Lectures

on
Meditation
and
Spiritual
Growth

Tan Kheng Khoo

I
STARTED TO LEARN MEDITATION from an abbot in a
monastery in Northeast Thailand. The lineage here is
Theravada Buddhism. Then I started to read voraciously
on meditation and Buddhism. After several years I started to
teach meditation in a small way to some students in a Sri
Lankan Theravada Buddhist temple in Singapore. Then a
Tibetan center called me to do likewise. I taught in the Tibetan
center for 8 years. My Sri Lankan teaching impressed one of
the students so much that when he started a Buddhist Library,
he invited me as a first teacher of meditation in this library. My
career as a meditation teacher was established.

Teaching behooves me to learn more about the subjects of

meditation and religion. .. One can see from the articles that I
have been quite a pedestrian crossing quite a few frontiers.
However I hope that finally, these essays will suit the palate of
many seekers of various religions. They are for those who
want to embark on a spiritual journey, but do not know how to
go about it. They have a widespread of mystical paths of sev-
eral religions.

Dr. Tan Kheng Khoo

 Lectures
on Meditation
and

Spiritual Growth

Tan Kheng Khoo

 Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................. 5

Meditation Practise
Concentration Meditation ................................................................ 10
Progressive Stages of Samatha Meditation ................................... 18
Effects And Hindrances of Meditation ......................................... 26
Vipassana Meditation ........................................................................ 33
Mindfulness (Meditation in Action) ............................................... 42
Meditation in Emptiness .................................................................. 51
Kundalini and Qiqong Psychosis .................................................... 60

Death and the Spirit World

Dying Unto Death ............................................................................. 82
Spirits, Ghosts and Guides ............................................................. 101
Near Death Experience (NDE) ..................................................... 115
Out of Body Experience (OBE) ................................................... 125
Perchance to Dream ........................................................................ 143

Healing the Subtle Bodies, the Body and the Mind

Doctoring the Spirit, Healing The Body ...................................... 160
Auras and Chakras ........................................................................... 168
Cosmic Healing ................................................................................ 180
Thomas Keating ............................................................................... 194
Psychic Self-Defence ....................................................................... 214
Freedom From Fear, Anxiety & Other Negativities .................. 229

The Soul
oul
Universal Law of Karma ............................................................... 240
Universal Law of Reincarnation ................................................... 256
Our G-Plan and Sacred Contracts ................................................ 276
Soul Mates and Twin Souls ............................................................ 288
The Anatomy of the Soul .............................................................. 308
Brain, Mind and Consciousness .................................................... 323
The Existence of God and soul ................................................... 337
 Introduction
The Path of Awakening
Some of us are lucky enough to experience a wake-up call in this life. The
timing of this call varies with the individual. Very rarely one may experi-
ence it soon after adolescence as with Ramana Marhashi. Most of us get
the call around middle age or the mid-life crisis. After graduating from
school or university, one starts with a job or many jobs and raises a fam-
ily at the same time. Between forty to sixty years of age after a successful
career, the thinking person will start to ask this question: “Is that it?”
Where is the paradise? The next frequent question is “Why am I here?”
“Why am I born at all?” At this early stage hardly anyone will ask this
famous question “Who am I?” This question will arise only after some
practice.

Quite often the wake-up call is triggered by some tragedy like a death of a
loved one, personal financial crisis, or ill health of the seeker or a break-
down of an intense relationship. Sometimes it comes after retirement or in
women after menopause. Rarely, the call just simply arises without any trig-
gering factor, and in this instance it may come at any age after adolescence.

The first step the seeker does is to turn to a faith for support. He will grab
at any faith or religion that is introduced to him by friends or relatives. Or
he has seen the religion advertised in newspapers or TV programs.
Normally the religion encountered and accepted is accidental without pre-
vious thought or analysis. After that the seeker may move on to other reli-
gious groups, depending on what fascinates him or her. After tasting
many dishes on the menu, he has now some knowledge of spiritual prac-
tice, he may stick to one religion or practice. Willy-nilly he would have
come across some form of meditation, be it Buddhist, Hindu or Zen. If
he reads avidly with his meditation and is guided by a proper teacher, he
may come to realize that spirituality and not religion will be his true path.
He will come to a realization that a U-turn in his life is mandatory. This
spiritual path will be hard work, as he has to start letting go of all his pre-
vious ideas of acquisitions, desires, concepts and goals. It is the opposite
of what he has been taught all his life. Now he has to add the element of

5
‘Service’ in his life. “What is happiness and how do you achieve it in a
movement or religion?” My answer is that you cannot achieve it with one
stroke or with any religion. You must go beyond religion. It is a painstak-
ing, tedious and lonely task of meditation, mindfulness and personal
cleansing. There is no substitute for this hard work. It may take this whole
life or many more lifetimes.

My wake-up call came to me about 30 years ago when I was 43 years old.
This is a time when I was the busiest with a job of running a laboratory and
I was involved with about 8-9 charitable committees. There was no time to
reflect what I was doing. I only knew that there was no peace of mind.

I started to learn meditation from an abbot in a monastery in Northeast

Thailand. The lineage here is Theravada Buddhism. Then I started to read
voraciously on meditation and Buddhism. After several years I started to
teach meditation in a small way to some students in a Sri Lankan
Theravada Buddhist temple in Singapore. Then a Tibetan center called me
to do likewise. I taught in the Tibetan center for 8 years. My Sri Lankan
teaching impressed one of the students so much that when he started a
Buddhist Library, he invited me as a first teacher of meditation in this
library. My career as a meditation teacher was established.

Teaching behooves me to learn more about the subjects of meditation

and religion. After accumulating about 28 lectures, a student of mine very
kindly offered to post these lectures as a website with a homepage. One
can see from the articles that I have been quite a pedestrian crossing quite
a few frontiers. However I hope that finally, the menu in this homepage
will suit the palate of many seekers of various religions. These essays are
for those who want to embark on a spiritual journey, but do not know
how to go about it. They have a widespread of mystical paths of several
religions.

Shikantaza
Shikantaza is the practice of doing each activity in our life for the sake of
that activity, regardless of whether we are sitting, lying, walking, or stand-
ing, or working. However, this term has been used mainly with regards to
zazen (meditation). It is the ultimate stage of meditation in the school of
Soto Zen. It means that when we are sitting down to meditate, we are

6
wholeheartedly sitting down to meditate and not working out our prob-
lems. And therefore the simplified translation of Shikantaza is ‘merely sit-
ting.’ It also means that if the aim of meditation is to empty the mind of
thoughts, then that is exactly what we should do. Emptying the mind is
the most difficult thing to achieve in meditation. The function of the
mind is to think, and thoughts of the past, present and future will
inevitably arise when we sit in a semi-lotus with our eyes shut. The busier
is our day, the more thoughts we will have. As a preliminary preparation,
one should have as few problems in our daily affairs as possible. That is
why going into a monastery where there are hardly any daily chores and
where one does not have to earn a living is the ideal.

But if one has to remain a working layman, then get a job with the least
emotional outlay. In order to pacify the mind the most important philos-
ophy to believe in is the G-plan.

One’s G-plan was fashioned and concocted before one was born (read
article on G-plan). If one believes in one’s G-plan, then one will realize
that there is really very little free will. And one’s G-plan will inevitably
unfold relentlessly, in spite of one’s efforts to the contrary. If that is the
case, there are no grounds for worry and anxiety: whatever will be will be.
Believing in the G-plan goes a long way towards minimizing anxieties and
worries. Look for a simple job. Then the next most important exercise is
to detach oneself from everything: assets, money, position and relation-
ships. One’s daily mantra should be: "Let go." One has to practice
Shikantaza on a daily basis, as often as one is able.

Before one can start practicing Shikantaza, one should learn how to con-
centrate with Samatha meditation. (Read lectures on Meditation and
Progressive Stages of One-pointed Concentration). Do this for six to
twelve months. Then one may practice Insight Meditation (Vipassana lec-
ture) for at least six months. So after these one to two years of prepara-
tion one can now embark on Shikantaza.

Just Sitting
Sitting in a semi-lotus position, one should move one’s body forward,
backward and sideways to relax it. Then one can either shut one’s eyes or

7
leave them open or half-open. When the eyes are shut, there will be
many thoughts. When they are open, one may be distracted by what
one sees in the room. Either way, one has to achieve a state of no
thoughts. Do not try to trace the beginning of a thought. The best way
is to let the thoughts plough through one’s consciousness without pay-
ing attention to them. It is like staying on the roadside of a busy street
watching the cars go by. Do not try to identify the make of the cars. Do
not try to find out who are in the cars. One starts standing there from
6 p.m. until 4 a.m. By 4 a.m. there will be either very few cars passing
or no cars at all. Use the same method in dealing with thoughts. Let the
thoughts pass through your mind. Do not look at them or work on
them, even though they maybe immediate, cogent problems. Thoughts
will finally come to an end if one ignores these thoughts. This deed can
be much more easily accomplished if one is totally detached from
work, possessions and relationships. Stay in that position of no
thoughts for as long as one can. When it becomes very steady, one can
bring that emptiness down to the heart chakra. In this way, one is deep-
ening one’s emptiness into the Void. This deepening of emptiness must
be practiced intensely and relentlessly. A time will come when a break-
through will suddenly come about. This is when body and mind have
dropped away (the eradication of the ego). This is the realization of
non-duality. The light has shed into the Unconsciousness of Buddha-
nature. This is satori. This first satori will inevitably be weak. After this,
one’s zazen practice must continue at the same pace and with the same
frequency as before. The satori will gather strength at each successive
episode of satori until the final one.

Now in order to complete the full Shikantaza practice, one should also
practice mindfulness in every action, conversation and thought outside
of formal sitting. (Read ‘Meditation in Action.’) This is the reason for
wanting an environment as in a monastery. However, the same envi-
ronment can be gotten if one has enough resources to stay alone in a
home in order to practice there. You are behaving as a monk in your
own monastery without the chores and without the interaction of other
monks. The practice here is to act, or have a conversation without hav-
ing any thoughts. When you are to think, just work at that problem in
your mind without any other distracting thoughts. You wholeheartedly
concentrate on that problem alone and nothing else. At the beginning

8
you have to slow down a little, but when you are proficient, you can
carry on at a normal pace.

9
 Meditation Practice
Concentration Meditation
Meditation is neither a trance nor hypnosis. In a trance, the person is
relinquishing varying portions of his mind to external agencies and is
sometimes controlled by spirits or so-called ‘deities’. Consequently, he has
varying consciousness of what is going on. In full trance he is totally
unconscious. In partial trance he is partially conscious of what is going
on. In hypnotism, the hypnotist is in control of the mind of the hypno-
tised, but the latter would never do anything that is inherently alien to his
character. In self-hypnotism, the person intends to follow a trend of
thought that he has previously preconceived. In both these situations of
hypnotism and trance, the person is not fully aware, not fully conscious,
and quite often not fully in control. This is not so in meditation. In cor-
rect meditation, the meditator should be fully aware, fully conscious and
fully in control of the situation. The aim here is to transcend our physi-
cal, emotional and mental bodies till we arrive at our spiritual true self
(soul), in the quest for self-realisation. The path here is to work through
the mystical state to finally reach the transpersonal state, which is like
coming home. From thence onwards, one is in this world, but not of this
world. We are completely aware throughout this journey.

Meditation is an arduous practice of controlling the mind towards a trans-

formation of character. It is only a means and not an end. The repeated
penultimate state of this practice is stillness and silence. It is only in this
state that transformation can take place. Insight and wisdom can only
arise in the pure awareness of silence and stillness. All the multifarious
types of meditation in the world can be categorised into two: (1) one-
pointed concentration (Samatha) and (2) insight (Vipassana) meditation.

In Samatha, there should be only one object in the mind during medita-
tion. As one progresses, there will be happiness, joy, bliss, calm and tran-
quillity in Samatha meditation. At the final stage of this practice, one will
become still and silent with only one object in mind. One is not in a trance

10
or hypnotised state; in fact, one should be more aware in this final state of
one-pointedness than before the start of meditation. Insight or wisdom is
slow to arise in Samatha, because one is fixed in one’s object of medita-
tion, and there is also the pleasure of bliss and tranquillity, which one
tends to be addicted to. Therefore it is very difficult to achieve enlighten-
ment in Samatha meditation. Whereas in Vipassana the ultimate state is
stillness, silent and emptiness (of thoughts). In this Vipassana practice,
one is finally left with pure awareness---- the presence of our true self.
From this backdrop of awareness, the ‘little voice’ may be heard, i.e. the
arising of insight is facilitated by emptiness. So in summary, in Samatha,
one is left with one thought (the object of meditation), and in Vipassana
there is only pristine awareness with no thought. In the final stages of
these meditations, one has totally transcended the physical, emotional and
mental in Vipassana, the meditator is already in the spiritual realm. He is
now in touch with his true self (soul). In the absorption stages of
Samatha, the mind has left behind the physical body, the emotions and
most of the mental activity, except the object of meditation. In Vipassana,
the transcendence is permanent, whilst in Samatha the transcendence is
temporary.

Let us discuss about some conditions of meditation.

Place: Choose a room that is quiet and cool. It must be decorated with as
little furniture as possible. If possible, lock your room and lift up the tele-
phone. If there is an air-conditioned room available use it to shut out the
noise and maintain an even cool temperature. Remove all statues from the
room, and there should not be any altar in the room. This is because a
very occasional statue may be spirited. One’s main aim is to go inwards. If
one’s attention is directed outwards to an altar or a statue, then one is
defeating one’s purpose. Bodhidharma meditated for 9 years facing a
blank wall! If possible, always try to meditate alone. This is because the
other person’s vibrations may interfere with one’s practice.

Time and Dress: The two best periods are in the morning and late at
night. After waking up, complete one’s ablutions including brushing teeth
and washing the face. Then drink some beverage, so that hunger pangs do
not distract one’s meditation, but one must not indulge in a full breakfast.
If one is a beginner, wake up half an hour earlier than usual. In order to

11
be completely awake, you may do some simple free hand exercises. While
still in pyjamas, sit down to meditate. This is the best attire. No restricting
clothes should be worn: no bras or belts. The other good time is before
one goes to sleep. This is because it should be at least two hours away
from dinner. A full stomach normally induces sleep, so the meditation is
ineffectual.

The other consideration is that after a hard day’s work, one may be tired and
sleepy, and the meditation becomes a preliminary session for sleep. That is
why we sit in a semi-lotus position and have an empty stomach. If sleep is
too overpowering at this period, try and catch a half-hour catnap before
dinner. This will keep you awake for the night session. Another good time
is at twilight, but one could really meditate at any time of the day.

Meditation period: One should start with 10 minutes per session. Do this
for a week or more until one is quite comfortable with it. Then one may
increase to 15 minutes. Again, this lengthened period should be tried out
for another fortnight, after which the time maybe further prolonged. One
continues in this fashion until one reaches a period of half an hour. This
prolongation is entirely left to the discretion of the meditator. One should
then stay at half an hour for about six months; after that one may proceed
to 45 minutes. However one should try to meditate longer during holidays.
Once you have reached ? or l hour, do not go back to 15 minutes. Also, if
for some reason one is hard-pressed for time, then even 10 minutes is bet-
ter than not meditating. However, the most optimum time is one hour or
more per session.

There is no such thing as meditating 3 or 5 times a week. It must be a daily

affair, and preferably twice a day. If you are travelling, do it in your hotel
room, but first imagine yourself surrounded by white light. If you have to
miss half a dozen days per year due to extenuating circumstances, it is
quite in order.

Sitting position: The ideal position is the semi lotus. You may sit cross-
legged if you want, but the place where the legs cross will be numb after
a while. Therefore, crossing one’s legs is not advisable. The semi-lotus is
putting one leg on top of the other: it does not matter whether it is right
over left or vice versa. The full lotus is as the above except one tucks both

12
set of toes underneath the crooks of both knees so that both soles are
facing the ceiling. This position looks beautiful, but one cannot sustain
this position for long. However, one may also sit in a chair with both feet
resting on the floor. The chair should preferably be without arm rests.
Meditation is essentially dealing with the mind, and therefore the body
should be as comfortable as possible without falling asleep. That means if
there is a carpet, use that, and the best thing is to have a cushion beneath
one’s buttocks. If one wants to sit on a bed, it is also feasible, but the bed
must not be too soft, and a pillow should be placed between one’s back
and the bedstead. On the bed, one can straighten one’s legs. Again, it is
vital one should not fall asleep, especially in this position.

The most important point to remember in one’s posture is to keep one’s

back completely straight. The neck should also be straight and the eyes
looking straight ahead with the head erect. The eyelids should then be
gently shut and the mouth close. Then give one big sigh to relax all the
muscles of the body all at once. Some meditators do a song and dance
about relaxing one group of muscles at a time. This is not necessary,
because as one goes deeper into the one-pointed meditation, the muscles
automatically relax by themselves.

Object of Meditation: In the Buddhist texts, 40 subjects of meditation are

mentioned, but the layman should choose one that is easily accessible and
pertaining to the body, e.g. the mindfulness of breathing (anapanasati).
The other two popular objects are visualising and chanting of sutras or
repeating of mantras. Both these methods are external. Repeating a
mantra and chanting a sutra gets us to be calm quite well, but when one
arrives at the absorption state, the mantra and sutra must be dropped
because the mind in the 2nd absorption cannot hold on to a thought.
Both mantra and sutra are thoughts. This is also true of counting one’s
breath. Visualisation is also external, and the visualised object is also a
thought. In addition, visualisation is a very difficult practice, and most peo-
ple fail with this method. We want to select an object, which is pertaining
to the body, i.e. it is not external and from which we can easily go inwards.
The Buddha attained enlightenment with anapanasati. Furthermore, we
can carry this object of meditation with us wherever we go.

Using the natural breathing process is the best. You either follow it by the

13
movement of the abdomen or feel the air going in and out of the nostrils.
In concentrating on the abdomen the coverage is more diffused than at
the nostrils. That means concentrating at the nostrils is more focussed.
The great point about the latter method is that the deeper you go into
meditation, the shallower your breathing will be and therefore, one has to
concentrate even harder. This is good. In this mindfulness of breathing,
there is no imagination required. You must actually feel the movement of
the abdomen or the air brushing your nostrils or at the upper lip.
`
Samatha: One-pointed concentration with mindfulness of breathing as an
object.

After satisfying all the above conditions, sit comfortably with the full
intention of meditating. This aim is important, otherwise the meditation
practice could be reduced to a routine chore.

Before one starts on the meditation proper, take a deep sigh to totally
relax one’s body. Then ascertain not to allow problems of the office,
home or relationships, etc to intrude during the period of meditation.

Now assume the position as described above (either in semi-lotus or on

the chair), and rests one’s hands on the lap. One open hand is placed on
top of the other with the two thumbs lightly touching. It does not matter
which hand is on top. Then close the mouth with the tongue pressed
against the hard palate. Lastly, gently shut the eyes, and look at the back
of the eyelids for a short while.

Now take three deep breaths. During these three breaths, one notices that
as you breathe in the abdomen moves out; and as you breathe out the
abdomen moves in. After this the breathing must be normal for the rest
of the session. Then one should start feeling the sensations of the body.
This is an inward journey, so that the mind does not go out externally.
Start with the eyelids and then the nostrils. Feel the sensation at these
points. What is the feeling at the nostril with the air brushing past it? Then
go to the upper lip, and then the teeth inside. Stop for a moment each
time to savour the sensation that is present at that location of the body.
One can now move down to the neck, thence the shoulders. Are they hard
and stiff ? Then go down the arms, first the right then the left. The torso

14
is next: the chest, the abdomen, the hips and down the thighs to the knees.
Go further down along the legs and feet. Is there any tingling sensation?
Are there any thrills or shivers? Then slowly move up to the head at the
scalp and then the face. A few minutes are spent going through this
process without hurry. This process is not to relax the muscles, but to cen-
tre oneself in the body. One need not go through every part of one’s
body, but after some practice one can know when one has settled down
inwardly. The mental and physical restlessness has now ceased. At this
point, we stop looking at the feelings of the body.

One can now come back to the breathing. At the nostril one feels the air
going in and out. One can feel it at the opening of the nostril or at the
upper lip. The breathing must be absolutely normal, and no control of the
breathing is allowed. Do not count the breathing, as this procedure will
dilute the concentration. One is actually feeling the air, and no imagina-
tion is involved. In order to prevent restlessness, one should only con-
centrate at one respiratory cycle at a time. Firstly, follow the inward inspi-
ration ending with a pause. Then let the expiration come out naturally,
also ending with a pause. That is all. Your goal is one respiratory cycle at
a time and you have achieved it! Then one starts all over again with the
next respiratory cycle, and so on until the end of the session.

However, before long, thoughts will start to appear. If one has problems
they will surface with the first thoughts. If there are no worries or problems,
memories of the past 24 hours or days will turn up. Then planning what to
do in the near or distant future will come about. Finally, random associative
thoughts may take place as a continuous revelry. All these thoughts must be
forcibly stopped by repeatedly coming back to the breath. This is repeated
hundreds of time during one meditation session. One must not get upset
with one’s own mind, whose function is to think. It is like a mother walk-
ing with a toddler on the pavement along a very busy road. On the road
many cars, lorries and buses are travelling at varying speeds, and if your tod-
dler child were to be crushed by one of the numerous vehicles it could
mean instant death. So it is the mother’s love and duty to repeatedly pull the
child back from the road to the pavement. The child is like our concentra-
tion, which has to be pulled to the breath time and again. The mother who
is shoving the child back to the pavement cannot be upset with the child,
because she loves him and the child does not know better.

15
After practising for many weeks or months, there will come a time when
the thoughts will become less and one can stay with the breath for longer
periods. Thoughts are either pictures situated at the middle of the fore-
head or mental chatter at the ear. Either the pictures or the chatter will
predominate. To one person mental chatter or commentary is the bug-
bear; to another, mental pictures are the source of distraction. No matter
which type it is, repeatedly coming back to the breath will reduce the
thoughts in due course. Just concentrate on one respiratory cycle at a time.

Gradually stillness and silence will start to appear. In stillness, not only is
one’s body to be still, but so are one’s thoughts must be still. That means
one’s thoughts must not travel anywhere at all, not even to the neighbour
sitting next to you. The attention must only be with the breath. This is the
true meaning of stillness. Silence means no mental chatter or commen-
tary. The silence is internal. Externally, there may be noises, which should
not bother the meditator at this stage of progress. So with this internal
silence and stillness, one’s awareness is greater and sharper. One is more
aware of the slightest movement or noise in one’s environment. However,
one’s one-pointed concentration is still at the breath. Before one started
the session, the breathing is predominantly from the chest. Then as one
goes deeper into alpha and theta states, one’s breathing becomes more
and more abdominal. The breathing is also slower: from the normal 20
respiratory cycles per minute, it may slow down to 16 or 14 cycles per
minute. Some of the yogis in India who practice pranayana (controlling
one’s breath) may even reach 1 or 2 cycles per minute, but we are not prac-
tising pranayana. Our method is anapanasati.

As one becomes more one-pointed, happiness, joy, bliss, calmness and

tranquillity will start to creep in imperceptibly. It will come to a point
when the meditator becomes addicted to his meditation. This is a good
sign, but even this harmless addiction has to be broken off at a later date,
because very little wisdom can accrue from this calm and bliss. Insight
(Vipassana) meditation will then have to be practised.

One final technique in this method is to separate a ‘watcher’ in our con-

sciousness to watch all the activities that are being enacted. The ‘watcher’
is merely the same pure awareness that is behind all our thoughts. It is our
true self (soul). It is that silence and stillness without thoughts. Therefore,

16
let this watcher keep reminding oneself of the fact that one is sitting here,
in this room on the cushion or carpet. Only 10% of the awareness is given
to this task. The remaining 90% is used to concentrate on the breathing,
and the distraction by thoughts. This watcher is separate from the body,
the emotions and the thoughts. With this separation, one’s negativities will
affect one less. ‘It is this body that is suffering these emotions and
thoughts, not I. I am not my thoughts, I am not my emotions, I am not
my body.’ This watcher is not involved; the watcher does not judge, nor
reject or accept any thoughts or emotions. It just knows and does not take
sides: it is non-dual. With this watcher it is much easier to arrive at still-
ness, at which stage we are silent, but we are still left with one single
thought, namely the breathing. This is one-pointedness. There is now no
sadness, no pain or any other form of suffering; there is just the breath-
ing. The meditator and the breathing have become one!

To summarise, one sits in a semi-lotus position or in the chair. Then one

heaves a sigh of total relaxation of the whole body in one fell sweep. Take
three deep breaths, after which the breathing should be normal through-
out the meditation session. Then see that the torso and neck are straight
with the head looking straight ahead. Shut the mouth with the tongue
pressed against the palate. Then gently close the eyes. Briefly look at the
back of the eyelids. Then spend a few minutes feeling the sensations all
over the body one area at a time. Feel the tingling and the vibrations. Feel
the movement of ‘chi’ at different parts of the body. While one is con-
centrating on the body, one is at the present moment. Having established
some form of calmness, separate a watcher in the consciousness to
observe the body and the mind. The technique of this mindfulness of
breathing is to merely concentrate on one inspiration and expiration at a
time. Thoughts are forcefully pushed away as they arrive. Keep on com-
ing back to the breath repeatedly, until one day, silence and stillness are
achieved. Then stick to the one-pointedness as long as one can. This is
briefly the practice of Samatha.

17
Progressive Stages of Samatha Meditation.
There are forty objects for meditation as quoted in the Buddhist books.
However, not all are suitable for lay people. The best object is breathing,
and this is the method that Buddha used. He was enlightened with it. It is
good, because we can take it wherever we go. It is there all the time. We
can partly control it if we want to, or we can ignore it, and it becomes
entirely automatic.

Beta and Alpha Waves

Looking at the chart, especially in the column on brain wave patterns
(which are obtained from electro-encephalograms of meditators or peo-
ple asleep) we notice that when we first start to meditate most of the pat-
terns are of the Beta type, i.e. the pattern seen in normal waking con-
sciousness. When one closes one's eyes and sits in a comfortable position
as in meditation, one will automatically start to obtain Alpha waves in
one's encephalogram. This happens even if one does not concentrate, but
one must not work at any problems. Now when one continues to con-
centrate on one's breathing, there will be more Alpha waves appearing.

18
This means one is deepening the meditation in the momentary or prelim-
inary concentration. Therefore, from the Beta pattern of our daily waking
consciousness, we can arrive in a short while to a calm stage of Alpha
wave pattern. Of course, this momentary concentration stage ranges from
superficial to very deep states of Alpha wave pattern. And it is when one
is in the Alpha Wave, that the body starts to relax on its own.

Theta Wave (Access Concentration)

Now from the deep stage of momentary concentration, if we continue to
concentrate correctly we will slip into Access concentration with some
Theta wave pattern. In this range of Access concentration, we can stay
longer and longer at our object of meditation, namely breathing. The
body is even more relaxed, and now the mind is also beginning to relax.
The mind is now more even, and not scattered anymore. The brain waves
are taller and fewer, and they are more regular. More and more Theta
waves begin to appear. As one is able to sustain one's concentration on
the breathing, other phenomena begin to set in. In this Access concen-
tration stage, the following symptoms begin to manifest: (1) Low intellec-
tual activity (2) Rapture (3)Visions and dreams (4) Drowsiness

Low intellectual activity

During this relatively deep stage, intellectually one cannot carry out too
difficult a mental sum, e.g. "What is the product of 85 x 397?" or "What
is the date of last Wednesday?" In order to work out these sums, one must
go back to Alpha wave or momentary concentration. Access concentra-
tion is when one is just about to fall asleep or having revelries, and a com-
fortable feeling has set in: both in the body and the mind, and the mind
is not interested in any mathematical gymnastics.

Rapture
This phenomenon has a very wide range of manifestations. It starts with
either mild vibrations in one area of the body, or itches as if insects are
biting. Then the vibrations begin to increase in intensity, and they also
become more continuous: so much so that, at the ultimate stage, they start
from the bottom of the spine and move right up to the top of the head,
and then down again along the front of the face and the chest, abdomen
and finally the thighs and the legs. This process is repeated over and over
again. This circular movement is called the "rotation of the bullock cart"

19
by the Chinese Taoists. This "rotation of the bullock cart" is the most
healing process in the world: it can even heal the terminal stages of can-
cer. Then there are other phenomena like when the entire body feels
extremely heavy, as if one's arms are like lead, or one has become a huge
giant. Or the opposite may occur: when one has been reduced to the size
of a midget. Then one may cry with tears of bliss, and after this period of
ecstasy, one feels that one has enough love for everybody on earth. There
are of course, other changes and feelings which we will not go into.

Visions and Dreams

In the Access concentration stage, we tend to go into revelries, dreamlets
and dreams. Dreams appear factual and the stories are as realistic as when
we are asleep. Dreamlets are more ephemeral and they are rather short
lived. This progression is much more common than visions, e.g. seeing
Buddha, Jesus or Kuan Yin (Goddess of Mercy). The danger of the
dreamy state is that the meditator tends to fall asleep. The danger of see-
ing vision is that the meditator tends to believe that he is being rewarded
for having achieved such a high plane. One must then use awareness and
alertness to prevent sleep, and humility and wisdom to eradicate pride.
During these revelries and dreamy states, there is a nice sensual feeling
about them, as the body is light and even weightless at times. In this
dreamy and drowsy state there is hardly a care in the world, and therefore
the meditator is lulled by this soft, blissful state, when sleep becomes an
obstacle in his practice.

Drowsiness
This is an inevitable consequence of Theta wave pattern in which dreams
are prevailing. This drowsy, somnolent state with slow brain waves is
fraught with sleepiness. It does not take much to fall asleep. At this stage,
sleepiness is the greatest enemy. We must then use more awareness and
alertness to stay awake. Another technique is to open one's eyes while
meditating. If all this fails, then go and wash one's face with cold water.
During this period of Access concentration, either few or all the Jhanic
(absorption) factors may appear, but they are present in a rather haphaz-
ard fashion. Sometimes Rapture or at times Sustained thought may pre-
dominate. They do not appear in the right proportions as in the absorp-
tion state. All the absorption states manifest the Delta wave pattern in
their encephalograms. That means from the 1st to the 8th Jhana it is char-

20
acterised by the Delta wave pattern.

The Jhanas (the Absorptions)

We can enter into the Jhanic states only when we are able to eradicate the
five hindrances, namely (1) Sensual desire (2)Ill-will (3) Sloth and Torpor
(4) Restlessness and Worry (5) Sceptical Doubt.
At the first intimations of the 1st Jhana, there is only a very swift dip into
it. Quite often the meditator does not even know that he has been in
Jhana for those very brief periods of time. Then as time goes on he is able
to stay longer and longer in that Jhanic state, and it is when all the five
Jhanic factors are assembled in their right proportions that the meditator
realises that he is in Jhana.
The five Jhanic factors are: (1) Applied Thought (2) Sustained Thought
(3) Rapture (4) Mental Bliss (5) One-pointedness with Equanimity.
Applied thought means the very first application of our consciousness to
the object of meditation. This initial focusing may not last long. But as
our Jhanic concentration improves, we are able to focus our attention
much longer onto the object, and this prolonged focusing is transformed
into Sustained Thought, the 2nd Jhanic factor.
Now as we go deeper into the 1st Jhana we are able to sustain our atten-
tion onto the object of meditation for long periods of time without inter-
ruption. Thus, applied Thought is no more relevant, because Sustained
Thought has taken over. And as we go deeper still into the 1st Jhana, high-
er grades of rapture (five grades have been described) begin to appear.
Mental Bliss is also becoming prominent: as extraneous or discursive
thoughts are reduced and continue to disappear, Bliss will increasingly
take their place. Needless to say, with the full establishment of Sustained
Thought, One-pointedness concentration begin to be more tenable.

2nd Jhana
Now as one goes towards the 2nd Jhana, any flickering of thoughts is
completely relegated to the background: they do not bother the meditator
at all now, until finally these backdrops of flickering thoughts are com-
pletely eradicated. It becomes quite obvious that any form of discursive
thought must automatically disappear if one were to descend into the 2nd
Jhana. So that when we finally arrive at the 2nd Jhana, we are left with only
Rapture, Bliss and One-pointedness. Applied and Sustained thoughts must
also be dropped. At this point of time, there is also no more bodily pain.

21
In the 2nd Jhana, there is only one thought, and that thought is the object
of the meditation, namely "breathing". We are now approaching one-
pointed concentration. As there are now no more discursive thoughts, the
mental stage is upheld by rapture and bliss. Rapture is now at its peak: one
may even bounce up and down while sitting in the lotus position or the
"chi" may circulate the "bullock cart wheel", as described earlier. The
bouncing has been erroneously called levitation. Whatever it is, this rap-
ture produces extreme pleasure as well. This peak rapture would also
enhance the mental bliss that is now replacing the emptiness of thoughts.
With this bliss, there is also no room for mental grief. The peak rapture,
bliss and lack of mental grief will culminate in internal confidence, which
was not present before. Lastly, the absence of thoughts and sound are
most conducive to the unification of mind, which eventually takes place.
With this fixity of the mind, One-pointedness is now stronger, but it is
still diluted by rapture and bliss.

Sleep
When we fall asleep at night, we go through the same sequence of events
as the above: Beta to Delta wave up to the 2nd Jhana. However, when we
are asleep, we are not aware of the stages that we are travelling through.
When we are in dreamless sleep, we are also in Delta wave, and there is no
bodily pain as in the 2nd Jhana. Also in sleep, we do not bounce as in the
2nd Jhana. The greatest difference between sleep and meditation is that in
the latter case, we are aware of every stage that we are going through.

3rd Jhana
In the 3rd Jhana, we maybe in a state when we are like a block of wood
and no amount of arousal or beating can wake us up. On the other hand,
when asleep, we can always be awaken up. As one approaches the 3rd
Jhana, one would find that rapture is too coarse, and therefore it has to be
reduced and then completely eradicated before one could comfortably
arrive at the 3rd Jhana. Thus, in the 3rd Jhana, the only Jhanic factors left
are mental bliss and one-pointedness. Having relinquished rapture there is
now no more bodily feelings. That means there are no more bodily pleas-
ure or pain. As there is now no more bodily function, one cannot also
either see or hear. The yogin may seem to be like a block of wood, but
this block of wood has no feelings at all: you can whack him and he will

22
not be hurt. The mental bliss and one-pointedness ensure that the medi-
tator is presently endowed with mindfulness, equanimity and discernment.
These are qualities of the mind. The situation is that there is no sense of
the body at all, and only the mind predominates. Lastly, even this blissful
state has to go. It is not subtle enough for the 4th Jhana. Therefore, bliss
must eventually be released in order to enter the 4th Jhana.

4th Jhana
Finally, we arrive at the last of the fine Material Jhanas. Here we are left
only with the last Jhanic factor of one-pointedness accompanied by equa-
nimity. Whenever there is only one-pointedness, it must be associated
with its twin ---equanimity. He is totally absorbed with the breathing: he
and the breathing are one. At this stage, there is neither mental bliss nor
grief. There is also no physical pain or pleasure. There is only specific neu-
trality: free from attachment and aversion. And at the very late stage of
4th Jhana, the yogin may think he is not breathing, but the fact is that he
is breathing, albeit very, very slowly and shallowly. As one progresses
through all the stages of Jhana, one's breathing automatically becomes
shallower and slower until it appears that the yogin is not breathing, both
to himself and to the observer. The meditator is in this wonderful and rar-
ified state of being: he is one with the breathing, and if the latter appears
to have ceased, then he believes (wrongly) that he is in Nirvana! You could
kill him for all he cares!

Thus, we have come to the end of the fine Material Jhanas. Up to now, he
is constantly with his object of meditation: breathing or whatever object
he is using. That object(form) is there until the end of the 4th Jhana.
From now onwards, there are no more forms. He will now enter the
formless world: the Four Immaterial Jhanas. Seeing that hardly any lay
people would be able to reach these states in the privacy of their own
homes, these states will be merely enumerated without elaborating on
them. In addition, the Four Immaterial Jhanas can only be achieved in
conditions obtainable in the monastery. Further, it is also essential to have
a master, who himself is thoroughly acquainted with these formless
Jhanas, to guide one.

The Four Immaterial Jhanas (Absorptions)

5th Jhana : The Base of Boundless Space

23
Still with one-pointedness and equanimity the yogin completely removes
the object of his meditation(breathing, coloured disc etc.) and pays atten-
tion to the space that is left behind.
6th Jhana : The Base of Boundless Consciousness
By surmounting the object of boundless space, the meditator withdraws
to his own consciousness, which is also boundless.

7th Jhana : The Base of Nothingness

One must now pay attention to the non-existence, voidness (sunnata) and
secluded aspect of consciousness and space leading eventually to noth-
ingness.

8th Jhana : The Base of Neither Perception nor Non-perception

The Yogin on the one hand lacks gross perception, and on the other hand
retains a subtle perception. Although this 8th Jhana is such a subtle and
refined state it is still a mundane state, and it is only insight that can lead
to liberation.

For the sake of completion, the six super-normal powers (Abhinna), will
be tabulated below, but the meditator is discouraged to pursue these pow-
ers for their own sake. The first five Abhinas are still mundane and do not
signify enlightenment. Only the 6th super-normal power is of supramun-
dane quality. For those yogins who are truly bent on achieving some form
of psychic power, the yogin must be able to reach the 4th Jhana at will and
for a set period of time. For instance, he sets his mind to be in the 4th
Jhana for three hours, he will remain there for exactly that amount of
time, and he will come out of Jhana when the three hours have expired.
He has to will to acquire one Abhinna at a time until that power is
achieved. He has to fervently will to acquire it before he starts the medi-
tation, and on the way out also will to achieve it. It may take months or
years to succeed.
(1) Super-normal Feats
(i) One can become many and vice versa
(ii) One can appear and disappear
(iii) One can go through walls and mountains
(iv) One can go in and out of the ground as if it is water
(v) One can walk on water as if it is earth
(vi) One can fly though space

24
 (vii) One can go to the moon and sun

It is almost certain that (iii), (vi) and (vii) are feats as a result of out-of-
body experience (O.B.E.).

(2) Divine Ear :

The yogin can hear sounds of divine origin e.g. admonition or premoni-
tion from his spiritual guides. He can hear sounds and voices far away as
well as sounds of creatures nearby e.g. the noises of worms in his intes-
tines.

(3) Reading into Other People's Thoughts :

He can directly tune in to others' thoughts like a radio signal. Whatever
you think, goes into the ether and the receiver just tunes in.

(4) Recollecting Previous Lives :

One can recollect details or scenes from one or many previous lives.

(5) Divine Eye

(i) One can see the passing away and rebirth of a being.
(ii) Clairvoyance: knowledge of the future and far away events.
(iii) Knowledge of how one fares after death according to his good or bad
karma.

(6) Destruction of the Cankers

(i) There is no more sense desire.
(ii) There is no more craving for existence.
(iii) There is no more Ignorance: it is completely replaced by Wisdom.
(iv) Therefore there are no more wrong views.

This 6th Abhina is the only supramundane one, and when this Abhina is
achieved, then one is enlightened (Arahant).

25
Effects And Hindrances of Meditation.
Immediate Effects
(1) Accumulation of saliva: This phenomenon happens to many people.
What one has to do is to merely swallow the saliva mindfully, whilst not
paying attention to the breadth. Immediately after this, one comes back to
the breadth again. Thoughts are again being consciously pushed away,
whilst concentrating on the air striking at the nostril during inhalation and
exhalation

(2) Numbness and pain in the limbs: Again this is quite a common
complaint At first, one should try to tolerate the pain or numbness as long
as possible. Later, as these effects become more intolerable and affect
one's meditation, then one may stretch out one's legs until the numbness
or pain is considerably reduced. After that, one may resume the semi-lotus
position again. However if one is sitting on an armchair, then there is no
grounds for such complaints.

(3) Restlessness of Mind and Body: These effects are more difficult to
overcome. In this instance, one should physically try to relax the body:
tense the whole body and then relax it again. After this, concentrate hard-
er on the breathing, it is only with time and experience that one can go
deeper into theta wave, access concentration, so that bliss may arise to
eliminate restlessness and worry.

(4) Weightlessness or lightness: This phenomenon needs no remedy at

all. It merely indicates that one is progressing in one's meditation.
However, there may come a time when one may be deluded to think that
one is "levitating" upwards whilst breathing in and downwards whilst
breathing out. This is not the case: one merely has to open one's eyes to
see the truth of the matter. The opposite of heaviness is a little more dis-
concerting to the meditator. The student will feel that the arms are as
heavy as metal bars, and at times as though the whole body has assumed
giant proportions. Again, this is another form of delusion, known as
Maya or Makyo. Here again if one is bothered by it, then one may reme-
dy it merely by opening one's eyes. And this will stop the feeling of heav-
iness immediately.

26
(5) Warmth: This effect is almost universal. As one relaxes in meditation,
one's blood vessels dilate. The dilatation of the blood vessels has the same
effect as drinking wine. The whole body warms up, and some people
could even get very hot to the extent of perspiring profusely. The danger
now is not to catch a cold when you finish with your meditation. Clothe
yourself adequately before you go to sleep, if it is your sleeping time.

(6) Cold: Very, very rarely an individual may feel colder when meditating.
This is very unusual. However it does happen. You either ignore it or put
something light to cover yourself or wear a cardigan when you meditate.

(7) Itchiness: Sometimes, it feels as if insects are crawling all over you.
You just have to open your eyes to know that there isn't. Try and stand
the itch: you either concentrate on the area or ignore it. If it becomes so
unbearable, then scratch it, and return to your meditation proper. The itch
or 'insects' is due to the hairs standing up at the beginning of rapture (this
is called Piti in pali)

(8) Smoothness and Roughness: In Samatha (one-pointed concentra-

tion), there may be some jerkiness while you are sitting. Sometimes the
body tends to sway from side to side or forward and backward.
Sometimes the body twirls around continuously. All these movements are
due to one's internal tension being too wound up (i.e. one's tension due
to stress is quite overwhelming), whilst the physical body is rather relaxed
during meditation. This internal/external conflict causes these repetitive
movements. There is nothing you can do about it: just let it be until one
day your stress and tension are reduced sufficiently that these movements
will stop on their own.

(9) Involuntary movements: These are very structured gestures or

mudras that look like traditional dances with hand movements.
Occasionally, the student will stand up and dance! This is due to Kriya
energy being activated by the meditation teacher (who is called Sadguru).
The student sometimes become frighten, but actually it is quite harmless.
The student may stop the Kriya mudras if she wills it, but when she does
that her meditation becomes less deep. However, if she does not stop
them she cannot arrive at stillness, which is a prequisite to a successful
meditation.

27
(10) Nimittas---visions and dreams: When we go deeper into theta
wave, we tend to have dreamlets and visions. These are like television
movies, in which we can only watch the sequence of events, but we can-
not change the events or characters in the dreams. However, we can stop
the show completely and nothing else. The visions are scenes of splendor
or horror, or we may see Buddha, Jesus or Allah. Whatever it is, it is an
illusion. The Japanese Zen practitioners call this Makyo (hallucination).
What shall we do about it? We watch it and ignore it. Do not take it seri-
ously.

(11) Freshness of Mind: Some meditators will find that their minds are
totally fresh after meditation. This is because they have managed to clear
all the intellectual rubbish while practising one-pointed concentration.
This freshness will in turn prevent sleep later on, and insomnia will ensue.
What is the remedy? Meditate longer so that one goes deeper into theta
or even delta wave. If the meditator is not sufficiently skilled to do that,
then one should meditate only in the mornings.

(12) Drowsiness: If one goes deeper into theta wave, one of the features
in this state is drowsiness. This is much more frequent than freshness. The
problem now is 'how to keep awake'. The first step is to be more alert and
aware, and not to be so concentrated. If this fails then one should get up
and wash one's face with cold water. Another method is to open one's
eyes partially or fully. Whatever it is this, meditator would surely enjoy a
good night's sleep.

(13) Fear: This phenomenon is not uncommon, especially when one is

meditating in the dark. Sometimes, one is fearful of spirits or ghosts
appearing. One is also fearful of spirit possession. Another great fear is
that one may go insane. Sometimes one is fearful of falling into a dark
hole. Sometimes these fears are reinforced by hallucinatory visions of
ogres, monsters and states of hell. All these illusions are constructed by
the mind. There is absolutely nothing to fear. One merely has to open
one's eyes.

(14) Crying: This is not due to sadness. It is more often than not a result
of rapture. Rapture has many manifestations that will be discussed later.
In this instance the tears are bitter sweet. There is a rapturous sensation

28
going through the body at the same time. Normally there is much peace
at the end of this meditation session.

(15) Bliss: This is another feature of deep theta wave: in fact it is a con-
stant component of the absorption (Jhana) state. The more one clears
one's mind of thoughts, the more bliss will result. As nature abhors a vac-
uum, emptiness of thoughts is quickly replaced by bliss.

(16) Bright Light: This is a very rare occurrence. Most of the time it is
Makyo (hallucination). Again to test its validity, one merely opens one's
eyes. If it is Makyo, the light will instantly disappear. However if the
Bright Light still persists, the whole room will be lit by it, and every one
else should be able to enjoy it. This would signify one of the greatest
bestowal of the Divine, and everybody would be in tears of joy and hap-
piness. However, most times this happens only to one person when he is
alone. It must be accepted with great humility, otherwise it will not hap-
pen again!

(17) Five Gradations of Rapture (Happiness): As one goes down in

Samatha meditation, one will experience the phenomenon of rapture
(Piti). Rapture occurs in increasing intensity as one goes deeper into one-
pointed concentration (Samatha). These grades are named as such:
(i) Minor: a shiver like raising the hairs on the body (goose flesh). It is the
same effect as if one has suddenly seen a ghost. The itch and 'insects'
crawling are due to this minor rapture.
(ii) Momentary: flashes of lightning occurring at different moments all
over the body.
(iii) Showering: breaks over the body again and again like waves on the
seashore.
(iv) Uplifting: extreme lightness as a physical sensation as well as a mental
uplift.
This 'floating in air' sensation may lead to "bouncing" (1st or 2nd Jhana).
(v) Pervading: whole body is completely pervaded, like a filled bladder or
like a rock cavern inundated by a tidal wave (2nd Jhana)
Rapture is one of the five Jhanic factors that will discussed later. The
other four factors are:
(1) Applied thought
(2) Sustained thought
(3) Bliss

29
 (4) One-pointedness

Long Term Effects of Meditation

Effects on physical body
(1) Healthier: One's resistance to disease is increased. That means when
colleagues fall sick, one can destroy the same germs or viruses in one's
own body due to the increased immunity developed from our daily med-
itation. Similarly, as cancer cells are popping up in our bodies everyday the
meditators can also eradicate these malignant cells as they arise.
Conversely, stress reduces our immunity and it may be so reduced that the
cancer cells takeover, and start to form a primary colony in the body. The
danger of cancer is that it is wild and unruly, and will grow incessantly to
the detriment of the healthy body.
(2) Memory and Concentration: The meditator having achieved good
concentration, has also a much better memory. He is now less tense and
has an increased capacity to handle stress. He appears also to have
increased energy with greater physical agility. He is able to sleep better,
and the incidence of insomnia is greatly reduced. There is less tension
headaches, and irritability. Aches and pains of the body begin to diminish.
As mind-body co-ordination greatly improves, the meditator works more
efficiently.
(3) Personality: He is now friendlier, and has a more attractive personal-
ity. He has more time for others, and is more tolerant of other religions.
He is now able to deal with emergency situations without panic. Although
he is more patient, he is more charismatic. He is also more sensitive to
other people's moods and feelings. Additionally, he is able to take losses
and bereavement much better. This adds up to an increased ability to let
go: to be less greedy and more charitable.
(4) Psychosomatic illnesses: Conditions such as asthma, neurodermati-
tis and gastrointestinal problems (e.g. irritable bowel syndrome) begin to
disappear as one continues to meditate. Weight is normalised. High blood
pressure is also reduced.

Mental-emotional effects
After at least six months, one would notice that there is a reduction of
anxiety neurosis and nervousness. Depression disappears completely.
There are no longer feelings of inadequacy. Being much calmer than

30
before, irritability has also more or less disappeared. On the positive side
there is more self-esteem. The meditator can now solve problems better,
because his mind is not cluttered with anxiety and unnecessary informa-
tion. As one's thoughts become more orderly, one's thinking is much
more organised, thus increasing one's creativity and productivity.
Spiritual well-being
Meditation tends to make us a better Christian, Muslim, Hindu or
Buddhist. Our affiliations to our religions are strengthened. It also tends
to foster trust with a greater capacity for intimate contact. One develops
more compassion for our fellow human beings, and there is also a greater
capacity for unconditional love, which means that the meditator does not
expect any gratitude or thanks. There is an increased satisfaction at work
and at home, and consequently we develop inner wholeness. We now
know that life is meaningful. Of course, the greatest achievement would
be our ability to let go: to have less greed, hatred, pride and selfishness.
These four foibles when considerably reduced will affect our spiritual
well-being tremendously.

Hindrances (Obstacles)
There are five primary hindrances to all types of meditation and our spir-
itual path. These are:
(1) Sensual Desire: These are desires or cravings emanating from our six
sense organs: they are the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin and mind. Of
course, when you are sitting in meditation, the mind will give you the most
obstacles.
(2) Ill-will: Irritation, anger, hatred, envy, jealousy and depression. These
negative traits will hamper one's meditation, as peace of mind cannot be
obtained.
(3) Sloth and Torpor: As one is more experienced in meditation one can
go deeper into theta wave or access concentration. In this state, drowsi-
ness is experienced and the tendency to fall asleep is overwhelming. The
remedy here is to be more aware, using mindfulness to keep awake. If you
have a very tiring day, then the evening meditation tends to be sloppy. If
you are truly earnest about having a fruitful meditation, then get up and
wash your face with cold water. Then continue your meditation with your
eyes open.
(4) Restlessness and Worry: Here the restlessness could be of the body
or of the mind. If it is of the body, then one could do some form of exer-

31
cises or hatha yoga to squeeze out the excess physical energy out of the
body. If it is of the mind, then one should concentrate more at the object
of meditation.
(5) Skeptical Doubt: The main doubt here is that it is impossible to med-
itate, no matter how hard one tries. It is not true. Everybody can meditate.
You must have patience, and a suitable meditation subject must be cho-
sen. Persistence is the key word, but one must not be
stressed by the attempt.

These five hindrances can also be eradicated or counteracted by the five

Jhanic factors:

(1) One-pointed concentration eradicates lust.

(2) Rapture abolishes ill will.
(3) Applied thought extinguishes sloth and torpor.
(4) Bliss eliminates agitation and worry.
(5) Sustained Thought suppresses doubt and uncertainty.

32
 Vipassana Meditation.
Insight meditation (Vipassana) is the practice of moment-to moment
awareness both in formal sitting as well as meditation in action outside of
formal sitting. In sitting meditation we start briefly with breathing as a ris-
ing and falling process, after which the main subjects to be dealt with will
be the mind and the states of mind. The latter include all the emotional
feelings and the states of mind that we are experiencing during the sitting
meditation. Whilst dealing with these 2 phenomena, we are not allowed
any choice in the matter. We just merely watch the thoughts and states of
mind as they arise while we sit. There should not be any attempt at mod-
ifying or suppressing the thoughts or states. This choiceless awareness is
of paramount importance in the practice. The main object of this prac-
tice is to see the ceaseless stream of thoughts and the change of moods
and emotions as they arise and fall at that moment. There should be no
attempt at interrupting or interfering with this continuous flow. We mere-
ly watch the process of change and movement. That is to bring to mind
the reality of impermanence of any state, which is invariably changing all
the time. And therefore if we were to cling on to anything or state hop-
ing that it will remain the same then we suffer. As we continue to practice
Vipassana, we will also realize that there is no abiding essence or self in
the three bodies: physical, emotional and mental. This is the Anatta doc-
trine (Selflessness) of Theverada Buddhism. This practice has to contin-
ue when we are out of sitting meditation, when we are doing our daily
chores. We can meditate in any position and in every state of activity, but
now we have to make a choice between the options that are offered us.
Otherwise, we get nowhere. We have to choose to achieve our purpose of
action. The accent here is again to be completely mindful and aware of
every action. And lastly, we have to be aware of the reactions that arise
when our 6 senses meet external objects. These latter two practices will be
the theme for the next essay.

The ‘Watcher’ is the True Self

First and foremost, we must separate a ‘watcher’ in our consciousness to
observe what is going on in our mind and body. The mind includes states
of minds, emotions, feelings and higher spiritual realms. This ‘watcher’
starts off as being part of our consciousness, but as we become more and

33
more silent and still, this ‘watcher’ expands itself to be an omniscient,
omnipresent and omnipotent but impartial observer. When the practice is
intense enough and prolonged enough then we will realize that this
‘watcher’ is really our True Self. In other words, it is the soul or Atman
occupying that great expanse of emptiness. And if we can carry this real-
ization with us wherever we go we are self-realized! This is the goal of
every mystic. So in order to achieve this aim we must always remember to
separate a ‘watcher’. This ‘watcher’ is merely to watch and observe the
train of thoughts and emotional feelings as they arise at that moment and
not later or before that moment. Later, when we are not in sitting medi-
tation, it should continue to observe and watch our movements so that
finally we can control and master our body and mind. But initially, we
merely watch and take no action.

States of Mind, Emotions and Feelings

When these states arise, we must know them as they occur. We must not
anticipate them or trace them back to their origin, as suggested by some
teachers. We must see them and know them at that time of appearance.
Do not modify or suppress them. Merely observe them. Look at them
head on without flinching. By just watching them, we are practising sepa-
ration and trying to realize our true self. Some of the states and emotions
may be classified as below:

(a) States of mind as depicted in the encephalogram: Beta, Alpha,

Theta and Delta Waves. These states have been meticulously described in
the article on "Progressive Stages of One-Pointed Concentration
Meditation (Samatha)". We simply recognise which state we are in without
doing anything about it.

(b) Emotional States: Notice how calm or tranquil you are at the begin-
ning of meditation. Or are you irritated or agitated? Is there anger or
hatred? What about restlessness and worry? Is there joy or happiness? Is
there a feeling of gleeful anticipation towards the meditation? What about
drowsiness or sleepiness? All these emotions must be meticulously noted
without agitation. There should also be no attempt at changing these emo-
tions. You are merely the observer; otherwise you do not know yourself.
All these emotional states are not you. They may remain there for some-
time as emotional background or they may slowly wane.

34
(c) Altered States: These are states like altruistic love, compassion, and
forgiveness and at peace with the whole world. These states are normally
not characteristic of that person. Thus lies the danger. If these states take
over temporarily our normal emotions, and if we were to act contrarily to
our normal character, then we would be in deep trouble! For instance, one
may suddenly decide to give away all one’s assets to charity, and then find
that there is no more to feed oneself and family. What a calamity! Other
altered states may include visits to the lower and middle astral, and these
may frighten the meditator, although these escapades are most rare. The
feeling of divine love may be so overwhelming that the meditator
becomes extremely grateful to God or Allah or Buddha that he can then
take up that particular religion straight away without reservation. These
altered states, of course, do not last. And when they wane, one drops back
to normality again. This coming home to the normal world is something
of a let down and can be very disappointing to say the least.

(d) "Enlightened" State of At-One with the Universe: In this state

you feel as if you are everything you see and feel, and everything outside
you is part of you. If you were to focus on somebody, that person is you.
The trees, birds and animals are all you. Nothing is exempt. However, this
state does not last. It may last for hours or days at the most, but it even-
tually it will disappear.

(e) Psychedelic states as in drug-induced states. There may be multi-

coloured, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional states, never experienced
before in one’s life. You could be floating in this dizzy exotic environment
with not a care in the world. You feel that you have reached paradise, and
you congratulate yourself for arriving in heaven with no effort. But alas,
it is uncontrollable, and finally it ends with a big bang, a let down and a
very bad hangover as in a trip with drugs.

(f) Makyo: hallucinations and visions. These visions and hallucinations

tend to appear when one is in theta wave. The visions may be figures of
Virgin Mary, Buddha, Kwan Yin or Jesus, all of which no living person
has ever seen. They are not real. One can eradicate them by simply open-
ing one’s eyes or just change the thought. The famous Zen saying: "When
you see Buddha, kill him" is absolutely correct. These hallucinatory states
may include the meditator flying in the air or diving into solid earth or

35
wheezing to the moon or stars. There may be scenes of olden times or
periods, giving a false believe that these are our actual previous lives from
our Akashic records. They are not. They are merely hallucinations.
Further, one may smell, hear or feel things that are not perceived by oth-
ers. Lastly, one may experience an NDE (near-death experience) but this
is extremely rare.

All the above states and emotional feelings do not come in one continu-
ous period of time. They appear intermittently throughout the session of
sitting meditation, or more commonly they do not appear at all.
Therefore, throughout the insight meditation we will see and perceive dif-
ferent states as we go deeper and deeper into Vipassana. For instance, we
start the meditation feeling angry and irritated, but as the meditation pro-
gresses, we become calmer and then end up being tranquil. We know
when we are in Alpha or Theta wave. Then after many months of prac-
tice, we reached states of divine love, compassion and at peace with the
world. As these states turn up we know. Then deeper still, psychedelic
states or hallucinations and visions may also appear. Then we merely
recognise them as such and then we let them go. Every state, feeling and
vision must just be seen and then dropped. There should not be any
attempt at holding on to them. They are all transient and impermanent.
One may not be able to repeat the same state or vision ever again. One
also should not boast about their occurrences. These transitory states of
mind are not for real and therefore it is quite useless clinging to these
memories. They are like will-o’-the- wisp’ of the air. All these states come
without premonition or warning, and they disappear in like fashion. They
appear intermittently throughout that process of observing our thoughts.
There is no order in their appearances.

The Mind
Assume the same sitting position as in the concentration practice. After
going round your body (sensing different parts of the body) as taught in
Samatha meditation, you again come to the breath. This time you notice
the breathing as an arising and falling phenomenon. Then note the state
of the mind. Further, fix your attention at your forehead between the two
eyes. This is now your television screen and all the thoughts are now to be
placed here. Past, present and future thoughts are to be screened here
(Fig.1).

