The Samadhis of Patanjali

Awhile back, I wrote an article on the samadhis listed in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali*. At the time, I explored definitions from several translations. The result however was less than clear. Let’s try again. First, we’ll explore samadhi.

Samadhi or Transcendental Consciousness (TC) is that silence we experience in meditation where the breath pauses, the mind goes silent and we experience profound peace. If it’s a longer samadhi, we may notice the breath stopped and the lungs vibrating. The brain goes very quiet.  A wave of soma (sweetness) may be tasted in the throat. The skin can take on a kind of glow (ojas).

Samadhi is unqualified silence. This is why the experience cannot be easily described. Some associate ecstasy with samadhi. Ecstasy or bliss is initially experienced entering and leaving samadhi as the liveliness is like the “edge” or event horizon. That enlivenment is more than easily described as Rumi and many others illustrate.

(note that these sorts of experience are more common on retreats when you have a chance to get the body very well rested. They may be occurring briefly in regular meditation but are not noticed by a foggy mind.)

The experience of bliss during samadhi is a later stage when silence and activity can be supported at the same time. Earlier on, the subtlest noticing or liveliness pops one out. Eventually, the silence and bliss are carried forward into all of our daily life.

Patanjali names 8 degrees of samadhi. He first defines it as the “end of meditation”.
Notice how he describes most of this in pairs.

(Sa is with, A or Ni is without)
The first samadhi he names is Samprajnata samadhi (v1.17 )= with an object of attention. The sutra describes going from gross to subtle to bliss to “amness”. (via meditation)

Asamprajnata samadhi (without an object) is the result of repeated experience but still impressions remain.

Then in more detail:
Savitarka samadhi (v1.42): vitarka is fine directed thought. The mind is moving from sound to idea to object. This is the first stage of absorption.

Nirvitarka samadhi (v1.43) is the not version. The object remains but not the associations. The memory is cleared. The second stage of absorption.

Savichara samadhi (v1.44): vichara = flow of attention to Self. Not caught in an object/thought, the attention is inner directed. There is just a subtle object of attention, like the mantra or intention.

Nirvichara samadhi only the subtle object remains, without meaning or reflection.
The next verse tells us subtle objects extend into the formless.

The verse sequence that follows is useful to note – in brief:
1.47: restful alertness, luminosity of self
1.48: filled with truth, the intellect that knows only truth
1.49: direct knowledge, without senses
1.50: the impression of the above prevents new impressions
This illustrates how potent samadhi is.

Then we come to Nirbijah samadhi (v1.51), literally without seed. This is the pure silence one. This burns the latent impressions and liberates one from rebirth. We could say the individual goes completely off-line during.

Note that these are all descriptions of temporary states reached during meditation, one of the 8 limbs of Yoga he defines in v2.29 and following. V2.27 mentions 7 stages. This is not a reference to the 8 limbs to reach samadhi but rather the 7 samadhis listed above.

Patanjali comes back to samadhi in v4.29 with Dharmamegha samadhi. “Continuous discriminative awareness”, undisturbed samadhi. Samadhi carries forward into activity so we live silence and activity together. Ultimately, the result is Self Realization, Cosmic Consciousness or awakening.** I explore the layers of the witness experience here.

I hope this makes some aspects of this wonderful text and the way meditation leads to awakening a little more clear.
Davidya

*I recommend the Thomas Egenes translation. He properly shows the Devanagari (Sanskrit), the transliteration, the word for word translation and English result. The translation is not littered with false ideas of hard concentration, limbs as rungs, and so forth. He’s the author of the dominant western texts for learning Sanskrit.

**Note that some consider the witness or observer experience of silent, continuous awakeness during activity and deep sleep to be the hallmark of Cosmic Consciousness. While it is an aspect, this can occur while one is still identified with the ego and is thus not yet an actual full awakening. One teacher described this as “soul awakening”. See the ‘layers’ link above for more detail of this process.

