love beyond the mind that the Master transmits is what does it."
Sri Nisargadatta said:
"The Supreme is not a state. It pervades all states, but it is not a state of something else. It is entirely uncaused, independent, complete in itself, beyond time and space, mind and matter...The Absolute does not cause anything...[It] makes everything possible." (29)
Muso Kokushi (1275-1351) also spoke of this essential ground penetrating every state - perhaps what in Sant Mat is the "Stateless State":
"Once you have heard of what is neither a mundane nor a transmundane thing, you are foolish to wonder how to reach it. To reach the fundamental ground is not something like going from the country to the city or from one land to another. In reality, it is like waking up from a dream. All the questions about where the fundamental ground is and how to get there are part of the dream, arising from the thoughts of a dream about a dream...In the fundamental ground, there is no sign of ordinariness or sainthood, no purity or defilement. Because of the “dream” of consciousness conditioned by unconscious habit, purity and defilement appear in the midst of formlessness, and one sees the distinctions between the ordinary and the holy in the midst of the uncreated." (30)
Obviously, and frustrating to the seeker, this cannot be achieved directly by any practice or form of meditation, even enquiry, as it is uncaused! You can't get there from here! It is said to happen spontaneously when the entire mechanism of seeking is somehow undone or winds down.The usual supposition is the intervention of Grace.
But the notion of progressive levels has a certain meaning in the context of inversion paths, as one does need to relinquish the content of one plane to ascend to the next, and so in that context, some paths may be able to go "higher". Although in terms of awareness - and not speaking of “verticality” in relationship to the body which might be said to be only one dimension of awareness potential - "wider" and "deeper" consciousness can also be considered “higher.” In Sant Mat, one must even relinquish the nada to get to Anami, although this language, too, may be wholely inadequate and misleading, for "who" "relinquishes" "what" to "get to" "Nowhere"? In that sense, then, all paths could be said to be limited unless one makes the final move to drop the path and surrender to that which transcends all paths. So it is understandable why inversion practitioners believe this. But what they do not understand is that not all paths use this approach. Ramana said it was usual to go from savikalpa to nirvikalpa to sahaja, but that it was also possible to skip the inversion phases and go right into sahaja. And, of course, this is well known to all the Buddhists who use awareness/non-inversion practices like vipassana, shikan-taza, zazen, mahamudra and Dzogchen. None of these require inversion or progressive relinquishing of an object of focus leading to the goal.
Of course, there is also the "path of fire", spoken of by Irena Tweedie's guru, Bhai Sahib. Whether set in motion by past life practices, the guru, or even the Sat Purush, once the "fire" is activated it can take one to the goal. Also, remember that Patanjali said liberation can result from meditation, kriyas, austerities, or the grace of the guru. So even all the above debate about inversion versus awareness modes of practice, is not the only way. One way or another it all works out.
Kirpal Singh, in referring to someone's comment about the noble spirituality of an old initiate, said, "Look here! If you spend your whole life by the fire, don't you think you will get some heat?" So guru-yoga, when by great fortunate it becomes one's only option, or when it becomes activated within you, can accomplish the whole thing without techniques or technology. One is reminded of a Tibetan lady who spent her days watching her Lama eat his breakfast, someone who just wanted to watch his Rabbi tie his shoes, or the man who spent forty years simply fanning Ramana Maharshi. Of the latter the late Robert Adams remarked, "He's not coming back!”
Shabd-Brahman as the Creator: A non-dual perspective; or
Shabda-Brahman not Creator but a “Liberating Presence within Relativity”
Some with a non-dual bent, such as an ajatavada vedantin, would not agree that there is causality or Creation, per se, or therefore a Creator. No one denies manifestation, but the notion of creation is not proven they say. Creation implies causality, and in the non-dual perspective, there is no such thing. Some Vedantins say, to be precise, that they do not maintain that non-causality is the truth, only that causality itself has not been proven. There is a difference. In either case, the One is what it is, and does not change or 'create.' This is laid out in Sankara's commentary on Guadapada's karikas on the Mandukya Upanishad.
Yet saying that manifestation is 'an appearance' or an 'idea' does not seem to do full justice to the mysterious nature of relativity, for many if not most seekers at least. But that is usually due to the fact that they interpret that form of idealistic doctrine to mean appearances or ideas only in their personal minds, whereas what is being said is that they exist in Mind. They are real ideas in a Universal Mind [not Mind in the Sant Mat sense, but as Consciousness] in which we participate. As ideas they are not being explained awa - things still feel hard or soft, light or heavy, etc. - they are not ghostly, they just known for what they are: ideas, thought, or manifestations in consciousness.
Actually, this topic is too huge for this book, but let it be said that it is possible to give due credit to the greatness of the Shabda-Brahman without the notion of it as the 'Creator'. For non-duality, as mentioned, being beyond polarities, is incompatible with the notion of a Creator, unless the Creator is simply used to mean the Source. In Sant Mat this realization traditionally might be the last perspective gained on the path. So let's just say that the Absolute and the relative are intimately and mysteriously interwoven. Let's say also that there is a type of Universal Presence within relativity that could be called Ishvara, Saguna Brahman, Adi or Primordial Buddha, Shabda-Brahman, or the Cosmic Christ. In this view, this Presence is the Universal personification/integration of all enlightened realization throughout relativity. But it did not cause or 'create' relativity or Maya itself. This is, of course, just one view, and it is one of if not the most difficult principle to grasp for all but the committed non-dualist. It is the cosmic principle or Presence of the guru/savior/master/liberator. This Cosmic Presence does have vast creative capacity (reinforcing people's misunderstanding that it is The Creator), and is active in profound ways throughout the universe, not just inspiring beings towards awakening individually, but also expressing through cosmic hierarchies of buddhas, bodhisattvas, principalities, archangels, logoi, etc. to create environments (like Earth) and opportunities (like the human form) for beings to use to accelerate their awakening.
The origin of the Universal Presence is as mysterious and transcendentally unanswerable as all the other 'imponderables' like the why and how of relativity, or what is the self. Pure non-dualism views relativity as having as its true nature the non-dual absolute. Therefore, questions about the cause of origin of relativity are ultimately trying to separate something non-dual into 'beginnings' and 'endings', 'causes' and 'effects' (such as God and Creation). In the non-dual view, these categories don't apply. They are much too small to come close to capturing the infinite Mystery of the absolute and how relativity 'is' within and as the absolute.
Dadaji says that the Dhunyatmak Name expresses itself as energy and sound. This is in fact the same way that Saguna Brahman is described in Vedanta (which idiosyncratically many Sant Mat teachings reject). The apparent linear creation is actually a perpetual, spontaneous process, with no beginning or end. Daskalos the Greek mystic firmly maintains that the scripture verse, "In the beginning was the Word" (or Logos), contains a mistranslation of the original Greek word arche, which means both beginning and authority, and that the true reading is "In Authority is the Logos." The Logos through the Holy Spirit creates the worlds, outside of time. So we do not need to worry about beginnings. Light and sound are the sensible appearance of the Holy Spirit, not its essence. They do not extend beyond the subtle regions. They do not create. This is hard to understand but let us keep trying to at least to get an intuition.
From within this cosmic Presence within relativity arises the human Guru as well as the Shabda-Brahman, which is an enlightening agent for human beings. Within this greater Presence, mysteriously pervasive within relativity, are Cosmic Enlightened Intelligences responsible for creating systems such as the planets, the human forms, the elements, reincarnational sequences (in this instance, the 'Lords of karma') and so on, but they did not create the Maya in the first place out of which all of this is built. This may all be mind-boggling, as it was to me when I first heard of it. To sum, the Shabda-Brahman is an enlightened Presence within relativity that can appear to pull a ripe soul into itself, to such high levels that one becomes one and indistinguishable from it, and its non-dual saturating capacity. At its highest levels, we realize that the essence of the 'Name' is the truth of non-dualism, indistinguishable from the truth of our soul. We realize the non-dual truth underlying it all, which is the foundation of the realization of Shabda Brahman.
One can say that the Shabda Brahman (the 'nada' or ‘Sound of God’), expresses the realization and presence of the universal Logos (the ‘Word’), the Transcendent Personality or Primordial Buddha. Beyond this lies the Void or Nirguna Brahman. We might think of the nada, then, when fully realized, as the ‘sound of non-dual realization’, or the ‘sound of the Christ Logos’. Another way we can come to understand the nada is as the audible vibration or emanation of sat-cit-ananda, or ‘transcendent Beingness, Consciousness and Bliss’. This is also referred to as pranava, sphota, Naam, anahata nada (‘the unstruck sound’), the ‘music of the spheres’, the ‘sound current’, the ‘flaming sound’, the ‘sounding flame’, the Celestial Sound, Bani, Logos and Kalma. The fullness of awakened or Christ consciousness is manifest as the nada, and contains and emanates such qualities a universal love, bliss, power, creativity, joy, purpose, wisdom, illumination, clarity, harmony, equanimity, devotion and beauty – all arising from the ground of non-dual Presence. The essence of the nada is the song of this universal Presence. it is all this, but doesn’t have to be seen as the 'Creator' Itself!
On lower planes, names are signifiers, pointers at things or beings. But at deeper levels of experience, the 'name' of something is how the Beingness of someone or the Sat Purush vibrates to our transcendental soul hearing. At this level there is little distinction between 'name' or intrinsic sound vibration, presence/beingness and realization. They are merging and increasingly hard to our increasingly non-dual perception to separate into aspect or part. Name, form, mind, soul, heart - all one in Sach Khand. The 'name' of the Primordial One is Shabd, The Word, Logos. If we use our intuitive hearing to listen to the sound vibration of the 'realization' of the Sat Purush of Adi Buddha, we will hear the Shabd. We will hear it according to our own realization. So at the beginning, we don't hear it at all. Not enough spiritual development. Then we hear it and it just sounds like an impersonal sound. It is like we are too far away, so we don't hear it with much realization of what it really is. But at least we hear it! Then as our intuition grows, it becomes sweeter, more alluring, more blissful, more uplifting. Our realization of what we are really attuning to be listening to the sound current is growing. Eventually it will grow into a experience where the sound is not separable from the direct understanding of the Cosmic realization that the 'name' is the Presence, is the Realization, is the Sat Purush, is one's own Soul.
In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad there is a verse that Ramana Maharishi sometimes quoted; it is, "The 'I' became the Name, 'Om' came later." The implication, in my understanding, is that the Soul exists 'before' the Om or sound, and that, as Ramana stated, listening to sound is good, it will lull the mind to sleep, as it were, but listening along with enquiry is better; that will bring one to the realization that the sound is a manifestation of one's own self, and not only something taking you to that self. [Of course the neophyte upon hearing this may easily confuse this self with the ego].
Sant Mat may in fact not be in disagreement with this understanding. Kirpal Singh said that vivek or discriminative understanding will come automatically as one progresses on the path. Our problem is that many sages have disagreed in their expressed understanding of even the highest experiences that they have had - i.e., such as shabd being the creator!
At a relative level, one way of looking at the nature of the Adi Buddha or Universal Enlightened Presence is that it is fueled by the same process of awakening that is underlying each person's individual Self-realization. It is the sum total of all wisdom and virtue arising throughout relativity. One of the polarities we find in relativity is Universal - Particular or Personal. Just as we have personal, individual, particular expressions of Realization, there is also a Universal Personification of Realization. That is the Cosmic Christ, Adi Buddha, Sat Purush, Saguna Brahman, Universal Presence, as those terms are defined in a non-dual context. As a Presence within relativity (just as a jivanmukti is), it has attributes of being enlightened, omnipresent (hence 'universal presence'), loving, liberating, wise, creative, etc. Hence 'saguna'. It is the actualization of non-dual realization within relativity on a universal, personal/impersonal cosmic scale.
On a relative level, the ripe soul will experience the Shabd as a power or current drawing one into deeper awakening. How one concentrates on it will determine the way one experiences that unfoldment. If one does it in a Sant Mat style or like Sri Yukteswar, then it will unfold as a journey through planes. If one does it, for contrast, as in Dzogchen, then one will integrate the unfolding realization into the continuous awareness of body and mind rather than going into trance. The latter will inevitably come to those on the trance path also, but, as we have said, by a gradual infusion of the trance states with the human level.
Relativity is that dimension of reality that has some apparent veiling over the Truth. And in the end, it is only at the level of relativity that the questions arises 'what is the Absolute? What is relativity? How do they relate? Why did it all happen? There can only be two ways to attempt to answer these questions - one is two look for the answer at the level at which the question is posed - at a relative level. And there you will always get a relative answer! If you want an absolute answer, you must go to the level of the absolute, because that is the Truth. There, the question is 'answered' by realizing that having the question was the problem. The question poses the issue in terms it can understand within its own current context. The final answer comes from liberation from the context in which the answer arises - relativity, duality. So while in a way there is no path, there is a way out.
Non-causality/non-creation is the most difficult problem in epistemology. Bhaktis usually want nothing to do with it. We have tried as best we can to show a way of easing into it, in the context of the practice of Shabd Yoga, to present Sant Mat in a favorable light to the non-dual spiritual schools such as Advaita, Zen, etc.. Meister Eckhart himself spoke in a non-dual way when he wrote:
“God is ever at work in the eternal now, and His work is the begetting of His Son: He is bringing him forth all the time. In his birth, all things have proceeded forth, and so great is God’s pleasure in this birth that He spends His whole energy upon it…God gives Himself birth all at once in His Son: God speaks all things in His Son.” (31)
“I was reading in a book - who can fully understand it? - that God is now making the world just as on the first day, when he created the world.” (32)
A Buddhist Creation Story
The following is featured as an appendix in John Reynold’s book Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness, a translation with commentary of a text by the great Padmasambhava. It is adapted, according to Reynolds, from accounts found in numerous Buddhist sources including the Abhidharmakosa, Dighanikaya, Anguttara-nikaya, and the Visudhimagga. It is quite fascinating and at least worth considering in contrast with other creation views, such as those of Sant Mat and Christianity. In Buddhism there is no Creator-God, no Logos, and no ‘World-Mind’ with its guiding intelligence the ‘World-Idea’ such as proposed by Paul Brunton. In essence all except Nirvana is a product of karma, or causes and conditions interacting without beginning or end. But maybe in this world of paradox and mystery our answer about ‘creation’ may not be a choice between ‘either/or,’ but more like a ‘both/and’ ?
“In reply to questions from His disciples, the Buddha explained that the humanity found on this planet earth once inhabited another planetary system. Ages ago when the sun of that world went nova and the planet was destroyed in the ensuing solar eruptions, the bulk of its inhabitants, as the result of their arduously practicing the Dharma for ten thousand years, were reborn on one of the higher planes of the Form World or Rupadhatu, a plane of existence known as Abhasvara or “clear light.” Here they enjoyed inconceivable bliss and felicity for countless aeons. Then, when their great store of past karma came onto maturity, our own solar system and planet earth began to evolve and some among their numbers were reborn on the lower planes of Rupadhatu in the vicinity of the nascent earth. [Note: an interesting concept in itself to consider as Buddhism, as contrasted with theosophy, for instance, has no notion of a process of evolution; in fact, in this matter Buddhism is almost materialistic with no higher power guiding things].This plane of existence where they found themselves reborn is known as Brahmaloka. The first of these beings to reawaken and be reborn, upon seeing the solar system evolving below him, exclaimed in his delight “I am the Creator!” In this way, he came to believe that he was the actual creator of the universe which he saw about him, for he did not remember from whence he came and was born without any parents. But in actuality the manifestation of this universe was due to the collective karma of all in that company and his own individual manifestation, which was a case of apparitional birth, was due to his own great stock of meritorious karma coming into maturation at that time because the requisite secondary conditions were present. Nevertheless, he persisted in his delusion, in this idea that he was the actual Creator of there universe because he was the first born within the evolving solar system and he saw no others there before him. But this belief was only his limitation and his obscuration, a primordial ignorance of his true origin, and so he fell victim to his own pride. This was the first appearance of the ego or the belief in the real existence of a self, in our universe. However, although he believed himself to be self-originated, actually his appearance in the center of our world-system was the fortunate consequence of his karma. And because he was the first among the Brahmas to be reborn out of Abhasvara, he became known as Mahabrahma or God."
"Then after existing by himself alone in solitary splendor for many aeons as the solar system evolved, he came to experience loneliness and thought that how nice it would be if there were only others in existence who might reflect his magnificence. And just at the right moment, due to their own karmic ripening, a large number of other beings from Abhasvara were reborn in Brahmaloka as Brahmas. When Mahabrahma saw them, he thought that they must have appeared just then in space before him because of his desire. So he exclaimed proudly, “I am God, your Creator!” - even though, in actual fact, all of these exalted beings before his throne were reborn at that time because of their own karma maturing and not because of any desire of his. Then Mahabrahma organized these myriads of beings who were appearing before him into well-organized celestial hierarchies. The first-born and most radiant among them were grouped below his throne as his own personal priests administers known as the Brahmapurohitas, whereas those who were reborn later became his entourage known as the Brahmakayikas. In this way, he surrounded himself, filling all the tiers of heaven with celestial hierarchies, believing all the time that he was their Lord and Creator, since he was ignorant of their own, as well as his own real origin>Gradually, as time wore on, due to the presence of a series of secondary causes, some these Brahmas entered into the cycle of material existence and began to be reborn on the surface of the newly evolved earth, first as animals and then later as human beings.” (33)
The Buddhist Rupadhatu or World of Form corresponds to seventeen mental planes, and above this lies the Formless World, Arupadhatu, which is sometimes spoken of in terms of “cosmic consciousness.” In Life and Death by Kirpal Singh, he quotes Annie Besant as mentioning that there are there are a number of formless mental planes. The highest mental plane in Buddhism is Akanishtha, and beyond this, known as the highest plane of existence, is Mahakanishtha, “where the Sambhogakaya aspect of the Buddha manifests itself.” It is possible that what in Sant Mat are termed causal and super-causal planes are included under the term ‘mental’ planes in Buddhism. Then Mahakanishtha could be the equivalent of Sach Khand, perhaps, but there is no way of telling.
The point of this story is not so much to find equivalencies of the planes in Buddhism and Sant Mat, but to point to a different way of accounting for the manifestations of a creator god. One can, of course, object and say that this very well illustrates the Sant Mat position regarding the lesser creation and the illusions therein, but not the higher manifestation of a Divine principle. Anywhere less than Mahakanishtha in the sutra system of Buddhism, however, is where the principle of karma reigns supreme. Anyway, as far as stories go, this is certainly interesting.
Some Teachings of Buddha and Christ compared
But the Buddha did not deny the existence of the soul, as commonly understood. He said, in the Alagadupamma Sutra, in rejecting the views of the “eternalists” and the “nihilists,” that it was indefinable. He had a purpose in contravening the Brahmans of his day, who taught animal sacrifices by a priesthood to get rid of ones bad karma, and so he emphasized the inherent and generally inviolable cosmic law of karma to get people to work on themselves. He denied the supremacy of “Brahma” as a creator God, but this was a deity on a high mental plane and not Brahman as later defined by Sankaracharya and the advaitins. Christ, on the other hand, contravened the priesthood of his day that was wedded to the strict idea of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” For Christ there was a higher law or power than karma. The vedantin would similarly argue that under a cosmos of incessant change there was a substratum - the unperceived perceiver, the awareness, the intelligence, the Self - that did not change, and which was the Reality. If we put the two doctrines together, Buddhist and Vedantic, we can explain everything. This substratum was overlooked by early Buddhists that had apparently misunderstood the Buddha himself. Brunton summarizes:
“Buddha found himself in a land where degenerate priestcraft had cunningly persuaded the masses to believe that every sin could be expiated, and its present or future effects in destiny circumvented, by some paid-for ritual, sacrifice, or magic. He tried to raise the moral level of his people by denying the pardon of sin and affirming the rigorous governance of karmic law, the strict unalterability of unseen justice. Jesus, on the contrary, found himself in a land where religion proclaimed harshly, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” He too tried to raise the moral level of his people. But a wisdom not less than Buddha’s made him meet the situation by stressing forgiveness of sins and the mercy of God. “The law of recompense brings every man his due and no external religious form can change its working” is, in effect, the gist of much Buddhist teaching. “True,” Jesus might have said, “but there is also the law of love, God’s love, for those who have the faith to invoke it and the will to obey it.” Let us grant that both the prophets were right if we consider the different groups they were addressing, and that both gave the kind of help that was most needed by each group. Let no one deny to divinity a virtue which is possessed by humanity. The higher self’s response to the ego’s penitence is certain. And such response may stretch all the way to complete forgiveness of sins.” (34)
Further, as Aadi comments:
"In Buddhist psychology, there is a concept of so-called five skandhas. This concept is missing the elemental understanding that our body-mind operates as an alive and coherent organism of intelligence in a purposeful and meaningful way." (35)
The necessity for an Intelligence, a Mind, a Providence guiding in some fashion, under its own laws, the entire cosmic process, seems a reasonable assumption. While the realms of Desire, Form, and the Formless, including even the Pure Abodes of the Gods, may be impermanent and conditioned, as Buddhism maintains [or even Christianity: ”God has made change and fluctuation the law of all things short of Heaven,” said Guillore], that the collective karma of their entities entirely accounts for their manifestation itself seems untenable. Something seems lacking in such a position. Vedanta is needed to complement such a Buddhist position. Said Swami Vivekananda:
“Everybody admits the existence of an Intelligent Force - a force that is the essence of Knowledge and that guides all these phenomena.” (36)
So, to summarize the non-dual view, where the polarity of Creator-Creation, or Absolute God-Isvara is still only a relative one, the Shabda-Brahman can be the liberator or Principle of liberation, the ‘ hook of grace’ as teacher Edward Salim Michael termed it, and not be the Creator at the same time. This is how to interpret the issue from a non-dual, non-creation level. Nothing essential seems to be lost by taking this view, it is perhaps just another way of looking at things.
Kirpal Singh in The Crown of Life: A Study in Yoga said that there was no creation per se for the Absolute, but championed the view of shabda-brahman or the Word as the creator-God, and being the divine, ancient, eternal way provided for man by God to reunite with Him. This need not be contradictory. To offer a parallel, simplified yet ancient schemata, we will refer to the explanation given by Paramahansa Yogananda, whose teaching, with minor modifications, is very much like that of Sant Mat. Yogananda's tradition was steeped in both yoga and classical vedanta. He taught, in essence, based on Hindu and Christian scripture (and his own inner experience), that the ineffable absolute Spirit (Nirguna Brahman) produces a divine illusion (Maya) from its own desireless-desire or causeless-cause - much as Sankara argued - thus becoming an as-yet-Unmanifested Trinity of transcendent Father (Saguna Brahman/Isvara), Christ-Logos, and Holy Ghost (creative power of 'Aum' or shabda-brahman). So far, the Vedantins and ajatavadins should be satisfied, because the veil of maya is cast by the Absolute in order for 'creation' to proceed. There is really no creation in or from the One, the ineffable Absolute, and all explanations or stories given for it becoming Saguna or a Trinity are only stories. We can not know why it 'heaved' and produced something apparently other than itself as IT is, even though, in our exegesis, as yet only transcendentally and a-temporally (prior to manifestation). Thus, the domain of relativity is produced through Maya, which is none other than the supreme Spirit. However, this truth is only known to Isvara and those who know Isvara.
The Christ-Logos is the pure reflection of the intelligence of the transcendent Father of this Trinity within creation and is inseparable from and directs the Holy Ghost or Aum vibration in creating universes, and which is also itself a liberating presence within creation. "No man can come to the Father except through Me," said Christ, which did not mean him personally or exclusively, but that no man could come to the transcendent Father beyond creation without attuning to the 'Son' or Christ Consciousness, its pure reflection within creation. Creation is thus a divine illusion with a divine liberating principle inherent within it. This is what Christ taught, according to Yogananda. (37) As Isvara or God is itself one with Nirguna Brahman or the original Spirit, and not itself veiled by maya, realization of it (God) is the goal for man, 'beyond' which are mystery and paradox. [Sankara himself, says Yogananda, was one of the great siddhas who realized Christ-Consciousness, which may surprise many advaitins, who do not realize that he was a great yogic adept and not just a champion of jnana yoga]. This is very similar to the teachings of creation in Sant Mat, with any apparent differences being in the description and enumeration of the various planes and bodies. Yogananda tended to simplify them, while his master Sri Yukteswar, used a more elaborate explanation. Yogananda also distinguished between maya and avidya. Often these are considered interchangeable by philosophers, both Vedantic and Buddhist alike. However, maya for Yogananda is Universal or divine illusion, which 'allows' for creation, while avidya is individual ignorance which is responsible for man not perceiving or knowing the presence of the Christ-Logos and Holy-Spirit within creation. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not." - John 1:10.
This idea of the Shabda-Brahman as a liberating presence rather than “Creator” seems compatible with some statements made by Sant Kirpal Singh. In Heart to Heart Talks, Vol. One, p. 208/285, he says:
“When you are in control, there’s no world. We create the world…You sit in meditation, the world is not there. When you come out the world is there. It is you who make the world. Yes?” (38)
Paradox remains everywhere shy of the Ultimate in all systems. Brunton writes:
“The Overself takes over his identity not by obliterating it but by including it through its surrender...What happens metaphysically to the further existence of the being resulting from the conscious union of the ego with the Overself is guarded as a mystery and may not be discussed....He will unite with the Divine first by completely disappearing into it, then by discovering his higher individuality in it...When the two are one, when ego and Overself no longer remain at a distance from one another, man experiences his first illumination. What will happen thereafter is wrapped in mystery." (39)
Kirpal adds:
“The more you progress, the deeper you go...the ultimate...simply your intellect baffles...We can look into ourselves. That is why it is said: Self-knowledge preceeds God-knowledge, or, Self-knowledge is God-knowledge. The more the Self expands, the more it expands into Him: one loses oneself. These are delicate questions, I tell you. People are baffled by them. It appears now a sort of mystery...To know one’s self is the first thing, and the foremost thing. Unless you know yourself you are not in a position to know the Overself. Even then you do not know fully - you are absorbed. It cannot be expressed in words. There are no words to explain it...Our self finds refuge in the Overself. What other refuge can there be? But is is hard to gain. This Overself is God.” (40)
This is a difficult passage. One must always remember that as "the self expands into Him", the ego shrinks! So the experience of this process may vary based on one's expectations and understanding. Still, the advaitin would likely also ask,"when do you know you are fully absorbed, and how do you know that that is the Truth?"
Creationism Unmasked
It could be that the notion of a Creator per se is one of the last standpoints to go prior to enlightenment. It need not change ones practice significantly, although it may at some point, but it can have importance in how one conceives the process and final attainment. And we can remember, as mentioned in Part One, Samartha Ram Das, hailed as a great Saint of Maharashtra by Sant Darshan Singh, was a Vedantic sage who, in discussing ultimate stages, mentioned “Bhava Roga”, or “the disease that creates the idea that the world was created.” So this is probably not a trivial hair-splitting argument.