36
They appear as pictures here, but the mental chatter will occur at the ears.
Now again separate a ‘watcher’ who will observe the pictures and listen to
the verbal commentary. One cannot concentrate on 2 things at one time.
So you have to decide to pay attention either to the pictures or to the men-
tal chatter. The attention must be total and not half-hearted. If you can
look at the one picture in full bloom, it will disappear, and momentarily,
there will be no thoughts. Soon another train of thoughts will arrive. This
time it is even more powerful and you could be caught in its momentum
for a length of time. This chain of associated thoughts will continue until
suddenly you come to realize that you are in that chain, and there is again
another interval of stillness and silence. These intervals of emptiness are
initially not recognized, until many weeks of months of meditation have
passed. Then when one is able to slow down the thoughts and reduce
their number, then these intervals are even easier to detect. It is during
Theta wave that one can more easily catch these periods of silence. If an
interval of stillness appears, hold on to it. Don’t let it go. Try and length-
ened it. Enjoy it. But alas, without experience it will slip away very quick-
ly. Therefore, experience is essential in this practice. You can read as many
books as you like; it is of no help whatsoever. It is practical experience
that counts. Continuing with this Vipassana practice, there will come a

37
time when you can keep that interval of still and silent emptiness long
enough to enjoy the pure awareness. From this expanse of pure aware-
ness, insights will arise. These are from ‘the small little voice’ arising out
of the pure awareness. These insights are appropriate to your level of
development, no more, no less. Perhaps after many years of practice and
truly letting go, spiritual wisdom may then accrue.

The Objects of Mind

What are the thoughts that arrive at your television screen? Do not bring
out subjects for contemplation. Just let the thoughts arise on their own.
Inevitably, problems of the present will come about. They may be finan-
cial problems or situations of the immediate family. There may be some
tension with regards to the office personnel. Relationships with sexual
overtones feature quite prominently to certain individuals. Then memo-
ries of yesterday, last week or last month will turn up. After some time
these memories will change to planning for the future. Whether they are
of the past, present or future, these pictures must be seen at the center of
the forehead, where the screen is. Later on, when all the problems are seen
to, random associative thoughts will begin a chain of their own. These
chains may gather such a momentum that one is unaware of them and
one is caught in them. Then all of a sudden, one is brought back to the
present practice, and then a short interval of stillness is brought to one’s
consciousness. In this stillness one may note one’s state of mind: are we
calm? Still agitated? Is there rapture? And so on. Some external noise will
distract one momentarily. Then the thoughts will start to appear again,
after another external noise triggers another memory. The above process
will repeat itself again and again, but with diligence and practice the
thoughts are seen more clearly and can be held for longer periods of time.
With experience and prolonged practice, we can have longer and longer
periods of stillness and silence. These intervals of no thoughts may be
extended to a definite and perceptible length of time. This state of pure
awareness is most exhilarating: it is unadulterated bliss! So the discipline
here is to repeatedly go into this state of pure awareness which should be
extended as long as possible. It is during this still and silent emptiness that
insights will appear. What are the insights? It all depends on one’s spiritu-
al development. If one is still worldly and materialistic, then the insights
will be of that nature. If one has let go a fair bit then they will be of a

38
higher plane. Sometimes precognition or clairvoyance or telepathy may
turn up, but this is not a constant feature. They are more like fluke occur-
rences. The latter may be transmitted as voices or just plain knowing.
These ‘psi’ phenomena are not repeatable.

At the end of the day it is the character transformation that counts. Love,
compassion and equanimity should replace our negativities like craving,
anger, selfishness, pride and ignorance.

The Three Hearts

Firstly, there is the physical heart, which is just to the left of the sternum.
Secondly, there is the emotional heart, which is just below the bottom of
the sternum. Whenever one gets a shock or news of disaster it catches
one at the hollow pit of the stomach, our second heart. Thirdly, there is
this Divine heart. It is also called the soul or Atman. According to
Ramana Maharshi, it is the size of the last phalange of the thumb and is
situated just to the right of the bottom of the sternum. Now following
from the above Vipassana meditation, when we have arrived at S.E.S.
(Stillness, Emptiness, and Silence) for quite a long time, we can bring
down our attention down to where the seat of the soul is: just to the right
of the bottom of the sternum. And stay there as long as we can. This will
reinforce our love and compassion for the service of mankind.

The Levels of Consciousness

In insight meditation, the watcher merely observes the thoughts and pic-
tures arising in the superficial consciousness. Then with prolonged prac-
tice, the still and silent emptiness is achieved. With further practice, mem-
ories of the subconscious may surface (Fig. 2).

The subconscious is defined in this paper as past events in this present

life. Many levels of the subconscious may now occasionally erupt trigger-
ing the memory bank. The surfacing of any memory is on ‘the need to
know basis’ and not on ‘I want to know basis’. These memories are there
to unravel the knots in our psyche at that moment. Then as we continue
to let go more and more and if our practice is on the right track, then we
could be extremely privileged to peep into few of our Akashic Records.
The trouble here is that we cannot be certain that it is truly the Akashic
and not merely our hallucination. The Akashic is in the realms of the

39
Collective Unconsciousness (of Jung). Of course, in this realm innumer-
able lifetimes may surface, and therefore many karmic causes may be
elicited to explain the difficulties we are in at the present. Delving into
past lifetimes in the Collective Unconsciousness may engross us for long
periods of time, but at the end we have to let go even of this feat. It is
said that Gautama Buddha was able to see every lifetime since his first
human incarnation.

Finally, we have to drop down even further to the Universal

Consciousness that means into the realm of the Godhead. This supreme
feat has only been achieved by a few prophets in the past while they are
alive, and Buddha was one of them. It is in this rarefied realm that we real-
ize that every consciousness (vegetation, animal, mineral and human) is
interconnected. Nothing is outside this supreme Godhead. It is one with-
out a second. This is the non-dualistic realm of the Unborn, Uncreated
and Uncompounded. This is the state of Nirvana!

40
The Dark Night of the Soul
Not all mystics go through this stage. After many years or lifetimes of
purification and practice of meditation, the mystic arrives at this stage of
purgation. It is the penultimate stage just before union with the absolute.
It is the last struggle before one arrives at Unity or Ultimate State of
Consciousness. In the Buddhist Theverada tradition, the last 3 fetters to
be relinquished are (1) Ego-conceit, (2) Restlessness of the mind and (3)
Ignorance. When these 3 are dropped, he becomes a saint. The eastern
traditions do not stress much on the Dark Night. This experience is main-
ly described by Western mystics. The purgation is composed of utter
despair and deprivation. The worst form of mental disease is a breeze
compared to this sadness, deprivation and depression of the Dark Night.
The mystic path hitherto has been strewn with illuminating experiences,
especially if the mystic believes that God has been seen supporting him
all along. He has been on this path of illumination up to now. And now
he is crossing over to another path, which is ‘Unity with the Absolute’.
This is now the final test of total detachment. He has to erase complete-
ly the residual ego-conceit and ignorance, and his motto should be ‘I am
nothing, I have nothing, I desire nothing’. This is very similar to the last
Buddhist fetters of Ego-conceit, Ignorance and Restlessness. The
Christian mystic feels as if God who has been nourishing him all this
while has suddenly abandoned him. The pain and emptiness is excruciat-
ing. The other name for the Dark Night is the Mystic Death. This period
of purgation may last a few months or a few years. At the beginning, the
pendulum swings from ecstasy to deprivation. As the practice continues,
the periods of sadness and depression lengthen until near the end, when
there is only the Dark Night and no delight at all. Of course, during these
periods of ‘hell’, nobody could be blamed if he were to give up the mys-
tic path altogether. However, if he were to persevere, as most do, the
rewards are most exhilarating and exquisite as it is a prize of the spiritual
realm and nothing mundane is comparable to it. He is now enlightened
and he is united with the Absolute. Although physically he is in this world,
he is now not of the world. Everything he touches turns to gold. He has
been trying to achieve this state for many lifetimes. And finally he is in this
non-dualistic state of Nirvana! The whole world should celebrate for this
one individual who has joined the Godhead. He now knows that he has
always been there and has never been separate from it!

41
 Mindfulness (Meditation in Action).
Mindfulness is the path to the deathless;
Heedlessness is the path to death.
The mindful do not die;
But the heedless are as if dead already.
Dhammapada 21

THE Dhammapada also says:

(1) Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil
thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it.
(2) Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure
thought like a shadow that never leaves.

From these two verses we know we have to be aware of our thoughts as

they arise, and then control them and finally master them so that the
action that follows is pure and wholesome. In the essay on Insight
Meditation, we learned to merely look at our thoughts by (1) observing (2)
watching them. By looking at our thoughts head on they become fewer
and slower in their appearances. This is a way of (3) controlling them.
Now that one is dealing with meditation in action, one should also (4)
master them as well by allowing only wholesome thoughts to arise and
then, if necessary act upon them. In sitting meditation the thoughts that
arise must be choiceless, but now that we are out of formal sitting, we
should exercise control. That means these 4 actions of observing, watch-
ing, controlling and mastering should be done simultaneously in our med-
itation in action.

Awareness
Awareness means " bare attention" or "passive observation" without
judgement, comment or interpretation of the facts with our intellectual
knowledge. This means that we simply look with a quiet mind. If the
mind has thoughts we look at these. If there are emotions, we again mere-
ly feel them. In "bare attention", we "look at" and not "look for" or "look
into". When we look for something, we are expecting to find it, and when
we do not we are sorely disappointed. We then lose energy and balance.

42
Mindfulness
When a thought or an object first comes into our awareness that fleeting
moment of pure awareness is uncontaminated by identification or label.
This brief moment of mindfulness may last only a fraction of a second.
It is before your cognizance of the perception, before naming of the
object and judgement of the same. This is the moment of pure awareness.
This pure quality of mindfulness vanishes before the chain of memories
can arise to remind one of the pleasant or unpleasant object or incident.
It is this unfocussed moment of pure awareness that we want to prolong
in Insight (Vipassana) meditation. It is a very difficult but not impossible
task.
In mindfulness, the mind merely mirrors what is seen or heard at the very
moment of occurrence. It does not take sides. It does not judge or con-
demn. It merely watches impartially. It should not affect the observer.
There should not be any enchantment, pleasure or displeasure engen-
dered by what is seen or heard. In the seen, it is only the process of see-
ing. Similarly, in the heard it is only the hearing. It is only the process and
not the object. There should not be any thought or concept accompany-
ing the seeing, hearing, touching and tasting. Thoughts arise merely as
mental pictures or running verbal commentary with no reflection or
analysis or categorization. We merely register what is happening now not
a minute ago or the future. It is always in the present. There is no emo-
tional or intellectual reflection, no analysis, no selection. It is totally pas-
sive and impartial. The perception does not pertain to self: it is purely
third party. The "I" is not involved. There is no accent on any topic or
scene: they are all the same. It is only the white screen accepting every pic-
ture projecting onto it by the projector. It does not discard or distort any
frame of the film.
Finally, the wisdom to be gleaned from this practice is that everything aris-
es must pass away. Those who cling to this compounded ‘thing’, wishing
that it would remain the same, will suffer discontent and conflict.

Four Foundations of Mindfulness

In Buddha’s Discourse on Mindfulness---Satipatthana Sutra, four distinct
subjects were enumerated for the Vipassana practice. They are (i) the
body, (ii) feelings or sensations, (iii) states of mind including emotions,
and (iv) objects of the mind. The latter two topics have been dealt with in
the essay on Insight Meditation (Vipassana), and they can be practiced

43
during the sitting sessions. The practice in these two topics is entirely
based on choiceless awareness. In formal sitting this is feasible. However,
once you are out of formal sitting, you have to make a choice. In these
two areas of meditation in action, we have to comprehend clearly four
fundamental facts. They are (1) Purpose of our Action, (2) Suitability of
the action and our own capability to do it, (3) The action must be within
the Domain of Meditation, (4) The real state of things (reality) as they
appear and the true nature of these phenomena.

(1) Purpose of the Action: Every action or reaction must have a purpose.
Otherwise we end up aimlessly in our activities. We may also be distract-
ed from our original purpose. Therefore, our purpose must be held tena-
ciously till the end of that action. Needless to say, the purpose must be a
wholesome one and it could be included into the domain of our medita-
tion practice. Say, for instance, one is on the way to pay for one’s TV
license on the last day. Half way there one meets a friend whom one has
not seen for some time. So one stops to chitchat over a cup of coffee until
alas the post office is shut for business for the day! One has to go over to
the post office again the next day and pay a fine for being late. All this
bother because one did not mindfully stick to one’s purpose.

(2) Suitability: Before embarking on the task, we must ask ourselves

whether the task is suitable in the ethical sense. Is evading income tax or
parking along double yellow lines an appropriate act for a Vipassana prac-
titioner? Is it a skillful act to queue up for dole when one is a millionaire?
We must also realize the extent or limitations of our own capabilities for
a certain project. Is the goal of the project set too high? Are we capable
of raising such a large sum of money? If it is too ambitious we must fail.
If it is not in our power to choose the course of action then we must exer-
cise skillful means in the choice of our actions.
(3) Domain of Meditation: In the Buddha’s days, some of the monks were
given meditation subjects to hold on to throughout the day. However,
when they are entering into any discourse with other people, the subject
must be dropped temporarily. However, in our scheme of things, it is our
intention to be mindful of every movement in our daily life. In this prac-
tice, we do not have to drop the subject matter. This method will be
described in detail below.

44
(4) The True State of Reality: In this comprehension, we have to bear in
mind the delusional character of our minds. We are constantly deluded
that desirable things are permanent or unchanging; we are deluded to
think we can escape from suffering if we continue to chase after desirable
things. We are also deluded by the seeming permanence of our body and
mind, which we tenaciously hold onto as the "self". These 3 main delu-
sions must be repeatedly broken by meditative wisdom.

THE SIX CONTEMPLATIONS OF THE BODY

Buddha suggested six ways of looking at the body. The last 3 categories
will not be discussed in this paper. They are (iv) the body in decomposi-
tion, (v) analysis of the body in 32 parts, (vi) the four elements that make
up the body—earth, heat, water and air. However the other 3 categories
need some elaboration. These are (i) breathing, (ii) bodily postures, and
(iii) every bodily action.

(i) Breathing: We should simply be aware and mindful of our breathing

as an arising and falling phenomenon from moment to moment. The
breathing is not controlled and it should be allowed to be an automatic
movement. We simply notice and register that there are pauses after each
inhalation and exhalation. The arising and falling of the breath must be
seen as a process of change and impermanence. This flow cannot be
stopped; if it ceases we expire. This is the reality of life.

(ii) Bodily Postures: We must be fully aware of our postures, as in sit-

ting, standing, lying, and walking. The mindfulness must include details
like, what is the texture of the carpet we are standing on? Is the floor we
are sitting on hard or soft? What is the material we are lying on? All these
details must be recognized at that moment in that particular posture. We
must be mindfully aware of the surfaces and consistency of the chair, the
bed or the ground that we are in contact with. We have to notice the pos-
tures we like best and the aches and pains that are attendant to each pos-
ture. Then we must also realize that the changing of the posture also
relieves the pain. This is a relief of suffering. So we keep on changing our
positions to cure the pain. So the reality to be gleaned here is that living
incurs pain and constant change. The true self does not suffer, but body
and mind do. This is the Anatta doctrine.

45
(iii) Every Bodily Activity: This is the practice recommended here.
From the time we wake up to the minute we fall asleep, we must be mind-
fully aware of every bodily activity from moment to moment. While the
action is being enacted, there should not be any thoughts of other mat-
ters in our mind. There should be full concentration on what we are doing
with an empty and silent mind. Of course, for a beginner one cannot per-
form this awareness for any length of time. For the first day, start with five
minutes. Then one may increase the duration day after day until at least
half an hour. Then one can further stretch it to an hour, and then to hours
on end. When one wakes up in the morning, first notice the bed sheets
covering the mattress. Also notice the blankets covering one self. Then
register the desire to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. Walk mind-
fully to the bathroom to relieve one self. Then with full awareness brush
the teeth, wash the face and complete all the other chores like shaving or
powdering the face etc Whatever has to be done it is done with full con-
centration and mindfulness. Then we have to change our clothes, put on
our shoes, etc until we arrive at the breakfast table for our food. The
process goes on until one cannot continue to be mindful anymore for that
morning. There should not be any absentmindedness. The awareness is
applied moment to moment.

Walking Meditation
Walking meditation is an essential component of all Buddhist, monastic
practice. The principle here is the same as in the Four Foundations of
Mindfulness. Moment to moment mindfulness in our walking without
thoughts is the practice. Choose a straight path of ten to twenty spaces in
either a secluded or unobstructed area, preferably amongst trees. Start at
one end of the path. Stand straight with a relaxed body especially the
neck. Both hands may be kept either in front or the back or at the sides:
which is the most comfortable to the meditator. Stand still for half a
minute. Then start walking. The pace is ever so slightly slower than one’s
usual pace. Do not try to analyze or break the steps into separate move-
ments like ‘lift, forward, and down’. Just walk normally. Do not walk in
rhythm with your breath. This is a mistake. You cannot concentrate on
two things at one time. Just mindfully walk and be aware of the sensations
of the soles and feet. Do not walk too slowly, as this artificial pace brings
out tension. Look ahead and straight, but do not look at anything in par-
ticular. Don’t look at your feet. Flowers, trees and people must be passed

46
over with no interest spent on them. The mind must be empty and silent.
Do not allow tension to arise in the body. Do not try to look good or
appear graceful. Just be aware of the walking experience and the sensa-
tions arising thereof. Enjoy the feeling of walking. No problems and anx-
iety are allowed in one’s mind.
Now having arrived at the other end of the path, stop and slowly turn
around to face the other way. Again stop for half a minute, and continue
your walking meditation as before. After some time, your walking medita-
tion will develop into a nice swinging exercise to be relished. There is now
no more strain or jerks. The pace can now be increased to your normal
walking speed. Then a time will arrive when a ‘high’ can be achieved.
There is this flowing to make one feel as if one is walking on air! At this
point nothing distracts us. It is only the "walking". There is no ‘I’ or the
‘body’ walking. It is just "walking".

Feelings and Sensations

In Buddhism, there are six sense organs and not five. They are the eyes,
ears, nose, mouth, skin, and the brain. These organs see, hear, smell, taste,
touch and conceive sense objects. When the eyes see an object, the eye
consciousness must rise simultaneously for the contact to arouse a feeling
or sensation. The sensation may be one of three varieties: pleasant,
unpleasant or indifferent.

EYE + EYE-CONSCIOUSNESS + OBJECT = SENSATION

Sensation-----------> Pleasant--------------> Desire

(reaction) ---------> Indifference---------> Dullness

---------> Unpleasant-----------> Aversion or Repulsion

DESIRE leads to GRASPING or CRAVINGS

REPULSION leads to ILL-WILL or HATRED

INDIFFERENCE leads to IGNORANCE

Similarly, other sensations are being elicited with noise, food, fragrances,

47
surfaces and concepts. They can arise only if the person is conscious. If
the person is in a coma, although his sense organs are intact, no sensation
can be elicited.

The most important point in this exercise is to be aware of the sensation

as it arises. At that moment, we notice whether it is pleasant, unpleasant
or indifferent not later or before the event. More often than not, we jump
straight into the action of going towards or away from what we see or
hear without being fully aware of the pleasant or unpleasant sensation.
This type of action is without awareness and therefore unmindful. We
must also use effort to register the neutral indifferent sensation; this is
essential, otherwise we become dull. The object is there. It is neither
attractive nor odious. Note it. We pause to be fully aware of the sensations
and then purposefully act in a wholesome manner. This technique
requires severe discipline because it is the action that seals our fate, as it is
karma productive. If we simply realise our pleasant sensation and our ten-
dency to be attracted by it and do not act, then no karma is produced. If
we meet a person we do not like, we do not run away from him. We,
instead, stay to converse with him with courtesy, love and compassion.
This requires discipline and determination. A certain amount of forgive-
ness must accompany this act. Forgiveness is the erasure of bad karma.
Therefore, this moment to moment awareness of our sensations is vital
in our practice, but it is extremely difficult, as we have to interact sponta-
neously at that moment. However, if we have no other thoughts in our
mind (preferably empty), then the action is simpler. The lesson to be
gleaned here is that circumstances change very rapidly (anicca), and
moments of emotional difficulty often crop up (dukkha). So if one is not
identified with one’s body and mind (anatta), then the situation is not
alarming at all. The action then becomes smooth and spontaneous as no
ego is involved.

Mistakes in Vipassana
Although many teachers are very fond of teaching Vipassana, there are
many errors committed by these teachers. The most common error is
using Samatha objects for Vipassana. These are some of the examples:
1) Repeating mantras, visualisation, counting of breaths and chanting of
sutras. These are all Samatha objects and not Vipassana.
2) Mentally focusing on the words and their meaning, like ‘rise and fall’

48
rather than observing the actual abdominal movement. Instead of just
feeling the sensations in the legs, do not focus on the words of ‘raising,
forward and stepping down’.
3) One should not focus the mind on the walking movement and simul-
taneously try to co-ordinate the breath with each step. It is not possible to
focus on two objects in the consciousness at the same time. When walk-
ing, simply observe and feel the walking movement only.
4) It is not correct to be vaguely aware of the abdominal movement or air
striking the nostrils without focusing on the ‘rising and falling’ aspect of
the movements.
5) It is not Vipassana practice when you are ‘thinking about’ the rise and
fall of the abdominal movement, or ‘thinking about’ the air striking the
nostrils, or ‘thinking about’ walking without actually focusing on the pres-
ent movement.
6) Neither is it Vipassana, when one acknowledges the ‘rise and fall’ of an
object after it has fallen away. Mindfulness has to know the present object
‘now’.
7) It is impossible to catch the mind moving, due to its rapid flux.
Abhidharma says "There are 17 thought-moments in one second!’ It is
somewhat easier to slow one’s thoughts in theta wave, and then merely
watch the pictures at the third eye or listen to the mental chatter head on.

Conclusions
According to Buddha, practicing Vipassana on the Four Foundations of
Mindfulness is the only way to enlightenment. In the first two foundations
one can practice in sitting meditation. In this instance the method is
choiceless awareness: to observe, to watch and to control one’s thoughts
and states of mind. The controlling is indirect in the sense that when you
see your thoughts head on they diminish in number until your ‘thoughts
come to an end’. This is the way of practice by Krishnamurti who sur-
prisingly advocates no meditation. It is not known how one’s thoughts can
come to an end without meditation.

Then when one is practicing meditation in action, outside of formal sit-

ting, the observing, watching and controlling must have another element
of mastering. To master is to see that all thoughts, speech and action are
wholesome. That means a certain amount of control and sieving is
required in the planning for action. In the activities of the body, there is

49
just the pure awareness of the movements with no thoughts in the mind.
In perceiving the sensations resulting from the contact of the six sense
organs, whether the feeling is pleasant, unpleasant or indifferent is noted
right away, not one moment later. Of course, this act is very hard to fol-
low. Of all the four foundations this act is the most difficult one. And that
is why Buddha said: "this is the only way".

One is able to realise that thoughts and emotions are not self with sitting
meditation, when one arrived at Silence, Stillness and Emptiness of
thoughts. One can intellectually know that the body is not self when one
sees a corpse. But to fully realise that the body is not self, one must prac-
tice the four foundations diligently until the full impact of that wisdom
suddenly appears.

And it is only when the realisation of no self in the body coincides with
that of the mind, can one claim to have entered the stream. This means
in the Theravada lineage, one becomes a Stream Enterer. This is the first
of four stages of Sainthood. At this point, one has the most 7 more lives
to go, and every life is at least a human being (not in hell, not a hungry
ghost and not an animal). This is the best breakthrough in the Theravada
practice.

50
 Meditation in Emptiness.

" In true meditation there is no meditator or object of meditation.

In true meditation there is no goal, not even for enlightenment.

In true meditation, the silence, stillness and emptiness will lead to I-am-ness

In true meditation the transcendence of I-am-ness will lead to beingness.

Beingness is the impersonal witnessing of all events.

In true meditation, beingness will finally be dissolved to Cosmic Consciousness."

Dr. K.K.Tan

Introduction
There are many paths and meditation techniques pursued by millions of
people. The most popular pursuit is to look for a guru who can perform
some ‘miracles’. If he can materialize some ash or trinkets, if his teach-
ings are irrelevant, it does not matter as most of the devotees would rather
be entertained. If the guru is also healer, his teachings are taken as gospel,
even though the teachings maybe that of self-aggrandizement. Devotional
and social services with rituals are also easy to follow. These devotees
behave like sheep. So to those who perform complicated rituals: the more
complicated they are the more attractive they will be. What about the
methods of meditation? They are usually of the concentration types, nar-
rowing of the minds. These are useful for healing and for calming down
the individual, but there is not much wisdom arising from these concen-
tration techniques. The methods here are concentrating solely on one
object, chanting, and reciting of mantras. They end up with the mind and
the object becoming one and the practitioner does not go beyond the
mind. Therefore these techniques do not lead to self-realization. They do
not lead us to enlightenment. This essay is purely to discuss ways to real-
ize one’s soul.

51
The Aim
Let us remind ourselves that the soul is pure consciousness, which is part
of Cosmic Consciousness. However it is covered by its 5 sheaths (see
essay on the Anatomy of the Soul) and attached to the hitherto accumu-
lated karma and samskaras. These dictate delusion and ignorance around
the soul. In order to realize our soul we cannot travel towards it because
it has always been with us. We cannot travel to a place when we are already
there. We cannot work to perceive it because the ‘the eye cannot see the
eye’. We just have to Be without trying. It is like ‘waiting without waiting’.
We must stop identifying ourselves with the body and mind. That is why
the true path always emphasizes that the body and mind are not Self.

Spiritual Disciplines
After prolonged Insight Meditation we would have arrived at emptiness
of thoughts with silence and stillness. This interval between 2 thoughts
may be extended to a prolonged visit to our primordial state of voidness,
which is like viewing of our ‘original face before we are born.’ But this is
not yet ‘home’. We have not fully realized the soul yet. It is only a preview.
The letting go must be more profound and the surrender must be total.
This is at a stage when the mind is suppressed. The function of the mind
is to think, and at this stage thoughts are held at abeyance, but the soul is
not realized yet. In order to realize the soul one must go beyond the mind
towards I-am-ness and then to beingness. Beingness may be realized
through correct meditation and Divine reasoning. In this practice one
must give up completely any desire, craving or expectations. Just let it be.
Flow with the Tao. The practice is to be in the ‘now’. One must be always
in the present, moment to moment. Trying to be steadfast on this path of
choiceless awareness one must also not have any negative reaction like
anger, hatred, frustration and irritations. Pride and selfishness also are
insidious poisons to be vehemently avoided. Then when we finally realise
our pure consciousness by non-doing, we are able then to have an inkling
of the timeless Cosmic Consciousness, its immensity and bliss. This non-
dual state is out of time and space. There is no good or bad, black or
white or high and low. This pure consciousness of beingness and bliss
(soul) appears only intermittently at the beginning, but it will become con-
tinuous as the letting go and surrender becomes total. This means that
one must understand what constitutes the self. With this understanding,
the self is shown to be nothing but memories. Memories are not real.

52
Therefore, one must steadfastly remain in the present all the time. It is
only in the present moment that the mind can come to an end. With this
practice of merely seeing, hearing and tasting, there is no seer, hearer or
taster. In this constant state of the now, the mind is silent. In this silence,
one transcends the ego and the mind. The first state in this transcendence
is I-am-ness. The next stage is beingness. This pure consciousness can
now be continuously with us, except when we have to use thoughts for
the execution of our mundane life. That means the body and mind
become purely functional. There is no self performing or thinking. This
is the time we can use the phrase ‘in the world and not of the world’. This
state is still only self-realization and the Ultimate State of Consciousness
is yet to be reached. That is another way of saying that realizing the atman
one is only at the Brahman stage. The ultimate state is the Parabrahman
(the Absolute) where one becomes part of the Cosmic Consciousness.

The Practice
Few spiritual practices can be said to conform to the above trying to break
through from dualism to non-dualism. Shikantaza and Dzogchen are 2
such practices. However, these 2 practices will bring us only to self-reali-
sation. No practice can bring anyone to the Absolute or Cosmic
Consciousness. It is with Grace that one is allowed to return to the
Absolute. That means one just has to wait at the Brahman stage without
longing and restlessness. Then when we finally return to the Absolute we
rest supreme. This is the eternal state beyond time and space. It is the pri-
mordial base of all existence. It is also the Unborn and the Uncreated. It
is a continuous flow of Cosmic Consciousness that creates everything in
the Universe. It is pure witnessing without a self.

Dzogchen
The principle of Dzogchen is the teaching of the nature of the mind,
which is ‘voidness’. The method of the path is called self-liberation,
because it is based on knowledge and understanding, and the practice is
to experience the state beyond the reasoning mind. In Dzogchen, the
inherent state of the individual is the primordial base of all existence,
which is the original condition of all beings. And this is the true condition
of the mind, which is beyond the limits of the intellect, time and space.
It is voidness, which is absolutely empty of all things, absent of all sub-
stance and phenomena, and there is no self in this state. This is the nature

53
of the mind. This mind is originally purified of all obstacles and negativ-
ities, and all attainments and qualities have been realized in its perfection
from the very beginning. It has the potential to manifest all forms of ener-
gy. It is beyond time and dualism, pure and perfect. If one is ignorant of
it, the obscuring veils around this consciousness must be removed.

In Dzogchen not only is this primordial state of the Base void, but it also
has 3 characteristics: Essence, Nature and Energy. The Essence is the
void, and is the Base condition of all individuals whether they know it or
not. It is pure from the beginning, and it is the basis of all manifestations
of existence. The primordial state of Nature is clarity. Clarity is the very
first phase of perception before mental judgment comes in. It is vivid and
present before the mind comes into action. This initial state lasts only a
fraction of a second and then memory and qualification enter to spoil the
clarity of the state. The third aspect of the Base is Energy. All dimensions,
pure or impure, material or subtle, are manifestations of one form or the
other of Energy. It manifests without interruption.

These 3 bodies of the Base, Essence, Nature, Energy correspond in the

path to the 3 characteristics of the mind: the calm state, movement and
presence. The calm state is that when no thoughts are present in the mind.
This is the interval between two thoughts and the interval between two
states and it is also present in deep sleep. Movement is the arising of
thoughts without interruption. These two factors (calm state and move-
ment) are there in all beings. Presence is the awareness of the calm state
and movement without judgment. These are the 3 bodies of the path. In
Dzogchen’s teaching of self-liberation, one of the methods used is the
practitioner ‘meditates without meditating’. Tantra is used in transforming
a passion e.g. anger into wisdom. Although at the beginning there is the
dualism of anger and wisdom the experienced practitioner at his high
level of practice does the following. He does not suppress or transform
his anger. He merely observes it without judgment and without emotion-
al overlay. In this fashion, the anger will dissolve by itself as if it has been
left in its original condition to liberate itself. That means by utilizing
Presence without mental judgment, the individual does not get worked up
and no action is taken. That means the Dzogchen practitioner is never dis-
tracted maintaining the state of Presence in every moment.

54
Shikantaza
Shikantaza is the final stage of the Soto Zen practice, and it has the same
background of voidness as the natural condition beyond one’ s mind. The
practice here is to go beyond one’ s mind. In the latest stages of Vipassana
(insight meditation), there are no more thoughts and mental chatter asso-
ciated with silence and stillness. Before one embarks on Shikantaza, it is
prudent to practice Vipassana first. In Vipassana, one looks at one’s
thoughts at the third eye area. The pictures are looked at calmly without
emotional reaction and prejudice. There is no judgment, criticism or
praise. There is merely a witnessing of the memories, planning and ran-
dom thoughts. When they are fully looked at, they will eventually disap-
pear on their own. With this impersonal looking coupled with an under-
standing of the situation, these thoughts will die off, never to recur again.
This must be done with an emotionless viewing as if they belong to some
one else. Mental chatter is also a thought. It is a mental movement asso-
ciated with hearing. This mental commentary can be quite torrential and
incessant. Again, if one merely listens without fear, judgment and emo-
tion, the chatter will die off like a blowing away of a storm. Then stillness
will emerge. It is not a forced silence as seen in concentration exercises.
The emptiness is an opening for pure consciousness to seep through. In
the beginning, this interval between two thoughts is very short-lived, but
once experienced and maintained, it can be prolonged to a length of time.
This is now the beginning of true and real meditation. If at the same time,
the process of letting go or peeling of the onion is accelerated, one can
begin to practice Shikantaza. In contrast to Vipassana, Shikantaza is not
to abide on any object at all. Do not look at any picture that appears at
the third eye. At the same time do not listen to any mental chatter. Just
ignore all these pictures and mental commentary. In this Shikantaza prac-
tice, there is pure witnessing but there is no witness. This witnessing is ‘the
one who knows’. The ‘one who knows’ is the Presence that merely watch-
es events of the mind appearing and disappearing in the background of
the white sheet. Presence is also there when one is in deep sleep. It is also
there between 2 states. It is the background for everything that occurs in
the mind. The white sheet is Presence and is also pure consciousness.
Satori is the state of break through of pure consciousness into the mind.
From thence onwards the unveiling of one’s pure consciousness pro-
gresses in stages until the final satori or full enlightenment. The Zen
teaching is that even after full enlightenment, the practice continues until

55
death! Being in Cosmic Consciousness daily is like being in Nirvana every
day.

Descending down to the Heart Chakra

Some people after being successful in prolonged silence, stillness and
emptiness of thoughts tend to bring the focus of attention down to the
heart chakra. The attention from the third eye is brought down to the
front of the heart. The focussing becomes diffuse. This diffusion is allow-
ing ‘openness’ to settle on the meditator. This openness obliterates the
tight focus and then it suffuses into total emptiness. At this stage even
good karma and merit must be transcended, as they may become obstruc-
tive. In order to progress on the spiritual path, one must go beyond the
silent and still mind to retrace back to I-am-ness and thence to beingness
(soul). When one has a glimpse of enlightenment, it is called satori in Zen.
A slight glimpse is called a mini-satori. As one progresses the glimpses
become deeper and more profound, and theses are the mainline progres-
sive satoris. The final stage of practice is Shikantaza proper.

The Non-technique of Shikantaza

In Soto Zen, enlightenment is simultaneous with the wondrous practice
of zazen (meditation). The practice of zazen is never ending. Even when
one has reached enlightenment, one continues with the practice of zazen
as before. According to Dogen, zazen is not a mere means to an end. It
is the end itself. This attitude is called wholehearted zazen or Shikantaza,
which transcends the distinction between religious practice and enlight-
enment itself. When one is enlightened, everyday life becomes a religious
exercise in expressing our gratitude to the Buddha. According to Dogen,
the religious observances for each day express our gratitude toward the
patriarch (Buddha). In living everyday the truth, we: "do with our heart
what we must do today. Who can know the death of tomorrow?"

Shikantaza Zazen
In zazen, after positioning ourselves in the sitting position, the essence of
zazen is "Think of non-thinking". How is this done? By thinking beyond
thinking and non-thinking. This is the very basis of zazen.

Zazen is not a step-by-step meditation. It is a practice beyond the subjec-

tive and the objective, beyond discriminating mind. There is no distinction

56
between the clever and the stupid. To practice the proper way of zazen
singleheartedly is itself enlightenment. There is no difference between the
practice and enlightenment, or between zazen and daily life.

Dogen said: Shikantaza is resting in a state of brightly alert attention that

is free of thoughts, directed to no object, and attached to no particular
content---- is the highest form of zazen, zazen as it were practised by all
the Buddhas of the past.

Although Shikantaza literally means merely sitting, it also mandates that

there should not be any desire or profit and there should not be a goal of
satori. The true sitting of Shikantaza is the transcending of the world and
ego. Therefore the meditator must let go totally of the body, emotion and
mind for it to be classified as Shikantaza. As in Vipassana the eradication
of body, emotion and mind is the point of breakthrough.

Then finally, one may with persistent perseverance arrive at Hishiryo,

which is infinite Cosmic Consciousness. This may be achieved only when
one is completely empty of memories and previous conditioning. Cosmic
Consciousness is not about little worldly things, but it is totally beyond the
mind. It is the Sunnata of the Mahayana--- total voidness with clarity.

The Christian interpretation of the same experience by H.N. Enomiya-

Lassalle, is: "Satori or enlightenment is a transrational and immediate per-
ception of self in connection with the nondifferentiated view of all cre-
ated beings--- giving the impression of perfect unity, grasping the authen-
tic self of one’s personality upon dissolution of the empirical ego, and
coming into contact with the absolute insofar as it is the source of creat-
ed being." It is an experience that allows for many variations in intensity
and constitution, according to the disposition of the individual; but which
is invariably accompanied with joy, peace, certainty, and liberation from
fear and doubt.

In Buddhist understanding, satori is a cosmic experience of universal

unity opening the way to nothingness. Master Yasutani: Enlightenment
means seeing through to your own essential nature and this at the same
time means seeing through to the essential nature of the cosmos and of
all things. For seeing through to essential nature is the wisdom of enlight-

57
enment. One may call essential nature truth if one wants to. In Buddhism,
from ancient times it has been called Suchness or Buddha-nature or the
One Mind. In Zen it has also been called nothingness, the one hand or
one’s original face. The designations may be different, but the content is
absolutely the same.

From the weak experience of the first satori one must continue with the
practice and obtain numerous satoris until the ultimate one. From the
experience of nothingness, one must continue and work hard to achieve
the root of nothingness. This Ultimate State of Consciousness is the final
enlightenment and the experience of Cosmic Consciousness--- Hishiryo.
This is the true essential nature of the cosmos and all things.

In summary, Zen enlightenment means while practising zazen the yogi

must try to transcend body, emotion and mind. Shikantaza is the method
of meditation and is the last stage of one’s practice. This method means
not abiding or resting on any object. Every kind of thought must be
allowed to go through one’s mind without working at it or even recognis-
ing them. Thoughts are normally of the world or of the self, including our
desires, ill will and pride. So if these thoughts are not apprehended for
analysis, then the yogi would have already achieved a great deal of letting
go. Even if Cosmic Consciousness is achieved the experience is ineffable,
that means it cannot be told or explained to some one else. That is why a
master, a Roshi, must be there on the spot to recognize the satori.

In conclusion, with a combination of these methods, one may hopefully

realize oneself. Throughout the waking hours and outside of formal sit-
ting meditation, one practices mindfulness with moment to moment
awareness. This awareness must be choiceless. Then when a negative reac-
tion like anger turns up, tantric Dzogchen is used to transform the nega-
tive emotion to wisdom. This method entails no action on the part of the
practitioner. He merely observes the change of the negative emotion
becoming a spent force. Presence is used for this exercise. This Presence
is a mere observation of the anger without judgment or emotional over-
lay until the anger is spent. Then finally in formal meditation, Shikantaza
is the method of practice. Shikantaza is practising to be a pure witness or
mirror while meditating. The thoughts and mental chatter are not appre-
hended: they are allowed to pass through. There is absolutely no emo-

58
tional reaction in this practice. After prolonged practice, it should bring
one to no thoughts and then to the state of emptiness. When prolonged
and sustained, this state of emptiness would be realized to be the True
Self or the soul. This state of I-am-ness is further transcended to being-
ness. With Grace beingness is then finally dissolved into Cosmic
Consciousness, the Ultimate State of Consciousness. It is now pure bliss,
peace and non-dual. It is the Unborn, the Uncreated, and the eternal state
of pure consciousness. All these words do not go near to describing the
true state!

References:
1. Namkhai Norbu. Dzogchen, The Self-perfected State. Arkana. 1989.
2. Yuho Yokoi with Daizen Victoria. Zen Master Dogen.Weatherhill. 1976.
3. Taisen Deshimaru. Questions to a Zen Master. Rider. 1985.
4. Heinrich Dumoulin. Zen Enlightenment. Weatherhill. 1979.

59
 Kundalini and Qiqong Psychosis.
The seeker who dares to awaken the kundalini power without the grace and guidance
of a guru might become insane, succumb to diseases, or even die. This is because he does
not possess the necessary knowledge, steadiness of mind, or patience required for this
difficult undertaking.

Swami Kripalvananda

Introduction
I have been teaching Buddhist meditation for about 23 years. Being a
doctor who is interested in psychiatry, I have always wondered whether
prolonged and excessive meditation could produce mental imbalance. In
these 23 years of running two courses per year, in every course the ques-
tion of “zou hou ru mo”,????, inevitably turns up. It means “fire wild,
devils enter”. In other words, “does one go mad with meditation?” In my
23 years of teaching, I have not encountered a single case of psychosis
arising from my method of meditation practice amongst my students.

However, about 20 years ago a monk came to me complaining to me

about a student in a meditation retreat he just organized. This is a ten-day
retreat conducted by a few Burmese monks. The retreat consists of sitting
and walking meditation for about 16 hours per day. After 3-4 days, a 25
year-old student started to pick up his food from the air. Not being in
direct contact with the student, I am unable to determine whether the stu-
dent had a meditation psychosis or was he a schizophrenic to begin with
and the retreat brought on the symptoms. This is not an uncommon out-
come if the organization does not screen the students for mental disor-
ders.

About ten years ago, a middle-aged man stood up at question time and
proudly announced that he has just completed a ten-day retreat with a
group of monks. With great pride, he told the crowd of five hundred peo-
ple that he had resigned from his job after the retreat. Then I asked how
was he going to feed his family. Happily he retorted that because of this

60
inability to feed them, his wife had divorced him and took his children
away from him. From the way he spoke, I gathered that he was not in
touch with reality, and he seemed quite pleased with himself. Retreats are
intensive and with lay people the practice is excessive.

About eight years ago a man of 39 years old approached me for healing.
He attended a course of kundalini meditation in Vancouver. The teacher
was a Hong Kong Chinese who obviously knew very little of kundalini.
This man found that his kundalini was stuck at the chest, the 4th chakra.
I was able to bring the blockage down only to his 2nd chakra and no lower
but he felt better. He then went to England to take up law studies. He is
a very intelligent man, but the studies in UK were too stressful and this
brought on his 4th chakra blockage again. He came to me a year ago with
much worse symptoms of shaking all over the body and convulsing while
I heal him. He has now suffered for 15 years after being taught to raise his
kundalini wrongly.

Another middle-aged woman came to me with a stuck kundalini at the

chest. Another teacher, who knew very little about kundalini, also wrong-
ly taught her. Again I tried to bring down the blockage. But I was only par-
tially successful. This lady also took the trouble of attending my course in
meditation. She left me feeling better, but not totally cured. However she
has now maintained a steady meditation practice and is leading a com-
fortable life.

There have also been many lay people who had the inclination to go to
the jungle monasteries in Thailand to practice for a period of two weeks
to a few months. Normally it is for a few months. In this context they
practice as monks or nuns, keeping to the rules of the Theravada
Buddhism. This includes not eating after midday and keeping to the 5 or
10 precepts. These novices are often ardent and they tend to overdo their
meditation practice. Consequently, some of them suffer from visual and
auditory hallucinations with intense fear. Shaking, convulsion and feinting
do also occur. All these side effects of excessive and ill-guided meditations
will disappear when they stop meditating, especially when they return to
their homeland.

Now with the knowledge of all these cases and my commitment to teach-

61
ing meditation, it behooves me to do some research on kundalini and
qigong psychosis.

Kundalini
Kundalini is interpreted as a three and half times coiled serpent sleeping
at the base of the spine. It signifies creative potential energy, which when
awakened will move up along the spine upbraiding and purifying the 6
chakras on the way up to the crown chakra. It is the working of the ener-
gy of the glandular system combined with the nervous system to awake
the brain towards total clarity. Some people interpret the culmination of
this yoga of awareness as enlightenment. This kundalini needs the con-
centrated life force or prana to activate it. Prana is equivalent to Qi or
Holy Spirit. Prana is the universal life force.

In order to awaken the serpent, prolonged internal meditation is required

to release the vast mass of energy stored up in it. Other methods will be
mentioned later. The aroused kundalini will then travel up the sushumna
as well as the smaller channels, ida and pingala (see Fig. below). No mat-
ter how the kundalini is aroused, either a lot or a little, it can bring out
abnormal reactions in the body and mind. In order for the full awakening
to be achieved the aspirant must be guided by an accomplished teacher,
who himself has succeeded in total awakening. On the way up, the purifi-
cation of the chakras can cause much bizarre physical symptoms, some of
which are distressing to the yogi. During this sojourn all the nadis (subtle
nerves) around and along the chakras and nervous plexuses are opened
up. In order to understand kundalini more clearly, we must go into the
concept of kundalini yoga and bring in the terms Shiva and Shakti.

Shiva and Shakti

The word kundala means coiled. The root shak means to have power.
Kundalini then signifies a serpent with coiled-up power resting at the base
of the spine. Tantric yoga posits that the entire universe is a manifestation
of pure consciousness. This pure consciousness divides into two poles,
neither of which can exist without the other. One aspect is shiva, identi-
fied as unmanifest consciousness, which is masculine and static. It is a
state of formless being-consciousness-bliss (sat-chit-ananda). It is aloof
and not interested in the affairs of the world. It cannot ‘become’ or
change. One can reach this shiva consciousness only through deep medi

62
tation. Out of this void everything in the world may arise.

The other polarity is shakti, which is dynamic, creative and energetic. This
mother of the universe gives birth to all things in the universe---matter,
life and mind.

These two polarities are united, but in the manifest universe maya causes
an illusion of separation. Shakti is a projection of shiva, but maya veils the
latter. This illusion is a process of involution, consciousness folding over
itself. After many eons, the shakti will draw up all forms, when the uni-
verse is dissolved. This is evolution, when consciousness is no more inter-
ested with its manifestations. Energy always exists in two forms as 1)
dynamic and 2) potential power at rest. In the universe manifestation a
small part of shakti is involved in its manifestation, but the greater part
remains dormant. The dynamic part is shakti in specific differentiated
form, whilst the primal power remains as the coiled-up kundalini at the
base of the spine. Shiva resides at the crown chakra. Ordinarily, only small
amounts of the shakti energy is used for the normal functioning of the

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chakras and nadis for daily purposes. This latent power of the shakti can
be conceived as the unlimited power of the unconscious. This latent force
can be transformed to be an active one through appropriate means. Many
methods have been described. This transformation is called the awaken-
ing of the kundalini.

The coiled serpent of shakti has to be awakened and carefully guided up

the nadis of ida and pingala but mainly along the central shusumna. The
snake then has to climb up to the crown chakra by going through the
ascending six chakras (see Fig): (1) Muladhara at the coccyx, (2)
Svadhisthana at the sacral plexus, (3) Manipura at the solar plexus, (4)
Anahata at the cardiac plexus, (5) Vishuddha at the thoraxic plexus and (6)
Ajna at the pituitary. The 7th is the crown chakra, which corresponds to
the pineal gland. The awakening and the purification process of churning
through the chakras are always attended with varying degrees of physical
and psychological signs and symptoms. The peak experience, bliss and
widening of consciousness may accompany the physical symptoms of
heat, vibrations and even convulsions. All these are due to the release of
powerful energy from the shakti kundalini. Union with God in Western
Mysticism is equivalent to this tantric yoga (yoking union) of uniting of
the kundalini shakti with shiva (pure consciousness). With this union the
aspirant becomes fully conscious and awakened. Sir John Woodroffe says:

When Kundalini Shakti sleeps in the Muladhara, man is awake to the

world; when she awakes to unite, and does unite, with the supreme static
Consciousness, which is Shiva, then consciousness is asleep to the world
and is one with the Light of all things.

When the serpent is asleep, the man is awake to the world. When the
awakened shakti has united with shiva, man is asleep to the world, but
fully awake to the transcendent realm where no objects or forms are visu-
alized. The universe is dissolved in the yogi, whilst he is in this pure con-
sciousness of no form, no thought and no emotion. The body has still
enough energy to function and to carry on with the ordinary duties of
man, but his mind is with the Gods. Not all yogins can arrive at this final
goal. Partial awakening is much more common, and partial awakening
normally will generate lots of symptoms.

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How to awaken the Kundalini
The Preparation
The preliminary preparation of withdrawal of worldly pursuits and purifi-
cation of self are necessary because the flood of shakti energy may dis-
turb, confuse and disorient the student. This preparation also includes
physical and mental celibacy. The Hindus and the Taoists share this same
view that the vital force of the semen must be retain and sent upwards
towards the crown. The physical union between the male and female is
forsaken and instead the internal union of the male (shiva) and female
(shakti) takes place. Otherwise the outburst of energy can be of danger
to the student. This sudden and massive release of awareness and energy
can unbalance the student psychologically.

Methodology of awakening the kundalini

Although tantric yoga taught by an awakened teacher is the most potent
and trust-worthy method, many other spiritual practices (sadhanas) may
also partially awaken the serpent. The usual practices in India are firstly to
withdraw from the external world and to purify oneself with pure
thoughts, diet and proper exercises. Then he may indulge in one of the
five forms of yogas: (1) hatha, (2) bhakti, (3) karma, (4) nana and (5) raja.
Kundalini may be partially awakened even if all these methods are
improperly or incompletely done and also because of past life practices.
To an uninitiated student, the symptoms may frighten him. His practice
will come to an abrupt stop, but with an experienced teacher or guru, the
latter will guide him along gradually. The student must not force the issue
or over do the practice.

Tantra Yoga
This yoga is par excellence in raising the kundalini. It centers on worshiping
the Shakti, the mother of the universe. Tantric yoga does not mean sexual
relationships only. In some forms of tantra a male-female relationship may
be involved, but the genuine participants take it up to the realm of energy
and consciousness and do not remain in the physical realm. They are now
embodiments of shiva and shakti and are not physical bodies. In a purer
form of tantra, Shakti is worshiped through meditation and mantra so that
he is in direct relationship with the shiva and shakti within himself, and he
unites them within himself. The practice is of course much more elaborate
than what is described here and is totally guided by the guru.

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Under the guidance of a guru
Without proper guidance by a guru, the partial awakening is not repeat-
able at will, although blissful experience of ecstasy and illumination may
be encountered. However with the tutelage of an experienced guru, kun-
dalini yoga may be guided to initiate the arising of the serpent. The super-
vision must be close and gradual. The mind must be purified first. What
is a pure mind? A pure mind has no personal desires nor has it an inkling
of revenge. It does not take advantage of the weakness or need of anoth-
er person. A pure mind does not exploit the emotional dependence of
another person. A pure mind does not result from simply being a vege-
tarian.

When the student is ready, he is given a ‘seed’ mantra to concentrate on.

This initiation is practiced conjointly with spiritual and physical exercises
together with mental disciplines to prepare the student. Then more diffi-
cult forms of meditation are taught in order for the student to be sensi-
tive to the force within, and be ready to channel up the force when it aris-
es. All this falls within a systematic scheme of things.

Shaktipat Diksha
Then in further progression a higher initiation called shaktipat diksha is
given. This involves the guru to transmit energy directly to the initiate to
remove the final obstacles so that the serpent can be awakened for its
upward journey. This can be done through a touch, a glance or a thought.
Thence the guru’s power can be transmitted to the student immediately.
Temporarily, the student may be transported to a higher divine con-
sciousness, which may last for an hour or a few days. After this the ser-
pent returns to its abode at the base of the spine. He is now transformed
because he has experienced directly the awakened state, although he did
not achieve it through his own effort. Some of his creativity has been kin-
dled, and spiritually, morally and intellectually he has been elevated.
However, now he has to practice himself and intensify his efforts for
many more years so that the serpent may repeated be awakened and guid-
ed correctly up the spine.

Special cases of kundalini arousal:

Swami Muktananda (died in 1983) described the usual heaviness of the
head, sensations of heat and pain at the base of his spine. He had invol-

66
untary movements due to energy flows through the body and unusual
breathing patterns. There were inner lights and sounds, visions and voic-
es. Then the most unusual experience is this repeated sexual excitement
that he described with great agony: “Every day brought new kriyas and
new experiences. One day, my body and senses became possessed by sex-
ual desire….I was meditating in my hut at Suki, and in meditation I was
seeing the red light. I was happy. Then, in the middle of my meditation,
came a kriya that was utterly humiliating…All the love and intoxication I
had felt in meditation left me… Instead, in their place came a powerful
sexual desire… I could think of nothing but sex! My whole body boiled
with lust, and I cannot describe the agony in my sexual organ. Whether
my eyes are open or shut, a beautiful woman would appear to entice me.
The naked woman pursued me, finally standing in front of me. She began
to torture me excruciatingly with only one apparent objective: she wanted
no other sacrifice save my sacred vow of celibacy.” He traveled to
Ghrishneshvara to a sadhana hut in Nagad. In this hut while doing his
sadhana, he was asked to read a book in the cupboard. This book
explained that this sexual desire is due to the piercing of the 2nd
(Svadhisthana) chakra. This process is the turning of the flow of the sem-
inal fluid upwards towards shiva. The naked, beautiful damsel was actual-
ly the Goddess Kundalini! After reading the book his progress was with-
out obstacle.

Gopi Krishna (1903-1984)

Gopi Krishna was born in Kashmir and later lived in Punjab. He was an
Indian householder, who after 17 years of unsupervised meditation, at 34
years old experienced the awakening of kundalini during his morning
meditation. He was doing fine in an exercise of concentration on a lotus.
In his own words: “I suddenly felt a strange sensation below the base of
the spine, at the place touching the seat, while I sat cross-legged on a fold-
ed blanket spread on the floor. The sensation was so extraordinary and so
pleasing that my attention was forcibly drawn towards it. The moment my
attention was thus unexpectedly withdrawn from the point on which it
was focused, the sensation ceased. Thinking that it was a trick played by
my imagination, I fixed my attention on the lotus at the top of head, again
the sensation occurred. This time the sensation went upwards and was so
intense and extraordinary… My mind went towards it, and at that very
moment it again disappeared.” The sensation came and went, until with a

67
‘roar like a waterfall’, he became ‘all consciousness’ and ‘immersed in a sea
of light.’ “ The days that followed had all the appearance of a prolonged
nightmare…. The keen desire to meditate, which had always been present
during the preceding days, disappeared suddenly and was replaced by a
feeling of horror of the supernatural…. I could not bear to have a light
in my room after I retired to bed. The moment my head touched the pil-
low a large tongue of flame sped across the spine into the interior of my
head. It appeared as if a stream of living light continuously rushing
through the spinal cord into the cranium gathered speed and volume dur-
ing the hours of darkness. Whenever I closed my eyes I found myself
looking into a weird circle of light, in which luminous currents swirled
and eddied, moving rapidly side to side.”

“The heat grew every moment, causing such unbearable pain that I
writhed and twisted from side to side while streams of cold perspiration
poured down my face and limbs. But still the heat increased and soon it
seemed as if innumerable red-hot pins were coursing through my body,
scorching and blistering the organs and tissues like flying sparks. Suffering
the most excruciating torture, I clenched my hands and bit my lips to stop
myself from leaping out of bed and crying at the top of my voice. Flesh
and blood could not stand such strain. There was dreadful disturbance in
all the organs, each so alarming and painful that I wonder how I managed
to retain my self-possession under the onslaught. The whole delicate sys-
tem was burning, withering away completely under the fiery blast racing
through its interior.

He could not eat. Neither could he sleep. He felt like dying. The heat was
awful, scorching his throat, which was parched. When he got out of bed,
he was unsteady on his feet, trembling. He was also on the verge of mad-
ness and self-violence. Then a miracle of thought came into his mind:
“….burning in every fiber, lashed as it were by a fiery rain of red-hot nee-
dles piercing my skin. At this moment a fearful idea struck me. Could it
be that I had aroused Kundalini through pingala or the solar nerve, which
regulates the flow of heat in the body and is located on the right side of
sushumna? If so, I was doomed. I thought desperately and as if by divine
dispensation the idea flashed across my brain to make a last-minute
attempt to arouse ida, or the lunar nerve on the left side, to activity, thus
neutralizing the dreadful burning effect of the devouring fire within. With

68
my mind reeling and senses deadened with pain, but with all the will-
power left at my command, I brought my attention to bear on the left side
of the seat of Kundalini, and tried to force an imaginary cold current
upward through the middle of the spinal cord. In that extraordinarily
extended, agonized, and exhausted state of consciousness, I distinctly felt
the location of the nerve and strained hard mentally to divert its flow into
the central channel. Then, as if waiting for the destined moment, a mira-
cle happened.

There was a sound like a nerve thread snapping and instantaneously a sil-
very streak passed zigzag through the spinal cord, exactly like the sinuous
movement of a white serpent in rapid flight, pouring an effulgent, cas-
cading shower of brilliant vital energy into my brain, filling my head with
a blissful lustre in place of the flame that had been tormenting me for the
last three hours. Completely taken by surprise at this sudden transforma-
tion of the fiery current, darting across the entire network of my nerves
only a moment before, and overjoyed at the cessation of pain, I remained
absolutely quiet and motionless for some time, tasting the bliss of relief
with a mind flooded with emotion, unable to believe I was really free of
the horror. Tortured and exhausted to the point of collapse by the agony
I had suffered during the terrible interval, I immediately fell asleep, bathed
in the light and for the first time after weeks of anguish felt the sweet
embrace of restful sleep.”

Lee Sannella classify all the above signs and symptoms of kundalini arous-
al into four categories:

1. Motor ---- any manifestation that can be independently observed

and measured.

a) Automatic Body Movements and Postures. These kriyas are spontaneous,

although the devotee may inhibit them. They can affect any part of the
body. The movements may be smooth, sinuous, spasmodic and jerky, or
vibratory. They range from muscle twitching to prolonged trembling to
the automatic assumption of otherwise difficult and maybe even impos-
sible yogic postures (asanas, mudras, etc). The person may not know these
practices beforehand, and if one is not conversant with them, dating these
practices maybe impossible. These may include spontaneous crying,

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laughing, screaming, and whistling.

b) Unusual Breathing Patterns. The yogin aspires to control the flow of

prana in order to harmonize his bodily energies and increase his vitality.
This is to prepare for the awakening of the kundalini. Pranayama comes
from ‘prana’ meaning life force and ‘ayama’ meaning “extension, length-
ening”. This word then means “breath control”, which also means con-
trolling the life force. Therein lies the danger. Therefore rapid breathing,
shallow breathing, deep breathing, or extended breath retention may
come about in the manifestation of kundalini awakening. If these phe-
nomena are spontaneous they may cause a great deal of anxiety. The mas-
ters warn against using pranayama to accelerate the kundalini’s ascent.

c) Paralysis. Sometimes during deep meditation, one is locked in certain

postures. As these partial paralyses are worrying, one can explain away
these changes by emotional support and rational explanation to the devo-
tee. The paralysis maybe a secondary manifestation of a primary underly-
ing organic weakness stimulated by the arising of kundalini energy.