Creation, in a Nutshell

Recently, someone asked me to describe Narayana in creation. This is a level that is difficult to describe. It is seeing prior to form, in a space prior to space. It is beyond eternity, beyond any sense of being or non-being. In more developed stages of creation (it’s a very big place), things have relationships or geometry. Prior, they are merely impressions or smriti. We could say the impressions arose prior to creation but what does that mean beyond eternity? It’s more they exist because all episodes of time are contained within That.

To put this in context, That has 2 fundamental aspects: Alertness and Liveliness. When liveliness stirs alertness it becomes aware. Awareness becomes aware of itself, recognizes itself and everything arises.  This happens both globally and at every point within itself. In 1972, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi described this as Existence becomes conscious and intelligence becomes intelligent.

Quiet alert awareness is the Shiva or Father aspect, what we experience locally as the witness or observer. Quiet alert liveliness is the Divine Mother side. We could say She is the embodiment of Love, arising from recognition of That by Itself. Alertness and liveliness become observation and intention, consciousness and intelligence.

Keep in mind creation is not linear steps but rather layered concurrent flowering that can be seen a number of ways.

This is the arena of Smriti where the Veda (knowledge) is stored. These impressions store the primary experiences that guide and structure all creations that have ever arisen. By creations, I don’t mean universes, but distinct creations with completely unique realities and laws. Many are much simpler than ours, such as embodying a principle. One, for example, embodies only time. Much easier to explore and understand then.

Awareness aware of itself creates a kind of bubble within Brahman or That (God seen in the impersonal). This bubble is the event horizon in which a creation occurs. Its inner surface is cosmic mind, stirred by liveliness. The mechanism of our creation is described in the opening lines of the Rk Ved and Genesis of the Bible.

Prior to that, the “idea” arises is God called Narayana, the first-born. As it is prior to cosmic mind, this isn’t an idea in the sense we’re familiar with, more it’s an enlivened memory. Narayana gives rise to the cosmic body and via the medium of the Divine Mother, creation “begins”. Father, Mother, Son.

As above, so below: our form is structured based on the cosmic body which is based on Narayana. The mechanism of the cosmic body is another seeming layer, the devata body, the body made of devata (light beings). Gazillions of them. Whole “cities” in a finger. In one perspective, there is only this one body and we all share the same chakras and devata. This perspective can also be seen from the past lives view when all bodies are seen as one, acting concurrently. This is also related to the form of God described in Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita (song of God), where Krishna displays his entire form to Arjuna, overwhelming him.

Creation can be seen to arise in the space in Brahman (as above) or in the cosmic body. This is another place where there’s different ways of seeing.

Creation steps down in a few stages – the Agnim that opens the Rk Veda, then what Dante called the Primum Mobile, then a division into 7, and then we get to the universes, bubbles with the creation bubble that contain hiranya garbha or the golden egg. This is the universe from the outside, found in the lower belly of the cosmic body. (note that these are distinct universes, not parallel or alternate)

The event horizon of the universe bubble or universe mind is the ocean where the field of action arises, the 3 gunas, the elements, and so forth. In science, this is the field of quantum fluctuations of the vacuum.

Note that these layers are typically experienced in reverse order.
Aham Vishvam: I am the Universe
Devo Hum: I am the devata
Aham Shrivhir: (sp?) I am the Cosmic Body
Veda Hum: I am the Veda

The “I am” wording is because in the unity process, one experiences then becomes.

The best option to show this would be to create a film using special effects and visualize it. Much easier to relate to then. Show how the vibrations of the gunas in the universe ocean become subtle form, geometry, fields, and our physical world. Though even on that level, the egg interacts with the ocean, creating outside of itself while it is concurrently within itself. Kind of like how we are with the world.
Davidya

The Experience of God

This came up in another forum and I thought it worth sharing here, though I’ve covered it before. It is edited for context.

Although not everyone recognizes this, on observation, we can recognize a profound intelligence behind all the complexity of the world. The very fact that it’s knowable, that it has consistent laws, and even that it exists and didn’t fall apart (even if seen to be an illusion) supports this. The precision required for the universe to be sustained is astonishing in its exactness. A slight change in fundamental numbers and the universe would never even have formed.

We might think that intelligent people don’t believe in God but the history of science shows otherwise. Most of our greatest scientists felt God in some way existed. This includes Einstein, Planck, Kelvin, Mendel, Faraday, Newton, Descartes, Kepler, Copernicus, and so on.