Here are some thoughts for our pondering on the concept of creation. A basic objection in the higher philosophies to this notion is that it often implies a once-for-all creation in time, prior to time even being in existence! Another is that it usually implies a creation of something out of nothing, which is impossible even for God. Therefore various emanationistic theories have been proposed, although there are problems with these as well when overly personalized and overly objectified, and presuming notions of time and causality. PB writes:
"The Divine Mind is its own substance and its own energy; its thoughts are creative of these things. Not only so but the number of universes possible is infinite...The human understanding may reel at the idea, but creation has never had a beginning nor an end: it is eternal. Nor can it ever come to an end (despite rhythmic intervals of pause), for the Infinite Being can never express itself fully in a finite number of these forms of expression."
"There is no once-for-all-creation at a certain moment in time by a First Cause, but only the appearance of it. There is a series of appearances, as beginning less and endless as the unseen Mind itself, which is the other aspect of World-Mind [i.e., Ishvara, Saguna Brahman, Adi or Primordial Buddha, Shabda-Brahman, or the Cosmic Christ], and which is the Real behind all appearances."
'The origin in time and the history of the world, the varied phases and permutations of its evolution, are concerns only for those who believe in causality as an ultimate truth and fact. There is certainly the appearance of causality in the world, but when inquired into it is found illusory."
"The word "creation" is inadmissible here for it signifies producing something out of nothing. No one, not even God himself, can produce something out of nothing. Therefore, the orthodox Christian idea of a mysterious creation is completely untenable."
"There was never a time when the universe was created or fabricated by a Creator or Maker. This is a case of man making God in his own image...Through successive cycles the universe comes and goes, is born and dies, as the World-Mind rethinks the World-idea or lets it lapse....The universe was never created for the first time for it has always and incessantly appeared and disappeared, activated and rested, come forth, evolved, and retreated into latency...It isomer correct to speak of the universe's birth, not of its creation." (41)
These thoughts will have further relevance in sections on creation and the 'fall' in Part Four. They have much to do with how we conceive of our real situation and our liberation. We do not see them as being in opposition to higher renditions of Sant Mat teachings, only with certain stories therein.
Part One discussed the intricate creationism of St. Kabir as interpreted by Gupta of the Ram Chandra group. In brief, he taught that the Sat Purush (aka Saguna Brahman, Adi Purush) needed the help of Adi Maya - which it created through its first desire - to produce the world(s). That is to say, the Creator needed the help of something that he created that was an illusion in order to create something illusory! This account of creation is clearly absurd. And from there, conceding that much, the story in duality gets immensely more complicated. Sooner or later it is conceded that the six days of creation in the Bible and the Quran refer not to six earth days, but to something more like six days of Brahmaloka, which is virtually eons of time. Yet even this, being only the account of one such creation, does not help us deal with the radical idea that creation is eternally happening right now. Further, how can the soul be said to be 'created' if at the same time it is defined in scriptures by words like unmanifest, immutable, inconceivable, eternal and all-pervading? Simply saying the soul is an irradiation of the Sat Purush, says the advaitin, merely pushes the question one step backward, for how can one know such a thing? Compare these ideas with the following from Zen master Kusan Sunim:
“The nature of the entire universe is your own mind [note: in Buddhism, the word ‘mind’ generally refers to the principle of awareness or consciousness, and not ‘manas’ or ‘manomayakosha’ as in Hinduism or Sant Mat] All things are created by the mind and arise from it. So where is the creation of the universe? Your own mind alone is the creator. There is no one else who created it for you; therefore, this universe is your own universe. This is true whether you reawakened or not. The universe can be affirmed or negated only because we are here now. If we were not present, there would be no one to make such affirmations or denials. SInce we create the universe, how can one then say that we came from anywhere or will depart to somewhere else? In reality, there can never be any such coming or going. Hence, it is meaningless to talk of “going” to a Pure Land. For how can a Pure Land exist elsewhere when in fact it is latent within ones own mind?” (42)
“What you see is you,” said Kirpal Singh.
Or read these provocative words of Sri Nisargadatta, filling in some gaps perhaps in the simpler statements of Kirpal Singh:
“Neither God nor the universe have come to tell you that they have created you. The mind obsessed by the idea of causality invents creation and then wonders ‘who is the creator?’ The mind itself is the creator. Even this is not quite true, for the created and the created are one. The mind and the world are not separate. Do understand that what you think to be the world is your own mind…All space and time are only the mind. Where will you locate a supermental world? There are many levels of the mind and each projects its own version, yet all are in the mind and created by the mind…All scriptures say that before the world was, the Creator was. Who knows the Creator? He alone who was before the Creator, your own real being, the source of all the worlds with their creators…Even the idea of God as the Creator is false. Do I owe my being to any other being? Because I Am, all is…That which creates and sustains the world, you may call it God or Providence, but ultimately you are the proof that God exists, not the other way around. For, before any question about God can be put, you must be there to put it.”
"Once you realize that all comes from within, that the world in which you live has not been projected onto you but by you, your fear comes to an end. Without this realization you identify yourself with the externals, like the body, mind, society, nation, humanity, even God or the Absolute. But these are all escapes from fear. It is only when you fully accept your responsibility for the little world in which you live and watch the process of its creation, preservation and destruction, that you may be free from your imaginary bondage." (43)
But he is so kind, reminding those of us with minds left reeling after hearing words like these:
“You are never alone. There are powers and presences who serve you all the time most faithfully. You may or may not perceive them, nevertheless they are real and alive.” (44)
An interesting perspective though, isn’t it? Baffling and uninviting to the ego, but a delight to the heart. Nevertheless, while discussing such teachings in detail, among others, it is good to remember that "There's more than Vedanta!", as a teacher of mine once shouted. That is to say, to get a balanced perspective a few more points of view may be needed to be brought into the picture. But first, a little more of this philosophy before we move on. Ramana seems in agreement with Nisargadatta:
"The world is created by the "I," which is its turn rises up from the Self. The riddle of the creation of the world is thus solved if you solve the creation of the "I." So I say, find your Self." (45)
PB explains that the view of the advaitic sages asserts that matter as such does not independently exist, but is only an apparent (although not illusory) modification of Consciousness. He argues, the evidence of the senses not withstanding, that nothing is ever experienced outside of Mind or Consciousness, and that matter is only an interpretation of a 'mentalistic' phenomenon. We experience an object as qualities of hardness, shape, color, density, etc., but any independently existing "matter" other than that is just a guess. Mentalism (a new name for an old doctrine) upholds the view that Consciousness is primary, while matter is secondary and either non-existent, or simply epistemologically unknowable, as a something outside of awareness. He states:
"Those who have not had the inward revelation granted them, who have not awakened what the Hindu yogis call antardrishti, a kind of clairvoyant insight, often believe that mentalism is rnere theory and that its talk of the world's unreality is mere verbalism. Even some among the seers have not seen this, although they have seen much else that fleshly eyes cannot. Sri Aurobindo in India, for instance, disputed mentalism, although his neighbour and contemporary, Ramana Maharshi, fully accepted it. Rudolph Steiner likewise disputed it...This situation is strange, but among the sages with whom I found the deepest penetration into the nature of things... some observed that the capacity to receive and understand the mentalist doctrine was the sharpest of all tests to which a truth-seeker could be subjected."
“Consciousness presents its own products to itself, fabricating an entire world in the process. Mind makes and sees the picture.” (46)
Damiani, a student of PB, explains mentalism in great detail in his book, Looking Into Mind, from which a few quotes are selected to expand on this point:
“ Your mind thinks your body. It doesn’t need it. It can get along without it. No, it’s not flying anywhere. It needs you physically? Not really. It can get along without you. It puts you to bed every night, and says, “Go to sleep.”
"...sometimes in mystical development a person experiences himself as the Witness-I and then the world is inside him and he is not in the world, but the world is within him....Not inside the chest but inside the mind."
"You see, the difficulty is that all your life you believe in the existence of a world of things, a reality which is non-mental. And when reason confronts you with the fact that you can’t know anything except your own ideas, you try to excuse yourself by saying, “Well, regardless, there is something out there. It is true that I can know only my ideas, but my ideas are telling me about something out there." [i.e., 'matter']
"You have to remember that if for many many lives we believed in a real world out there, outside of us, you are not going to be able to abolish a belief which has grown into you...with a stroke of the pen. It is going to take a lot of effort. Because these beliefs are ingrained, inborn, innate.....the mental habits are almost impossible to break...When you start attacking beliefs, whether yours or someone else’s, you are undertaking a Himalayan task. You just have no idea how deeply rooted these beliefs are."
"When you experience the world as a dream, you know you are getting closer to its reality. It is not the reality yet, but you know you are getting closer. It is an intuitive understanding that dawns - that the mind projects the world, then experiences the world that it projects. And all that it could project are its own ideas..."
"...as long as you experience the world as stiff, hard, rigid, you will always think of it as non-mental [i.e., an appearance to consciousness], as a material thing. But if, while you are looking at that very world, you start experiencing it as a dream, as shadowy, as unreal, then you are getting closer to the mental processes that produce that idea.” (47)
PB concludes:
“The existence of the world is not a testimony to the existence of a divine creator, but to the constructive capacity of the mind.” (48)
So, this is basically another way of looking at things. Some of the more ancient vedantists allowed for the ultimate Reality of infinite consciousness to be considered the creator, or perhaps, the underlying basis of any creation, as long as one will dismiss dualistic assumptions about the process, such as 'how' and with 'what' such a creator 'makes' 'things'?, and how can we 'know' any of that? It has a bearing on our ability to grasp non-duality in daily life, outside of a process of absorptive meditation alone; hence the appeal of direct paths such as advaita and Zen. Self-Inquiry, for instance, asks these questions: "Who am I?", "What is this me?", "How do I know anything?", "Do I know anything?", "Do I know where I go after death?", "Do I know where I came from before birth?", "Do I really know where I am right now?", "Do I know I am in a body right now?", "Even if I experience deep meditative states, up to the the formless void, how do I know that they are the ultimate, the truth?" and so on. In Zen, to really be able to say "I don't know" is quite an achievement and basically the "Great Doubt." It does not exist prior to enquiry, and does not exist therefore in many if not most meditators single-pointedly absorbed in their inner world. But if pursued intensely, it is said in that tradition to congeal and solidify into a great block of 'doubt'. This is not conventional doubt, but a doubt of the "I" and the "world." That is, the feeling of "I don't know" gets maddeningly intense and all-encompassing. Finally, it breaks apart, "the barrel of lacquer is overturned," and one penetrates to the self-essence, body and mind fallen off, as satori. This seems to rarely happens or is spoken of on mystical paths, where the problem of the ego itself is often only tackled near the end.
But this needn't be considered the exclusive province of Zen. Ramana said meditation on sounds, for instance, was good, but that it was better accompanied with vichara or self-enquiry. This means keeping the perceiver, the experiencer, in mind and not only getting absorbed in mystical states. It is not thinking along with trying to meditate, so it won't disturb inner concentration on sound, although it sounds as if it would. Just so, self-enquiry is not repeating "who am I" continually. It is more of an enquiring attitude. Without such enquiry or self-attentiveness, when bliss or peace arises there can be a great temptation to try to cut off or invalidate the realm of manifestation that is seen to be a hindrance, but this is an error. With 'great doubt', or the fruit of self-enquiry, or the mentalistic-philosophic discipline, however, all activities of consciousness can come to an end of themselves, that is to say, the thinking process will come to an end of its own accord, instead of simply being temporarily suppressed by yoga. And one will observe this happening! PB goes so far as to say that by adding the philosophic discipline the meditator can go into states twice as deep as the average yogi.
But most yogis will say this is impossible. PB states:
"The activity of analytic thinking has been banned in most mystical schools. They regard it as an obstacle to the attainment of spiritual consciousness. And ordinarily it is indeed so. For until the intellect can be perfectly still, such consciousness cannot make itself apparent. The difficulty of making intellect quite passive is however an enormous one. Consequently different concentration techniques have been devised to overcome it. Nearly all of them involve the banishing of thinking and the cessation of reasoning. The philosophical school uses any or all of them where advisable but it also uses a technique peculiarly its own. It makes use of abstract concepts which are concerned with the nature of the mind itself and which are furnished by seers who have developed a deep insight into such nature. It permits the student to work out these concepts in a rational way but leading to subtler and subtler moods until they automatically vanish and thinking ceases as the transcendental state is induced to come of itself. This method is particularly suited either to those who have already got over the elementary difficulties of concentration or to those who regard reasoning power as an asset to be conserved rather than rejected. The conventional mystic, being the victim of external suggestion, will cling to the traditional view of his own school, which usually sees no good at all in reasoned thinking, and aver that spiritual attainment through such a path is psychologically impossible. Never having been instructed in it and never having tried it, he is not really in a position to judge." (49)
This is obviously not the devotional path such as in Sant Mat, and the reader may wonder why we present it here. The answer is that it can have a counter-balancing effect on certain preconceptions and extravagances of the bhakti paths, and may be of use to those who have begin to enquire with or perhaps even without knowing it yet, and therefore serve as some guidance to them seemingly at a crossroads. Damiani adds:
"When the yogi who doesn't understand or practice philosophy comes put of a thought-free state, the world again imposes itself on that yogi who is faced with the same perplexity, whereas the yogi who understands philosophically what happens is no longer perplexed. The second would be a superior state. Is understanding nothing? To come out with the understanding as to what has happened and to come out with no understanding - is that difference nothing? So of course the philosophic yoga is quite superior." (50)
This is but a brief summary of 'direct insight' approaches that deserve a much fuller presentation. We will return to some of these ideas again. But for our purposes here just keep in mind that real understanding is not just intellectual, nor is it solely a matter of gaining new experiences. It is likely an unavoidable part of the spiritual process if one is not to go astray in this life or another. Yet it is not nearly as abstract or complex as it sounds! "Do you know anything - do you know what anything is?"
To calm our over-heated brains, burdened with talk of levels and planes, Self and/or God, we offer the following excerpt from the famous Lankavatara Sutra as a healing balm, with which we close this section:
"Thus passing beyond the last stage of Bodhisattvahood, he becomes a Tathagata himself endowed with all the freedom of the Dharmakaya. The tenth stage belongs to the Tathagatas. Here the Bodhisattva will find himself seated upon a lotus-like throne in a splendid jewel-adorned palace and surrounded by Bodhisattvas of equal rank. Buddhas from all the Buddha-lands will gather about him and with their pure and fragrant hands resting on his forehead will give him ordination and recognition as one of themselves. Then they will assign him a Buddha-land that he may possess and perfect as his own."
"The tenth stage is called the Great Truth Cloud (Dharmamegha), inconceivable, inscrutable. Only the Tathagatas can realize its perfect Imagelessness and Oneness and Solitude. It is Mahesvara, the Radiant Land, the Pure Land, the Land of Far-distances; surrounding and surpassing the lesser worlds of form and desire (karmadhatu), in which the Bodhisattva will find himself at-one-ment. Its rays of Noble Wisdom which is the self-nature of the Tathagatas, many- colored, entrancing, auspicious, are transforming the triple world as other worlds have been transformed in the past, and still other worlds will be transformed in the future. But in the Perfect Oneness of Noble Wisdom there is no gradation nor succession nor effort, The tenth stage is the first, the first is the eighth, the eighth is the fifth, the fifth is the seventh: what gradation can there be where perfect Imagelessness and Oneness prevail? And what is the reality of Noble Wisdom? It is the ineffable potency of the Dharmakaya; it has no bounds nor limits; It surpasses all the Buddha-lands, and pervades the Akanistha and the heavenly mansions of the Tushita." (51)
Non-Dual Relief from Within Sant Mat !
Ishwar Puri said that we should understand that Sant Mat uses stories that are not to be taken too literally in order to speak on things that really can't be described. Thus, he says, it is not that there is really a 'journey', or a 'one' who is making that journey, but in the beginning we cannot understand things except in a human manner, and the saints indulge our ignorance. At some point, however, we find that all of the drama of creation and the soul's experiences have taken place within Sach Khand, and when we 'reach' Sach Khand we actually find we are only awakening from a dream. In this he sounds very much like the current non-dual teachers. Wow. One may do well printing this and posting it over ones bed at night. What did Ramana say?
“All you can say of the Heart is that it is the very Core of your being…You are always in the Heart. You are never away from it in order that you should reach it.” (52)
But what did the Lankavatara Sutra state:
“But if they only realized it, they are already in the Tataghata’s Nirvana for, in Noble Wisdom, all things are in Nirvana from the beginning.” (53)
What is the Sat Purush? Eternal, Universal Guru>
I am not so presumptuous to know the answer to this question (!), and am speaking here not from personal experience, but only sharing what others who have gone a few steps further have said. To recap, although I hesitate to try to go continue with such deep material after enjoying the brief break above, in Sant Mat, the exfoliated soul, having left behind all koshas, is said to meet the Sat Purush in Sach Khand, the true Home of the Father, who absorbs it into itself and 'takes' it to the nameless and formless realm, Anami Lok, which is technically not a region per se but assumedly the deepest Reality on the inward journey. The soul in Sach Khand has gone past the realization in Bhanwar Gupta where it first (in the downward direction) could be said to be felt individualized as a distinct soul, albeit vast and interdependent, with but one covering, the anandamayakosha. In Sach Khand one could say that the soul realizes a non-duality of both both oneness and difference as the same, or indistinguishable. In terms of the three eternal Primal Hypostases of Plotinus, one might say it realizes its inseparability and oneness yet distinctness within the Absolute Soul. The perfect Param Sant is generally said to have become one with the eighth plane consciousness or Anami, 'beyond' even the august realization of Sach Khand. The very word 'beyond' is limiting, as we are beyond time, space, and the mind at this point. Thus, in his 'Dharmakaya' form or 'body of Sat or truth' the Master personifies the Sat Purush for his disciple. Hence come the metaphors in the tradition of disciples seeing their guru on a throne in Sach Khand and being thus amazed that their very own master is 'God'. But how may we express this function of Sat Purush in a more non-dual way? For certainly, how can 'pure consciousness' be said to 'move' or 'go anywhere'? It is quite mysterious, is it not? We have discussed some of this in Part One already, but will try to express it from some different angles to give us a better chance at comprehension.
Let's step back a bit and contextualize this issue. Mark writes:
"Ancient doctrines all presumed that an 'intermediary' is needed between the personal self and the infinite Deity, Brahman, or the One, between relativity and the absolute. This has been termed variously: Adi Buddha, Cosmic Christ, or Overself. Adi-Buddha is a term used in certain schools of Buddhism to refer to the universal enlightened Presence within the universe. Adi means ‘one’ or ‘first’ and so indicates here the primordial or ‘original’ Buddha, the cosmic archetypal teacher or guru. Like Patanjali’s definition of the term Ishvara as a universal Deity in the ‘Yoga Sutras’, the Adi-Buddha is not a Creator Deity who is responsible for the existence of the relative universe, so much as the archetypal, universal teacher and savior. This term has the same meaning and purpose as the Christ Logos or Universal or Cosmic Christ. This refers to the Universal Presence or personification of Christ Consciousness, which can be thought of as not only a Principle but the total presence of liberated beings in the universe(s). In some cosmologies (such as Daskalos’), the Christ Logos is used a little differently as the universal personification of love and wisdom (similar to Shiva in Tantric philosophy), and complimentary to the Holy Spirit as the personification of love and power (similar to Shakti). The term Christ Logos also can mean the union of Shiva and Shakti, Universal Male and Female."
The Shabda-Brahman, for instance, is a manifestation of the Universal or Cosmic Christ, but it is not its only manifestation. The “aham sphurana” spoken of by Ramana, or the “current that knows the way” of Robert Adams, might be another. He states:
“There is a Power and there is a Presence which I like to call The Current That Knows The Way, that takes care of everything. It is allpart of the grand illusion. nd even in this illusion which appears before your eyes, there is a presence and a Power that lifts you up. it will lift you up as high as you allow It to. Until it lifts you up completely out of your body, out of your thoughts, out of the universe, to a completely new dimension.”
Strange words indeed for a staunch advaitin! He also said:
“When God is ready for you, God will take you over completely. And you’ll have nothing to say about it whatsoever...To get to the stage where God does not exist for you is a very high transcendental stage.” (54)
Mark continues: "Human nature has several main doorways of perception - the senses, the subtle senses (which is how we not only perceive psychically, but also contact emotions and thoughts), pure intuition (insight and 'feeling' without form - formless holistic understanding), and nondual-illumined modes of perception. The Adi-Buddha or Cosmic Christ can be approached (or approach us) through any of these avenues of 'contact'. The Shabda or Nada is a sensory pathway that, as one progresses along that route, gradually expands into not just being sound, but a spiritual feeling (love, bliss, peace) and a growing realization, including nondual aspects and Cosmic Presence dimensions. Depending on the person, different aspects may come to the fore at different times. Some will emphasize the impersonal aspect, some the personal, etc. It can be approached in internal states and 'worlds' or higher planes, or directly from one's physical state. It can be approach through emphasis on vision, sound, feeling, intuition, awareness, or compassion. It can be realized in a bhakti or jnani context, and interpreted in a great variety of ways."
"The Adi-Buddha/Cosmic Christ is not merely on some 'higher plane', but is profoundly present to every level. As Its very essence is nondual realization, it has no sense of boundary for being aware and present to every level and every being of Relativity. Whether we can perceive it or not - that is another question. But it does not require traveling to another plane. It can be realized 'right here'."
"All talk of this reality is limited, metaphorical, and of necessity stepped down. It, in truth, is a vast, mysterious, transcendental reality that the individual Soul will always be in awe of, growing forever in realization of Its nature, and empowered by. Do not go in for glib pseudo-non-dual teachings that dismiss it (or similar ideas/terms like Saguna Brahman, Ishvara, Narayana, Adi Buddha, Absolute Beingness, etc.) as a subtle 'maya', the last veil over the 'real truth', and similar superficial condescensions. We are aware that the astute reader may feel we have already done so with our presentation of the concept of Primal Illusion or Moolamaya in the Sampradaya lineage of Samartha Ram Das, Sri Siddharameshwar, and Sri Nisargadatta. In their case it is not condescension, as the Moolamaya is considered the first expression of Parabrahman or the Absolute, and essentially “God.” The nature of the Sat Purush is an eternal, transcendental Mystery. It's reality is fully compatible with non-dual understanding (though many people mistake it for a 'first cause' Deity), and It can, with a certain superficial simplicity, be defined as the sum total of all non-dual realization throughout the universe, even transcending time, meaning all non-dual realization that ever was or will be. And, of course, it is not 'located' on some plane, but is equally present to all planes, being the Perfection of Universal Non-dual Presence. The individual only seems to first contact it in inversion paths such as Sant Mat in 'higher planes' as that reflects the individual's experience of setting aside enough veils to be able to perceive it. But at deeper stages of realization, its Presence is throughout all planes. And, of course, each Soul is one with the Universal Soul (Sat Purush)."
"Phrases like 'It takes you into the Nameless One' are our clumsy human ways of trying to talk about stages of realization that are truly transcendental, and so fully transcend any words or descriptions about them. The Sat Purush is in a state of Non-dual realization, so it 'showing us' our non-dual Anami Reality is paradoxically really only also bringing us to a deeper realization of It's own Emptiness, which is not beyond the Sat Purush, but our deeper appreciation of that 'aspect' of Its nature and ours. Words so fail here, but those Vedantins who argue that Sat Purush is 'just maya , or a concept', may be seriously short-changing the path and reality, in our opinion. The Sat Purush is God and all that entails, as far as man is concerned - but not necessarily as he understands it."
"Let us examine this issue of the soul, or individuality beyond ego - a stickler for advaitists and traditional Buddhists - a little further. Although while enwrapped in anandamayakosha (in Bhanwar Gupta) the Soul is very individualized in its own Self/Soul realization, this is not an 'aloneness' per se, but a state of deep wholeness and interdependence consciousness. It is relatively formless and immersed in virtue, so that one feels great interconnection with others and a feeling of a larger Presence. It is beyond birth and death, a 'semi-eternal realm', at least until a 'Grand Dissolution'. [Be it noted that in Buddhism they refer to realms such as this as 'beyond the six samsaric existences', as the 'Pure Abodes' (suddhavasa), accessible after death only to non-returners (agami, a person who has abandoned the five lower fetters (satyojana) that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth, there to attain nirvana, never again to be compelled to return to this world]. But in Sach Khand one is reborn into a more deeply trans-virtue state of non-dual Being that, while not the highest state, brings forth a much more immediate sense of our non-dual nature, as well as our 'integration' with the Sat Purush. Mystics, in their physical consciousness, will emphasize different aspects of these states depending on their nature and training. Some emphasize 'oneness with God', other non-dual awareness, some both. But states beyond even this ("realms of Suchness" in Buddhism, or those for the Arhants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas') - or in Sant Mat, Alakh, Agam, Anami - and, in some lineages, Radhasoami or Dayal Desh beyond this - and ever-deepening, become increasingly difficult to fully realize in a body, so that aspects will be 'missed', and the nature of these states are typically oversimplified - 'no-self', 'differences transcended', etc.. The whole affair is more subtle than that. Also, the notion that there is no individuality beyond ego or the mind is not so cut and dried as it is in advaita and some Buddhist schools."
"Consider this: it is a given that the planes and bodies all interpenetrate yet without co-mingling, so inversion is not necessary for non-dual realization. However, on an inversion or ascending path, for example, how could one pass 'upwards' into higher states like Sach Khand or Sat Lok and beyond, and be 'lead' anywhere, and have this result in growing spiritual attainment, if there was no individual that this is happening to? There is a type of individuality on every plane, but beyond the mental plane it takes forms rather unfamiliar to humans in a physical body. Even the true nature of astral and mental consciousness and experience is a greater form of identity (traveling from one location to another by thought, communication by telepathy, synaesthesia, etc). But the nature of individuality in each higher plane becomes more 'realized' and deeply interdependent with everything. And the levels at Sach Khand and beyond (and their correlates in other systems) include a direct perception of the non-dual nature of everything as well. But non-dual realization is so non-dual that it does not negate or reject anything, including individuality (i.e., hence the saying 'samsara and nirvana are one'). In fact, non-dual 'realization' requires individuality as a focus. Only 'individuals' can have non-dual realization. Perhaps this is why some teachings, such as the Avadhuta Gita, say 'It' is beyond duality and non-duality, although these are only concepts. The essence of the very nature of individuality at these 'levels' is that they are based in the realization that all relative phenomena and truths perceived are non-dual in their nature, but without eclipsing any of them. Individuality, universality, eternity, time, space, love, bliss, Shiva, Shakti, karma, Sat Purush, forms, bodies, planes, elements, realization - all these and more are realized as non-dual in essence, and simultaneously illuminated by this realization at a relative level in a way that does not erase them, but instead reveals increasingly profound and subtle insights into the vast interdependence of all these relative realities. There is no need to negate individuality, but only continually deepen our realization of its transcendental and mysterious nature, deeper and deeper. At a certain stage of this realization it becomes apparent that the 'presence' of the experience of individuality does not obstruct this endlessly deepening realization, but is basic to the experience of non-dual realization within relativity. So do we really get rid of self or individuality, or rather go deeper into more profound realizations of what it 'really' is, outgrowing lesser, more limited, more superimposed understandings. It is suggested that many teachings and practitioners that feel they have radically and finally transcended relativity and realized an Absolute may not have really done so."