2. Sensory Phenomena
a) Tickling Sensations. There is tickling, itching or vibrations of the skin or
underlying tissues. They may extend as a deep ecstatic tickle and orgasmic
feelings. These feelings emanate as a ‘bullock cart’ wheel: starting from the
feet, up the legs, pelvis and moving up the back to the neck and the crown
of the head and then down the forehead, the face, the throat, and the
abdomen, where they terminate.

b) Heat and Cold Sensations. Temperature changes quite often occur to

either part or whole of the body. They may also move through the body
but mostly without any pattern.

c) Inner Lights and Visions. A variety of light experiences do occur

amongst the yogins. The light may be white, red or blue. There maybe
white and black spots in them. They can cover the whole body or localize
to certain parts or organs of the body. Rarely, the whole room is illumi-
nated, and if other people see this, this is the surest sign of the realization
of the cosmic realm. Further concrete proof is the visible aura or halo of
the enlightened person seen by other people.

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d) Inner Sounds. A variety of sounds or noises such as whistling, hiss-
ing, chirping, and roaring may be heard. These are very common. They
vary according to the type of meditation practice. The typical transcen-
dental sound is that mystical one called “OM”.

e) Pain. Pain may be felt in the head, the eyes, spine and other parts of
the body. They may appear abruptly and disappear just as fast. It may last
for seconds or hours. The explanation is that the yogin may be subcon-
sciously resisting the arising of the kundalini or the kundalini energy is
purifying the chakras as it ascends the spine. Some tension headaches are
said to be due to partial awakening of the kundalini.

3. Interpretive Phenomena

a) Unusual or extreme Emotion. In the awakening, feelings of ecstasy, bliss,

peace, love, devotion, joy, and cosmic harmony may occur. On the oppo-
site side, intense fear, anxiety, confusion, depression, and even hatred may
also be felt. The first set of positive feelings tends to be present more in
the later stages of the awakening.

b) Distortions of Thought Processes. Thinking may be speeded up, slowed

down, or altogether stopped. Thoughts may seem off balance, strange, or
irrational. The person may feel that he is going mad. He may go into
trance states, or he may become impulsive, alienated or confused. In deep
meditation (as in vipassana), the myriad of thoughts in their subtlety and
complexity tend to bewilder the meditator to a great extend. This is the
stirring up of the unconscious, some of which is very unpleasant to the
yogin. These fantasies can knock the unstable yogin off balance.

c) Detachment. The individual feels that he is an independent observer

of his own thoughts, feelings and sensations. He has become a ‘seer’, but
not aloof. His normal daily function is unimpaired.

d) Dissociation. When there is deep psychological disturbances, fear,

confusion, or social and other environmental pressures present, the above
detached seeing may lead to hysteria, akin to a schizophrenia state. Or he
may become egotistical as he has been chosen ‘for a great a mission’.

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e) Single Seeing. The eyes of the yogin do not distinguish the object from
its background. Both are seen as one. Turning the eyes inwardly, both
inner and outer landscapes are seen at the same time. Many direct and
indirect references have been made to single seeing or the ‘one eye’ to
depict an advancement of spirituality. In Luke 11:34; “the light of the
body is the eye; therefore when thine eye is single thy whole body is also
full of light”.

f) “Great Body” Experience. Sometimes in deep meditation or in the

ascent of the kundalini, the body feels much larger than normal. There is
an exaggerated sensation of the ballooning out of the physical body,
which also seems heavy, like lead.

4. Nonphysical Phenomena
a) Out-of-body Experiences. This phenomenon is rare amongst meditators.
However they do occur.
b) Psychic Perceptions. Clairvoyance, telepathy and predictions do occur
with individuals who have succeeded in awakening the kundalini. Again,
these paranormal experiences are sporadic and are not constant. Most of
these abilities do not arise on demand.

All the above signs and symptoms may arise after awakening the kundali-
ni. But they may also come about in people who meditate constantly and
regularly, without the arousal of the kundalini.

Kundalini versus Psychosis

From the above signs and symptoms, one must differentiate psychosis
from arising of the kundalini. This is not easy, especially if the therapist
or psychiatrist has not heard of kundalini. The awakened person can diag-
nose partial awakening in another subject. The psychiatrist can diagnose
schizophrenia easily, but give him a case of kundalini arousal, he may fum-
ble and label the yogin with partial awakening as pure psychotic. However,
there are certain signs and symptoms which occur are more in one and
not the other:

Sensations of heat are much more common in kundalini states but are
rare in normal psychosis.

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 Vibrations or fluttering, tingling, and itching that move in definite pat-
terns all over the body. These patterns may be irregular if the arousal
is atypical.

Bright lights are seen internally in kundalini arousal.

Pain, especially in the head may come suddenly and it may also disap-
pear as suddenly. It comes during a critical period of the arousal.
Unusual breathing patterns are common in kundalini.

Mudras such as automatic movements, gestures as in prayers and even

dancing are almost exclusively due to kundalini arousal.

In kundalini cases noises such as whistling and chirping are heard, but
not negative intrusion of voices. In psychosis, voices give negative
instructions to the patients to do harm to self or others.

In guided and systematic kundalini arousal, the symptoms will disappear

spontaneously over time. This is because it is a process of purification,
and the process must be self-limiting. It is also therapeutic as they remove
pathological elements in the body. The kundalini energy is always positive
and creative if it takes its own gradual course and not forced. At the end
of the kundalini process, the individual is usually at peace, and he is now
able to handle much greater stress than before. The best course to take is
to find a guru who himself has successfully awakened his kundalini and
let him guide you to fruition. Without proper preparation, the individual
is bound to deem himself psychotic when mental and emotional symp-
toms arise. There may well be many a patient in mental homes who are
not psychotic, but merely has accidentally awakened his kundalini partial-
ly. The institutionalization of the man alone may drive him crazy!

Therefore in assessing a patient, the psychiatrist (and not merely a GP),

must be very cognizant of the kundalini process. With the above distinc-
tions enumerated and his ability to ‘smell’ out a schizophrenic he may
then come to a correct diagnosis. Without this knowledge all GP’s and
most psychiatrists will diagnose them as psychotic. If the patient is sent
to an awakened master, the guru will be more likely to tell the difference.

Must spiritual life begin only through the kundalini?

Gopi Krishna and some schools of thought avow that spiritual life and

73
therefore enlightenment is dependent entirely on the awakening of the
kundalini. This cannot be the case because there are many traditions
(Buddhists, Taoists, Sufis and Christians) and other Hindus whose mem-
bers attained enlightenment without the arousing of the kundalini. The
adept, Da Love-Ananda (Da Free John), put forward the same idea as the
Vedantists and Mahayana Buddhists that authentic spirituality is the tran-
scendence of the ego, the body-mind and all experiential states.
Enlightenment means there is no separation from Transcendental Reality
(The Absolute). He said:

You have been contracted upon yourself with emotional force, and no
amount of thinking, considering, experiencing, desiring, exploiting, and
manipulating yourself in the world can affect that contraction. No awak-
ening of the kundalini touches it. It has nothing to do with the kundalini.
You can have kundalini experiences until you are yawning with boredom,
yet you will not have touched this emotional recoil at all.

Seeing that it is the ego that prevents enlightenment, spiritual practice

consists of consistently going beyond the wall of the ego, and reaching
out and embracing all life beyond fearlessly, with an open heart. In an
unpublished talk dated July 8. 1978, Da Love-Ananda remarked:

The lust for the kundalini in the brain is exactly the same as the lust for
the kundalini in the sex center. It is using that mechanism in a different
direction. But neither direction is towards God…Attachment to the brain
through inversion of attention in the kundalini, or the Life-current, is tra-
ditionally promoted as the way to God. This is an error that has crept into
the spiritual traditions. The way to God is not via the kundalini. The awak-
ening of the kundalini and becoming absorbed in the brain core is not
God-realization. It has nothing to do with God-realization. It is simply a
way of tuning into an extraordinary evolutionary mechanism. The way to
God-realization is the one by which that mechanism is understood and
transcended completely.

Da Love-Ananda has had many experiences of completely raising the

kundalini himself. He advocates the ‘Way of the Heart’ as the means to
enlightenment. It begins and continues as taking responsibility of one’s
own emotions: one’s lovelessness, distrust, moods, sense of conflict and

74
fear. One then has to transcend the negative and the positive emotions
and all psychic and paranormal experiences. The fire is in the heart and
not in the perineum or in the brain!

The Dangers of Arousing of the Kundalini

Swami Kripalvananda in his Science of Meditation followed the advice
quoted in the preface with two more paragraphs:

Many seekers are found wandering here and there in search of a guru who
will awaken their kundalini…. Although thousands may claim that they
know kundalini and that their kundalini is awakened, it is doubtful if even
one of them really had such knowledge or experience.

To awaken the kundalini power is one thing, but to make it move upward
into the passage of the sushumna is something else. In the beginning, as
the kundalini is awakened, the seeker feels a lot of enthusiasm. But as he
advances in (meditation), he begins to encounter various menaces of kun-
dalini. Only one with great courage can cope with these menaces; it is sim-
ply not possible for all to do so.

Sri Chinmoy reckons that there are two ways of arousing the kundalini:
(1) the tantric process and (2) the vedantic process. He warns that the
tantric approach is systematic and elaborate but quite dangerous. The
vedantic method is simple, mystical but safe and no less fulfilling. The
tantric method is dangerous because it deals with the lower vital and emo-
tional life. It is also dynamic and courageous, but one has to be strong
internally to conquer the vital forces of the kundalini energy. The vedan-
tic method is safe because he purifies himself and expands his conscious-
ness first before he deals with the obscure, impure lower forces of the
kundalini. Further awakening of the kundalini does not mean God-real-
ization. God-realization is much more superior, and at that moment all
one’s chakras are automatically opened.

According to Alice Bailey one needs to have ordered meditation of no

more than 40 minutes per day. One’s development must take years with
service. A normal and quiet life is imperative. Purification of mind and
body and suppression of volatile emotions must accompany all this. One
must not indulge in meditating for hours or arousing of any particular

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chakra. There should not be any fanatical dieting or curtailing of sleep.
Together with these last two habits an intense interest in psychic power
will inevitably end in ‘psychosis’. Pranayama or other breathing exercises
should not be undertaken without expert guidance.

Qigong
Qi is life energy. It is the animating power or prana that enervate all things.
A living person has this life force: a healthy person has more qi than an ill
person. A dead person has no more qi left and thus there is no more
warmth. To be healthy, the qi must be clear and unpolluted. It should not
be turbid and it must be flowing smoothly and not blocked.

Gong means work. Qigong means working with this life force, and learn-
ing to control and distribute the qi to improve the health of mind and
body. Qigong is a whole system of exercise and meditation. The exercise
includes postures, movements, massage and breathing techniques. Qi is
accumulated and stored in the body. In disease, the polluted qi is cleansed
into pure healing qi. Impure qi is eliminated by proper breathing tech-
niques.

Qigong is a practice because it is a daily exercise of 20 to 40 minutes. It is

an enjoyable exercise. It requires only some time and hardly any money.
There are techniques for every body of any age and physical condition.
No equipment or large space is necessary. It can be practiced with stand-
ing, sitting or supine methods. With slight modification the handicapped
can also practice some of the techniques.

Categories of qigong
It is generally divided into active (dong gong) and passive (jing gong):

(1) Dynamic (active) qigong means movement of postures as in a dance

or if a posture is fixed movements of the arms. Dong gong is yang and
active concealing the passive ying. Movement is the external appearance,
but internally the mind is quiet and tranquil.

(2) Passive (tranquil) qigong is meditation with the body being still. Qi
is controlled by concentration, visualization and breathing techniques.
Jing gong is passive yin externally, but internally the mind is alert and

76
actively yang. With the body still the breath moves the qi.

Although dynamic dong gong is movement and passive jing gong is med-
itation, there is no rigid line drawn between the two. To balance yin and
yang, in movement there must be stillness in the mind. In restful medita-
tion, the mind must be aware with attention.

In its application, qigong can also be divided into:

a) External Healing Qi. This is similar to cosmic healing.

b) Meditative or Spiritual Qigong (Jing Gong). This is meditation (jing gong)

which is practiced as a complement to the active dong gong (yang), the
commoner or popular qigong. There is a tendency to subdivide it as
Buddhist and Taoist, but whatever classifications the essence is to attain
‘a sound mind in a sound body’.

c) Healing qigong is the major movement nowadays. Complemented with med-

itation, the active part includes stretching, deep breathing, low impact
conditioning, and isometrics. This practice increases stamina and
improves coordination.

So basically one learns qigong in order to establish medical and health

benefits. The remaining types of qigong should not interest us. The most
popular type of easy daily exercise nowadays is Taiji Quan. A smaller
number of people would go to a teacher for proper and graduated train-
ing for physical and mental health and this is now generally called qigong.

Dangers of qigong
Although most qigong techniques are innocuous especially when guided
by an expert teacher, dangers may be encountered if one is too impatient
or eager and does not follow the teacher’s guidance.

Qigong Psychosis
Kenneth S Cohen coined the terms qigong psychosis and qigong psy-
chotic reaction in late 1970s. These are direct translation of the Chinese
expression zou huo ru mo, ????, “fire wild, devils enter”. In 1994, the
“Glossary of Culture-Bound Syndromes” of the diagnostic manual of

77
the American Psychiatric Association states:

Qigong psychotic reaction: A term describing an acute, time-limited episode character-

ized by dissociative, paranoid, or other psychotic or non-psychotic symptoms that may
occur after participation in the Chinese folk health-enhancing practice of qigong.
Especially vulnerable are individuals who become overly involved in the practice.

More is not always better. The lesson here is that the individual should not
overwhelmingly go overboard to practice qigong, both active exercises and
passive meditation. Kenneth Cohen cites two cases of a Taiji Quan teacher
and a Buddhist master. Both were teachers of qigong, but both were out of
touch with reality. The Taiji Quan teacher, after ten years of practice, is hal-
lucinating about his ‘third aura’, which is non-existent in any spiritual prac-
tice. He was told to stop teaching and to do 20 minutes of standing medi-
tation every morning. After one year his delusion disappeared.
The Buddhist master after spending 25 years of qigong is out of touch
with reality. He was constantly talking to God by invoking deities, but he
could not carry on a normal conversation with his friends.

In 25 years of teaching qigong, Kenneth Cohen had met 5 or 6 qigong

teachers and at least 50 qigong students who developed similar problems
after excessive practice of going too fast ignoring proper instructions. Dr.
Zhang Tongling, professor of psychiatry at the Beijing Medical University,
runs a clinic for the obsessive qigong practitioners. In a series of 145
patients she found that hallucinations emanating from excessive practice
of qigong without guidance is common. The advice given here is: proceed
gradually step by step. Do not overload your qi circuits by trying to do too
much too soon. Do not neglect the joys of life. Relax and not to be
obsessed with qi all the time.

Bruce Kumar Frantzis was fully trained in mainland China by one of

this century’s greatest Taoist masters. He has written a book called
‘Opening The Energy Gates Of Your Body’. In the Appendix C of this
book he described a few cases that went wrong:

Case 1: Too much Qi is painful.

This case concerns a man who was taught the basic ‘Hsing I Nei Gung’
practice of sinking the qi to the lower tantien (hara) in Amoy. After two

78
years of practice the student became very powerful. When his teacher left
for another city, this man began learning secret techniques from other
teachers. He practiced these new techniques diligently. The combination
of the new with the old ended in forcing the qi below the tantien into his
genitals. He literally broke the barrier between the lower tantien and the
genitals, emptying the tantien of qi. This resulted in mental and physical
problems including involuntary semen emissions and hallucinations. His
masters took three years to bring him back to normal.

Case 2: Vibrating Qi
In many qigong practices, there is a desire to deliberately trying to vibrate
qi in the body, bones, tissues, brain etc. The breathing becomes rapid. The
untoward aspects of this practice are that power usurps compassion.
Symptoms of hallucinations and megalomania may also induce a mental
illness. The shaking, the shutting and opening continue even after the
practice is stopped, and this can damage the internal organs. This is like
the partial awakening of the kundalini. Cancer patients when they practice
this method tend to worsen their disease, because the primary cancer will
send secondaries elsewhere.

Fukien White Crane

Psychosis will result when the enhanced qi goes up to the brain. This is
quite common in the ‘Fukien White Crane’ type of practice. The madness
starts with arrogance and breaking of bones due to the power. Some of
the other symptoms are (1) Hallucinations with out-of-body experiences,
(2) Things are moving much faster then they actually are, (3) Stiffening of
the internal and external body, (4) Thirst for power, (5) Feeling constant-
ly active and restless and unable to calm down. 6) Experiencing involun-
tary movements and body spasms. The remedy is to drain and re-pattern
the vibrational qi.

A personal case of qigong psychosis

This is a good friend of mine. He was 64 years of age and retired from
his profession. He started to practice qigong under a teacher. Everything
was fine for a year. Then he started to feel strong and powerful. He used
to tell me that he was so healthy and strong that he carried his own golf
clubs and did not require a buggy to ferry him about. Then a few months
later, he told me that he was radiant and light, and that he can put his arms

79
up towards a tree and receives white light and energy from the tree. This
sounded a little odd to me then, but there were no other symptoms.
Suddenly one evening his son rang me up to say that his father was psy-
chotic. He was meditating almost the whole night and then suddenly he
began to shout vehemently. He was paranoid and insisted that there were
evil spirits in the house. Then he began to cut round holes out of the car-
pet where he was meditating. Then he also put his hands around the wife’s
neck trying to shake off or blow off the evil spirit in her. When I spoke
to him on the phone, he seemed to confide knowingly that there are spir-
its around his house and he did not want to elaborate as he might anger
them. I told the son to stop him from practicing qigong straightaway and
to ask the psychiatrist to prescribe a certain drug. He slowly improves
from then onwards. In this case he practiced only for 18 months.
However, in the last few weeks he overdid it and even tried to meditate
the whole night.

Conclusion
From the descriptions of the above two methods of spiritual paths, one
can discern that psychosis may develop if the student over meditates, say
several hours at one stretch. If the meditation is too intensive and the
focus is on one or two chakras, then ill effects may arise. It is not so much
the active part (dong gong) of the practice, but the meditative exercise
that can go awry. In jing gong it is also the partial awakening of the kun-
dalini that is to blame. In tantra yoga, it is not the physical exercise of
hatha yoga that causes trouble. It is the meditative portion of the tantric
practice that can go very wrong, especially when too much and too inten-
sive energy is expended in the meditation. Generally, any form of medi-
tation can give rise to psychosis. It need not be kundalini or qigong. A
friend of mine had a skin disease twenty years ago. He was doing
Buddhist meditation (samatha) in a stupa, in which urns of ashes of
deceased people were kept. He thought he could self-cure himself if he
meditated as long as he could in the stupa. He probably went into para-
jhana, where his Buddha-mind or consciousness vacated his body. He was
in an ‘empty’ state. After two months of meditating in the stupa, he
became totally unhinged. Apparently three different types of entities took
over his personality: he spoke in three different languages through out the
day. He remained possessed in this fashion for many years. Many lay peo-
ple in the Far East would like to go to Thai monasteries and be monks for

80
a month or so. There are no radio, television or books to read in these
monasteries. They meditate about 8-10 hours a day and stop eating after
midday. This monastery practice can drive quite a few crazy, especially if
they are not guided. Most of them are not properly guided. So the answer
is not to meditate unguided for long periods of time.

References
1) Kenneth S. Cohen. The ways of Qigong. A Ballantine Book. 1997.

2) B.K. Frantzis. Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body. North Atlantic
Books. 1993.

3) Krishna, Gopi Kundalini, The Evolutionary Energy in Man. Shambala.

Boston and London 1997.

4) Krishna, Gopi. The Awakening of Kundalini. New York: E.P. Dutton,

1975

5) Edited by John White. Kundalini, Evolution and Enlightenment. Paragon

House. St. Paul, Minnesota. 1990.

6) Lee Sannella, M.D. The Kundalini Experience. Integral Publishing 1992.

7) Arundale, G.S. Kundalini: An occult Experience. Wheaton, Ill,

Theosophical Publishing House, 1970.

8) Chinmoy, Sri. Kundalini: The Mother Power. New York: Chinmoy

Lighthouse Publishing, 1974.

9) Kripalvananda, Swami. Science of Meditation. Gujarat, India: Sri

Dahyabha Hirabhai Patel, 1977. Available through the Kripalu Yoga
Ashram, Sunnytown, Pa.18084.

10) Woodroffe, Sir John. The Serpent Power. Madras, India: Ganesh &
Co., 1974

81
 Death and the
Spirit World
Dying Unto Death.

"On the day when death will knock at thy door

What wilt thou offer him?

I will set before my guest the full vessel of my life.

I will never let him go with empty hands"

Rabindranath Tagore

“……so few know the art of dying. For dying, like living, is an art and if only
most of us mastered the art of dying as much as we seek to master the art of living,
there be many more happy deaths.

The fact of the matter, however, is that the art of living is not different from the art
of dying; in fact, the one flows into the other, and cannot be separated one from the
other. He who has mastered the art of living has already mastered the art of dying;
to such, death holds no terrors”.

M. V. Kamath - Philosophy of Death and Dying

82
Introduction
The Western world, the developing and developed world are all death
denying. We do not talk or discuss death. The subject of death is taboo.
Even in death we dress up the corpses as if they are healthy and alive. We
lie to the children that grandma has gone for a long holiday. In the devel-
oped world with modern medicine we make belief that death can be con-
quered. The richer we are the more we believe that that conquest appears
more probable. Most of the time we hear or read about death of other
people with whom we have no close relationship or we do not know them
at all. Most of us have not really sat down to contemplate or pontificate
our own death. Even if we consider the impending death of the one dear-
est to us, it is not quite the same. To face and confront our own death is
a very healthy exercise, but few of us exercise it.

From the second we are born, we are inexorably marching towards our
death. Death is with us like a shadow. We cannot shed it off. If we can live
life with the comfortable accompaniment of death, then we can begin to
live. After all we are the ones that fix our own date of death in our G-plan
in the spirit world. No amount of superstition or avoidance can alter that
date. Unless one has just embarked on a momentous project, which will
benefit hundreds of thousands of people that date remains fixed. All the
religious steps to prevent death or meritorious acts will not stop the onset
of death. Even modern science will fail. Ecclesiates said, " To every thing
there is a season . . a time to be born and a time to die. . ."

Reasons for fearing death

Death is a biological process, a function of the body, whilst dying is a psy-
chological process, a function of the mind. Only humans fear to die.
Animals do not. Of course animals will struggle to avoid the ultimate
deathblow, but they do not plan to thwart the advent of death. There are
reasons for this. Animals do not possess an ego and they live only in the
present. They do not foresee the future as humans do. In old age, animals
naturally retire to die somewhere secluded. Ernest Becker in the ‘Denial
of Death’ says the fear of death is ‘the basic fear that influences all oth-
ers, a fear from which no one is immune. . .’ Humans fear it so much that
they become too afraid to live. Everything they do is to avoid death. In
their ignorance they use all means to escape death. Humans try to instill

83
immortality by accumulating money, build tall buildings in their own
names and acquire or create works of art to deny death. With wealth they
hope that medical science could put off death indefinitely. How deluded
we are! Death must follow life as night must follow day. Up to date
nobody has escape death: not even Jesus, Buddha or Mohamed.

As humans can anticipate the future, they tend to project the most unde-
sirable aspects of death in their mind. In the Western world, in reinforc-
ing of the ego one identifies with the body and mind. So the demise of
the body is equivalent to total extinction. In the Eastern tradition espe-
cially with meditation practise the ego is being reduced with each medita-
tion practise. There is also less fear of death because of the belief in rein-
carnation.

Should the physician inform the patient the truth of his

diagnosis?
The physician should never lie to the patient. The physician should
inform the patient the seriousness of his disease and that the patient will
be given the best treatment available. Prognosis as to how long the patient
will live should never be given to the patient or close relatives. Nobody
can ever foretell the outcome of a terminal illness. Nobody is ever sure of
the degree of malignancy, the resistance of the patient and when will
there be the discovery of new drugs. Always demonstrate an optimistic
demeanour and a positive outlook. Be sincere and be involved. Be sym-
pathetic and compassionate.

The Five Stages of Coping Mechanism in the Terminal Ill

The five stages are:

Denial (shock)
Anger (emotion)
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance (increased self-reliance)

The above are the 5 stages classified by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross after she

84
has interviewed over 200 terminal ill patients. The interviews were made
after they have been told about their disease. She is a psychiatrist who has
pioneered the reactions to death and dying and put the plight of terminal
ill patients on the medical agenda. Without her work we would not be in
the present state of knowledge on this subject of death and dying.

The patients have either been explicitly told or they will inevitably find out
about their condition. Not all will go through the entire 5 stages sequen-
tially. Not all the 5 stages will be gone through in the grief process. Some
will be stuck at one stage and remain until death. Some will remain at one
stage, but will move to resolution after some time. Some will skip a stage.
If the medical or family supporters are not conducive, there may be
regression back from an advanced stage to an earlier one. The close rela-
tives or love ones will also undergo these 5 stages together with the
patient during the illness or experience them after the demise of the
patient.

First Stage of Denial and Isolation

The shock of the news of the terminal illness will drive the patient into
loneliness and guilt. The shock will result in internal conflict and mean-
inglessness. Usually denial is a temporary defence and then they move on
to the next stage. Out of the 200 cases of Dr. Ross, only 3 held on to their
denial till the end. Most patients need to use denial at the beginning of the
disease. As time goes on, the patient starts to look at the brighter side of
things and may even daydream about much happier occasions. Much later
the patient may start to use isolation as a compensatory defence. He may
use contradictory statements as health and illness to express his ambiva-
lence of facing despair and hope at the same time. Soon the patient may
drop the ‘No, not me’ syndrome and become more realistic and begin to
accept the inevitable outcome of the disease. The supporting medical and
social staff should themselves acknowledge the outcome of the disease
and the stages that the patient is undergoing.

The Second Stage of Anger

Having gone through all the years of study at the university and slogging
away at a Ph.D., a man has finally begun to enjoy the benefits and profits
of his self-own company. Being a CEO of the company has rewarded him
with full control of everything. His family of 3 children has also turned

85
out beautifully. And now suddenly, the diagnosis of a terminal cancer has
been handed down to him. "Why me?" is the natural exclamation. "Why
not that bum of a beggar at the corner of the street? He has been embar-
rassing everybody in the street and is of no use to humankind." These are
expostulations that are quite natural for someone who has been stricken
down at one fell swoop at the height of his career. This is definitely unfair.
If there is a God, he must be a blind one! The denial of the 1st stage is
now being replaced by the 2nd stage of anger and rage when one has
realised that the diagnosis is accurate. The important thing is that the
medical and nursing staff should not take these outbursts personally. It is
just a reaction of a desperate victim. He should be helped with under-
standing and compassion. The best way is to sit down calmly and listen to
the patient and let him spell it all out. Interject very occasionally with
some wise and rational explanation. Be sympathetic and do not lose one’s
cool on the patient. If you listen carefully, you may detect the reason for
the patient’s anger from his childhood days. An angry person will end up
as an angry patient in the 2nd stage. He will end up as an angry spirit when
he dies!

The Third Stage of Bargaining

Gradually the patient will realise that if the terminal illness is true, it is
quite useless in trying to deny it, and getting angry does not help the sit-
uation. Perhaps trying another tack like bargaining may help. Like a child,
can he postpone the inevitable if he behaves himself ? Can he have some
pain-free days if he promises to dedicate the remainder of his life to the
service of God? Can God wait until his son is married if he goes to
church every week from now onwards? All these bargaining pleas are
either made in secret or privately with the chaplain or priest. If he donates
all his organs for transplantation can the physician help in prolonging his
life? When the priest or physician comes to know about these bargaining
pleas, there is mostly some underlying guilt for neglecting the church or
not donating money to charities. This stage is usually short-lived and does
not last long. However these promises are usually not kept. After promis-
ing that this is the last time, another bargaining plea will arise if another
occasion warrants it.

The Fourth Stage of Depression

After repeated surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the patient now

86
realises that he is weaker and can function less ably. Two types of depres-
sion will set in. The first is a reactionary one. This type embraces cases
that deem themselves as incapable of functioning as a female or a male.
It includes those who have lost their jobs and are unable to support the
family. Or the mother is now not able to look after the children and has
to depend on the neighbours. These reactionary cases may be remedied
by prosthesis of the breast or suitable makeup. Social workers can come
in to help with the loss of jobs and earnings. Something can always come
to alleviate the hardship or loss of self-image.

However the second type of depression is the preparatory stage for the
final outcome. This is quite a different kettle of fish. Not only is he los-
ing a job, he is losing everything that he has: all relationships and all things
material. Where will he end up? Is he ending up in hell? Or will he be anni-
hilated into nothingness? His whole life is going to end up as a total mean-
ingless journey: he is not needed and unloved. All these are preparing him
for the final exit from this world. This type of depression cannot be
erased by the usual encouragement to cheerfulness. This depression is a
silent one and the patient wants time and space to plan out his demise. It
is better not to be garrulous, but a holding of a hand or a stroking of the
hair or sitting quietly with the patient is a correct approach. He might ask
for a prayer or to read some passages from a favourite poem of his. Of
course if he were to bring out all his ‘failures’ of his past life, listen to him.
If she cries with sadness, give her a long hug, which will be the most ther-
apeutic gesture you can offer. Once the patient is prepared to say farewell
to all his friends and relatives, this preparatory stage should be communi-
cated to the medical and nursing staff and the close relatives and friends.
They must be told how to behave and react to the patient’s sadness. They
must be told that this stage is necessary for the patient to move on to the
next stage of acceptance and peace.

The Fifth Stage of Acceptance

The patient always needs time to arrive at this last stage of acceptance.
With the help of an understanding medical profession, he is now not
angry anymore. Neither is he depressed. He is now tired and weak and
keeps on dozing off to sleep, the reverse situation of a new-born baby.
He has come to accept the ending of his journey. There is peace, but it is
not a happy one. There is now just numbness with very little feeling left.

87
There is no pain and the struggle is over. This is the rest before the final
flight to another realm. The relatives must now be made to realise the
patient’s position. He has now not much interest in anything. He does not
want too many visitors, and only a few may be allowed to stay, but on the
condition that there is no chattering. He is not interested in newspapers
or the television. He may just want to hold your hand in silence. The
moments of wakefulness are getting less and less. A welcome visitor is
most wanted at the end of the day, when the hustle and bustle of the hos-
pital are all over. The patient can also demonstrate to the loving visitor
that dying is not so frightening after all. Of course, an occasional case may
try to ‘fight to the end’, but these cases may not arrive at this stage of
acceptance easily. Do not mistake this last stage of acceptance as giving
up too early. Allow the patient to die peacefully without frustrations. Do
not fuss. Do not ask the physician to try harder.

Hope
There is always a strand of hope that underpins the 5 stages. There is
hope that a new drug would be found for the particular illness. Or the
doctor has discovered that another operation will do just the trick. A mir-
acle might come about with the visit of a well-known healer. A miracle
may come about by spontaneous remission. No matter how dire the cir-
cumstances are, a glimmer of hope is always in the background. Without
hope there is no will to live. This hope is not overtly expressed, but secret-
ly nurtured in most cases.

By-products of Dying
The two phenomena that occur in the dying are:
Accurate prediction of one’s own date of death
Deathbed Visions.

Death Predictions
In the first instance, the patient normally has no clairvoyant or predictive
powers. However some of them will very accurately predict the exact date
and time of his own demise. He would then make all the necessary
arrangements (legal and domestic) before the oncoming date of death.
These predictions are very rarely wrong. These are not to be confused
with the predictions of highly developed adepts, who may predict their
dates of death years ahead. I knew a Tibetan lama who was looking after

88
a temple in Singapore. He predicted that he would die in 3 years’ time, and
that he would die in India. His prediction came true to the month! He
died in India in December.

Deathbed Visions
These are of two varieties. The dying would see deceased close relatives
or friends or spiritual guides, who have come to escort them to the other
world. Most of the time only the patient can see them. However, some-
times the visitors of the patients can also see these deceased individuals.
A child is more likely to see these invisible guides. Sometimes, these invis-
ible guides may come to the house months before the date of death. They
are unobtrusive and do not excite any fear. Quite often the dying patient
recognises the spirit and would converse with it, occasionally in the ver-
nacular of the spirit. These visits from the guides are always welcomed by
the patient and also by the attending close relatives. The dying person feels
very at home with the visitor. The relatives are happy to have another
deceased relative to accompany the patient over to the other side. This
fact reassures them.

Sometimes the spirit is a well-known religious figure, like Jesus, Virgin

Mary or Buddha. These cases are most likely hallucinatory in nature, and
they appear usually to very religious patients.

The second variety is composed of scenes of the other world. The patient
would stare and wonder at the beautiful landscapes or other celestial
scenes, occasionally accompanied by heavenly music. In these instances,
only the patient can see them. The joy and happiness can be seen in the
patients’ faces when they are viewing these landscapes. These are similar
scenes described by those who underwent a near-death-experience.

The patient in both the above phenomena would have no more fear or
depression after experiencing them. They now have accepted their situa-
tions and are looking forward to the impending journey. However, they
may still be prevented to embark on their last passage by a close relative
(wife, son or mother), who continues to cling to the patient unwilling to
let the patient go. The attending physician or nurse then should explain to
these close relatives and exhort them to let go of the dying patient. When
the close and loving relative complies, the patient will then joyfully leave

89
his or her body to sojourn to a happier realm.

Death of my brother in 1941

I would like to relate the death of my brother 60 years ago. He and I had
typhoid before the 2nd world war in 1941. In the last hour of his life, he
shouted 3 predictions, which all came true. The predictions were repeat-
ed several times. They were:

The Japanese would come shortly to bomb Singapore. Nobody ever

thought that this was a possibility.

I have to be very careful, because my life would be in grave danger. This

turn out to be true, as I was delirious for 6 weeks with the same disease,
during which I experienced many near-death experiences.

My 3rd sister, who was only 17 years old, would get married soon. This is
most unusual as all my brothers and sisters automatically went through
tertiary education. However, all the above predictions came true. My
brother was only 13 years old.

His deathbed vision: in the last minute before his death he saw a figure
(his guide) at the top of the mosquito net who had come to take him away.
He surmounted incredible strength and lunged onto that guide, breaking
loose from 4 people restraining him. He died with froth in his mouth.

The Death Process

In order to understand and complete the entire process of dying unto
death, we have now to discuss what happens when the spirit leaves the
body. As we know from my essay on G-plan, our date of death is fixed by
us before we are born (there are rare circumstances when death maybe
postponed). So when our cosmic clock intimates to the person that his
time is almost up, his heart seed atom will release atomic particles of
impending death into the bloodstream. These atoms will stimulate the
glands to manufacture a death hormone, which is carried by the blood to
all over the body. This death hormone will loosen the electromagnetic
hold of the physical atoms upon the atoms of the higher bodies, e.g. sub-
tle bodies or auras. This is the beginning of the soul release. While the
physical atoms are losing their grip, the spiritual body is strengthening and

90
the liberation of the soul is being initiated. With old people an illness will
appear (part of G-plan) and this is the beginning of the end of the body.
Near this end stage, the patient should be allowed to return home to die,
and drugs that blur the consciousness should be disallowed. Analgesics
that reduce pain are permitted, but the patient must be kept aware as
much as possible. When the patient is dying at home, he is being loving-
ly cared for and this alone will make him more relax. As death approach-
es, the patient experiences less pain because the death hormone blocks
the sensation of pain via the sympathetic nervous system.

The Science of Death

The elderly person with a terminal illness knows that his time is up. With
the circulation of the death hormone and the escaping of the soul elec-
tricity, the threads of the silver cord begin to loosen. The soul is now
more attracted to the spiritual body and it begins its journey towards the
brain. The crown chakra (through which the spirit enters the foetus) now
begins to open up for the reverse process of death. This is in preparation
for the release of the spirit-soul in due course.

The patient’s life force starts to retreat towards the brain from the feet. As
the life force leaves the feet they turn cold and pale. The hands and arms
are similarly affected with the nails turning purple. The breathing is now
laboured and the eyes are dimmed with a far-away look. The pineal gland
is becoming extremely active. As the crown chakra expands in its open-
ing, the porous brain is going to allow the soul to pass upwards through
silver cord. The kundalini wakens for the upward journey, and the three
permanent seed atoms prepare for their departure. The emotional seed
atom sits in the 3rd chakra and is responsible for all the emotions of the
patient. The mental seed atom sits at the 6th chakra and is responsible for
all the activities of the mind. These 2 seed atoms are influenced by free
will. The heart seed atom sits at the heart chakra and contains the akashic
records, the samskaras, karma and the G-plan. Ramana Maharshi said that
this Heart, which is the Self, is situated in the right chest next to the lower
sternum. This heart seed atom and its contents are fixed and are not con-
trolled or influenced by free will. It is the destiny of the individual.

As the kundalini moves upwards, the emotional seed atom in the solar
plexus departs first after the life force in its up wards movement reaches

91
the solar plexus. After the emotional seed atom leaves through the silver
cord, pain is no more felt. Since the mental and heart seed atoms are still
in the physical body, the patient may lie in a death coma for some time,
but normally it is only for a few moments.

As the kundalini and the life force move further upwards, the patient
becomes more psychic and his consciousness and awareness are both
expanding. When the kundalini hits the pituitary-pineal centre at the
crown chakra, the third eye is opened and the Clear Light of the Void
appears. At this juncture many dying patients become very psychic. They
are able to:

Wake up briefly to say goodbye to the loved ones.

Witness deathbed visions: people and landscapes.

They maybe engulfed in spiritual white light and immersed in ecstatic

bliss.

Have deathbed predictions.

Even before the emotional seed atom is transferred upwards, an etheric
form emanates from the crown chakra. Pain ceases to hurt the patient after
the emotional seed atom moves into the etheric (spiritual) form. At this
point clairvoyants can see a cloud of smoke arising through the opening of
the crown chakra and this smoke configures into a form very similar to the
physical body lying on the bed. It takes the form of waves of varying
colours rippling upwards to take shape as a human form. After the death
hormone has saturated the pineal gland, the mental seed atom will travel
through the silver cord through the crown chakra to the brain area of the
spiritual (etheric) body. The silver cord is attached to the third eye of the
patient at one end and joined to the back of the lower neck or between the
shoulder blades of the etheric form at the other end. After the exit of the
mental seed atom, the patient will go into a coma. The physical form is
undergoing clinical death, but the spiritual awareness is much sharper. This
death process will last from six minutes to half an hour.

At this point, the patient is clinically dead, but the heart seed atom has not
yet vacated the physical body yet. The silver cord is still intact. Normally
the heart seed atom follows shortly after the departure of the mental seed

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atom. Before the heart seed atom departs from the body a luminous glow
can be seen by clairvoyants over the heart chakra. Now that all the three
seed atoms have escaped into the etheric form, the spiritual body begins
to take the exact replica of the physical body. The facial features are now
minutely sculptured onto the etheric form. The face is the same as that of
the corpse, but the lines of worry and tension have disappeared, and the
etheric form looks younger and serene. Half an hour after clinical death,
another white light will appear to the deceased spirit sometimes after a
buzzing journey through a dark tunnel, sometimes after climbing a flight
of stairs. Mostly the heart seed atom would have left the physical body,
but very occasionally it is still stuck in the physical body. This is because
in some individuals it takes a longer time to form an etheric form. It is at
this time that the physical organs begin to deteriorate and decay. The
death of the organs takes between one to fifteen hours. The silver cord
now begins to shred. Once the silver cord is totally severed, no healer in
the world can revive the patient. This is the sign of final death. That is
why we advocate at least three days before burial, because the heart seed
atom is not released until the etheric form is more or less perfect. Then
comes the breakdown of the silver cord. All these may take 2 to 3 days to
complete.

The etheric form will be built according to your lowest desires of the
deceased. If there is a lot of hatred or evil, the etheric form will assume
these features. Smoking, drinking and drug habits will be imbued into the
vibrations of the etheric form. The same goes with carnal desires. This
explains why spirits of drug addicts and alcoholics tend to remain earth-
bound in dens of drug addicts and pubs. Earthbound spirits cannot
progress spiritually and this thwarts their development.

Deaths of accidents and violence

The procedure as described above for an elderly person with a terminal
disease is the same as in cases of violence and accidents. Just remember
that the body must be kept in a quiet and cool place after the violent or
accidental death before embalming or burial. This is because it may take
three days for the departure of the heart seed atom and the severing of
the silver cord in some individuals.

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Death of a mystic or adept
In this instance the adept will depart immediately when he dies. All the 3
seed atoms will depart at the same time and the silver cord is shredded
straightaway. The adept’s spirit will merge into the Clear Light of the Void
immediately after the death of the body.

Death of suicides
A suicide death is viewed with a very different complexion today com-
pared to 20-30 years ago. Today, there is more understanding and toler-
ance. It has not the stigma of yesteryear when it was viewed with shock,
shame and horror. This is especially so with the young and healthy bod-
ies. Suicides of the old and sickly can be more understood and therefore
less condemned. Most onlookers do not understand the melancholia and
suffering of a manic-depressive. It that state of deep depression, it takes
very little to tip the patient into suicide. At this point, a psychiatrist is the
best person to prevent the suicide by giving the right drugs. If a psychia-
trist has been consulted, he is totally responsible for the suicide.

Michael Newton in the section on suicide in his book, Destiny of Souls,

classified those who say that they do not belong on earth into 3 categories:

1. Young, highly sensitive souls who are first time incarnating on earth,
find it difficult adjusting to their human bodies. They find the earth
cruel.

2. Young and older souls who have come from another planet less
harsh than ours find that they are overwhelmed by primitive emotions
on earth. They feel that they are in alien bodies.

3. These souls have always incarnated on earth since their creation but
are not merging well with their current body. These souls accepted a
sacred contract with a physical body-mind complex that is radically
different from their immortal soul.

Michael Newton’s cases are only a proportion of all suicides. A suicide,

who shortened his life span say by ten years, will spend the equivalent time
earthbound. During this period he is able to watch the pain and suffering
of those relatives that he left behind. He is behoved to help and service

94
these friends and relatives from the other side of the veil. When the time
of penance is over he will then be able move up to his earned pigeonhole
in the astral world. His chief guide would then reprimand him for repeat-
ing this suicide act and ask him what he wants to do now. He can return
to earth in a short while (maybe as short as five years) or mark time in his
pigeonhole. Some volunteer to be sent to a beautiful but extremely lone-
ly place with water, trees and mountains with no souls are present. There
will only be an occasional visit by his guides to assist him in his reflections
and self-evaluation. They are not sent to bleak and horrible places of pur-
gatory.

In fact, the spirit friends, relatives and guides are all very sympathetic to
the recently bereaved suicide, who is being looked after with tender care.
This is because all of them including the suicide know that the next incar-
nation for him is going to be rough; the conditions and circumstances are
going to be worst than in the life just completed.

In every case the intending suicide had a choice to take his own life. A
high percentage of suicides are repeats: they had done it before. They are
so used to take the easy way out that they have this tendency to opt out
when things go bad. It is selfish, because relatives that are left behind suf-
fer the shame and agony of losing a loved one.

The Soul Weighs One Ounce

In 1907, a Harvard psychologist, Dr. William McDougall found that dying
body lost about an ounce at the moment of death. Recently, an English
doctor and separately a West German doctor confirm this same observa-
tion. This ounce is more than the air that is in the lungs. So their conclu-
sions are that this is what the soul weighs. This soul-spirit has been pho-
tographed by a Frenchman who took several photographs of his dying
son and later of his dying wife. Both sets of pictures show a misty cloud
hovering above the bodies around the time of death. This cloud repre-
sents the spiritual body that clairvoyants see during the time of death.

Other researchers have worked out that the soul of a person is about one
thousandth of that person’s weight. For example a person weighing 154
pounds has a soul which weighs 2.5 ounces.

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How to reduce the fear of dying
After discoursing above on coping with the emotions of dying and the
process of death, we must now discuss the steps to reduce the fear of
dying. Firstly we must find out why we fear dying. This topic is explored
in John White in his book on ‘A Practical Guide to Death and Dying’. He
enumerated five principal aspects to the fear of dying:

1. Fear of pain -----i.e., torture to the physical body.

2. Fear of loss--- i.e., both separation from loved ones and compan-
ions, and loss of one’s faculties.

3. Fear of meaninglessness-----i.e., not being needed and loved any

more, and therefore having been a failure.

4. Fear of the unknown-------i.e., journeying into the unfamiliar, often

with a sense of foreboding about eternal damnation and punishment
for sinful behaviour.

5. Fear of non-being----i.e. self-annihilation or the total disappearance

of one’s identity.

Armed with the knowledge that only the body dies and not the soul, one
can then reduce the fear of pain. Firstly, analgesics are now easily and
abundantly available and therefore physical pain can almost be totally
eradicated. This fact alone should allay fear of future torture to the body.
Believe that there is no such thing as hell or eternal damnation. With
proper knowledge of the journeys of the souls there should not be any
fear of self-annihilation. The above mental preparations should also
increase the threshold of pain, especially if one can learn to self-hypno-
tise oneself. In other words, there may be pain, but there should not be
any mental suffering. In the Eastern spiritual practices the yogi who is
proficient in meditation will be able to die a good death, as he is merely
discarding the physical body, which has outlived its usefulness. Saying
goodbye to the body is a practice that an adept looks forward to, and lit-
erature abounds of anecdotes of these cases. There is no pain or anxiety
or fear. There is only peace, tranquillity and joyful expectations! The
adept’s disciples are asked to rejoice at the event of his passing.

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Forums on Subjects of Death
In the background, one must breakdown the taboo on the subject of
death. This subject must be openly discussed in schools, universities and
public forums. All superstitions and religious opinions should not be
allowed to enter the discussions. One must bring out only scientific facts.
For instance we know for a fact that the following prove the survival of
the personality or the soul:

1. Mediumship
2. Apparitions of the dead
3. Out-of-body experiences
4. Reincarnation memories
5. Spirit photographs and spirit voices
6. Possession cases
7. Deathbed visions
8. Near-death experiences

Even if you do not believe in every one of the above, at least one or two
of the above should bring one to a strong belief of the survival the soul.
We exist beyond death. Death is merely a transformation of conscious-
ness, from one in the flesh to one in spirit. Immortality of the soul is con-
firmed in those who had experienced near-death-experience and out-of-
body experience. When one has seen a ghost, this fact should also rein-
force our belief in the immortality of the soul. Mystics who have realised
the Self will tell you that there is really no death. The transition from per-
sonal consciousness to cosmic consciousness is similar to going to sleep
at night. It is our habitual waking up in each morning that assures us that
sleep is harmless, although in deep sleep our soul visits the astral world
nightly. So death is not really as fearful as we have been indoctrinated. It
is merely a long sleep.

So what are the steps to take to reduce the fear of dying?

Admit your fear of death. Do not repress it. Do not exaggerate it to the
extent of fearing to live and thus becoming a hypochondriac. Discuss it
openly and hear other peoples’ views. Do not pretend to be fearless.
Laughing at death. Jokes and laughter at death will help, but it must not
be done at the expense of someone who is dying. Or the jokes must not

97
be told in front of a relative of a terminal ill patient.

Exercises in detachment of the body. Having been told that death itself is
not painful but the fear of death is agonising, one must try not to identi-
fy with the body. Various methods of detachment to the body have been
tried for thousands of years in India.

These include sleeping on nails, meditating alongside corpses. Visiting

charnel grounds where dead bodies are seen decomposing: nowadays can
only be witnessed in India.

Another method is to lie down and prepare to die, come what come may.
With eyes shut one is prepared to lie still until death, as one is convinced
that the body is not Self. One’s soul will outlive the body. During this exer-
cise imagine oneself decomposing and truly dying. The mind should
remain calm and serene. This exercise is repeated over and over again until
one has no fear of death.

Few people may also want to go through the exercise of pretending it is

their last hour. Then write down in detail the death process, followed by
the funeral with music. Imagine yourself in a coffin and the burial ground
in which the coffin is placed. Go through your last will in detail. Write out
your own death certificate. Write out your own obituary. Visit a funeral
parlour and see the procedure of cremation at first hand. In other words,
familiarise yourself with all the details of dying.

Meditation. Meditate that the body can be broken down to 32 parts. Also
meditate that the body is composed of earth, water, air and fire.
Everything material is renewable: there is a beginning and an end to every-
thing compounded.

Death is the last Stage of Growth

According to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Laurie and Joseph Braga, death is
the final stage of growth. Death is only the end of the physical body, but
our spirit still lives on. It is trying to conform to the external definitions
of who we are that spells our spiritual death. Each of us is unique, but we
try to fit into stereotypes, culturally defined for us. That is the rub.

98
Death is the key to the door of life. When we fully realise that our life
span is limited, we are able to reject all the extrinsic roles and expectations
put upon us by society. It is due to the denial of death that makes people
lead purposeless lives. Thinking that we do not die is the reason we post-
pone all the essential things that make us grow. Live as if you have only
today to live, and do not fret about tomorrow or regret about yesterday.

In order to grow in these last months or years, commit yourself to serve

and help other people to grow. Serve to eliminate the suffering of others
and help others to recover from their depression, but always towards
growth. Only when we understand that death is the touchstone to human
evolution that we have the courage to act out our destiny.

One must give up everything to gain everything. Give up all that is not you.
Erase that self-doubt in order to love and trust your self, and you will
become your true Self. In this way you become peaceful and you truly love
and be loved. Do not look for approval from outside. You will know your-
self. Practise life with compassion, love and wisdom for the sake of others.

Seeing that death means only the destruction of the body and not your
Self, it can be viewed as raising the curtain separating the physical from
the spiritual world. In these last days, we would know the purpose of life
only too vividly. Our purpose is to grow with wisdom and love and to
service others. In this goal, we use action and communication. Silence is
not enough.

References:
1. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. On Death and Dying. Macmillan
Publishing Co., Inc. 1970.
2. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. Questions and Answers on Death and Dying.
Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc. 1974.
3. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. Death is Vital Importance. Station Hill
Press. 1995.
4. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. Death The final Stage of Growth. A
Touchstone Book published by Simon and Schuster Inc. 1975.
5. John White. A Practical Guide to Death and Dying. The Theosophical
Publishing House. 1980.

99
6. Earlyne Chaney. The Mystery of Death and Dying. Samuel Weiser, Inc.
1988.
7. Carla Wills-Brandon, Ph.D. One Last Hug Before I Go. Health
Communications, Inc. 2000.
8. Michael Newton, PH.D. Destiny of Souls. Llewellyn Publications 2001.
Ernest Becker, The Denial Of Death. The Free Press. 1973.

100
 Spirits, Ghosts and Guides.
Form is Emptiness, and Emptiness is Form. This famous Buddhist saying
means many things. However I would like to interpret it this way: when
any material form is reduced to its atomic proportions and then is further
reduced to sub-atomic particles and so on, it will finally be transformed
into energy. This energy is not visible to the naked eye, and hence it liter-
ally has become empty to us. Conversely, the space between the forms is
not really empty. The forms that we see and feel are only 10% of 'things'
that we can perceive. The other 90% are not discernible to our naked eye.
The purpose of this article is therefore to acquaint you with the forms in
this emptiness.

There is copious evidence collected to prove life after death. These are:
(1) Communication through mediums
(2) Apparitions of the dead
(3) Out-of-Body experiences
(4) Near-Death-Experiences
(5) Reincarnation memories
(6) Spirit photographs and spirit voice recordings
(7) Possession cases
(8) Deathbed observations

Many volumes of books have been written on them; and therefore there
is no necessity to elaborate on them here.

The Dying Process

Just before death, the etheric body begins to loosen itself from the phys-
ical body. This process starts from the legs upward. Then the person
experiences intermittent loss of consciousness until the loss is permanent.
At this point of death, whatever pain or agony the person is suffering
ceases, and a total sense of peace and tranquillity descends on to the per-
son. He or she registers this transition with a calm and peaceful look on
the face instead of the agonising grimace just before death. The body is
now limp and flaccid. As these physical changes are occurring, the ether-
ic body slowly disentangles itself from the physical body. The point of
entrance through the Gates of Death coincides with the severance of the

101
silver cord, which joins the physical forehead to the back of the head of
the etheric body. From here onwards, no healer in the world can resusci-
tate the dead person.

After the severance of the silver cord, the etheric body slowly emanates
through the crown chakra as a cloud. When it is completely out of the
body, it reforms into an etheric body that looks exactly like the corpse left
behind on the bed. At this point, he may not know that he is dead. This
knowledge will determine the future fate of his spirit. If he knows that he
is dead, than he will either go straight to the astral world or he will linger
on to say good-bye to his loved ones, after which he will depart to the
astral. Friends, relatives or guides from the astral world will accompany
him there. However, the ones who do not know that they are dead will
remain earth-bound. The time spent saying good-bye varies between days
and months. When they finally leave for the astral, they will shed their
etheric forms, and enter the astral in their astral bodies. These are differ-
ent from the etheric bodies, which are the exact replica of the physical.
The astral body may appear in one of three forms. They can appear just
as they are at the time of death; or they more likely appear as in their
prime (e.g. 30-35 years old). It takes time to come to one's prime: it is not
an immediate affair. The third form is entirely different from the above 2
astral or etheric forms, but the percipients can still easily recognise this 3rd
form. This 3rd form frequently occurs in our dreams, and yet we can eas-
ily recognise the individuals. They can fly with ease, and may squeeze
themselves through keyholes. If a person died with an arm or leg missing,
the astral form will be whole again. However, if the spirit is earth-bound,
then he will look just as old as when he died, and if an arm is missing, he
will still be without an arm.

After working on one's vibrations to improve them in the astral, one may
then upgrade to the mental realm. This transition necessitates the shed-
ding of the astral (emotional) body. This is a very painful process, and it
is also called the second death, because all emotions of love, anger, joy,
sadness and happiness have to be left behind. In the mental realm, one
may assume a form as a 'ball of light’; this ball of light will still be recog-
nised by friends and relatives. After much more effort and practice, one
may further upgrade to higher spiritual realms and so on. These grada-
tions upwards are interspersed by many earthly incarnations.

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Now where are all these realms? They are not anywhere faraway. These
realms are all around us. We promote ourselves to higher realms through
a heightening of our vibrations. We can move from one realm to another
whilst remaining in the same spot. It is like increasing the speed of an
electric fan: when the speed is slow the fan blades are discernible, but they
become less and less discernible as the speed increases until the blades
cannot be seen at all. That means if you are of the middle astral, you may
not be able to see another spirit in the higher astral, even though both of
you are on the same spot. As in the analogy of the fan, as one moves up
in the spiritual realm, it becomes more difficult to communicate directly
with one's loved ones on earth. This is because the faster vibrating spirit
(higher speed fan) will destroy or burn the slower vibrating individual on
earth. The higher spirit must do it through a medium on earth or through
some spirits whose function is to transmit messages to the living. That is
why people who claim that Jesus or Buddha came to visit them are total-
ly mistaken. They are more likely to be the person’s own guides.
Another point about communicating with the dead is that one must not
repeatedly call back the dead. This is because if the recently departed has
just arrived at the middle astral, and a loved one on earth repeatedly calls
him back, he is behoved to stay earth-bound by these numerous calls. If
need be, the deceased can be called back just to make sure that he is all
right, or if some information is urgently required, but this practice should
not be repeated at all. To summarise, the following classification may help:

Souls of the Departed

(A) Souls of the Living Dead (those who will finally reincarnate and with
whom spiritualists can communicate):
(1) Earth-bound Spirits: Souls who do not know that they are dead and
are earth-bound. There are quite a number in this category.
(2) Spirits: Souls who know that they are dead and are in the lower, mid-
astral and higher astral. Most of our guides are in this category. The prop-
er definition of a spirit is the entire individual without the physical body.
He is composed of all the subtle bodies (7 or more), chakras, soul, core
star, Hara and higher self, which is connected to the Godhead. As our
spirit improves and ascend to higher realms, we will peel off the subtle
bodies one at a time. Spirits also include all categories of liberated souls
as mentioned below, and all types and varieties of spirits in between.

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(B) Liberated Souls: these are the souls who have outgrown earth life
(enlightened) and have gone to another realm for further development.
They are not contactable by humans.

(C) Enlightened Liberated Souls (Bodhisattvas): These are the souls that
are enlightened and have gone on, but have vowed to come back to the
earth-sphere to help the living souls. They may be in spirit or maybe in the
flesh. These are the souls that the occultists get in touch with if they are
in spirit.

Let us discuss the category of the earth-bound, which is the most trou-
blesome and most perceived.

Earth-Bound Spirits
Many categories fall into this class. All of them do not know that they are
dead:
(1) Suicide victims
(2) Murder victims
(3) War casualties
(4) Violent accidental deaths
(5) Deluded ghosts haunting buildings
(6) Obsession: Recently deceased spirits closely attached to living
loved ones
(7) Possession: permanent and intermittent
(8) Poltergeists
(9) Recently deceased spirits who have unfinished business still on
earth
(10) Others.

All the above are deluded and do not realise that they have died. Suicides,
murder victims and violent deaths belong to the same category in the
swiftness of their deaths. One moment they are alive, and in another they
are dead. They are not prepared for this suddenness. They are violently
angry and probably full of fear. They do not know how to go to the white
light, and if deceased relatives or guides are there to bring them across,
they cannot see them. Therefore, they remain in that location for years,
until they realise that they are dead and are brought across by spirit guides.
There are numerous ignorant spirits still fighting each other in the battle-

104
fields of Europe today. These are the dead victims of the Second World
War. In some cases, these souls have already gone else where, but the
energy of that violence remains. The incident will be repeated over and
over again at the same spot and exactly the same time of the day. It is only
an energy enactment of the thought forms. The whole scene will be total-
ly mechanical and the thought forms will not respond to any human pres-
ence. If, however, they are actual earth-bound spirits and not thought
forms, then when a human comes along there will be some reaction to the
human presence. In these cases of violence, they do not know that they
are dead because of the fear and suddenness of the incidents. Some of
them persist in talking to their loved ones, who do not respond. One can
see drones of these ignorant depressed spirits hovering and following
their loved ones. There is extreme frustration, but they will continue until
they finally realise that their efforts are totally futile. At this point, they
may believe that the living are ghosts, and they are the living. The oppo-
site situation is when the living relative continually bemoans the deceased,
and wishes that the deceased were still with him or her, then the deceased
will very likely remain earth-bound.