Let’s review some context to understand the subject better. By God, I don’t mean some concept of a guy lording over us. I mean something far more subtle and profound.

Broadly, God can be experienced in 2 primary modes. One is the impersonal where God is seen as divine principles and underlying intelligence. This is the outlook intellectuals are more inclined to. The other is much less understood in the west, the personal. The personal is the path of the heart. In the personal, God is experienced as personified, with senses. The appearance of that form varies by person, culture, and so on but it is those same principles embodied. This is the path of the devotee and is an equally valid means of relating. Each mode has its advantages; the intellect and the heart.

The direct experience of God, in form or formless, is one of the most profound experiences possible. It is far greater than the imagination is capable of. It also typically comes with comprehensive knowing, understanding, or deep satisfaction and relief.

Similarly with the world; we can see the world as functioning from mechanical laws a la science or as personified, where everything that happens is being done by Deva’s or light beings. Be it the wind, the growth of plants, or any other function of nature, all of it has teams of beings who work for its unfoldment, including for each of us. This is also true of man-made processes like setting cement or data transfer. In some way or other, we have to work with the principles to get the desired result.

While the historical record is full of descriptions of the personal, we see them largely as mythical fairy stories these days. We don’t realize it’s because we’ve largely lost the skill of refined perception. Those that do see some of that stuff rarely talk about it openly. Although the majority claim to believe in angels, they may lock you up if you actually see them. 

Each mode has its advantages. The world is simpler in impersonal mode but there are times when being able to communicate with the doers, such as the wind, can be handy. Like smoothing out a bumpy plane ride. And it’s remarkable to recognize how life-filled the world is. And that you always have support available. Further, we can be more effective when we learn to work with natural laws. This is much easier when they are obvious to our senses. (and yeah, your cat may be seeing things you don’t)

Another key point is that it’s not necessary to believe any of this. But it is useful to be open to it. Refined perception will not develop easily if we reject it. It is very sensitive to our emotional state as energy and emotions function on the same level.

To put this in context, one of the side effects of spiritual practice is the refinement of perception. This is closely linked to the awakening of the heart. There are chemicals the body produces from samadhi and good foods that support this. (see soma and ojas)

This speeds up after Self Realization but is more dependent on sattva (clear* flow) than awakening is. The balance of sattva and Atman (Self or spirit) development is why we have unawake people with refined perception and awake people without. When refined perception blossoms, the mechanisms of the world and creation itself become progressively more obvious. This leads to a stage of development known as God Consciousness (GC) or Celestial consciousness. (as in awareness and direct experience of)

It’s notable that in our western culture, this is flowering more slowly than historically. Some are having the Unity switch with only a little heart opening. This is probably related to group consciousness and our individual comfort with such things. Also with Sattva development, as above. Each of us comes in with different previously developed Atman and sattva.

GC culminates post-Unity in God Realization. This is a stage of Unity where we choose our long-term relationship with God. We may come to it through the impersonal, personal, or both.

Big subject. I hope that clarifies a bit.
Davidya

* by clear, here I mean smooth, unobstructed flow. Sattva is golden in colour but is often first felt. Some see this as glowing around life. More deeply as flowing through all form.

Gem Bowls and Denise

I’ve mentioned Denise Hagan here a few times. She’s a remarkable singer of Irish descent who’s settled locally. Not only is her singing profoundly moving but has healing qualities. She calls on angels or what are called  light beings or devas to support her work.

In May, I had the chance to attend a workshop she gave where she combined the above with the use of gem bowls, tuned to the chakras. It was the first time she tried this in a group. Normally, she just uses it for one-on-one healing.

Gem bowls are crystal bowls with gems, like ruby or topaz, blended into the mix. This enhances the effects. Crystal bowls are manufactured of “99.992% pure crushed quartz, heated to about 4000 degrees in a centrifugal mold.” They are formed to make exact tones and usually look white. Gems bowls add the colour of the gem.