Having said all this, the argument of advaita vedanta is persistent and must be considered. An example is this:
"The difference between us and other schools is that they have the erroneous belief that there is some Reality, apart from us, which is unborn and eternal, whereas we know it to be our very own Atman."
"Those who talk of the 'I' becoming merged in Brahman are not philosophers but mystics. Vedanta does not admit even the existence of the 'I'."
"He who says he sees Sat Purush in Sat Lok is no sage." - V.S. Iyer (55)
Woah! That is a big one from a renown vedantist. And likely needs another book to fully investigate. It seems to strike at the very roots of Sant Mat, but then, perhaps not, if we accept - for now at least - that the Sat Purush is not a "thing" and is also of the nature of "Emptiness", as is the soul, in its true nature.
Further, from Sri Nisargadatta:
"Q: Isn’t God a person?
A: As long as you think yourself to be a person, He, too, is a person. When you see all, you see Him as all.” (56)
And Ramana:
"To be the Self is the same as seeing the Self. There are no two selves for the one to see the other." (57)
So perhaps some will see Sat Purush as a person, and some may not, but in either case, there is more realization beyond that. Nisargadatta said that "God knows you when you know yourself." (58) Brunton had a mysterious quote where he said that before entering the deepest Void, "God and man will meet for the last time." And yet he also said, "the Void, grand as it is, is but an experience in meditation." Which is to say that Sahaja, or the eternal state realized in everyday life, is more than even this.
The Sat Purush, then, may be the highest form of the Guru on the inbound stages of the mystic path, but what about the so-called "closing pitcher", the Guru who helps establish you in sahaj? Sri Nisargadatta said this:
"It is not the worship of a person that is crucial, but the steadiness and depth of your devotion to the task. Life itself is the Supreme Guru; be attentive to its lessons and obedient to its commands. When you personalize their source, you have an outer Guru; when you take them from life directly, the Guru is within. Remember, ponder, live with it, grow with it, make it your own - the word of your Guru, outer or inner. Put in all and you will get all" (59)
Further, he also says:
"The innermost light, shining peacefully and timelessly within the heart, is the real Guru. All others merely show the way...[Can the outer Guru grant initiation?] The initiation into Reality must come from within...[Who gives the ultimate initiation?] It is self-given." (60
)
Surely food for thought. This is undoubtedly deep stuff. Therefore, let the devotee perhaps ease himself off a bit by considering this salient point:
"Satguru is ever-present, never think He is far away." - Sikh hymn
A few points on Simran, spiritual intuition, and hierarchies of 'inner' masters
Mark writes:
"There are many masters who don't currently have bodies who have disciples and 'colleagues' in the physical world, so there is a need for 'inner' contact in such instances. In a few cases fellow disciples with more advanced access may also be used as intermediaries for messages that those without such inner access need to hear. Usually the person receiving such advice will be spiritually sensitive and equipped with the discrimination to appreciate that guidance; otherwise, such special communications will not be forthcoming."
"Another topic is that there is also a spiritual hierarchy so that even some advanced masters on earth may still have 'superiors' that are not in bodies yet from whom they receive inspiration. For instance, the Buddha posited eight levels to full liberation. The fourth level was that of the realized soul or Arhat, which might be considered the equivalent of Sach Khand or Atmic realization. Above that were more advanced levels of mastery. Bhai Sahib (Irena Tweedie's guru) talked about receiving guidance from his 'higher ups'. It’s just the way it is. But it brings up some issues - how do we know when it is true contact? This is very important."
"One can certainly use repetition of the Sant Mat mantras as advised by the masters to 'verify' the positive nature of the being one is in contact with, especially and mainly in the lower planes of form, and also especially for those who have not yet grown to spiritual maturity. This is something each person must determine for himself, keeping in mind - without paranoia - the traditional stories of even great yogis 'falling from the heights'. But there is eventually an even more essential method. Similar to the way we all grow in maturity as human beings, and as we do, we become better judges of character, so that when we met someone, for instance, we gain greater ability to see their strengths and shortcomings, we also overall learn to have a sense of the quality of their presence. People would ask Ramana how, when choosing a guru, do you know if they are Self-realized?, and he would say things like, 'by how much depth of peace you feel in their presence'. In the inner planes it is even easier to do this, because people and beings are less veiled than in physical bodies. So someone may try to present themselves as being enlightened, but if you have some basic intuitive ability to sense beyond surfaces and contact their inner nature, their character/motives/energy/presence - that cannot be faked. Peace, love, clarity, joy - these are not qualities the Negative Power, or others who would mislead or deceive, are able to fake. So the deepest way to know who you are dealing with is to develop enough soul awareness yourself so that you know soul when you see it, so to speak, and then you can't be fooled. Moreover, at some level it is much easier and faster, more economical, to communicate without words.This is not a common ability, to be sure. Many people these days make these claims, but do not have real experiences, or lack consistency, so that it is made a travesty."
"Simran is a temporary technique for stilling the mind, opening doors, purifying energy, building positivity, and dispelling darkness and dark powers. Its value is largely transcended at higher stages when one has a greater knowledge of soul, and finally, has the wisdom to clearly and unequivocally distinguish Truth and maya. The Dark Power is a maya. When one is far enough along the path, one knows what is what and is not easily deceived. Since Dark Forces have no access to planes beyond the lowest three (up to the mind or causal), nor do the mental faculties that could repeat a mantra then access to those above them, which in wisdom terms means adequate insight into, and identification with, soul, means that the use of tools like simran as a method of discrimination are not only not possible, but are no longer needed, for your intuition is now trustworthy. Most of the people who think they can do this are not there yet. This is why it is safest to tell people to use simran all the time. But at some point one must use ones own direct realization to make this determination."
"Another point. Masters in their inner nature have a much greater depth of perspective than in their physical personalities. So if you contact a master directly in their higher bodies, they may know things that their physical personalities do not. For instance, any master who is fully honest will tell people that, when they have come into the student's meditation or dreams, for instance, that usually the masters physical consciousness was unaware that this was happening. If they are advanced enough, they will be able to confirm that it did happen (or not). But that does not mean they were aware of it when it was happening. Bhai Sahib acknowledged this, for example. There are many things masters know at higher level that are not known to their outer selves. This is because the veils of the lower vehicles may have been thinned and illuminated by their spiritual development, but they are still veils, and so diminish realization, power and understanding in their bodies. A great master still brings through a lot of Soul/God Consciousness into their bodies, but not anywhere near what they have on the inner levels. This is why masters who have reincarnated in bodies for centuries can be said to be so much more richly realized than a younger master, even if there inner level of spiritual evolution is the same. Because it takes time to ground more and more realization. It is not just a matter of reaching a certain level but also of integrating that with the physical consciousness. There is a thing called the enlightenment of the intelligence. Some say this takes much longer than just reaching a certain inner state. This is part of the value behind a lineage, where the masters can, so to speak, ‘watch each others back’."
"One reason that some 'hidden' or 'ascended' masters also work through disciples via inner contact is that they are expressing an aspect of their service/dharma on this planet that may not be what a specific personality they may also have in incarnation at the same time is designed to understand, due to the time or place. For instance, when a person leaves their body and has realization in a higher world, they are not always able to bring it back. For instance, it is possible for someone who was advanced enough and living a thousand years ago to go to higher world and to realize The General Theory of Relativity. But when they went back into a 1000 A.D. body and brain, they would not have the context for writing a paper on it like Einstein did. There was not advanced enough science and physics around to allow the brain to realize it. They may be able to have a mystical, poetic insight into it. But not the detailed, sophisticated version. This is also true in spiritual science. The personality, karmic past, culture, spiritual lineage, special training, etc. that are the context and co-creative conditions for that body will influence what intuitive realizations can be brought back from higher planes, and in what way. Some realizations on those planes are so profound that masters can experience them there, but by the time they come down through the bodies it will be filtered into a profound, mystical, incomprehensible feeling, with little content."
"Two thousand years from now future masters will be able to bring down much more of that realization. This is part of the mystery of how the relative and transcendental levels or realization interact. Masters have penetrated the transcendental so that they are Self-Realized, or God-conscious, but the relative aspects of their realization will be influenced by their own unique development in these areas, what they have studied intellectually and intuitively, what there lineage understands and does not. This can be seen in how widespread outdated and limited and silly ideas are in various traditions made up of great masters. When they go to higher planes, they merge into levels of themselves that often have contrary ideas to what there outer personalities still participate in. We can think of it as one of the ways that masters take on the karma of the world. It is not just as taking on physical or psychological karma . They also take on the beliefs of humanity, their culture, their lineage, and gradual transform and illuminate it all. But some of it will not be transformed yet, but will influence their outer self. Much of these limitations are not what the inner master believes. One might call this a virus affecting a lineage. So in Sant Mat, for instance, we get outer masters saying things like "avatars go only up to the causal plane," or "only our masters go to the highest," or even "Anami lok is the final plane." Whereas some sensitives have received inner confirmation saying things contrary to all of that. In Christianity, as another example, they say that Jesus was not a man who became God-realized, but God-incarnate come down to earth, but, how do they know that? Who had the acuity of discernment to distinguish the Christ-Logos from the Solar Logos, or the planetary Logos, or simply an advanced realized Master? To use another analogy: what if a Master's higher self, as far as relative wisdom and knowledge, is like a professor in a university. On the higher planes, they have mastered half of the departments at the university, while at the absolute level they are Self-realized. So they have professorship in a large number of areas. In the human world, it is not only not necessary for them to bring through all this into their physical brains, but it is even impossible for some to come into our world at this time in history. It would be like trying to teach the full spectrum of Tibetan Buddhist teachings to cave people. Not only is it not useful, it could not be done, because the level of development of the whole of humanity, the particular culture and tradition, would also influence what could be incarnated in their bodies as relative understanding. So much will always remain, for various reasons, on the higher levels of a masters consciousness. So sometime even a living master will say one thing on the physical plane, but if you could ask the same question of their inner self, they would have another answer! These ideas in their physical brains are part of the cross they carry in choosing to remain in the world for the good of others. They could just go on to higher planes and be an actualization of themselves that is freer of these burdens.The inner self of a master is a vast presence that has many facets, that far transcends what any given personality they may have in this world can express. So they might express other aspects of themselves through inspiring disciples who are more resonant with those other aspects."
"One may question why do many masters work behind the scenes. This is fairly esoteric. Take it with a grain of salt, if you will. In fact, please do! It is one suggested explanation, but with some reasoning backing it up. A relevant issue is that having achieved liberation, a person's will/individuality is deeply realized as non-dual, and from the relative angle is realized as inseparable from the Sat Purush or Adi Buddha. So at this stage it is said both that a person has a choice, or is assigned by the Higher Will, a dharma of service, because the individual karma is over, and so is personal desire. There are, then, two paths: to return to Earth to serve humanity, or be assigned work somewhere else. [Some say there is a third: to be absorbed into the absolute]. When Sri Yukteswar appeared to Yogananda after he had passed on, he said he had been assigned to be a teacher on an astral planet. That is an example of the second possibility. There are many possibilities in this category, including working with humanity but from higher dimensions. Of those that are assigned to return to human incarnation, there is a limited number at this stage who are allowed to do this. This is because there cannot be too many so as to cause a presence of liberated souls in the world that exceeds human karmic requirements. It is a pure expression of grace, but it must still follow laws that include not violating free will. It can also, according to Sant Mat (and some other traditions as well), cause problems with the Negative Power, so there must be an arrangement. Too much influx of light too fast can stir up subconscious karmas faster than is possible for integration. These conditioning elements of the human situation dictate how many of these masters can work openly, and how many must remain behind the scenes. Some are allowed to work openly (more than just one as many of the Sant Mat masters seem to believe - Kirpal, for one, did not believe this), and most of these have achieved the fifth or sixth stages. There are only a couple dozen in the world beyond the sixth, and these almost always work unknown to the world, or little known, such as Babaji. Some who have appeared openly were Shankara, Padmasambhava and the Buddha. Alice Bailey's 'Tibetan' was one who worked behind the scenes, though he was known to thousands of Tibetans. This was his assignment. It does not have anything to do with how compassionate he was, as many mistakenly believe about these masters. Most of the masters Blavatsky studied, including her own master, were ones who in that life worked behind the scenes. Many of these masters cycle back and forth, some lives working one side of the 'curtain', other lives the other side. Very high masters commonly don't take more public incarnations unless they are starting religions, reformers, or major lineage holders."
"There are said by some (and denied by others) for there to be masters who live in secret, in the Himalayas, Central Asia, or the Kunlun mountains of China, who are very, very advanced, but who do not come down themselves and interact with common people, but send 'representatives', who are high initiates themselves. Or who restrict themselves to working in higher spheres. Many of the greatest Masters are said to not frequently incarnate unless they wish to purify or start a tradition, such as Babaji, Nanak, Christ, or others. Nityananda said he could do much more work from the subtle realms than he could in the physical. This is a vast area of investigation."
It’s All Too Much for Me to Take - Mind-bending thoughts on Holarchy, Hierarchy, Time, Space, Relativity
Just when you thought it was okay to go back into the water, we had to sneak into following discussion. Take it as entertainment, comic relief, or a mystery worth pondering, it has all been reported in the historical traditions and so we include it here. “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be bumpy night.”
Ramana Maharshi once provocatively said that “not only can one be reborn, one may be twenty or forty or even seventy years old in the new body though only two years after death.”
“There was a reference to reincarnation. Reincarnation of Shanti Devi tallies with the human standards of time. The latest report of a boy of seven is different. He recalls his past births. Inquiries go to show that the previous body was given up ten months ago. The question arises how the matter stood for six years and two months previous to the death of the former body. Did the soul occupy two bodies at the same time? Sri Bhagavan pointed out that the seven years is according to the boy; ten months is according to the observer. The difference is due to these two different upadhis (limiting adjunct or attribute; everything that is superimposed on Brahman, the Reality). The boy’s experience, extending to seven years, has been calculated by the observer to cover only ten months of his own time. (Sri Bhagavan again referred to Lila’s story in Yoga Vashista).” (61)
This anecdote had always intrigued me and doing a little digging I found the story of Lila is a famous one examining the nature of relativity: time and space, birth and death. As it is readily found on-line, however, we will not recount it here. The concept will have relevance in the upcoming section on multiple emanations. But first we will discuss some notions about hell and 'lower regions,' yes, even apparently 'below' Pinda.
”IF THERE’S A HELL BELOW, WE’RE ALL GONNA GO”
This article is a follow up to “SCARE TACTICS” in Part One. It is placed here simply because after the mind-stretching in the previous section the reader may be more favorably disposed to peruse some additional weird material!
There is a lot to be afraid of in spiritual teachings. Even the saints, it appears, sometimes repeat traditional teachings that employ ‘scare tactics’ to motivate their disciples towards sadhana or spiritual practice. One such teaching is that “the man-body or human form is a great blessing, because it is the only form in which one can know God - but if one does not increase his consciousness he will go down in the scale of creation and who knows when he will get the rare chance again.” In our view, while the first part of this statement is likely correct (which nevertheless assumes a lot about the non-human kingdoms of nature), the second half does not necessarily follow, at least in the general case. An example from one Sant is as follows:
“If we do not connect our consciousness with God, if we just come in contact with the things of the world, then naturally our consciousness will be lessened. If our consciousness is lessened, we will go to the level of bodies in which consciousness is comparatively less than man’s.”
This form of emphasis seems, to our way of thinking, more a reflection of the point of view of the saints that merely to exist in samsara or ignorance as an ordinary human being is in itself like a ‘hell’ and an ‘inhuman’ form of life in the highest sense of the word human, rather than a completely accurate depiction of reality. That one will ‘fall’ all the way back to the primitive beginnings of planetary evolutionary, or even so far as into a lesser animal form, if he ‘sins’ or comes up short of the mark as a man in any one life, does not appear realistic! Simple logic leads one to question (a) how an animal, without free will, reasoning and discriminative powers (manas and buddhi) - and most importantly self-consciousness (without which some have argued that there can be no individual karma (1) - could ever accrue the noble karma to permit him to advance to the human form, or (b), how a human, imagined as recently incarnated as a man from the animal kingdom, and not yet living up to the perfection of the archtypal Human Idea or “Idea of Man”, could ever evolve if he was punished by eternal hell, hell until the next cosmic dissolution, or hell for thousands of years until his next incarnation, as even some contemporary teachings continue to pronounce. Based on simple logic there would be no way out of hell! Such fear-inducing teachings can not explain this glaring inconsistency and impossiblity and in our opinion smack of cultism (or old-fashioned teaching methods) par excellance. This is not to say there is no answers at all to such queries.
Hell has often been defined as a place where no growth or evolution can take place, but only punishment. This is in contrast to the subtle realms to which the soul is said to pass after death, where it is maintained that some growth processes may occur, although most teachings do agree that the majority takes place in life on earth (i.e., Jesus’ saying, ”work while it is day, and not at night, when no man can work”). Usually, however, 'hell' is considered to be a region, or various regions, in the lower psychic or astral realms, with also personal ‘annexes’ or temporary subjective psychological forms of ‘hell’ contained within them. For an example of such exceptions, Daskalos taught that the 'good angel,' or 'angelic elemental,' can send a soul to 'Erevnos - a form of psycho-noetic abyss - and then separate the etheric from the gross physical, the psychic, and the noetic - similar to a deep sleep - whereby the memories are erased to force human spirits that vibrate satanically to 'calm down' and forget. This is not, he says, a punishment per se but a necessary oblivion. He says that the Greeks called this "the Dregs of the Waters." When they come down, they will have still their karmic experiences in order to pay their debts. For Daskalos, demons possess human beings through the spleen and liver, which has parallels with certain Far Eastern traditions.
For the Buddhists, evolution as such is not given much credence, or emphasis, and hell is spoken of more in psychological terms, as one of six samsaric realms in which one wanders endlessly until he achieves nirvana or acosmic liberation. [These doctrines, including the curious one of hell below the earth, as well as what is said to happen after death have been discussed in some detail in (http://www.mountainrunnerdoc.com/consciousness_after_death.html) “In the Bosom of the Lord - Death for the Unliberated”, to which the inquiring reader is directed as supplementary reading].
Just think, however: if a man is in his first human incarnation, not yet free of his ‘animal’ inheritance, is it reasonable to see him as at the same level of responsibility as a man in his five-hundredth such incarnation? Man is in the make, and evolution is only possible through many learning experiences. Once having passed through the human archtype (assuming something like that happens), one is considered to be on the human evolutionary track, and will not go backwards (except, perhaps, in the most extreme cases, and as a temporary punishment). That would be giving much too much credit to the limited jiva within the greater cosmic plan. Hindu as well as Muslim cosmology, however, would have it be so, and go to great lengths to describe the tortures awaiting our human frailty and weakness. In both ancient cosmologies, there are said to be fourteen regions in creation: seven ‘positive’ ones (seven hierarchical planes, variously named in many schools, from earth to Sat Lok), and seven regions of the nether world ‘below’ the earth. Thus, in one form of this conception fifty percent of creation essentially is hell! Despite all that has been disclosed or dispensed by the masters of wisdom in our modern age, there are groups that still promote a very judgemental and extreme view of things. One such depiction is presented by a Spiritual Research Foundation, (http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/articles/id/spiritualresearch/spiritualscience/afterdeath), wherein such a fourteen plane schema is described, along with the hubris to propose what percentage of human beings, guilty of what ‘crimes’ or sins, will be assigned to which hell, and for how long. For instance, suicide in all cases is given “66,000 years in the seventh hell”. Says who?! One is free to believe this if he chooses, but just know that there are much more subtle teachings available to chose from. Nevertheless, in some variations of these teachings it is said that those who are sent to the seventh and lowest hell never come back. But how could anyone ever know this, without first going there and returning?!
In the Quran (15:44) there are listed seven ranks of Hell, starting from Jahannan, Lazza, Hutamah, Sa'eer, Saqar, Jaheem, and the lowest, Haviyah. The latter is described as a very deep, bottomless ditch where the hypocrites and pretenders go. The name given to the warden of Hell is Malik, an Arabic word meaning Lord or King - and one the Masters of Sant Mat often use for the true Lord, although in Arabic is more precisely al-Malik, the 'Lord of the worlds'. Hazrat Noman bin Bashir said that the Noble Prophet has said: "The one who is least punished in Hell will be made to put on a pair of shoes with thongs which are made of fire. His brain will cook up in the same way a cooking pot boils. He will suppose no one else has been punished more than he although he himself will be the least punished of all." (63) What happens to the others? You don't want to know.
In contrast, while the Hindu Puranas do give a description of seven nether regions, these are not merely or always considered as ‘hell realms’. Indeed, the sage Narada is said to have journeyed there and came back ‘very favorably impressed’. Some of them are spoken of as beautiful, with pious beings - and not just as places of blood, pus, filth, sulfer, fire and brimstone, etc.! The suggestion in some modern cosmologies is that these regions are not human hells, for the most part, but worlds for other kingdoms of nature - such as the ‘nagas’ (from whom the great Nagarjuna was said to have recovered the essential emptiness teachings of Buddhism), gnomes, sylphs, undines, and various other creatures. The following is an excerpt from a Wikepedia entry on Patala, or the seven nether regions in Hindu cosmology:
“In Hindu cosmology, Patala or Patal denotes the seven lower regions of the universe - which are located under the earth. Patala is often translated as underworld or netherworld. Patala is composed of seven regions or lokas, the seventh and lowest of them is also called Patala or Naga-loka, the region of the Nagas. The Danavas (demon sons of Danu), Daityas (demon sons of Diti), Yakshas and the snake-people Nagas live in the realms of Patala. According to Hindu cosmology, the universe is divided into the three worlds: Svarga (Heaven: seven upper regions), Prithvi (earth) and Patala - the underworld and netherworld."
"Vishnu Purana tells of a visit by the divine wandering sage Narada to Patala. Narada describes Patala as more beautiful than Svarga (heaven). Patala is described as filled with splendid jewels, beautiful groves and lakes and lovely demon maidens. Sweet fragrance is in the air and is fused with sweet music. The soil here is white, black, purple, sandy, yellow, stony and also of gold. The Bhagavata Purana calls the seven lower regions bila-svargas ("subterranean heavens") and they are regarded as planets or planetary systems below the earth. These regions are described as being more opulent than the upper regions of the universe, which include heaven. The life here is of pleasure, wealth and luxury, with no distress. The demon architect Maya has constructed palaces, temples, houses, yards and hotels for foreigners, with jewels. The natural beauty of Patala is said to surpass that of the upper realms. There is no sunlight in the lower realms, but the darkness is dissipated by the shining of the jewels that the residents of Patala wear. There is no old age, no sweat, no disease in Patala."
"According to the Vishnu Purana, seventy thousand Yojanas (a unit of measurement) below the Earth's surface lie the seven realms of Patala, which are located one above the other. Each of them extends ten thousand Yojanas. In Vishnu Purana, they are named as from the highest to the lowest as: Atala, Vitala, Nitala, Garbhastimat, Mahatala, Sutala and Patala. In Bhagavata Purana and Padma Purana, they are called Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala and Patala. The Shiva Purana, replaces Mahatala with Tala. The Vayu Purana calls them Rasatala, Sutala, Vitala, Gabhastala, Mahatala, Sritala and Patala. The seven Patalas as well as the earth above them is supported on the head of the tamasic (dark) form of god Vishnu, the thousand-headed serpent (Naga) Shesha. Sometimes, Sesha is described to reside in the lowest region of Patala, instead of below it. Below the regions of Patala, lies Naraka, the Hindu Hell - the realm of death where sinners are punished.” [End of Wikepedia material]
Now comes a part where the brain is sure to have a melt-down. These seven upper regions, according to The Spiritual Research Society, are said to be of ‘positive existence’, and the seven hells of ‘negative existence’. However, they say one goes to these ‘negative existences’ accompanied with parts of the being that only manifest in positive existence (such as one’s mental or astral bodies). This must be considered erroneous. Subjective experience is not characteristic of ‘negative existence’, if that phrase means anything. ‘Negative existence’ in science means what is prior to existence, or only potential existence (such as in a Bose-Einstein Condensate, or homogenous and fluid field of non-matter where everything, so to speak, is reversed), and thus it is contradictory to talk of it in positive terms. So-called negative or potential existence is not 'denser' than the earth - as one might assume hell as a plane or set of planes below the earth to be, in the same manner as the earth is more dense in vibration than the heaven realms - but rather of a different order entirely, one which we have no frame of reference or means of experience.
If one supposes, however, that these seven hells which are also the home of other kingdoms of nature such as listed above are, in fact, denser than the earth, the question arises, "how could we see these creatures, as people through the ages - and children of all ages - have attested?" We surmise that while denizens of these realms may be 'beneath' the earth in terms of evolution (an assumption which may in fact be incorrect, as some say they are on entirely different, not lesser, tracks of evolution), they are not 'below' or denser than the earth in terms of vibration in the same way that the earth is considered denser than the astral, which is denser than the mental, and so forth. Further, a realm denser in vibration than the earth plane, or even more so of 'negative existence', would hardly be describable in the manner which the Puranas elaborately portray Patala, nor would it appear to be possible for an adept to visit there in his mental body, which, as stated, is part of positive existence. So for the Wicked Witch of the West to have “gone where the witches go, below, below below below,” likely do not happen!
Of interest in this Society is that they consider hells as below, but place the ‘nether world’ (often considered synonymous with hell or a region below the earth) as a place 'just above the earth’, where some people go after death, as opposed to either the hells below or the lower astral regions above (the latter which are more universally spoken of as places of temporary purgation, learning, and assimilation of experience, even if it be through what appears as punishment).
[It should be mentioned that hyperbole in this area is not limited to Hindu and Muslim sources; Tibetan Buddhists, especially, love to imaginatively elaborate on many excruciating forms of Hell! such as the hot hells and cold hells, and even much more bizarre forms. (http://www.khandro.net/doctrine_hells.htm)
The notion of hell being "below" the earth likely comes from earlier times when the earth was considered to be flat, and the firmament was a dome covering the earth. The stars were pinpoints opening to the heaven or empyrean above. The general occult view encompassing Theosophy to Kriya yoga to Sant Mat and other mystical systems, is that in relativity there are physical, subtle, causal dimensions. As seen in Part One, Sant Mat usually speaks of physical, astral, and causal realms. Other systems likeTheosophy and Daskalos break it into physical, astral, mental, and even higher mental realms. Sant Mat actually resolves this confusion in terminology with its lumping these astral and mental regions all into "Anda", i.e., the entire subtle dimension.
All conventional heavens and hells are within this dimension. For instance, there are said to be three astral levels: lower, middle, and higher. Hell is in the lower astral, an ordinary earth-like afterlife awaits those who spend time in the middle astral, and the higher astral is where the materialized heavens are found. These would be Valhalla of the Norse, Bahisht or paradise of the Muslims, Happy Hunting Grounds of Native Americans, the Bosom of Abraham and Infernal Heavens of the Christians and Jews.