Ghosts who haunt buildings and places are again people who have died
and do not realise that they are dead. The classical case is the old man who
died with a heart attack. When he 'wakes up', he will think that he had just
fallen asleep, and thus does not know that he has died. He will continue
to live in the house trying to communicate with the living in the house to
no avail. He still feels that he owns the house. So when new owners come
to stay, the first thing he will do is to try and get rid of the new comers.
The latter mostly cannot hear him. A case in point is an old man, who
used to own the house we bought. What he would continually say to all
new comers is 'Please, leave my house!' After many years of ineffectual
exhortations, he decided to communicate only to the more psychic of the
new owners, namely me. Every evening at about 6.30 PM, whilst I am
resting on the bed, he would come and sit on my bedside and chitchat
with me. The conversations are of no importance. They are about what I
did for the day. I would then tell him that I performed 10 post-mortems
in the morning, meaning that 10 new emigrants had just passed on to his
realm. Has he met them? Invariably, he knows nothing about it. His world
is just my bedroom and no where else. When my old home was pulled
down, and a new block of condominium was built over the land, he

105
moved over to occupy one of the flats. That is why when brand new flats
or houses are built over graveyards or where old haunted houses used to
be, the ghosts will move over to the new house or flat. This means that a
ghost is not only a spirit that does not know that he is dead, but he is also
fairly stupid, moving over to a new flat at a twinkle of an eye and yet still
does not realise that he is dead.

Obsession
This happens when a recently deceased entity is attached to a loved one
on earth. Good examples are (1) husband and wife (2) mother and son or
daughter (3) lovers and (4) father and son or daughter. I have seen exam-
ples of all of them. The spirit hangs around very closely to the living, try-
ing to communicate with him or her, and influencing the living at every
turn. Alas, to no avail. However, the consequences are rather detrimental
to the living. The latter loses weight and energy; he suffers from insom-
nia, irritability, and loss of appetite and shows a steady deterioration of
concentration. At the end, he gets exhausted and goes into a deep depres-
sion and end up with seeing a doctor or a psychiatrist, both of whom will
be nonplussed. There is no diagnosis, and all the tranquillisers make mat-
ters worst. Finally, if the living is lucky, the obsessing spirit leaves on her
own accord, or else the obsession may last for years, until the living, espe-
cially the remaining spouse, succumbs and joins the obsessing spirit in
death. A spiritual person or healer can easily clear this obsession. This is
how it is done: tell the obsessed person to visualise the deceased, and
speak to her or him as if he or she is there in front of the obsessed.
Inform the spirit that you are all right, and she should go to the white light
to meet her other relatives and friends. Inform the deceased that by
attaching herself to the living, she is actually causing a lot of harm to the
living. If she is adamant, get her to think of a deceased relative herself.
This will do the trick. The minute the deceased relative appears, the
obsessing spirit will be whisk away by that relative to the white light. The
above two measures may also be used to exorcise a ghost in a house.

Possession
Possession may be intermittent or permanent (that means throughout the
day and night). The medium that channels spirit guides is an example of
intermittent possession. However, in this instance, the possession is con-
trolled by the medium's own guides. No other entity can come in except

106
the one that has been agreed upon. On the other hand, haphazard pos-
session is very troublesome and taxing for everybody concerned. The per-
son who is possessed normally has his or her chakras open and often their
auras are imperfect or damaged. This happens when the person is very
stressed due to loss of money or loved ones. Or he has just recovered
from an illness. In this state of deficient aura, if he is not fully conscious
as in under anaesthesia or in a drunken stupor or under the influence of
drugs, he may very well be possessed. A person, who is meditating and
falls into a trance, thus losing awareness, is also quite liable to be pos-
sessed. The location of the victim is also important. Drug addict dens and
pubs are good hunting ground for the predators. Hospitals, churches,
temples, burial sites, cremation buildings, sacred sites along Ley lines and
haunted houses are all vulnerable to possession. Therefore the ideal set-
ting for a possession are (1) a victim who has a damaged and deficient
aura, (2) he is not fully conscious or in a trance state at the time, (3) the
presence of predators (marauding spirits) and (4) a highly charged and
spirited location.
The following practices are also conducive to possession: (a) games
involving Ouija board (b) Tarot cards reading (c) funeral wakes (d) rituals
in cemeteries, temples and churches and old consecrated grounds.

Auric Attacks
These are attacks on the auras of people as in the cases of possession, but
the attacks are much less serious and the predator does not inhabit the vic-
tim. The most common type of an auric attack is when a relative goes and
visits a patient in a hospital or attends a funeral wake. The places are iden-
tical to those enumerated above for possession, as these locations are
loaded with ghostly predators. So after an attack, when the victim comes
home he experiences symptoms of 'influenza', but there is no tempera-
ture present. He gets weaker and weaker by the day, even though he feeds
himself voraciously. He puts on weight, but he gets more and more debil-
itated. This continues until he reaches a state in which he cannot even get
out of his bed. Of course, the doctor has no idea what is going on, even
after numerous tests have been carried out. Finally, the attack may wear
off on its own, but it may take months or years. Basking in the sun and
an overseas trip may help to clear the condition. However, a healer can put
the patient back to health in one or two sessions of healing. These auric
attacks are quite common, and very few people realise it. They are often

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misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome.

Poltergeists
These are spirits in the building in which they cause things to fly about.
Some times stones are thrown into the house with great precision without
hurting anyone or breaking anything. In this instance when the stones are
felt, they are felt to be warm. The worst case scenario is when huge pieces
of furniture fly all over the room and crockery etc, crash to the ground. Pets
and people have been excluded from being the cause of these activities.
Quite often these incidences start when there is some psychological trauma
inflicted on some teenagers in the house. The minute the individual leaves
the house the poltergeist activity ceases. However, there are also cases, in
which there is no evidence of psychological trauma in the house. In a few
cases, spontaneous combustion may also be initiated by poltergeists.

Materialisation and Disappearance of 'things'

In some homes where there is a great deal of meditation or other ritual-
istic activities going on, 'things' start to appear in the house. These objects
are usually medallions, Buddha statues, rings or even watches. They seem
to be a result of apportation. That means an object of some sort will be
dematerialised in one place and appear spontaneously in the house, where
the religious ceremonies are being carried out. These objects can stay for
a long time.
On the other hand, things in an ordinary household would disappear and
reappear again after a few days. This latter phenomenon is different and
is more likely due to a ghost in the house. Very rarely perfumes or fra-
grances may be smelt: these are purported to be due to the presence of
angels or guides. On the other hand, evil or mischievous spirits cause bad
odours. The latter may by eradicated by raising the vibration of the house.
This is done by meditation and service, which is of course quite a tall
order. Exorcism may also be attempted, but there is no guarantee of a
success.
There are numerous other strange and peculiar phenomena, which will
not be discussed here because of the lack of space.
In the Souls of the Living Dead under (2) Spirits above: These souls who
are already in the Astral may come back from time to time in order to visit
or inspect their loved ones, and sometimes to give messages in dreams or
appear in 'human' forms to them. Sometimes they hang around to protect

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the living loved ones. Then they return to the Astral again. Most of our
guides are from this realm. Relatives, friends, and appointed guides who
are sent from the astral realm to accompany the dying to the astral are also
in this category.

The two types of liberated souls (enlightened) are beyond the perception
of our five senses. Type (B) have already gone to higher realms and are
therefore not contactable by us. Type (C) are the invisible Bodhisattvas
who are also not detectable by us. The Bodhisattvas that are in incarna-
tion are usually not recognised by all and sundry: we merely guess that
they are Bodhisattvas because of their relentless service to mankind.

Projections of the Living

It is well known that at the point of death, the dying can project an astro-
etheric form (simulacrum). A good example is when a favourite son were
to die in a far away foreign country, his simulacrum will appear to his
mother thousands of miles away just to say goodbye. The mother being
not a psychic has never experienced this phenomenon before. A twin may
do the same with the remaining twin. An ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia
died in Penang and in the same hour, his etheric appeared in London to a
relative of mine. His simulacrum shocked and frightened my relative, who
promptly switched on the lights for the rest of the night. It was only the
next morning that she heard the news about his death on the radio! The
reason for this visit was this: about 30 years ago, this Prime Minister vis-
ited Australia, where my relative entertained him. It was a memorable time
for him, because his horse won the Melbourne Cup! These exhilarating
moments are lovingly kept in the memory bank. And therefore at the time
of death, one usually makes the round of saying goodbye to relatives,
friends and even acquaintances, like in this case, all over the world. This
ex-Prime Minister hardly knew my relative, but the memory was exquisite.
What is less well known is that a trained occultist can also project a sim-
ulacrum voluntarily. Alexandra David-Neel was a rare occultist practising
in Tibet. She projected a thought-form that looks like a Friar Tuck. This
practice went on for some time until one day she could not call back the
thought-form. So she had to go to her Guru to dissolve the Friar Tuck
who had been roaming the monastery independently!

These thought-forms are entirely absorbed in their own affairs, and they
appear to ignore their surroundings. They also do not display any reaction

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to the human activity nearby.

Angels
Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and the Jewish Qabalah are all equally explic-
it about the existence of angels. Qabalah has 10 Archangels and 10 orders
of angelic beings. Protestants, however have very little notion of Angelic
Hierarchies.

These divine robots are perfect and non-intellectual and they do not
evolve. Each is strictly conditioned by its own perfect nature to fulfil the
job for which it was created. It is free from all struggle and inner conflict,
but it is changeless and therefore it does not evolve. No angel ever goes
outside his own sphere of activity. The angel who has healing powers can-
not foretell the future. Their functions are many and diverse, and they do
not have any direct contact with dense matter. An angel has only one spe-
cific function, which he does very well until he is taken off the job.

The GodHead gives rise to:

(1) Divine sparks (nuclei of Men's souls)
(2) Solar Logos ----- > Angels

Elementals
Elementals are thought-forms generated by co-ordinated systems of reac-
tions that have become stereotyped by constant and unchanging repeti-
tion. Repeated waves of birth and death of similar souls on earth consti-
tute each epoch of evolution. When the souls (divine sparks) are with-
drawn to the higher spiritual realms, they leave behind them co-ordinated
systems of magnetic stresses as forms. Whenever any movement takes
place an electric current is set up, and if a series of co-ordinated move-
ments is repeated many times, these currents tend to make adjustments so
that they create independent 'forms' of their own. These are now inde-
pendent of the physical activities that gave rise to them in the first place.
It is out of these co-ordinators that the Elementals are evolved. Therefore
Elementals are creations of the created.

There are many types of these Elementals. The great 4 divisions of the
Elemental spirits are of (1) Earth, (2) Air, (3) Fire and (4) Water. Earth
will give rise to earthquakes; air to tornadoes and typhoons; fire to vol-

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canic eruptions; and water to floods.

Some of these Elements may be caught and trained to do bids for the
human. We call these Jinns. Some of them are kept in bottles, and they are
seen as wisps of smoke in the clear glass bottles. The tasks that are asked
of them are to find out the past of other individuals and their present
predicament. Then when the owner of the Jinns can present the accurate
information to the victim, he or she will be terribly impressed. From then
on, the con man can name the fee for future predictions. However, the
Jinn cannot predict the future. There lies the trap; money is spent to no
avail. However, knowledge of the past may also be useful as a subtle
blackmailing point by the con man.

Signs of Ghostly or Angelic Presence

What are the signs that intimate to us the presence of angels, ghosts, spir-
its and guides? The following are some pointers:

(1) Cold Spots: There is a drop in temperature only in one small area in the
room. If one were to move out of that area, the temperature is back to
normal. Or the entire room or building may be cold and chilly.

(2) Apparition or vision: This is the commonest manifestation. The ghost

may be a resident ghost or it may be a relative. If it is a resident, the view-
er may be frightened, but after many appearances, one takes it as part of
the ambience of the house. If it is a relative, he may either just want to
communicate or he may have become a 'resident' without realising that he
is dead. The ghost usually appears to the one who is the most psychic, as
he has to expend energy to manifest himself. That is why some people can
only see the head, and some others can see the head and shoulders, whilst
the most psychic can see the whole body.

(3) Voice: The voices are trying to communicate with the living, who
may or may not want to answer them. A voice may be calling your name
all day. It learned from a living relative who calls you all the time, and it
also assumes a voice very similar to that relative. There is a superstition
that one must not answer these calls, as the ghost may want a companion.
If one is spiritually assured and is willing to help out with the ghost, then
one may even carry out a conversation with the ghost telling him to go the

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white light. The ghost could be a singing one. Thus, one maybe enter-
tained with an opera every night. However, one cannot choose the lan-
guage or the composer of the opera! Therefore, it could be a nuisance.
There also maybe switching noises, but the lights do not go off or on,
only the switching noises are present.

(4) Electrical appliances: Lights, radios and television sets come on and off
on their own. Television programmes are changed without human inter-
vention. Toasters, microwave sets and refrigerators break down repeated-
ly for no reason. Sometimes, even computers present messages from the
other world, and intelligent repartees may be carried out with the owner
of the computer.

(5) Feelings: As you enter the haunted house, your heart beat increases, so
does your respiratory rate, and periodically, goose flesh is experienced.
This eerie feeling of the hairs standing on end may even affect those who
are not psychic. After one leaves the house, one is extremely exhausted.
Occasionally, one gets depressed after visiting a house. One may even
return home with an auric attack.

(6) Dark house: If the house is dark even in bright daylight, be wary. If you
still like the house because of its locality, bring either a dog or a child less
than 3 years old to the house. If the dog runs out quickly with its tail
between its legs, and starts to yelp at the house, it is most likely haunted.
By the same token, if the child starts to cry or howl, the house is spirited.
With the dog’s and child’s tests being positive, and the house is dark, dank
and cold, it takes a courageous person to buy the house.

(7) Odours: Bad smells or odours may be there in the house when you first
move in. Or the smell may emanate some time later. The smell is that of
rotten meat or dung of an animal. This usually signifies a malevolent pres-
ence. You can either get an exorcist to remove the presence or increase
the vibrations of the house yourself. The latter is much more difficult,
because it involves long periods of meditation and selfless service. Of
course, when you smell fragrant perfumes, you are blessed: these are due
to the presence of angelic beings.

(8) Pressure on the chest: This phenomenon happens when one is asleep. The
timing of it is when you are just about to enter deep sleep or coming out

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of deep sleep. One feels this pressure on the chest. One finds it very dif-
ficult to breathe and when attempting to shout no voice comes out. One
feels like dying. Then all a sudden the pressure is off. If one were to say a
prayer or a mantra in the mind, the presence will vanish much quicker.

(9) Doors and windows may open and shut even though they were
securely locked. There may be tapping or rattling on the walls. This may
be a nightly occurrence. In one house that I stayed in, punctually at 12
midnight, sounds of a pair of clogs keep running up and down the wood-
en stairs. When one stands to watch the proceedings, there are no clogs
seen at all on the stairs.

(10) Although all the doors and windows are properly shut, there may be
a strong wind blowing, rattling the chandeliers and other hanging lights.
Some music may accompany this wind.

(11) A psychic can easily see a spirit at the corner of one's eye, but the sec-
ond you turn around it disappears. This usually means the presence of a
spirit. For a psychic, this happens very often throughout the day: this truly
exemplifies the phrase emptiness is form.

(12) Sexual seductions: The ghost can seduce either sex. A female ghost may
seduce a living male, and vice versa. The person who is seduced normal-
ly will fall very ill and expire fairly soon, unless he or she is healed quick-
ly. Sometimes, a male ghost would bring the deceased father of the living
female to ask for permission to marry his daughter. A woman came to see
me for help under exactly the same conditions. I told her to move house.
She did that twice, but it was to no avail. He followed her every where,
although she was determined not to marry him. Finally, she went to a
Hindu Swami, who prayed away the persistent male ghost. The trick here
is not to succumb to the suitor.

(13) Timing: If a ghost appears at 3 am, he is most likely to appear at the

same time every night. They normally like to appear at night, but a few
may also appear during the day. They do not like crowds. The human body
smells to them, and if there are many humans present they do not appear
.
(14) Sometime ghosts appear as balls of light. The green ball of light is
one to avoid, because it signifies the restless ghost is frustrated with his

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earth-bound status (usually after a suicide), and they are quite determined
to take a companion to keep them company.

(15) Venue: These are the places to avoid: churches, temples, hospitals, cre-
matoriums, cemeteries, burial grounds, old folks’ homes, old sacred sites
like Stonehenge, Ley lines and old sacrificial temples e.g. in South America
(Mexico). Houses that are left empty for more than a year is most likely
to be acquired by roaming earth-bound ghosts. Even new houses may be
haunted. It all depends on what ground the new building is on.

(16) Statues and pictures: The more life like in size is a statue, the more like-
ly spirits will inhabit it. So, in a home or more likely in temples, where
many robbers, murderers and other evil people come to pray everyday, the
chances are that the statues will be inhabited. The spirits follow these bad
hats into the temple, and they see so many people praying to those stat-
ues, they would also like to be prayed to. So they remain behind in the
temple when the murderers and robbers leave the temple and inhabit the
statutes. Some huge portraits may also contain ghosts, especially if the
paintings are of good quality.

(17) When one visits cemeteries, crematoriums and even old folks' homes,
one or more spirits may accompany one home. Therefore, one must
white-light oneself when visiting these places.

(18) Children and their Invisible Friends: Some children are born with invisi-
ble friends. Everyday at a certain location (it is either their bedrooms or
the playroom) one hears the child playing and talking to an invisible
friend. At an early stage, when the parents were to ask the child who is he
playing with, he will say his friend 'Gobi' or 'Toto', and points towards the
empty space. If the parent were to scold the poor child not to be idiotic,
as there is no one there, the child will be confused and hurt. The child will
from thence onwards refrain from mentioning the invisible friend. If on
the other hand, the parents were very sympathetic to the situation and
inquire more about the friend, and gently inquire what are they playing or
talking about, then the situation will be fine. The child will continue with
his or her invisible playmate, and no secrets need be kept from the par-
ents. The invisible friend normally will take their permanent leave of the
child when the child is seven years old and above.

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Deceased grandparents, who remain in the house as ghosts, always like to
hang around the grandchild, who may or may not have met the grand-
parent. If they knew each other before, the child will be very happy and
secure. If they have never met, then there may be screams and crying out
at the sight of the grandparent, but finally there maybe some reconcilia-
tion.

(19) Pets and Ghosts: Pet dogs and cats are able to see ghosts. If the ghost
is a deceased owner, the dog or cat will feel very much at home. The dog
will wag its tail happily and even go and snuggle up to the ghost. If the
ghost is a stranger, the dog will bark at the same spot all the time until the
ghost disappears. If the presence is malevolent, the barking is very severe
and the dog 's hairs will be standing on their ends. The cat will also bris-
tle its hairs if the presence is evil, but on the whole, cats take ghosts in
their stride and do not fuss too much about them. At the most, they mere-
ly stare at them. When a pet dies, and if the pet is very close to the owner,
it may come back from time to time to visit. It may jump onto the bed
with the owner sleeping in it, and the owner may feel a small indentation
on the bedcovers if it is a cat. If it is a deceased dog, the indentation is
greater. But the dog is more likely to come rubbing itself against the legs
of the owner, or the owner is more likely to hear footsteps of a dog run-
ning to receive him when he comes home from work.

Near Death Experience (NDE).

When I was ten years old, I had a NDE. This was before the 2nd world
war. We had a hawker who was selling ice balls just outside our house. The
hawker was a carrier of typhoid. He used his hands to make the ice balls.
Ice was scraped into flakes and squeezed into a ball, and then sweet red
syrup was poured all over the ice ball. We would then suck the sweet ice
ball until it is all consumed. My two brothers and I contracted typhoid this
way. As there was no antibiotics for this disease at that time, we had to
depend on our own immunity to fight the disease. My older brother died
of it. He predicted three things just before he died: (1) The Japanese
would bomb Singapore very soon. (2) My teenager older sister would be

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married soon (this is most unusual as in my family, all of us normally
would complete our tertiary education at the university). (3) That I had to
be careful as my life was in danger. All these pre-mortem predictions came
true.

As for me, the doctors gave up the fight and left me to die. I was deliri-
ous, semiconscious and intermittently totally unconscious for six weeks.
During these periods of unconsciousness, I had many attacks of NDE.
These episodes were all similar. I would float up from my bed and go
through the ceiling and the second floor out of the house to the top of
the trees. The top of the trees was higher than the roof of the house. My
bed was on the ground floor. When I reach the top of the trees, the ‘being
of light’ is represented by a white disc with a face on it. This being would
ask me: ‘do you want to go back to earth or do you want to complete your
life now and proceed to the white light?’ I had a choice, and I would
repeat the same answer that I would like to finish my life on earth. All
these communications were transacted by telepathy. There was no bliss,
no joy nor tranquillity. There was only resignation and apprehension, as I
knew that when I return to earth it would be filled with suffering. I was
merely a presence or a spirit: I had no form. There was neither a tunnel
nor a rushing sound. There was no meeting of dead relatives or friends.
These out-of body episodes were repeated several times during my six
weeks of near-death sickness. The contents were all the same.

Near-Death Experience
NDE has been defined as an episode or illness in which the patient is ren-
dered unconscious and is physically near death. The episodes during my
illness that are described above fit into this definition. Although, Dr.
Raymond Moody described this condition in 1975, NDE has been report-
ed for many centuries throughout history.

It is Dr. Moody that brought this condition to the fore and with all the
modern gadgets for resuscitating near-death patients this occurrence has
escalated to phenomenal numbers. In 1982 a Gallup poll estimated that
roughly eight million Americans suffered near-death experiences, and
about one in twenty Americans would suffer NDE. Further, numerous
studies are being conducted prospectively, and more certain knowledge
and information will appear in future.

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The typical case of NDE unfolds itself thus: a patient who is very sick or
undergoing an operation or someone who has met with a severe accident
or drowned, appear to have lost total consciousness. All the medical mon-
itors at hand indicate that the patient is for all intents and purposes dead.
A heroic rescue effort is being conducted and the patient suddenly recov-
ers miraculously. Many minutes may have transpired. The patient wakes
up angrily and abuses the rescuer. Alternatively, the patient may recover
on his own without any attempt to bring him around.

The patient himself could be in severe pain or be very sick before he

became unconscious. The second he falls unconscious, the pain com-
pletely disappears, or if he is just very sick and his mind is rather hazy, his
consciousness suddenly becomes very clear.

Out-of Body (OBE) ---Autoscopy.

His spirit leaves the physical body, and he floats up to the ceiling or just
above the body. There he watches the goings on beneath him: most of the
time he is being rescued or merely sees a body quite dead lying there
below. If he tries to shout or call out that he is fine, nobody can hear him.
He is being completely ignored. If he were to try and touch or move the
rescuers his hand would go through the arm of the rescuers: he feels that
the arm of the doctor or nurse (rescuers) is like electrified soft jelly. When
he finds that his efforts are futile, he will stop trying. However, he hears
acutely all the conversations that are being carried out in the room.
Simultaneously, he also sees and perceives his surroundings in great detail.
After a while, he floats through the walls of the room and goes and visits
other rooms. In one of them he will see his relatives crying and wailing.
And again his efforts to console them are useless. He merely continues to
see and hear their conversations and their actions.

During this OBE, only less than 10% can see themselves: they look sim-
ilar to their own bodies, and some of these mentioned that they look
much younger. Nobody else can see them. Their minds are absolutely
clear: they could reason and reflect. There is no murkiness or haziness
about their thinking. They also know instinctively that they are not dream-
ing. This is reality being enacted before them. In this reality they have a
definite sense that they are dying. They can see themselves dying before
their own eyes.

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During this period of OBE, the patient has absolutely no sense of time.
It is timeless to them. He is in the fourth dimension, in which realm, there
is no time and space: it could be a minute or many hours. Emotionally,
these patients may be suffering a great deal of pain before the NDE, and
the second the OBE occurs, there is peace, calm and tranquillity. It is so
restful and joyous with clarity of mind. And even at this autoscopic stage,
they do not want to go back to the body. However, a few of them feel
rather sad. This is because they have been watching their relatives or love
ones crying over their ‘dead’ bodies or being brutally resuscitated. It is
their emotional reaction to the sadness of their love ones. It just shows
that their minds and emotions are still intact.

During this OBE state they can travel anywhere just by thinking of the
locality. If one is in London, one can move to New York just by thinking
about the latter.

Their return to their bodies is usually sudden, and invariably the pain that
they had before the NDE would return to them. That is why they are
angry when brought back. At this point they also cannot tell others what
happened. They find difficulty in choosing words to explain the NDE.
Summarising, the patient suddenly loses total consciousness, and the pain
and suffering immediately cease. There is now only calm, peace and well
being. There is now no more fear. The OBE is accompanied by an acute
sense of hearing and sight, while the mind is crisply clear with its logic and
reason. His spirit is light and he can float to anywhere he likes.

Transcendental NDE
From the floating position some of these patients may proceed to expe-
rience events in another realm beyond the limits of this world. They will
be pulled into a darkness or dark tunnel through which they are hurdled
with a rushing or buzzing noise in their ears. There will be a light at the
end of the tunnel. This light pulls them towards it, and this light is filled
with love, warmth and it does not blind them. Few of them do not speed
through the dark tunnel: they simply float or hang around in this darkness.
Some climb up a staircase. An occasional one does express fear initially in
this darkness, but it is quickly replaced by peace and tranquillity. Once
they are out of the tunnel, a light instantly envelops them. This light is
very bright, and it is described to be white or orange with a yellow tinge,

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and it gets brighter and brighter when one gets nearer and nearer to it.
The light is beautiful and filled with love.
Life Review
Invariably, a Being of Light is encountered during this period. He will be
with the NDEer during the post-mortem life review. And he will be the
being who will inform the NDEer to return back to earth. Relatives may
also give these same instructions. This Being of Light is totally composed
of love. He does not judge during the life review. This review occurs
sometimes chronologically forward since childhood days, sometimes
backwards and sometimes in a holographic clump. The patient merely
notes the commissions and omissions in the very detailed life review.
Sometimes, these omissions and commissions are being pointed out to
them by the Being of Light. Some of them reckon that their whole life
was reviewed, but the time to reel out one’s entire life took only a few sec-
onds. Some remember only the major events, especially the negative ones.
In an event in which one had hurt some one else, the perpetrator (the
NDEer) will receive the pain and suffering incurred. Similarly, the giver
will enjoy the happiness and pleasure that one had given to others. This
karmic retribution is appropriate and just. The Being of Light is often
interpreted as God, Jesus, Allah or Buddha, depending on the religious
upbringing. This Being of Light does not judge: he is there to give a sym-
pathetic hearing with compassion. His love is not incriminating at all. You
judge yourself, and therefore, the judgement depends entirely on how
severe you have been judging others. The basic question that underlies
these reviews is ‘ what have you done with your life?’ Another important
query is how much unconditional love have you dished out to others.
With these two basic principles the NDEer returns to earth a changed
person.
Deceased relatives or friends may turn up with eager welcome wishes. The
conversations are held either verbally or by telepathy. Very occasionally
sign language is used. All these spirits appear radiant, and they all seem to
have this glow like the Being of Light, but less so. Some children even see
either a globe or a ball of light in their chests (heart chackra). All of them
also appear much younger as in their prime. All are happy and cheerful.

Scenic Panorama (Heaven)

Some of NDEers see beautiful countryside scenes, like undulating downs

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with small clusters of well-pruned trees interspersed with meadows. Quite
often streams and rivers are also depicted. There are even sheep and cattle
to complete the exotic panorama. Flowers are much more beautiful and
vibrant than on earth: the red is redder and the green is greener. The fra-
grances are out of this world. All these scenes depict calm and peace. There
are also ponds and small lakes in the composition to make the scenes idyl-
lic. The entire atmosphere is quiet and calm, but sometimes there may be
celestial music emanating from the spheres, which complements the whole
region. The above description truly gives the feeling of ‘heaven’.

Knowledge
Some of them are fortunate enough to be shown a holographic ‘library’,
in which whatever subject they want to know will be shown to them on a
screen surrounding them. An occasional one would be even more fortu-
nate: he or she would be given the secrets of the universe in its totality.
Anything he wants to know is given to him in its entirety with nothing
held back. The answers are detailed and easily comprehensible, but they
cannot bring the information back to earth. The information is presented
as holographic words on the screen or as a broadcast coming out from the
atmosphere without loudspeakers, and it is as a sense-around. Although
no knowledge can be brought back, a desire to learn always accompanies
the NDEer coming home to the earth realm.

There is always a border indicated by a fence or a river beyond which the

NDEer cannot cross. To them it is a point of no return: once they cross
it, they cannot return to their human bodies.

Hellish States
A few, but not too many, had suffered states and visions that are negative
and awesome. Firstly, some would have attacks of fear and panic, especial-
ly during the initial stage of darkness, which surrounds them with total jet,
black atmosphere. Then despair and loneliness add to the gloom. Amongst
the Chinese, they would see the hell taught to them in their books: corpo-
ral punishment of the most inhuman varieties is visualised. Many forlorn,
depressed people are seen walking aimlessly in no direction. They all look
downwards on the ground, and they congregate together as if to keep
themselves warm. They are in an atmosphere of mist and dankness. Wailing
and howling complete the gloomy atmosphere. Almost all of them descend

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to these ‘hellish state’, unlike the others who ascend to ‘heaven’.

The Return
Most of the NDEers would not want to return to earth, but a few would
express a desire to return for the sake of the loved ones left behind.
Whether they come to a border of no return or not or how much they
would like to stay behind, they are told to go back either by the Being of
Light or relatives or friends. They are shown the border, but ordered not
to cross it. The return is accomplished by a force, like a magnet, which
dragged them back into their bodies: the nearer they are to their bodies
the stronger the force, and the return is like an elastic snap back to the
physical. Most of them are very disappointed coming back to this world
and body of pain and suffering. All these NDEers have to come back
because they have a mission to complete, whether they know it or not.
Some of them after their return are able to predict the future. Most of the
precognition come true: one of these was predicted thirty years ahead! It
looks as if they could tap into the Akashic records (empathetic reso-
nance)!

Character Transformation after the Return

Fear of death. There is now either no fear or much less fear of dying. As
the NDEer has literally been through death, there is now no doubt what
death entails. He knows that his consciousness is imperishable. He has
experienced calm and tranquillity in the other realm. There is also no pain
or suffering, except during the life review.

Unconditional Love. In the life review, there is one great lesson that he has
learnt. And this is Divine love: a love that is unconditional and there is no
expectation of thanks or gratitude. This is one commodity he has to cul-
tivate in this life, and it has to be freely circulated. In fact this is the most
precious treasure he has to accumulate incarnation after incarnation. For
him this is the main cargo he has to carry home to his final destination--
--Godhead or Universal Consciousness.

Empathetic Resonance. The word empathy means to take over the feelings of
others: the pain and joy of others becomes one’s own. The word reso-
nance means any thoughts, feelings and actions that may travel outwards
from oneself to affect other people consciously or unconsciously nearby

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or at a distance. During a life review, the punishment and reward were
instantly felt according to our good or bad thoughts or deeds. This is
instant Karma in action. It also means we are all interconnected: our con-
sciousness is part of the universal whole. There is no escape from karma,
which is relentless, impartial and just. Whenever we hurt someone else by
deed or thought the imbalance in this resonance must be re-adjusted, and
that is why karmic retribution is so accurate, but it takes its own sweet
time for the boomerang to return to the perpetrator. Everything in the
universes is part of the whole, and therefore the readjustment is our
karmic retribution.

Quest for Wisdom: After seeing the ‘library’ or after the universal knowledge
was shown, the desire to learn is now very strong. In the past the man
could be very mercenary or avaricious, but now he has become much less
materialistic. He realises that he cannot bring it along with him. Therefore
he is now concentrating in gaining knowledge, and the best knowledge is
wisdom. And the greatest wisdom is to let go. To let go is to relinquish
wealth, fame, pleasure and profit. Just imagine the release and burden-free
consciousness of a person set free: he will be in the same ecstatic state as
in his heavenly NDE episode.

Spiritual Change: With the above changes, he becomes more inward look-
ing. If he has been religious, he will be more so. If he has not been reli-
gious, he will be more spiritual. The subconscious goal is the ‘the other
realm’. He is now kinder, more helpful and more charitable. Selfishness is
being replaced by selfless service. He now realises that there is a purpose
in life: to accumulate unconditional love and gathering of wisdom. And
unstinting service is one way to go about it. In addition, he may go and
learn meditation or yoga to improve his awareness. He now would like to
have moments of quiet and enjoys solitude. A suicide would not try again,
after experiencing an NDE. He knows that each of us has a mission in life.

Re-entering the Real world: A NDEer always finds it difficult to get back to
normal life. Firstly, he cannot tell any one about his NDE. Secondly, his
close relatives and friends will not believe him. In fact, quite often he is
sent to a psychiatrist after he reveals his near-death experience. His spouse
would find his change of character unacceptable, and tension would arise.
His colleagues also cannot understand this character transformation, and

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they shy away from him. His bad habits are abandoned, and new ones are
being acquired, e.g. pursuit of knowledge. Finally, he will adjust himself,
especially when his relatives and friends learnt about his NDE, and they
accept it.

Realization and A Glimpse of Enlightenment: As time goes on after he has

acquired enough divine love and wisdom, he will realise that his ego is in
the way of his new found spiritual path. He realises that his ego fortifies
his small self. Therefore, he has to reduce the size of his ego and become
more humble until absolute humility takes over. One can only minimise
the ego to just taking care of the functions of the body and mind. We can-
not completely annihilate the ego as long as we are in this human form.
However, with prolonged practice, we may come to realise our soul, when
the ego is out of the way. This is the beginning of Self-realization---- the
goal of all Hindus. In other words, the NDE has given us an opportuni-
ty for this Metanoia (change of mind). We will then be able to see that the
Higher Self contains the small self and our Higher Self and soul contains
the spark of God in all of us.

Conclusions
The doctors have managed to isolate a place in the brain where NDE
occurs. It is situated somewhere near the right temporal lobe. This is
merely the locality in the brain, from which these experiences take place,
but it does not mean that all the experiences are hallucinations. The expe-
riences are too finite and realistic, and all the stories conform to a pattern
that fit our idea of the spirit realm that has been channelled to us by reli-
able mediums.

From the above discourse, we can assuredly conclude that the

Transcendental NDE is a visit to the next realm. That means the spirits
of the NDEers have crossed over to the middle astral realm, and perhaps
very rarely to the lower astral (some interpret this as hell). That means that
the NDEers have actually died for the short periods of time, and have
crossed over to the spirit realm where all the deceased finally end up.
These states may not be identical to everyone who experienced
Transcendental NDE. This is due to the fact that both the lower and mid-
dle astral realms are coloured by our own culture, learning and beliefs. The
realm may have the same vibration for all, but our perception and inter-

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pretation vary considerably from one person to the other. Therefore the
Being of Light is interpreted as Jesus, Buddha, Allah or God according to
one’s upbringing and religion.

The autoscopic experience is identical to all other out-of- body experi-

ences of normal people: there is not the slightest difference here. So this
part of the NDE just proves that we have a spirit that leaves our body
when we die. The spirit merely hovers around the earth where our bodies
are until it is time for us to cross over to the spirit realm (the astral), and
then we rush through the dark tunnel to the astral white light. Experts in
OBE state that a silver cord joins our physical bodies to our spiritual
forms, which may travel as far as the moon and yet this cord is not bro-
ken. This is so as long as the person is not dead. As soon as the person
dies, the silver cord is automatically severed. This is the reason why the
dead can be raised by some powerful and advanced healers e.g. Jesus
Christ. They are not actually dead: they are merely in suspended anima-
tion or in a NDE, when the silver cord is still intact and unbroken.
However, once the silver cord is severed, no one in the world can revive
the dead.

The exquisite Being of Light is not God or Allah or Buddha. He is mere-

ly our chief guide. He is the one that has been overseeing our path on
earth with the help of our personal guardian angels. So this Being of
Light is there in our NDE to teach us unconditional love and wisdom.
Lastly, although we are no more afraid of death there is also no desire to
take our own lives at the slightest excuse. We know now that the second
we die whatever misery or pain we have at that time will completely dis-
appear. There will be peace and tranquillity instead. We realise now that
we all have a mission on earth: and that is to cultivate unconditional love
for circulation and to gather wisdom. Both these items can be gleaned
from selfless service to humans, animals and vegetation.

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 Out of Body Experience (OBE)

The term "out-of-body experience" (OBE) was coined by Tart in 1960 in

order to distinguish it from other judgmental alternative names like astral
projection, ESP projection, doubling, astral travel, etc. An out-of-body
experience has been defined as: " An altered state of consciousness in
which the subject feels that his mind or self-awareness is separated from
his physical body and this self-awareness has a vivid and real sense about
it, quite different from a dream". There must be a sense that the self is at
some place other than in the physical body. In this definition, certain
assumptions must be made. Firstly, the subject is in a better position than
the investigator to decide whether or not he had an OBE. Secondly. the
emphasis is on the sense of location of self-awareness rather than the
complex and entirely variable visual and auditory experiences reported in
the anecdotal literature, and thirdly, whether or not there is objective lab-
oratory demonstration of a separation of self-awareness from its normal
location in the brain seems not relevant.

OBE Surveys
Not many surveys of the incidence of OBE exist. In 1954, Hart asked
155 students whether they had ever had an OBE, 27.1% said they had,
most of them had more than one experience. In 1968, Celia Green asked
380 Oxford undergraduates about having an OBE, 34% replied affirma-
tively. Palmer and Dennis published the first survey using a randomly
selected group of 1,000 students and townspeople in a small town in
Virginia. 25% of the students and 14% of the townspeople reported hav-
ing had an OBE. Shiels collected data on belief in OBE from nearly 70
non-Western cultures. Despite cultural differences their beliefs are strik-
ingly similar. This was felt as indirect evidence of a genuine event. A
South African study analyzing 122 accounts in response to a press request,
found that the OBE occurred often while the subject was asleep, relaxed,
or dozing, and over 50% of the subjects claimed to have been in a nor-
mal mental state when the phenomenon occurred.

Twemlow, Gabbard and Jones presented a paper in 1980 to the American

Psychiatric Association in San Francisco. It was called "The Out-of-Body

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Experience: Phenomenology". 339 subjects took part in response to an adver-
tisement on OBE. The data was analyzed according to pre-existing con-
ditions, phenomenological features and impact of the experience.

Pre-existing Conditions
There is no cause-effect relationship between these pre-existing condi-
tions and the OBE itself. Majority of the candidates is in a relaxed and
calm state (79%). Only 23% are in an emotionally stressful state. In the
study, 27% are meditating, whilst 36% are dreaming. Quite a few of the
latter describe their dreams as "flying or falling". Fatigue accounted for
15% of cases, and NDE was the cause for 10%. Other minor precondi-
tions are cardiac arrest, drug, general anesthesia, severe pain, childbirth,
etc. The last preconditions are accident, high fever, sexual orgasm, alco-
hol and driving a vehicle.

Stress
Some form of stress not infrequently precedes the ‘single’ OBE cases,
and is usually associated with physical trauma. However, L of these single
cases the stress is psychological. The same fear may trigger an OBE
before visiting a dentist or undergoing anesthesia. The stress could be
either short term or long term. Short term is within the last 24 hours.
Long term means more than 24 hours, and if the long term is psycholog-
ical rather than physiological, it is as common as in the short-term cases.
If the stress is prolonged during a period of time the OBE may recur sev-
eral times during this period.

Sometimes fear of something eerie or frightening, like seeing a ghost, may

trigger an OBE episode. Amongst the emotional stress cases, themes of
loss, mourning and loneliness are common. Threats of death including ill-
ness, surgery, cancer and being in a war zone are also frequent precursors
of OBE. Loneliness stands out as a fairly prominent pre-condition.

Happiness or philosophical reflections may also bring on an OBE to

some people. Those OBEs occurring during states of calm tend to be
multiple and their OBEs were spontaneous in a relaxed state. Meditators
feature prominently in the OBEs with mental calmness. OBE occurring
during dreaming has been stated as ‘more real than a dream’ in the major-
ity of cases. In childhood cases quite a number of their dreams depict fly-

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ing or falling. Most of these cases were certain that it was an OBE and
not a dream.

The cases of Near-Death-Experience do experience OBE and autoscopy

exactly the same way as ordinary cases of OBEs. NDE cases are associ-
ated with stress and must be near death. Except for marijuana users, most
drug users and alcoholics have a low incidence of OBE.

The reason for wanting to have an OBE has been quoted as (a) curiosity
or fun (b) psychical research (c) personal spiritual development and (d) the
OBE is entirely spontaneous. Only 10% of the individuals questioned
have been to workshops on OBEs.

The psychological and physical profile of an ideal projector is thus: strong

will; interest in new things; curiosity; lack of religious, scientific and social
conditioning; a rational and non-mystical temperament; patient non-con-
formist; calmness; a good memory; studiousness; humanist interests;
dynamic and self-controlled; mental disciplined; physical self-controlled;
capable of advanced relaxation. He has ideally a single sex partner.

How to mentally prepare for OBE

These are the following steps that the prospective projector can prepare
himself psychologically:

One must maintain a strong desire to project and dream about it. One
must have an awareness of a spirit or a true-self inhabiting the physical
body. Further one must try and visualize the route or environment when
you have succeeded in a projection. Before sleeping every night think and
read about projection.

Almost everybody who is trying to project has irrational fear. This fear
may with some small stimulus turn to terror and panic. When sleeping at
nights, we unconsciously pass over this fear when our normal conscious-
ness shuts down and our higher self takes over. At this juncture, the fear
barrier disappears. There are at least four reasons supporting the fear bar-
rier:
a. Fear of death. Being outside of the body is equivalent to death, and that
is why we are always in a hurry to get back to the body in our earlier exper-

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iments. It is only after a dozen times or more that we are able to overcome
this fear.

b. Fear of not being able to go back to the body. The fear of not being
able to get back is like being lost and is like death as well. After getting out
more than a hundred times you may then realize that every time you are
able to return to the body again. This will then rationalize into confidence.
c. Fear of the unknown. This is a completely different realm from our
earthly environment. This unknown territory, especially if it is the astral
realm and beyond, encumbered by all sorts of beings and terrain that is
far beyond our imagination. We can never fathom this New World where
all our previous training, knowledge and expertise are useless and effete.
All the worldly laws and rules, physics and chemistry and other sciences
cannot be used to measure this New World. Even after hundreds of
OBEs into that terrain we will still not be familiar with it.

d. The last fear is of the possible effects that may impinge on the physi-
cal body and mind of the person experimenting on OBE. This is so
because of our ignorance of the pathology of the spirit.

In order to clear the above fears one has to repeat the OBEs very often
so that familiarity and getting used to the conditions outside the body will
finally replace the fears with confidence.

The following preparation is solely for those who do not project sponta-
neously (involuntary projectors). For spontaneous projectors it is not nec-
essary to undergo the ensuing steps at all. They may read these notes just
to refine whatever they already achieved.

How to prepare for a projection

The bed of the projector should be comfortable, stable and quiet as pos-
sible. It should be a single bed, because of disturbing one’s spouse during
the projection. The doors must be shut to prevent sudden intrusion by
family members. Minimize noises by switching off the telephone, TV,
intercom, alarms, radios etc. Use an electric digital clock to record the
periods of projection. A dim night light may be useful to orientate the
projector when he has projected into his own bedroom and when he
returns from the OBE. A bedside table is helpful for the projector to keep

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pen, paper, tape recorder and a small flashlight to record the events of the
OBE without disturbing the sleeping partner. Do not over eat and over
drink (a distended bladder will interrupt the OBE). Personal hygiene
should be attended to and keep the physical body warm. The clothes must
be loose. All jewelry and metal objects must be removed form the skin.

Lying on one’s back, place the feet apart and let the whole physical body
relax totally. Rest the extended arms with hands open along the side of the
body. Place the head in such a position as not to stress the neck. All arms,
legs and neck must not be allowed to cause constriction to the circulation.
Close the eyelids and relax the facial muscles completely. Avoid swallow-
ing of saliva and do not have forceful respiration through the nose. Try
and breathe through the half-opened mouth.

Relaxation: this must be both physical and mental. One must not be in a
hurry, and there must not be any sense of urgency. All appointments and
telephone calls must be cancelled. The techniques for relaxation are gen-
erally at least 3 in number:

a. Auto- or self-hypnosis. Although many methods have been enumerated in

books, the best is to learn self-hypnosis from an experienced hypnotist.

b. Meditation. The best method is that of concentration.

c. Borderland sleep state. This is the most natural and the easiest. One
relaxes both body and mind until one is at the borderland between sleep
and wakefulness. The greatest danger here is to fall asleep. As you deep-
en into sleep, there will come a stage when the body is asleep but the mind
is not. At this juncture, hold on mentally to any one subject as long as you
can without falling asleep. The body is asleep but not the mind. However,
one may still fall asleep many times through the initial attempts. At one
point, you will find that the mental picture you are holding on will slip
away. This is the time when you do not introduce another picture to take
its place, but let the mental screen be blank and dark. Further on, a hallu-
cinatory period will ensue ----full of mind pictures arising on their own.
The busier the day before, the longer will these mental clips be. The next
steps are to continue deepening your consciousness downward with grad-
ual loss of control of your senses: touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight.

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State of Vibration
The generation of vibration is the most critical. Once you achieve it you
know you are on the right track. You enter into that deep stage of relax-
ation as described above. You hold on to that consciousness that is still
awake, but the body is asleep. Then as the hallucinations or mind pictures
have completely subsided, you keep on breathing through your half-
opened mouth with the eyes closed. Now concentrate on the darkness
behind your eyelids or the third eye’ area. Just stay at this point as long as
you can. One should remain in this mental state of clear awareness and a
completely sleeping physical body for as long as possible. All of a sudden
a surging, hissing pulsating wave of fiery sparks appears to be roaring in
the head. It is like a ring of electric shock without pain. This ring has the
physical body as a central axis and it surges up and down the body. This
vibration is not shaking and the frequency is fairly constant, immobilizing
the body. The frequency and intensity may be controlled to be fast or slow,
strong or weak. This ring of electricity is about 2 feet in diameter. It starts
at the head and sweeps down to the toes and back to the head again. It
keeps up as a regular oscillation, and as it passes through a section of the
body it is like a band cutting through that section of the body. As the ring
passes through the head a roaring comes with it into the brain.

Once you have been through this stage of vibration, the next attempt is
easy. There is no necessity to go through the entire routine. Just relax and
think of the vibrations and they will come. Each successful attempt will
facilitate the next one. However, in the early stages it may not be repeat-
ed. So do not be discouraged. There are no deleterious effects on the
body and mind, but mentally you must acclimatize yourself. In order to be
accustomed to this vibrational state, one must completely eliminate all
fear and panic when the electric shock without pain is coursing through
your body. The best thing to do is to stay quietly doing nothing and let the
electricity fade away on its own. This usually takes about 5 minutes. After
several episodes, you will realize that no harm can come to you, and you
are not being electrocuted. Do not panic by sitting up and break the par-
alytic condition. As this is what you want to achieve, you will regret the
panic and breaking of the circuit.

It is essential to speed up the vibrations, because the scene is set for the
disassociation of the spirit from the body. The acceleration of the speed

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will become automatic as you keep on trying. It will reach such a high state
that you will not even perceive the pulsation. At this stage the body is
warmth and tingling.

Now you are ready to project. Once you arrived at this point, you cannot
turn back. From now onwards, you cannot completely protect yourself
from any future spontaneous attacks of vibrations. It can come about any
time you relax! So beware.

The Process of Dissociation

Having been through the stage of relaxation and having experienced the
full blast of the state of vibration one must now continue with the
thought control. One must maintain that state of emptiness of thought
or at most one thought. This is because during the vibrational state, many
thoughts may trigger some fear or panic, and that itself will abort your
OBE trip. Whatever it is try and maintain that ‘no thought’ stance as best
you can.

Experience of the spirit arm and hand. After the vibrational stage, stretch
out an arm in a horizontal direction away from you. Do not raise or lower
the arm. If you feel nothing, continue pushing until you can feel an object.
Examine the physical details of that object: the grooves the clefts and the
evenness of the surface etc. These are the details you may identify at a
later time.

Now, push against this physical object with some pressure. At the begin-
ning there will be some resistance, but continue to push a little harder.
Then lo and behold your fingertips and your hand will go through the
object and further on a second object will be felt. Try and identify the sec-
ond object by touch. Then slowly withdraw your hand back through the
first object and return to the normal position of the hand. Thinking of
the physical will return you directly to your physical. Lie still for a few
minutes after your return.

After returning to your normal physical self, verify both these objects with
your physical eyes and hands. Do the details coincide with what you felt
during the OBE?

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The other exercise you may be try out is thus: After producing the vibra-
tions, stay lying on your back and leave your physical arms on your sides.
Then with the eyes shut, lift your non-physical arms up to the center and
let your fingers touch each other. Even with your eyes shut you will see
that your physical arms are by your sides and the non-physical arms are
above your chest their fingers touching one another. At this moment your
sensations are from the non-physical arms. Try this test many times to
prove the point that the non-physical components are really there. Then
make sure that the non-physical arms have returned to the physical before
you shut down the vibrations.

Methods of your separating the spirit from the body

1) The Lift-off method. This is the best method, which means lifting off
from the physical. The goal here is merely to get out the spirit to famil-
iarize the surroundings of the room and not to travel afar at this juncture.
It is best to do in daylight at the first try. If it is done at night, use a dim
light with a shade so that the environment in the room can be easily rec-
ognized. Now having achieved the vibrational state and abiding to empti-
ness of thoughts think of how nice it is to float up or out of your body.
Allow this lighter part of your body to literally lift off from your body.
Look forward to this lovely sensation. After one or more attempts you will
certainly float up.

2) The Rotation method. After arriving at the vibration and no thought

status, try and turn over as you do at night in bed. Use your body and not
your arms or legs. When you have turned 180 degrees and facing yourself,
slowly try to float up backwards. If you are not too gentle you may roll
out on to the floor suddenly. No harm is done, but it is a little discon-
certing, because you have to find your way back to the body again straight-
away. However with care, this method will be successful.

3) The Dropping-Down Method. This third method is the dropping

downward of the spirit into the bed and further below. In this type of dis-
sociation, the lower limbs and arms may sink down before the rest of the
body. This method is normally associated with spontaneous OBE.

Try out the above 3 methods several times each and decide which tech-
nique you like best, and then stick to that. Whatever method you use when

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you finally return to your body, you will slightly jerk into place with a click.

Familiarization of immediate surroundings. In the first several OBEs stay

near your physical body and try to recognize all the surrounding features
of your room. After many successful attempts, you may begin to move a
few feet away at a time, but do not go further afar. To make sure that you
return to your physical you just think of returning to the physical. The
other method is to move a toe or finger of the physical body.
Alternatively, move your jaw or tongue or swallow some saliva. At the
same time, take big breaths several times. Never panic about not being
able to return the body. Keep calm and cool. After returning open your
eyes and sit up and then move around a bit. Repeat this process many
times until you are very familiar with all the proceedings. When you try to
see, do not open your non-physical eyes. Instead, think of seeing, and that
you can see, and you will truly see. There is no sensation of opening your
eyes. While trying to see, the darkness will firstly disappear and then dimly
your sight will become sharper and clearer. Then turn around to look at
your own body, but do not be alarmed: it is merely your own body!

OBE at a distance. After being fluent and successful with your OBE in
your room, now is the time to go further afield. Here you have to think
of the person and not the place. Do not just think of a name, but think
of his or her personality or character. Do the selection before you enter
into the vibrational state. Do not inform the person that you are visiting
him or her. After the separation, move about 6 feet away from your phys-
ical body and think of that personality. Try not to visualize a physical
being. It is the inner person you are aiming at. As you are thinking of the
person rotate slowly 360 degrees around yourself. There will be a point
from which a magnetic pull is felt. Stay facing that direction. Now assume
a diving position with your arms above your head and the 2 hands facing
one another then stretch towards that direction and off you go. The speed
depends on how much you can stretch. You will automatically stop when
you arrive at your destination. To return, just think of your physical body,
reach out and stretch, and you will return.

Terminology in OBE
When the spirit separates from the physical body, all the auric bodies
emerge from the physical body, which is left behind as a corpse. But it is

133
not a corpse because all the normal physiological parameters are still func-
tional, e.g. heart beat, breathing and digestive processes, etc. When the
arms or legs are twisted and start to numb, messages are sent to the spir-
it through the silver cord. Other names used for the spirit are Second
Body, psychosoma or mentalsoma (when the etheric body is left behind).
The 7 auric bodies intersect and cover the physical body, like Russian
dolls. They are named (1) etheric, (2) emotional, (3) mental, (4) astral (5)
etheric template, (6) celestial and (7) causal. If the spirit is propelled out
into our physical world, it is covered by the etheric body and looks exact-
ly like the physical body, but it carries with it all the other auric bodies.
Celia Green calls this the ‘parasomatic’ body, when a form is seen by the
subject and by others in the spirit world. When the subject does not iden-
tify itself with a body or a spatial entity, she calls it ‘asomatic’. That means
there is only consciousness representing the spirit. Waldo Viera calls the
spirit psychosoma when it is composed of the extraphysical body, which
includes the etheric body, the emotional body, astral body etc. If there is
no spatial entity, he calls it mentalsoma. The latter consists of only aware-
ness without a body. Robert Monroe calls both forms ‘Second Body’.
Some workers do come across a silver cord among their subjects, but not
all workers can confirm that. The word Phantom used by J.H. Brennan
should not be considered at all, as the word phantom connotes an unreal
specter or apparition. Apparition is also used, but this phrase is more suit-
ed for a ghost.

When the spirit is projected out to the physical world, it is called an ether-
ic projection, and the spirit is clothed in its etheric body (psychosoma).
When the spirit is projected beyond the physical world into the astral
realm, it is called astral projection. If it is clothed by the emotional body,
there is a fair amount of variation in form, sometimes appearing only as
a blob of white light. When it is projected into the mental realm, it takes
the form of the mentalsoma, and in this instant the form is either a blob
of white light or just merely an awareness.

The Silver Cord:

Although not all projectors see a cord, nevertheless the incidence is
described often enough to warrant a proper status. The cord is a cable or
lifeline, which is fastened to the medulla oblongata of the spirit whilst the
other end is attached to the third eye of the physical body. This cord

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appears to be composed of a bundle of pulsating cables, rather than a sin-
gle cord. Once this cord is severed, the person is dead and no amount of
healing can revive the patient. Both in OBE and NDE the cord is intact.
Even in the bible, it is stated that the silver cord snaps on death.

The silver cord is very powerful and the powerful forces that traverse
through it prevent the intrusion of predators entering the inanimate phys-
ical body during the projection. This cord links the physical body with the
spirit or the etheric body. Messages can be passed form one to the other.
From the physical body, a full bladder or a twisted arm would tug the spir-
it back to the physical body right away. On the other hand, if the etheric
body or spirit wants to return to the physical, it just passes the message to
the physical to wiggle its toe or move the jaw, and the etheric would be
spirited back to the physical with a jerk. This cord is not only elastic, but
it can stretch for thousand of miles from Ireland to India (Arthur
Gibson), and it can move to the astral realm without being entangled or
over stretched. This cord can also pass through solid physical buildings,
and when 2 to 3 subjects travel together their cords do not entangle. A
constant warning by esoteric literature is that physical body should not be
disturbed or else the etheric body may jerk back to the physical with a
thud, and this may harm the person: the person wakes up with a headache
or some bodily bruises. Also because of the cord, trauma to the spirit may
be transmitted to the physical. This cord allows the spirit to control the
physical to some extent. In some OBEs the physical body is performing
some physical acts, like driving, walking, running and talking. In these
instances the spirit controls and guides the physical body with the cord,
so that the physical body continues to act appropriately.

There is also no fear that the spirit will never return to the physical
because of this cord. As the spirit approaches the physical, up to certain
distance, there will be a sudden jerk of the spirit back to the physical, and
a soft click would be felt.

The characteristics of the spirit (etheric body, second body, psychosoma):

This spirit has weight. It is estimated that it is about a thousandth of the weight
of the body. A person weighing 154 pounds has a spirit weighing approxi-
mately 2.5 ounces. It is also subjected to gravity although much less so.

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The spirit is visible under certain conditions. It always gives off some
light. It ranges between dim to bright light, depending on the evolution-
ary state of the individual and the environment. Alternately, the spirit may
be able to radiate or reflect light in a known spectrum. The spirit may also
shut down this luminescence when it is prudent for it to do so, e.g. when
he is visiting a site in which his presence in that spiritual site is unwanted,
and it is dangerous for him to be found out. Besides seeing the spirit in
this form, some people can only visualize an etheric rim surrounding the
spirit and not the body itself. In addition, the perceptual qualities of the
viewer must be enhanced to see this form.

The spirit has a similar sense of touch as the physical body. When the
non-physical hands touch one another, it is identical to flesh touching
flesh. Further, when the non-physical hands touch the physical body, this
can be felt as well. The spirit or body is elastic. The arm may stretch out
to three times the length of the normal arm. Sometimes the spirit may
seem to appear as a waving piece of filmy cloth, but whatever texture, the
form tends to be humanoid.

Movements:
There are at least 4 ways the spirit can move:
a) The 1st is exactly how the physical body normally walks.
b) The 2nd is an intermediate speed in which the spirit moves as
speedy as in a fast horse or a car. The feet of the spirit do not touch
the ground.
c) The 3rd method is that of levitation. The etheric body floats up in
the air and starts to fly at whatever height it wishes. Sometimes it is
only one or two feet above the sleeping physical or it could go to great
heights and fly to long distances sometimes at great speeds.
d) Instantaneous travel. This technique must be learnt, but it is quite
easy to acquire it. This method has been described above and shall not
be repeated here, except that most times there is no sense of travel-
ling. You think of a personality and then next minute you are there.
He or she could be thousands of miles away.

Sleep and dreaming

What most people do not realize is that all of us go to the astral realm
every night during sleep. All humans start to loosen our consciousness

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during the process of sleeping, from alpha to theta wave. Then when delta
wave is reached, the spirit has totally dissociated from the physical body.
This is the start of his nightly OBE. He could either have an etheric pro-
jection or he may slip into an astral projection. Most of our dreams are
about this physical world and sometimes it is about the astral plane. Most
of us do not remember our dreams about the physical world, and there-
fore more assuredly our astral dreams are nearly always forgotten every
night. So the most frequent question is "how do you know that you are
not dreaming?" The following is a series of comparisons and contrasts
between dreams and OBEs:

In a dream, one’s reasoning power and logic are diminished; but in an

OBE, the intellectual capacity is either equal or greater than in the waking
state. Very often the person remains as a spectator in a dream; but in an
OBE the individual is actively taking part in the event and makes decision
as adroitly as in the waking state. In a dream, the illogical and bizarre sce-
narios are accepted without question; in an OBE, there is none of the
absurdity that is present in dream. In OBE, crucial judgements of events
that unfold always pervade the spiritual consciousness.