They are played much like Tibetan singing bowls. They make powerful resonant tones, like giant tuning forks. After the first time I heard crystal bowls played many years ago, I got a CD but couldn’t play it in my boom box because the resonance made the CD skip.

Denise combines those resonant tones and vocal harmonics with simple exercises to open and clear your energy systems. These are the foundation of your physical and emotional well-being. Combined with celestial help, it’s a potent mix. First time I’ve ever felt specific chakras literally vibrate like that.

She uses the bowls on her Numinous CD, a meditative work unlike her previous 3. She supplemented some of the workshop with the CD also. Amazing work. Looking forward to seeing it flower further. She’s working on a couple more CD’s, subject to funding.
Davidya

Nancy Shipley Rubin

Nancy Shipley Rubin is a psychic intuitive and counselor. Twice a year, she and her husband Errol come out of paradise in Hawaii to do a tour of the west coast, offering workshops and personal sessions. She also has an annual retreat.

She’s been coming here for over 25 years and some good friends have been going to their workshops for much of that time. I’ve been to several. Her primary focus is on teaching us to work more consciously with our energy system. How to open, clear and protect ourselves. She indicates most spiritual aspirants these days are clearing their heart and throat chakras on the rise to awakening.

This year however she returned to the lower 2 chakras. She calls the first and second the Vitality centre. Our culture tends to encourage closing the 2nd chakra, home to our emotions, creativity and manifesting ability. This imbalances the energy, causing illness and various other side-effects. Many spiritual people are more open upstairs but closed below. Thus the running joke about how spiritual people are always sick and broke. She used to call Vitality the Wounded centre. The emotional body is certainly where many of us carry our heaviest loads.

Their web site talks about the Vitality program and the principles around it. However, the exercises were the most profound part. For example, after learning to notice the state (open or closed) of our second chakra by feel (surprisingly distinct), we practiced interacting with closed 2nd’s. Conflict and negative feelings seemed to automatically escalate. But as soon as just one of us opened the 2nd, the energy diffused and the upset party was soothed and unable to escalate. For me, it felt almost like flushing; in the open 2nd and down and out the 1st.

Another profound exercise for me was calling a Vitality principle while being open. A great exercise in embodying one’s spiritual development.

It was fascinating to see how, when we close off to avoid feeling our unresolved emotions, we’re closing only to ourselves but not the world. Others still feel it (mostly subconsciously) leaving us open to manipulation or  relationship based on pain. Not to mention that we’re holding this in our manifesting centre. How to Call in the Yuck. And we’re blocking the richness of life itself.

Most of us have a deeply ingrained habit of keeping the 2nd closed in our culture. So it can take some practice to open and make a habit of it. This simple difference creates a very different way of seeing the world. From fear or from open safety. The mechanics of how people create their own hell become clear, as well as how great sages darshan works. Spirit embodied in the lower chakras brings the presence people so resonate with. And the simple presence of an open 2nd can be a profound healing for those nearby. All of it is automatic.

Nancy has one more workshop on this tour, in CA. Then a retreat in early May. They don’t do much publicity, just going by word of mouth so they can work with small numbers of earnest people. But they offer the kind of practical wisdom that can make a profound difference in your experience of day-to-day life, if you’re ready to make that step. Our world will be a marvelous place when such knowledge becomes commonplace.

Heaven is always open,
Davidya

The Dark Night(s)

Reading the spiritual literature in most traditions, you’re sure to run into some references to an emotionally difficult patch or spiritual crisis. Recently, St. John’s term “Dark Night of the Soul” has come to be used for a broad range of such trials. However, unlike how it is often described, there isn’t one “dark night” but rather various places on the journey where we might have to break down our resistance. We may have a mildly unpleasant discovery we quickly work through or a real “dark night“. Or we may just putter through a slow dissolution. It depends on our practice, tendencies, past self-work, and karma. Having a well established detached witness or observer helps a lot with this.

While there is some danger in giving people the idea that such experiences are typical, we’re also less likely to get as caught by them if we understand what is taking place and disengage from the drama. This is why I raise the subject and explain.

Awhile back, I explored the subject, mentioning places where we might experience a dark period. Adyashanti has a talk on this subject I finally had a chance to listen to. He uses a similar but more precise list, based on more people. In this post, I blend his comments with my own observations.