In the mental world are the more "star-studded" celestial heavens of the religions, such as Baikunth or Swar of the Hindus, the Supernal Heaven of the Jews, Sukhavati of the Buddhists, as well as the true Christian Heaven. [In Sant Mat sometimes these are called "higher astral", but again, it would be less confusing if they just said "higher Anda."] And above these, according to Kirpal Singh's interpretation of Annie Besant, are "three formless heavens in the mental realms, where souls enjoy their self-consciousness to the highest degree, but are not yet endowed with cosmic consciousness."
Beyond these lies the causal and super causal planes, and beyond that the true "Heaven above the Heavens, or the Empyrean of the Near-Eastern faiths. This may be Sat Lok in Sant Mat.
[Note: "Causal" in Sant Mat can be confusing, because it is said, among other things, to be the realm where you can see your past births, so it is not formless or the nature of unmanifest deep sleep, which is how the causal dimension is defined in Vedanta. It therefore seems more like what would be termed a higher mental realm in the other systems].
Just as there can be what Sri Aurobindo termed "annexes" of the subtle regions (perhaps such as "Dev Lok" which Kirpal Singh suggested was a "special sanctuary in the mental realms, the Garden of Eden from which man was expelled), so, too, may there be special regions within the "hells" in the lower astral realm also. Daskalos, for instance, mentioned a place he called Erevos where certain troubled souls go to "chill out" for however long it takes. Initiates of course, and good people everywhere, have no need to fear this:
“Erevos..is a form of psychonoetic abyss, which is not punishment but a necessary condition similar, I would say, to oblivion where their memories will be erased so that when they return to consciousness they will not remember anything. You will see that what separates the various worlds, the etheric of the gross material, the psychic and the noetic, is the veil of Erevos or abyss. When one enters there one ceases to remember, reflects no impressions, yet one knows one exists. Quite often human beings enter there during deep sleep. The ancient Greeks called it "The Dregs of the Water." It is a necessary condition to force human spirits that vibrate satanically, so to speak, to forget.” (64)
At any rate, two things stand out. One, hells are in the lowest subtle realms, not some denser medium below the physical earth. There may be relatively "objective" hell (s) there, but overlayed with an individual's personal hell or psychic shell created during his or her many earth lives. This overlay may apply to the higher two astral regions as well. Some will, therefore, see more clearly than others, and at one time or another, in the postmortem existence. But also, two, it may in fact be just as unreasonable to place the higher planes "above" the physical earth, per se. That is to say, they are not "pancaked" one on top of the other either, or subject to constraints related to the time and space dimensions of the physical realm. So where are they? This is not so easy to answer, and has been discussed elsewhere in this book! It has been said that it comes down to a difference in frequencies, if that helps. Further, it is not always so easy to tell if one is out of the body or not. St. Paul, speaking of himself in the third person, famously said, "I met a man caught up into the third heaven, whether in the body I know not, or out of the body." (2 Cor. 12:2)
It is popular in this psychologically sophisticated age to presume that hell is just a state of consciousness, and that the so-called bardos are our subjective hallucinations. When asked if hell was this or a specific region, Sant Darshan Singh said, in his bookSpiritual Awakening, however, that it was a region. Some say it is both. The next question is whether, either way, this is an eternal state (or fate). Here is where an apparent great divine exists between orthodox Christianity and the teachings of the East, the former teaching hell as a permanent state, and the latter a potentially long but not permanent one. We cannot answer this here. But certainly, the testimonies of both recent Near-Death Experiences (NDE's), as well as historical Christian history both affirm the experiential validity of such "places". It is hard to reject outright the stories of hundreds of saints themselves, and of saints who have intervened in the deaths of ordinary people, who come back and tell of what they saw. The fascinating book, Saints Who Have Raised the Dead, by Father Albert Herbert, gives hundreds of such accounts. In the Tibetan tradition, there are also stories of saints and saintly people who have died and come back after exploring the afterlife. These are called delog. There are numerous accounts in Buddhist writings of high lamas or gurus escorting legions of souls out of various hell realms. [For moreonthis see the book Delog by Delog Dawa Drolma].
And, as in Sant Mat, there have been accounts of such people seeing great lamas leading scores of souls out of hell realms. Of course, initiates have nothing to worry about here, as the Master is said to have taken over the role of the Angel and Lord of Death for those souls under His care. But for the sake of further understanding some examples are given. [One such story by an initiate (Bibi Hardevi) who was given a glimpse into a hell realm by her Master is told in the "Amazing Visions" section of Part Three].
A famous example of this in Christianity is the story of St. Drithelm as told by the Venerable Bede (672-735) in his Ecclesiastical History. Bede was a Doctor of the Church, and the most authoritative historian on early English history, so it is not easily dismissed as mere legend. The account of Drithelm was well-known in early England and resulted in many conversions. Drithelm was a good man who died, but just before his internment raised himself up and announced his new life henceforth would be different than it had been before. He described his experiences:
"On leaving my body I was received by a benevolent person who took me under his guidance. His face was brilliant, and he appeared surrounded with light. He arrived at a large deep valley of immense extent, all fire on one side, all ice and snow on the other; on the one hand braziers and caldrons of flame, on the other the most intense cold and the blasts of a glacial wind."
As summarized by Hebert,
"Drithelm went on to tell how he saw innumerable souls tossed as if by a furious tempest from the side with the freezing cold to the side with the blazing heat, from torture to torture, constantly seeking relief in the opposite extreme, to and fro. He thought the terrible place was Hell, but his guide informed him that it was a special place in Purgatory. In this place were there souls who had deferred repentance to the end of their lives, but had been saved by the mercy of God at the last minute. There in Purgatory they would endure their temporal punishment for forgiven sin...Drithelm was also shown terrible scenes of Hell. Tremendous globes and masses of stinking fire rose up from the dark crater of the noisy pit. The souls there were ceaselessly tossed up to the tips of the flames and then sucked downwards as the vaporous flames fell back. Drithelm saw a crew of jeering spirits, demons, dragging into the pit five wailing and weeping souls, among them one who was tonsured, a layman, and a woman."
Leaving aside considerations of whether some of this was a subjective/psychological overlay based on expectations within his tradition - but one is somewhat sceptical of such reductionistic thinking inasmuch as similar frightening visions have been shown to countless ordinary and extraordinary persons, including the visitation at Fatima of Our Lady to three young children in the early twentieth century, as well as many Tibetan accounts of visions and transports to hell, etc. - the following is of interest in distinguishing levels of "heaven":
"On the happier side he saw flowery fields, youthful spirits, happy abodes, but that was not Heaven. He came to a place where he heard the sound of sweet singing amid a delightful fragrance and glorious light. His guide told him that Heaven was nearby, but Drithelm did not see it. Then his heavenly guide told him to return to earth. And he ended up in the monastery at Melrose on the Tweed River." (65)
St. Christina the Admirable (1150-1224) was another saint who died but rose while still in her open coffin and described her experience:
"As soon as my soul was separated from my body, it was received by angels who conducted it to a very gloomy place entirely filled with souls. The torments which they there endured appeared to me so excessive that it is impossible for me to give any idea of their rigor. I saw many of my acquaintances, and, deeply touched by their sad condition, I asked what place it was, for I believed it to be Hell."
"My guide answered me that it was Purgatory, where sinners were punished who before death had repented of their faults, but who had not made worthy satisfaction to God. From there I was conducted to Hell, and there also I recognized among the reprobates some whom I had formerly known. The angels then transported me into Heaven..." (66)
This was not the full Christian Heaven, the Empyrean or Heaven above the heavens, i.e., the Beatific Vision, but a high celestial subtle region. Her Lord then gave her a choice to remain there or return to earth to undergo great penances as "reparational suffering" to save souls in Purgatory or those destined for Hell. She chose to return and then did barely believable and seemingly bizarre things as penances like throwing herself into burning furnaces without being consumed, her wounds disappearing, and praying in frozen waters in the winters.
A point to be made here is that repentance is the first thing, reparation is another. In Christianity, repentance saves us from Hell, reparation gets us through Purgatory. Take it mystically or psychologically, either way it works.
Cutting through the jungle of conflicting views, yet perhaps offering insight on some of them regarding densities or locations of “planes”, an interesting and contrasting gyan/vedantic interpretation of the Nether World and the various basic states is given in Amrut Laya by Sri Siddharameshwar, guru of Sri Nisargadatta, whose views were discussed in Part One. As a general rule, in Vedanta the emphasis is on the subject and subjective experience, in contrast with the object [i.e., jiva] and objective experience in most yogas and cosmological forms of mysticism. The latter start from the conventions or ordinary living - otherwise known as ignorance - while the former assumes nothing and enquire as to what is true. The latter usually describes the path as an actual journey ‘towards’ consciousness, disencumbering the soul from its adventitious vehicles or coverings, while the former assumes the reality is infinite consciousness, and the process is viewed as one of progressive understanding that all such apparent veils or coverings including the so-called mind are in essence nothing but consciousness itself. The one is more direct while the other is more indirect, from an epistemological point of view. The ‘worlds’ as discussed in Vedanta are not exactly directly comparable to those of yoga schools, in that they do not refer to actual locations in space, even in appearance, but refer more directly to experiential modifications in consciousness. [This fundamental distinction of subjective-objective will be discussed more in the section on “Sleep” in Part Four]. Keeping this in mind, Siddharameshwar writes:
“The Gross Body is the “Material World” (Swarga Loka), the Subtle Body is the “World of Birth Death” (Mrityu Loka), and the Causal Body is the “Nether World” (Patala Loka). The Great-Causal Body is Brahman. These bodies are devided according to their qualities and these world are known by their qualities. The Gross Body is the Swarga Loka and sits on top of, or covers the other worlds. [Note: this usage is unique: in Sant Mat, Bhu, Bhuvar, and Swarg are considered the physical, astral, and causal (mental) planes. In this version of Vedanta, however, apparently all those planes are considered part of the totality of the ‘waking’ or ‘wakeful’ state. Indeed, in Vedanta, which requires investigation of the three states of waking, dream, and deep sleep, the Gods are said to be always in the waking state. The Sants stress that in their method of meditation at the eye-center one enters and returns in full wakefulness. One may question when does one penetrate to the more intuitive and truly causal dimensions of the heart. But more on that later]. All sorts of external enjoyments and activities are experienced in this world…The world below this is the world of birth and death, called Mrityu Loka. In this Loka is a big factor of birth and death where the qualities of appearing and disappearing are continuously being processed. This continuous process is nothing but the rising (birth) and setting (death) of mental modifications. In this way, one is born many times and dies many times during the same day. Everyone should keep an account of his births and rebirths. Every idea produces a visible appearance, and when that idea sets, the appearance also sets. In this way when ideas stop, it is the end of an era, or Kalpanta (the final dissolution of concepts). This is experience continuously in the Subtle Body. The scriptural writers have accepted the principle of creation and appearance. They stated that as soon as an idea rises, the world rises, and when the idea sets, the world sets. Unless the Subtle Body in the form of Mrityu Loka is permanently destroyed and buried, hundreds of eras are sure to rise and set. Therefore, one should die such a death that eliminates the further necessity of being born at all, and live in one’s “True Nature” in such a way that there is no fear of any further experience of dying. The abode of the Subtle Body is the “Inner Mind,” which is know as the “Antahkarana.” [Ed. note, the “Seat of Consciousness,” the “source of the mind,” and the “origin of the assertion of objectivity”].
“The world below that Knowledge of the Inner Mind is Patala Loka (The Nether World), which is the Causal Body in the form of forgetfulness. In Patala Loka, there is the pitch darkness of Ignorance." [Note the difference in description of this state from the passage through Maha Sunn, which is described as a journey through a perceptual darkness needing a greater light to pass through. The argument could be made by a Vedantin that here the Sants are using ‘expedient’ language more appropriate to the lower planes of experience to describe a more subtle, intuitive transition in consciousness at this level. This distinction was discussed in greater detail in the sections on Maha Sunn in Part One].
"Above these three is the Great Causal Body, which is the highest body and is therefore higher than these three worlds. The presiding deity here is “Pure Knowledge.” That Knowledge rules here and is the God of gods. From this God, all the worlds are produced, and He is called “The Lord of the three worlds “(Trailokyanth).” (67)
This description is similar to the Hindu version excerpted above, in that Patala is considered to be ‘below’ the Earth or Gross Body. But the devil is in the details. ‘Below’ must also mean ‘within’, or ‘prior to’, and not a spatial reference. Vedanta represents the quintessence of Hinduism, and a surer guide to a true perspective than the Puranas and mythological accounts. The Gross Body as a covering of the Subtle and Causal Bodies does not mean that they are “denser” in the scale of frequencies; the Gross is as ‘dense’ as it gets. And importantly, for Siddharameshwar as well as standard Hinduism, Patala is not Hell, but the Nether world(s). There is no hell deeper than the Nether worlds. These hells must be spaces in the lower subtle realms. But where then is the Nether World(s)? As the realms where elfs, gnomes, undines, and fairies dwell, likely a dimension somewhere between earth and lower subtle realms. But as causal Ignorance, nowhere in space, either physical or subtle, but at the point where the “goblin-mind”, the “I”-thought, arises: the heart-center. Ramana called this mind a “spurious entity,” while in the Vedanta of Sri Siddharameshwar the mythological Narada represents the mind of ego-sense that ‘roams’ the three worlds. In this light I am inclined to re-interpret the early experience I had during sleep fifty years ago when I was awakened inside and to my horror felt as if I was beginning to sink backward and down, to the accompaniment of ball and chain noises and ghoulish groaning sounds, not as going down toward bell, but as a pull from head to the (causal) heart, the hellish sounds being the mind’s creation and resistance due to its fear of an impending death, for which it was not prepared. For the unprepared ego the emptiness or voidness of the higher self evokes a feeling of dread. My sadhana, immaturity, and prior conditioning about the “path” had predisposed me to assume the worst was about to happen, when in fact it was a premonitory experience of an essentially positive transition to come many years later.
On the other hand, perhaps the feeling of hellish regions being "below" may have come partly from the subjective experience of descending to lower chakras and exiting the body from there and not from the topmost centers. One is still in the lower astral region, not below the earth, so-called. And that is perhaps why some of the sants say the way to the higher regions is between the two hemispheres of the brain, and why the Tibetans do Powa ceremonies to ensure an exit from the crown chakra. Just a thought.
There are simply different ways of viewing these things. It has been said that it is axiomatic that there are no such things as a non-reality, or non-self, but only incomplete understanding and realization of truth. That is the fundamental takeaway from the heart-centered approach as well as awareness teachings. And that is perhaps why Marpa, guru of Tibet’s most famous adept, Milarepa, after mastering the intricacies of tantric Buddhism, undertook an arduous journey of thousands of miles to India and Southeast Asia to assimilate the “mind-only” teachings.
All right, back in the conventional reality, what then of noted exceptions?
Paramhansa Yogananda taught that one could go back to an animal form, but only for one incarnation as a punishment. Paul Brunton (who had met Yogananda while at Ramana’s ashram), concurred:
“The transmigration of souls from human to animal bodies is a fiction. The individual consciousness which has one or more specifically human attributes, cannot be brought naturally into the brain and nervous system of any creature which has only animal attributes...It is something rare, abnormal, and exceptional, but not impossible, for a human being to be put back in an animal body. Then it becomes an imprisonment for one lifetime, and as such a punishment.” (68)
Sant Chander Prabhaji Maharaj of the "Adhyatmic Satsang Society" includes in her official biography the following story (previously cited in Part One, but we felt like repeating for dramatic effect):
“Sushma [one of her students] would do tuitions apart from her household work and Bhajan. One of her student’s family had kept a pet dog. But to her surprise and disgust they would give it water to drink only once in a day. The rest of the day he would lick his own urine to quench his thirst. The lady of the house remarked that since she could not wipe his
urine all the time, at least this way some of her work was saved. One day after giving
an assignment to this student, she sat in Dhyan. She was then told by Hazur in
meditation that this particular dog was a Satsangi in its previous life but would drink
alcohol against the orders of his Guru. It was now paying for his past deeds and thus
had to drink its own urine.”
Stories like these, by even the best of saints, strike one as more scare tactics - if not an insult to a poor dog ! - and not in tune with either the higher traditional as well as emerging forms of spirituality. Sri Aurobindo, Paul Brunton, theosophy, and other modern teachings stand firmly on the side of at least some kind of spiritual - but not physical - evolution, with the fundamentalist Darwinian theory of ‘anything goes’ natural selection outdated even to several generations of neo-Darwinian scientists and most of contemporary molecular biologists.Theodosius Dobzhansky tried fifty years to get fruit-flies to mutate into another species, even with nuclear bombardment, and came up empty. There is simply no confirmed case of any species evolving into another. Evolution remains a theory.
And, of course, this is the answer for how an animal without a developed self-consciousness could earn the good karma, if that is what it requires, to advance it to the human kingdom: it doesn’t. Rather, on this view, an intricate Law of Evolution - an aspect of what Brunton termed the World-Idea, i.e., the World-Mind, or God expressing as Nature - does so. The entity advances from kingdom to kingdom under divine guidance. The development of human characteristics and faculties may be “incipiently present even in the animal reincarnation of the entity” (69), but there is no karma until conscious volition comes into play in the human being. And thus there would be no sense of justice for a human in his first human incarnation from the animal kingdom to be sentenced to an eternal hell.
On this topic of a guided human evolution, Lee Bladon writes in his book, Science of Spirituality, that theosophical teachings say that one’s guardian angel gives or lends the evolving monad its ‘greater or complete causal body’ at the start of its human evolution (and which greater causal body distinguishes the human being from lesser creatures and is responsible for its higher individuality; in theosophical terminology this is sometimes called the soul), which then oversees the incarnations; the guardian angel could, in serious cases, refuse to reunite the approximately 5% or so of this causal body (that incarnates and at the time of death represents the distilled experience of a lifetime) with the total causal body, thus preventing the negative lifetime of contaminating and delaying the evolution. He reports that even one such as a Hitler may fall into this category.
He also mentions the extreme case of ‘black magicians’ who in the past were advanced adepts but through misuse of the power of their mental bodies had their greater causal bodies detached from the monad by their guardian angel and were thus sentenced to spend an entire cosmic cycle outside of the human kingdom without hope of further evolution until the next such grand cycle.
Confusing? No kidding. But interesting. Some teachings including Ishwar Puri say the soul itself decides in advance at the causal level on its descent into duality/incarnation and the nature of the experiences it will have that are needed for its ‘return’. But who can know? I prefer to partially agree, leaving it as something that is very carefully arranged but indeterminate as well. This should satisfy diverse schools of thought.
On the other hand, esoteric Christian mystic Daskalos says that there are places, such as the etheric plane of the Moon, which he referred to as “the Scream”, as well as various inner regions, what Sri Aurobindo referred to as “annexes” of the subtle realms that are reserved for the wayward soul, where they are sent until such time (which could be hundreds of years or more) that their negative karmic momentum has exhausted itself. He also said that advanced adepts can actually ‘create’ such regions (and mentions himself doing so as an example) to place such souls for the greater good of the whole.
In some Tibetan Buddhist traditions, ‘five unforgivable deeds’ (such as killing or injuring a saint, killing one's mother or father, and spreading dissension among the sangha) would merit an immediate rebirth for karmic retribution, without first spending time in the bardos or after-death planes. In some schools these acts, on the other hand, merit immediate entry into the darkest of hells for countless number of kalpas. [Buddhists seem to like big numbers - and never mind that hell like any other place or thing is inherently 'empty'!]
Buddhism in general seems to be divided into those sects who see man as helplessly passing through the six samsaric realms, up or down, until he transcends into nirvana, and others who teach a variant of evolution in that there is an apparent accumulation of wisdom and merit that continues from life to life.
Needless to say, the extreme cases mentioned above are not likely the fate of 99.99% of humanity.
Of course, we do not have to accept the basic Hindu and/or theosophical positions, there is another view altogether in which the question of how an animal could ever advance to the human level, or the reverse, does not arise: the Christian view of the Orthodox Fathers, and that of the Sufis, as well as that of the Middle Eastern religions in general [discussed in Parts One and Four], which is that man has in fact fallen from a high estate, that there has never been any evolution, no transmigration of souls from species to species, no millions of years since the so-called dawn of creation; that man has always been man, whether pre-destined from above or created all at once body and soul on earth by divine fiat, and all the species are as they were created in the beginning. We mentioned that so far there has only been speculation, and no example of even one species evolving into another has ever been found - even though it is the predominant model taught as fact in all of our schools. There are many who would view the following pronouncement of Alice Bailey as a sign of the work of 'Kal' and not evolution:
"For the first time, humanity is intelligently participating in the evolutionary process." (70)
This comes close to supporting transhumanism, however, and the Lucid Trust does work closely with the U.N., so its critics may be onto something.
So our choice is this: If there has been evolution, there was no Fall, and we did nothing wrong. If man was created divine and fell, taking all creation with him, as the Bible in Genesis tells us, we may have sinned, but there is no evolution. An attempt is made to hammer out this conundrum in Part Four.
This doesn't leave out the possibility of hell, however, or perhaps even the beginning in time of a process of reincarnation from one human life to another. That seems a possibility even if there is no evolution of the species. After all, we have so many sages that say it is relatively true. But this is a very difficult area of 'research'!
For those still afraid, we have testimony of the Living Masters that those under their care will not suffer the pangs of hell. Kirpal Singh writes:
“Even if a soul under the protection of a Master-Saint may, for a while, go astray, it is sure to be rescued.”
“Though Saints are living models of humility and do not speak of the great authority that is Theirs, yet at times They do indirectly refer to the saving power of the Saints gone before them. The scriptures reveal that Sant Satguru Nanak rescued one of His disciples who somehow wandered astray hellward. The Holy One had to visit hell for a lost sheep, and dip His thumb in the molten fires of hell, thereby cooling down the entire hell-furnace, giving relief not only to one but to many sinner souls howling piteously in great distress. Similar instances occurred in the time of Raja Janak and others as well. Once Hazur, my Master, too, had to pull out one of His disciples who was straying downwards...So long as one is true to his Master Saint (Sant Satguru), no power on earth can injure a single hair on his head. A true disciple of a Sant Satguru verily says: “I have my dealings with the Saints and my only concern is with them, The angel-of-death cannot touch a single hair of my head, When the entire record of my deeds has been consigned to the flames.”
“The Saint is present everywhere and His sway extends to realms undreamed of. He never leaves nor forsakes His disciples to the end of the world." (71)
In any case - worst case - for the majority - it is said that eventually all unawakened, unliberated souls, good or not-so-good, having their three lower bodies (physical, astral, mental) finally dissolved or dispersed, reach their native place of rest between incarnations, wherein they have a refreshing sleep before a next lifetime and another chance at liberation. For those with a true Master, most definitely, this is carefully arranged in the best interests of the soul. No one is forever lost, or alone, with many beings, it is also said, involved in furthering this divine evolutionary adventure.
To conclude, one might then say that there is only Reality, and not a 'positive' and 'negative' reality. This is of course true when it is realized to be so. Further, the inquiry eventually arises as to where is there any place for spatial reference such as 'up', 'down', 'in', 'out', 'above', or 'below' in the infinite, non-localizable Mind, Consciousness or Divine Self? As the song goes, "How far is Heaven?" Of course, until realized, such things do appear to exist, and hence the reason for this somewhat bizarre article.
Whether true or not I found the following interesting, to say the least:
“Rudra (Skt.): Originally a Hindu deity, an emanation of Shiva. In the vajrayana, Rudra is the personification of the destructive principle of ultimate ego. According to tradition, Rudra was originally a tantric student who perverted the teachings and killed his guru. He was thus transformed into Rudra, the embodiment of egohood, the complete opposite of buddhahood.”
Chögyam Trungpa: "There is the story of Rudra, one of the first persons to go to vajra Hell. He and a fellow student, a dharma brother, were studying with the same master. They had a disagreement about how to interpret the master’s instructions. They were taking opposite extremes in carrying out their practice, and each of them was sure that he was right. They decided to go to the teacher and ask for his comment. When the teacher told Rudra that he was wrong, Rudra became so angry that he drew his sword and killed his teacher on the spot. Then he ended up in vajra hell. It is a kind of alienation."
Student: "Is going to vajra hell the equivalent of attaining egohood, or are they two different things?"
Chögyam Trungpa: Vajra hell is not quite complete egohood. It’s still part of the journey. But when you come out of vajra hell without any realization, then you attain the real egohood, which is the state of Rudra. You turn yourself into a demon."
Student: "So, you are not in vajra hell when you attain egohood?"
Chögyam Trungpa: "No, egohood seems to be quite difficult to attain. As difficult as enlightenment. Doing a really good job on it is very difficult.” !! (72)
Maybe it requires the help of Kal? (Upcoming in Part Four).
In conclusion, the late great Curtis Mayfield sang, “If There’ a Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go” (which we conclude is the logical end result of teachings such as portrayed by the spiritual perpetrators of fear), but also, “People Get Ready” and “There’s a Meetin’ Over Yonder”, both anthems of hope for all beings struggling to find their way.
”It’s All Too Much For Me To Take” - Multiple Emanations/Simultaneous Incarnations and their meaning for notions of “Creation”
One must use his imagination a bit here. If anything it may give us a bit more sense of the mystery what it is to awaken to the Soul, whether considered as individual or universal, and how it may function in one who has actualized his primordial nature. What we will discuss is not an ordinary occurrence even among siddhas, who generally allow the forces of Nature to provide vehicles for their incarnations. Yet it is spoken of often enough in numerous sources, as well as personal accounts by various teachers, although still it will seem impossible and unbelievable nevertheless. I do not propose to understand it. It has given me a headache even to intellectually give it some room. But consider just a little the words of Shakespeare, “there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.”
So, imagine the liberated sage dwelling in a non-state or ‘stateless state’ of fully actualized, completed, non-dualism. He intuits Reality constantly and dwells in sahaja samadhi, his ego completely overshadowed by his Overself, while when in contemplation he either ‘exists with God as a higher creature’, as PB wrote, not ‘in the heaven of a perpetuated ego but an ethereal world rapt in mystery’, or in deep absorption into the Void-Mind. This non-dual completion would be considered a ‘fifth stage of initiation’ in various planetary schemas of such things, such as the Buddha’s (where that of the Arhat was the fourth: free from birth and earth, but not yet fully, non-dually liberated). Yet there are said in some systems to be four more stages or 'initiations', the domain of usually-but-not-always non-incarnate masters, such as Shankara and Buddha, who are said to have moved past the earth-domain in their spiritual evolution. Jesus is said to have come here already more advanced, and is further said to have taken a seventh initiation and become a higher Logos. For those who believe there is just 'one soup' admittedly this may be hard to take.