In a dream, one is unable to catalogue a sequence of events; but in an

OBE, all events are noted in chronological order to the smallest detail.
One does not dream in a waking state; however, in an OBE, it is possible
for one to maintain lucidity before, during and after the entire OBE. In a
dream, there is no such a process as a takeoff from the physical body; in
an OBE, the whole process of vibration and leaving of the physical is fan-
tastically unique and joyously experienced. It is not possible to prolong a
dream; but it is possible to prolong the stay of a spirit outside the physi-
cal.

Sensory excitement in a dream may result in the production of fantasies;

in an OBE the slightest stimulation of the body will end up with the spir-
it being rudely jerked back to the physical by the silver cord. In an OBE,
there are psychological factors not experienced in dreams. These are sen-
sations of freedom and well being, mental clarity, gliding, flight and some-
times euphoria. In a dream, the images may be deformed and unreal; in
an OBE the images are not deformed.

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In dreams, although the images are weaker they are easier to remember.
This is because the spirit is either almost in alignment with or is in prox-
imity with the physical body. In an OBE, although the images are clearer
and more intense, they are more difficult to remember. This is especially
so when the projection is at a far distance or in the astral plane i.e. when
the spiritual consciousness is at a distance from the physical brain. Of
course, if the projector is an experienced one and is highly lucid he will
be able to remember just as well as in a dream. Time exists only for the
physical body, and it does not exist for the spirit. Time influences the spir-
it only slightly especially during the takeoff and the return of the spirit. It
is also very slightly affected when projecting in the physical world. As the
spirit is projected further and further in the astral realm and beyond, the
spirit is freer and lighter. The influence of time is more and more tenu-
ous the higher one goes up the spiritual realm. Consequently, events occur
much faster and the projecting consciousness cannot transfer them to the
brain fast enough. This is due to the velocity and the absence of relative
time.

Survey by Celia Green on OBE

Celia Green from the Institute of Psychophysical Research did a study of
OBE with an appeal in the press and radio for first-hand accounts of this
experience. Approximately 400 people replied and about half of them
had more than one experience. Two questionnaires were sent out to the
subjects, of whom 326 and 251 replied to the questions respectively. 68%
of the subjects are women and 32% are men. This only means the per-
centage of the response and not of the actual projectors. The results of
the survey are as the following:

OBE may occur while the person is continuing to perform their normal
function, while asleep and apparently completely unconscious under anes-
thesia. The subjects may be walking, gardening or performing other
household chores or in public transport when the episodes happen.
Twelve per cent of the single cases were asleep. 32.4% of the single cases
occurred when the subject was anaesthetized or unconscious. In the sur-
gical cases, some of them were able to watch their operations in detail.

Sixty-one per cent of cases had only one experience. About 9% had 2,
5.5% had 3, 2.3% had 4, 1.7% had 5 and 20.9% had more than 6 experi-

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ences. The multiple cases are usually voluntary experimenters and they
more or less can do it at will. Most of the involuntary cases have only one
experience.

OBE can occur at any age: The single cases are most likely to be between
15 to 35 years of age. The cases with multiple experiences usually start
having them during childhood and some may lose their ability at a certain
age. The earliest age is 18 months. Most the OBE last only a few minutes,
but some may have OBEs lasting throughout their illnesses.

Stress: Most of the single cases may be traced to some form of stress, like
physical trauma. However, 25% of them the stress is psychological. Fear
is often associated with the stress. The most often quoted types of cases
are, going to a dentist, illnesses, war injuries operations, childbirth, inter-
views, air-raids etc. The spirit may posses an etheric form identical to its
own physical body (parasomatic) or there is no form (asomatic), in which
only a consciousness is experienced. In the cases with an etheric form,
whatever sensory deficiency the person is suffering, the etheric form
appears to have none of these deficiencies. The person with poor eyesight
or bad hearing can see and hear normally. Eighty per cent of single cases
are asomatic whilst parasomatic cases represent the remainder. Although
the asomatic cases deemed themselves as ‘disembodied consciousness’,
they felt themselves complete, as if they possess arms and legs. Some
describe themselves as '‘pinpoint of presence'.

Bilocation: Although, most are unaware of sensations arising from the

physical body, sensations from the physical may still reach the subject’s
awareness. This may lead them to feel the sensations appropriate to both
bodies. There appears to be a psychological censorship weakly operating
between the physical and the etheric, but proprioceptive sensations are
most accessible to the projected consciousness. Eighty-four of OBEs
claimed that their awareness is purely from their etheric position. Very
occasionally, a psychological emotion, like fear may transmit from the
physical to the etheric, but the latter is still quite detached. Very rarely, the
consciousness may be equally divided between the 2 selves.

Autoscopy: Eighty-one per cent of the single cases were able to see their
own bodies from the outside. Recognizing his own physical self gives him

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the insight that he is in an OBE. And this insight itself may terminate his
experience because of fright.

The position of the spirit: Most spirits view themselves from above, behind
or beside the physical, but rarely from below. If the OBE occurs indoors
most times the etheric is at the corner of the ceiling. This is the position
where he can view the greatest area of the room. Also he is the furthest
away from the physical body.

Relaxation: Amongst the subjects studied by Celia Green, 33% in single

cases and 41.3% in cases of more than one experience are more relaxed.
Only about 11% are tenser in both categories. Some of these cases delib-
erately go into relaxation exercises and meditation, and few of these enter
into OBE as a by-product. In the latter cases, some give up the relaxation
exercises and meditation because of the OBE.

Paralysis: About 5% of cases experience paralysis before and after the

OBE.

Motor Control: Whilst in a OBE when the subject tries to move the physi-
cal body he may find that in order to carry out a physical movement, he
needs great effort. Sometimes the subject may succeed in calling out even
if it meant only making inarticulate noises. If they are anaesthetized, no
movement can be enacted. In a few cases, the physical bodies were able
to control a motor cycle, or continue talking or deliver speeches or even
extracting a tooth as a dentist. Apparently, all the above acts were enacted
without deterioration of their skills.

Sensory Modalities: The single cases when questioned, 93% could see, 34%
could hear, 13% could touch, 4% could smell and 3% could taste. In those
who had more than one experience, 92% could see, 57% could hear, 28%
could touch, 19% could smell and 9% could taste. Normally, when an
etheric body tries to touch a physical object its hand would go through the
object. When the spirit sees, it does not matter whether his physical eyes
are shut or not. He sees 360% around him without turning around. Some
spirits can see themselves in the mirror whilst others may not.

Intellectual faculties: These are mostly unimpaired. In fact, they are usually

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enhanced and mental clarity is maintained. They have normal reasoning
power and memory is normal. The mind is clearer and more active than
normal. Most subjects found that the OBE is either timeless or time is at
a standstill or time ceases to exist. The remainder reckons that time has
slowed greatly.

Detachment: The subjects must remain not frightened or anxious or wor-

ried. They are usually calm and detached; otherwise any emotional con-
flict would terminate the OBE. Once they are in OBE, the problems of
the day seem trivial

Connection to the physical: Only 29,6% of cases feel connected to the physi-
cal and only 3.5% reported to see a silver cord. That means the majority
does not feel connected to the physical.

Majority of involuntary cases does not have a transitional stage between

the normal and OBE. This realization is usually sudden. However, in the
experimental cases as described above, the relaxation, the vibration and
the separation processes go to compose the transitional stage.

Extra-sensory perception (ESP), travelling clairvoyance, telepathy, pre-

cognition, and psychokinesis: These extra-normal attributes are all possi-
ble, but they occur to various individuals in varying proportions. Take
ESP. This is very possible because the spirit is able to see and read about
things in the room, which are not normally accessible, e.g. an envelope on
top of a tall cupboard. Clairvoyance is perceiving things from a distance
away, because the spirit can travel. Telepathy and precognition are rarities,
but they do occur. For the experienced voluntary projectors, he may prac-
tice psychokinesis and succeed eventually.

Conclusion
From the above dissertation, it can be seen that anybody may experience
an out-of-body episode, but it appears that only between 15% to 25% of
humans do have at least one OBE. Remember that every night when we
fall into deep sleep (delta wave) we already experience this out-of-body
separation, except we do not remember the events that take place. OBE
may take place as an involuntary or voluntary exercise. In the former vari-
ety it is often a single episode, whilst the experimenters (voluntary) nor-

141
mally experience multiple episodes. In cases when the spirit is projected
into the physical world realm the etheric body is the form we use. Without
a form the projected presence may be an emotional, mental or astral body.
If the spirit is projected into an astral realm or higher, then one may see
and interact with other spirits, who have died, or we encroached onto
their planes. There is no danger in OBE. One can always return to the
body by moving some parts of the body, e.g. wiggle one’s toe. It is almost
impossible for other spirits to enter our physical bodies while we are expe-
riencing an OBE. There is a psychological guard and the powerful silver
cord will protect our physical. While in a higher realm there is a possibil-
ity to travel forward and backward in time, as there is no time-space con-
ditioning in those realms.

References
1. J.H. Brennan. Discover Astral Projection. The Aquarian Press. 1989.
2. Celia Green. Out-of-the-Body Experiences. Institute of Psychophysical
Research. Oxford 1968.
3. Robert A. Monroe. Journeys Out of the Body. Doubleday. 1971.
4. Robert A. Monroe. Far Journeys. Doubleday. 1985.
5. Robert A. Monroe. Ultimate Journey. Doubleday. 1994
6. Waldo Viera, M.D. Projections of the Consciousness. International Institute
of Projectiology and Conscientiology. 1997.

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 Perchance to Dream.

"To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

for in the sleep of death what dreams may come.
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
must give us pause."

William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

All of us dream. When someone says he or she does not dream, it is due
the fact that he or she does not remember the dream. On the average an
individual sleeps about 8 hours per 24 hours, i.e. he sleeps away one-third
of his life. If he were 60 years of age, he would have slept for 20 years of
his life. If he were 90 years old, he would have slept for 30 years in that
life. Every night we dream about 2 hours in our 8-hour stretch of sleep,
but we can only remember snatches of our dreams. On the whole, in one
life time one sleeps about 5 to 6 years of that life.

Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) and Rapid Eye Movement

(REM)
Sleep may be divided into two types: SWS and REM. The former (SWS)
is named thus because the brain waves during this stage are large and slow.
SWS is divided into 4 stages. The EEG (Electro-encephalogram) machine
measures brain waves. At the start of sleep, stage one is registered, which
is characterised by slow eye-rolling movements, a loss of alpha brain
waves, and a lessening of muscle tone. Stage 2 is defined as comprising of
a low voltage EEG, with mixed slow frequencies. A young healthy adult
would have reached Stage 2 within 20 minutes of going to sleep. From
now onwards, the sleep is deepened with larger and persistent slow waves
dominating the EEG record. As far as deep SWS is concerned, the greater
the amplitude and the slower the frequency, the deeper the sleep. Stages 3
and 4 are more synchronised and of higher voltages. Stage 3 is defined as
having 20% to 50% slow waves of a certain amplitude, and stage 4 has
over 50%. It is conventional to regard all the 4 stages as being slow wave
sleep in contrast to REM sleep.

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At the beginning, most normal people start with SWS until at least 45
minutes later when REM sleep begins. After this, there is an alternation
between REM and SWS sleep, with REM arising out of SWS every 90
minutes. REM sleep is characterised by jerky eye movements (noticed
beneath the eyelids) and total paralysis of all muscles except those of the
chest for automatic breathing. The first sign is the loss of tone of the neck
and throat muscles. It is found that during this period dreaming occurs. In
humans, the small muscles of the face and hands twitch sporadically, as in
animals. The total body paralysis guarantees that the individual does not
act out the dreams.

The first REM sleep of the night lasts only a few minutes. Then as sleep
continues its duration increases at each subsequent REM, until after sev-
eral hours of sleep, REM sleep may last for 30 to 45 minutes. At the same
time, SWS gets less and less as the night wears out. Therefore, there is
some truth that most dreaming occurs in the second half the night. In
REM sleep, there is penile erection in the males, and females have erect
nipples, clitoral enlargement and lubricated genitals. The heart and respi-
ratory rates become faster and irregular and the blood pressure also
becomes irregular. Originally, it was thought that dreams or REM sleep
was necessary for health, but now we know that this is not true.
Preventing REM sleep with drugs has no bad effects on the individual.
Half of the sleep in newborn babies consists of REM sleep, which may
mean that this state is important in the development of babies. As animals
also exhibit REM sleep, it is quite safe to assume that animals do dream
as well. Dreams in REM sleep are more dramatic and exciting, whilst
those in non-REM (SWS) sleep are calmer and less stimulating.

There is no muscular paralysis in SWS, and breathing is slow and abdomi-

nal. Sleep walking, sleep-talking, bed-wetting and teeth grinding are all per-
formed during SWS.

Sometimes when one wakes up from a REM sleep one finds that one is still
totally paralysed. All forms of movements with the large muscles are not pos-
sible. The best way to stimulate the muscles to come to life again is to move
the small muscles of the face e.g. make a grimace. In this way the movement
of the small muscles will lead to the recovery of the large muscles.

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Nightmares
Nightmares are normally emotional in flavour and the subject matter is of
secondary importance. The emotions are fear, guilt and horror in varying
proportions and the dream ends in the subject waking up. About one in
20 people suffer from nightmares once a week. That means several mil-
lions of people in the world have nightmares every night. The worst suf-
ferers may have one episode per night, sometimes more. To some the dis-
order is so extreme that they dare not go to sleep at night and few even
tended to be suicidal. Nightmares maybe the cause of some fatalities dur-
ing sleep. Some of them wake up breathing rapidly with an increased
pulse rate and sweating profusely. Some of them may be yelling them-
selves awake. Therefore someone with an underlying heart disorder could
easily die in this nightmare.

There are two types of nightmares. The first variety consists of only 4%,
and is found in SWS. These mostly occur within the first one and a half-
hour of sleep. There are no preceding physiological signs. The individual
wakes up screaming with panic and terror. Then the heart and respirato-
ry rates are seen to rise right away after that. Most of these people do not
remember their nightmares the next morning. Some experts believe that
this type of nightmare is due to a disturbance of the arousal system in the
brain. Sometimes a noise can precipitate an episode. Witnessing some vio-
lence in their homes during childhood has traumatised some of these suf-
ferers, and thus remains the cause of the nightmares. These SWS night-
mares are sometimes called ‘night terrors’ and are common in children.
They are quite often not accompanied by visual images or a story.

The other type of nightmares is really anxiety dreams and they occur dur-
ing REM sleep. They are by far the commonest. These are inevitably pre-
ceded by physiological signs e.g. increased respiratory and heart rates and
rapid eye movement. Most of them cannot move due to muscle paralysis,
and they are unable to shout out. Some scientists believe that this is the
real cause of those who profess to be pressed by spirits in a haunted
room. These REM nightmares are horrifying and the images in the stories
are seen in gruesome details, quite often in colour. Some of these are
recurrent.

Dr. Keith Hearne made a survey of 39 nightmare sufferers. Most of them

145
were women, but this female bias may be due to the fact that males gen-
erally do not want to relate their nightmares to others. The age of onset
is usually the first 10 years of life. Six out of 10 said that trauma had pre-
ceded the onset. Nine out of 10 in this group reported that the night-
mares recur some or all the time. It is interesting in the fact that REM
nightmares happen during the first half of the night, when REM sleep is
more prevalent during the second half of the night.

There is evidence that nightmares occur more frequently in anxious peo-

ple, and the pre-sleep level of anxiety is an important baseline. In suffer-
ers of recurrent nightmares, the anticipation of another nightmare would
lower the threshold even more. Conversely, any remedy to calm the indi-
vidual before sleep either by medication or meditation would lesson the
likelihood of another nightmare recurring. The 38 nightmare themes in
the above survey are classified thus:

1. Witnessing horror and violence 12

2. Experiencing attack or danger 11
3. Flight from someone or something 5
4. Sinister presence 5
5. Being late and frustrated in travel 2
6.Suffocation 1
7. Hallucinating creatures 1
8.Paralysis 1

Total 38

Themes 4,6,7,and 8 are the reasons why dream workers do not believe
these episodes are due to spirits or ghosts pressing upon the sufferer.

From the above themes, it can be seen that most of them are either
receiving or witnessing violence. As it turns out the contents of the dream
are not as vital as the emotional makeup of the sufferers. Analysing their
characters, they are principally (a) affected by feelings, (b) apprehensive,
(c) tense, (d) undisciplined, and (e) self-sufficient. These anxious people
have nightmares because their threshold is low. And any subject in their
dreams could trigger a nightmare, which is enacted to fit the tense, appre-
hensive and emotional character of the sufferers. Therefore one can tell

146
oneself daily prior to sleep ‘to remain calm and relax’ as it is ‘only a
dream’. These are also prescribed as imagination exercises daily while one
is awake. Another method is to get oneself awaken up just before each
nightmare arises by some one else or by a ‘dream machine’, which sets out
an alarm at a certain respiratory rate.

All nightmares are there to remind us of some urgent business to be

resolved. Therefore, instead of waking up in the nightmare, stand stead-
fast and find out who or what really is the terror. Then ask the creature or
the monster what he wants. Normally when confronted this way, the crea-
ture changes to be a much nicer personality, and the message will be deliv-
ered in a direct or symbolic way, like ‘give up drinking or smoking’ or ‘you
are gambling your fortune away in the stock market’.

A case of lucid dreaming mentioned in Jeremy Taylor’s book, ‘Where

People Fly And Water Runs Uphill’ is very illustrative:

"A man was fleeing from a fiery dragon in a scorched and smoldering
landscape. While running, he suddenly realised that he was dreaming (i.e.
lucid dreaming). So he turned around to face the dragon and demanded
the reason why the dragon was chasing him all over the place. The drag-
on replied " I am your smoking addiction". At the moment of this reali-
sation the fire-breathing dragon began to change into a charming, friend-
ly, family dog. Thereupon, he also noticed that the dragon was covered by
a nasty, sticky brown slime, and noxious smoke was oozing out from every
orifice including underneath the scales. He was revolted by this repulsive
odour coming from the dragon. He then said: "Get away from me! I no
longer want you in my life". At awakening, the dreamer could give up
smoking straightaway without the slightest difficulty. He never smoked
since."

The Nature and Characteristics of Dreaming

What is the actual duration of a REM dream?

It is fairly prevalent to believe that dreams represent a time warp, in that
it is fleetingly short at the end of each period of sleep. However, in the
dream laboratory it was found that the period of dreaming corresponds
very well with the period of the REM. Waking up the subjects at various

147
intervals and asking them to describe their dreams confirms this. The
researchers found that the longer the dream the more words are used to
describe the dream. The number of words is proportionate to the length
of the dream. Also, a spray of cold water is used at varying intervals on
the subjects who are woken up at varying intervals of the dream. Here
again, the subjects would dream of water in their dreams, which corre-
sponds to the timing of the spray. However, there are experts who still
believe that the duration of the dream is shorter than the story that has
transpired.

Does Everyone Dream?

There are people who say that they definitely do not dream at night.
However, when they are studied in the dream laboratory, these individu-
als do dream, but they forget them very easily. When woken up during
REM periods, they confess that they do dream. When woken up after the
REM period, they remember much less of their dreams than normal
dreamers. In the morning when they finally wake up for good, they do not
remember any dreams at all!

Forgetting of Dreams
Unless we are woken up during REM sleep and asked to specifically
remember our dreams, we normally tend to forget our dreams, especially
the earlier REM dreams. Those that spontaneously remember dreams in
the mornings only remember the most recent ones. So every night most
of the earlier REM and the non-REM dreams are forgotten in the morn-
ing. Why is this so? This is because dreams are not stored in the brain like
normal wakeful events. This is the crux of the matter. In order to retain
dream events, at awakening, one must not move or look at the clock or do
something to shake off the dream. The same position is held with eyes
shut and one must re-enter the dream scene in a systematic method.
Dreams are normally illogical, chaotic and unmemorable, and therefore
not startling enough to be retained. A frightening nightmare is a different
story altogether, because we are woken up by the nightmare at that
moment. Even when woken up during a REM dream, some time must be
allowed for that dream to be stored in the brain. Otherwise it is very
quickly forgotten.

The Colour of Our Dreams

When questioned about colour in their dreams during the day, about half

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would answer that they dream in colour. When awaken up during a REM
dream, the percentage goes up to 70%. On further questioning, another
13% vaguely remember colour in their dreams. The theme of a dream is
always the predominant feature and the colour element is glossed over.
Therefore, we generally dream in colour, but this aspect of the dream is
forgotten.

Other Features of REM Dreams:

1. The movements of the eye are not scanning the images of the dream.
They are merely automatic movements, and we do not dream throughout
the period of REM.
2. Deprivation of sleep per se and not prevention of dreaming will pro-
duce some psychological distress. Dreaming, however, may have a func-
tion of resolving emotional conflicts.
3. We do dream during SWS (i.e. non-REM), but the incidence is much
less. Primary process thinking and illogical stories are also carried out
throughout the night’s sleep.
4. External stimuli (like cold due to falling of blankets or water sprayed)
and internal stimuli (like hunger and thirst) do get incorporated into the
themes of dreams. When one is cold in actual fact, the individual dreams
of being in the arctic. When one is hungry, the dream will be about eat-
ing a wondrous feast. When water is sprayed on them, they dream of rain.

Dream Recall (How to keep a Dream Journal)

In order to work on your dreams, you must learn and practice how to
recall, capture and write them down. Although we dream about 4 to 5
times per night, it is usually the last dream that we remember. The fol-
lowing steps are suggestions for you to take:

1. Keep a notebook or a small tape recorder beside your bed. It is bet-

ter to have a notebook, because you still need to transcribe your tape
recordings to the notebook at a later date.
2. Before you sleep, put down the date and one or two lines of the
eventful incidents of the day.
3. In your mind, have the intention of remembering your dreams for
the night, and instruct this intention to yourself either aloud or in
silence.
4. Do not use an alarm if you can. If you have to use one, use a buzzer

149
rather than a radio. Do not wake up fully. Lie still in that twilight zone
with the eyes shut. Stay in the same sleeping position and try and
remember as many details as you can of that last dream. Take your
time, and do not think of anything else like office or shopping. After
the first dream, try to remember the ones before that.
5. Try and write down your dreams while still in bed. If you do not
remember any dream, identify your mood, and merely jot down your
moods. Use a penlight if it is dark.
6. Give a heading to your dream. Try and capture as many details as
you can, including names, places, periods and phrases. Always write
down any quotations, phrases or poems first.
7. Do not censor or interpret your dreams. Be as outspoken and as
outrageous as the dream. Do not worry how bizarre or ridiculous is
the dream. Put down all the mundane or humdrum details down.
Colour of the dresses and houses and the state of disrepair of the
homes are all noted meticulously.
8. Feelings and physical sensations. Pay attention to your feelings and
body sensations. Fit the feelings to the images, and enquire as to what
the physical sensations are in relation to the story line.
9. If you cannot recollect a dream, just stay put in bed for awhile.
Slowly move from one position to another and a strand or fiber of the
dream may arise, and from there you can recollect your dream.
10. Even if there is no dream, write down your thoughts, sensations,
and physical feelings, and in this process something may turn up.
Certain periods of the month may be conducive to dreaming and cer-
tain hormonal levels (e.g. menstruation) may be inhibitory to dream-
ing. Julius Nelson found that his rise and fall of his dream recall var-
ied with the lunar month. Similarly, women recall much less during the
menstrual period than in the mid-cycle.
11. Read your dream journal periodically, or share some of the dreams
with either a partner or a group. The journal must be frequently made
use of.
12. You do not have to register a dream every day. If you can write
down 2 to 3 dreams per week you are doing fine. However if you are
serious about recording your dreams, a good dreamer should be able
to record 600 to 900 dreams per year.

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Additional points to remember when keeping a dream
journal:
1. Find a notebook that allows of some comments to be added on one
side of the book.
2. Keep your journal in a safe place and well guarded, so that nobody
is allowed to read it.
3. Index your dream theme.
4. Note recurring theme and locality. Lateness, trains, being pursued
etc.
5. Are your dreams precognitive? Tie up any relationship of the dream
to external events.
6. Does your dream overlap? Does any other person share the same
dreamscape as you?
7. Draw as many diagrams and pictures as possible in your journal.
8. Re-entry into the dream. If for some reason one wants to clear up
some points, like the location of the dream, or to clarify some teach-
ings, one could go back to the dream after being wide awake for some
time. Lie down on the bed as in falling asleep, then pick up a scene of
the dream and let your consciousness flow back into that dreamscape.
Once you are back in the dream, you are able to concentrate on the
details that you have missed out in the first instance. The location, the
message, or the exact words that have been used can all be retraced in
detail. If possible, a Shamanic drum may be used to re-enter your
dream. Sometimes, one can change the ending of a dream with a re-
entry. Rarely, one maybe able to make amends with our adversaries, if
they turn up in our dreams. Forgive and ask for forgiveness.

In chapter one of Jeremy Taylor’s excellent book called "Where People

Fly and Water Runs Uphill" he enumerates and discusses ten basic
assumptions in dreams. We will now run through eight of these
assumptions.

1. All dreams come in the service of health and wholeness. This means
that there is no such thing as a bad dream. Even nightmares are there to
rudely awaken you for you to pay attention to a truth that you have been
ignoring. Any dream that can be remembered is of value.
2. No dream comes to tell you what you already know. Even if you know
the fact, the dream is there to remind you to move further along that path

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for growth and development. Sometimes you may know a truth, but the
dream comes up to remind you to act on it.
3. Only the dreamer can say for certainty what meanings the dreams may
hold. All the experts in the world may suggest meanings in your dreams,
but the dreamer is the only one that can be right all the time, if he or she
takes the time and care to interpret the dreams.
4. The dreamer’s ‘aha’ of recognition is a function of previously uncon-
scious memory and is the only reliable touchstone of dream work. The
dreamer himself is the only one that can remember consciously the
insight of the levels of meanings, which are there unconsciously from the
beginning. All dreams have multiple meanings and layers of significance.
There is no such thing as a dream has only one meaning. The dream’s
multiplicity of truths about one’s life can be dissected out if required.
Every interpretation of a dream is incomplete on its own.
5. All dreams speak a universal language of metaphor and symbol at the
archetypal level. This universal language of dream cuts across all racial,
sexual, intellectual and social barriers. Everyone speaks the same dream
language.
6. All dreams reflect inborn creativity and ability to face and solve life’s
problems. Dreams are workshops of evolution. Our dreams are our aspi-
rations of our future. Our hypocrisy and our lies about ourselves are all
mirrored in our dreams, and it is from this point of facing the truth that
we can start our new lives.
7. All dreams reflect society as a whole, as well as the dreamer’s relation-
ship to it.
8. Working with dreams in voluntary groups builds community, intimacy,
support and understanding.

The above 8 points are truly pearls of wisdom from a dream expert who
has been called ‘the most experienced and insightful explorer of the
dream world today’. Much more time can be spent in analysing and dis-
cussing these points, but space does not allow it. However, another dream
from Jeremy’s Taylor book is most illustrative of points (1), (3), (4), and
(5). I quote the dream of a lady in an ‘empty nest syndrome’ in toto:

"I am alone in the kitchen. I hear the sounds of a party going on down in
my basement. I think to myself, ‘There haven’t any impromptu parties in
my basement since my kids lived at home. What’s going on down there!’

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I go down to the basement and see all these people standing around talk-
ing and drinking, but now I can’t hear anything----it’s as though I have
gone deaf! I move around and it is as though I have turned into a ghost-
---no one seems to be able see or hear me. I realize that I am carrying my
handbag now. I didn’t have it with me before, but now I have it. And I
know that there is a piece of rotting meat inside the bag, and I am afraid
to open it up for fear the smell will offend everyone. So I wander around
in the basement feeling more and more anxious and frustrated and hope-
less until I finally wake up in a sweat."

The dream group that she attends came to the interpretation that the ‘rot-
ting meat’ is a cancer, the basement suggests the lower abdomen and the
handbag localising it to the uterus. The prognosis is ominous because ‘she
is turned into a ghost’. Although physically she felt fine, she went and did
a Pap smear, which turned out to be normal. Her anxiety was not relieved
and she got a specialist to do a sonogram (ultrasound) and this test found
a thickening of the lining of the uterus, which on biopsy was diagnosed
to be an aggressive cancer. Urgent surgery was performed and her condi-
tion was cured. She was due to go to Europe for a holiday. If she had not
had the operation immediately, it would have been too late after the
European holiday.

Lucid Dreaming
Hervey de Saint-Denys coined the phrase " lucid dream" in 1865 when he
found that he was able to ‘dream on, knowing he was dreaming’. Lucid
dreaming is when you are aware that you are dreaming while dreaming.
Whilst normal dreaming is when you realise you have been dreaming only
after you wake up. In lucid dreaming, you are watching yourself lying in
bed and dreaming. You also know what you are dreaming. The awareness
of you lying there dreaming and about yourself in the dream may shift
back and forth. You may at some stage go solely into your dream and lose
the lucidity of knowing yourself dreaming.

Robert Moss prefers the name ‘Conscious Dreaming’, because the name
Lucid Dreaming has been associated with one’s ability to control dreams.
Nobody can control dreams, but one may influence dreams when in Lucid
Dreaming. Moss also does not like the methods suggested to induce Lucid
Dreaming, like looking at your hands during a dream, and keep remind-

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ing oneself that tonight one is going to be lucid. These methods accord-
ing to him are not watertight.

The best way to be lucid in dreaming is to realise at that moment that we

are flying or changing shapes or squeezing ourselves into keyholes. When
these fantastic scenes are realised, then one can be spontaneously aware
that we are dreaming. Sometimes a noise may provoke us into lucidity: a
telephone ringing, a doorbell or a voice. Once you learn about lucid
dreaming and have a desire to experience it, you may struggle to be con-
scious while dreaming. One can acquire the skill to lucid dreaming. Whilst
dreaming, one must hold on to the awareness of dreaming. This aware-
ness must be held tenaciously, or else you return back to uncontrolled
ordinary dreaming. Therefore, do not relax. There is much joy in main-
taining this lucidity. A pre-lucid state is one that you suspect that you are
dreaming. Then you test this state to find out whether you are dreaming
or not. Once the test confirms that you are dreaming, you can push it into
lucid dreaming. It takes time to induce lucid dreaming. It needs practice.
Sometimes in a nightmare, you realize that you are only dreaming and that
usually wakes you up. However if you realize that ‘as it is only a dream, it
cannot really hurt you’, you may convert the nightmare into a lucid dream.
When you become lucid during a nightmare, do not awaken, as there is no
terror anymore. Continue the nightmare as a changed lucid dream.

Another method is to recognise the dreamlike quality of your dream, and

this will make it lucid. There should not be any emotional stress in this
recognition. Also try to see any incongruity in your dream. This may trig-
ger lucidity.

What is the nature of lucid dreaming? It is much more realistic than ordi-
nary dreams. Animals and objects rarely speak as in ordinary dreams. Your
body rarely changes form in lucid dreaming. Although lucid dreams are
exceptionally real, miracles do happen, e.g. flying, changing environment
and travelling to distant places at an instant. Perceptions are vivid. The
colours are very lifelike. All the other sensations like sounds, tastes,
odours, etc are very real. The physical feel, the psychological attitudes and
perceptions are all like waking life. The thought processes are not as sharp
as in waking life, but sharper than ordinary dreams. When awake, the
memory of a lucid dream is very clear. It is much more easily recalled than

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an ordinary dream, as it has generated much excitement. The whole range
of emotions is present in lucid dreaming, but the dreamer usually remains
calm in a lucid dream. Do not allow excitement to wake you up in a lucid
dream.

Two phenomena are usually associated with lucid dreaming. These are (1)
false awakening and (2) flying. A false awakening is a state in which the
dreamer is still dreaming, but he thinks he is awake. This state may follow
a lucid dream or a non-lucid dream. When he finally wakes up he would
realize that it was a dream after all.

Flying dreams quite often precede lucid dreams, and lucid dreamers have
many more flying dreams than ordinary dreamers do. Nearly 40% of stu-
dents in Kentucky and Tokyo experience flying in their normal dreams.
Psychiatric patients have a lower percentage of flying on their dreams.
Perhaps, they do not want to be thought that they are crazy. Usually fly-
ing dreams are a prelude to lucid dreaming. One can also learn to fly in
one’s dreams, and after the first successful attempt, flying becomes easier
the next time around. Gliding a few inches above ground is another dis-
tinct possibility and this is considered flying. One advice to dreamers is to
talk about flying and lucid dreams intently for a few days. Concentrating
your thoughts on these subjects may bring about flying and lucid dream-
ing very soon. With this method unpleasant dreams may be changed to
pleasant ones.

Lucid dreams normally occur between 5:00 A.M. to 8:00 A.M. after a
good stretch of restful sleep. Some observe that their flying dreams usu-
ally are the last dreams of the night. That means flying and lucid dream-
ing tend to coincide during this period of late morning sleep.

Meditation and lucid dreaming: The meditator is conscious throughout

the period of his meditation. When he meditates down to theta wave,
dreamlets and dreams begin to appear. Even when he goes deeper into
delta wave, he is conscious and aware all the time. That means when his
body is asleep, his mind is still conscious and aware. In contrast to normal
sleep, in which the dreamer tries to become conscious while dreaming.
The meditator never loses consciousness throughout the period of med-
itation. The dreams come during theta wave, which is equivalent to

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R.E.M. sleep. The yogin then can change his lucid dream while meditat-
ing. He can explore anywhere he likes. He can heal patients miles away
with his powerful distant healing. When he wakes up from his meditation,
he remembers every detail of lucid dream in his meditation. That means
he can be conscious in his waking period, in his meditative dreams and
remain in the same consciousness after meditation with full memory of
what has transpired. It also follows that as you progress in your one-point-
ed meditation, you will also progress in your lucid dreaming. This is espe-
cially so when one can separate a watcher in our meditation and remain
detached to the events occurring in the dreams. Do not be excited, and do
not fear any image that arises in the dreams. Be fearless and calm. Be
detached and equanimous. With repeated successful experiences, the
meditator will grow spiritually rapidly.

What are the advantages of lucid dreaming?

1. Firstly it makes us more aware of our thoughts and emotions. Being
more conscious in dreams means we are more conscious in life. So the
first benefit is the expansion of our consciousness.
2. Secondly, one is more likely to be able to enter a higher spirit realm and
move forward and backward in time.
3. An experienced lucid dreamer is then able to see the multidimensional-
ity of his consciousness. He is then able to move up to level 4 and then
whisk down to level 2 with expediency. During all this time he is aware of
these higher spiritual realms. This feat alone will enhance his spiritual
growth greatly.
4. A healing process may be expedited with or without the help of guides.
In this high spiritual state, any disease can be healed in accordance with
his karma.
5. Shared dreams will now be a possibility. ‘Dream date’ may also be pur-
sued with the connivance of a partner.
6. Lucid dreaming is also most valuable in the instruction of life after
death. Most religions teach that our entire life is to teach us about how to
die. The bardo states in the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’ is the book par
excellence to depict life after death through lucid dreams by Tibetan
monks. In other words, lucid dreaming is to relate to us what is life after
death. Sleep is a little death, and lucid dreaming is witnessing life after
death.
7. Lastly, with lucid dreaming, the process of out-of-body experience

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becomes second nature and one does not have to learn specifically to
achieve OBE. An experienced lucid dreamer may actually see his etheric
or astral body (dream body) moving out of his physical body, and then he
is able to see his dream body move to higher realms. There is no fear
involved. It is an instructive viewing.

With all the above benefits, it is still a rare occurrence for someone to
experience a lucid dream, even though he has done it before many times.

If one were to make a study of dreams meticulously and in detail, one can
definitely conclude that we cannot totally control our dreams or radically
change our dreams. However, we can influence our dreams. A great les-
son arising from the study of dreams will tell us that our dreams are mes-
sages from our collective unconsciousness to our waking consciousness.
If, therefore one does not register our recollections of our dreams we are
missing important lessons for our spiritual development. Remember that
‘all dreams come in the service of health and wholeness’. Our deep
unconscious knows that we are going the wrong path and our habits may
shorten our lives. So a series of recurrent dreams will emerge to remind
us of our folly. If we do not recall our dreams to obtain the message, a
nightmare will then arise literally to wake us up. These messages cry out
‘stop your bad habit’ and ‘what you are doing is very wrong’ etc. And if
you are not aware of these warnings from your dreams, then the harmful
or fatal outcome will eventually come to pass. One could really conclude
that dreams and nightmares are guidance, warnings and lessons from our
higher self or guides.

Guidelines for interpreting dreams

1. Description of the dream. Write down as detailed as possible all the ele-
ments of your dream. Particularly note the (a) settings, (b) people and ani-
mals, (c) objects, (d) feelings, (e) actions in the dream and (f) a diagram
would help a great deal.
2. Recapitulate the whole dream using the dreamer’s own words. Edit a lit-
tle to bring out the main theme of the story. The words used may some-
times trigger the meaning of the image and theme of the description.
3. Bridge the images to specific situations in the dreamer’s own life. Does
the theme remind you of anything or anyone in your life? Does it remind
you of any part of yourself ?

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4. Test your bridge. In what way does the dream element relate to his wak-
ing life? Is the match strong? If the match is weak, drop the bridge. Look
for another match.
5. Summarise the descriptions and bridges at the end of each scene. Add
thoughts to the summary, and it is here that the meaning of the dream
may come to light.
6. Reflect. What changes or actions should the dreamer take in view of
the lessons learnt from his or her dreams? Read the dreams of the past
week 2 or 3 times so as to consolidate the lessons or insights. Then act on
them.

Dream dictionaries on the whole are next to useless. One cannot expect
one interpretation of a theme to fit all individuals. A person’s dream is
symbolic and metaphoric to that person alone. The dream comes in the
wake of the person’s own term of reference, his background, emotional
makeup and his existing circumstances. No two persons have the same set
of emotional background and circumstances at the same time. If one is
lazy and does not want to follow the above 6 guidelines for interpretation,
one may buy 6 or more dream dictionaries and refer to every one of them
to find out which dictionary gives the nearest interpretation to a particu-
lar theme. This is a hit-and-run method and could be quite misleading.

Personal Dream: A good example of how symbolic is a person’s dream to

the dreamer himself is exemplified by a dream of my own. In my dream,
I am attending a funfair. The man manning the entrance and selling the
entrance tickets was an anesthetist, a friend of mine. I asked him what was
the cost of a ticket. He answered $2. So I dished out four 50-cent coins
to him. This unusual form of payment went unnoticed by me. A ticket
was then issued to me. It had a number ‘389’ on it. On awakening, I tried
to conjure up a 4th digit to buy a 4-digit lottery with the numbers 3,8, and
9. My brother and I assembled several 4-digits with the ticket number,
‘389’. We then bought these 4-digits, but we were totally unsuccessful. In
turns out that the 1st prize 4-D ticket number was ‘5555.’ This is my four
50-cent coins payment towards the $2 ticket into the fair!

References
1. Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Trans. John Strachey. New
York: Avon, 1965.

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2. Jung, C.G. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Ed.Aniela Jaffe. Trans. Richard
Winston and Clara Winston. New York: Vintage, 1965.
3. Jung, C.G. Dreams. Trans. By R.F.C.Hull. ARK Paperbacks, 1995.
4. Garfield, Patricia. Creative Dreaming. New York: Ballantine, 1976.
5. Empson, Jacob. Sleep and Dreaming. Faber and Faber Limited. London:
1989.
6. Hearne Keith. The Dream Machine. The Aquarian Press. 1990.
7. Taylor, Jeremy. Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill. New York:
Warner, 1993.
8. Moss, Robert. Conscious Dreaming. Three Rivers Press. New York: 1996.
9. Moss, Robert. Dreamgates. Three Rivers Press. New York: 1998.
10. Delaney, Gayle. In your Dreams. Harper Collins. New York: 1997.

159
 Healing the Subtle
Bodies, the Body and
the Mind
Doctoring the Spirit, Healing The Body.
What's a former pathologist doing teaching Buddhist meditation? Dr Tan
Kheng Khoo is an unusual man. He spent nearly 30 years examining dead
bodies, before giving it all up to teach meditation. Today, he is one of
Singapore's most famous meditation teachers, counting among his stu-
dents, BG Lee Hsien Loong.

Dr Tan's move from science to spirituality did not happen overnight. He

practised at Singapore General Hospital, then ran his own lab for 14 years.
He had already been meditating for 10 years, and was gaining prominence
as a lay meditation teacher, when he left his lab in 1985 to teach medita-
tion full-time. Along the way, he also studied at the College of Psychic
Studies in London and even visited an abbot in the Thai jungles for
advice. Dr Tan also heals people through esoteric methods like "energy
channeling." His public lectures, at places such as the Singapore Chinese
Chamber of Commerce, are packed with hundreds of people. Peppering
his conversation with words like "chakra," "prana" and "spirit guides," the
former pathologist gives his views on the relevance of meditation in
Singapore.

On Meditation.
Q: How is meditation relevant to people's everyday lives?
A: When meditation is taught correctly, the person would not be as

160
stressed as before. His health will improve, and at a much later date the
whole personality would remain calm and tranquil. Then there will be less
anger, but the most important change would be transformation of char-
acter. The best transformation is to "let go".

Q: Why have you devoted your life to teaching this?

A: Having seen Singaporeans so stressed up, and their goal in life being
basically materialistic, I do not believe that Singaporeans should suffer so
much. Their main aim is to achieve the 5 C's (cars, condominiums, clubs,
credit cards and careers). The stress accrued in pursuing this goal is too
tremendous. I believe that we are seeing much more cancers today than
30 years ago, and I believe that this is stress-related.

Q: Do you find that interest in meditation is growing in Singapore?

A: Yes, interest in meditation has certainly grown a great deal. This is
because Singaporeans know that they are very stressed, and they have
already resorted to tranquilizers and exercise, but to no avail. Tranquilizers
are of temporary effect and also the person loses his clarity in awareness.
He does not want to behave like a zombie everyday. A stressed person,
also, is rather lethargic and therefore exercise is an uphill battle. So it boils
down to a daily routine of meditation, which will definitely benefit the
patient in many ways. Raymond is the man who looks after my courses in
the Buddhist Library for seven years. He noticed that students would turn
up very agitated and stressed out in their first year. However after two to
three years they would calmly walk in and sit quietly for their meditation
classes. The change is very noticeable.

Q: Some of the topics you cover, such as "cosmic energy," "soul mates,"
and "spirit guides" seem very far out. What do these have to do with med-
itation"?
A: If I were to give 10 lectures on pure meditation alone, I think the
crowd will quickly dwindle to a fraction of my present numbers. Because
I talk about spirit guides, soul mates, karma and reincarnation, these top-
ics grab them, and this is how the hall gets filled up. I insist that they med-
itate everyday for 12 weeks. This is how I force them to meditate for at
least 3 months with me.

Q: But shouldn't people learn meditation purely for meditation, and not

161
because of these sensational type of topics?
A: It is not really sensational. My topics pertain to the science of the spir-
it, and this is one thing we know very little about, even amongst priests
and monks. So I am teaching them to be acquainted with the spirit world.
We're spirit first and body second.

Q: Why is that important to know?

A: Because when we die, we leave this corpse behind. After 70 or 80 years,
we go home to the spirit world as a spirit. Singaporeans must know this.
Most people on earth believe that they are wholly this body only, and
nothing else. If they believe in spirits, it is mainly associated with ghosts,
and that is wrong. We are always spirit first.

Q: So why are we here?

A: We are here to learn. And what do we learn? At the end, we learn how
to love. In order to learn how to love, you've got to have enough wisdom
to let go. Otherwise you'll be selfishly loving only yourself. And even then,
the majority of people do not know how to love themselves. After many
incarnations, when you are enlightened, the only thing you can take back
is love. Of course, on the way, you would have accumulated wisdom and
total humility. This process of purification must include service and char-
ity. That is why I interpret "Anatta" of Theravada Buddhism as selfless-
ness and not "no self". You service other people with your altruistic acts
until you are selfless.

On Healing.
Q: What kind of healing work do you do?

A: Just channeling of cosmic energy down to the patient. I open up the

chakras (energy centres in the body) from the sixth (located in the fore-
head) to the third (located in the abdomen). Then I place my hands on the
troubled spot for a period of time lungs, stomach, brain etc. I am able to
help one-third of the patients completely. One-third, I am unable to help
at all. The remaining one-third, I am able to alleviate their pain, suffering
or disease, but not eradicate it completely. Most of my patients have been
through Western medicine, and these doctors have already told them to
go home to make a will. The best disease for healing is an auto-immune
disease, e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus and multiple sclerosis, etc.

162
Q: How would you explain "channeling cosmic energy" and "opening of
the chakras?" For those not familiar with it, it sounds kind of strange.

A: The sanskrit word for cosmic energy is ‘prana’. The Western word for
it is ‘orgone’, and this is the same as ‘waiqi’. If you focus your eyes on the
sky on a bright day, you will see numerous white spots, some with black
dots in their centers. They swish about as in ballet dancing, but they
appear and disappear very fast, in a matter of seconds. All these pranic
spots are in constant movement and they come and go rapidly. We absorb
this prana every moment of our life through our seven chakras. If we stop
absorbing prana, we die very quickly. Take for instance, a case of stomach
cancer, the patient’s third chakra at the solar plexus is blocked. I put my
hands on the solar plexus, and prana will be channeled into the stomach
area to unblock it.

Q: How exactly do you siphon the qi or prana ?

A: By putting my hands on the patient. Prana goes through my seventh

(crown of the head), sixth, fifth (throat) and fourth (heart) chakras and
thence into my arms and hands. I then put my hands, bristling with qi
onto the patient. Try it for yourself—feel the warmth or heat of your
palms. After one to two minutes, my face will be red after the laying of my
hands. This is because the patients absorb only 50% to 70% of the prana,
the remaining 30% is left within me. After I finish healing, the redness will
automatically disappear.

By laying the hands, I am turning on the tap. After that, I don’t have to
concentrate at all. I can talk or think of various things, the waiqi will still
continue to flow through. One does not need any prayer or rituals.
However there is another category of healing which is called ‘distant heal-
ing’. Tn this practice, you merely visualise the patient’s face and send him
white light to that organ or the area of disease. In this instance, the heal-
er must be able to concentrate and visualise. Many patients have been
helped this way.

Q: Can you give me some examples of patients that you’ve healed or

treated?

A: There is one lady who was suffering from multiple sclerosis. This dis-

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ease is not very nice. There are multiple plugs of fibrous tissue in the brain
and spinal cord. These plugs cause pain, blindness and paralysis, culmi-
nating in total incapacity. It continues as a slow and debilitating death.
After my healing, the neuro-physician pronounced her completely cured.
Perhaps he should not have said that.

On Letting Go & The Five "C"s...

Q: You emphasise the importance of "letting go" for patients?

A: Yes. To everybody, not only to patients. But they must let go of numer-
ous things. Firstly, material things. Secondly, relationships. Thirdly, ego
and status. Then one must also let go of concepts, beliefs, one’s historical
background, heritage and religion. It does not mean that we merely erase
our memory of all these concepts. We must not be attached to them.

The first pursuit amongst Singaporeans is the five Cs. When they get
these, they are supposed to have settled down to a soft life. However, after
achieving the five Cs, they have to maintain that status, and this stresses
them. Relationship is different. In this case, emotional feeling reinforces
the attachment, and that can be very tenacious and intractable. The other
party is not inanimate and therefore may further strengthen the attach-
ment so that it is so much more difficult to let go.

Q: But why is that damaging?

A: It is damaging to the extent of losing sight of your goal.! same time, if

you are too indulgent and drowning your children with money and other
material things, you spoil them. children will finally not be able to stand
on their own feet..This is disastrous.

Q: Is it possible to let go and still have all the five Cs?

A: Yes. You can have all this stuff, if you are not attached.

New Harmony on Earth

Q: In your talks, you mention that we are entering the "Aquarian Age."
What exactly is it?

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A: It is one of the 12 signs of the Zodiac. The Age of Pisces, which start-
ed around the time of the birth of Christ, has just ended. Each period
lasts about 2,100 years. We are now about to enter the Age of the
Aquarius, which should really start in the year 2,001. The Piscean Age has
been aptly labeled as the age of materialism. The Aquarian Age is sup-
posed to be one of increasing harmony, understanding and spiritual
growth. In last 200 to 300 years, we have already been working toward this
New Age.

We are now realising that our consciousness is made up of many levels,

and in this Age of the Aquarius, we will be rnore inclined to reach our
higher self. This explanation would mean that we will be letting go of
things material. And we will search for things spiritual, and all this will lead
to a more peaceful life on earth.

Q: Can you elaborate more on the Aquarian Age. Will the world be more
psychic, intuitive or spiritual?

A: Throughout the ages, many old cultures practice psychism and its
attainment has been equated with spirituality. It is not. Spirituality is the
result of letting go and to be empty. Intuition is your little ‘small voice’,
which can be easily heard during the silence of your meditation. The indi-
vidualistic attempt at enlightenment in the Piscean Age will be replaced by
groups of seekers in the Aquarian Age. As a group, we share our ideas and
knowledge. We teach the others what we know. In this way it is faster and

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there is less jealousy. That is why we are going to have more harmony.

There have been dire predictions of the "end of the world" at the
changeover into the next millennium. Although at every changeover of an
age, natural disasters occur quite frequently, I do not believe that the end of
the world is nigh. When we approach 2010, things will get much better.

Q: Why is that? Why 2010?

A: The changeover of one age to another is never an abrupt affair. It takes

years to taper the outgoing age and it takes time for the new age to get a
firm foothold. Therefore we estimate that it will take roughly 10 years into
the millennium before the Aquarian Age comes into its own. I don’t
believe that the world is coming to an end because humans are relatively
young sentient beings, who still need the earth to practise. We humans
have to keep on coming back to practise until we are enlightened, and up
till then, we still need the earth.

You Have a Guardian Angel

Q: Can you tell us about your "spirit guides"?

A: I have two guides and one ancestor. (These were identified and drawn
by a UK specialist.) One of the guides is a tall Red Indian and the other
is a shorter Buddhist monk, Tibetan or Chinese. The third figure is my
great-great-grandmother who is not a guide at all. She was a healer, a

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herbalist and she hangs around me, while I am healing or teaching. (My
Red Indian guide) is brave and gives me courage to face anybody without
fear, men of authority or ghosts, etc. And this is quite true. The monk is
always behind me. He will nudge me, if I make mistakes. However, I can
see my own healing guide. He is a tall man in white. A patient and my son
have also seen him. He is always near the patient while I heal. He stands
there calmly, helping me to heal.

There is another Egyptian lady who is often seen by me. My niece and the
famous clairvoyant, David Cousin, have also seen her. She has a very long
mane of black hair, which stretches to her knees. She is quite beautiful.
She has been with me for 3,500 years. We have both been teaching ‘spiri-
tual growth’ for 3,500 years. She had been my mother in one incarnation,
and in another, my wife. She died in her last incarnation at 35 years of age.
After that, she did not have to incarnate any more. So teaching spiritual
growth is nothing new to me.

Q: Does everybody have a guide?

A: Yes. Everybody has at least one or two.

Q: Are they the same as "guardian angels"?

A: Yes. They are the same. One of them is always with you.

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 Auras and Chakras.
Generally speaking, according to our understanding, the universe is com-
posed entirely of energy. Matter is merely condensed energy. Solid matter
like ice can be changed easily to water (fluid) and then to the gaseous state
(steam). Beyond this state there is another state, which is associated with
all animate and inanimate objects: --the aura. In the human, it is called the
Human Energy Field (HEF). Many properties have already been gathered
about this human aura (HEF). Some of the measurements are electro-
static, magnetic, sonic, thermal and visual. However not all its properties
can be measured by our inadequate laboratory equipment, because some
of these qualities are spiritual in nature. One property is notably signifi-
cant: the small particles of the HEF are both particulate as well as having
fluid-like motion. When these charged particles move in groups, physicists
call them plasmas, and these plasmas obey physical laws. Associated with
these studies, the scientists found another state, a fifth state of matter,
which they called bioplasma. This is the Universal Energy Field (UEF), a
state more rarified than the human aura (HEF). The eyes of an ordinary
human normally cannot see both these states of matter.

The Universal Energy Fields

This UEF can be seen by our naked eye of a few people only. It is com-
posed of tiny globules of orgone (prana) making all sorts of jerky move-
ments in the sky. To see them clearly, it is preferably sunny and the sky is
blue. They appear as very tiny white balls, some of which have black spots
in them. In a relaxed manner, if you concentrate hard, you may see the
whole sky filled with these dancing white balls in a rhythmic pattern like
an energetic ballet. Of course when the sky is cloudy, it is not easy to see
them. However, in a bright day, these pranic particles pulsate in synchrony
as geometric points, webs of lines, points of light and spirals of clouds.
UEF, which is also called bioplasma, is a state between matter and energy.
Its known properties are that it interpenetrate matter and interconnect
objects, and its density varies from place to place. We can sense it by sight,
smell, taste, touch, sound and brightness according to our higher senses.
It is also synergistic: separate and simultaneous action from different peo-
ple produces an effect that is greater than the sum of the individual
effects. UEF is always producing more energy all the time, opposite to

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what we know in our physical earth where slow decay of objects is the
order of the day. This explains why a good spiritual healer is never exhaust-
ed. It is always associated with consciousness is present in mineral, veg-
etable, animal and finally human. It is more than three-dimensional.

When the UEF is associated with any object, animate or inanimate, an

aura is formed. In the human it is called the Human Energy Field. The
human aura (HEF) has at least seven bodies, erroneously called seven lay-
ers. These seven bodies interpenetrate the human body as well as each of
the seven auric bodies. Each body is of higher vibration than the one
beneath it, through which it also penetrates and surrounds. Take for
instance, the etheric body interpenetrates the physical body and extends
beyond the latter by one quarter to two inches. The etheric has a finer
composition or a higher vibration than the physical. In turn, the emo-
tional body has also a higher vibration than the etheric body, and it also
interpenetrates the etheric and also extends beyond it.

A foetus while in the womb of the mother has not a permanent spirit in
its physical body. The spirit goes in and out of the foetus until it is born.
When the foetal head is just out of the vaginal canal, there is no aura
around the head. As soon as the shoulders are out of the canal, a weak
aura starts to appear. The spirit has now to stay within the confines of the
body after it is born. The baby's aura is clear, bright and is either light blue
or green. It has less width than the adult aura, i.e. not so broad. At the
crown the aura tapers upwards, liken to a pointed knitted ski hat. This
highly suggests that the spirit enters the body through the crown, and
there is still some attachment to the spirit world. Some clairvoyants can
see that the baby's spirit is still playing with his spirit playmates and han-
kering for its spirit mother who is also present. This dichotomy can last
for sometime, depending on how unwilling is the baby to incarnate. That
is why infant mortality is highest within the first six months of birth.
When the infant finally accepts this incarnation the ski hat is transformed
to the normal rounded aura around the head.

In the first six months, one can feel the non-closure of the anterior
fontanelle at the crown of the baby where the 7th chakra is situated. This
opening of the skull will close up when the infant has finally decided to
stay in the physical world, and this corresponds to the rounding up of the

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auric ski hat. Ordinary clairvoyants can only see the first three denser bod-
ies. However, those clairvoyants who can go into the meditative state and
gaze in a relaxed manner can visualize four more bodies, each larger than
the one beneath it. The 1st ,3rd,5th and 7th show a definite structured
pattern, while the 2nd ,4th and 6th bodies exhibit fluid like motions with-
out any structure.

Each body is more rarified and larger than the one beneath it. All of them
interpenetrate one another including the physical body. One must remem-
ber that these auras are not layers as in the onion, but bodies of irradiat-
ing vibrations associated with that particular human body occupying the
same space at the same time as the physical body. The structured auras
contain every organ and structure that the physical body has, e.g. lungs,
kidneys etc.

Each auric body is associated with a chakra. The first auric body is asso-
ciated with the first chakra, and is concerned with pain and pleasure.
Beside its function with physical sensation, it also deals with automatic
and autonomic functions of the body. The 2nd auric body is associated
with the 2nd chakra, and it is associated with the emotional aspect of
humans. The 3rd body is associated with the 3rd chakra and it deals with
our intellectual processes concerned with linear thinking of the left brain.
The 4th body is associated with the 4th chakra of love: erotic, platonic
and unconditional. The 5th body is associated with the divine will and
with communication (both divine and human). The 6th body is associat-
ed with the 6th chakra, which concerns celestial love, and is way above
what normal humans are capable of. The 7th is associated with the 7th
chakra, and is the centre appertaining to the higher self or mind.

The Etheric Body

The 1st auric body is the etheric. The etheric body is composed of small
lines of light structures, sparkling like beams. It is the matrix along which
all the organs and structures of the physical body are molded on. The
etheric was there before the human tissues are made. It is the 'skeleton'
blue print of the physical body. These webs of light are in constant
motion. It is bluish-white in color to clairvoyant eyes. They traverse
throughout the whole physical body. It extends L to 2 inches beyond the
physical body, and pulsates about 15-20 cycles per minute, the same rate

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as our respiratory cycle. The general color of the etheric body varies from
blue to grey. The 7 chakras associated with the etheric body are also of the
same color. If one can see the internal etheric organs they are seen to be
of bright blue. The best part of the body to observe this aura is around
the shoulders, where the aura appears to pulsate, and the pulsation seems
to quickly come down the arms, but they disappear very quickly.

The Emotional Body

This 2nd body deals with feelings. It has the approximate outline of the
physical body, but it does not duplicate it. It has no definite structure, and
it has a fluid consistency, which is in constant motion. It interpenetrates
the etheric and the physical bodies, but extends from one to three inches
beyond the physical body. Its colors vary from dark muddy to brilliant
clear ones. Love, joy and anger when felt with intense energy show clari-
ty, whilst confusion and depression depicts dark and muddy hues. All col-
ors of the rainbow are seen in this auric body with its attendant seven
chakras manifesting a color each of the rainbow. Chakra 1 is colored red,
chakra 2 is colored orange, chakra 3 is yellow, 4th is green, 5th chakra is
blue, 6th is indigo and the 7th is white. In the emotional body itself, blobs
of multi-colored substance are seen moving all over, and sometimes these
blobs may even fly off the physical body. There are no proper structures
in this body; neither is there any organ seen in it.