He mentions that St. John himself described 4 kinds of dark night:
a – dark night of the senses, active and passive
b – dark night of spirit, active and passive

Adyashanti observes that dark nights are not necessary to have but that most people go through a dark night or 2. Also that these are not just negative experiences but are profoundly healing and progressive. He bases his list on current day observations rather than St. Johns. He also mentions we should avoid any concept that we “should” or will have such experiences.

First, he spent some time differentiating a dark night from depression. For example, depression can be related to external factors like diet or circumstance. Spiritual crisis will be related to internal changes and is often punctuated by moments of grace or relief. There can also be an underlying sense of OKness, especially in later stages when more spirit is present.

1) The dark night of the Will
This occurs when we commit to a specific path and something beyond ego starts to come alive. Oftentimes, people have some great experiences, then settle into a more mundane clearing cycle. We may then try to get “results” but bump into the wills inability to do anything to progress. We just get a headache. He said in Zen, they call this discovery of inability the Great Doubt. Zen teachers may try to induce this by pressuring the student to answer an irrational question.

At its worst, we fall more deeply into suffering until we give up. Then we can have a breakthrough the hard way. Eckhart Tolle went through such a crisis prior to awakening. This understanding can help you avoid such a trial.

Adyashanti observes that many here may abandon their teaching or give up the path entirely. This period is as difficult as our resistance is to seeing we’re not in control of the spiritual journey. Adyashanti joked he had a PhD in spiritual struggle.

As we get closer to waking, a deeper value of this may arise – the ego itself. Ego does not want to be seen. It knows that if it’s seen, it will end (or rather its hold will end), so it kicks up a fuss. It spreads doubt about anything that might threaten it. We discover the impersonator and it’s tricks, like using memories of spiritual experiences to pretend to be spirit. Then we can really doubt how we’ll ever overcome the trickster ego.

But if we persist, we can pierce through the veil of the ego and have a breakthrough. When we realize we’re not defined by the ego, it can be a great relief. We let go of a massive illusory weight, one we hadn’t even recognized until it’s lifted.

He observes this glimpse may be brief, remain for a time, or be permanent. (abiding) But once seen, it will not be forever lost. And he reminds us that how big it feels or the associated experiences mean nothing. They are the experiential byproduct. Yet once you pierce it, you know. Some call this Self Realization but I tend to associate realization with being, when the shift is permanent. Experiencing is not being but it can be a lovely taste.

In this sense, the discovery of who you really are can be in 2 stages. The clear experience of who you are beyond the ego, then becoming That. Oftentimes, all stages are like that – experience, then become.

2) The dark night of Loosing
Similar to the first, this occurs when we’ve had a profound experience and want it to stay but cannot. It comes and goes, out of our control. Our tricks no longer seem to work and we start to think we’ve done something wrong. Some will make a mental construct of it and get caught in the memory of the experience of it, a dream 2 stages removed from being. This can happen even if we know better. We’re getting weaned off of the spiritual graces we’ve received and deeper unconscious identifications with will.

At this point, some will abandon all teachers, books, talks, etc. It becomes unbearable, even repellent. Adyashanti suggests this a good time for more silence even if we don’t want that either. A good time to go into the quiet desert. We can also note those occasional moments of grace, reminding us it’s still underway. The dissolving of ego continues, mostly under our conscious awareness.

As always, to move to the next stage, we have to let go of what we’ve become and what  goes with that. If we’re unwilling, if we’re stuck on the flowery experiences, we may not get past this stage.

Less a dark night but a sometimes difficult phase in here is when we become aware of our dark or shadow side and/or the story we’ve been playing and living by. This might be one discovery or a progression of revealing. For a more religious person, it can be discovering their faith is just a story. For an intellectual, that their world-view is an illusion. If we’ve been clearing house along the way, this can be a smoother simple discovery.

3) The dark night of Unknowing
With the shift, we find ourselves having to relearn how to be. Even who we are has changed. This may not be emotionally difficult but can be discombobulating. For some, we may at first find ourselves emptiness and unknowingness.  And for some, it can be a flat dry spell, before the heart values unfold. Freedom and peace but dry. I found it a curious adventure. What is still true? All experiences of life are reexamined.