Certain evolved beings, then - Buddhas essentially - are said to have the ability, power, or destiny (destiny inasmuch as they might be said to act only as the Nous, World-Mind, or Divine Infinite Intelligence bids them to - although paradoxically they have some say in it as well), to project multiple emanations of themselves becoming real people and not robots - we are not referring to just an episode of the more common yogic siddhi of bilocation. Thus, there have been episodes in recent history in fact where a certain Tibetan master was conversing with a student, then looking off into space, and returning his gaze and saying, “I’ve just reincarnated in India.” This sort of thing is mentioned in Hinduism, the Bodhisattva tradition in Buddhism, and the Tulku traditions of Tibet. Padmasambhava and many great adepts who were said to be manifestations of the Buddha have done so. Namkhai Norbu and many others in his Dzogchen lineage have spoken of it. Yet it seems impossible, doesn’t it?! One Soul (or perhaps, the lower aspect of Soul that oversees the incarnations, which PB refers to as the 'demi-divine' aspect of the Soul) can only have one emanation of itself passing into the manifested realms, can’t it? An emanation that works its way to enlightenment and the awakening of self-cognition of that Soul or Void-Mind, in whatever way this process is looked at? Well, apparently not. In human logic and intelligence it may be impossible, but not in divine logic and intelligence. The Infinite Intelligence of God and those in communication or attunement with that are privy to mysteries beyond our wildest imagination, and can as God wills do such things. The Cypriote mystic Daskalos said that even Beethoven was such an emanation of a great master, who had several more emanations in incarnation including one violinist he was in contact with. Such multiple emanations, it has been said, can even talk among one another, evolve, get enlightened, and help work off karma in each other!! This is impossible to comprehend by the linear mind. And, while some inconceivable dimension of transcendental individuality is involved, this appears to be beyond a mere realization of non-separation and non-dualism, and certainly far beyond ‘getting rid of psychological suffering’, put forth by some teachers as the goal of spiritual practice today. What we are suggesting is, as PB lamented, that there may be relatively second-tier teachers contemporarily available whose awakenings may be real but lack the depth and completeness compared to some of the greats of the past - who yet still exist today, working behind the scenes and in higher spheres. This is just a taste of the glory and immensity of the path: beyond, beyond, beyond (gate, gate, param gate bodhi svaha), the mere contemplation of which can reduce one’s ego to ash in the process, and of course is in a sense the necessary price of admission. Please bear with this drama. Awakening may be simple, but the mystery and its mysteries are endless.
Tulku Thondup, in his books, Incarnation, and Masters of Meditation and Miracles, the latter being a series of biographies of many tulkus in the Longchen Nyingthig lineage of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, including Garab Dorge, Vimalamitra, Padmasambhava, Longchen Rabjam, Khyentse Wangpo, and many others, argues that great Buddhas that have 'dissolved' into the Dharmakaya, whether or not they take the 'Rainbow Body' or not [i.e., dying by reabsorbing all of their bodies into their subtle essence, not via 'ordinary' siddhi but Dzogchen-like through the fruition of non-dual realization], never re-appear in the mundane world after their mahaparanirvana, but can manifest infinite incarnations for the benefit of sentient beings. He says that, one step down, so to speak, highly accomplished adepts or Siddhas may manifest several such tulkus, but not infinitely like the Buddhas. Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892), for instance, was the incarnation of many past adepts and manifested six famous Tulkus simultaneously, including the well-known contemporary master, Dilgo Khyentse (1910-1991). Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798) had three primary concurrent incarnations: Yeshe Dorje (1800-1866), Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887), and Khyentse Wangpo. Lesser in the hierarchy, high lamas or Saints may simply take incarnation as a tulku, both with and without karma. 'Without karma' would mean that such an adept was liberated and would incarnate, by 'will', in whatever form was called for by the needs of those he is to serve, and yet, his apparent personality might still suffer the need to grow and develop, even seek liberation again, while at the same time his higher self would remain unbound by karma, forever dwelling as the Dharmakaya and Sambhogakaya, never leaving the nirvanic condition. This is hard to understand, and, in fact, one likely has to be a Master to understand it! Alternately, one could say he willingly took on the karma and elements of his environment to form his bodies and particular role. And in this case the forces of Nature, rather than the adept's personal impress, hold the major responsibility for providing vehicles for the incarnation, i.e., the 'Archangels of the Elements' (Daskalos), the 'Lords of Karma' (theosophy), etc..
Some great adepts as suggested above are said to have even manifested 'future' tulkus before their own deaths!
If one accepts this concept as a possibility, he can see how difficult it might be to be able to say one has met, say, Buddha or Guru Nanak on an inner plane. Besides the fact that Buddha may have incarnated several times in the past 2500 years, and no one knows what he looked like, if on top of that he created multiple emanations of himself, who or what are you seeing inside?! But if at the soul level he is somehow in contact with all of his emanations, maybe another master at that level might be able to communicate with him in some way.
Ramakrishna once remarked that the ten Sikh gurus were all incarnations of Raja Janaka (the famous King who was enlightened by the sage Ashtavakra). Since these gurus directly succeeded each other, and therefore two or more were alive at the same time, this means - if true - that Janaka like the Tibetans had simultaneous emanations of himself! And what is even more amazing to contemplate is that many of these gurus independently went through a process of seeking before becoming guru: it was not always just handed down. Guru Amardas, for instance, sought for seventy long years until he found his guru.
How is all this done? And, if in fact it is done, what then is the nature of the Soul, or Self? Can it be explained by the teaching of advaita as we know it? And isn't it odd, that great Tibetan masters who teach the oneness and non-duality of the Great Perfection, the Dharmakaya, 'No-Self', the Primordial Ground, also speak of 'individual enlightened beings', not only reincarnating, helping others, but also emanating multiple incarnations of themselves? We can only offer the wholely inadequate and awkward explanation that somehow these great beings have 'enough presence' to go around. That somehow the individual Soul fully 'dissolved' in the Whole functions differently than it did 'before'.
What then is the Soul? How hard to fathom! Perhaps a brief note on the three bodies or kayas of the Buddha may help. In short, the Dharmakaya is described as the ultimate 'body', or primordial state of clarity and emptiness; the Sambhogaya, or 'body of enjoyment', is the spontaneous manifestation, or self-appearing without any modification of its own nature of the Dharmakaya, consisting of 'pure forms' beyond all duality of subject and object, yet visible to liberated beings; finally, the Nirmanakaya is the enlightened body of a Buddha that is apparent to ordinary beings. Of course we all are all three of these in potentiality. What is particularly interesting is how Tulku Thondup describes the Dharmakaya: besides being the "ultimate purity, clarity, emptiness, suchness", and so on, he also calls it the "all-pervading lord of samsara and nirvana, the continuum of being, and the very essence of the Buddha nature, as well as an oceanlike assembly of primordial wisdoms." Sounds more ecclesiastical than monistic. Maybe this phrasing holds a key to the issue of multiple incarnations and simultaneous manifestations? Can we understand it - probably not. But it puts a feeling in the heart.
It is realized that we bear the risk of being charged with making, not only conceptual distinctions throughout this paper (Soul, God, Self, etc.), but going completely over the edge in what has just been suggested. But if it be true, how can the philosophy of advaita, with a priori assumptions of ‘self’ and ‘consciousness’, possibly account for such mysteries? To just go around saying, we are "no-self", or "the soul is a separate self, just a form of ego", or "all there is is consciousness", the "screen" on which everything appears [everything, that is, that appears out of the same screen or mirror that reflects and mirrors its own manifestations in its own mirror-ness (!) - essentially the Dzogchen model - which kind of truly backs us into non-duality, while also making it harder to just say what anything "is", consciousness per se becoming another provisional concept], does not seem to do full justice to the richness of the historical traditions and what many have experienced in actual life and practice. To be sure, one ought not to have wild ambitions of becoming such an exotic adept; the possibilities offered here are only those of those who have already been humbled unto dust, and realized the emptiness of their personal selves and their utter dependency and inseparability from the Infinite Intelligence and Mystery, in the deepest possible degree or way. What we are discussing is only available for the most part to someone who has already attained what is commonly considered to be enlightenment - that is, perpetual insight onto the Real, or the uttermost depths of the Soul or Void-Mind. To have already forgotten dreams of glory and become nothing, and are at peace and content within that. These are then transcendental mysteries unavailable to anything less than the enlightened Soul. Therefore, they are not something to be concerned with, rather something to be in awe and wonder about, while honing ones theoretical knowledge until it more accurately approximates a form that has room for such conceptions of Reality.
In Sant Mat, says Ishwar Puri, the upper portion of Brahmand, or the supercausal plane, is the place where the first individuation of soul takes place. It is relatively free and enlightened, but not entirely so. That would make Sach Khand, or Sat Lok proper, another dimension entirely, where the soul as such paradoxically no longer knows itself as separate from the All. And it would make sense that only from here would a being so emptied of self-interest and ego be capable of anything like multiple real emanations of itself without delusions of grandeur. This is in fact what Sant Mat initiate of Thakar Singh, and now Master Ching Hai, claims of herself. She says that she has several different bodies on the physical plane that do her work, some even being V.I.P. s and/or political leaders. She also concurs that this all takes place at the level of Soul. Whether one believes it or not, this must be a requirement for such a phenomenon.
The intuition has come to mind that the schema of Plotinus and PB may offer a feel for how this multiple emanation 'divine' siddhi ('divine' in as much as it seems to go far beyond the eight common yogic siddhis outlined by Patanjali) may in fact be possible. A brief review of the philosophy of Plotinus is necessary. For Plotinus, there are three Primal Hypostases - three eternal existents: the One, the Intellectual Principle or Nous, and Soul. All three of these can be considered as 'emptiness' from the side of manifestation. That is, they are transcendental to dualistic conception. The One is undefinable, like Nirguna, the source, cause, power, and ground of all. It is never diminished in any way by granting two atemporal successive emanations from itself. It can't even be called consciousness or awareness, as these are far too dualistic in nature to serve as their source and ground. Anthony Damiani states:
"Even if we view the three primal Hypostases - the One, the Intellectual Principle and Soul - as forming an integral whole (which is often referred to as the Absolute when considered from the side of manifestation), the distinctions cannot be dissolved in such a way that the Nous and Soul, so carefully defined [by Plotinus], become illusory principles. In our understanding of the metaphysical Infinite, we retain the view of the One as the pure and only perfect reality, as well as the view of real and distinct emanations from it. We do not violate the One's sovereignty by granting to each of the other levels of reality their proper status; they do not become null and void in the face of the One which they eternally contemplate." (73)
Of the Soul, which is defined as "formless and infinite consciousness," he says:
"When Plotinus considers Soul as inseparable from the One and the Intellectual Principle, he does so in order to emphasize its transcendence and inconceivability - a mysterious Void. But looked at as a distinct essence, Soul is living intelligence, the outgoing activity of the Supreme, and our inner divinity." (74)
The second of these three Primals, the Intellectual Principle or Nous, is sometimes referred to as the Absolute Soul in the Intellectual Principle when speaking of its life aspect. Absolute Soul would be considered to be the 'principle of Soul or Overself, or Soul/Overself undivided. Yet Soul has two aspects: un-individuated and individuated, as it is a "One-and-Many." This Absolute Soul in the Intellectual Principle of Plotinus might be equated with the World-Mind of PB. Inseparable from the One, it emanates individual Overselves, each of which in turn sends an emanant, i.e., a contraction, 'part', or projection of itself into creation, that is, into the World-Idea, or divine ideation of the World-Mind which is concurrently manifested through the Soul to produce a sensible world (or Nature - which includes bodies) in stages, for the ultimate purpose of the Soul's coming to self-cognition. Damiani's vision of Plotinus' system is as follows:
"Soul incarnates or participates in the idea of the planetary mind by perceiving the world and experiencing through a body what the gods think. Thus Earth - footstool of the Gods - nurses our soul to heavenly maturity and humanity. What is becoming explicit in this exegesis is a theory of the endless evolution of the content of an individual soul's awareness. through reasoning on the content of the World-Idea which it is manifesting, the soul evolves its understanding until intellection becomes predominant, and this is brought to bear on its own self-nature. if the inquiry is pursued, this process will result in intrinsic self awareness." (75)
The realized Soul has self-cognition, and also cognition of its source or origin. As PB says, just as man looks up to his Overself, the Overself in turn looks up to a higher entity (the World-Mind or intellectual Principal or Nous or "God"), with which it is inseparably linked. Now, it seems reasonable that a fully liberated sage who has achieved identity with this higher aspect of his Soul or Overself, that is, its inherence in the Absolute Soul in the Intellectual Principle - which itself emanates individual Souls or Overselves - might himself be capable of doing the same. In essence, he has God-like capabilities to an extent. Hence, multiple emanations is a possibility, even if unbelievable. Anthony in fact once said, to wit, "you're not going to believe this, but I'll tell you anyway, that each and every Soul is in a sense a World-Mind." [Isvara] Other schools also say there are depths to this thing, and variations in the capabilities of the realized being. All realized Souls do not admit to such capabilities.
As with multiple incarnations, so it may be for the notion of "pure lands" in Buddhism. A pure land is said to be not just a higher subtle plane, free of negative emotional and physical obscurations, but is defined as a "Nirmanakaya manifestation of the spontaneous qualities of a liberated Buddha's realization," a region (such as Padmasambhava's Copper Mountain, or Amitabha's Sukhavati) visible to those still limited to dualistic vision, but who, with faith and merit, may go there after death without any possibility of falling back into samsara, experiencing only joy and peace, and destined to reach Nirvana, or the absolute Pure Land of the Dharmakaya and Sambhogakaya, from there. This then, if true, is another inconceivable "God" power of the fully liberated being: creating a region by itself.
Okay, back to Earth for concluding remarks on these themes. The One, then, appears to be a dynamic One, not static or monistic, and even this conceptual formula comes up far too short...We venture out on a limb in suggesting, then, that just as there is an individual who is ignorant (from a relative point of view), so only 'individuals' can be enlightened. Ignorance and enlightenment both happen to individuals. And therefore the Soul, as described by PB as individual but impersonal, a 'divine reflection of Mind-Alone', is not ego or separate or an 'obstacle', but rather an intrinsic element of enlightenment itself, a necessary locus for any real actualization of the Absolute, in contrast to what many teachers, past or present, sometimes assert.
So when a great sage - such as Padmasambhava - is quoted as saying: "If the seeker, when sought, cannot be found, thereupon is attained the goal of seeking, the end of the quest itself; then there is no need to search for anything and there is nothing to be practiced," we must not necessarily interpret that as implying the final stage of actualization of the great truth, except for rare individuals, but rather the end, or the beginning of the end, of the dualistic search. If it were not so then why did Padmasambhava first undergo a great initiation by a dakini uniting and integrating body, mind, spirit, and the absolute - the three kayas or bodies of Buddhism: the Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya, into one, the Vajrakaya, thus passing through archtypal or primordial stages of the mind, instead of just assuming an understanding of the great paradoxes of Zen, Dzogchen, or Advaita beforehand? Real practice is required to avoid falling into the trap of mental gymnastics as an ‘ultimate’ sadhana.
Perhaps the greatest eternally unanswered question is whether the higher initiation is that of the 'drop merging with the Ocean', or, as Kabir says, the 'Ocean merging with the drop' ?! While still a metaphor, the edge goes to the Buddhists and Plotinus who would side with the ocean merging into the drop, or the universal life expressing itself through the individual. (6c) Yet, paradoxically, there are ‘many’ Bodhisattvas who have sacrificed themselves for countless lifetimes even over whole ‘world cycles’ (according to tradition) for the sake of the liberation of ‘others’. We have the primary example in Lord Sakyamuni, who denied himself a short-cut to liberation in the times of the Buddha Dipankara in order to pass through the purifying fires of suffering for innumerable rebirths in order to develop himself as a bodhisattva. For only in the Nirmanakaya (the body) can the Dharmakaya be fully expressed. This, the complete purification, integration, and transfiguration of body and mind, is said to be the work of many enlightened lives. At least, we are led to believe something like the multiple emanation theory is feasible, although well-nigh unbelievable.
This may blow whatever of your mind is left!
An even more amazing concept, which has been confirmed not just by the more sober among psychic channelers of higher quality, but also by liberated spiritual masters, as well as Tibetan teachers such as Namkhai Norbu, is that not only advanced masters with divine siddhi but more ordinary souls may actually have more than one incarnation, or emanated personality at the same or different time! That is, these may be actual 'persons' who in some case can even talk to each other if necessary! This really expands the notion of personal identity. It seems an impossibility, but one must remember that the concept of time varies greatly among dimensions and is not linear. To have an incarnation in the past, present, and future, and heal them all by the action of one's current personality, is truly mind-boggling, yet the increasing confession of many souls. For enlightened masters it has to do with an increasing role of planetary service, but for the average person it has to do with parallel lines of development and the balancing and release of personal and inter-personal karmas. We are healing both ourselves and others, despite apparent circumstances that argue for the contrary. Utter non-judgement of appearances is required in order to embrace this. Further, this is said to be the case whether or not the personality is conscious of these other dimensions or not. However, it is said that the soul always knows and is in contact with each personality. This may sound more and more like a case of 'split personality,' but our sanity may be kept intact if we keep the mind and heart open and view this as approaching the quantum level of consideration of these matters previously mentioned.
The gist is that all planes and dimensions interpenetrate and occupy the same 'space'; 'higher' is not always to be considered necessarily 'better' than 'lower', each in fact feeds and enriches the other; and, bottom-line, the soul can project not just one emanant but two, three, or, in higher dimensions, an infinite number, just as the Spirit, Pneuma, or Monad, said to be residing in the Absolute in some traditions, may project an infinite number of individual or unit souls, and yet finally and essentially, all is One in a seamless web of reality. Who or what then is God as the Creator is a question that one may well ask sooner or later. But by that point one will be abiding in states of non-separation and questions like that may no longer arise.
However, this sure does make an ‘astral duplicate’ or ‘clone’ theory of the Masters a lot easier to accept, doesn't it?!
Kabir and the Four Ages: Yugas and other Cycles
As mentioned in Part One, Sant Mat generally accepts the word of Kabir that he incarnated in all four ages but only taught Shabd Yoga in the present age. What exactly are these Ages, and which one are we in now? Upon comparative investigation, it appears that opinions among sages vary.
n Hindu scripture, to recap, Being moves eternally through great cycles of creation and dissolution called kalpas, manvantaras, and yugas. From the web: “According to the Puranas, the Kali Yuga covers a span of 432,000 human years. The four yugas together cover 4,320,000 years and this is one cycle. Seventy-one such cycles form one manvantara, and age of man. This works out to 306,720,000 years. Six such manvantaras have so far elapsed from the beginning of this epoch (kalpa) and the seventh manvantara, that of the Vaivasvata, has begun, and seven more such manvantaras have yet to come. These fourteen manvantaras constitute one day of Brahma- the Creator Brahma's life of 100 years. Fifty such years have elapsed. We are now in the first day of the fifty-first year. In figures, that means 306,720,000 (one manvantara) x 14 manvantaras (this is the day of Brahman) x 14 (his night) x 365 (days of the year) x 100 (years). This is the life of the Brahma.”
After calculating that totals 2,194,274,880,000,000 human years. Theosophy suggests 311,040,000,000,000 years for what may be the same period. Need it be said that this is a very long time. The latest WAMP satellite findings show the universe has been around for 14 billion years. That would imply a lot more expansion still to go. However, as stated above, these fourteen manvantaras constitute one day of Brahma - the Creator Brahma's life of 100 years. Fifty such years have elapsed. We are now in the first day of the fifty-first year: the first day of the fifty-first of 100 cosmic years. If true, that means this particular moment in human history is at exactly the midway point in the current great cycle of creation. Thus, this, if true, is evidence in favor of suggesting that this particular Big Bang is no longer expanding. Some physicists have in the past argued with various cyclical theories of creation either that this is indeed the case, or could become the case (which contrast with both the big-bang or steady-state theories). However, the current consensus view is that the universe is expanding at an ever faster rate, and the faster it expands, the more spread out it gets, and the cooler it gets also, until it reaches absolute zero and the (current) game is over.
After the ultimate expansion of the universe is said to come a contraction, followed by another ‘birth’ or 'Big Bang', expansion, and eventual contraction. This could equate to what in the scriptures is called Pralaya or dissolution of the physical universe or plane. Maha-Pralaya in Sant Mat is when all the planes up to the upper super-causal level are rolled up or dissolved. I don't know if this could be correlated with the times suggested above for the life of the creator god Brahma in Hinduism. In any case traditional Hinduism holds that the Mahayuga cycle is 4,320,000,000 years in total, with a Kali Yuga that began in 3102 B.C. (traditional date for the death of the avatar Krishna), and lasting for 432,000 years, which means 427,000 years into the future - a dismal prospect.
This cyclical view is not in vogue in astronomy right now, but has been entertained in the past, to be then superseded by the ‘steady state’ view, and now the ‘expanding faster' view. The quantum revolution has spawned talk of multiple spontaneous Big Bangs and multiple universes as well, with possible interaction between them. (Interestingly, this also correlates with some of the newer 'channeled' information, such as the Seth material (albeit from a 'causal' plane entity), as well as older sources such as theosophy). The reader can only imagine how this further complicates any form of prediction. To better understand the scope and concept of a recurring, 'spiralling' cosmic evolution as mentioned in many scriptural sources worldwide, especially Hindu scripture, it is necessary, said Sri Yukteswar, to overlay on the so-called Great Year of Plato - the 'precession of the equinoxes', a 25,920-year astronomical/astrological cycle divided into zodiacal ages of 2160 years (figures not widely known in ancient times) - a 24,000 year ascending and descending cycle of Yugas as given in the ancient Vedas. The following information has been gleaned from the book, Lost Star of Myth and Time, by Walter Cruttenden. The author explains that, according to the findings of Sri Yukteswar, in his own book, The Holy Science, history is composed of repeating cycles of four yugas which correspond to one-half of a great year. For instance, we descend from a Golden Age (Satya Yuga) of 4800 years to a Silver Age (Treta Yuga) of 3600 years to a Bronze Age (Dwapara Yuga) of 2400 years and finally to an Iron Age (Kali Yuga) of 1200 years. Then follows an ascending cycle of a Kali Yuga or Iron Age, followed by Bronze, Silver, and Golden Ages, which repeats indefinitely. Thus as the astronomical/astrological cycles unfold the Yugas create positive and negative phases within them. These lengths for the yugas differs greatly with the traditional Hindu cosmology in two respects: one, the traditional cycle is circular, not phasing; in other words, Hinduism teaches that we proceed from the Golden to Silver to Copper to Iron and then directly to Golden again, whereas Yukteswar said this was not correct, that there are equal descending and ascending phases of yugas; and secondly, in Hinduism, according to Yukteswar due to an error, there was proposed a Maha-Yuga cycle, based on a multiple of the equivalent number of days in a year, that is 360 times longer than what Yukteswar's research told him was the valid yuga cycle of 24,000 years. The overlapping of the astrological ages and the yuga cycles creates a spiral, or as Cruttenden theorizes (to support his conjecture that our genetic structure may be coded to respond to astronomical/astrological influences), maybe even a double-helix.
Sant Kirpal Singh startlingly prophesied in 1974 that we were about to enter directly into a Golden Age, 'with no more yugas', but Sri Yukteswar, as mentioned, calculated that we have been in the ascending phase of the Dwapar Yuga since 1699 A.D.. As such, while good things are ahead, we are yet a long way from the greater Golden Age as defined by the ancient Hindu sages, which will not begin until 7699 A.D.. However, that we are in the ascending Dwapara Yuga is good, as it has already been characterized by advances in general intelligence as well as both theoretical and practical knowledge and the sciences, and in the future will be further marked by new forms of electro-magnetic technologies, and perhaps a return of lost knowledge about the earth's own electro-magnetic fields and their potential for natural energy potential, and so forth. And good and bad are relative: in the Golden Age where man lived 100,000 years [10,000 in the Silver, 1000 in the Copper, 100 in the Iron] there was much pleasure but supposedly little impetus for spiritual practice as there is now in the Kali Yuga.
Confusion over the length of the yugas arises, as mentioned, because in the longer cycle of the Maha-Yugas, the descending phase ended in 3102 B.C., a traditional date for both the death of the avatar Krishna and the start of the Kali Yuga, due to last for four hundred twenty-seven thousand years more! According to Yukteswar, as mentioned, however, this was really the start of the descending copper age or Dwapara Yuga. He argued that his research found that a misunderstanding was created in the dark ages of the current Kali Yuga over the dating of the cycles that led to the notion of the longer Maha Yuga cycles of millions of years each. What he says is encouraging, while the best we get from conventional Hinduism right now is that we are still in the Kali Yuga, but a minor break within it may occur with the 2160 year Age of Aquarius due to begin in about 100 years.
But who knows? Some seers say we do not go through mere repetitive cycles, but always a spiraling to new levels or versions of those cycles, from which Yukteswar's schema may also be seen as too fixed. Perhaps there are no such thing as yugas at all, or past 'golden age's, and so forth, but rather 'planetary initiations', and which may be closer to the meaning behind Sant Kirpal's prophecy. Such shifts are less deterministic or fatalistic than the static repetitive yugas in the traditional Hindu model. More subjective and unpredictable 'quantum' factors such the uncertainty principle, spiritually viewed, as well as collective need, intention, and aspiration, part evolutionary impulse or Idea, and part grace, may play a role in their genesis that do not confirm to rigid time cycles of any sort. We are here just barely getting our feet wet in the waters of metaphysics, and traditional considerations of the 'macrocosm' being in the 'microcosm', and their dynamic interplay. Physicists are still looking exclusively 'out there' for reality, in spite of the findings of Heisenberg, et. al., regarding the perceiver being an integral part of any perception and, indeed, affecting and altering it.
Either way - yugas, or shifts - it looks basically good, or at least, getting better, although we may be in the darkness before the dawn period right now, with entrenched interests resisting the change.
Another interesting theory of Yukteswar concerns the idea that the precession of equinoxes is due to the existence of a companion star to our Sun, that is, the existence of a binary star system, the other sun being either Sirius or Alcyone of the Pleiades, whose gravitational pull causes our Sun and solar system to revolve around the galaxy. This is not just speculation. NASA estimates that more than 80% of all stars may be part of a binary or multiple star system. Cruttenden gives many arguments for this based on mythologies and science. Yukteswar also posits a magnetic Great Center called Vishnunubhi which, when our Sun gets closer to it causes the Golden Ages and when it gets farthest away leads to the Dark Ages. Think of our Sun and Sirius (widely referred to by the ancients as a companion star to earth) connected by an elliptical fan-belt rotating around a cosmic center. This center may possibly be Alcyone of the Pleiades itself. “Canst though bind the sweet influence of the Pleiades?,” reads the book of Job. Cruttenden’s book emphasizes the important that both Sirius (the “Dog Star”) and the Pleiades had for the ancients. The entire binary system including our solar system and any planets connected to Alcyone would rotate around the Grand Central Sun or Center. This, not a real local “wobble” of the earth, is argued as the reason behind the precession of the equinoxes, but only an apparent one. As our Sun draws nearer to this magnetic center we approach a Golden Age and as it draws farthest away we enter the Iron Age, on a 24,000 cycle. [Note: according to author Lee Bladon, in The Science of Spirituality, all ancient systems of measuring cosmic energy cycles, including the Mayan Calendar, the Hindu Yuga cycle, and the Zodiacal cycle, were based on esoteric information made exoteric when released to the general public. As such the 'exoteric' timescales were purposely made inexact to prevent the uninitiated from using this information for personal gain].