The Mental Body

This third body mainly deals with intellectual processes and mental activ-
ity. It has higher vibrations than the emotional body, and it extends 3 to 8
inches from the physical body. It is bright yellow. It enlarges and becomes
brighter when the individual is thinking hard. This body is structured, and
thoughts can be seen in the aura, tinted by emotional colors. These
thought forms are seen in blobs varying in brightness with superimposed
colors from the emotions. Well-formed ideas when developed into habit-
ual thoughts become powerful forces to be reckoned with. The lines of
yellow light are very difficult to decipher over the multi-colored emotion-
al body beneath it.

The Astral Body

This 4th body is that of love, and once you enter into this level you are
also approaching the astral world. That means you will see spirit forms of

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other individuals in this realm. So be prepared. Normally, you enter this
state only when you are asleep or in meditative state. You forget what you
see when you wake up from sleep. The astral body is composed of the
same colors as in the emotional body, except that there is much more rose
color (love) in it. It extends ? to one foot beyond the body. The 7 chakras
in this body have the same colors of the rainbow as in the emotional body.
Again, an infusion of rose color is seen in all of them, as in the heart
chakra of a loving person.

The Etheric Template Body

This 5th body contains all the physical structures in template or blueprint
form. It is like a photographic negative of the etheric body, which in turn
is the template of the physical body. So the etheric template is the perfect
form, and when the etheric is damaged, it is this 5th body that heals it
back to health. It extends 1 ? to 2 ? feet from the physical body. It is at
this level that healing by sound is the most effective. This body is com-
posed of a cobalt blue background with empty lines depicting the ether-
ic body, like an architect's blueprint. These empty spaces go to form the
etheric body, from which grid structures all physical forms are molded. It
includes the chakras, organs and all the other structures of the human
body. In addition, one may also see other spirit forms and beings at this
level of existence, besides the individual that one is studying.

The Celestial Body

This 6th body is at the emotional level of the spiritual plane. It extends 2
to 2 l feet from the physical body. We can only reach this level through
meditation and other transformative techniques. Through meditation we
arrive at this stage of ecstasy (samadhi), filled with light and bliss. This
feeling of love makes us feel that we and God are one. We have reached
this level of consciousness where we are purely being, and we are con-
nected with the rest of the universe. We have now acquired uncondition-
al love and with the spiritual bliss we now can go beyond the physical
realm. We can now even heal and communicate with the spirit beings in
this realm. This body is composed of shimmering pastel colors of gold
and silver. It has the appearance of irradiation of mother of pearl, opales-
cent needles from a central bright candle.

The Causal Body (Ketheric Template)

This 7th body is the mental level of the spiritual plane, and extends 2 ? to

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3 ? feet beyond the body. At this level we are now certain that God and
we are one. This body is highly structured and is composed of golden
threads and silver light. It is egg shaped, and contains all the auric bodies
and chakras for this incarnation. This golden egg shimmers with golden
pulsations. The outer coating is a L to ? inch thick, and it is the strongest
part of all the auric bodies. This eggshell protects all that it contains, pre-
venting penetration by spiritual predators. This golden egg also contains
the main power current that runs up and down the spine, and it also nour-
ishes the whole body through the roots of all the chakras. The karma to
be worked out from the past life is present as coloured bands around the
head in this auric level. There are also bands depicting this life's plans
(birth vision) in this golden eggshell. This causal body contains our indi-
vidual Akashic records. It is called causal because it contains our true
being, and it is the ultimate cause of our true Self. This body persists
throughout our many lives', and is not shed like the all the other bodies
(e.g. emotional and mental). It also carries over with us our samskaras
(propensities and habits) and karmic attributes. So our enduring qualities
like intuition, insight and wisdom are brought over from our past lives, so
does our negative karma. As we develop spiritually, we become more self-
aware with love and compassion culminating in self-realization, and then
the realization that we are also part of God. From thence onwards we will
live with only the qualities of love, compassion, wisdom and service, liv-
ing in this world and yet not of this world.

The auras generally extend up to 3 ? feet beyond our body, but when we
are performing in a concert hall or lecturing on our favourite subject our
aura can expand tremendously to even fill half the size of the hall. When
one is sad or very angry the colours change as well as the size and shape
of the aura. Without these extreme circumstances, the aura normally
depicts the physical, emotional and mental state of the individual at that
moment. The more developed clairvoyants can also see the spiritual state
of the individual by looking at his higher auric bodies, the 5th, 6th and
7th. He must enter into a meditative state first. These auric bodies are in
constant movement with changes in size and in color. Each auric body
also has many chakras, which are centers through which prana, or vital
energy is processed for the use of the physical body. Let us now go to
chakra system.

Each auric body has many major chakras and minor chakras. We will con-
fine ourselves to the major chakras for the time being. The 1st auric body

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is associated with the 1st chakra, and the 2nd body with the 2nd chakra
and so on. Although the chakras are located in definite areas, they are
actually part of their respective auric body. That means each of the 7 auric
body has 7 major chakras in its own field. Therefore there are actually 49
major chakras all told. And at each location, seven chakras are piled up on
one another to make up 7 'ice cream' cones all neatly stacked. Each chakra
has a front and a back component. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th frontal
chakras deal with feelings, while their corresponding back components are
related to the individual's will. The 1st and 7th are paired together, as they
are open-ended points of the main vertical power current (sushumna)
which run up and down just in front of the spine. The tips of each chakra
join or connect with the main power current (sushumna), and they con-
trol the exchange of energy between the auras through that chakra. The
function of the chakras is to exchange energy with the UEF, which is
sucked in or blown out through these open chakras. We therefore open up
slowly a particular chakra, on which we are working, because we have to
deal with the consciousness that enters the chakra with the energy from
the UEF. Sometimes, there is too much consciousness for us to handle.
We have also to open up our chakras for an increase of energy flow to
remain healthy. Ill health is usually due to a blockage or constriction of
energy flow through the chakras.

Each chakra is like a lotus flower with a central core surrounded by a fixed
number of vortices that look like petals on the surface. For instance the
base chakra has 4 vortices and is colored red. These vortices rotate at a
certain speed, and the chakra sucks in prana through the central core to
process. The chakras rotate progressively at a higher speed as they ascend
upwards; e.g. the mental rotates faster than the astral and the etheric. The
prana is broken into its component parts, which are sent along nadis to
the nervous system. Nadis are internal and invisible channels along which
energy travel. It is then brought to the endocrine system and then to the
blood system. The latter system will then carry the prana to all parts of
the body, which is then nourished by it.

The chakras to be described are the ones pertaining to the etheric aura.
Each chakra has a surface diameter of about 3 inches, and is placed about
1 inch away from the skin surface. From this trumpet surface the cone of
the chakra narrows down to a stem whose root ends at the main power

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current just in front of the spine. From this main power current another
root will travel at right angles to the back of that chakra where another
duplicate funnel spout out to face the back (Fig.3 on page 63).

When the prana has been utilized it will flow back to the front of the lotus
flower to be washed out like used air from our lungs. The rotation of the
chakras is alternately clockwise and anti-clockwise. When the sacral chakra
is rotating clockwise, the solar plexus is rotating anti-clockwise. Each
chakra is related to one endocrine gland, and each governs a group of
internal organs. These major chakras are at the points where the energy
strands cross 21 times, and they also correspond to where the major nerve
plexuses are situated.

The Base Chakra (muladhara)

This root chakra is situated at the base of the spine and has four vortices
of orange-red color, mainly red. The endocrine gland associated to it is
the adrenal gland, and it covers the spinal column and the kidneys. When
this chakra is functioning well the person is well grounded and has a
strong will to live. This chakra is located at the place where the kundalini
fire (female serpent) is coiled up and asleep. The 2 nadis, the ida and pin-
gala, arise from this center and move up along the main power current
which is called sushumna (see Fig.). All these 3 channels join up to the
brain at the medulla oblongata, which is at the base of the brain. The
sushumna is the main power current along the spine into which all the
other chakras are connected with their roots. The ida and pingala criss-
cross back and forth at the points where the five middle chakras are situ-
ated. This interweaving gives the picture of a caduceus, which is the sym-
bol of the healing arts: the physician. These 2 nadis are responsible for the
outflow of energy. Therefore this center is linked to the will power to sur-
vive, and when the person is spiritually developed, the kundalini is awak-
ened to rise to the crown chakra. However, the arousal of the kundalini
must be meticulously guided by an expert who himself has raised his own
kundalini successfully. Associated with the will to survive is the fight and
flight syndrome. This is the center from which one get up to fight for
one's right or one's greed. This is also the chakra where fear is manifest-
ed. In some people, during moments of acute fear, the anus can be felt to
open and shut many times. One's imagination and instinct accentuate the
fear, when flight appears to be the solution at that time. This is the chakra

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that wakes us up in the morning to tackle the world.

The Sacral Chakra (svadhisthana)

This chakra is situated at the sacrum or the pubic area. It has 6 vortices
and is colored orange. The endocrine structures associated are the gonads,
testes in the male and ovaries in the female. The organs covered are the
reproductive system and the water works, e.g. bladder. This chakra also
governs all the fluids like blood, urine, semen, vaginal fluid and lymph.
This center of sexuality is responsible for sexual relationship and power.
When blocked, there will be diseases of the sex organs and sexual mal-
function. The water works department may also be affected.

The Solar Plexus (manipura)

This chakra is situated in the area of the navel, and has ten vortices. It is
predominantly yellow in color, and is associated with the endocrine in the
pancreas. The organs covered by this center are stomach, liver, Gall blad-
der and adrenals. In an emotionally sensitive person there may be colors
of green and red admixed to this multicolored chakra. This center is total-
ly affected by emotions. Thus anger, rage and hatred are generated by this
center. This is also the chakra that generates stress because of personal
power and desires. Consequently, the organs stomach, liver, nervous sys-
tem and pancreas are most often affected after prolonged periods of
stress, especially when the person cannot control his feelings. Sudden
shock accompanied by fear also emanates from this center. "Butterflies in
the stomach" is the usual phrase used for this condition. This is a trou-
blesome chakra, as it drags in the other chakras in times of panic and hys-
teria. Repeated bouts of anger will result in a stomach ulcer, which may
end up in a cancer.

The Heart Chakra (anahata)

This center is located at the center of the chest, between the shoulder
blades. It is essentially green in color, and has 12 vortices. It is about 6
centimeters in diameter. When it is clear and its rhythm steady, the per-
son's heart is in good shape. The endocrine gland associated with it is the
thymus, and it also governs the heart, lungs, blood, Vagus nerve and the
circulatory system. The immune system is also under its jurisdiction. This
chakra has a close relationship with the 12 golden petals of the crown
chakra. It is the center for love: erotic, Platonic and unconditional love. In

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erotic love, the force goes downwards; in Platonic love, it is held at the
same level; and in unconditional love, it shoots upwards towards the
divine. In erotic love, it travels down to the solar plexus and then further
down to the sexual center. The heart center being the gateway to spiritu-
ality, when unconditional love is developed, one can then move up
towards divine love. This is the reason for its connection to the 12 petals
of the crown chakra. This spiritual transformation must be balanced with
the wants and needs of the lower 3 chakras. That means one's personal
passion and desires must be transformed to universal love and compas-
sion.

The Throat Chakra (visuddha)

This center is situated at the front of the base of the neck. It has 16 vor-
tices, and generally blue in color. The thyroid gland is the endocrine
involved. It governs the thyroid gland, vocal apparatus, lungs and the
bronchi and the alimentary tract. It is also about 6 centimeters in diame-
ter, but it can enlarge in those people who use their vocal cords, e.g.
singers and teachers. It is brighter and faster moving in singers and pub-
lic speakers. As it is sensitive to sound and vibration and colors, it is also
prominent in musicians and composers. This center is also connected to
the brow chakra, where the music, pictures and the stories are conceptu-
alized, and then they are vitalized at this throat center. Its linkage to the
crown center also permits the person to be able to listen to its ' little small
voice': messages from our spiritual guides. It is also the center of com-
munication to humans. It is the center of judgement of self and others.
When developed to a high degree clairaudience and telepathy are the
fruits.

The Brow Chakra (ajna)

The brow chakra is commonly called the third eye. It is located at the cen-
ter of the forehead between the eyebrows. It has 96 vortices, and is asso-
ciated with the pituitary gland. It governs the lower brain, the left eye, ears,
nose, and nervous system. It is very closely related to the crown center. It
is generally indigo in color. However, when scrutinized closer, there are
really 2 segments: one is blue, and the other rose red. This center is main-
ly concerned with ideas and organization. It starts with visualization and
conceptualization. Then the concepts when directed downwards will
enhance one's ability to organize. When directed upwards, power of clair-

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voyance is a possibility. Of course, when integrated, one's inner vision can
be transformed into outer reality. This twofold nature of the brow chakra
when interconnected with the throat chakra can actively bring out creative
imagination into productive works of art.

The Crown Chakra (sahasrara)

This highest chakra stretches right up to about 6 centimeters like a saucer
above the crown of the head. Looking from above it shows 972 petals: 12
upper, central, golden petals sitting on top of 960 secondary petals below.
It is generally known as the 'thousand-petaled lotus'. All colors are seen,
but the predominant color is purple. The endocrine gland involved is the
pineal gland and partially the pituitary. It governs the upper brain and
right eye. It is the highest seat of the soul. The quality and character of a
person can be gleaned from this chakra. The expanded size, the color, the
speed of rotation, the brilliance and texture etc will depict the state of
consciousness of an individual and its integration with the rest of the
chakras. It will also tell us about the spiritual development of the individ-
ual. The shining core usually signifies meditation practice, and how
expanded is his consciousness. The ability to enjoy lucid dreaming can
also be detected, as this shows that the individual's consciousness is even
expanded in sleep. If the core is too elastic, then one's consciousness can
vacate one's body too easily; and as in the case of a trance medium, he can
be possessed at the drop of the hat. As one can see, this is a very special
chakra. It is often regarded as the chakra of a higher order, and is not part
of the lower six. This is the center that can open up one's consciousness
to the divine, to our higher self and finally to cosmic consciousness.
When this center is aligned, the lower 6 chakras are also in a good healthy
state. In kundalini practice, when one is able to massage the serpent up to
this center, one is said to be enlightened. That is why, most of Buddha's
sculptures and paintings show him with a bulging on top of his crown: it
means that his kundalini has broken through to the divine reaches.

Minor Chakras
There are 21 minor chakras distributed all over the body: 1 in front of
each ear, 1 above each breast, 1 where the clavicles meet, 1 in the palm of
each hand, 1 on the sole of each foot, 1 just behind each eye, 1 related to
each gonad, 1 near the liver, 1 connected with the stomach, 2 connected
with the spleen, 1 behind each knee, 1 near the thymus gland, and 1 near

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the solar plexus. These are about 3 inches in diameter and are 1 inch dis-
tant from the body. The 2 in the palms are very important in healing. The
2 on the breast are important when suckling the infant. These minor
chakras are at the points where the energy strands cross each other 14
times. There are even smaller vortices. These are where the energy strands
cross each other only 7 times, and may very well correspond to the
acupuncture points of Chinese medicine.

Acknowledgement
The classification and material of this article has been extracted from
"Hands of Light" by Barbara Ann Brennan. The writer is greatly indebted
to Miss Barbara Ann Brennan.

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 Cosmic Healing

What is cosmic healing? It is channeling of cosmic energy or prana to a

patient who is sick or in pain, physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritu-
ally. A clairvoyant studying the patient can predict the onset of a disease
three to six months before hand. He does this by looking at the auras and
chakras of the patient. The healer will then pass cosmic energy or prana
to the patient especially at that particular chakra, which is malfunctioning.
He does this either by distant or contact healing. This is a process of
channeling prana to the patient who is usually depleted of cosmic energy
at that chakra, or the chakra is blocked and not functioning well. This is
similar to the situation when a mother bestow upon her child when it
hurts itself or has fallen sick. She heals by hugging the child or holding
the child’s hand. The ingredients in cosmic healing are (1) the healer, (2)
the patient (3) the venue and the (4) techniques.

Of course, the most important components are invisible: these are com-
passion, unconditional love and the purity of the healer. Does the patient
need to have faith or belief in spiritual healing? No. Patients have been
healed in spite of their non-belief and having no faith in the process. I
have healed many patients without their knowledge (in distant healing).
However, it helps a great deal if the patient believes and has faith in this
type of healing.

The Healer
The healer must first and foremost know that he is not the healer; he is
merely the conduit of the prana. At this point, he must realize that ego-
conceit should never be allowed to surface, as conceit will block the con-
duit. In his desire to help he must have compassion and empathy.
Common sense is the utmost requirement. As he is only the conduit, the
channel must be continually purified of the five contaminants: ill will,
greed, selfishness, pride and ignorance. He must be ever vigilant of these
defilements, and one way of pursuing this goal is daily meditation. If he
is charging for the healing he must not over charge. Neither should he
over heal for the sake of the enumeration. He must limit himself to a cer-
tain number of hours per day, and a break from healing is a must. That

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means he must take at least a few days off after a period of continuous heal-
ing. Otherwise, the healer is likely to be burnt out. Self-protection with
proper attuning and closure of the healing process is mandatory. Or else a
whiplash may ensue. The whiplash may ultimately culminate in a state
where the healer is being burnt out, if remedy is not instituted. The
whiplash occurs as a lack of energy or complete inertia. Because of the
healer’s ego, he must not be attached to the patient. Do not be proud when
the patient has recovered. Do not be despondent when the patient has not
responded to the healing. Do not cling to the patient. Discharge the patient
when the time is ripe. He must drink water between each patient.

The healer must be in good psychological and physical health. He must be

fully awake and fresh before the healing begins, and know when to stop
(when he is getting tired). He must brush his teeth before the healing.
There may be pain transference after the healing: so beware. However this
pain will not last more than 2 days normally. There are many levels of
healing. The following table demonstrates this fact.

Most of the Filipino and Taoist healers, masseurs (including Shiatsu),

osteopaths, chiropractors, aroma therapists, etc use their own electro-

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magnetic energy. As their own magnetic energy is limited, these therapists
become exhausted very quickly, especially when they are doing a good job.
However, the spiritual healer does not get exhausted as he is continually
supplied with cosmic energy (prana) from the atmosphere around him.
That is why he always looks flush only when he is healing. This is because
of the prana that is left behind by the patient, who does not take up 100%
of the energy that the healer is channeling.

At the Physical Level IV most of the therapists can only work at the phys-
ical symptoms. Their tools are drugs, injections, surgery, radiotherapy,
chemotherapy, lasers and the human hands. When only hands are being
used, the therapists used mainly their own electro-magnectic energy,
which is easily exhaustible. The specialized physicians use mainly their
skills, which they have acquired through many years of post-graduate
studies and work. These therapists are very essential in the healing indus-
try. In fact, all spiritual healers should use these physicians as their refer-
ence points. Facts, laboratory tests, x-ray investigations and other inves-
tigative procedures should be used to have a fuller picture of the patient,
and they also should be used to monitor the progress or lack of progress
of the healing process. No healer should ever tell the patient to abandon his
physician. The healer is both alternative and complementary. The decision
to leave the physician must be left entirely to the patient. In fact, the spiri-
tual healer should be ideally a physician and a spiritually developed individ-
ual (e.g. priest). When a spiritual healer is not very developed he can only
work at this physical level, thus utilizing only his own magnetic energy.

At the Astral level (III) the patient comes with an emotional problem. The
therapists that can deal with this variety of patient are the spiritual healer,
psychiatrist, psychologist and the general practitioner. The healer here has
raised his vibration up one level, whereas the other three have learnt spe-
cial skills to tackle the emotions of the patients. Then at level (II) of the
mental body, the spiritual healer has raised his vibrations even higher. At
this level (II), the psychiatrist does not necessarily have a higher vibration
than his GP colleague does, but he has been trained to deal with such
patients. Lastly, at level (I) in the Spiritual category, the best person here is
the spiritual healer. Of course, a priest, a monk, a psychiatrist, a psycholo-
gist and even a GP may be able to deal with this type of patient, but he has
to be spiritually very advanced. Now from this discussion, it is realized that

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the quality and the spiritual development of the healer are paramount. If a
healer is ignorant of the basic fundamentals of the anatomy, physiology
and pathology of the human body, and if his spiritual development is only
at level (IV), then he is quite a dangerous man. This is especially so when
he is a layman, and does not have the faintest clue about signs and symp-
toms of diseases. A case of early cancer or tuberculosis maybe readily dealt
with by a physician, but an ignorant healer can delay the treatment of the
disease until it is too late. That is why I do not agree that everybody can
heal. Only some people can heal, and only very few can do it well. A well-
meaning healer can alleviate some symptoms for a short while, but if the
cause is not dealt with then the symptoms will recur.

Some healers reckon that two healers working together at the same time
are better than one. Another point to remember is that few people are
born healers: they are usually found in the medical profession, e.g. doctors
and nurses. When the doctor or nurse holds the hand of the patient in
taking the pulse or examining the patient, the patient is already improving
and feeling much better.

RESPONSE TO TYPES OF DISEASES

Physical symptoms like aches and pain are easy to remedy. These are
headaches and neck pain etc. Then as one goes deeper into diseases like
arthritis, gastritis and gastro-intestinal hurry (irritable bowel syndrome),
these are more complicating. Heart trouble, strokes, diabetes and cancers
are now the prevalent diseases, and all these must have their causes looked
into. These more serious diseases will need many sessions to result in a
cure. The active and dynamic diseases like cancers and autoimmune dis-
eases are more easily healed. Dynamic cases like cancer and aids have very
low immunity. The healer will combine his etheric energy with the
patient’s and bring up the patient’s immunity. In auto- immune patients,
the healer does the reverse, and reduces the high immunity of the patient
to a more normal level. The slow growing, benign growths are more dif-
ficult to get rid off. The nearer the growth is towards normal tissue the
more difficult it is to heal. Tissues like heart and skeletal muscle, brain, eye
and kidney do not regenerate when damaged. That means healing is quite
useless in cases of kidney failure, cardiac infarcts, destroyed skeletal mus-
cle and stroke patients (after 1? years). The cells in these organs do not
regenerate to restore the normal bulk. However, organs like lung and liver

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can regenerate up to their normal size when damaged.

Neurotic patients are more difficult to heal than physical diseases. They
fall into the astral level (III). In these cases the cause is almost entirely
emotional in origin. That means more time has to be spent to probe into
the causation from past history. Some of these may even be from past
lives. Forgiveness is the best tool here. Psychotic cases of the mental level
are even more difficult. Here the remedies of drugs and electro-convul-
sive therapy are commonly used, but a complete cure is almost never
attained. The psychiatrist and developed healer may help both these latter
types of psychological and psychiatric illnesses when patience, love, com-
passion and wisdom. Getting the entire home environment to be con-
ducive to the healing process is very essential. Everybody at home must
be in the team to help.
Cases of possession and obsession may appear ominous, but as a matter
of fact they are quite easy to deal with. Therefore, one can see that spiri-
tual healing in its totality deals with the physical, the emotional, the men-
tal and finally the spiritual.
In summary, the spiritual healer must have unconditional love, compas-
sion and empathy before he can start to heal. He must have common
sense and a wide knowledge of medicine in order not to get into trouble.
He must be humble and not think that he is the real healer, because he is
only the channel. He must be purified and not avaricious or else the cos-
mic energy will be blocked and no healing can be done. He must take fre-
quent breaks to replenish his own energy. He must white-light himself
and close his own chakras after the healing session. He must keep all
information confidential. The healer must establish a practice of medita-
tion, awareness, purification and humility. He must not will any result to
happen. He must let the Tao flow and flow with it. He must not be
attached to the patient.

THE PATIENT
Most of the patients that come to see me are terminal cases who had been
discharged by their own physicians. Or they are patients who have not
improved with their own doctors. The remainder are those that normally
prefer to seek alternative medicine. Very few come because their relatives or
friends force them; and the last category are the ones that are simply curi-
ous. The first timer is usually apprehensive, as he does not know what to

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expect. As he is apprehensive, he is not relaxed. He will improve at the next
visit. The first timer may not be convinced about healing. He may not have
faith or believe in it. This does not matter. He can still be helped. But if he
is full of faith and does believe, it makes the healing so much easier. The
best is the patient who can surrender completely to his higher self and
allows the cosmic energy to flow through him. He must be relaxed and
preferably go into meditation. Rapport must then be established with the
healer, with whom together they will begin to find the cause of the illness.

CAUSES OF DISEASES
(1) Negative Thoughts and Emotions.
These are components of ill will. They include irritability, envy, jealousy,
resentment, anger and hate. When these emotions are prolonged, they
become attitudes. If the resentment and hate are regularly sent to the
other party, the returning hateful emotions will be targeted at the perpe-
trator of these thoughts. On a daily basis, the sender of these emotions
will gradually fall sick. The extreme of this situation is when the patient
wishes the other person dead, the patient will finally kill himself with the
hateful energies.

(2) Greed, Craving and Attachment.

In the 4 noble truths of Buddhism, it has been diagnosed that craving,
clinging and attachment are the cause of suffering. Loss of material pos-
session, relationship and status and position (ego-conceit) does dull the
lustre of one’s aura. This in turn tends to send the patient into depression,
from whence other illnesses could accrue. Accumulation of wealth leads
to power, which will give the owner control over others, and lust for sex
may become a seductive past time. Thus, money, power and sex are the 3
great motivating forces of the modern world. Greed and attachment for
these 3 items when pursued to an unsustainable level will definitely lead
to illness. Failure to achieve one of the above three will also lead to anger
and frustration.

(3) Fear, Anxiety and Worry.

Constant worry and anxiety throughout one’s life are the best ingredients
for sickness. And when worry turns to fear, which is quite usual in these

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cases, a steady depletion of one’s immunity is evident. This sequence of
events quite often brings on depression. This lowering of immunity is
manifested in the patient suffering repeated bouts of colds and influenza.
Finally cancer or other serious illnesses will ensue, if nothing is done to
reverse the situation.

(4) Comparison, Judgement and Criticisms are other negative traits to

be avoided. To keep up with the Jones’s entails a lot of effort and envy.
Judgement also means criticism and resentment. Lastly frustration will
result if one cannot keep up. Again a lowering of immunity will result.

(5) Internal Conflict will take place when what one desires is in conflict
with the law or social mores. This constant internal nagging is sufficient
to cause illnesses to occur. Repressed sexual urge or having to put up an
appearance of goodness will also produce internal conflict.

(6) Grief, Desire for Revenge and Insecurity are all negative emotions
which can damage one’s aura and block one’s chakra. Insecurity normally
will result in a poor self-image. Prolonged grief for a diseased loved one
is most damaging. It invariably leads to depression. From this point
onwards, many diseases can add on to it.

(7) Pride and Selfishness are the opposite of the above, and yet these
traits may also damage one’s aura and chakras. Having these negative traits
mean we have to keep ourselves taut all the time. We cannot relax.

(8) Stress. In our modern times, stress is much more prevalent because
the pace is much faster than before. There is now more greed, envy and
anger, because of our materialistic age of Pisces. There appears to be
more perfectionists around. Stress is entirely dependent on our own reac-
tion to events outside of us. In could range from a very small incident to
a very gigantic situation. The more affluent one is, the more sensitive is
the person who is then more easily stressed. Examples of situations that
may produce stress are:

a) loss of job, money and loved ones,

b) divorce or separation,
c) retirement or entering a new job,

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 d) illness or injury and release from the hospital,
e) birth of child and child leaving home.

One can go on ad infinitum. It could even include daily, badly cooked

meals! Science has found out that when one is stressed there are chemi-
cals that travel from the brain through the blood stream to all the periph-
eral tissues e.g. the muscles. The muscles will then tense up, or the stom-
ach will secrete excessive acid. If the stress is prolonged, then one’s immu-
nity will be eroded and an illness will ensue. This illness in turn will pro-
duce more stress.

(9) Guilt and other Negative Thoughts. Some of the guilt that we har-
bour may be or may not be justified. These may include injury to others
or divorce of our parents etc. Sometimes it is due to our conscience prick-
ing us due to our religious upbringing. Whatever it is this type of negative
thought may be changed or reversed with contemplation and meditation.
Negative thoughts usually are accompanied by negative emotions, which
will erode our resistance to diseases. Some people purposely create a dis-
ease in order to escape a situation, like having to move to another coun-
try. When that difficult situation is solved, the disease disappears.

(10) Karma and ‘G’ (life) plan. Sometimes the disease is due to our
karma accrued either in this life or in the past life. In this situation, we can
do very little about it except to bear it and work on it. If in our ‘G’ plan,
we have decided on a certain life style or environment, and in our life we
veer from that plan, then an illness will transpire to remind us of our ‘G’
plan. ‘G’ plan is the life plan we contracted in the spirit world before we
come into this world.

(11) Obsession and Possession. In some cases, earth-bound spirits may

be attached to their love ones who are still living. This individual will suf-
fer from lack of energy, irritability, and loss of appetite and insomnia.
This will continue until he loses weight with lack of concentration, and
finally he ends up in a clinic complaining of severe inertia and loss of
weight. The doctor runs a series of tests, which are all normal. There is
no diagnosis. In this state the patient may finally expire, unless he obtains
appropriate help from a spiritual healer. In possession, the individual’s
character is totally changed, and a good healer can exorcise the earth

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bound spirit with one or several sessions.

(12) Self Abuse. This is very commonly seen in those who are alcoholics,
drug addicts and cigarette smokers. This problem is self-evident. There
are many social organizations available to tackle these addictions. The
healer may help to a varying extent depending on whether the patient is
willing to cooperate and seek the other agencies as well. The drug addict
or alcoholic is a frequent victim of possession. The earth- bound spirit
who was a drug addict when alive, normally hangs around dens of drug
addicts, because they are still addicted to drugs even though they are dead.
So when a drug addict is in a semi-comatose state the spirit will move into
the body of the living addict to more fully enjoy the drug.

REMEDIES
The patient must identify all the above causes first. Then with the help of
the healer the patient must then deal with these negative traits. The most
powerful weapon that is available is forgiveness. The patient must forgive
himself first of all. Then he must ask for forgiveness from the other per-
son who he has been resenting or to whom anger is directed. The patient
must also forgive the other person who has done wrong to him in the
past. This forgiveness must be genuine and right from the heart, and the
message must also be transmitted to the perpetrator. The patient then
must practice awareness so that if there is any negative thought, criticism
or judgement that arises, straightaway that thought has to be changed.
Changing jobs or environment can eliminate stress. It is more difficult to
change one’s spouse, but a divorce may save the patient’s life. In this
instance, a detailed and heart felt discussion is very necessary with the
spouse. It may take several sessions before any result can ensue. Guilt is
quite a damaging emotion, and in this case one should seek a wise friend
or a counsellor in order to get rid of the guilt. The guilt could be totally
unwarranted! The following acronym should help:

The diagram on page 189 needs some explanation. In dieting one tries to
avoid the red meats. Mainly vegetables, fruits and seafood are ideal. In some
cases of the elderly, they have been very lonely, and when they fall ill, the
entire family starts to gather around almost every day. The patient does not
want to lose these visits, and thus there is no desire to get well. De-stress has

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been dealt with already. Exercise is essential, especially to a depressed
patient. Path to enlightenment really means to let go of one’s attachments
and clinging. This letting go is truly powerful in the healing process. If
one is being stressed in one’s work or if one hates one’s job, it is definite-
ly beneficial to change to a job that is enjoyable even though the pay is
less. In the same token do not pursue a hobby that is has only social
climbing qualities. Understanding means looking for the cause of the dis-
ease and eliminating it. Then one must do a U-turn in one’s habits and
attitude in life. This U-turn must be a purposeful and determined effort.
At the same time one should then convert our ill will, resentment and
hatred to unconditional love. One of the most rapid ways to arrive at
unconditional love is through daily meditation, which is practiced until
total silence is achieved. This goal takes time.

Surrender to your Tao means one must surrender to one’s God, Allah or
Buddha. In other words one must not try to will for anything to happen:
‘Thy will be done’ should be the credo. The patient must be willing to
accept any outcome, after eliminating the causes.

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Lastly, within the limits of his physical health the patient should try to
service his fellow human beings, animals and vegetation.

VENUE
This subject has not been discussed enough in the books. The place where
healing is done should be airy and bright. It should not be in dark and
haunted buildings. It should not be crowded, and silence is the essence.
As temples and churches are usually inhabited by earth bound spirits, they
are not ideal. Trees should ideally surround the building with birds chirp-
ing. The room should not be cluttered with statues and other bric-a-bracs.
The room should be very simply decorated.

Techniques and Methods of Healing

There are essentially two methods: distant and contact healing. We will
describe firstly contact healing.

Contact Healing
Sit the patient down and make him feel at ease. Ask the patient about his
condition or his symptoms. Enquire into whether he has been to a con-
ventional physician, and what diagnosis was made. Also find out what
treatment has been given and what are the results. What is the duration of
the disease? Then at this first visit one can only tentatively inquire into the
cause of the disease. However subsequent visits will definitely elicit the
real cause of the disease and the cause should then be dealt with accord-
ingly. The healer will then explain briefly what he is going to do and what
will be taking place. The purpose here is to channel prana or cosmic ener-
gy to the patient through the healer. After this explanation, the healer
must then attune himself: he visualizes a ball of white light above his
head. Then he imagines white light showering down from this white ball
of light through his crown (7th) chakra, the 6th, 5th, and down to his
heart (4th) chakra. The healer then lifts his arms forwards and upwards
towards the patient. He will straight away feel tingling sensations in his
hands. He is now ready to heal. He can put both his hands on the shoul-
ders of the patient or hold both hands of the patient facing him for a cou-
ple of minutes. The healer then puts one hand in front and the other
behind the patient’s fore- head, that is his 6th chakra. He touches the

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patient lightly there. Then he proceeds down to the 5th, the 4th and the
3rd chakras. All these actions are done with one hand in front and one
behind (this means adposing). The hands are left at these chakras for no
more than 2 to 3 minutes each time. This is opening up the chakras of the
patient, so that the patient is now ready to receive more cosmic energy
through his chakras in his etheric body. At this point the healer will place
his adposing hands on to the troubled area for at least 10 minutes. The
healer need not concentrate at all. He may even carry on a conversation,
or his mind can wander. The analogy here is that once the tap is open the
water will flow on its own without interruption. The flow will stop only
when the healing stops. However, the best results are obtained when the
patient is completely relaxed. When the healing is completed, the healer
should close up the chakras of the patient: the patient has his back to the
healer, who then criss crosses his hands at the back of the patient, from
the shoulders to the small of the back below. The healer then dusts the
palms of his hands three times so as to sever the etheric connection with
the patient, and the good, clean prana just channeled is not pulled back by
the healer. Also the negative vibrations of the patient do not follow the
healer. After the session the healer may ask the patient what he felt while
the healing was going on.

He now has to warn the patient that 5% to 10% of patients may feel more
pain in the ensuing 24 hours after which there would be almost 100%
relief. He must also inform the patient that he or she would be drowsy or
sleepy for several hours after the healing.

All healers have their own methods or style. Some of them start with a
chant or prayer. Some of them make high pitch, squeaky or humming
noises. Some of them play new age music while healing. More often than
not the patient lies on a bed whilst being healed. Some of them do not
touch the patient, the hands being a few centimeters away.

With a few healers, perfume may be smelt during the healing. The fra-
grance corresponds to the Zodiac sign of the healer; e.g. the Pisces and
the Gemini healers will emanate jasmine. There will always be healing
angels nearby with a good healer. Sometimes the patient can see the heal-
ing guides, but most times the healer himself can feel their presence.

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Distant Healing
As long as there is no contact or proximity to the patient, it is deemed to
be distant healing. If the patient is in the same room, but out of reach, it
is considered distant healing. Of course the true definition of distant heal-
ing is when the patient is far away, and no distance is too far. The patient’s
name is obtained, where his he residing and what illness is he suffering
from is all made available to the healer. The latter will then go into medi-
tation and visualize the patient who is labeled with the name. It is quite a
good idea if a picture of the patient is shown to the healer. After visual-
izing the patient white light is sent to envelop the patient. Then another
beam of white light is further directed at the locality of the organ that is
having the problem. This is like a laser beam focussed at the source of the
illness. The first white lighting is to protect the patient whilst his chakras
are being opened by the healer. The total duration of the distant healing
should not take more than 10 to 15 minutes. I find distant healing very
effective. It is even better if the patient is asleep, while the healing is being
carried out.

Results of Healing
For a genuine good healer, 1/3 of the patients will be cured. 1/3 will
obtain improvement. The remaining 1/3 will have either temporary
improvement or none at all. Why isn’t every body healed? What are the
possible reasons? Let us discuss this.

Although faith and belief are not absolutely required, the patient will not be
healed if he deliberately blocks or resists the transmission of the cosmic
energy. He will not be healed, if his anxieties and fear are much greater than
the healing energy. The patient will not be healed, if he does not do a U-
turn even though the inner cause of the disease is found. He will not be
healed if the patient does not want to look for the cause. The patient may
not want to get well, as in the old lonely lady whose illness has brought all
her relatives to visit and to gather around her. Her need for attention out-
weighs the suffering from the disease. The patient will not get well if she
wanted the disease in order to avoid a situation; e.g. moving to another
country. If the disease is Karmic in origin, then it will not heal. Negative
feelings, emotions and thoughts must all be meticulously eradicated, or else
healing will not take place. This is especially so if there is a strong sense of
guilt or the patient is enjoying the image of being ill. Of course, if the

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patient refuses to continue with the healing sessions because he expects a
miracle at the first healing, then the healing process is aborted.
The healing may not be physical. If the patient is healed mentally and
emotionally, that may suffice. His physical illness may still persist. Some
time the healer is sent only to heal the patient spiritually. In the last two
types of cases, if the patient dies peacefully, I will deem it a success.

Prayer.

"The root of prayer is interior silence. We may think of prayer as thoughts

or feelings expressed in words, but this is only one expression. Deep
prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. It is the opening of mind and heart,
body and feelings---our whole being---to God, the Ultimate Mystery,
beyond word, thoughts and emotions."

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 Thomas Keating
"I give you my word, if you are ready to believe that you will receive whatever you ask
for in prayer, it shall be done for you."

Jesus, Mark II: 24 NAB

"Everyone prays in his own language, and there is no language that God does not
understand."

Duke Ellington

Introduction
Christians and Muslims pray, whilst Hindus and Buddhists meditate.
Superficially these two practices are different, but deep down the respec-
tive mystics of these religions inevitably would end up in the same void,
the ground of Being or the Soul. The Soul here is used synonymously as
the Atman or Buddha Nature. All these three names are interchangeable
and also change from moment to moment. Similarly, in this essay the
word God is used interchangeably with Buddha, Kuan Yin, Krishna,
Allah, Godhead, Brahman, the Tao or the Absolute as higher authority.
The Absolute being fairly neutral will be used in this essay. The Oxford
Dictionary defines prayer as "a solemn and humble request to God, or to
an object of worship; a supplication, petition, or thanksgiving, usually
expressed in words." Christians would pray to God, Jesus, Virgin Mary,
the Pope etc. The Eastern worshippers would pray to Buddha, Kuan Yin,
the Dalai Lama and all sorts of Deities, e.g. the God of Rain, the Wind
God, Krishna, Ganesh or Vishnu etc. Cult worshippers would pray to
their cult leaders. All told, they would pray to a higher authority, which
they think that could fulfil their requests.

A matter of Semantics
There is quite a confusion in the terms for meditation and prayer between
the religions. In Christian monastic tradition, four words are used: lectio
divina, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio. Lectio divina is the listening or

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the reading of the sacred scriptures or Psalms or simply the Word of
Truth, the Way and the Life. There was a time when most of the monks
or Christian community cannot read. So these Words or texts of
Revelation were read to the monks or community. By meditatio it means
here more of a discursive type of prayer, the subject of which is some
facet of life or a point in the scriptures. Simultaneously, one must also be
aware of one’s own response so that one can guide one’s future conduct
accordingly. The ‘word’ here means a phrase, which is repeated over and
over again with one’s lips. This process is to interiorise the phrase until
one has totally assimilated it, and how the whole being responds to this
phrase. In this way, one changes the notional knowing of the words of
revelation into total and implicit understanding of the word or phrase:
from notional assent to real assent. In oratio, the words of revelation
means revealing God and the response is to pray. This prayer grows with
illuminating grace. The moment of light and illumination expands until it
becomes continuous at all times. This Reality is so real that the whole
being must say ‘yes’. This is contemplatio. This is a gift of light from God
and one has no choice but to receive it with open arms. In the last stages
of Christian contemplation, one’s mental and emotional faculties are all
suspended. One is hopelessly at the receiving end of God’s immense wis-
dom. The only problem here is that when the individual awakens from the
trance, the divine knowledge is ineffable.

So in Christian meditation it is discursive thought over a religious point or

a facet of life. In contrast, the one-pointed concentration of Hindu and
Buddhist meditation finally ends in one thought, and that is the object of
meditation, e.g. breath or mantra. Christian contemplation usually means
emptying of one’s mind from all thoughts and worries of the mundane
world so that the rays from God can penetrate the Cloud of Unknowing
into the subject’s soul. At this juncture, the individual must be totally
empty of all thoughts and emotions i.e. void. The stages of contempla-
tion are actually descending deeper and deeper into the layers of empti-
ness into the ground of Being, which is the Soul. This is identical to the
Buddhist Vipassana meditation of mindfulness and Shikantaza of Zen.
Vipassana empties the mind by watching the thoughts until they disap-
pear. Thoughts mean pictures and mental chatter. This emptiness will
have to deepen layer after layer until one’s consciousness arrives at the

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Void, the ground of Being--- Buddha Nature! This is the same arena as
the Christian Soul. Buddha Nature or Soul changes every moment. Every
soul is interconnected.

Spiritual concept of the Soul and the Absolute

The Absolute includes every soul, animal, vegetable and mineral. There is
a spark of divinity in the above four varieties of existences. They exist as
consciousness. The Absolute is composed of all consciousnesses whether
visible or invisible. There is nothing outside It. Everything, material or
immaterial, is included in the One, without a second. All consciousnesses
are interconnected and all are part of the Absolute. That means every
human being has a spark of divinity (God) in him or her. It is situated in
our heart chakra (chest). Therefore the highest form of eastern medita-
tion or Christian contemplation, is to descend into the heart. This
accounts for the Christian saying, Prayer of the Heart. Similarly, in
Buddhist meditation, after achieving emptiness in the mind, one must
descend down to the heart so as to disperse the emptiness into the Void!
So the meditator or the pray-er must first arrive at the soul level of the
ground of Being. It is at this point that the Absolute takes over with grace
as all souls are part of the Absolute. The individual soul is already pow-
erless: he has no more faculties at his command. The Absolute (God) then
starts to infuse his love and wisdom into that soul. The Buddhist mystic
undergoes the same process. He calls the Absolute the Source.

Besides the confusion of terms as seen above, very popular books have
been published and read for the wrong reasons. One of them is ‘ Centering
Prayer’. This book has sold more than a quarter million copies. It is a
renewing of an Ancient Christian Prayer Form. It is a simplification of
the practice outlined in the Cloud of Unknowing. It is renewed by M.
Basil Pennington. This prayer is actually a meditation and is very akin to
Transcendental Meditation. It is composed of three simple steps:-

1.Relax comfortably in a chair with your eyes shut.

2.Choose a sacred word relating to God, Love or Jesus. Hold on to the
word as a Love and surrender to God in your consciousness.

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 3.Whenever you become aware of any sound, emotion or thought,
gently return to the prayer word.

After 20 minutes in this prayer, remain in silence with eyes shut for a cou-
ple more minutes.

There is a question about this Centering Prayer (CP) being the same as
TM of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The answer is that TM uses a meaning-
less mantra throughout the meditation, whilst CP brings out the prayer
word of love only when distracted. TM can be invested with other reli-
gions at the ground of being, but CP must be true to Christianity. These
differences appear rather flimsy, as the techniques are almost identical. In
fact, John Main re-introduced it with a mantra as an effortless type of
prayer-meditation. He chooses a sound-word, which is easy to let go dur-
ing the meditation. He chose the mantra, maranatha, to be repeated
throughout the whole period of his meditation. This differs from CP in
that the word in CP is only brought out when distraction appears. My
main contention here is that CP is actually a meditation exercise as in the
eastern religious context and not a prayer.

Now what about formal prayer itself ? Why do we pray? How do we pray?
And when do we pray?

Why do we pray?
More than 90% of people in the East and West pray because they need
help. They need material things. They are at a loss as to what to do with
a problem. They are in dire straits and no friends or relatives can assist
them. They may be aspiring to a higher position or station. They want a
promotion in their job. A bigger house is required. He or she is interest-
ed in someone in the opposite sex. One can go on and on ad nauseam. So
most prayers are of the petitionary type. Then there are prayers to solve
personal or other people’s problems. These include asking for healing
measures to self or to loved ones. One suddenly starts to pray again when
one has been given an ominous diagnosis by the doctor. Other types are
to keep loved ones in safety as in times of war or during national epi-
demics. Then there are prayers of thanks and gratitude. Quite a few would
just like to have a conversation with God.

This habit of praying for help stems from the time when we were young

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children. A family that prays together would perpetuate such practices.
Most families pray to their respective Gods, Deities, Buddha, Kuan Yin,
Krishna, Vishnu etc. This habit of the parents dies hard. Prayer suddenly
is remembered when times are hard and when one is in desperation, espe-
cially at a time when the bank manager has turned one down for a des-
perately needed loan.

Of course, the highest form of prayer is towards the union with God
(Absolute), but this form of spiritual practice is only expected from a very
small percentage of people, e.g. the Christian monks. The prayer is in the
third stage, called oratio. After the first two stages of lectio and meditatio,
oratio or prayer is actually a joyful response to the revelation of the Word
of Life. This prayer is done with gratitude and love, because the monk has
encountered Reality in his spiritual practice and this assent deepens into
the revelation of the Absolute and Its Love. In the same token, although
the Buddhist embarks on his journey of meditation, he has also arrived at
the ground of Being, the Void. Both have arrived at the same place of the
Void and emptiness. Both are helpless with their faculties suppressed.
Both are being infused with grace, love and wisdom of the Absolute. So
it is a matter of semantics. One is praying and the other meditating!

How do we pray?
For those who have been brought up in a praying family, there is no prob-
lem. Most of these would recite the Lord’s Prayer by rote every night
before sleep. This is like taking a blanket insurance with not much wisdom
and insight in the matter. The individual believes he has performed his
duty and feels content about it. In spite of this insurance, things still do
go wrong. So what to do? The form of prayer must change. Go to a priest
or someone for specialist help. Anybody, who is ardent about getting a
result from a prayer, must pray not with the mind and voice alone. It must
be from the heart. One must pray humbly from the heart like a child.
Prayer after all is to make contact with the Absolute. It is the service of
the heart. We must, as a child, talk to the Absolute, and listen to Him. In
this heartfelt prayer, gratitude must be included, as if one’s prayer has
already been answered. We don’t have to know how it is answered. Just
know that you have given the most powerful and ardent plea of your case
in this emergency. St. John Vianney says ‘in mental prayer, shut your eyes,
shut your mouth, and open your heart.’ Use short sentences from the bot-

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tom of your heart and soul. With sincerity surrender totally to the
Absolute. With absolute humility, pour out everything as if your life
depends on it. Do not camouflage your feelings. Know and feel that you
are nothing and nobody. That is why we go on our knees to pray. Now all
this outpouring can only be done if one is silent.

Pray in Silence
Be still and know that I am God is a quotation from the bible. The best is to
pray in total silence. Internal silence is more important than external
silence, which is sometimes beyond our control. Therefore, one should
shut oneself alone in a quiet room. Kneel down beside a bed or a chair
with clasping hands. Shut the eyes, the ears, the mouth and the mind. With
silence in the heart God speaks as a little small voice. Thomas Merton has
put it nicely:

‘The solitary life is above all a life of prayer. We do not pray for the sake
of praying, but for the sake of being heard. We do not pray in order to
listen to ourselves praying but in order that God may hear us and answer
us. Also, we do not pray in order to receive any answer: it must be God’s
answer.’ He continues: ‘The solitary, being a man of prayer, will come to
know God by knowing that his prayer is always answered. From there he
can go on, if God wills, to contemplation.’ Thomas Merton has brought
out the quintessence of silence in his book, Thoughts in Solitude.

Mother Teresa says: ‘Listen in silence, because if your heart is full of other
things you cannot hear the voice of God. But when you have listened to
the voice of God in the stillness of your heart, then your heart is filled
with God.’ She further suggests that after God has spoken, one’s heart is
filled with God, love and compassion and faith, then one’s mouth can
speak, i.e. pray verbally. In between formal prayers, one must also spend
time to withdraw and be alone with God, to be silent, empty, expectant
and motionless.

After this stage of oratio, prayer, then we can proceed to contemplation,

the real prayer. Contemplation will then bring us to union with God. In
the Buddhist sense, the individual having arrived at the stage of Void will
now be able to merge with the Source or the Absolute. This is final stage
of Vipassana and Shikantaza.

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Pray as if your life depends on it
This is so especially for those who are in dire straits. There must be an
earnestness and desperation without hysteria. However, the following
story illustrates this point cogently:

The Japanese Zen master Soen Nakagawa Roshi once had a student who
was an American Jesuit priest. At their first formal interview of a seven-
day retreat, Soen Roshi gave the Jesuit priest as his Koan, "What were
Jesus Christ’s last words on the cross?" The Jesuit priest immediately
replied, incredulously but matter-of-factly, "My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?" Soen Roshi promptly rang his bell and said, "No". The
priest left disconcerted.

For six days, the priest gave the same response and Soen Roshi each time
rejected it. By the seventh day, the priest was completely frustrated and
dumbfounded. At the last interview, he pleaded to have the answer to put
him out of his misery. Soen Roshi compassionately complied in a most
startling manner. Suddenly, the priest saw Soen Roshi become Jesus Christ
on the cross, arms agonizingly outstretched, head thrown back in pure
despair, the very embodiment of crucifixion, and heard him howl with the
full force of his being-----MY GOD, MY GOD WHY HAVE YOU
FORSAKEN ME!

This is a story in an article called, ‘Prayer by Zen’, written by Lou

Nordstrom. It is featured in a book called the Power of Prayer, edited by
Dale Salwak.

The story illustrates very well the essence of praying earnestly and in des-
peration. One does not have to be so dramatic as Soen Roshi. A compar-
ative case would be a wife, who is praying for healing from God, as her
husband, the sole breadwinner, has just been diagnosed to have terminal
cancer. It has to be an ejaculatory prayer of anguish and desperation.

When do we pray?
We can pray anytime, anywhere. Normally, a good Christian would pray
before bedtime as an overall insurance. A Christian family would in addi-
tion, pray before meals. A desperate person would pray more often.
However, St. Paul suggested to the Thessalonians in his first letter to

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"Pray constantly". Did he mean to pray in Spirit on every possible occa-
sion? A simple Russian peasant tells the story of his life in finding out
what is the meaning of ‘Pray constantly.’ This popular book is called ‘The
Way of a Pilgrim’. His first teacher was a village gentleman who told him:
"Ceaseless interior prayer is a continuous aspiration and a yearning of the
spirit of man toward God. To succeed in this sweet exercise it is neces-
sary to ask God frequently that He teach you to pray continuously. It takes
time." After trying very hard for some time, he is no nearer to his quest.
So he traveled more until he came across a book called the Philokalia,
which contains complete and detailed instructions about ceaseless prayer.
In it the book says: ‘Sit alone and in silence; bow your head and close your
eyes; relax your breathing and with your imagination look into your heart;
direct your thoughts from your head into your heart. And while inhaling
say, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," either softly with your lips or
in your mind. Endeavour to fight distractions but be patient and peaceful
and repeat this process frequently.’ This is ceaseless interior prayer taught
to him by a reverent Father in a hermitage. The pilgrim went to the rev-
erent Father many times in order that the prayer enters into the interior of
his heart. He was told to repeat this short line from 3,000 to 12,000 times
and more per day. So much so that he was found to be reciting this prayer
every moment of his waking hours. While reciting this ‘Jesus Prayer’ all
distractions, mental or otherwise must be subdued. This is identical to
what Buddha taught his disciples 2500 years ago. He gave each of his
monks a word or phrase like metta (loving-kindness), Buddho (the
enlightened one) or annica, dukka, anatta (impermanence, suffering, and
selflessness). That monk has to repeat the word or phrase throughout the
day or week, stopping only when he is carrying out a conversation or eat-
ing his meals. On both counts it is ceaseless prayer. The purpose of this
exercise is for the pilgrim or the monk to return to his source (Absolute).
Although the religious texts superficially differ a great deal in their con-
tents and context, the spiritual practices of their mystics do approximate
in their paths. So to answer the question of when or how often do you
pray, the answer is as often as you can and in the ultimate practice it is
ceaseless or in the Buddhist teaching from moment-to-moment.

The Rosicrucian’s method of achieving what you pray for

Take 3 to 4 minutes to relax the whole body. Now come to the mind by
paying attention to the third eye at the forehead. There are many thoughts

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there. Remove them by visualizing a situation or a scene you would like to
achieve, like signing of a contract and shaking the hand of your future
partner. Hold on to this scene as long as you can, the longer the better.
Good concentration is required. That means an experienced meditator
has an advantage. What is needed then is the ability to visualize with a
good imagination and strong concentration. A small project may need
only a few sessions, and a complex or difficult one may need a hundred
creative meditations. The Rosicrucians believe that humans have the abil-
ity to create things in the material plane. Of course, after these meditative
prayers we must also work physically and mentally towards the goal that
we are aiming for.

In summary, we must learn how to pray and spend great effort in praying
and yet some teachers insist that it is a gift from God or the Absolute.
Although most prayers are petitions or intercessions on behalf of others,
gratitude and thanks must be included in all prayers. Some people reckon
that to pray is to be weak, and yet if one calls it meditation it is all right.
Although many people have had answers to their prayers and yet some do
not. The outcome obviously is dependent on one’s character, way of life
and most importantly G-plan. G-plan includes karma. If it were against
one’s G-plan or Tao, the prayer would not be fulfilled. Of course the
Absolute knows about your problems even before you pray, and some
people believe that it is God that brings you to pray. If you are a Christian
monk practicing oratio and contemplatio or a Buddhist meditator prac-
ticing Vipassana, the necessity to pray is obviated to some extent. The
conscious mind superficially cannot read one’s own G-plan, but one’s own
unconscious is cognizant of one’s own G-plan as it is inscribed in the
DNA. Therefore, one would know whether one’s prayers would be ful-
filled or not. Having an intuition that it will not be fulfilled, one would not
even try praying. Thus far we have been discussing about mental and vocal
prayer, but the ideal is prayer from the heart.

Other forms of prayers

Let us expand the meaning of prayer to a much larger context. This sec-
tion would have to include practices like chanting, affirmations, reading of
sacred texts, sacred music, praying dancing, rituals, etc.

Meditation
Meditations of the eastern religions must be considered as the highest

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forms of prayer. These are raja yoga of Hinduism, Vipassana of
Theravada Buddhism, Shikantaza of Zen and Tibetan Dzogchen. These
meditations all end up in the Void.

Affirmations
The soul is dyed the colour of thoughts said Heraclitis. However one can-
not reach enlightenment or union with God with only affirmations. These
are statements of aspirations in the mind conditioning therapy to be
repeated as often as one is able. As an example, Dr. Emile Coue in the
1970’s invented this phrase: "Every day in every way I am getting better
and better." Some of the prayers in religions were originally affirmations
but degenerate to rituals of supplication directed to some outside higher
authority. Looking at it in another way, it is a dialogue between self and
Self. ‘I am beautiful, I am wonderful and I radiate perfect health!’ If you
repeat this affirmation often enough, you will come to believe it to be
true.

Body Prayer
The body has been taken as the temple of God. The most popular form
of this prayer is "yoga." Hatha yoga is one of the five yogas of Hindu
spiritual practice. The physical exercises involved postures, breath control,
stretching and meditation. Watching an accomplished yoga exercise leaves
no doubt to the observer that it is a body prayer. In addition there are also
mudras which depict hands and finger postures in meditation which can-
not be interpreted as anything else except praying. This is yoking or recon-
necting to God.

Chants
Chants are said to be raising our voices to God. According to Robert Gass
in his book, "Chanting": "Chant is singing our prayers. Chant is vocal
meditation. Chant is the breath made audible in tone. Chant is ‘discover-
ing’ Spirit in sound." We have been chanting for thousand of years. It
ranges from the melodic Christian chants to the Tibetan Buddhist mono-
tone and from the Rhythmic African chants to the Jewish Liturgical ones.
In the mid-1990s, the Gregorian chants have been revived to top the
music charts. Buddhists and Hindus have been using the sacred word
‘OM’ as a seed syllable of created existence. Lately Buddhists and nuns
have been making the singing of sutras as a great enticement to the

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Buddhist religion. They are set to music of delicate tunes. The main pur-
pose of these chants is to vibrate the body and mind upward to spiritual
realms.

Spirit Guides
Many cultures have experienced many different forms of guides. All of
them can be subdivided into these major categories: ancestors or dead rel-
atives, masters and teachers, animals, angels and spirit guides. The last
include soul mates that are discarnate and we may be their guides when
we die. They are not to be worshipped, but are there to guide us to go
along our G-plan. Some people can contact their guides through means
like meditation, intuition or question in prayers. They may then receive
answers through different ways of meditation, automatic writing and
dreams.

Praying-Walking and Walking Meditation

On Prayer-Walking, Linus Mundy says: "It is an exercise that considers
and serves every part of the human being, the mind, the body, the spirit
(or soul). It is prayer–exercise that makes it possible for us to look inside
and outside of ourselves simultaneously." While walking one does the
usual prayer at the same time.

All Buddhist monks and serious Buddhist must practise walking medita-
tion. This is an exercise in mindfulness. Total attention is placed on the
walking without any extraneous thoughts. The awareness is mainly on the
placing of the feet on a straight, short path. One should not coincide the
breath with the movement of the feet.