He also reminds us that even some time after awakening, a hunk of unconscious crud can break off and rise into our awareness, out of context from our usual experience of life. He observes that although the dark recoils from the light, it also seeks the light for its resolution.

What develops from this process is seeing the divine in everything. As Adyashanti says everything is beloved, and it doesn’t matter if we believe in God. You find you become the flow, the sound of silence. What we need to know or have shows up when it’s needed. There is no independent will. It can take years to get the hang of this due to the ingrained habits of many lifetimes.

4) The dark night of Loves Longing
He was uncertain what to call this one. The ego tendencies still come up here and there, from its broad and “subtle tentacles.”  Then the last bit of that ego’s centre collapses along with its driving energy. I call this the end of the core identity, the third of the three “Am-Egos”. This ends the division of inside and outside. Genpo Roshi seems to describe this as his Falling from Grace.

This can complete with a pre-purification Loch Kelly described as the BBQ.

5) Falling away of the Divine
This one he said he’d continue in the evening on a recording I don’t have but I can note it’s necessary to let go of even the divine to move forward. Of course, it comes back but from a completely new perspective. The title for #4 also sounds suitable for this stage as they’re related. For the Unity switch, first there is the identity collapse (#4), then the letting go of the divine (#5) and all knowledge of reality; everything about our reality to this point. This is much like in the first shift but even more through. Then the Unity shift can happen. We gain a new perspective of everything.

Overall, we can see “dark nights” as purifications during the approach to a stage of awakening. A breaking of our resistance to letting go of our current reality to let the next stage in. If we tread lightly and don’t hold much, then there will be no “dark night“. But in those places where we have more holding, there may be some seeing to do, some willingness to let go needed. A more devotional person may experience a few of these stages as being deserted by God.

As he closes the talk he suggests: “Feel what you’re being called to let go of and feel what you’re being called into.“
Receive and release. Experience is not here to hold.
Davidya

The Personal

In How to Know God, I talked about the Personal mode of experiencing. Lets explore that a little more deeply.

In the west the majority of people believe in angels. Yet if someone were to say they see them, they’re liable to be considered nuts. Even some spiritual teachers relegate such things to a forgone Mythic era. People are permitted to write poetry or music about it, as long as it stays “creative.” Belief is safe but real is too big a stretch.

Much of the traditional literature describing experiences in the Personal mode has been seen by the Western mind as myths and fairy stories. I’ll fully agree that there is a ton of nonsense and beliefs around this. Core to this is not understanding the nature of the mode. Laws of nature/energy beings/ devata live as energy. Energy does not have a specific form until it’s expressed materially as particles. As physics would suggest, energy is more a cloud of possibility. In this case, intelligent possibility. Our attention and expectations and how the energy being wishes to relate are what determine how they are perceived. For example, angels only have wings if you want or expect them to. Why would a non-physical being need wings? But if that makes them familiar, that’s how you’re likely to see them. The point of form is to make it easier to relate. But one must be careful not to confuse the form for the truth. Beauty may be truth but it is the essence of beauty that speaks the truth, the essence of form that reveals knowledge. Our personal preferences are not the truth.

If you don’t understand why someone would want to experience a deva, consider the benefit of a conversation with a law of nature. The Irish call them Elementals. Would it not be easier to understand the weather if you could speak to the wind? Or find out what’s wrong with your plant. What if you could smooth a bumpy plane ride with an inquiry? Or protect your house from a storm or fire?

And if you think such experiences are completely foreign, we all have experiences of these energetic values of creation. We call them feelings and emotions. This intimacy is why it’s called “Personal.”

Given that these beings operate on the level of energy and emotions, it may not be a surprise that household devas that spend more time with people have more attitude. (laughs) How do you feel about your home and environment? Is it a place of peace and happiness? Or disappointment and regret? A little mixed? It’s amazing what a little gratitude can do for our environment. No need to believe anything but good feelings can help everyone feel and work better. Bad feelings are their version of smog. Even the appliances can last longer.