To recap, Sri Yukteswar extensively studied the yuga science and came to the conclusion that the conventional way of calculating yugas was due to an error in the 'dark age' that confused human or solar years with 'Divine years' consisting of 360 human years each, leading to an immensely longer time span for each yuga, such as in the above. This error or reinterpretation occurred in the reign of Raja Parikshit in 721 B.C.. Yukteswar said that based on the Laws of Manu and other sources, the yugas were based on the precession of the equinoxes, or the Great Year of 24,000 years, as found in all cultures worldwide, and consisting of an ascending and descending cycle of 12,000 years each of four yugas in a 4:3:2:1 ratio of length. Thus while traditional Hinduism holds that the Mahayuga cycle is 4,320,000,000 years in total, with a Kali Yuga that began in 3102 B.C., Yukteswar found that 3102 B.C. actually was the start of the descending phase of the Dwapara yuga. The Dark or Iron Age, Kali yuga, began in 701 B.C., reaching its nadir in 499 A.D. (about the time of the end of the Roman Empire), and transitioned to the ascending phase of Dwapara Yuga in 1699 A.D., shortly after the time of the Renaissance. His schema is as follows:
Yugas
Satya Golden Age 11501- 6701 B.C.
Treta Silver Age 6701-3101 B.C.
Dwapara Bronze Age 3102-701 B.C.
Kali Iron Age 701 B.C.- 499 A.D. [low point - decline of civilizations worldwide]
Kali Iron Age 499 -1699 A.D.
Dwapara Bronze Age 1699-4099 A.D.
Treta Silver Age 4099-7699 A.D.
Satya Golden Age 7699-12499 A.D.
Also as mentioned, he based his theory of the precession on that of a binary star system where our sun with its solar system and another star(s) rotated around each other. "The Great Central Sun' mentioned in various cosmologies would be the center of this binary orbit itself. [It has been argued that our binary star is Sirius, a double star]. This binary star view accounted for a discrepancy in the precession that current lunar and solar theories alone, such as that of a 'wobble' of the earth', could not justify. Crittenden argues that one of these discrepancies is that as each sun or star gets closer in its orbit to the other, the precession speeds up. Currently, the rate of precession is accelerating and is calculated at 25,770 years, not 24,000. Because of this change in speed some have estimate the great year to be up to 25,920 years, but over the entire cycle it evens out to 24,000. Each succeeding yuga or period in the cycle purportedly affects the earth itself and its inhabitants differently due to changes in cosmic electro-magnetic forces. It is also possible that the much longer yuga time periods are valid, such as 'Maha-Yugas', and perhaps due to other, longer cosmic cycles, such as that of our solar system rotating around the center of the galaxy.
Ramana Maharshi didn't believe in yugas as he didn't consider time real. Nor did Nisargadatta. But then, perhaps we should say something about time before taking such an absolutist view. After all, the meaning of 'Kal' is time and we must come to terms with it. And "Time," says Plato, "is the moving image of eternity." According to Kant, as well as the higher Eastern philosophies, time, as well as space and causality, are a priori categories of the mind, and unless we are outside of the mind we cannot transcend these bounds.
Damiani says, however:
"Generally the way time is understood is that insofar as the soul is producing or manifesting a world, concomitant with the manifestation of the world is the principle of time. So time is a principle which we correlate with the instantaneous, moment-by-moment production of manifestation [Mind as we know it producing through a rapid series of images] which is taking place. But intrinsic in time is also the eternal; the eternal is right here in the now of the so-called present. So in that sense time is in eternity. You could certainly have the experience of eternity in a split second.” (76)
If we could only somehow penetrate into the extremely minute gap between two thought-moments - the eternal moment - we would not have to wait for the entire long evolutionary process to unfold itself to enjoy the natural state of liberation. “Close the gap,” sages exhort us. Do not keep on imagining it is so far away. So, what sayeth you, Kabir - “Does anybody really know what time it is?”
Kabir did say: “It’s so simple, nobody gets it.” But then along comes Anurag Sagar, foundation stone of Sar Bachan, which is anything but simple.
There have been exclusive Kabir sects that believe only Kabir was the avatar or direct incarnation of God. The reverence given to Kabir in Sant Mat sometimes approaches this level. Such cultism is found in all religions. There are groups in Soamibagh and Agra that consider themselves to be the only legitimate Sant Mat group in existence. As discussed in Part One, from the website of Dadaji, the latter see Soami Shiv Dayal Singh as the divine avatar for all time, with Kabir only being his forerunner!
“Soami Ji Maharaj was born in 1818 as Shiv Dayal Singh in Agra, India, and was a Swateh Sant, which means He was born with infinite knowledge and thus did not need a Guru. He was the full incarnation of the Supreme Being RADHASOAMI Dayal Himself on earth and the highest born Param Sant Sat Guru to ever grace our world. While it is true that St. Kabir and Guru Nanak had come from the same spiritual region and had preceded Him by hundreds of years, in reality they and others were sent here to pave the way for the coming of the 'God of all Gods' in human form - Soami Ji Maharaj. St. Kabir's successor, Dhani Dharm Dasji, had once prophesied, "It is in Agra that the Supreme Father will come to this world."
We consider this type of theology neither compelling, believable, verifiable, or, frankly, very useful. More discussion on why will follow in Part Four in the sections on the concept of the Avatar. But before we leave the present consideration of Ages, the concept of "Saarsathi" will be presented, something that I had never heard before in any Sant Mat teachings except the following. This is based on Dr. Harbhajan Singh's interpretations of theories of a pronouncement of Sant Kirpal Singh, that a new Golden Age of spirituality was coming.
Saarsathi - another strange teaching to worry about!
I know I promised not to get into any succession arguments in this book, but this one view is exceptional in its outrageous nature and extreme mystification about drama unfolding through the ages on the inner planes. It is also unique in that it argues there is no succession and the ending of an age is nigh. Therefore it serves our purpose of comparing and contrasting philosophical positions. Dr. Harbhajan Singh, an initiate of Kirpal SIngh, wrote that Kirpal before he died said he would initiate 500,000 souls. He already had initiated 150,000 "old souls" (those who had been "under the care of all the Masters since the beginning of the Iron Age"), and Harbhajan believed Kirpal left no successors and said that we all would be his successors, leaving it a mystery where the other 350,000 souls that needed to be initiated before the Golden Age began would come from. Sants Darshan Singh and Rajinder Singh have initiated many more than that. Yet this makes Darshan and Rajinder look foolish, in my opinion, and possibly Kirpal, too. If Harbhajan is right, then Darshan, Rajinder, and even Ishwar are wrong, Faqir too, and certainly the Beas and gurus of other lineages, for what business do they have initiating souls if Kirpal was the only one in charge of all the souls of all the previous Masters in the millennia of the Iron Age? None of these other Masters teach this stuff! If this esoteric information was so precious [I refer to his teachings on "Saarsathi" and not his opinion on disputes over succession], one must ask why did not Kirpal or Darshan or Rajinder release it to the public sangat? Where did Dr. Harbhajan get this information? Did he "channel" Kirpal? Did Kirpal actually tell him this? He criticized all other successor gurus as being lost on the "astral" level, but on what basis did he make this claim, and why should we not think the same about him? All he says in the following excerpt is unverifiable, in my view, and serving largely to increase fear and not love of God. But maybe I am being too harsh in judgement, and there are other meanings in his presentation. He was known as a loyal, devoted, and close initiate of Kirpal Singh. But that can not be our criterium of truth. Ananda was said to be the closest to Buddha but the last to get enlightened. And Kirpal was fond of quoting Socrates, who said, "I love Plato, but I love Truth more than Plato." Harbhajan states:
"Before the age was to finish a Master of such a high power was sent into the world to wind up the work and bring back to Home Eternal all old disciples of different Masters who appeared so far in the Iron Age, since that power is supported by all such Masters as well. (Note: Master on January 3, 1974 and even before told, ‘So far I have not initiated any new disciples. All are old, old disciples.’ On January 3, 1974 He confirmed that He had to initiate five hundred thousand disciples. Since He had initiated only one hundred and fifty thousand disciples, what about the rest? This is a secret which is very difficult to know, until He would reveal it Himself).
Master was sent into the world, and such Power came from Agam Desh. His work was also high, corresponding to His power from where...He came. It is said that the Master surrenders His disciple to the Satpurusha and the Satpurusha brings him to Alakh and from Alakh to Agam. He who comes from Agam, His work is independent. In real sense it is a golden opportunity. Such times come very rarely in the world. Master used to say, ‘The Grace which extends now was only possible some hundred thousand years ago.’ The most difficult time before the end of the Iron Age and before the beginning of the Golden Age in which the Masterpower has to accomplish His work outside and inside, is called Saarsathi.
Immediately after the physical departure of such a Master1 the Saarsathi starts. It is a law that the Masterpower has to wind up the work and justify the disciples in various planes and He brings them above the effects of the three worlds. (Note: Saarsathi in the terminology of the Saints is a dreadful period before the beginning of the Golden Age and before the end of the Iron Age. At that time the negative power always declares the over-all destruction of the world, whereas the Masterpower working on the physical pole has to go back to bring from within the Golden Age to avoid the destruction and to fight with the negative power and keep the negative power engaged in astral and causal regions. Whereas the negative power at each step creates hindrances to control the disciples of a competent Master in its fold. (Note: On April 3, 1974 at Dehra-Dun Master told, ‘Mind that, the Golden Age is coming. Everyone has to go! Those who disobey the Master will have to travel a long, long road to complete their journey.’) All souls are delivered back to their original Masters, and everyone has to justify his Master, whereas one has to suffer there where he would not justify his Master. This is a law which even Master would not evade.
The one who overcomes the test of the negative power cannot enter the hell again after the release of the souls from the hell, except the Masterpower prepares the soul once again. Then that one goes on meditating (this time it was 14 years) and that one goes on meditating and the Masterpower provides him with all helps and Grace. The five words cease to function when one transcends the five planes; the Masterpower provides other words in accordance with other planes. On the higher planes the Masterpower has to meditate with different words, with which He is blessed by the Satpurusha to overcome the hindrances of the negative power.
The Masterpower further blesses such a disciple with those words to find the hidden locations of the negative power. Unless the Masterpower overcomes the hidden locations of the negative power, He is not able to cut the roots of the negative power interlinked with the Iron Age. With these words the negative power loses his power to interfere though he tries with the tricks which are already created and functioning. The interlinking effects [The effects caused by the disciple, when the disciple stays between the positive power and the negative power] create great barriers for all disciples to transcend above the sphere of negative power. During the winding-up operation, the negative power goes side by side with the Masterpower up to the causal plane. Unlike in other ages the negative power always evades the time and prolongs its stay in the Iron Age. Thus it remains a very difficult task for the Masterpower to discontinue the work of the negative power. He (the negative power) does not care nor bother until he is fully controlled through the power which the disciple acquires from the Master who trains the disciple especially for this purpose.
All decisions regarding the change from one age to another age are taken in Agam Desh. Those decisions bear the positive effect of the Agam Desh. But there is no provision to deliver those decisions to Kal except through a developed disciple, who takes the test and overcomes the negative power practically. Such one is fully prepared and given special words to bind all the powers working in Daswan Dwar and descending down to the first plane. The most difficult task is to enter into the hell and locate the places of Dharam Raj and all other dreadful and fearful workers of the negative power. By seeing them the ordinary soul surrenders to them. Most dreaded beside Dharam Raj are forty-two heads, each one with a different task. All these forty-two have further lots of workers at their disposal and spread in millions and perform various negative deeds in the world, to keep the human beings engaged.
Each moment the negative power evades the decision of the Master through ordinary ways. If the negative power does not obey, the final decision which is held in Agam Desh it is delivered through the one who already took the test of the negative power and could go into the hell and finish the work. With special words of the Master, that one is again sent into the hell. The word of the Master helps the disciple to move beyond the barriers of the hell. The throne of the Dharam Raj is established before the entrance of the hell. The order (decision) is shown to Dharam Raj and is kept in front of him till he loses his power and surrenders to the order of the Masterpower.
In between he frightens the disciple with all his powers. The negative power has also boundless powers to bind down the disciple. To all 42 who are located at their certain dreadful places the order of the Master is shown, whereas they do not bow down and accept His order until they lose their power and surrender. If that disciple who goes to the hell, is frightened and surrenders to the negative forces and is controlled by them, the Mission of the Master ceases to function in the Golden Age. Then the Masterpower loses the opportunity. The Saarsathi period is therefore a question of death and life for the Masterpower. After this decision, which is accepted by all negative forces, Master further gives some more time to the negative power to wind up his work completely. This time is more destructive and dreadful, since the negative power uses each and every weapon against the Masterpower and does his level best to destroy the world.
After this time Masterpower winds up His work, which was still pending for many matters due to the interference of the negative power. The Masterpower usually takes half as much time as the negative power. Thereafter the Golden Age starts outside as well…In the Golden Age, the guidance of the Masterpower finishes. The laws of the Iron Age are finished at the end of Saarsathi and new laws are framed by the Masterpower...The negative power, avataras, gods and goddesses also function in the Golden Age. In case Master’s Mission comes into the Golden Age, all these powers do not interfere and obstruct the way of the disciple of the Master unless he stops to yearn and begins to think negative. Then the negative power has the free will to control such a soul. If a disciple of the Master becomes a pious egoist, he can be controlled by the avataras.” (77)
Many questions could be raised about this material. Why no successors? Why a 14 year gap between Kirpal's death and the beginnings of the golden age? It seems to me that Dr. Harbhajan may have created a story that because Kirpal was supposed to live to be 95, but passed away at 81, there was a 14 year period where his”chosen disciple” had to do battle with the negative power, Kal, or else the whole divine plan for the transition to the Golden Age would fail. And coincidentally that was about how long it took for Harbhajan to build the lovelyUnity of Man center(s) that supposedly Kirpal had planned. Was he supposed to be that chosen disciple?
He seems to envision an “end-times” scenario here that iseerily similarly that of St. John the Apostle, with a battle between good and evil, except here it is only only a battle before the birth of a new age, and not before a once and for all New Creation. But at least in the Christian version, God is in charge with no doubt of the outcome.
One not so minor detail. Harbhajan says the Masters come from Agam Desh, and their mission is to take souls to the Sat Purush, who in turn will take them from Alak to Agam. But what about Anami? Is Agam Desh supposed to be the highest? How does one advance to Anami? Is there no Anami anymore? So here we have yet another unique Sant Mat system to consider. Kirpal in fact said near the end of his life, “all are satsangis, I tell you,” and Darshan similarly confessed that "no soul will ever be lost.” That is not the message I get from this book, but we will let the reader decide.
We have seen the contrasting views among saints and sages over “yugas” or cyclical “Ages.” Ramana, always speaking from the highest viewpoint, said he didn’t believe in them because he didn’t consider time real. In basic Hinduism there is still over 427,000 years left in the Kali Yuga. Sri Yukteswar claimed to have discovered an error in calculations and maintained that we are really in the ascending phase of the Dwapar Yuga or “Copper Age.” Kirpal did say “a golden age of spirituality with many fragrant saints” was coming, but he didn’t specify when. Ramakrishna one hundred years before said saints would becoming “like grapes in clusters.” The Golden Age in many teachings (including sometimes Sant Mat) is not that great. You live 100,000 years and have no incentive for spiritual practice. So it’s not necessarily a boon. Did Kirpal literally mean this kind of Golden Age, or just a relative rebirth of spiritual teachings in our time? We have certainly seen that much in the past forty years, starting with some hybrid mystical/yogic/jnana teachers, and then sprouting forth with a new dispensation of teachings and teachers of non-duality challenging the older models.
Kirpal did tell a few people in Heart to Heart Talks that initiates “will reign over the world.” Then again, I find he said just about everything at one time or another, like most good gurus. Right now it does not look like we are close to seeing that happen. I’m not even convinced it would be a great thing. Maybe, maybe not. If all these different views were not enough, however, Dr. Harbhajan is proposing that only the perfect saint of the age - his master Kirpal - would determine when a new age would begin, and that this decision would come from “Agam Desh.” Is this the simple “easy yoke” and “good news”? Is this helping to foster a unity of man and unity of world religions? My heart weeps. This teaching sounds like a retrogression to the arcane mysticism of the past, itself lost in the subtle realms (while yet claiming that all other teachings are) , and not of the consciousness teachings on the crest of the coming age.
An initiate writes:
“I expect he got it wrong thinking that the Master is being proved. Instead, each disciple is personally tested to determine if he or she has developed away from identification with body-mind to be able to tolerate the higher frequency of a more awake consciousness. The so call "testing", that he described is already ongoing every moment of life for all disciples. I suggest that transcendence awaits a disciple's ability to survive the necessary changes in consciousness to move from physical consciousness to much more subtle levels. However, I believe that Dr Harbhajan's timing is way off. His wife was much more tuned into subtle experiencing than he was. He also mentioned that she was the receiver of most of what he wrote about. This might account for a lot of distortion and/or confusion in his descriptions.”
That explains quite a lot, and confirms my conclusions. What Harbhajan wrote was off the mark, regardless of his being a loving disciple. Testing or proving of disciples, for instance, is nothing new. An inter-age testing or battle of the Master with Kal and his 42 minions, however, is a very far-out-lying view and will not find much acceptance in our times. And why "42"? Is it just a coincidence that 42 is half of the sacred or imaginative number "84", discussed in detail in Part One? Is 42 the negative power's "half" of 84 positive and negative qualities of the ego to be transcended? A friend has assured me that there is a common 42/58 split regarding positive and negative qualities of the ego and/or flavors of personality traits in numerous traditions:
"He said the disciples had to discover where the 42 heads of the negative power were hidden, meaning
discovering how the negative power was tricking humans into the illusions of life. His use of heads instead of negative personality qualities was his choice...but the meaning is clear. We all are being tricked into believing that we will find happiness by following these negative qualities (dramas) which include anger, lust, lying, arrogance, pride, etc.. He must have unwittingly used 42 instead of 58, perhaps because the insight came from his wife and he got it wrong. But the 42/58 split carries across different religions teachings as the numbers and flavors of personality characteristics."
I have not been able to find evidence of this. Until I see it I consider this part of the theory akin to a "summer of '42" astral/mental imagination. In sum, there is no way to know how much in all of this is meant to be taken literally and how much - if any - is symbolic.
Yukteswar may or may not be right, but his theories on yugas are the closest to being based on science, i.e., the precession of the equinoxes and other astronomical dynamics. The Hindu version is based on a traditional date for the birth of Krishna (3102 B.C.), which is hardly scientific. Dr. Harbhajan’s version is based on his wife’s inner plane experiences and his subjective interpretations of his Master’s words. And that is not sufficient anymore in the age we live in, is it?. In saying this I mean no disrespect or ill will towards Dr. Harbhajan or his wife who , as far as I know were dedicated workers in their Master's cause. We are interested in truth here, and not more things to believe in that can't be proven for ourselves.
This, however, brings up an important point raised throughout this book, that there is a fundamental difference between “mystics” and “contemplatives”. As Bernadette Roberts explains it:
“The most common bond, or shared grace, between contemplatives is the silencing of the individual self…Apart from this silencing, other types of religious experience, no matter how lofty, mystical, or supernatural, would not, in my opinion, define the true contemplative. I have always thought that St. Teresa was a mystic who had a few contemplative experiences, and that St. John of the Cross was a contemplative who had a few mystic experiences, because the difference between these two saints is so great that, without a shared doctrinal basis, their paths might never have crossed. Though any experience of grace may be called “mystical,” the mystics of history were largely noted for the phenomenal character of their experiences, i.e., visions, voices, etc., which are not common among ordinary contemplatives. It is the shared grace of silence that tells us we are all headed in the same direction and that, being drawn by the same force, we will ultimately come to rest in the same end — the same God.” (78)
As to be discussed in Part Three in the section on “Progress,” one can conceivably have visionary inner experiences for years and make little spiritual progress, and conceivably make incomparably greater progress and have no such experiences. That is to say, such experiences produce no real changes in consciousness, otherwise known in contemporary non-dual circles as awakening, understanding, and love. For Roberts, a Christian contemplative, the first actual change in consciousness was the entrance into the Dark Night of the Spirit, which for her was considered the beginning of the unitive life in the mystical literature. This is a profound undoing of all ego-centered living, often with the falling away of all devotional mystic experience. It is experienced as a loss, not a gain. Often this is an initiation into non-duality.
Another difference between "mystics" and "contemplatives," defined in this way, is that mystics still have or identify witha "within"' (or self, and spirit, felt within) while contemplatives having lost the center of self, along with its companion, spirit, have no sense of a "within" as such. Sri Nisargadatta said, "I am all front and no back." After years of unifying inward movement, the mystic transitions to an outward movement, that is, an indefinite period of selfless giving. This is an advance. Eventually this movement, still conditioned by self, leads to the falling away of self as well as the sense of an indwelling spirit. While this is the trajectory of the mature soul, it can be felt as a terrible death, although not always. In fact it can be a graceful process, sort of like “the only thing left to do.” They sometimes, however, call this the Great Death. But it is followed, says Roberts, by the actual realization that "God is closer to us than we are to ourselves." This is in fact a stanza in the Koran. Darshan Singh mentioned it often. deCaussade put it this way, "God is more the life of the soul than the soul is the life of the body." This is an advanced state, but just ponder, how could one realize this truth if he were still involved, as self, in the movement of the soul within the body? One can't. God or the Divine Spirit must take us over, and make its move when conditions are right. We will come back to this again. It is useful to become familiarized with where we are headed, even though it cannot be fully understood until it is experienced. I think we are talking here about the transition to the Wordless or Stateless State - which is, it is said, only the Natural State. Masters in this condition say strange things at times, abiding as they are, behind the Word or Spirit, with no particular self-importance, while we see them standing in the Great Light!
Roberts categorizes the habitual state of the mature contemplative as "the fixed gaze upon the Unknown." We could add "the Heart's gaze," thus connecting the upper and lower portions of the body-mind.
We will speak more about the views of Bernadette Roberts in Part Four in the section on the concept of a “Center.”
The main point of the above discussion is that there is little difference between inner visions and watching TV, unless the heart is surrendered and the mind transformed in the process. And also not much value in giving credence to the experiences and stories of others until we have experienced them for ourselves.
In a microscopic scale, it has been said that we all meet our Armageddon in the confrontation with our ego, and an “end of an age” at death when the scroll of time rolls up finishing an incarnation. We transition from the Kali to Satya Yuga every time we feel - release - and let go. As they say in Zen, “Heaven and hell are but a tenth of an inch apart.” On a moral scale, the drawn sword is hell, and the lowered sword is heaven. Metaphysically, Sach Khand and earth are only a hair’s breadth away.
Sant Mat and Buddhism
This is not an exhaustive examination of Buddhism but only some comments that may be relevant to our general discussion. Much of the following is from Mark.
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It appears at first glance, and in popular versions of these teachings, that Zen and vipassana Buddhism do not emphasize or pursue trance, while Shabd yoga and some Vajrayana buddhist paths do. Vipassana per se is not a trance practice, but the Theravada/Hinayana schools that most purely reflect the Buddha's original teachings do include the jhanas or states of absorption, which are 'samadhi' or 'trance' practices, to be followed or complemented by vipassana or insight practices, which, in this tradition, alone can give final enlightenment. The practice of samatha (tranquility) or samadhi (concentrative absorptions or trance states) prepare the mind by eradicating temporarily the various hindrances (restlessness, dullness, etc.), but they return when the trance is over and one returns to the world. It is insight practice that grants liberation. That, in fact, was how the Buddha won his enlightenment. As we have seen from an early exchange of letters between Sant Mat two initiates in Part One, both of who had gone far within but apparently lacked relative wisdom, that samadhi, even at a deep level, can only do half of the job. However, it also does appear that if one goes deep enough, such as passing beyond the supercausal level in Sant Mat, or reaching the Heart-root as Ramana Maharshi taught, that such deep samadhi may have a more lasting and purificatory effect than the vipassana jhanas generally have. Absorption in the shabda-brahman is itself purificatory,and a special feature of this bhakti path. And in Sant Mat the factor of Grace is much more prominent a feature than in Buddhism, which must be taken into account. Still, it is unproven assumption that viveka jnana or discriminative wisdom is completed by the course of shabda meditation, and whether or not the highest inner goal reached must also be combined with an insight practice or realization as its final 'capstone'.
Similarly to vipassana, madyamika or mahayana Buddhism recognizes jhanas, or deepening states without full trance in order to find the ground or primordial consciousness. The jhanas of various schools of Buddhism, however, (in which they are variously called states of absorption, samadhis, concentrative states, tranquility states, jhanas, etc.) are in fact trance states. The preliminary state of access concentration described in some schools of Buddhism is not a trance state, and can be used as a doorway either into trance states (samadhi) or vipassana practice. The next four levels are called form-absorptions, because one is still aware of form, such as sensations, memories, thoughts, etc., though one's concentration is unusually deep, and the mind very still. The next four levels are called formless absorptions. These are the levels of infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and the stage of neither perception nor non-perception. In some schools, depending on approach, the first four are considered deep meditations, but not yet fully beyond body consciousness. In other school, all eight levels are considered trance states (no awareness of the body). All schools of Buddhism agree, though, that the last four are samadhi states of profound concentration, bliss, and lucid, expansive awareness. Very unified and pure. The traditional teachings, verified by modern practitioners, is that with the onset of the formless jhanas, the various bodily states nearly cease, such a breathing and heart rate.
The Buddha believed that these where powerful states to cultivate, and could lead to profound purification of character, expansion of consciousness, and siddhis, among other things. But he did not feel that one could achieve full enlightenment through this approach. The Buddha said that none of these states where the highest 'Truth'. And he said it was especially important not to confuse the various formless jhanas like infinite space, infinite consciousness, or nothingness, with the 'ground' or unconditioned reality.
For the Buddha, all these levels where 'not It'. Yet he did describe a samadhi oriented practice that could give trance access to the 'unconditioned', which in this context he called nirodha, meaning cessation - the complete transcendence of all relative experience, form or formless. To access nirodha in trance one has to first master all eight jhanas and also be good at vipassana, which is quite an achievement. Then one learns to enter each jhana one level at a time, and in each one in turn practice vipassana so as to cultivate the wisdom of seeing the relative and incomplete nature of each level of samadhi. If one did this while progressing from one level of trance to another, upon reaching the highest jhana, one would simply rest in that level until a ripeness occurred that would allow an effortless movement into nirodha. [This might be considered by some to be the same as nirvikalpa samadhi or anami, but it is not certain, for one can apparently experience nirvikalpa samadhi from any plane. Vedantist James Swartz describes becoming absorbed into Ramakrishna's belly on a subtle plane and going into nirvikalpa samadhi! (See www.shiningworld.com). Interestingly, the Buddha claimed that it was not possible to gain access to nirodha until one had reached the stage of enlightenment called the 'non-returner' (one stage before the arhat), a stage wherein one no longer had any physical karma and so would not need to return to the physical world out of karmic necessity. Many or all of the various jhanas would be accessible before this stage, but not nirodha.