Praying Beads
Using beads for praying originated with the Hindus. They use a string of
108 beads to count their mantras. This method has been taken up by most
Buddhists in Tibet, China and Japan, who also use 108 beads. These are
called malas by these two religions. They are made of sandalwood, seeds, or
inlaid animal bone. In the past, the inlaid bones were from the skeletons of
holy men, but now they are made of turquoise, coral and yak bone.
However, the Burmese use 72 black-lacquered beads. The Muslims use 33
or 99 beads, representing the 99 names of Allah found in the Koran.

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The Catholic rosary (usually made up of coloured glass or plastic or olive
wood beads) originated in the sixth century for praying of the 150 psalms
of the Bible. These beads are used to count the 150 Paters ("Our
Fathers") once a week and these 150 beads became known as Paternoster.
Thomas of Contimpre was the first to call them rosary after Virgin Mary
visited St. Dominic in a rose garden (rosarium). It is not a coincidence that
the word bead comes from the Anglo-Saxon bidden meaning to pray and
bede meaning prayer. Besides the calming and tranquillising effect of the
beads, they are predominantly there to ground us to the significance of
the prayer we are reciting. This is touching of the holy practised by all reli-
gions in the world, except by Judaism.

Prayer Dancing
Sacred dance practised as an ancient rite in the worship of God is almost
universal. It originated in Greek temples, Egyptian rituals and Judaism
and early Christianity. It is just as common in the East. In Hinduism,
Shiva is a dancing God who helps the individual to release the soul from
illusion, as it represents the rhythm of the cosmos. In Japan, the Kabuki
Dance Drama was launched by a shrine maiden in the 1600s. Again this
is of religious origin.

Amongst the peasant and tribal population, they perform the sacred
dance for supplication for rain etc. It is also performed as thanksgiving for
successful harvests and hunts. The Sioux Sun Dance held each year is a
thanksgiving celebration to the Great Spirit. Finally, the Muslim Sufi danc-
ing with its associated dervish whirls may end up in a trance of Samadhi.
It is a religious act capable of converting the brain waves from alpha to
theta waves. Its teachers believe that with the rhythmic and physical move-
ments, the dancer may end up in communion with the Divine. The view-
ers of the dance may even be healed of their illnesses. The essence is that
they are not dancing the dance, but are being danced by the dance. In
practice, it is whirling the ego out of the body so that spirit may occupy
the twirling body. This dancing prayer with music is an ecstatic practice
towards the union with the Divine.

Rituals
All religions use rituals, whether with their prayers or not. Some Buddhist
sects, Hindus praying to their deities, Christian priests, African shamans,

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Taoists etc use rituals. The author of "School of Kabbalah", Z’ev ben
Shimon Halevi, said " The essence of ritual is that something done in the
physical realm is related to the higher worlds. This may be a simple ges-
ture of the hand or an elaborate ceremony. It can be working conscious-
ly in everyday life, so that quite mundane actions become full of meaning,
or a carefully designed ritual acted out for a specific occasion…Ritual is
the mode for formalising action and giving it not only meaning, but cre-
ating a contact with other worlds." Ritual when used as a prayer practice
infuses a sense of the sacred when not performed by rote. With aware-
ness it brings us nearer to a relationship with the Absolute. The trick with
ritual is to remember the intention and be inspired by the myth. With intu-
ition, ensure that the ritual harms nobody but benefits all. Keep it simple
and be balanced. Be in touch with your feelings. Honour the power of the
words and keep the imagination alive. These are the guidelines given by
Rene Beck and Sydney Barbara Metrick, authors of The Art of Ritual.
There are no rights or wrongs in ritual. If performed with intensity and
in detail, one should be transformed. Do not be an automaton when act-
ing out the ritual. So ritual can be taken as a form of prayer, as it takes you
out of the present time and place.

There is a book called "The Way We Pray" by Maggie Oman Shannon in

which a comprehensive account of praying practices around the world is
written up. There are many more practices then what are written in this
article. If the reader is interested please consult the book.

What are the results of prayer?

Larry Dossey, M.D., extensively explores the answer to this question in his
books. As prayer is so ubiquitous throughout the world statistics are dif-
ficult to come by solely on prayer. So the author utilised researches on
healing with regards to medical benefits. Distant healing is treated as dis-
tant prayer: in fact there is no difference as the mechanism is the same.
Publications quoted in his books are all of high quality and are published
in medical and psychological journals. That means they are to be trusted.

1."Healing Research" is a book written by Daniel J. Benor in 1993. In it his

definition of healing (and prayer) is ‘intentional influence of one or more
people upon another living system without utilising known physical
means of intervention’. His findings are:

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Researchers have performed 131 controlled trials: 56 of these showed sta-
tistically significant results at a level of < .01 or better (i.e. the likelihood
that the results were due to chance was less than 1 in 100); 21 studies
demonstrate results at a probability level of .02 to .05 (i.e. the likelihood
that the results were due to chance was between 2 and 5 chances in 100).

All the above means that it is very unlikely that the positive results are due
to chance. They are due to prayer or distant healing.

These experiments deal with healing (prayer) effects on enzymes, cells,

yeasts, bacteria, plants, animals and human beings.

2.Jeffrey S Levine, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Eastern Virginia Medical

School, investigated the local effects of prayer and religious practices. He
has uncovered over 250 empirical studies published in the epidemiologic
and medical literature since the 19th century in which spiritual or religious
practices have been statistically associated with particular health out-
comes. Positive effects for both morbidity and mortality have been found
for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, and nearly every type of
cancer, colitis and enteritis. These findings hold regardless of how spiri-
tuality is defined and measured, whether according to beliefs, behaviours,
attitudes, experiences, and so forth. Over two dozen studies demonstrate
the health-promoting effects of simply attending church or synagogue on
a regular basis. These benefits have been found to be widely distributed,
appearing in studies of all races and in different religions. Levine wants
more investigation into why, what and how spiritual factors consistently
reduce suffering and curing the sick.

3.NIH physician-researcher David B. Larson and Susan S. Larson sur-

veyed 12 years of publication of the American Journal of Psychiatry and
Archives of General Psychiatry. They found that, when measuring participa-
tion in religious ceremony, social support, prayer, and relationship with
God, 92 % of the studies showed benefit for mental health, 4% were neu-
tral, and 4% showed harm.

4.F.C. Craigie and his colleagues, in a 1990 review of 10 years of publica-

tion of the Journal of Family Practice, found similar findings for physical
health: 83% showed benefit, 17% were neutral, and none showed harm.

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5.Larry Dossey, M.D. discovered that there were more than 130 scientific
studies in the general area of "healing" many of which employ prayer.
Over half of these experiments strongly indicate prayer works. Science
has more or less agreed that prayer works but does not know how it
works. Intercessory, distant prayer also works without the knowledge of
the recipient. Therefore it is not a placebo effect.

From the above evidence, one is pretty sure that prayer works, although
not 100%. Neither do drugs and surgery work 100%. Another interesting
feature of distant prayer is that it is nonlocal, meaning that information
exists everywhere all at once. This follows Bell’s theorem: if distant
objects have once been in contact, a change thereafter in one causes an
immediate change in the other---no matter how far apart they are. The 3
characteristics of nonlocal events are 1) unmediated (the distant changes
do not depend on the transmission of the energy or any sort of energetic
signal); 2) unmitigated (the strength of the changes does not become
weaker with increasing distance); and 3) immediate (the distant changes
take place simultaneously). Nonlocal prayer therefore works under the
same rules as other psychic phenomena: clairvoyance, telepathy, psy-
chokinesis and distant healing. In all these quantum phenomena, no ener-
gy is transmitted. It happens all at once. Quantum theory does not explain
the ‘how’, but we know that love, empathy and compassion are essential
ingredients for the execution of the prayer.

Is there such a thing as negative (black) prayer?

In a 1994 Gallup poll found that 5% of Americans prayed for harm to
come to others. This is a self-confessed figure. Therefore, there should be
more than 5% in the general population. Larry Dossey even wrote a book
about it: "Be Careful What You Pray For… You Just Might Get It." In this book
he comprehensively investigated into this phenomenon. He lumped neg-
ative prayer with hexes, curses and all forms of negative thoughts towards
others. Hex means to bewitch, to cause adversity or malediction. That
means when you mutter a soft curse or have a black wish against some-
one else, you have executed a negative prayer. Even if you exclaim a com-
ment like, ‘he ought to be shot!’ or ‘damn him!’ it is a black prayer. Very
rarely a very good friend who is an alcoholic would ring you up at 3 am,
wakening you up and you may mutter an expletive like ‘go to hell’. This is
a black prayer. An exasperating swearing of the driver in front of you in

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a traffic jam is also a negative prayer. A consummate distant healer can in
the same token activate a negative distant hex. It works both ways. When
one prays for a football team, one is making a negative prayer against the
other team. Similarly, in praying for one’s daughter to top the class, one is
also praying against all the other girls in the class.

In the bible, Elisha caused 42 children to be devoured by bears for mak-

ing fun of his baldness (Kings 2; 23—24). Paul struck a sorcerer blind
(Acts 13:11). And even Christ blasted an apparently innocent fig tree for
not bearing fruit (Mathew 21:19, Mark 11:13—14). The Hindu marana,
which is one of the 6 siddhis, is a death prayer. Marana can bring on a
death of an enemy through mental means. In the Hawaiian Islands, the
native shamans, the kahunas, practice ana-ana, the "death prayer". These
kahunas can kill a person from afar with mental intent. If one were to
delve into the literature, one will be able to dig out many more primitive
methods of negative prayers. Voodoo curses are not black prayers as such,
because the victim has to be told that a curse has been levied on him and
psychology will do the rest.

Protection against negative prayers

Can we protect ourselves against these black prayers? The answer is yes.
We are born already immunised against these curses and maledictions;
otherwise life is not sustainable. It is like the normal immunity we received
from our mothers when we were born. Further the person trying to
bewitch us is quite often inept and their curses do not work most of the
time. Some of the curses may also backfire on the perpetrator. Lastly, in
our daily prayers, we can also protect ourselves as in white lighting.

What is prayer and how does it work?

The word prayer comes from the Latin precarius, "obtained by begging,"
and precari, "to entreat"----- to ask earnestly, beseech, implore. This cov-
ers the 2 commonest forms of prayer: petition and intercession. The for-
mer is to ask for oneself and the other is to ask for someone else. Then
there are prayers of confession, the repentance for wrongdoing and the
asking for forgiveness, lamentation, adoration, invocation and thanksgiv-
ing. Most cults and religious sects invoke their masters, deities or the
Absolute. Prayer can be performed in private or public. It can be individ-
ual or communal. It can be in words, signs, gestures or silence. Although

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most prayers are carried out consciously, it may be performed subcon-
sciously or unconsciously in our dreams.

Those who pray are generally happier and healthier. Research has con-
firmed this fact. If the prayers belong to a religion it is even better.
Research has also found that these happy people who pray have 4 charac-
teristics:

1.They like themselves and they have high self-esteem.

2.They have a sense of self-control over their lives, their situations and
their health.

3.They are optimistic.

4.They are generally outgoing and not focused on themselves.

The above fall into the innate nature of humans: to obtain ultimate per-
petual happiness by getting enlightenment or union with God.

How does prayer work?

The common concept of prayer involves the pray-er, the person who is
prayed on and the Absolute or God. The whole process embraces all the
three, the intermediary being the Absolute.

Prayer and healing

Most studies equate intercessory prayer with healing. Healers also insist
that they should be armed with love, empathy and compassion for heal-
ing to work. These are the same qualities required by prayers. When a
healer focuses on a patient, a two-way traffic is established. The healer
knows the patient’s wants and he provides the healing energy or prayer to
that end. When a patient knows he is being prayed for he gets well faster.

One can use a directed method or a nondirected prayer. A directed prayer

means one prays to heal the cancer or heart problem, telling the Absolute
what to do. The nondirected method is to leave it to the Absolute carte
blanche with instructions like, ‘Thy will be done.’ It is an open-ended
approach. The Spindrift organisation in Salem, U.S.A., which has been

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showing that prayer works in laboratory research for a decade, says that
both methods work, but the nondirected prayer works better. So when a
healer does not visualise or strive to cure a certain disease, and his mind
and emotions should be as empty as possible, the success rate increases.
That means the healer does better if he ascends to a higher realm without
desire.

What happens when a prayer or healing is initiated?

The patient or recipient of the prayer immediately gets healed or
improved even though they are thousands of miles apart. Larry Dossey
invented a term for this----nonlocal mind in 1989 in his book,
"Recovering the Soul". This concept theorises "that consciousness cannot
be completely localised or confined to specific points in space, such as
brains or bodies, or to discrete points in time, such as the present
moment." A nonlocal mind works through the brain and body without
being limited to them. This theory suggests that there is no energy sent
out to the patient, because if it is energy, the effect would take time and
it gets weaker the further the patient is away from the healer. Researchers
have now established that the human brain is capable of establishing close
relationships with other brains and may sustain such an interaction even
at a distance. Bell’s theorem concerns subatomic particles, but recent sci-
entists have found that it can happen too humans as well, especially if
there is previous, reciprocal, emotional establishment.

Emerging theories now are suggesting that consciousness is the funda-

mental, causal factor in the universe, and consciousness is not confined to
the brain, body or the present time. Consciousness is present in every-
thing in the universe including mineral, vegetable, animal and humans. It
is also present in the air. This explains the nonlocality of prayers and heal-
ing. I was healing a patient with lupus erythematosus in Singapore. When
I went to London to work privately, she e-mailed me that a rash has aris-
en on her face. I replied that I would heal her distantly. Within 15 minutes
of my e-mail reply, her rash began to subside! I have encountered many
such instant effects in my distant healing. As one goes deeper into this
quantum problem, the interconnectedness of everything in the universe is
often verified. When a healer can go inwards to his pure consciousness
(soul), the distant healing or prayer is facilitated.

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Prayer and the unconscious mind
It is mentioned above that one could heal or pray in our dreams. In fact
the Russians were the first to study how the unconscious mind can trans-
fer information from one person to another. They found that it was pos-
sible even with very stringent shielding of the sender from the receiver.
One of the members of this Commission for the Study of Mental
Suggestion, R. Desoille, believed that there are four ways that information
may be sent from the sender to the receiver. Everyone has a conscious
and an unconscious mind. Thoughts flow easily from one compartment
to the other. The four ways are: 1) Thoughts from the sender’s conscious
mind are sent directly to the receiver’s conscious mind. 2) Thoughts are
sent from the sender’s conscious mind to the receiver’s unconscious mind
and they then surface to the receiver’s conscious mind. 3) From the con-
scious mind of the sender they are transmitted to his own unconscious
mind. From there it is sent to the receiver’s conscious mind. 4) Again,
thoughts are transmitted from the conscious to the unconscious mind of
the sender, and then they are sent to the unconscious mind of the receiv-
er. From thence they surface to the receiver’s conscious mind. This last
pathway is a frequent one. That means prayer and healing from the heal-
er or pray-er may be sent unconsciously to the recipient. In other words,
after the healer has been told about the patient’s condition, unconscious-
ly he starts to heal him even though the healer does not intentionally go
through the ritual of healing the patient. Cases of this nature have been
reported all the time. The author himself has experienced this many
times.

With all the above explanation, the important question is why are not all
prayers answered? They are, but according to one’s G-plan. Our G-plan is
the end all and be-all of our entire life. If what we are praying for is oppo-
site to our G-plan, then we cannot get what we pray for. Although we do
not get what we pray for, spiritually it is always in our best interest, maybe
not for that present moment, but time will tell that it is for the best.

References
1. Larry Dossey, M.D. Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of
Medicine. Harper paperbacks.1997 (original 1993).

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2. Larry Dossey, M.D. Prayer Is Good Medicine. HarperSanFrancisco. 1996.

3. Larry Dossey, M.D. Be Careful What You Pray For…. You Just Might Get
It. HarperSanFrancisco. 1997.

4. Thomas Merton. Contemplative Prayer. Darton, Longman and Todd

Ltd. 1973.

5. Thomas Merton. Thoughts in Solitude. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1958.

6. M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. Centering Prayer: Renewing an Ancient

Christian Prayer Form. Image Books, Doubleday. 1982.

7. Maggie Oman Shannon. The Way We Pray: Prayer Practices from Around
the World. Conari Press, Berkeley, California. 2001.

8. Mother Teresa. No Greater Love. New World Library. Novato,

California. 1997.

9. Mother Teresa. In The Heart of The World. New World Library. 1997.

10. Edited by Dale Salwak. The Power of Prayer. New World Library.
Novato, California. 1998.

11. The Way of a Pilgrim. Image Books, Doubleday. 1997.

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Psychic Self-Defence.
Is there such a thing as an auric or psychic attack? The answer is a defi-
nite ‘Yes’. The attack is basically at our subtle bodies, the seven auric bod-
ies. These bodies are seen as layers of vibrating energies one on top of the
other immediately adjacent to the physical body. We have at least 7 of
these subtle bodies. They interpenetrate each other including the physical
body. The physical is the 8th and is the densest and the slowest in vibra-
tion. The next layers are the etheric, astral, mental and four more subtler
spiritual bodies. Each body is vibrating more rapidly and is larger than the
one beneath. These auric bodies start to develop from the day we are
born. In the first year of our life, they continue to develop and grow until
it is fully mature at the age of two. From then onwards, these are our own
suits of armour which protect us from assaults, insults and deliberate
attacks from humans, spirits and elementals. These assaults are hurled at
our auric bodies, but it is the astral (emotional) body that bears the brunt
of the attack. The attack may be deliberate or accidental, and usually ends
up with physical, emotional and mental consequences. It is mostly the
physical effects that tell us that something is wrong, at which time we seek
for help.

Normally, we are protected by our aura (the entire 7 bodies). We normal-

ly protect and upkeep our aura with enough sleep, food and exercise, and
we try to limit stress to a minimum. Although some people are more sen-
sitive than others, illnesses and loss of material assets or loved ones may
damage our auric defence. This lowers our defence, and consequently we
become much more susceptible to auric attacks. Psychics, mediums and
healers are also more prone to these attacks. When it comes down to who
else is vulnerable, the businessman, the counsellor and even the housewife
may have to protect themselves during their daily chores. The business-
man because of competition and jealousy; the counsellor or welfare work-
er because their ‘hungry’ clients suck their energy; and the housewife
spends a fair amount of the money in buying goods for the home, and the
salesman may use more than just a sales pitch to sell. Lastly, the ‘holy’
meditating vegetarian is also more susceptible than the oily, meat-eating
businessman who is actively pursuing money, power and sex.

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THE NATURE OF A PSYCHIC ATTACK

An attack can be human or non-human, occult or non-occult, and finally

either intentional or accidental.

Human
Under this category, the attack may be intentional or accidental. In the
intentional variety, it can be occult or non-occult. Many of the forms to
be described here are of the intentional variety. However, it is the acci-
dental ones that we hardly know about. For instance, when we scold our
children when they are naughty, the negative, angry energy we transmit to
them could very well turn into an auric attack. This is not our intention,
but nevertheless it happens. This form of reprimand to our staff and our
relatives, especially our spouses, quite often becomes an auric attack. So
beware! Then the petty jealousy and envy we cultivate towards our com-
petitors could also end up as an attack.

Majority of human auric assaults are non-occult. They include all the
above varieties of accidental cases. Most of the intentional cases are also
not of the occult type, because there are very few occultists left in our
modern, developed societies. However, there are still few occultists left in
this field, who will carry out your wishes for a fee. But majority of the
occultists do not practice for mercenary gains.

About 10 years ago, I tried to disentangle a friend from his young mistress
during my meditation. I imagined them enveloped within one ‘sarong’,
and I cut the ‘sarong’ asunder. It was an amateurish attempt, and I end up
getting rather ill. The young mistress’s mother had the expertise of occult
Siamese charms, and I was no match compared to her prowess.

Malicious Human Action may be initiated by:

(a) Hypnotic Telepathic Suggestion

(b) Conscious Suggestion and Autosuggestion
(c) Reinforcement of the suggestion by invisible agencies like
(i) Thought Forms
(ii) Artificial elements
(iii) Mental concentration

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 (iv) Ectoplasm
(v) Jinni
(d) Physical Points of Contact:
(e) Magnetic links--- like talisman, wax and wooden dolls, ointments
and drugs, and contaminated food.
(ii) Possessions of victim’s nail clippings, hair, blood (including men-
strual), sperms, urine, stool, metal watches, rings, bracelets etc.

In the cases of malicious human action, the first thing to do is to elimi-

nate physical and mental diseases. Doctors and psychiatrists can rule out
neurotic diseases and insanity. The perpetrator may practice (a) hypnotic
telepathic suggestion if he is very adept at it. However, it is much more
efficacious if he (b) consciously suggests to the victim that he is about to
aurically attack him. Invisible agencies like thought forms, artificial ele-
ments, mental concentration, ectoplasm and Jinni may reinforce these
suggestions. Thought forms are concocted by the occultist and made real
by intense mental concentration. This process is repeated until the
thought form becomes seemingly solid and mobile to terrorise the victim.
This process can be further reinforced by the sorcerer using elemental
forms created by the mind with ectoplasm, which can be ensouled by the
creator to have a distinct life of its own. However, this ‘creature’ is not
everlasting as energy leaks from it, and it will lose its viability in due
course.

I knew an old Siamese lady occultist who adopted a daughter. This young
daughter’s parents-in-laws used black magic to viciously attack the daugh-
ter in law. The hard-boiled egg given to her for breakfast when broken up
would show dark blood elements. Many other methods were used. She
stayed with the in-laws, and therefore it is easy for magnetised hairs or nail
clippings to be obtained from her. The motive for eliminating her was
money. Nevertheless, the old occultist friend of mine was having a battle
royal with the in-laws’ sorcerers. It was a 24-hour affair. My friend’s
instruction to her own real daughter, with whom she is staying with, was
not to open their main door, while she is asleep. This instruction was car-
ried out for months meticulously. However, one morning the daughter
decided to just open the door for 15 seconds to retrieve a bottle of water
just outside her door. This was enough time for the enemy to get into the
flat while the old lady was asleep. The assailing force pummelled the old

216
occultist into unconsciousness. The daughter saw nothing except that the
mother was on the floor unconscious covered with bruises. She quickly
left to consult a very close friend of the mother’s, who was a Buddhist
monk. The monk instructed the daughter to sacrifice 2 chickens, cook
them and offer them to the elementals that were attacking her mother.
While the elementals were devouring the chickens, the monk revived the
old lady, who had been unconscious, all this while. When the mother woke
up, she recounted every detail of what the daughter did while she was out.
All this while, the attacker, the victim and the monk were all at their
respective abodes: they did not move an inch! The entire episode was
enacted in Bangkok.

Another illustrative case concerned my first teacher, who was the abbot of
a very haunted monastery in the North East of Thailand. As a young
abbot in Phuket, another monastery did not like this young monk to set
shop near their doorsteps. So the opposing camp started to send missiles
made of stones and boulders and arrows with fiery tips. These were all
done with psychic power. My late teacher threw a psychic barricade
around his own monastery, and not one of the missiles ever came near his
monastery. At the time I went to my 1st teacher, he already had about 50
years of meditation practice. This was in 1975. All these itinerant forest
monks must undergo training in occultism. Otherwise they cannot sur-
vive.

There was another lady in Singapore who trained a Jinni to give her infor-
mation regarding her clients that come to ask her questions. She needed
to take at least 10 to 20 seconds to get an answer from the Jinni. The
information was usually very accurate with regards to the past and the
present. However, when it came to the future, her guess was as good as
mine. That means the Jinni cannot tell the future! The unsavoury part of
this relationship was that she had to keep feeding this Jinni with either
chicken’s or duck’s blood. This sacrifice must be done in the cemetery at
full moon nights!

Elementals can be utilised by these occult practitioners who may use (1)
water, (2) air (wind), (3) fire and (4) earth. So, theoretically these 4 ele-
ments may produce tidal waves, floods, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and
earthquakes induced by the power of the adept. Furthermore, elms and

217
nature spirits may also be used positively to help to improve cultivation of
a particular area e.g. Findhorn. Lastly, it is well known that jungles have
oversouls or spirits of their own to protect desecration of the jungles.
Mountain and jungle sickness is prevalent amongst novices who venture
into these areas for the first time.

Thought atmosphere in a place is used to engender nervousness, fear,

anger and panic in crowd control and arousal. Adept speakers cleverly
exploit mental-emotional energy in this instance. And a good speaker can
arouse excitement in the audience to fever pitch. Sometimes a nervous
atmosphere may even make an experienced stage performer nervous!

Physical points of contact are utilised by possessing various parts of the

victim like nail clippings, hair, etc and intimate belongings like watches
and rings of the victim. These are then used to construct magnetic links
e.g. talisman, wax and wooden dolls for the adept to work on.

Non-human Interference
In this category, spirits of the lower astral realm are mostly involved. They
are mischievous or evil predators who roam the earthly realms to pounce
upon those humans whose auras are deficient or weakened by disease or
loss of loved ones and financial assets. These usually end up as an auric
attack, easily cured by a healer. There are also the ignorant spirits that do
not know that they are dead. They hang around their loved ones and
obsess the living to the detriment of the latter. This is a form of spiritu-
al vampirism.

The places where these predators may be located are the usual cemeteries,
funeral wakes, hospitals, temples, churches, haunted buildings etc. Then
there are lodges where cults, occultists and exorcists practise: these should
be avoided by the uninitiated. Due to curiosity, some of us tend to go into
these venues and lodges and meet the unseen forces, and enter into situ-
ations beyond our depth. Calamity strikes, especially where perpetrators
are indulging in Left-hand paths. The results could be disastrous, and it
may then be impossible to extricate oneself. In these instances, the veil
between us and the lower astral is torn, and the inhabitants of that realm
together with the occult practitioners can create havoc to the curious and

218
uninformed. By then it is too late to retract one’s step. Therefore, one
must not enter into these dens of iniquities merely for curiosity sake.

Symptoms of an attack
The person under an attack may suffer the following:

1) Fatigue and malaise. There is usually a feeling of listlessness and

lethargy. There is no desire to go out and do exciting or interesting things,
as per usual. The tiredness is there soon after waking up in the morning,
and lasts until one goes to bed at night. This inertia will intensify, if uncor-
rected, until the victim is exhausted. He goes to a doctor, who examines
him and runs a series of tests. But alas, to no avail. The doctor is com-
pletely bewildered, and proffers an ambiguous diagnosis like ‘chronic
fatigue syndrome’. Finally, the victim gets a nervous breakdown, and ends
up with a psychiatrist or a healer. This is a form of spiritual vampirism.
He may then lose his job, which may fortuitously begin the process of
healing. This is because the attacks may emanate from the work place. Or
he may travel overseas for a rest and holiday, and this action may also trig-
ger a healing process. The latter healing may happen if the attacks are
human and non-occult, and they are dependent on repeated daily or week-
ly reinforcements with food, drugs or oils.

2) Insomnia and Nightmares. The person under attack may find that
he is unable to sleep at nights. These are of 2 varieties. One is the normal
type which coffee drinkers suffer. The other is due the fact that the psy-
chic attacks are usually timed at just before going into or just coming out
of deep sleep. The commonest form of attack is when a victim is awak-
ened up by a heavy weight or ‘someone' pressing on his chest. He is com-
pletely unable to move. He cannot speak or shout, and he finds great dif-
ficulty in breathing. The experience is terrifying, and the attack may seem
interminably long, but usually it is no longer than a minute or so. When
these attacks are frequent, he dares not go to sleep. What can make things
worse is that some of them wake up with bruises of definite patterns on
their bodies. At this point, they would have to come to a definite conclu-
sion that these attacks are either occult or spiritual. The latter is of course
due to spirits in the lower astral or they are earthbound.

Some people take these chest pressures as bad dreams, but they are either

219
due to the occultist sending out his etheric body reinforced with ecto-
plasm to attack the victim or due to a mischievous earthbound spirit. In
the case of the occultist, the offender loses a lot of weight projecting
ectoplasm for the assault. Consequently, if the victim just maintains his
calmness with no panic, time is on his side. If he continues with this equa-
nimity, the attacker will have to give up, as he will be exhausted himself.

Nightmares are usually composed of recurring dreams of ogres or mon-

sters coming to assault the victim every night. Or the victim may try night
after night to throw himself out of the window as in sleep walking or
injure himself. The above 2 varieties of attacks are truly terrifying, and
that is why the victim dares not fall asleep.

3) Finale: If no help is sought with the above of signs and symptoms, the
victim may end up wasting away. With the loss of tissue, insomnia and
nervous exhaustion, the victim becomes a shell of skin and bones. Finally
he expires without a diagnosis. This sequel is pretty rare in modern cul-
tures, but it is not uncommon in the olden days in the jungles of Africa,
where the practice of ‘bone pointing’ was quite prevalent.

4) External Signs. The most frequent one is rotten odours like decom-
posed flesh, dung or filthy drains. The other is the sudden appearance of
slime. There may be also footprints of humans and animals from nowhere
and are completely unaccountable. Lastly, there may be peculiar sounds
and lights, and poltergeist activity. These are all merely external signs to
reinforce the presence of auric attacks; otherwise they merely represent
haunting of the building.

PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENCE

General Measures
Given that most of us are not occultists, these general measures will ward
off most non-occult and non-human attacks.

1) Stay Healthy: The most important step is to have enough sleep and
rest. When a person is overworked and stressed by it, he is much less
resistant to any form of attack by spirit or microorganisms. After relax-
ation, one must also have enough and proper nourishment and food. A

220
pure vegetarian diet alone may not be nourishing enough. Fish or other
white meat may be required, but try to avoid red meat. What diet to have
is entirely dependent on the individual, but one should not go hungry at
any time. In addition, the bowels must be kept open.

Then exercise is of paramount importance. The exercise can be coupled

with the experience of sunlight, which also strengthens the aura. Try and
exercise in parks where other people are around, but not to walk or jog
alone in woods or forests. Play games and do physical training in groups.
Massages and aromatherapy may help. If one is always cold due the
attacks, have hot baths or footbaths, and have a hot water bottle on the
solar plexus before you sleep. Lastly, after returning from places of inim-
ical atmosphere, take a hot shower and have a new change of clothes.

2) Earthing or grounding: In walking in the parks, one is already earth-

ing oneself. However, in order to perform a proper grounding, one does
the following: stand firmly on the ground with the legs slightly apart.
Then imagine a root from each sole of the foot growing downwards deep
into the ground. If one is sitting, then a single root should be imagined to
grow downwards into the ground from the 1st chakra at the base of the
spine.

3) White lighting: Again remain either standing or sitting. Then imagine

a ball of white or golden light above the head. Visualize a shower of white
or golden light from this ball pouring down onto you, through you and
around you. Then from the center of your body this light emanates out-
wards to form an egg-shape aura surrounding you with the narrower por-
tion of the egg beneath you and the bottom of the egg above you (Fig.
1). The aura must be as far away from you as your outstretched arms. The
aura will also include the ball of light above your head. Then go to the
most external casing of the aura, and strengthen it by imagining that it is
thicker than the shell of a duck’s egg.

This exercise should be performed daily, at least once a day, but some-
times more. The latter depends on whether one is going to unsavoury
places or not. With this fortified aura in tact one should then visualize our
connection with our higher self (spark of divinity). This could be identi

221
 Fig. 6

fied as the ball of light above the head or at a spot at the bottom of the
sternum in front of the chest. This armour and protector (higher self)
should repel most auric attacks. However, an experienced occultist can
still harm us, but with great difficulty. Nevertheless, with repeated practice
this aura can extend greatly in size, and will definitely prevent any intru-
sion by non-material entities whether asleep or awake. Destructive atmos-
pheres and physical harm may also be deflected by this powerful aura.
These may include violence, accidents, natural disasters and even diseases.

Measures (2) and (3) work on the principle of ‘energy follows thought’.
Whatever one thinks or visualizes is real and can be seen by clairvoyants.

4) Meditation: If one is not a meditator, one should not try to learn to

meditate at this juncture. But if one is an experienced meditator, then by
all means meditate more rigorously. At the end of the meditation, send
the assailant love if he or she is not an occultist, and quite often this will
do the trick. In due course, the assailant will stop sending you hate and
angry energy. However if the assailant is an occultist, do not send love,
for he will transform the love to hate energy which will be used against
you. Therefore, for an experienced meditator, go deep into absorptions
(Jhanas), and acquire peace, harmony and equanimity with the protection
of God, Buddha or Allah. This will raise the consciousness of the victim
to such a high spiritual level that the attacker cannot possibly reach. For
malice, use compassion and unconditional love. For lust, use purity and
selflessness. For vampirism, talk to the deceased spirit, as he or she is usu-

222
ally a loved one. If the attacker is using either hypnotic telepathic or auto-
suggestion, one should purify one’s mind so that the suggestions cannot
take root.

Lastly, everybody who meditates must close his chakras after each medi-
tation. One does not close the crown (7th) chakra, but all the remaining
chakras must be closed sequentially starting from the 6th, the one at the
3rd eye. Then continue with the 5th at the throat, the 4th at the heart, the
3rd at the solar plexus, the 2nd at top of the pubic area and finally at the
1st chakra at the bottom of the spine. Each chakra is depicted to be an
open flower, which is closed down to a bud, one at a time. Another
method is to imagine that these six are light bulbs, and they are systemi-
cally switched off, one by one.
5) Mindfulness of the Body: During an attack, one should try and be
aware of one’s physical body as much as possible, i.e. centering at our
bodies. To the Buddhists, the best way of doing this is by concentrating
on the breath. The breathing must be normal and even. That means the
inspiration must be equal to the expiration. There should not be any
increase in the respiratory rate, as in panic. In fact, the best way of
breathing is normal, deep and abdominal in type. In addition, one
should be aware of one’s emotions. Any fear, panic, and anger should be
noted, and straightaway corrected. Normally, a meditator who has
strengthened his aura and grounded himself should be able to overcome
one’s fears, be it rational or irrational. An experienced meditator who is
always calm should be able to withstand sudden fear due to subliminal
influences e. g. ghosts, spirits or malevolent atmospheres. If the victim is
not a meditator, be aware and remain as calm as possible. Do not allow
panic attacks to set in. This is exactly what the attacker wants. At this
juncture, the victim may also say a prayer or an affirmation. Perform the
sign of a pentagram (Fig 2) straightaway, and this will do away with
whatever spirit or ghost that is around. It will also shield you against any
occultist attack.

6) Control one’s Emotions. Fear, guilt and desire are the most treach-
erous of emotions. They should not be harboured at all at any time.
Fear has been touched on briefly in the last section. We need rational
and calm deliberation with the help of meditation to eradicate the fear.
Guilt is always played upon by the offender by oblique suggestions. The

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best antidote here is to forgive yourself, for who has never done any-
thing wrong? The forgiving must be repeated if necessary. Then laugh it
away for good. Laughter is a good cleansing fluid for quilt and fear. The
last item of desire is more insidious. It is usually a hidden sexual desire
from a past life relationship. The attacker would be using hypnotic tele-
pathic suggestion utilizing lust and cruelty directed at the victim. The
victim should by now have recognized that hidden desire in her. This
must be strenuously resisted and she should stop seeing the attacker at
all cost. This past life bond is very difficult to break asunder, and the
victim may need the help of an adept for the severance. Another quick
method is to give your whole body a good shake down, and this will
temporarily squeeze out the fear, guilt and desire.

7) Contact Points. Finally, one should try to destroy or burn meticu-

lously all one’s human sheddings. Hairs, nail clippings, menstrual pads,
urine and stools should all be completely eradicated. One should also
not give or allow to be stolen personal belongings like watches, rings or
handkerchiefs. Neither should one be too eager to receive talisman, pen-
dants, crosses and rings from people you do not know very well. Even
though they may be from monks or priests. Negative or malicious ener-
gy may be breathed into these items, and if you are wearing them every-
day, you may be drawn to that person daily or ever so often. This is one
way how a monk or priest can perpetuate the loyalty of their donors.

SPECIFIC METHODS OF DEFENCE

1) Heal the aura. The best thing to do this is to go to a reliable healer

who should be able to do the job easily.

2) Clear the atmosphere. Use pomegranate leaves or a small brush to

sprinkle consecrated salt water all over the house or that particular
room. The consecration can be simply done by saying a prayer or
repeating an invocation while the salt water is being prepared. This is
done by sprinkling a spoonful of salt into a bowl of water. While doing
this and while sprinkling the ‘holy’ water onto the walls of the house,
repeat your prayer or invocation.

3) Break contact with troubling forces. Move to a new environment

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with a new set of clothes and with as little belongings as possible. If
moving house is not possible, change your room. If you cannot change
your room, change the direction of the bed. In moving to a new abode,
it is better if one can cross running water (river or sea), as this will help
by throwing off the scent of the attacker, but a spirit can still follow
you. After arriving at the new place, bathe in salt water while chanting
an invocation or prayer at the same time. Do it like a ritual. After this,
strengthen your aura once again.

4) Disposal of belongings. Personal belongings such as clothes, shirts,

jacket and raincoats etc should be sunned in the open for 3 days before
giving them away. Similarly, furniture, chairs and mattresses should also be
sunned for 3 days before they are disposed off. Of course hairs, nail clip-
pings, handkerchiefs and menstrual pads should be burnt. As a reversal
ploy, a woman who is angling for the man may prepare fried rice with her
menstrual blood to feed the man. This is one way to entice the man for
more. Similarly, night soil, urine, sperms and blood material should be
meticulously dealt with, because they are all magnetized objects.

5) Ancillary measures. Small quantities of consecrated salt water or

nitric acid in small saucers should be left all over the room or house.
These are changed every few days. Whole cloves of onions and garlic may
also be left in the room for human and non-human visitors. They should
also be burnt after some time.

6) Magic Circle. Before one sleeps, imagine a Ring of Fire around the
bed in a clockwise fashion (deosil). Do the same to your companion’s bed.
Then white light both beds at once.

7) Pentagram. This is performed as according to the diagram (Fig 2)

Start with the right hand down across at the level of the left hip. The next
step is to move the hand upward to the center above the head with the 1st
and 2nd fingers pointing to the heavens. Then move the hand down again
to the right hip. Then swing your hand across to the level of the left
shoulder with the fingers pointing to the left. Then, cut across with the
hand ending at the right shoulder with the fingers pointing away from the
body. Lastly, swing the hand across and down to the left hip again. This
pentagram will banish all thought forms, elementals, nature spirits and

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ghosts. As with white lighting, the pentagram can be use to protect our
cars, houses, pets and loved ones.

Fig. 6

8) Green pyramid. This is another form of visualization that can protect

us from offending intruders. Either lie or sit down and go into silence, i.e.
withdrawing from all external thoughts. Then visualize that you are
encased in a green pyramid, whose base is beneath your floor, and the
apex is above your head. Make sure that the sides of the pyramid are firm-
ly attached to the base, and tightly converged at the apex. If you need to
move, attach wheels to the pyramid, and if you want to look out, create a
window. Then open your eyes to survey your surroundings. Finally, you
may either go into meditation or sleep, and you can rest assured that the
pyramid remains intact. Similarly, you can encase your car, house, and
loved ones with a pyramid. This pyramid will prevent any intrusion from
all sorts of predators.

9) Protecting the solar plexus. There are 3 methods you can protect
your 3rd chakra. Firstly, close all your chakras, except the 7th. Then put a
sheet of glass around your solar plexus, when you are interviewing some-
one, who is sapping your energy. You can still talk, but you will not be
sapped. Secondly, you can create a brick wall around you. In this instance
nobody can communicate with you. Lastly, like in the cowboy films, press
your elbows to your sides and put your both hands in front your solar
plexus with both thumbs hitch onto your belt or top of your trousers. In
these instances, the person in front of you will not be able to absorb your
energy.

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10) Gazing. When you are facing a potential attacker, do not gaze into his
eyes. Look at his 3rd eye, i.e. the middle of his forehead between his two
eyes. When you just concentrate on his 3rd eye he has no power over you.

11) Occult Police. Imagine a black Calvary cross on a circle of scarlet

background at your 3rd eye. A Calvary cross is one, which the vertical line
is longer than the horizontal line (Fig 3.) Then call for help. Either your
own guide (guardian angel) or the roaming spiritual ‘police’ will come to
your aid.

12) Mirrors. If you are worried that your house will be attacked put small
mirrors at every window facing outwards. If you know that a colleague in
your office is sending you negative or hate energy, put a small mirror fac-
ing him on your desk. The hate energy will revert back to the sender.

Not all the ancillary methods will work for you. However choose one, and
try it out. If you fail, try another. If you find one that works with you and
you are comfortable with it, stick to that one. However, the most power-
ful ones are the general measures, through which most attackers cannot
penetrate, unless the offender is a very experienced occultist.

To the curious, Prevention is Better than Cure. Therefore one should

avoid indulging in (1) Ouija boards, (2) Tarot cards and (3) seances. (4)
Further, one should not join cults or organizations that profess the abili-
ty of performing black or white magic. (5) Avoid Lodges and organiza-
tions that act in secret. (6) Do not go to mediums of dubious back-
ground. They should be certified by a recognized and registered organi-
zation in that country. (7) Try to avoid religious ceremonies in which
deities are seen to descend and possess a medium for that festive season.
The medium involved will be seen to be striking about or moving vio-
lently. The energy generated is tremendously great, and you could acci-
dentally receive that force with ill effects. (8) Do not attend retreats that
you know nothing about the organization. Who is the leader? Is he
known only by his psychic power? (9) Do not join and sign up in an
organization, whose goodness and welfare are all hearsay, and is entirely
dependent on the charisma of the incumbent head of the organization.
(10) Do not chant at home over and over again any religious sutras
especially in front of an altar. This will invariably entice earth-bound

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spirits to enter your home. These spirits were accustomed to these
chants when alive, and now they are attracted to the same chants in a
home. While in the house, they will attack the person with the weakest
aura, be it any member of the household or a servant maid. She could
be of any nationality: the only condition is that she must have a weak
aura.

The above are just a few activities to avoid, for ‘Curiosity Kills the Cat’
is a true adage.

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 Freedom From Fear, Anxiety
& Other Negativities.

Since birth until now all of us have been taught to worry, to be anxious,
to be apprehensive and to fear. All the consequences of any future failure
are spelled out in great detail for us. We are not allowed to perform poor-
ly, let alone fail. This atmosphere is our prevailing condition of our grow-
ing up. In addition, we are repeatedly told of the shame we would bring
to the family if we fail or not succeed! We are instructed to do well in our
studies in order to earn a living. After we obtain a good living, we can then
look for a pretty wife, who is preferably rich. So in the first quarter cen-
tury of our life, we are asked to be attached to our mental-ego status, our
material welfare and our relationships. Thus, during the whole of the first
25 years of our life we have many negative records made in our left brain.
Now we can trace the multiple causes of our fears and anxieties. Before
we go into that let us remind ourselves of the

Five Principal Reasons Leading to Fear of Death:

1) Fear of Pain: torture to the physical body
2) Fear of Loss: separation from loved ones and loss of one’s facul-
ties.
3) Fear of Meaninglessness: not being needed or loved anymore
4) Fear of the Unknown: foreboding about eternal damnation and
punishment for sinful behaviour
5) Fear of Non Being: self-annihilation or total disappearance of iden-
tity.
All the following causes of fear are due to the Ego, which is not will-
ing to be submerged by the unconditional love of the soul. We will go
more into the antics of the Ego later.

The causes of fear are the following: -

1) Karmic Inheritance
All of us have been reincarnated millions of times. That means we have
committed heinous crimes like murder, rape and theft in our past lives. In
those incarnations we were told that we would have had to be burnt in hell

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forever or other eternal damnation but we did not! These quilt complex-
es are brought over to this life as our ‘shadow’, which means we have
numerous underlying fears that the ‘hell’ promised us is still laying in wait
to pounce upon us at any time.

Every time we come down to be reincarnated we bring with us only a per-

centage of our total karma to be worked at usually about 10% to 20%.
This is because we cannot handle 100% our karma in one incarnation. We
bring down both good and bad karma, depending on our potential forti-
tude in the physical. Before we descend into the physical, we know that in
order to eliminate the bad karma, we have to use love, compassion, serv-
ice and forgiveness and other unselfish tools. But the minute we are born
we have amnesia, and forget the promises we made to ourselves. And that
is why we have this inherent quilt and anxiety the minute we are born. Not
all parents teach us right and wrong; they teach us to be successful. So the
feeling of quilt is inborn.

While sojourning through this life, we have forgotten about our promises
and our ‘G-plan’. But the underlying ‘shadow’ keeps us unhappy. As we
progress through this life, we also further commit good and bad karma,
which will come into fruition later in this life or next life. If it is bad karma
we have accumulated, we will have added tension from the thought of
future retribution. All this quilt, tension and stress will add to our fears
and other negativities.

The last point in this section is that we are reborn together with most of
our friends, relatives, competitors and enemies. We are now given a chance
to redeem ourselves, or to pay back the karma we owe our benefactors
from the past. Further, we are also given a chance to promote service to
our current relatives and friends, which is part of our mission in life. So
do not waste it.

2) Genetic Inheritance
In this section, we should realize that we chose our parents, and therefore
we knew all about their physical characteristics, genetic makeup and the
inborn diseases we will inherit from both our parents. For example, short-
sightedness and diabetes are definitely inheritable. Then, some cancers,
like breast cancer, are also more prone to occur in the same family.

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Similarly, high cholesterol runs in families, and therefore heart attacks and
strokes again tend to occur more frequently in these families. Therefore,
if we know about these inheritable diseases, we anxiously wait for them
to turn up. This is an added fear and anxiety.

3) Environmental
(a) Parents, siblings and relatives: These relatives exert an influence over us
only to the extent of the way we think. This is especially so when we wor-
ship our mentors or parents or older relatives. The influence may be
reversed when we know better as we grow older.
(b) Teachers, colleagues and peers: these personalities exert the same amount of
influence as the above except for a charismatic teacher. The latter could
really influence the student very strongly and for a very long time, but
here again the individual will outgrow the admiration of the teacher in due
course
(c) Communal, social and national: here it depends on the character of the
person and the political climate of the country he is living in. Whether
one would like to be in the in-crowd and how much one-upmanship there
is in the community are all relevant to the issue. Take for instance the
national characteristics of not wanting to be left out and fear of being
wrong, backward and not keeping up with the Jones’s. The local word for
it is ‘Kiasurism’.

4) Simple consciousness versus Self-consciousness.

Everything on earth has consciousness. We started as mineral and moved
on to vegetable. Then we graduated into animals, from which we finally
arrive at our present state --- humans. As mineral and vegetable we pos-
sess only primitive consciousness. Then, when we became animals, we had
simple consciousness. Finally as humans, we are endowed with self-con-
sciousness. Primitive and simple consciousness is of the group variety.
That means their consciousness recognizes only ‘us’ and ‘them’. There is
no ‘I’ involved. The simple consciousness of animals makes them aware
of only their surroundings as a group. They have survival instincts, but no
free will. When one creature learns something it is passed on to its fellow
creatures even though the other animals are in other islands to which
places there is no possibility of any communication. Besides animals do
not have a proper structured language.
As humans we arrived at a higher stage of consciousness: --self-con-

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sciousness. At this stage, we are aware that we are aware. We can now
think conceptually, and we are able to plan and therefore also start to
worry. We also have free will. There is now a sense of sin associated with
a quilt complex. Because of this mind of ours, we start to compare, and
envy and jealousy become the mainstay of our worries. We feel that we
are separate, and this individualization gives birth to pride. With all these
complexes, there is an inherent discontent, because it is never enough.
At this point of time, self-consciousness will begin to ask questions when
one begins to mature. The questions are: ‘Who am I? ‘Where do I come
from?’ ‘Why am I here?’ and ‘Where do I go from here?’ Although some
of us who ask these questions may take several thousands of years to
arrive at the next stage of super consciousness, nevertheless, the journey
has already started towards ‘Christ Consciousness’. The anxiety here is
only about when will I arrive at the next stage. There is no fear involved
here.

When we graduate from the primitive through to simple consciousness

and to self-consciousness, we do not discard our primitive instincts. These
instincts remain with us, but we have our mental concepts and inhibitive
controls over our urges, desires and instincts. Therefore, our rational mind
will continually conflict with our instincts, and if we give in to our
instincts, regrets and quilt will dominate our subconscious mind. There is
here a constant source of fear. The Four Basic Instincts:

Pain Pleasure
Hunger >>>>>>>> Food
Homeless >>>>>>>> Shelter
Insecurity >>>>>>>> Security
Celibacy >>>>>>> Sex

5) Left Versus Right Brain

The left side of the brain is the logical, analytical and linear aspects of our
brain. Throughout childhood we instill our will and fear of failure in this
side of our brain. Therefore all the negative records are made in this
hemisphere of the brain.

The right side of the brain is where we open our mind to erase or break
the records in the left brain when we meditate. New positive records can

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be made. The right brain is spatial, intuitive, non-verbal and holistic.
From the above catalogue of the qualities of the left and right brain, one
can see how diametrically opposite they are. Consequently, in trying to
adjust from left to right or vice versa one can understand how conflicts
may arise. This is especially so in countries of Chinese origin in which
Confucianism is the basic background of upbringing. Take for instance, a
boy who is principally right brain is born left- handed. He is spatial, non-
rational with no sense of time. Although he is holistic intuitive, he is also
non-verbal. The teacher and the parents are forcing him to change into
right-handed. This causes great conflict resulting in anxiety and fear in
school. Being non-verbal, he is unable to answer the questions pose to
him by the teacher. This gets him down and depressed which further
accentuate his fear of school, parents and school- mates. Life is then quite
miserable for him.

6) Fight and Flight Syndrome:

When we are in the jungle, whenever we see an animal, the instinctive
mind prepares us for either a fight or flight. If it is a tiger, we run like hell.
If it is a deer, we prepare to kill it for food. In both cases, our mind stim-
ulates the body to secrete lots of chemicals and hormones (e.g. adrenaline,
cortisone and sugars). After the fight or flight, all these chemicals would
be used up, and then we will have a rest. However, in the present context,
in the concrete jungle, we meet our adversaries everyday in the form of
our bosses or colleagues. Under these circumstances, there is no possibil-
ity of a ‘fight or flight’ situation. Therefore the hormones and other
chemicals remain in our bodies. These cause tension in us, which again
leads to anxiety, worry and fear. Diseases like gastric ulcer, hypertension
and heart problems may ensue if these conditions persist.

7) Materialism, Relationship and Ego:

(a)Materialism. These are usually composed of money, house, stocks and
shares, cars and businesses etc. Most people in the developing and devel-
oped countries spend all their lives acquiring these possessions and
objects. Therefore having acquired them, we tend to cling on to these
possessions dearly and steadfastly. We do not want to ‘Let go’. The pos-
sessions themselves are neutral and harmless, but it is the possessiveness
that causes us the worry, anxiety and fear of losing them.

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(b) Relationships. These involve spouse, children, siblings, parents, friends,
other relatives, and colleagues, work mates, employees and employers. In
this category, we are more likely to be anxious and worrying than fearful.
However, a relationship is more tenacious than a possession; the other
party is alive and has a mind of her own. Therefore the other person can-
not be treated as a possession or a plaything. She can retaliate and take
actions of her own to initiate your downfall! Therefore, there is a fear on
the one hand of losing the other party, on the other hand, there is a fear
of the other party rocking the boat. You want peace of mind, but your G-
plan does not allow it. Hence, tension anxiety and fear.

(c) Ego: The following tend to solidify the ego: social status, I. Q., academic
achievements, positions in workplace, financial power and physical health.
The possessor of all these qualities tends to be egoistic. However, the ego
has a definite function. Its job is to look after the physical body primari-
ly, but it also uses the mind to effect this function. It should only sound
the alarm when there is any sign of danger. After so many life times, it has
got out of hand and has become an alarmist instead. It tends to instill fear
and quilt with destructive and negative feelings, when there is no danger
at all. If it simply sounds the alarm when there is real impending danger;
it is then performing its job. Otherwise, it simply causes too much anxiety
and worry to the individual. On the whole ego has these qualities: fearful,
quilt, shame, feels separate, alone, critical of self and others, takes self
very seriously, manipulative, cunning, full of pride, boastful, braggart,
rather be right than happy, loses peace with changes, blaming, suspicious,
feels desperate, confused, judgmental, always comparing, competing, fear-
ful of scarcity and deprivation, acquisitive, greedy, jealous tense, self-serv-
ing, controlling of other people, seeks to get love from outside. So one
can see why with a dominant ego, one is predominantly endowed with
most of these traits. Of course, fear, quilt and shame predominate. Under
these circumstances, one needs the soul qualities to counter balance the
ego’s negative foibles.

8) Suggestions by:
Relatives and friends, media (newspapers, magazines, TV and radio adver-
tisements), religions and superstitions. Our mind is like a radio receiving
set. It receives information from the above either directly or from the
ether, and we immediately assume that the information is authoritative

234
and for our good. We do not bother to sit down and assess the validity of
the information. Some of the information is very scary, and without ver-
ifying the truth of the news, we begin straight away to worry and fear.
That is the essence of rumour mongering to frighten you!

9) Birth Traumas.
Until lately, very few psychiatrists would correlate birth traumas to psy-
chological symptoms. However, one can imagine the very harrowing
process of ploughing through the birth canal with the foetal head. There
is a tremendous amount of suffocation and anxiety getting through with
amniotic fluid in the mouth or lungs: there is a great amount of aggres-
sion utilized for the foetus to survive. All these adverse traumas are buried
in our ‘shadow’, and will be brought out under extreme stress situations,
e.g. someone going amok and carry out a killing spree, or the frequently
bad tempered spouse and father beating up wife and children. This may
be related to the aggression culminated during the birth process. Then,
there are symptoms like difficulty in breathing or asthma; there may also
be shoulder pain, but no anatomical reason for it (this is due to the foetal
shoulder pushing against the mother’s pelvic bone). There are also a host
of aches and pain, which are totally inexplicable medically. All these symp-
toms are hidden in the individual’s ‘shadow ‘ due to birth trauma.
However, if in the post-natal state, the mother showers love and care over
to the baby, memories of these birth traumas may be encapsulated, and
they do not surface at all throughout life. Also the traumas vary from per-
son to person, and the reaction to the traumas varies from person to per-
son. Therefore, a difficult birth does not necessarily mean that it will lead
to a neurotic lifestyle, but many neurotic symptoms may be traced to a dif-
ficult birth.

There are other causes of fear and other negative traits, which we will not
go into. Therefore from the above causes, one may categorize most
humans nowadays into three:

1) Sad Worrier
2) 2) Peaceful Warrior
3) 3) No Hoper.

The majority of us fall into the sad worrier category, as the above causes

235
may testify. However there is a small percentage of ‘old souls’, who knows
the odds and the existence of a ‘G-plan’. These peaceful warriors take
things as they come, and they know that their true selves are not involved.
Adversities also come to them, but they tackle them like a warrior with no
negative emotions, and the problems are always met with a smile! Lastly
there is a very small category who have no initiative whatsoever: they are
usually born with a silver spoon in their mouths materially, but they do not
make any attempt to improve themselves physically, emotionally, mental-
ly and spiritually. They dissipate away their lives indulging in gambling,
drugs and sex, and they become quite useless citizens. These are the ‘no
hopers’.

REMEDIES

1) D E U S. This acronym is useful in a general sense. ‘D’ stands for desire

to remove the fear and other negativities, that is a desire to improve one-
self. It also stands for de-stress.

‘E’ stands for exercise, which must be done daily or at least five times a
week. It also stands for enjoyment, especially in one’s work. The last item
is for enlightenment: that means one must pursue activities towards it, e.g.
social work to help others and most importantly to ‘Let go’.

‘U’ stands for understanding. Try and find out the causes of your fear and
understand how it came about. Then forgive those whom you have been
blaming. Then do a ‘U turn’ in your life. Change the direction of your life
completely, and discard all at once your bad habits. Lastly convert all your
selfishness and ill will to Unconditional Love. A lot of effort must be
expended to achieve this, as it is a radical change.

‘S’ stands for silence, which includes meditation and seclusion. One must
also surrender to one’s Tao, that is your G-plan. Lastly it also stands for
service. Serve your fellow humans, animals and vegetation.

2) CONSTANT AWARENESS OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS so that

we can(a) Stop the panic records as soon as they are being played. The
action of stopping the record must be quick or else when the fear has dif-

236
fused throughout the whole body it becomes a very difficult problem to
solve. The symptom usually starts at the 3rd chakra (around the solar
plexus), and when given time it will normally surge through the whole
body. (b) So stop it and come to concentrate on your breath for at least
five minutes. (c) Then end the session with thoughts of goods times or
successful events.

3) TRANQUILITY OR CONCENTRATION MEDITATION:

Twice a day of at least 30 minutes duration. This practice will
(a) Enhance Left and Right Brain coherence and stops the Left-brain dic-
tatorship. That means there is now a balance and the holistic, calm Right
brain will not allow the panic to ensue.

(b) Open up the Right Brain so that the whole brain plasticity can be
remodeled and cells transformed by neurotransmitters in the brain. With
this transformation, the balanced whole brain slowly will be in charge of
one’s emotions.

(c) Meditation also produces our own opium – endorphins. That is why
people after jogging and meditation gets euphoric; they produce their own
opiates. This helps.

4) AFFIRMATION.
Either read something inspiring or repeat an affirmation. One of the best
affirmations I have come across is this: It is a prayer by Dr.Reinbold
Niebuhr (1934): ‘God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that
cannot be changed, courage to change things which should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.’

5) INSIGHT MEDITATION:
This meditation decouples one’s intellect from its attendant emotion. For
instance, when one thinks of one’s boss and fear arises, the fear can be
decoupled from the thought of the boss. This process may be repeated
day after day until fear or hate may one day be replaced by love.

6) REALIZATION OF THE TRUE SELF:

our soul or true self is not our personality or ego. That means we have to
meditate with awareness and discernment for years until we can see clear-

237
ly that the physical, emotional and mental bodies are not the true self.
Disidentification of these three vehicles and realizing the soul will defi-
nitely and eternally destroy any vestiges of fear and other negativities.
However it is indeed a tall order to be able to accomplish this self-real-
ization in this incarnation.

7) CONTINUE IN ONE’S FAITH OR BELIEF IN ONE’S RELI-

GION OR PHILOSOPHY.
Do not switch faith or religion just because your good friends ask you to
do it. Be a better Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim, if you are already
one of these.