Given that everything that happens is being done from a Personal perspective, we can well imagine that there are far more energy beings than there are human beings. This can be directly experienced. In fact, one of the tricks is turning the Personal mode off to reduce the flood of information. Happily this is straightforward, much like we might shift our eyesight from near to far.

At its highest levels, the Personal is a direct, personal relationship with God as I touched on in How to Know God. This can be the most profound and intimate relationship we’ve ever experienced. In fact, this is one of the reasons there’s a process to get there. Such a relationship requires we’re able to handle levels of energy, love and happiness that would be far too much for the average person. Thus it is typical to step up through a progressive series of raptures to get used to the energy and thence to be able to meet God.

If that doesn’t convince you, perhaps another of the many reasons to see enlightenment will. 
Davidya

Dying Awake

I’ve heard teachers I respect say different things about what happens when you die (drop the body) post-enlightenment. Something I read recently discussed the variety and I realized a resolution to the differences.

Before we go into it, the first thing to understand is that we go through a series of lifetimes, driven by past karma (cause and effect) and unresolved desires. When we awaken, non-stop samadhi (silence in activity & bliss) roasts the remaining seeds of future actions/desires and we mostly step off the “wheel” of karma. With the completion of our human life, we resolve the last of the sprouted seeds. We are thus no longer reborn. (Though I understand that if we reach some basic awakening but not a full enlightenment and have unfinished business, we may have a choice to come back and finish the job. This would be one reason why we sometimes see people awaken early and easily, picking up where they left off. We may also make the shift during death.)

In the Vedic literature, there are 6 systems of Philosophy. These are known as the upangas or darshanas. Each (except the 1st) reflects the reality of a different stage of evolution. The last of these is Vedanta or “end of the Veda”, also known as Uttara Mimamsa. The primary text is the Brahma Sutras, though sometimes people associate the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita with Vedanta due to their stories of the essence of full awakening.

Vedanta speaks of the total oneness of Brahman and on that all the highest sages are agreed. But there are 2 schools of thought about what happens after an enlightened yogis death. Both are described in the Vedas so I suggest we actually have a choice, driven in part by our history and tendencies.

One is Advaita or non-duality (without distinctions) of whom Adi Shankara is the best known exponent. He taught of a total oneness where the atma merges into Oneness with Brahman. On death of the body, any individuality or form would dissolve. The wave settles into the ocean. Totality of Oneness. (This is much deeper than the internal unity of nirvana/ Self-realization/ cosmic consciousness – this earlier stage is where ego (individual self) becomes atman(cosmic Self))

Other masters such as Ramanuja, Madhva, and Narayana speak of the transcendent space or world within Brahman. This outlook is called Dvaita or “with distinctions”(not dualism). This space within pure awareness is known as Vaikuntha Loka and is beyond all universes, humans and devas (angels). It is the first space, the first expression. We’d gain a pure light body and retain a subtle value of individuality and live with other such enlightened sages and forms of God. The ultimate heaven we could say.

As a friend observed, from that state one would have the option of returning as what the Buddhists call a Bodhisattva, an enlightened sage that may appear on occasion or for a time. Avatars (God in human form) such as Krisna reside there and may arise from there.

Ultimately though, Shankara’s is the highest truth. Some of these other masters refer to this transcendent space as eternal and the light body as absolute. However, while one may remain in this space for astonishingly long times, that space is not eternal. In a recent article on Yugas, I described some of the larger cycles of time. One cycle of Yugas is known as a Mahayuga. 1,000 Mahayugas is a day of Brahma. 100 Years of Brahma is a life of Brahma. A lifetime of Vishnu is 1,000 lives of Brahma. A lifetime of Shiva is 1,000 of Vishnus. And a time of the Divine Mother is 1,000 of Shiva. When the Divine Mother sleeps, that transcendent space is unexpressed. Now, 429 million trillion (Yukteswar) or 154 billion trillion (standard) years is a long time, but it’s not eternal.

This can also be further established with 2 other references. The story of Bhusunda the crow unusually being able to continue between creations while the great sage Vasishtha does not. And the experience of creation ending that may be part of a Unity shift. At some point, all those waves will dissolve back into the ocean. At least for a time.