This matter of becoming free from karma is one that major emphasis is placed on in Sant Mat. They claim that no other school knows how to accomplish that, but the Sants do. Moreover, the notion of only reaching the higher jnanas after one is free from karma should give great pause to the contemporary non-dual teachers, who feel one can go from the empirical reality straight to the absolute reality, suchness, or void-mind, solely through understanding. The question is what ground are they talking about - the ground of the mind, the ground of the soul, or the ground of the Oversoul or absolute Void-Mind - Anami for the Sants? The problem is there are different voids, which are not just conceptual distinctions, although many modern as well as ancient non-dual teachers might have one think so. This is a problem that has been an issue and source of debate over the millennia. Hence, for instance, the Buddha mastered the jhanas and then felt, much to his teacher's dismay, that this was not the true or final 'void' or ground, but some still relative one. It is not beyond suspicion that, since many modern non-dual teachers lack adequate understanding, training, and guidance to distinguish these states, they commonly confuse much of this, misjudging their own and other's level of realization.
Some great mystics may conceivably reach Maha Sunn, for instance, and believe it is the Absolute Void or Dharmakaya (Reality), when it is actually a phenomenal void, although beyond the mental vehicles.
Zen tries to get to the suchness - emptiness or reality much like Mahayana, but without much in the way of
metaphysics. Traditionally, there actually is a fair amount of sophisticated theory in the Zen tradition, but it was usually not offered to students, unless they had progressed far and were being trained to teach. Then it was considered useful and not a distraction. In modern times some feel that Zen has degenerated significantly in many instances from the Zen of the great patriarchs, especially in the moral arena.
The problem lies in recognizing what one in fact experiences. Unless your master is very great you may not be able to get clear verification. And, again, there are different degrees of penetration
into reality. Read "Bankei Yotaku - Unborn Zen” (http://www.mountainrunnerdoc.com/articles/article/2291157/37712.htm) and you will see that even after multiple outstanding satoris he still had to practice thirty more years for enlightenment
in that school, and even more so for Hakuin - two of the greatest Zen Masters.
Sant Kirpal Singh had Zen masters come to the ashram, and they had tears in their eyes from laughing so hard with him, so he knew a lot more than satsangis might think he did. One may also be aware that this was true for Ramana. People have the impression that his teachings were very simple, perhaps at times oversimplifying and maybe not adequately honoring the various stages other less-advanced yogis were at. Actually, a thorough study of Ramana shows that not only was he very learned, rich and sophisticated in his understanding and teachings, but frequently said things that directly contradict what he said at other times, such as whether one needed for the mind to "sink into the heart and die", or "just be who you are." Most teachers today opt for the later as it is easier.
He was skillful with other styles of spiritual practice that he never openly taught. There is a story, for instance, of an advanced tantric practitioner who came to Ramana because the kundalini had risen into the head chakras but he could not 'get it' to reach the crown. Ramana took him into a private room, while some students went to listen at the window, curious what Ramana would say to this yogi. What they heard was Ramana becoming a a tantric adept and giving this yogi a sophisticated understanding of what was going on and how he need proceed, including giving him a mantra to use for his case.
In Dzogchen these days some try to keep the mind free and open, some calling that in itself enlightenment, the problem
being that until one has been able to find a stable center of conscious-awareness to return to, letting the mind be open can lead one to stagnate in a relatively subconscious state. I am thinking of the popular work by the venerable Dilgo Gyentse Rinpoche, Dzogchen in Ordinary Life. This is a complex issue, but most true Dzogchen teachings that work with this 'free and open' awareness are very aware of and have complex strategies for preparing students to practice in this way, as well as ways to work the these practices to remain balanced and alert. Dzogchen is generally taught in the context of the Nyingmapa lineage, and is considered the final of nine stages or tantras, all of which are preceded by preliminary practices. For the Buddha, vipassana was they practice he taught that was based in 'free and open' awareness. But he said that should first get a foundation in right conduct, then a preliminary foundation in deep concentration, and only then switch to cultivation vipassana, which should then ideally be pursued alongside trance or samadhi practices. The threefold foundation of practice he taught is therefore also somewhat sequential - sila (morality), samadhi (various concentration, trance, and purification practices) and prajna (wisdom developed through vipassana).
Unfortunately in the West, practitioners here generally developed their approach to various forms of Buddhism backwards - typically becoming enamored of vipassana and other 'higher' practices such as Dzogchen, while ignoring or tying to skip over the traditional order of approach as taught by the Buddha and others. Everyone likes the idea of doing the "keep the mind in its natural state" practice. They forget , for instance, that Dilgo Rinpoche he spent fifteen years in caves and meditated six hours a day for years afterwards and probably teaches differently to the monks who have taken vows than they are aware of. For a sobering description of the sadhana of the venerable vipassana master, Luangta Maha Boowo (1913-2011, and the skillful interconnection of moral virtue, concentration/mindfulness, and wisdom/insight practice, see the free on-line version of his book, Samana, in particular the chapter "From Ignorance to Emptiness." (http://forestdhamma.org/index.php?page=View&book=1&file=book/13/html/index.html). In this short section he explains how the samadhi of emptiness [the Theravada equivalent of nirvikalpa], as well as the stabilization of that under the conditions of ordinary life, both advanced stages on the path, are yet, in essence, "fetters" to the Nibbana of the Buddha, the 'ultimate emptiness'. This is a worthwhile read.
The power of 'free and open' awareness is that it is a particularly suitable practice for opening to non-dual realization, for when awareness is balanced with equanimity, concentration and investigation (as is the method of vipassana), and all levels of experience from physical to psychological to spiritual, are allowed to arise without preference, this openness is actualizing non-dualism in its aspect of not preferring one object of awareness to another, one plane to another, etc. The danger of trance states is that they express an inherent preference for higher and higher planes, allowing for the danger of attachment to these planes. Vipassana is the antidote to this.
Mahamudra is a pinnacle practice in some Tibetan teachings, just as Dzogchen is in others (particularly Nyingmapa and Kagyu). In all these traditions, an open focus meditation that integrates non-dual awareness with all other levels of experience, including activity in daily life, is the final practice (if not employed in some form at other stages). In all lineages Mahamudra or Dzogchen is always preceded by various tantric practices (such as the Six Yogas of Naropa that Milarepa and Marpa used, which is basically a form of kundalini yoga), or Deity Yoga (also a tantric practice as used in Vajrayana), as well as various preliminary practices such as Ngondro. So at the heart of all major Buddhist lineages is a practice that the Buddha taught originally as vipassana, and later was spun in various ways as zazen, shikan-taza, Mahamudra, Dzogchen, etc. all of which have at the essence to be fully present with all that is arising moment to moment, cultivation no attachment to any technique, plane, or viewpoint, which leads to realizing sahaja samadhi or what the Buddha called 'nirvana with elements', meaning the experience of non-dual realization/liberation while fully aware of the relative level of experience.
A main question has long been: does shabd yoga strictly and merely by inversion even to the highest levels of mystical ascent realize the natural state of sahaj samadhi spoken of by the great sages like Ramana, Ashtavakra,
Sankara, Buddha, etc.? I think there have been Sant Mat saints who have - like Kabir, Rumi, and Kirpal -, but that it is not a given just through the mystical process. Moreover, are the various trance or samadhi states as taught by the Buddha, for instance, or in other school such as Vedanta or Raja Yoga, not to mention the vast array of other schools, more or less the same as the stages/states of Sant Mat? I believe some are, and some are not. One of the key differences is that what the various levels of trance accomplish, how they are experienced, and what one gets out of them, depends a lot on how one approaches them. For instance, the Buddha actually taught two types of trance samadhi practice. One was normal jhanas/samadhis, the other jhanas in which one also cultivated vipassana within that particular trance state. A different approach, with different consequences.
Plotinus, once again, said that we must "teach our souls." In other words, if we don't have the right doctrine or view, we won't understand the experiences we do have.
The Buddha, as far as we can tell, used the term jhana in two ways - trance jhanas, but also what he called vipassana-jhanas. The former where absorptions leading to samadhi trance, and the later simply designated the various stages to absorption or deep concentration in various states of contemplation/realization as they arise doing vipassana. There were four of these basic vipassana-jhanas that one progresses through stage by stage, culminating in a satori experience (a kind of fifth stage). [This occurs in each of the four archtypal stages or lifetimes he originally proposed: stream-enterer, once-returner, non-returner, and arhat]. Then one returns to the second vipassana-jhana, which would again ripen by doing vipassana through a deeper version of the second, third and fourth vipassana-jhanas a second time, culminating in a second satori or non-dual awakening. Again one would return to the second vipassana-jhana, ripen through more realization stages culminating in a third satori (now one is a non-returner). At this point one has completed physical karma, but is not yet in sahaja samadhi (though it is a very peaceful, virtuous, conscious state with easy access in meditation to non-dual awareness). Proceeding through the vipassana-jhanas a fourth time culminates in a fourth and final satori from which one does not 'come back out'. One is now an arhat, permanently established in what Ramana called 'external nirvikalpa samadhi', which he distinguished from internal or trance-based nirvikalpa samadhi. One is jivan-mukti, liberated while embodied. Many adepts may have attained the non-returner stage and have access in samadhi to non-dual awareness (and so believe they are fully enlightened), but are not fully liberated jivan-muktis (arhats) because they have not taken the final step to bring that non-dual awareness fully into waking awareness. Of course, this is what jnanis like Atmananda and Brunton (PB) have argued.
"The Overself should not be reached merely in trance; it must be known in full waking consciousness. Trance is merely the deepest phase of meditation, which in turn is instrumental in helping prepare the mind to discover truth. Yoga does not yield truth directly. Trance does not do more than concentrate the mind perfectly and render it completely calm. Realization can come after the mind is in that state and after it has begun to inquire, with such an improved instrument, into truth." (79)
The result of this is a state that is constant, whether one is in meditative trance or not, and requires no further practice or even vigilance, as the condition, the natural state, maintains itself. Needless to say, this is the culmination of a great maturity, and few have attained it. PB describes this condition in the following way. I offer this as another example of another ancient teaching that is something for meditators on trance-samadhi mystical types of paths to consider along with their devotional search for the soul, and for those teachers also to ponder if they need to seek further training in order to realize the condition known as "open-eyes." He states:
"The "natural" philosophic attainment gives insight as a continuity whereas meditation gives it as an interruption. More, its attitudes are so relaxed, its operations so effortless, its outlook so carefree,
that those who have to work hard to get the temporary enlightenment know that nothing else in life has the same importance, the same value." (80)
"A tacit insight, nothing more," is a saying that has been attributed to the Buddha upon his enlightenment, after he had passed through the eight progressive jnanas of meditation and realized that they were not 'it'.
And what does one get for his labors? The sense that he is a "conscious co-worker of the divine plan", as Kirpal Singh would sometimes say? Again there is paradox. The answer is, "yes," if the meaning is that one sees the God-Power as the real doer; and "no," if one if takes oneself as an independent agent. For what has one become when he reaches Sach Khand or Anami Lok, the great Emptiness? Kirpal would even more often say that he was "nothing," a "mere pipe," helpless without his Master's grace." Once again, as PB wrote:
"Those who find that beyond the Light they must pass through the Void, the unbounded emptiness, often draw back affrighted and refuse to venture farther. For here they have naught to gain or get, no glorious spiritual rapture to add to their memories, no great power to increase their sense of being a co-worker with God. Here their very life-blood is to be squeezed out as the price of entry; here they must become the feeblest of creatures." (81)
This is an important point to think over. It has the potential to draw together many different paths. For the Master is even more vulnerable than his disciples!
Continuing, in Theravada, in the first significant stage, one has the samadhi of emptiness; then he comes out of it and continues to inquire, investigate mental states, etc., until he overcomes the attachment to the samadhi of emptiness and reaches emptiness in natural life. Then he goes beyond even this 'attachment' to the final emptiness or the Nibbana of the Buddha, beyond all categories and concepts.
According to Aadi, each state must be realized, then cultivated, stabilized, and integrated. Then one can move on to the next true stage. That takes care of the argument of many newer teachers.
In true Dzogchen, this liberation is the third of three stages - first gain samadhi access to rigpa or non-dual presence, then stabilize rigpa in non-trance meditation (like vipassana), then integrate it into daily activity. Ramana taught, similarly, that raising the kundalini to the crown chakra brought internal nirvikalpa samadhi, but not full jivanmukti. To do this on the kundalini path, one needed to bring the kundalini back to the heart and establish it there through the channel he called the amrita nadi, an extension of the sushumna which curved back from the crown center to the heart. The kundalini, completing this deeper movement, established one as a jivanmukti. Of course, this is not what the Sants teach, and it is not clear proof that one is free of karma and totally non-dual realized throughout the planes by this approach. It is not clear that realizing yogic nirvikalpa is the half-way house to realization, in other words. Even Ramana went back and forth teaching this and also teaching the ever-attractive, "just be who you are." For example, he, like PB above, said:
"We try to grasp something strange and mysterious because we believe happiness lies elsewhere. This is the mistake. The Self is all-pervading. Our real nature is liberation, but we imagine that we are bound, we make strenuous efforts to become free, although all the while we are free. Birth and death pertain only to the body, they are superimposed upon the Self, giving rise to the delusion that birth and death relate to the Self. The universe exists within the Self. Discover the undying Self and be immortal and happy. Be yourself and nothing more. Thoughts change but not you. There is neither past nor future; there is only the present. Yesterday was the present when you experienced it; tomorrow will also be the present when you experience it, therefore, experience takes place only in the present, and even the present is mere imagination, for the sense of time is purely mental. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that? Your true nature is that of infinite spirit." (82)
Ramana basically offered two paths to realization. One would be the trance path which would be savikalpa samadhi, to internal nirvikalpa samadhi, then to external nirvikalpa or sahaja samadhi. But he also taught that one could bypass the two internal stages of samadhi and go directly into sahaja samadhi. This could be done, by ripe souls, by doing self-inquiry in the spiritual heart.
What is not commonly known, however, is that even Ramana, who never himself practiced self-inquiry, but nevertheless was his preferred method (combined, it must be mentioned, with his potent transmission), also recognized the path of nada or sound-contemplation as a legitimate way to the goal!
“Iyer sought more light on nada (sound).
M.: He who meditates on it feels it. there are ten kinds of nadas.
After the final thundering nada the man gets laya. That is his
natural and eternal state. Nada, jyoti (light), or enquiry thus take
one to the same point. (The former are indirect and the last is direct).
D.: The mind becomes peaceful for a short while and again emerges forth. What is to be done?
M.: The peace often gained must be remembered at other times.
That peace is your natural and permanent state. By continuous
practice it will become natural. That is called the 'current'. That is
your true home.” (83)
But back to Buddhism. Vipassana and other integrated presence practices are methods of direct realization of sahaja without need for trance states. In fact, the Buddha said that one of the fetters that remained after one achieved nirvikalpa samadhi (and becoming a non-returner), and that could be removed by doing vipassana, was attachment to higher planes. Because in a very profound sense, the non-dual is not really one of the planes, it is the ground of all the planes, and so can be accessed from any level. It is just easier to initially access it in trance, which can give the illusion that it is a higher plane.
So, can the path of Sant Mat bring one to sahaja samadhi? Yes, the difference is that, in the trance path, one must pass back and forth from internal states to outer consciousness many, many times, which leads to gradually integrating the inner realization with ordinary consciousness. Eventually, the stage is reached of internal nirvikalpa samadhi (for the Sants, anami, which may possibly be much deeper than nirvikalpa as traditionally described) which, when experienced often enough and then returning to the physical world enough times, leads to non-dual realization being integrated with the physical body. I don't think it happens by itself necessarily, however, and I also realize it is not on the top of the list of concerns for most of us! But for a saint or a sage it would be. This point merits further exploration.
Vipassana practices hold a key to efficiently integrate higher realization with the human personality and physical body, because one practices holding as deep a realization as one can in direct relationship to those levels of experience, integrating that level of realization into the human aspects. Both aspects transform over time (the depth of one's realization and the various dimensions of our human nature - body, emotions, thoughts) eventually leading to integrated nondual realization. So both the Buddha (and Ramana as another example) taught that it is possible to cultivate sahaja samadhi without cultivating trance states.
So what is the value of trance states? One important one is that they are, for many people, the fastest way to develop a deeply peaceful, centered, concentrated state of mind. And even vipassana (zazen, Dzogchen, etc.) will progress much faster with that foundation. The approaches normally used for vipassana allow for reliable progress without significant samadhi power developed first, but it is widely believed, and was considered by the Buddha, to be better with it. Deep concentration can and is developed within vipassana practice, but it is often easier to develop concentration when focusing on a specific subject (visualization, mantra, shabda) rather than while cultivating the open awareness at the heart of vipassana. There are also many other advantages and values of using samadhi/trance practices. In fact, the Buddha had many of his liberated arhat disciples continuing to expand and enrich their 'post-realization' states, to enhance their relative wisdom and expand their capacity for service. This included enhancing access to higher worlds, developing siddhis, and expanding relative knowledge. This is, of course, totally consistent with Sant Mat.
There is a special value unique to Shabd Yoga which the Buddhist style jhana, or vipassana, practices do not cultivate. And that is the Shabd itself as a special focus of concentration. The Shabd is the Logos, Shabda Brahman, or, to translate into Buddhist terminology, the Sound of the Primordial or Universal Buddha. So to meditate on the Shabd can be to directly attune to the Universal Presence of Non-dual Enlightenment, a living, dynamic Presence that transmits realization directly into the meditator.
In other words, most of the Buddhist versions of samadhi practice do not involve the immersion in a source of grace the way Shabd yoga does. This is a great advantage for the path of Sant Mat. But is it still a samadhi path, so it is not necessarily as efficient at bridging that realization back into the body. That is why combine Shabd Yoga with a vipassana-like practice or insight-contemplation may be useful. [However, it must also be said that when one investigates what it takes to pursue the path of the Buddhist jnanas (http://www.holybooks.com/jhanas-theravada-buddhist-meditation/), in this current age Sant Mat looks like a breeze by comparison].
Also, the way one learns to move from plane to plane in each approach makes it possible that the nature of the realization and transformation that is taking place at each stage and plane is not the same. In shabd yoga, it is not just 'trance', but theoretically an actual death and rebirth, in stages. So, for instance, reaching Sach Khand in Shabd Yoga is the result not just of samadhi but a transformation resulting from communion with the emanation of the Sat Purush, that is not necessarily the same as the transformation that has transpired for a Buddhist using the typical jhana practices and reaching the same 'plane'.
Shabd Yoga As A Jnana Path
Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche writes:
“In Buddhism, we distinguish between spiritual experiences and spiritual realizations. Spiritual experiences are usually more vivid and intense than realizations because they are generally accompanied by physiological and psychological changes. Realizations, on the other hand, may be felt, but the experience is less pronounced. Realization is about acquiring insight. Therefore, while realizations arise out of our spiritual experiences, they are not identical to them. Spiritual realizations are considered vastly more important because they cannot fluctuate.”
“The distinction between spiritual experiences and realizations is continually emphasized in Buddhist thought. If we avoid excessively fixating on our experiences, we will be under less stress in our practice. Without that stress, we will be better able to cope with whatever arises, the possibility of suffering from psychic disturbances will be greatly reduced, and we will notice a significant shift in the fundamental texture of our experience.” (84)
This is a common criticism of mystic paths, of which Sant Mat is one. But can we re-categorize it so that it reflects the aspects of a jnana path, rather than only an emanationist bhakti path? I believe we can. Sant Kirpal Singh wrote:
“By a process of self-analysis, He (a Sadh) has known the self or the spirit in Its real form - to wit, that it is of the same essence as God; and now He strives for God-knowledge.”
Mark continues:
"Each spiritual path makes use of some constellation of spiritual qualities more than others. Some emphasize love, devotion, surrender, faith. Another may emphasize self-analysis, discrimination, inquiry, wisdom and realization. Yet another may focus on compassion and service. And a fourth will emphasize esoteric technical knowledge, skills, power and mastery. There are other leanings as well. Many paths have a variety of these facets, and different people may practice within the same tradition with different approaches.
A path and a specific practice is like a person – it has a form or body(s), a soul (virtue and relative wisdom) and a spirit (basic spiritual sensibility – such as non-dual, theistic, nature mysticism, etc.). So, when looking at a path or specific practice, we can understand the overall approach or practice by looking at the specifics of the form used (mantra, following the breath, visualizations, pranayama and so on), but also we can understand the soul of the practice by looking at the specific qualities that are emphasized, and also the deeper ‘spirit’ or essence of the practice in terms of the spiritual vision, philosophy and ultimate goal of the path or practice. So, for instance, a path with the outer form of repeating a mantra can be the expression of various orientations in that the inner soul and spirit of the approach may differ. The same mantra (form) may be repeated by one person with a quality of faith, surrender and devotion and with the underlying spirit of Theistic sensibility, seeking union with God. Another practitioner may use the same mantra with an emphasis on technical precision, concentration and discipline, with the aim of leading the kundalini to a particular chakra, with the ultimate aim of impersonal liberation. Many combinations are possible with different forms, qualities and spiritual sensibilities, even when the outer form of the practices are more or less the same.
Since all qualities are interconnected, emphasizing some leaning will ultimately bring development in other areas as well. Someone emphasizing technical development or devotion will ultimately develop wisdom and realization. While someone leaning towards discrimination and equanimity will ultimately develop love and compassion. But…. it seems to generally be true that the fastest route to the development of specific qualities is to actively include them in our path.
Shabd or nada yoga is a form of spiritual practice that is practiced in various contexts. In the Sikh tradition it is most commonly associated with a bhakti style emphasizing faith, simplicity, purity, surrender, devotion and love. In that context it may not be a form of practice that is based primarily on using discrimination, awareness or inquiry to cultivate wisdom and liberating realization, but it does, secondarily, lead to a powerful process of insight and awakening. It may be argued that if the context and attitude to practicing shabd yoga included a stronger aspect of these qualities, then the wisdom fruits of this path may arise more immediately and richly. But that does not mean they are not inevitably present in that approach already to some degree.
There are other traditions that use nada/shabd yoga strictly in a context of non-dual wisdom development, or in the context of raja yoga, or in the context of technical kundalini/tantric yoga approaches. Also these paths vary as to their core cosmologies, some being Advaita, other qualified, and even some with purely dualistic cosmologies.
So in what way does shabd yoga act as a form of discriminating wisdom practice, generating self-knowledge and culminating in Self-Realization? Through the following:
(1) By meditating on the inner sound, the practitioner is first learning to concentrate. In this phase awareness moves back and forth between the sound current and distractions of sensation, emotion, memories, plans, etc. This helps to develop a foundational insight, a discrimination between the sound current and the personality/ego. This leads to greater self-knowledge about the contents of one’s personality, and the difficulties they pose to deeper concentration and peace of mind.
(2) Gradually, as concentration develops, attunement to the sound current reveals soul qualities of peacefulness, awareness, concentration, detachment, love, surrender and so on. The movement of awareness back and forth during moments of distraction and periods of concentration continue to deepen the intuitive insight not only into the difference between soul qualities (which the sound current is now a focus for attuning to) and the lower bodies, but also gives rise to increasing insight into the value or desirability of soul-identification over identification with the lower bodies and ego.
(3) Further, this growing insight and deepening attunement to soul throws into greater relief the nature of the ego, its various expressions as anger, selfishness, loneliness, pride, inferiority, sadness, attachment, manipulation and so on. The contrast between these states of ego and qualities of soul become clearer and clearer as the practitioner gradually deepens concentration on the sound current and loosens identification with the personality limitations. The dukkha or unsatisfactoriness of the separate ego, and the deep spiritual satisfaction of soul grows clearer and clearer over time.
(4) Eventually, enough purification of karma, release of attachment, and disidentification from the lower bodies allows the consciousness to become absorbed enough in the sound current and inner soul qualities that the individual is able, in meditation, to withdraw from body awareness. This deepens the insight that one is not the body, because one is now directly aware of not only existing 'outside' of the body, but also of a finer astral body that one now finds oneself in. This expresses a clear moment or transition in self-knowledge, not the last, but an important turning point.
(5) Through further meditation on the sound current, one gains further insight into one's higher nature, especially at this stage one's spiritual self or soul as a center of formless identity, wholeness, peace, virtue and wisdom. Dropping awareness of the physical body and extended meditation on the sound current allow for a greater participation in soul experience at this stage, more fully clarifying the difference between soul and lower states of consciousness.
(6) Eventually the practitioner of shabd yoga raises above the astral and causal bodies as well. These each lead to new levels of self-knowledge as the distinction between one's lower and higher nature becomes clearer and clearer. At this stage, have moved beyond the causal level of our nature, the practitioner is immersed in a profound level of soul identification, which continues to deepen throughout the process of moving through the Mahasunn and Bhanwar Gupha. At this stage the aspect of the soul that becomes more vividly aware of its union with the Oversoul or Sat Purush comes to the forefront, deeply enhancing that dimension of one's spiritual understanding.
(7) Rising above this plane and merging in the atman at the level of Sach Khand, the soul experiences final realization of the difference between itself and the lower bodies or sheaths. This wisdom is fundamental to the agency that has provided the capacity of the soul to realize this truth.
(8) Inherent in this realization is the deepening Realization that the nature of the atman is inseparable from the Sat Purush.
(9) Stages of ascent beyond Sach Khand refine this non-dual illumined state further and further.
Therefore, even though in the Sikh tradition the qualities emphasized in the practice of shabd yoga are not ‘jnani’ qualities per se but those deepening concentration that lead to movement from plane to plane, there is still secondarily and inevitably a growing realization/wisdom that comes from proceeding through these stages and experiences.
Returning to the lower bodies at the end of each cycle of meditation also serves to enhance the intuitive wisdom of the soul in its realization of the difference between these levels of its nature, continually enhancing the wisdom that leads to awakening from false identifications, first by contrast and disillusionment, later by profound illumination.
Practice over time furthers the ability of the soul to stage by stage bring more of this realization back into waking day to day consciousness, both by the deepening inner realization in meditation, and by the gradual purification of the sheaths that also results from the process, allowing the soul to reflect more its realization in the lower bodies as they get saturated with the higher love, light, and wisdom."
"Sound arises in the inner sky of pure consciousness, the
heart-space in the head, the sky of the heart. What
manifests is Life-Power, the One." - Swami Nityananda
Thoughts on Dissolution and Grand Dissolution in Sant Mat
This is a brief re-cap from material introduced in Part One. Sant Mat teaches that lesser yogis and yogeshwars, etc., fail to be 'protected' from the cosmic dissolution and grand dissolution that Hindu teachings have mentioned for millennia. These periodic -'return to zero's' of the cosmos have been called days and nights of Brahma, pralaya and mahapralaya, and so forth. One extends up to the astral universes, the other up to the causal universes (or planes). Since Sach Khand is higher than either of these the soul who reaches there is said to then be immune to getting 'wiped out' or otherwise being at a spiritual disadvantage during these dissolutions.
We are not going so far as to say that such dissolutions are not real or never happen. But consider a few things. What could get 'wiped out'? The ego? Yes, but then, that gets wiped out every night in sleep. Yet it reappears again each morning. Who is afraid of such dissolution? The soul, or the ego? Most likely the ego, right? And the ego doesn't make it to Sach Khand in any case. It is not protected. Yet consciousness is what witnesses the ego - how could that get wiped out? Further, time and space are acknowledged to be categories of the mind - the way the mind structures its experiences - and as such do not exist outside the mind (we can't really say 'outside' either inasmuch as that is a spatial reference), so how can one even speak of a time or duration that such a dissolution lasts, such that one is protected from loss while it happens? What does that even mean? See the problem? Is there even a possibility of duration of a dissolution? No, by definition it is impossible, as time only exists when the mind is there. So what is the real meaning of dissolution? Let us inquire. For example, what dissolves? The creation, or a substance we call matter? But vedanta in fact denies there is ever a creation, or that there exists a 'something' real called matter. Sure there is an appearance, that is not denied, but, they ask, has anybody ever saw it being created? What evidence is there that it has been created? The universe, the body, the ego, are all considered 'ideas', ideas which arise or subsist in Mind and only return to Mind when they seem to disappear. But as they exist always in Mind, they do not really disappear. Then what is dissolution?
Furthermore , any dissolution is only for an instant - that is to say, since a period of dissolution is by definition one of timelessness, we cannot truly or meaningfully speak of its duration at all. The notion that a soul can reach a place beyond dissolution seems to be one of a goad to practice, a promise of pseudo-emancipation where the ego is satisfied with bliss (ananda) and doesn't have to die! But of course, it is dying all the time. These are things to contemplate, particularly when one is afraid and seeks consolation in the idea that he will somehow be immune to death. There is no need to fear, but there is a need to understand.
V.S.Iyer writes from a vedantic perspective:
"The ancient Hindu tenet borrowed by theosophists of universal appearing and dissolving, days and nights of Brahma, entering into pralaya, etc., is intended for mediocre intellects who cannot rise to truth. It is a convenient fable representing the philosophic truth that the whole universe dissolves in your mind in deep sleep, thus entering pralaya, and rises again next morning, i.e., it is all imagination, idea. The Brahma-God has nothing to do with it."
[Note that the phrase "dissolves in your mind" might better be expressed, "dissolves in Mind," as in vedanta there is ultimately only one mind or consciousness expressing from many different viewpoints (i.e., souls). You as personal ego are definitely not the creator of the world or 'World-Idea'].
The point Vedanta drives home is that there are pralayas, per se, in the gap between every thought, every night during sleep, as well as between each lifetime. 'You' as you imagine can't get 'beyond' them - you can only understand and realize their nature. And a way to do that is, as one teacher has said, to 'close the gap' - in every moment see how one thinks the problem into existence again and again. What problem? The conceived problem, and assumed fear, that one is not there now and needs to do something to reach a goal somewhere outside of himself and outside of now. This means a steady inquiry over time; it is a discipline or practice, not a one-shot thing of simply saying it is so.
"It is this universe that bothers you, and so stand on this universe with a firm foot and inquire; don't fly to Atman, kicking this universe behind! That is not the way to Brahmagnanam, to truth."
"The wonder consists in the disappearance of the universe in Me. I survive even the destruction of the world. Why worry?" - V.S. Iyer
He seems to be saying that the delusion is that I am a something alive in an objective world which dissolves by some mysterious power outside of myself and which can be protected from such an inevitable process, whereas the truth is that I am the witness of all and survive the death and dissolution of all things. Nothing that is really 'us' will disappear in a dissolution.
The view of Ramana Maharshi, as expressed by his reading of the second chapter of Guadapada's commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad, a text considered the epitome of advaita vedanta, is worthy of consideration in this regard:
"There is no creation and dissolution, there is no bondage, no one doing spiritual practices, no one seeking spiritual liberation, and no one who is liberated. One who is established in the Self sees this by his knowledge of reality."
Surely there needs to be a meeting ground with this point of view within Sant Mat.
Another thing to think about, briefly mentioned in Part One: the universe we know of is, according to the theory of evolution, at least several billion years old, with at least a few billion more years to go before its time is over. In Sant Mat the initiate is promised to attain the state, or reach the level, of Sach Khand (which is in any case a realization of timelessness), in a maximum of four lives. Surely that is a lot less 'time' than billions of years - so why worry about dissolutions?! Kirpal Singh, however, in the book Heart To Heart Talks said, “I never said four lives - there are four stages, and they can all be passed in one life.”
In our system it is to be done in one life," said Bhai Sahib, "and if it has not been achieved in life it is done at the time of death."
Beyond and Beyond the Beyond
Sant Mat often speaks of having a peek into the Beyond at initiation, or fully entering the 'Beyond' in meditation or at death. Then mention is made of a 'Beyond the Beyond' state, and 'More.' What do they mean by these terms? The 'Beyond' usually seems to be used to signify the inner planes of form, in which case the 'Beyond' is being opposed to 'here.' 'Beyond the Beyond' is then reserved for 'spiritual or soul planes' beyond form, presumably super-causal and Sach Khand. If this is so, then what does the 'more' mean? I don't know, but it could mean what other traditions mean by 'Beyond the Beyond'! In those traditions, sometimes the Beyond includes all inner realms and states up to the extreme limit of innerness or inversion as the subjective source of consciousness itself, while 'Beyond the Beyond' refers to the non-dual realization beyond the opposites of inner (Beyond) or outer (here). In this stage even the idea of liberation is gone beyond, it being as if it never existed. This is referred to as the natural state. I believe that Sant Mat teacher Shoonyo referred to it as Param ("beyond") Nirvana. Faqir Chand called this the "Stateless State." Siddharameshwar, Nisargadatta's guru, called this the "forgetting of the forgetting." Does that help?! [Probably not! If so you might see the article "Sarmad's Renunciations" (Appendix 3)
After Death: What Happens? - Integral Realization and a Non-Dual View
From Mark:
"This is what is generally understood to take place after death for non-initiates. First, the consciousness 'in the body' withdraws and is located now in the astral world. If it is a naturally more conscious individual, there will be some awareness that it has died. Karmic connections will tend to dictate who will be available to help after transition. For most souls these will be extended family members. For more advanced souls, mentors, elder initiates and masters. The more conscious the person, the more rich the process of transition, the higher the aspect of the astral world entered into. Very advanced initiates often skip over the astral and even some higher planes. It depends on many factors. Many souls will experience the first stage of transition as like a dream, and due to their confusion about what has transpired, they will carry over in the own subconscious the elementals of this life (as in a dream) and continue experiencing a 'life', believing they are still living in the physical, and will behave accordingly. This is not necessarily a painful state. They are working out astral karma, but not very quickly. For many of them it is not hard to convince them that they have died, and then with that simple realization, their experience shifts and they move into higher astral worlds. For many normal souls, and 'junior' initiates, there will be awareness that dropping the body has taken place, and a more or less smooth transition will take place, in which the person will assimilate into a new life in the astral world. Whether the transition was more conscious or not, the fact of having dropped the physical sheath will gradually have its effects, for the lack of a dense body will cause various heavier desires to fall away, allowing the soul to become more conscious and begin to have deeper understanding of what has happened and where they are. Depending on the person, this can take anywhere from seconds to years.
Initiates will usually make this transition very quickly because of two facts - the grace of the master, and the power of their own consciousness, which by virtue of the fact that they are initiates, generally means that they are not young souls who are likely to be more confused and take longer to awaken. Having dropped the body will make it easier to expand into a more conscious experience of the next world, and the help of friends, family and sangha and guru all make this inevitable. And if their level of consciousness is adequate when they die, they don't even need any help, but will simply make a conscious transition, understand what is happening, and typically have a very positive transition.
Now, here is the key. A human soul has two basic parts. A part that exist in higher planes, which has different aspects, and an emanation from this part that forms another self on the lower planes, the incarnate self. They are the same soul, in two levels of expression. The essence of the higher self is the atman, spirit, Overself or rigpa. This part rests in non-dual realization and does not 'descend' into incarnation. This is the part of us that 'lives' in Sach Khand and is already illumined. Although the intensity of this realization can grow, it is still non-dual realization. The atman's realization also shines into the anandamaya sheath 'below', creating a formless, higher dimensional 'body' that also has a type of identity that remains close to the atman, but in the average person does not have as much non-dual awareness. This body is also called the causal body in Vedanta, because in it are stored the seeds of the karmas that give rise to rebirths in the realms below. These two levels comprise not just planes or worlds, but also we have a permanent form of identity on these planes, permanent in that they provide continuity from birth to birth. These levels of self do not get dropped after each incarnation ends. The bodies below these get gradually dropped after each birth (in some schools the basic divisions at these levels is physical, astral, mental. In the five body Vedantic system they are divided somewhat differently and are annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijnanamaya kosas). These bodies are temporary each life. The consciousness of the higher self, atma/buddhi, grows from life to life, assimilating wisdom, character (virtue), and non-dual realization that is never lost, but 'remains in the higher worlds', so to speak. From life to life as the higher consciousness grows, the bodies generally get more refined, and reflect more of the higher realization that is developing in the higher self. Eventually the combined effect of extensive soul development in the higher planes, and finer bodies developed in the lower planes (through transforming karma and 'upgrading' the elementals that make up one's manifest character), allows the consciousness of the deeper self [this is similar to what Sri Aurobindo referred to as the 'psychic entity'] to shine through the lower bodies, giving rise to more and more illumined states of consciousness expressed in the lower bodies.
After death, the individual in their astral body will become more permeable to the higher self's consciousness, allowing more wisdom and virtue (and ultimately non-dual illumination) to shine through, how much depending on the state of evolution of the soul, but always more that the physical self experienced because there is now one less sheath to veil it. So the consciousness, now shedding its vasanas that had to do with being in a physical body, will be integrating more with the inner self. This, for most people is a gradual process. Eventually it is time for the second death where the astral is also shed. This allows the consciousness to become even more permeable to the higher self, their consciousnesses merging even more. By this time the awareness of the person is no longer very similar to what it was when they were in incarnation. They have significantly awakened to remember much that their soul or higher self already knows on its own plane (anandamaya/atman). Finally, after some time, a third death will ensure, and the consciousness will fully assimilate back into the higher self, enriching the higher self with experience. The aspect of the higher self that is the anandamayakosa 'self' is somewhat veiled with dualism, yet it is mild. This self has discriminating wisdom. One might call it 'enlightened dualism'. That is, it discriminates about virtue, distinguishes good and bad karma, strives for enlightenment, functions as true conscience, and tries to guide each incarnation, within the limits of karma. So each life enriches the relative wisdom and virtue of this level of our nature, even if it has not been a very good life karma wise for the outer personality. The inner self still harvests wisdom from the experience, because its core nature does not fall into identification with the lower bodies, maintains perspective, and assimilates wisdom. Since this self is pretty wise in most people, especially those on the path, one method of growth is to simply clear the lower bodies of obstructions, allowing the inner wisdom and virtue to naturally shine through. But that will only take one so far. This anandamaya self must eventually complete its process of becoming illuminated by the atman or non-dual self through both developing virtue and surrendering to non-dual presence, which are all interrelated. So the lower ego self, identified with the lower bodies, gradually integrates its identity with the anandamaya self, attaining what in Sant Mat is called Self-Realization (prior to God-Realization), which in Sant Mat does not mean Atmic or non-dual realization, but rather advanced virtue and relative wisdom realization, beyond the temporary bodies and bondage in the realms of Kal and MahaKal. Then the anandamaya self is fully liberated into non-dual realization (by degrees).
So, in between lives a temporary version, in the ascending model, of this larger process takes place wherein the lower self is gradually assimilated into the higher, anandamaya self. As this gradual assimilation progresses, both selves are enriched. The anandamaya self 'digests' the consciousness of the lower self, harvesting wisdom and virtue. And the lower self is infused with the much greater realization of the higher self. So by the time it reaches Daswan Dwar, it is no longer the incarnate identity it was, it is essentially transformed back into union with its self at the anandamaya level, reawakening to this much deeper level of awareness, like coming home, or as if it had been asleep, identified with the lower bodies. Not the home of Sach Khand, but still a much more spiritual and wise level. The higher self is the ongoing accumulation of all the wisdom and virtue of all the previous experiences, both in physical and subtle realms. This level is sometimes (as in Vedanta) called the causal level because, though the higher self here is not consciously identified with all the unresolved vasanas or karmas that are yet to be liberated, they do exist there now in seed form, to re-emerge in future births, sprouting forth through the lower bodies. So even though the higher self at that plane is not identified with these vasanas, it is limited by the subtle veil their presence as seeds creates between its consciousness and deeper non-dual awakening.
So, does the consciousness of the individual that dies go back to Daswan Dwar? In our tentative view, yes and no. No in the sense of not as it was. But yes in the sense that it is gradually assimilated into that level, with the unresolved vasanas return to seed form. The self that arrives at Daswan Dwar is, in a certain sense, not the same self that died, but a transformed and purified self. To learn to go to Daswan Dwar in meditation is to learn to 'die daily', so that the mutual infusion of these levels goes forth during life, rather than after death. This way the lower self is gradually assimilated and transformed into the higher self during life, and the lower karmas and experiences are transformed by the soul, enriching its realization and preparing it for the final stage of assimilation into the atman (and beyond). If Daswan Dwar has been reached during meditation while still alive, then one does not need to gradually assimilate during the after death stages, and will simply go to that level or beyond, or continue, like many do, to retain a lower body to be of service on those planes.
Being an initiate ensures that one's master will be there when you pass over, and will guide you though these states. There is nothing to fear about all of this. For initiates, death is a primarily a beautiful experience. There is a sense of liberation (relatively) and often a feeling of revelation. Often, though, there is a period first of gaining perspective on the past incarnation, which at first may be difficult, as we may have carried over the tendency to judge ourselves too harshly for our human weaknesses and limitations. But eventually, usually fairly quickly both due the nature of the process and to the help of others, our consciousness shifts. We gain more perspective about why our life took the form it did, we see the karmic patterns behind it, we see what we learned, what karma was worked out, and what hidden grace helped us, and greater understanding and compassion emerge. Then we come to balance and peace about our life, and we move on. If one cannot do a specific practice like absorption in the nada at the time of death, then simply remember the master, even repeating his name, for this will ensure one will recognize His presence more immediately. He will definitely be there, but we may blind ourselves to this at first by our doubts, fears, and self-judgments."
Mark was initiated by Darshan Singh when he came on tour in 1983, while already having a number of inner plane masters before, whom he said that Darshan recognized as real. He has himself integrated various practices within one another, and in the following correspondence sheds light on a broader vision of this process. This is not advice for anyone to follow, or even to believe, just food for thought for the curious or hungry, so take it on face value. Each must find his own way, as Sri Nisargadatta once said. We have tried to be impartial throughout this paper and are not departing from that guideline now:
"Although I have used many spiritual practices, the heart of my path is non-dual transmission by grace. I was initiated by my lineage back into conscious awareness of my dharma and relationship to them in 1982, at which time a 'process' was started that involves, among other things, the transmission of Shakti/non-dual realization in a sustained form ever since. This has been both a very inspiring and extremely demanding process, because, as you know, strong initiation brings up vasanas that are unresolved. In our lineage, this is done by degree. But once the disciple has reached the stage where surrender is adequate, a more profound transmission of fire/consciousness can be released. If adequate surrender is not developed yet, this can cause a backlash reaction from the ego that is counter productive. So it needs to be gradual and regulated to the stage of development. But even when surrender is more developed, the process of compressing that much transformation into so short a time can be very stressful. So, I am very familiar with various forms of the dark night, kundalini-process symptoms, etc. My teaching cycles tend to correspond to when I have stabilized a new plateau. Although I do meditation practices and karma yoga, the real power of my awakening is from this transmission, which aims to directly actualize realization in day-to-day awareness, without the need for travel to higher planes. But I do meditate also, emphasizing a vipassana-like practice because it most directly helps to surrender to the transmission and integrate it into daily life. For other reason I often use other practices, especially meditation on the naam, but more as a supplementary practice. But the naam at this stage is also present in my awareness throughout the day, and feels more like an integral part of my awareness and presence, rather than something only heard in meditation and experienced as something outside of myself. So an aspect of shabd yoga for me is attuning to the nada during activity as an energetic or vibratory aspect of the state of presence itself, rather than more of an inner and trance practice (though I also do that too, usually during the night).”
“Although I do not currently emphasize trance practices, I have had many experiences of those dimensions. In the early stages these were facilitated by my inner teachers much of the time. During this stage I was introduced to various levels of the inner worlds. So, though I am not as masterful at accessing these planes as people like Daskalos or the Sant Mat gurus, I do have some personal experience to base my 'opinions' on about these realms. But also we must remember that contact with so-called higher planes does not only happen in trance. These planes are all interpenetrating vibratory/consciousnesses and can be attuned to while in one's body at any time. Since I am already have a strong connection with higher planes by nature, much of my practice is geared towards integrating realization in the lower planes, rather than trying to access higher worlds. So most of my contact with higher worlds is done in the context of remaining in my body, so that I do not over stimulate myself (the energy is already very strong and so there is a danger of over stimulation), and so I attune to the realization, quality and experiences of other realms in a state of 'integrated presence' to keep balanced.”
“My inner lineage first showed me what this state of integrated presence could be like in 1984. To make a longer story shorter, I was with a client doing spiritual counseling, he was talking about a relationship. I was starting to identify with him and judge his partner for her behavior. I noticed this and pulled back to a deeper state of presence. Then I felt a Greater Presence 'reach into me' and expand my consciousness. This began to emerge in me as a feeling of my deeper self 'incarnating' into my body. As my consciousness was expanding, I noticed that, to be in this state at my stage, my unresolved karma/vasanas had to be set aside temporarily to allow this sahaja state to manifest. I felt these energies being kind of pushed down my spine into my lowest chakras until they were pushed out the back with a pop. When this happened (it all took a short time) I simply snapped into a new state that it is nearly impossible to describe. The foundational aspect of this state was that everything just 'was'. The judgment I had felt a minute before was now replace with such a profoundly embracing state that there didn't seem to be room anymore to step back and judge anything. Also, I remained 'in my body', though in fact the nature of the body as I was aware of it in this state was radically transformed.”
“For one, the presence of non-dual realization was so pervasive that there was no discernible boundaries any longer between planes. The various planes now stood revealed as a seamless continuum of consciousness that embraced what we would ordinarily call the physical plane (which was now not material but a form of conscious) through the subtle planes, into spiritual planes. Since all were illumined from a non-dual state, they were seamlessly integrated, none higher than another, and certainly not stacked up, one on the other in a two dimensional fashion. They were part of a multidimensional wholeness that revealed patterns and beings and yet was non-dual at the same time. In this state, I 'saw' the non-dual nature, evolving soul, and personality/karmic aspects of not only the client, but also the woman who he was involved with, and others who were part of their story. I could see the karmic conditions of their lives, and the way their souls were 'incarnated' into them, how they mirrored their stage of evolution, and how it was all absolutely perfect, in the sense that their karmic situation in incarnation perfectly mirrored the stage of the soul's evolution and they were all, therefore, incarnated in the right experiences for their spiritual evolution, like a glove perfectly fitting a hand. There was nothing to judge. These were not ideas I was having in my mind in that state. They were part of a multilayered, direct intuitive/non-dual realization of the nature of what was so. I was directly realization these things through a profound oneness with them. In that state, I no longer had ordinary sensation, but yet was aware of the physical world, I did not have emotions, but was aware of the psychological dimension, and I did not have ordinary thoughts, but had superconscious realization. As usual with these things, my description feels very inadequate. Gradually a reflective self-awareness began to emerge, and I slowly started to emerge from the state. I began to have a part that was observing what was happening to me, and having thoughts like 'this is interesting', 'I wonder how long this will last', 'gee, I wonder if I can talk while I am in this state, integrating it with behavior'. I could, for while still hold a certain level of this while talking with the client, but the thinking that emerged gradually drew my back out the state. I have been in various forms of these states many times since, including in trance as well, but I do not grasp after them. They served to directly introduce me to the nature of more realized states, that not only helped transform my consciousness in the moment, but provided direct insight that helps to gradually surrender to higher realization over time."
Once again, it must go without saying that this is but an example, and not a prescription for anyone to follow. Mark concludes with what seems to me a note of sanity for our day and age:
"As we move towards a more scientific approach to evolving our understanding of the spiritual life, our experiences are our data, which we need to share with each other to expand our mutual base of experience and enrich understanding. We are the experiments, and so we need to share that with each other."
Footnotes
1. Iyer, op. cit.
2. Shri Atmananda, op. cit., #943, #147
3. Brunton, op. cit., reference misplaced
4. James Schwartz, http://www.shiningworld.com/Index.htm
5. Damiani, Looking Into Mind, op. cit.
6. Swami Ramananda Saraswathi , trans., Tripura Rahasya, or the Mystery Beyond the Trinity (Tiruvannamalai, South India: Sri Ramanasramam, 1971), p. 187
7. William Centner, A Tradition of Teachers: Sankara and the Jagadgurus Today (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1983), p. 11-12
8. Adyashanti, The Impact of Awakening, op.cit.
9. Francis G. Wickes, The Inner World of Choice (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1986), p. 81
10. Norman Angell, The Unseen Assassins (Harper & brothers, 1932)
11. Kirpal Singh, Life and Death: The Wheel of Life/The Mystery of Death (Sanbornton, New Hampshire: Sant Bani Ashram, 1980), p. 124
12. Kirpal Singh, The Way of the Saints (Sanbornton, N.H.: Sant Bani Ashram, 1976), p. 27
13. Kirpal Singh, A Great Saint: Baba Jaimal Singh (Delhi, India: Ruhani Satsang, 1968), p. 79
14. Kyriacos Markides, op. cit., p. 133-134
15. Meister Eckhart, reference misplaced
16. Darshan Singh, reference misplaced
17. Paul Brunton, op. cit., Vol. 5, Part 1. 4.56
18. Ibid, 1.453
19. Ibid, Vol. 12, Part 2, 1.53
20. Plotinus, The Enneads, VI.7.34, James MacKenna, trans.
21. Damiani, unpublished, cited in Looking Into Mind, op.cit., p. 200(
22. Brunton, op. cit., Vol. 16, Part Four, 1.115
23. Damiani, op. cit., p. 50-51
24. Ibid, p. 146
25. Brunton, op. cit., Vol. 13, 4.136
26. Darshan Singh, Streams of Nectar, Chapter 17
27. Sawan Singh, Philosophy of the Masters, Series II, op. cit., p. 188
28. Lee Bladon, The Science of Spirituality: Integrating Science, Psychology, Philosophy, Spirituality, and Religion, 2007, p. 124
29. Frydman, op. cit., p. 38, 40
30. Thomas Cleary, trans., Dream Conversations On Buddhism and Zen – Muso Kokushi (Shambhala,1996), page misplaced
31. M.O.C. Walsh, trans. Sermons and Treatises, Meister Eckhart, Vol. 2, Sermon 79 (Shaftsbury, UK: Element, 1979), p. 230
32. Ibid, Vol. 1, Sermon 29, p. 216
33. John Reynolds, Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness (Barrytown, New York: Station HillPress, 1989), p. 98-100
34. Brunton, op. cit., Vol. 12, 4.85
35. Aziz Kristof (Aadi), Enlightenment Beyond Traditions, op. cit., p. 77-80
36. Swami Nikhilinanda, trans., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, (New York: Ramakrishna - Vivekananda Center, 2000), p. 199
37. Paramahansa Yogananda, The Second Coming of Christ, Vol. 1 (Self-Realization Fellowship, 2004), p. 1-32
38. Kirpal Singh, Heart to Heart Talks, Vol. One, op.cit., p. 208/285
39. Brunton, op.cit., Vol. 12, 6.69
40. Kirpal Singh, op.cit.
41. Brunton, op.cit., Vol. 16, Part 2, 1.163, 164, 165, 167, 169-171, 177
42. Kusan Sunim, op.cit., p. 143-144
43. Frydman, op. cit., p. 502, 207, 201, 298
44. Ibid, p. 457
45. Ramana Maharshi, op. cit., p. 355
46. Brunton, op. cit., Vol. 13, Part 3, 4.101, 2.41
47. Damiani, op. cit., p. 28, 32, 39, 45
48. Brunton, op. cit., 2.51
49. Ibid, Vol. 13, Part 2, 4.65
50. Damiani, Living Wisdom, op. cit., p. 40
51. Dwight Goddard, The Buddhist Bible, from The Lankavatara Sutra, Chapter 11, trans. D.T. Suzuki
52. Ramana Maharshi, op. cit.
53. Goddard, op. cit.
54. Robert Adams - The Complete Works.pdf
55. Iyer, op. cit.
56. Frydman, op. cit., reference misplaced
57. Ramana Maharshi, op. cit.,
58. Frydman, op. cit., p. 189
59. Ibid, p. 131
60. Ibid, p. 372
61. Ramana Maharshi, op. cit., p. 89
IF THERE”S A HELL BELOW, WE”RE ALL GONNA GO
62. Swartz, James, How To Attain Enlightenment (Boulder, CO: Sentient Publications, 2009), p. 119: "All life forms, excluding humans, do not have karmas, because there is no sense of doership in their actions. They are simply awareness expressing itself in conjunction with the macroscopic vasanas."
63. Maulana Dr. M. Habibullah Mukhtar,HELL (New Delhi: IDARA ISHA’AT-E-DINIYAT ? LTD, 2003), p. 45-46, 22
64. Kyriakos Markides, op. cit., p. 22
65. Father Albert Hebert, Saints Who Raised the Dead, (Charlotte, NC: TAN Books, 2012/1986), p. 97-98
66. Ibid, p. 99
67. Shri Siddharameshwar, Amrut Laya, op. cit., Ibid, p. 99
68. Brunton, op. cit.,Vol. 6, Part Two, 2.187,190
69. Ibid, 2.158
70. Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy (Lucis Publications, 2011), p. 685
71. Kirpal Singh, Life and Death, op.cit.
72. Chogyam Trungpa, The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa(Shambhala Publications, 2004), appendix
73. Anthony Damiani,Astronoesis, op. cit., p. 42
74. Ibid
75. Ibid, p. 177
76. Damiani, Looking Into Mind,, op. cit., p. 253
77. Harbhajan Singh, Forever With The Master, Vol. 1 (Unity of Man, Kirpal Nagar, India, 2019, 2nd edition
78. Bernadette Roberts, The Path to No-Self (Albany, New York: State University of New York, 1991), p. 19-20
79. Brunton, op. cit., Vol. 16, 7: 122
80. Ibid, Vol. 13, Part 2, 4.187
81. Ibid, Vol. 15, Part 1, 8.59
82. reference misplaced
83. Ramana Maharshi, op. cit., p. 218
84. Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, "Letting Go of Spiritual Experience," (Tricycle, Fall 2004