Are we to dissolve or hang around awhile first? Be bliss or live bliss? Our own destination we’re not likely to know clearly until well along. We usually even forget why we’re here while in human form. But it can be amusing to consider.
Davidya

Beyond Duality, Part 1

In The Endless Path, I came back to the theme that there is more than just the awakening discussed in Moment of Grace & Virgin Birth. Adyashanti also comes back to this theme in Ch.10 of Falling into Grace, discussing another important angle on this. I’ve talked of how the ignorance of more can be a barrier to it. Here, he speaks of how an unwillingness can also be.

“In many forms of spirituality, the kingdom of Heaven, or freedom, or nirvana, is an escape from the world of duality…from the turmoil of human existence.”

“To realize that dimension of what we actually are [Self Realization], this deeper sense of ourselves, is extraordinarily liberating and incredibly freeing. And yet, that’s not the end of our spiritual awakening. In the end, we’ll have to let go even of that – not push it away, though, any more than we’d push away the human experience. Both the world of form and the formless nothingness are on the wheel of duality, but what lies beyond? Do we have the courage to let go of both Heaven and Hell, to let go of our attachment to not only this life on earth and our humanness, but also to let go of our attachment to the spiritual? Can we actually let go of the spiritual goodies, the great peace and freedom of nothingness, the great stillness of being pure spirit? Can we find a way to not grasp onto these, also?”

This process has profound effects on many areas of life. We may have to relearn how to be in the world.

“Many people discover that they want to stay in the formless dimension, but they keep being pulled back here, to earth, by their jobs and their families and their children and the necessities of acting and being here. Then they seek and they seek for ways to be here without really being here. I meet a lot of people who’ve heard this saying of Jesus, ‘I’m in the world, but not of it,’ and they’ll say, ‘Oh, that’s what I want! I want to be in the world but not of it!’ But really what they mean is ‘I want to be barely in the world, but what I really want to be is to be lost in that formless dimension of pure consciousness.’ That becomes very problematic. For one, it’s actually impossible. In the world of duality, there’s always coming and going, there’s always life and death, there’s always this moment and that moment, so we can’t actually hold onto anything in the end.”

“…ultimately, the whole of spirituality is a process of surrender, of letting go, to such an extent that, even when you get the greatest spiritual revelation, eventually you’ll have to let that go too.”

“…very few people know how not to get attached to heaven.”

The lesson of this process is “The world is illusion. Brahman alone is real. The world is Brahman.” It’s the last phrase we’re discussing here. Not just finding reality but living it. Until we’re living it, we’ve not actually found it.

“This is really a mature spiritual vision, not a vision that enables us to escape from the world, but one that liberates us enough to participate in it, to exist day to day from a fierce and open heart, from a willingness to fully meet and experience each and every moment. When our consciousness is rooted in this ultimate mystery, in this dazzling dark, in the ultimate Godhead, then we’re no longer confined to Heaven or Hell. We’re no longer limited to being spirit or matter. In fact, finally we don’t see any difference between the two.”

> Part 2

Why does Creation Repeat?

In a recent discussion on another forum, the nature of creation arose. In the Yog Vasishtha (from the Ramayana), the story of Bhusunda the crow is told. He is a being who has learned how to continue to exist when creation ceases. He has thus lived through 10 creation cycles.

He tells Vasishtha that Vasishtha has come to see him in 8 of the last 10 cycles. This tells us creation repeats itself over and over with small differences in detail.

But if the purpose of creation is for Self to know itself, whats the point of doing it over and over again?

This comes down to perspective. From one viewpoint, it can seem it is all arising from memory (smriti). Creation is an impression in That, cycling out over and over in the flow of attention. It is only in time that there is sense of sequence, cycle and repeating.

If we take a deeper step outside of time, we can see all of creation as an impression in  wholeness. While attention may move across the details, there is no coming and going, just a totality of knowledge. Creation is not repeating itself, it simply is. Complete. Memory is not a playback device but a totality of knowing.

This is the superior understanding. But it is through experiencing it in time that we can come to know the totality of it, beyond time.
Now.
Davidya