8) IMAGINATION:
Whatever we imagine is real for that period, and a good clairvoyant can
see your visualization.
(i) If pleasure or pain is associated with our memories, we can then
imagine similar memories, but associate pleasurable emotions with
these imagined memories. This process must be repeated many times
until pleasure is associated with the same memory spontaneously.
(ii) Make new records for the future because we can:
(a) vividly visualize during our imagination
(b) control our imagination and our emotional reactions and therefore
develop the pleasure
(c) It takes a long time for this remedy to be completely successful as
it took one million years of pleasure/pain to formulate and precondi-
tion our present instinctive mind.
(iii) Imagine that you have perfect health, and this must be repeated
day after day until it is obtained. This affirmation may help:
" I am perfect.
I control my mind and emotions.
I am harmonious, tranquil, happy and relaxed"

(9) GET A COUNSELLOR:

After trying all the above, and still there is no improvement, try and look
for a counsellor. The counsellor must be chosen very carefully. In this
instance, the counsellor must be wise rather than intelligent. He must nec-
essarily be experienced in the subject to be discussed. He must not be a
smart aleck. Therefore to get this wise guide, try a doctor who has time or

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a priest or monk with worldly experience, or finally a spiritual friend who
has no axe to grind. The counsellor must then possess wisdom, patience,
compassion, time and empathy. He should not be a gossip.

(10) Lastly, HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

In everything that is presented to you for the next 24 hours after a panic
attack. That means no pessimism or negativity during this 24 hours.

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 The Soul
Universal Law of Karma.
The Universal Laws of Karma

Our deeds still travel with us from afar,

And what we have been makes us what we are.

George Elliot

There are many universal laws, which are above the laws of any country.
To quote a few, there are laws of gravity, electricity, interstellar planetary
forces, weather, and the earth revolving on its own axis. There are also
laws of ‘like begets like’ and ‘ as above so below’ There are innumerable
more laws, which act upon and control the entire universe and us. These
are the laws that no country or international laws or dictator can annul or
eradicate. The laws that concern us most here are Karma and
Reincarnation. For every universal law there is a reason for it. For
instance, the law of gravity is there to prevent us from falling off the
earth.

Definition of Karma
What is Karma? Karma is the Sanskrit word for action. It is equivalent to
Newton’s law of ‘every action must have a reaction’. When we think,
speak or act we initiate a force that will react accordingly. This returning
force maybe modified, changed or suspended, but most people will not be
able eradicate it. This law of cause and effect is not punishment, but is
wholly for the sake of education or learning. A person may not escape the
consequences of his actions, but he will suffer only if he himself has
made the conditions ripe for his suffering. If he were to continue acting
in such a way that the retribution cannot come about, because the condi-

240
tions are not appropriate, then he may postpone the fruition of his karma.
If he can suspend it until he is in the spirit world, then he may work at
this particular karma in this intermission between death and next life. Or
he may wait until another life in which he is more developed so that he
can gleaned the educational value of this retribution. Conversely, his life
could be so derelict that the blessings due to him cannot fructify until a
later date or a subsequent life. All these fall into the category of suspen-
sion of karma to a more propitious period or life.

Why are we born at all?

In this section we will discuss the purpose of karma and why it is loaded
with moral content. We have to start from the very beginning. After being
through stages of mineral, vegetable, animal and birds we have been rest-
ing in the comfortable lap of the Source (Godhead or Absolute) for
aeons. Then we decided to re-circulate as the last sentient beings, namely
humans on planet earth. So in the Big Bang many of us would be released
from the source at the same time. Innumerable showers of souls have
taken place since the first arrival of man on earth. All souls in each dis-
persal would become soul mates. We have free will from the very first
incarnation, and consequently we earned karma. The accumulation of
good and bad karma dictates that we have to face them in each life, and
resolve them as best we can. Our main aim is to learn through experience
to become better souls. It is through the process of purification until we
become perfect. In this way we may finally return to the Source or
Absolute so that God (which is all-inclusive) may be a better one. It is so
obvious that this cannot be done in one incarnation, because the karma
accumulated is far too much. As we carry on in ignorance we tend to
deem ourselves as separate individuals, and thus, we begin our journey of
delusion. Thence onwards, we not only need more than one incarnation,
but hundreds or thousands of them to clear the backlog. In order to reach
the goal of being solely filled with love and compassion, we require a
moral and guiding Law of Karma. So that at the end of our journeys our
purity would be regained. With free will, we begin to make mistakes in our
very first incarnation, thus incurring karma. Beneficial karma is also
earned if we do things for the benefit of others. In other words a bank
account of good and bad karma, (positive and negative balance) is opened
in our very first incarnation. From here onwards, we will die and reborn
many times with our soul mates and others. Every incarnation is endowed

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with forgetfulness of past events; otherwise it is impossible to go forward
in our journeys. Without this total amnesia, we cannot perform with the
knowledge that our dear ones were our past enemies. It is only in the
intermissions between death and life that we realise that we have reared a
family of enemies, who turned out to be very good and loving in this last
incarnation. It is in the spirit world that we are able to practice forgiveness
to our family members in retrospect. So even our adversaries can promote
our spiritual progress.

This classroom of planet earth is a very varied one. We have to learn all
manners of occupations, professions and vocations to experience greed,
anger, selfishness and pride. After acquiring these selfish traits in the sep-
arate self we then have to relinquish them to return back to intercon-
nectedness. That means we have to be not only in all trades, but all nation-
alities, all sexes (including homosexual) and all grades of criminals as well
as all classes of saintliness. With hundreds or thousands of incarnations
for us to act out all these categories, we start to let go and transform our-
selves to better souls.

Does Karma preclude chance?

Some authors think that there is no place for chance in the Law of
Karma. They think that chance cannot play any part in the unfolding of
Karma. What about incidents and happenings that are non-karmic in ori-
gin? Do they occur? Edgar Cayce certainly believed they do. Many a case
was brought to him, and he deemed them to be not karmic in origin.
Some of these are due the fact that an individual wanted to learn a lesson,
say on starvation. He subsequently asked for a life where he starved to
death. As we are learning and living with other people, the unfolding of
their karma could accidentally involve us in a passive way. However, the
purists would say that even here there is some linkage to the distant past.
What about national karma, which implicates us, even though we have not
erred? The rationale here is that we are members of a group, soul mates,
and therefore ‘we live together and err together.’ The soul mates that
stayed together and perpetrated certain negative activities together would
finally find themselves born in the same nation. There may not be a 100%
commitment in all these citizens, but with their silence they tacitly gave
consent. Notwithstanding the occasional accident due to associations of
soul mates, all in all karma certainly plays a predominant role in the major

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events of our lives. If accidents form the major part of the causes of
events, then karma cannot function as a law. So the purists have a point
here. True happenstance makes a mockery of the law of karma.

How is Karma caused?

Of all the sentient beings we humans are the only ones that possess self-
consciousness. That means we begin to ask questions: Who am I? Why
am I here? Where do I go from here? Then we begin to realise right from
wrong because of the establishment of the self and selfishness. We can
only become selfish because we have free will. If everything were fated,
then we would have been robots without responsibility. This is the rub.
With karma as the guiding law, we must be totally responsible for our
actions. That means we have to suffer the consequences of our thoughts,
speech and actions, whether they are wholesome or unwholesome. Self-
conscious humans are now able to have concepts with which we can plan
our future on the material side of things. Planning means intention. And
it is intention that counts for most in karma production. If one’s inten-
tion were salutary then the karma produced would be good even though
the result is negative. If the intention were evil or selfish, then the karma
produced would be bad even if the result is beneficial.

The next point to consider is that not every action is karma productive.
For instance, one knows that the glass contains poison, and if one
believes that one’s luck is so good that the poison would not effect one,
then one drinks the poison. The result is fatal. This is not karma; it is stu-
pidity. Similarly, thinking that one’s fate is so fine and powerful, he jumps
from the 3rd floor of the building thinking that nothing will touch him.
This again is due to stupidity and gravity kills him. These chemical reac-
tions (poison) and gravity, which give immediate results, are not karmic in
nature. Karma usually takes place for no apparent reason, for the cause
might have originated from previous lives. We cannot remember the con-
nection. Of course in this fast moving world, karma is coming back to us
very quickly. For instance, a young man who, started to accumulate his
millions through wheeling and dealing with unsavoury methods, became
a multimillionaire by the time he reached fifty years old. But the present
currency turmoil taking place in his region devastated him completely in
six months. This is his karma returning like a boomerang. He ends up a
bankrupt and may even go to jail for his illegal pursuits. Of course, if his

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karma is carried over to the next life, he will deem it as bad luck during
that life because he cannot see the connection.

Now summarising, we have free will, we have intention and we must be

responsible for our thoughts, speech and actions. The fundamental and
basic principle is simple--- whatever we do to benefit ourselves and to
hurt others produces bad karma. Whatever we do to benefit others will
generate good karma. Therefore any thought that is inimical to others
should be avoided. Any speech that is detrimental to others should not be
uttered. Any action that will benefit the self and hurt others should never
be contemplated let alone be enacted.

The above are general principles with regards to actions (thoughts and
speech are taken as action here). The next thing to consider is desire and
attachment. Ill will, selfishness and pride are also karma productive.
Buddha said that craving is the cause of suffering. He elaborated that
craving leads to desire, clinging and attachment. All these karma-produc-
tive traits not only end up in suffering but to rebirth, which is much worse.
When we merely enjoy one of the sensual objects, and there is no attach-
ment involved, karma is not produced. However, after enjoying the
object, an attachment or clinging ensues this is fraught with karma. That
means we can enjoy but not yearn for it afterwards. Yearning, clinging and
attachments are all seeds of karma-production. One can desire or crave
for physical things as well as mental-emotional objects. Concepts are
equally dangerous.

Desire and craving for sensual objects: Out of the 6 sense objects, sex is
the most alluring. Being the force behind the reproductive system, it must
be made strong and powerful for the humans to perpetuate the human
race. If there is no pleasure in sex, the human race will die out in no time.
The next object is food and wine. These cravings are accepted by our
social customs, and therefore if anyone were to indulge in either, it is quite
in order. However, together with drugs and cigarette, these are consumed
to addictive proportions. These objects per se do not produce karma. One
may become obese, alcoholic, or a drug addict, but on its own it does not
produce karma. It is the craving and the attachment that is karma-pro-
ductive.
Emotional reaction and thoughts: the emotional reactions to the 6 sense

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objects as above at the first contact are: pleasure, displeasure or neutral.
With pleasure, clinging and attachment will arise as emotional memories.
These in turn will lead to constant yearning and longing, and these would
lead to karma production. Similarly with displeasure, the aversion and
resentment will also be karma productive. In other words, these emotion-
al reactions would consolidate as emotional memories. When the latter are
fixated as negative and positive thoughts with emotional desire and aver-
sion they would generate karma even though nothing is done about it.
Similarly, with only thoughts and concepts, these will also produce karma
when these intentions are prelude to speech or action. So thoughts,
speech and action will generate negative karma if the intention is to con-
solidate the self. Conversely, it will generate good karma, if thoughts,
speech and action are for the sake of others. If these ‘actions’ are merely
passing phases, then hardly any karma will be produced. However, if
these ‘actions’ are fixated and the attachments are strong, then karma will
surely ensue.

Not all ‘actions’ will produce karma. Millions of things that you think, say
or act are neutral. These are daily chores like eating one’s meals, opening
bowels and having a bath. Watching T.V., reading and exercising etc are
karma neutral. All these activities are not to aggrandise oneself or to hurt
others. They are just done to keep one alive.

Varieties of Karma
Under this heading, we can consider karmic ties with our stars, planet
earth, our country, locality, race, religion, nuclear and outer families, dis-
tant relatives, friends, work mates and underlings. The universe is about 6
billion years old, and planet earth is about 5 billion years old. From min-
eral through vegetable and animals the predecessor of man arrived on
earth about more than three million years ago. The first "human" was
Homo Habilis who lived in Africa about 2.5 million years ago. Then 1.5
million years ago man started to walk upright and he was called Homo
Erectus. After more than a million years of evolution, modern man,
Homo Sapiens, came into being about 200,000 years ago. The
Neanderthal, who is the first Homo Sapiens, also existed roughly 200,000
years ago. Suddenly they became extinct 35,000 years ago. Therefore,
most of us should have souls of at least 2 million years old. This would
have ensured us of several hundreds or thousands of incarnations. Just

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imagine how much karma each of us has accumulated! Therefore at birth,
the underlying karmic forces are exerting such an influence, that nobody
is born equal.

Firstly, we are born under a set of stars and our astrological horoscopes
should be the blueprints for our G-plan (life plan). This renders the birth-
day and time most important for that individual, even though it is a
Caesarean birth. However, each of us would have made plans in the astral
world before coming down---our G-plan. Our group souls must have
come down to earth time and again together. Very rarely an old soul might
choose another planet. As humans we mostly choose the familiar, and like
begets like. In discussing racial karma, the Jews, Germans and the
Japanese mostly choose to come back as Jews, Germans and Japanese.
The other races tend to mix up more. Looking at the heterogeneity of the
populations of U.S.A. and parts of Asia these souls may choose to go any-
where, although the majority will return to their old familiar countries. At
the moment of birth, armed with our G-plan, the stars aligned themselves
for the life we are about to go through. The G-plan was entirely worked
out on the basis of our karmic balances while we are in the spirit world.
The soul mates that came down together had common karma to work
through (group karma). The country that we were born in was also part
of our karmic heritage. So the stars, earth, country, nationality and soul
mates are all interconnected through the karmic cords that hold us all
together. Then as we come closer to nuclear and immediate and distant
families and friends, the karmic pot thickens.

The planet earth is also called Gaia, named after a Greek Goddess. Gaia
has its own spirit and karma. The way we are plundering and abusing Gaia
it is no wonder that the boomerang effect of karma caused by humans is
beginning to resound itself. Few examples of these are: deforestation by
fires, underground nuclear explosions, the building of hydro-electric dams
and planting with explosions of land mines, to name a few. This global
karma is just beginning to make itself felt. The recent spate of earth-
quakes, volcanic explosions, hurricanes and tornadoes is just the tip of an
iceberg. More and worse is yet to come. On the other hand, it is not going
to be the end of the world, for wayward humans still require Gaia to prac-
tice on.

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In a mix population, there may be one nation, but there are many races.
So in a mix population, if one becomes good friends or enemies with the
other races this signify that one’s karmic net is truly wide. Therefore, racial
karma in this instance is not identical with national karma. The United
States, Singapore and Malaysia are in the same position. In the case of the
Jews, they may not have a country to call their own for thousands of years,
yet they remain a cohesive race spread all over the world. It is only in
recent years that the State of Israel is born, and now the Jews can state
that they are one race, one nation. National karma always supersedes
racial and individual karma. Take for instance the present financial turmoil
that is pervading the South East Asian countries. It has taken its toll on all
and sundry, whether rich or poor, seemingly good or bad and whichever
race. Most are affected, but a few have been left unscathed. These very
few must have earned enough beneficial karma to protect them from this
onslaught. These people are mostly unattached and non-materialistic. In
fact these Asian countries have been working towards this turmoil for the
last 20 years! There has been a persistent pursuit of wealth and material-
ism in these countries to a feverish pitch. There is no soul and no spiritu-
ality. Love, compassion and service have all gone to the wind. The spiri-
tual individuals can see it coming a mile away, but not the economists.

The geography or locality of a place also posses karma from the history
and the spirit of the area. The bad overtones produced by the underlying
spirits of deceased people as well as the earth and vegetation of the place
very often affect adversely the people moving there to stay. The geo-
graphical karma is much more powerful than the individual karma. A for-
mer graveyard is a very good case in point.

Family Karma
The strongest karmic ties are seen in the nuclear family. The two greatest
threads are (1) between husband and wife and (2) parent and child. We all
chose to come down in these respective relationships. For many lives we
come down in different permutations and combinations. If a very good
friendship is established in one life, one of them may decide to be born
as a son or a daughter to the other in the next life. (My son was a friend
of mine in the last life). Husband and wife relationships in the past may
not always be happy ones. In fact, quite often it is the opposite. Dr.
Hiroshi Motoyama found that it is not unusual for one spouse to be the

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murderer of the other. In most cases, there is karma to resolve between
husband and wife. Very few couples marry because of previous harmony
or due to elevated spiritual growth. They do occur, but they are very few
in numbers. The couples that marry because of sexual passion very often
end up in divorce, because there is no karmic force to keep the marriage
going. In the case of the couples that marry due to karmic ties, there is a
motivation to continue with the marriage, because of the necessity to
resolve the karma between the spouses. Whatever it is, both should ensure
that there is no residual animosity between them when they leave this
world. Longevity of a marriage is a good sign. And quite often, when one
spouse dies, the other follows suit within two years, if one is dependent
on the other. This happens in spite of the fact that there are numerous
quarrels between them during marriage. That means both have resolved
their karma to a greater or smaller extent. This general theme applies to
homosexual couples as well. In a heterosexual marriage, the husband who
is suffering from pathological jealousy (a well known psychological con-
dition) could very well be a very promiscuous man in his last life. Now in
this life, he is suffering from this disease in which he continuously sus-
pects his wife, who was his spouse the last time, of infidelity. The mar-
riage becomes a very difficult one and it requires a Herculean endeavour
to sustain the marriage. The ironic part of this inherited disease is that the
man with the disease is quite often unfaithful himself! Most of these mar-
riages end in up divorce, because the husband suspects every man that
turns up, sometimes ending in a situation in which the poor wife is locked
up whenever the husband leaves the house. In the olden days, a chastity
belt was used. It is essentially a male disease.

Twin souls: Do twin souls marry? Of course they do but very seldom. The
reason is this. Twin souls are the last two souls in the same pod to separate
and individualise. They were in a sublime state when they left each other
to experience and learn from their repeated incarnations. When they are
together there is only bliss and harmony. There is no acrimony. And when
they do get married, it is truly blissful. There is no dissension, no quarrels
or heated discussions. That means they do not learn. Some twin souls, after
realising this, they divorce! However, when they are in the last or penulti-
mate incarnation then they will come together for the journey back to the
spirit world never to return to earth again. That means it must be their last
or second last life on this earth before they get married.

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Parent and child: This relationship is always very strong. Mostly it is of
love and attachment. The doting mother on the son or the adoring father
and daughter are classic examples. They both chose to come down in this
relationship after experiencing many previous relationships. These include
cases of adoptions. There is no difference between an adopted child and
a biological one. The sacrifice of a parent is sometimes so stupendous
that one can only call it madness. It is beyond reason. It can only be com-
pared to that of a religious bigot. So now we can envisage the tremendous
karmic bonding that brings this relationship down to earth. Of course the
reverse may take place. The parent or the son could just merely exploit the
other until the other meets with disaster, and there are no qualms about
it. Therefore, one should always look back to their previous lives to get
some sort of an answer to what is going on. The doting mother and son
could have been lovers in the previous life, during which she could not do
enough for her lover. A father could be the previous husband of his
daughter. With a strong sexual appetite he commits incest on his daugh-
ter. This is a reason why there are so many cases of incest between father
and daughter. Please remember that one can always divorce the spouse
but not the offspring, and that is why the karmic bond of an offspring is
so much stronger than that of a marriage.

Siblings and close relatives

Two siblings can be very close. When one sees this proximity it is so obvi-
ous that there is a strong karmic bond between them. There could also be
a very intense and animated rivalry, which can be deemed as karmic in ori-
gin. In twins, the closeness manifested gives one no doubt about their past
relationship. Except for some unusual cases, sibling rivalry does not go
beyond adulthood. Most of the siblings use the parents as stepping stones
for venturing out into their own G-plan. In this instance, a good friend is
even closer than a sibling is. From here onwards we move away to cousins
and in-laws etc, widening the circle to include more and more distant rel-
atives. The principles enumerated above all apply as well, except that gen-
erally the karmic ties are less and less intense as one move towards the
periphery.

Underlings: workers, servants and maids

There are usually some karmic ties between the boss and the employees,
especially with the long serving ones. A servant maid would look after the

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home as if it was her own. She would treat the children better than the
mother. There are cases where when the servant dies; she bequeathed her
property and other asset to her employers. I used to run a laboratory for
17 years. There were 35 employees in the firm. Thirty-two of them
resigned within one year after I sold the laboratory. This signifies to me
that they were there just to serve me and not the new owners. Your maids
could have been your employers in the last life. They are now experienc-
ing the treatment that was dished out by them in the past. So be careful:
do not ill-treat your maids! Some of your employees were your friends in
the past. They would like to return the kindness you have shown to them.
When the debt is paid, they leave.

Classification of Karma
Edgar Cayce classified physical karma into three varieties:

(1) Boomerang
(2) Organismic
(3) Symbolic.

Boomerang Karma: This type of karma is the exact translation of Jesus

Christ’s teaching, "whatsoever man soweth, that he shall also reap". The
principle here is that whatever a man does to someone in one past life, he
will suffer almost an identical incapacity in the present life. One of the
examples is that of a blind Professor who asked for a reading from Edgar
Cayce. The professor was told that in Persia in about 1000 BC he was a
member of barbaric tribe, who used to blind its captured enemies with
red-hot irons. The second case is about a girl who suffered an attack of
polio at the age of one. She was crippled with the disease and both feet
were stunted. At a Cayce reading, she was told that in an Atlantean incar-
nation she made people "weak in the limb and unable to do other than
follow…."

Organismic Karma: In this type of karma the individual abused his

body and organs in the past life. This resulted into a malady concerning
the same organ in the succeeding life. An example given was a man who
was a glutton in the court of Louis XIII. Then in one of the following
life, he suffered from an intense illness of indigestion that it required sev-
eral hours to digest a meal.

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Symbolic Karma: A young man suffered anaemia since childhood. A
Cayce reading revealed that five life times back this individual ruthlessly
seized control of Peru and became its ruler. "Much blood was shed, hence
anaemia in the present incarnation" says the reading. Therefore, shedding
of blood 5 life times ago has now caused him to have blood deficiency. In
a severe case of asthma, the patient was told: "You cannot press the life
out of others without seeming at times to have it pressed out of oneself."

In another case of symbolic karma, is about a boy who began bed-wet-

ting as a child. Notwithstanding all the specialists that he went to he con-
tinued to bed-wet until he was 11 years old. In a Cayce reading then, he
was told that as a minister of the gospel in early Puritan days in Salem he
used to duck ‘witches’ into a pond. A cure was suggested: The mother
should suggest to the boy when is about to fall asleep that ‘he is good and
kind and he is going to make many people happy’. This recitation went on
for 10-20 minutes after he has gone to sleep. This cured him immediate-
ly on the first night. The condition never returned. Now at 16 years of
age, he is very tolerant of others, and always gives excuses to justify oth-
ers’ misdemeanour. Note that the cure did not refer to his past life activ-
ity.

All the above incidents are physical results of retribution of a psycholog-

ical realm. The retribution is never exact or literal. Karma is a psycholog-
ical law, and the physical manifestation of the retribution is merely a
means to adjust a psychological wrong. Therefore it cannot be exact, but
an approximation. However, the ramifications of the three different types
of karma as classified above are both interesting and telling. The people,
the social and environmental circumstances are all different in the present
life of retribution as compared to the lives of causation. The people that
suffered in the past are not the same people who are delivering the pun-
ishment. Also the environment and social circumstances differ consider-
ably in the two lives. In the Symbolic cases, one needs to be a sleuth like
Edgar Cayce to work out the symbolic linkage of the action and reaction.
The Edgar Cayce cases are indeed most illustrative.

One can also see that the emotional and mental manifestations of past
causes can be very varied and complicating. Under these circumstances,
there is never a direct one to one relationship. Therefore the vagaries of

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karmic manifestation is never straightforward. That means in order to
work out the neuroses and mental diseases, as effects in this life from
causes in the past are almost impossible.

Can Karma be suspended, modified or eliminated?

Karma does not come about as regularly as the night that follows the day.
It can be suspended for the following reasons:

There must be a time and place to repay our debt. In modern society,
when we borrow a large sum of money to buy a house, we usually ask for
a period of time before we can completely pay the entire dept. We have a
choice here as to the length of time we need to pay off the debt. As
humans we have freedom of choice. Normally, in a housing loan we can
pay back by instalments. In karma, although we may do the same, we pre-
fer to gather strength in the intervening centuries and perhaps clear some
of them in the spirit world. However, the major portion of the karma has
to be paid back finally in one life. In the intervening period, we would
have developed spiritually, and consequently we are able to face our karma
with greater wisdom and strength. In addition, we would also like to
choose the time for its appearance because the conditions are more
appropriate.

Can karma be modified or changed? The answer is a definite "Yes".

Firstly, we must recognise that we have injured the other person. Then we
ask for forgiveness from that person. At the same time we must also for-
give ourselves and the person in order to lay the pathway for the karma to
be modified. Paripassu we ourselves must U-turn or grow spiritually. How
do we do that? We must purify ourselves of our foibles. Then we must
now extend service to others to such an extent that it becomes our goal
in life. Lastly, we should either pray or meditate to increase our vibrations.
With all these practices we are able to postpone the retribution from
appearing now to a more propitious time. In the same token, we should
be able to modify our karma to a much more palatable form. In the
Buddhist sense, we make sure that the conditions are not ripe for the pres-
ent and hopefully after many decades or centuries of development we will
be stronger to face the karma when it does appear.

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Can karma be eliminated? Again the answer is "yes" but it is almost an
impossibility for most of us. One has to realise the Self or the soul first.
That means we have to reach a spiritual height of Christ Consciousness.
Christ Consciousness is not the exclusive property of the followers of
Jesus Christ. It is the same as Bodhicitta in the Buddhist parlance. It is
Self-Realisation or Moksha of the Hindhus. This is the stage when our
consciousness has reached the ultimate state, which is beyond the Causal
Realm, a divine state. In this state we have transcended all states of con-
sciousness below and we are in the same plane as the Absolute in Cosmic
Consciousness. In this plane, all karma is annulled without exception.
How many of us can be enlightened in this life? The paucity of these
enlightened saints in one generation makes this method of elimination of
karma like an impossible dream.

Where is Karma stored?

Every individual has at least 7 major chakras and 7 auric bodies. In the
Buddhist teachings, the storing of karma is dependent on whether the
action is intentional or unintentional. If it is intentional, then repercus-
sions accruing from these actions will arise depending on the conditions
ensuing. The repercussions may be physical, emotional, mental or spiritu-
al. The recipient will then suffer or enjoy the result accordingly. However,
if it is unintentional, the recipient may not suffer or enjoy the conse-
quences. For instance, a wound inflicted by someone else in the previous
life will only reappear as a birthmark in the present life without any phys-
ical handicap. Generally speaking, actions whereby there is attachment to
the results will be stored in the astral body. In actions where there is no
attachment to the results karma is stored in the causal body. The causal
body is never shed no matter how developed we are, and it follows us life
after life. It is in this body that the Akashic records are kept. This is the
body that stores our past karma and our samskaras. Our G-plan (life plan)
is also seen here. All these can be detected around our head and shoul-
ders. When one has developed to the ultimate consciousness (enlightened)
one would be residing in a realm beyond the causal realm, and all karma
is then annulled.

If one is still struggling physically to survive with attachment, then the 1st
chakra is involved in the karmic manifestation. If one has great sexual
desires the chakra involved is the 2nd. Strong emotions like anger, hatred,

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jealousy, joy and depression are stored in the 3rd chakra. With love and
compassion the 4th chakra is the centre involved. The 5th chakra deals
with attachment to purification, teaching and singing. The 6th chakra is
involved with attachment to knowledge and wisdom. All these karma are
stored in the respective chakras of the astral body (4th auric body).
Whereas, the results of actions without attachment will be stored in the
causal body, whether they are intentional or unintentional. This is because
the perpetrator of the action is not acting for self but for others. So all
altruistic acts and services without attachment fall into this category.
When karma is stored in the astral and causal bodies, the karma that has
priority to manifest is the one with the most energy in it i.e. there is strong
attachment in the desire. And normally this pertains to those in the astral
body. Seeing those in the causal body are without attachment, they remain
in the background until there is enough energy accrued for them to man-
ifest. Therefore the survival tendencies, the sexual urges and the emo-
tional volatility all tend to manifest in the current incarnation. Also a dom-
inant karma will suppress the manifestation of subsidiary or weaker
karma. The individual has to develop through many incarnations to come
to a level where he can transcend all these tendencies, desires and attach-
ments, that means he must progress in his spiritual growth.

The Eradication of Karma

This has been lightly touched upon earlier. We will now enumerate the
steps we can take to achieve this. It will have to take many lifetimes, but
the fact that we realise that we have to walk this path is itself very salu-
tary. The disciplines involved are

(1) Purification.
(2) Service
(3) Meditation or prayer.

Purification: In this category, we basically have to work hard at letting go

of (a) craving, desire and attachment. (b) Ill will, which includes anger,
hatred, jealousy, envy and other negative emotions. (c) Pride (d)
Selfishness.

Service: In this category, we have to service the mineral, vegetable, ani-

mal kingdoms and humans. In humans, we have to help our immediate

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families, distant relatives and friends and fellow colleagues and underlings,

Meditation or prayer: In this category, it is better to meditate. In medita-

tion we expedite the process of letting go. The main goal of meditation
is to empty one’s mind, and it is during these periods of emptiness that
we can reach the causal realm temporarily only to come to earth again
when we stop meditating.

Summarising, one does not need to resolve every karma earned. In order
to eradicate all our karma, we merely have to be enlightened!

Reference
Cerminara, Gina. Many Mansions. Neville Spearman.Ltd
Hiroshi Motoyama. Karma and Reincarnation. Judy Piatkus (Publishers)

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 Universal Law of Reincarnation.
As night follows the day, so the law of reincarnation must follow the law
of karma. One cannot commit karma and expect it to finish with it in one
life. So there must be many lives to resolve one's karma. Once karma is
initiated, it must (1) continue until it is spent. In this process, karma must
have its repercussion in the forms of (2) consequence and (3) compensa-
tion. So we have 3 laws here.

The Law of Continuation: Some of our tendencies, traits, habits, talents

and abilities can be carried over to the next life and the next, but not all
of them. Our merit and good points may pass over. For instance our abil-
ity to meditate. Our kindness and our loving and compassionate nature
may be carried over to future lives. However, intellectual abilities like our
computer expertise may not. Our emotional memories are more likely to
be carried over than the intellectual ones.

The Law of Consequences: Having free choice, we make mistakes as

well as good deeds. Consequently, we receive negative and positive seque-
lae to make us responsible, and thereby we learn from these negative and
positive responses. The lesson here is not to make the same mistakes. We
should also learn that to hurt others we punish ourselves. In this way, life
after life we learn to ascend the spiritual path.

The Law of Compensation: As we progress in our spiritual path, we

have to experience innumerable facets of life. For instance, we must expe-
rience different races and take on different religions in order to round up
our education. Then to know the extremes, we must change sex in differ-
ent incarnations, and this practice must also include homosexual ones. In
some lives we have to be physically strong and some weak. In some we
have to be intellectually active and in others mentally subdued.

Definition of Reincarnation
Reincarnation must be properly defined. It is often mixed up with other
terms. These are (1) Rebirth, (2) Metempsychosis, (3) Psychic collectivism,
and (4) Pre-existence. Pre-existence was accepted in early Christianity. It
postulates that there is a pre-existing soul. This soul is born in a human

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body, and after death returns to the spirit world. It is with exception that
a soul is able to return to earth. This is no more the prevailing Christian
view. Psychic collectivism embraces all ideas, which include that, the mind
only becomes individualise when it enters a body at birth. After death this
mind or soul is absorbed by the earth as vapour. This adds vitality to
plants, animals and humans. This view state that the psychic field of vital
energy is individualised temporarily at birth. Metempsychosis or transmigra-
tion means alternate incarnation of human and animals, or if one behaves
badly one will incarnate into an animal. Rebirth or psychic transfer is discussed
here in specific reference to Theravada Buddhism. This is because of the
'anatta' doctrine, which states that there is no soul or personality. At death,
only the mental and psychic traits, characteristics and propensities return
to a general pool. Then at the next rebirth these samskaras are issued to
another personality who is not the old one. That means there is no indi-
vidual soul or personality being transferred from the past life to the new
one. The analogy given is that 'the light of a dying candle goes to lit
another new candle'. This passing on of the baton does not speak of the
intermission between death and life.

Materialism is another belief that has to be dealt with. This hypothesis

states that there is no soul. In addition the mind including thoughts, con-
cepts, emotions, feelings etc is a by-product of the body. When the body
dies, the mind dies with it. There are no consequences, no responsibility,
no improvement and no spiritual growth. There is no purpose to life:
everything leads to nothing. The Epicureans are attuned to this concept.

Reincarnation: this hypothesis is the most likely situation. It postulates

that there is a pre-existing soul before birth and continues after death. The
soul incarnates hundreds or thousands of times, depending on which reli-
gion or philosophy one follows. The series of incarnations is to promote
spiritual growth so that the soul can arrive finally at one with the universe.
There are at least six facts that support the thesis of reincarnation:

(1) Near Death Experience.

(2) Out of Body Experience.
(3) Mediumship and channelling.
(4) Hypnosis and other forms of regression.
(5) Spontaneous past-life recalls.

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 (6) Induction by other techniques other than hypnosis.

Volumes of reputable research in various fields support the above facts

with scientific authenticity. University professors and scientists have all
researched thoroughly into these topics that they are now accepted with-
out a shadow of a doubt. This article will now work on this premise that
reincarnation is the valid hypothesis.

Historical and Geographical Background to the Belief

in Reincarnation
Reincarnation is not solely an Eastern or particularly an Indian doctrine.
Neither is it a well-defined one. Reincarnation has been loosely accepted
by different cultures as a hotchpotch of ideas with false righteousness by
the clergy to blackmail the flock into discipline. There is a fantastic
amount of delusional speculation in the subject.

In a 1969 Gallop poll of Christians in the western countries, there were

only 10 % to 26% of believers in reincarnation. Ten percent of the
Dutch, 12% Swedish, 14% Norwegians, 18% English. 20% Americans,
22% Greeks, 23% French, 25% Germans and 26% Canadians believe in
reincarnation. In 1980, 29% of the British believe in incarnation. This is
a jump of 11% in ten years. In 1978, a TV poll in Brazil found 78%
Brazilians believe in reincarnation!

These Western believers were presumably influenced by Hinduism,

Buddhism, Jainism, certain African tribes, Druses etc. Further, the eso-
teric teachings of Theosophy, Spritualism, Spiritism of Allan Kardec and
Anthroposophy all contribute towards this high percentage of western
believers.

In Judaism, there is a strong belief in pre-existence, but a weak belief in

reincarnation. In Christianity, with a background of pre-existence in some
quarters, there are a few passages in the New Testament pointing towards
reincarnation. There are passages found in St. Mark, St. Mathew, St Luke
and St. John alluding to reincarnation. The obvious one is when Jesus said
that John the Baptist was Elijah in a previous life. John 9:1-3 and John 17:
24 are good examples indicating belief in reincarnation.

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The Second Council of Nicea in Constantinople in 533 AD did not meet
to reject reincarnation. Its main purpose was to decide whether Christ
consisted of one or two natures. A secondary consideration was to con-
demn the views of Origen, who strongly believed in pre-existence and
thereby was sympathetic to reincarnation. When his views were con-
demned, it was erroneously concluded that the meeting was solely to
reject his views on reincarnation. Therefore it can be seen that reincarna-
tion was not the purpose of the council meeting. Origen's sympathetic
bias towards reincarnation might not even have been on the agenda for
discussion. Annie Besant and others initiated this erroneous speculation.

The subject of reincarnation is not explicitly discussed in Islam.

Zoroaster, the Persian sage, managed to influence some Sufis towards
reincarnation, but it is only for a few lives. It was the Sufi Jalal-Ud-Den-
Rumni that taught the evolution of the soul through mineral, vegetable,
animal to human and then to angel. The Druses, a partial Islamic sect,
believe that the soul immediately re-enters a baby that is being reborn.
The Jains believe that the soul is immediately connected to a conception.
That is why under these circumstances, the last thought moments of a
dying person is so important. Kabbala believes in pre-existence of the
soul, which mostly has only one incarnation. This one incarnation is
mainly for purification. If the individual fails he becomes a woman in the
next life!

Modern philosophers, teachers and pundits all believe in reincarnation in

a variety of permutations and combinations. Authors, musicians and
artists and other famous thinkers also believe in reincarnation in some
fashion or the other.

The subject is very complicating and there is no one finite view.

Throughout this diversity and contradictions there is only one major
theme of wanting to come back to earth. The religious tend to treat it as
reward and punishment. The 'untouchables' in India are deemed to be
punished for their bad behaviour in the past life. The esoteric sects believe
it is for spiritual growth. The remainder takes it as a process of a univer-
sal law, which cannot to be avoided. Some religions deem it as punishment
even for simple superstitious acts of neglecting religious rituals etc. This
view is as wrong as the one concerning the untouchables. Another very

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erroneous view is that reincarnation is synonymous with fate or destiny.
A wide range of estimates is seen in the number of incarnations of each
individual. It ranges between a few in Persia to the Indian number of
840,000. Some teachings do not include intermissions i.e. periods between
death and rebirth.

Theosophy: Theosophy has an elaborate doctrine, which has been great-

ly modified since its inception. It has a wide spectrum of esoteric teach-
ing which involves involution of the monad (soul) and the evolution of
the physical vehicle (body) simultaneously in one individual. It uses a lan-
guage quite different from other esoteric disciplines. Theosophical view-
points after much modification are now left vague and contradictory.
However, these inconsistencies do not alter the theme of moralist karma,
intermission and reincarnation. The three tenets of Theosophical thought
on karma and reincarnation are (a) these are natural laws that cannot be
redeemed; (b) they are for reward and punishment; (c) they are also for
guidance, evolution and healing. Memories of past life recalls are extraor-
dinary according to them, because in their view the physical brain and
astral brain decompose after death, and therefore these memories are not
available except in the higher causal body. So only highly developed peo-
ple can access their past.

Anthroposophy is even more complicating. Rudolf Steiner, the main

force in Anthroposophy, agrees that karma is a spiritual law of cause and
effect, which pervades all inner and outer human thoughts and acts. He
was a true Gnostic, which meant he kept on obtaining esoteric knowledge
at first hand to all manners of spiritual mysteries. Therefore his interpre-
tations of causes and effects keep on changing from period to period, i.e.
his doctrines changed time and again. He definitely advocated karma and
reincarnation, but his conclusions of what causes leading to what effects
are totally at variance with all hitherto teachings. The declarations of his
esoteric intuitions are told with feelings and effects, but there is hardly any
justification for them. Neither is there any rationale. His concepts are
incoherent and contradictory, but full of atmosphere.

Hinduism: The first Hindu view is that all souls arose from the Source
or Godhead. After many incarnations, they forget that they are divine and
that they originated from the Source. But after many incarnations, they

260
learn that they have to realise who they really are (i.e. self-realisation), and
from thence onwards the journey is towards returning to the Source. The
second view is that we started as being minerals, going through vegetables
and animals and finally to humans. It is only the human that can attain
self-awareness and with it freedom of choice and responsibility. From
then onwards, the law of karma comes into play. After many incarnations
(840,000 of them) and after liberation (moksha,) the human soul does not
need to come back to earth or other planet for growth. It will now carry
on as an angel in the spirit world. These earthly incarnations and inter-
missions which, are totally guided by karma is called Samsara. During
Samsara, the human soul progresses through four stages: (1) Lust (kama)-
--pursuit of pleasure. The sin here is anger. (2) Materialism (Artha)---The
sin here is greed and avarice. (3) Morality, integrity and religiosity
(Dharma). (4) Enlightenment (Moksha)---release from Samsara and no
more earthly incarnations. So one can see that the basic laws of karma
and reincarnation are essential for human spiritual growth to return to the
Source or Godhead.

The soul before birth possesses a general karmic pool or mass (Sanchita
karma) the sum total of karma earned form past lives. He brings a por-
tion of ripe karma (Prarabdha karma) down to earth in this life. It is from
this ripe karma that he constructs his G-plan. Then while living this life
he incurs more new karma (Kryamana karma). A small amount of new
karma is resolved in this very life, but the remainder is carried over and
added to the main pool (Sanchita karma) for the future. In Hinduism,
there is no place for predestination, luck or fate. However, these views on
Hindu karma and reincarnation closely influence their attitude towards
the caste system (the untouchables must have behaved pretty badly in
their past lives). Metempsychosis or transmigration of souls to animals is
part of this philosophy.

Buddhism: This religion is another eastern teaching that solidly supports

karma and reincarnation. Its doctrine is very similar to Hinduism except
on the question of the soul. In Theravada Buddhism, the anatta doctrine
is the tenet of its teachings. There is no soul or Atman in man's spirit
(Jiva). What is carried over to the next life is not an entity or personality,
but a collection of habits, tendencies and characteristics. This lack of
Atman is translated into an-atman and finally to the anatta doctrine. This

261
transference is like 'an almost burnt out candle which lights up a new can-
dle.' That is why in Buddhism it is called rebirth rather reincarnation.
Intermission between lives is not elaborated here. On the other hand it is
said that Buddha himself was able to remember all his previous lives,
meaning that he was able to recognise an ongoing personality through all
his lives! In the Jataka stories, metempsychosis is also taught, but there is
no surety that Buddha was the source of these stories. In fact, Buddha
never wrote a word, and other people wrote everything in the Buddhist
literature.

Another small point in Tibetan Buddhism: it is said that a developed lama,

called a sprul-sku (tulku), can preserve its personality. This is because he
is so developed that his will and power can work against the disintegration
of his personality He can even predict his future incarnation. He writes
down and describes the whereabouts of the place and house in which he
is going to be reborn. The expert detectives who will be looking for this
boy were his former associates. After some divination procedures, these
lamas will venture out to look for the boy. The two to three year-old boy
will have to recognise possessions and relics of the deceased sprul-sku
(tulku). Lastly, Mahayana Buddhism has an added feature of a Bodhisattva
ideal. This plan says that a person who has reached the height of enlight-
enment has a choice to be reborn in order to help his fellow sentient
beings towards enlightenment. Therefore the Bodhisattva has the free-
dom to choose not to reincarnate or incarnate. That means he can post-
pone his entrance into nirvana to a day when "every blade of grass is
enlightened".

Reincarnation is not much discussed in Confucianism, Taoism and

Shintoism.

Primitive Cultures
At least 100 tribes in Africa believe in reincarnation: only 36 of these
believe in reincarnation proper while 47 of them believe in metempsy-
chosis. The Zulus also believe that we come to perfect ourselves until it is
not necessary. The strongest belief is in West Africa: Nigeria, Senegal and
Ghana. There are all sorts of theories concerning how the reincarnation
process comes about. Another area is where the Druses originated:
Southeast Turkey, Lebanon and Northern Israel. Reincarnation beliefs in

262
these two areas probably arose from ancient Egypt. A third area is Asia,
which encompasses India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Nepal, Tibet and
Indochina. The next is Japan and finally Southeast Alaska.

Europe: here the Celts believed that after a few lives they might reach a
'white heaven'. Metempsychosis and a Bodhisattva ideal are also believed
in their culture. The ancient Teutons believed that people reincarnate in
the same family. The Danes, the Norse, the Icelanders, the East-Goths,
the Lombardians, the Letts and the Saxons all have some kind of reincar-
nation beliefs.

The Americas: The Tlingits of South-eastern Alaska and North-western

Canada had elaborate views and practices of reincarnation. According to
them the returning soul can choose its mother. They pay great attention
to birth marks as features of the new-born's previous identity. The Indian
tribes of America and Canada also believe in reincarnation. So do the
Eskimos. Some of the latter even believe in overlapping reincarnations i.e.
a soul is born before the previous personality has died. Many Red Indian
tribes of North and Central America have strong belief in reincarnation.
Some in metempsychosis. The Incas, the Mayans, the Dakotas etc all
believe in some form of reincarnation.

Australia and Oceania: There is a universal belief in reincarnation

amongst the Australian aborigines. Similarly, reincarnation belief is found
among the tribes in Borneo and Celebes Papuans, the Maoris, the
Tahitians, the Fijians etc.

So looking at the above survey we can conclude that there is quite a wide-
spread belief in reincarnation throughout the populations of the world.
In order to study the chronological sequel of reincarnation, let us begin
at the end: death.

The Mechanism of Death

When we emanated from the source it is the form of a spirit, which in
Sanskrit is called, Jiva. The Jiva is the life force containing the soul and all
levels of our consciousness including the Akashic records. The soul is
called the Atman.

(1) At the point of death, all the seven or more auras will involute into the

263
spirit, which will move over to the heart chakra in the chest.

(2) All the auric bodies with all the karmic seeds will now congregate at
this chakra where the atman is situated. A light is seen above the heart
chakra.

(3) The Jiva including the soul, all the auras and the seeds of karma and
all levels of consciousness will now flow out through the crown chakra.
During sleep, when the Jiva leaves the body it is tied to the body by a sil-
ver cord, which will pull back the Jiva before awakening. Now at death,
the silver cord is severed and this is the point of no return. The Jiva nor-
mally leaves through the crown and is seen by clairvoyants as a cloud of
smoke. Sometimes it may leave through the 6th chakra at the 3rd eye or
other chakras.

(4) The Jiva or cloud of smoke will reform into its etheric form, which is
exactly like the corpse that it has just left. This etheric form will remain
earth bound until it has bidden farewell to his relatives and friends. Then
it will shed its etheric body to go to astral world. Some ignorant spirits full
of attachment may remain earthbound for years (up to more than a thou-
sand years).

(5) The Jiva then passes through a dark tunnel or climb a flight of stairs
into a world of warm, bright light, where a radiant guardian angel is wait-
ing to welcome him. This personage radiates warmth and light, and
straightaway one feels very comfortable with him.

(6) A panoramic review of one's last life in three dimensions is then reeled
backwards for one to see and feel. There is no recrimination here. Only
the omissions and commissions are noted. These have to be worked at in
the near future. The question is always asked: 'what have you learnt from
your last incarnation'.

(7) In the astral realm the etheric body has already been discarded. The
astral body is much more malleable and plastic. In this realm, one indulges
in one's emotions trying to resolve them at the same time. Then when all
the emotions are fully tested, one moves onto the mental realm. This can
happen only when one has developed enough to be upgraded to the men-

264
tal realm. The astral body has now to be discarded. This is equivalent to
the second death. This second death is very painful, because one is losing
all of one's emotions (joy, happiness and sadness etc), and going up to a
realm where only thoughts are available. In the mental realm, a person,
who has been working a great deal with his mind hitherto, will stay here
much longer than one who has been working with his hands.

(8) Again, according to one's development, one may ascend to higher spir-
itual realms e.g. the causal etc.

(9) After working out our entanglements in the astral, mental or higher
realms we may decide to descend down to earth again for another lesson.
In these higher realms we are dealing mainly with the effects and not the
causes. The time spent in this intermission varies between individuals.

(10) On the way down to planet earth, the Jiva must spiral down slowly. It
has to visit each lower realm to re-acquaint itself for its sojourn on earth.
For instance, it has to spend a bit of time in the mental and then the astral
realm to prepare itself for earth. Thoughts and emotions have to be re-
acquainted before the etheric gown can be assumed again. The Jiva with
all its auras and levels of consciousness is now ready to descend into the
new-born.

Intermission Periods
The Jiva will spend varying periods of time in the spirit realms during the
intermission. The time spent depends on the development and the accu-
mulated karmic mass of the person. Col. Leadbeater of Theosophy con-
structed a very elaborate table for different types of souls. The table is
included here just to show what Gnostics can conjure up!

1500 to 2300 years : mature, advanced souls; initiates

700 to 1,200 years : those who are going along or nearing the path of ini-
tiation; 5 years in Kamaloka and up to 50 years in the Manas plane

600 to 1,000 years : upper class; 20 to 25 years in Kamaloka, short stay in

Manas

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about 500 years : upper-middle class; 25 years in Kamaloka, no sojourn in
Manas

200 to 300 years : lower middle class; 40 years in Kamaloka

100 to 200 years : qualified workers; 40 years in Kamaloka

60 to 100 years : non-qualified labourers: 40 to 50 in Kamaloka

40 to 50 years : good-for-nothings and drunks; only in Kamaloka

About 5 years : the lowest class; only in the lower part of Kamaloka
or earth-bound,vegetative.

The Kamaloka is equivalent to the middle astral realm, in which one

works through one's emotions. The Manas is the causal realm, which is
above the law of karma.

I suppose that the above is just typical examples of the different grades
of people. Even then, it stretches the imagination a little too much to
accept this table as gospel truth.

Hans Tendam after scrutinising the literature together with his own expe-
rience and research has suggested three patterns of reincarnation. These
fall into:

(1) Population I: It is of people with hardly any awareness of their inter-

missions. They are asleep, hang about, or wandering around. This catego-
ry is very common, but not found in induced regressions. Professor Ian
Stevenson's childhood cases are classic examples. Most of them have no
G-plan, as there is hardly any intentional karmic lesson to learn. The inter-
mission is short. It varies between few months and 16 years with an aver-
age of 8 years. They are also reborn near where they died. The purpose
of this lot is to gain experience and slowly to grow in understanding.
These short intermissions continue for sometime until they become more
aware and they will then move over to the next category.

(2) Population II: This category is mainly for personal development.

266
They are aware when they die. Before the next incarnation, they take
advice with consultations from their guides in order to resolve karma and
spiritual growth. A G-plan is then constructed. This of course is not iron-
clad as fate. They are aware of their intermissions and relationships with
others. Using their hitherto earned capabilities, attitudes and propensities
they want to try and improve their spiritual status. The span of their inter-
missions varies between 15 to 130 years with an average of 60 years.

(3) Population III: Having learnt so much in the past centuries, this
group now is fairly developed, and they are ready to contribute to others.
They have also aggregated a circle of friends who are equally advanced.
These teams are now devoted to help others in their reincarnation prob-
lems, acting as guides and advisors to the less initiated, either incarnate or
discarnate. There is less urgency to reincarnate, and there is now a free
choice to incarnate and when. Their intermission span is between 60 to
420 years with an average of 230 years. This group of individuals is grow-
ing in size as the entire world is steadily developing, and the individuals in
this group will also be specialising in their expertise. This means that there
is wide variation in intermission periods, as some of them have to incar-
nate for special tasks, depending on the conditions and circumstances on
earth. They will be using their free choice to go down, as their compas-
sion and love grow stronger.

Generally, intermission periods have been decreasing steadily in the past

centuries, and this will explain why the population on earth has been
increasing. There is little evidence to say that new souls are being ejected
from the source currently. That means every one of us had our first incar-
nation at least a couple of million years ago.

Sex Change
There are different beliefs amongst theosophical writers. Some say that we
remain in the same sex for 3 to 7 incarnations. Others claim that we alter-
nate 7 male and 7 female incarnations. Some change sexes easily but not
others.

Rudolf Steiner (Anthroposophy) states that alternating male and female

incarnation is the rule. Exceptionally, one can remain in the same sex for
two to three incarnations, but 7 incarnations in the same sex is maximum.

267
On the average, the probability of sex change between two subsequent
incarnations is from 15 to 25%. Only 20% of people do not remember a
sex change. That means in a series of incarnations, 80% would have had
a sex change. Some individuals are in favour of one sex against the other.
In the above category of Population I, the majority of them would be
coming back in the same sex. This sex change explains why some females
are very manly, whilst some males are very feminine, even though they are
straight.

Homosexuality: Almost certainly this is due to the result of a sex

change. After being a female for several lives, the individual decides to
change into a male in the next life. The body changes into a male, but the
mind still remains a female, and this incomplete transfer renders the indi-
vidual a homosexual. There are at least 15 to 20 % of gays and lesbians in
the world, and the figure is still increasing. Transvestites and transsexuals
fall into the same category of a change of sex from one life to another,
but the transformation is incomplete.

Physical Traits
According to the Theosophists, the more developed the person is the
more he will resemble his previous self, especially his face. The other idea
is that if the soul is in contact with the foetus from the moment of con-
ception, it is more like to resemble the former self. Some people may
carry some features in their faces for several incarnations.

Confirmatory evidence of reincarnation

The following are experiential evidence of reincarnation:.

(1) Near Death Experience (NDE): During the sojourn in the astral
realm, one of the main features is the past life recall of the life that is
ongoing. More developed individuals could also glimpse at lives in earlier
incarnations.

(2) Out -of-body experience: It is very rare to experience past lives in

OBE's. There is, however, one outstanding case. Oliver Fox left his body
to visit some Tibetan temple. Instead he had a past life experience, in
which he was being tortured to death chained to a frame. His name was
Theseus, presumably a Greek.

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(3) Channelling through mediums in trance consciousness is strong
proof of reincarnation. Similarly, sensitive clairvoyants may be able to reel
off a series of the other people's past life without the slightest difficulty.
In this case the sitter can verify what is told to him with other mediums
and psychics. Nowadays, there is no shortage of clairvoyants. The stories
usually tally.

(4) Clairvoyants: These psychics can usually recall their own past lives as
well as others. They do not mix up the two. Some of them cannot tell
their own past at all. In this category, an English boy living in the late 19th
century was able to recount vividly many of his own past. It is edited in a
book called The Boy Who Saw True (annotated by Cyril Scott) (1953).
Joan Grant remembered her past lives in trance, and these are recounted
in her autobiography, Time out of Mind (1956). The Winged Pharaoh
(1937) is her 1st book about her past life.

(5) Psychics and Clairvoyants who can read other people's past
lives: Many fall into this category, but only a few have written down their
experiences. The best known is Edgar Cayce. He gave details of patients'
past lives to explain away the symptoms of current lives with a moral les-
son attached. Joan Grant is another. Quite a bit of literature is available
on this subject. Lately, Brian Weiss has written best sellers: 'Many Lives,
Many Mansions' and 'Through Time into Healing'. Weiss does it through
hypnosis.

(6) Information on reincarnation by discarnates: There are quite a

few famous theses published via mediums either in trance or fully con-
scious. (a) Alice Bailey channelled tomes from a Theosophical Master, the
Tibetan. (b) Madam Blavatsky's Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine. (c) Dr.
Mona Rolfe lectures in trance and is famous for her book ' The Spiral of
Life: Cycles of Reincarnation' (d) Allan Kardec's book ' The Spirits Book'.
Although it is written in 1857, most of what is written in the book is in
accord with what we accept today. This book is regarded as a bible in
Brazil, and thus explains why 87% of Brazilians believe in reincarnation.
(e) Arthur Ford was able to recount his own and other people's past lives.
After his death, Ruth Montgomery received messages from him through
automatic writing. The material is about reincarnation in general and
about some famous people in particular. (f) Jane Roberts channelled Seth

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in trance. He is a gnostic spirit-philosopher. He tells us that all our lives
are occurring in parallel, because time is not linear. That means while liv-
ing in the 20th century we are also acting out our lives in centuries past
and future. Therefore karma does not exist: we are deluded by it. He dis-
credited himself by predicting that in the year 2075, man will be able con-
tact their inner being. He is using linear time in this prediction!

Spontaneous Recollections of Past Lives

The 7 types of spontaneous recollections are:

(1) Recognition of places at first sight: Guilfoyle had a survey and

found these percentages: 35% never had, 50% had once or twice, and
15% more than twice a feeling that they had been there before. Muller
(1970) found that 6% of his subjects had intense feelings of recognition
at the first visit. This must be differentiated from déjà vu, which does not
point to a past life. Deja vu is more like the consciousness moving ahead
of the body.

(2) Recognition of people at first sight: This is quite common, but one
must not jump to conclusion too quickly. Liking or disliking someone at
first sight may not be past life experience. An intense affinity or mutual
affection, which developed spontaneously, may be a relationship from the
past. Certainly love at first sight is from the past. Uncommon familiarity
and being totally comfortable with the other person are good pointers.
Intense hatred at the first meeting is also a good possibility of a disagree-
able past.

(3) Recognition in Dreams: Dreams are not a common way in recalling

past life. This is because we mostly forget our dreams, which are also pret-
ty unconvincing as evidence. Unless it is a recurring dream, which should
also be lucid (that means we know that we are dreaming) and vivid. The
accompanying emotions are also intense, and we can describe the details
years later. When one dreams of one's past life, the person is usually in
the dream, but not when dreaming of other people.

(4) Recollections triggered by objects, photos and books: Almost

anything can trigger a recollection, and it may end up in a dream. Lenz
found that 9 out of 127 cases had memories triggered by listening to

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some music, seeing a painting or an object.

(5) Recollections triggered by a similar situation: This is rare but it

happens, as we are told that we repeat the same mistakes, life after life.

(6) Recollections under extraordinary circumstances: The conditions

from which a memory can arise are (a) during a life-threatening accident,
(b) under anaesthesia or semi-conscious (c) under great stress and strain
as in war or other activity that entails lack of sleep, (d) depression and
despair due to a great loss.

(7) Spontaneous Recollection: Many well known people do proclaim

their past incarnations, but without proof they were treated with little
credibility.

Spontaneous Recollections in Children

The most well known investigator in childhood cases is Ian Stevenson. He
has collected at least 2000 cases and examined them thoroughly in 200 of
them. One hundred and five of them are from Northern India, 80 are
from Sri Lanka and a few dozen are from Turkey, Lebanon, Alaska,
Thailand and Burma. In the 105 cases in India, 60 were boys and 45 were
girls. Out of 80 Sri Lankans, 38 were boys and 45 were girls. Usually their
memories start at three and diminish at 7 to 9 years of age. Only a few
got clearer as they got older. Some of them remember only fragments,
some merely incidents, such as death. Very occasionally, the whole story
is told to someone, and after that they tend to forget the recall. Stevenson
describes the cases in detail in his publication: Cases of Reincarnation
Type (1975-83).

The intermission between death and birth in these childhood cases is

between 1 and 4 years. He found changes of sex in 6 to 16 % of his cases,
varying from region to region. According to the Tlingits, children are
always reborn in the same family. In Turkey, reincarnation usually takes
place in a nearby village. If a child can recall his past life, it usually implies
incomplete death, followed by being earthbound with a quick reincarna-
tion. In 40 to 50 % of childhood cases, the death was violent in the past
life. Birthmarks usually signify scars from past lives.

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Five to ten percent of cases returned to the same family. They may return
as a nephew, niece, sibling or one's own child. The median age of the last
death was between 28 and 32. Similar behaviour, idiosyncrasies and pref-
erences are seen in the consecutive lives of the two personalities.

Stevenson found very little karmic relationship between one life with the
next. This is probably due to the very short intermission periods of 1 to
4 years. In these cases there is not much awareness. Neither is there much
planning for the next life. The intermission period is mostly spent in
hanging about or sleeping. Stevenson found sex change in 6 to 7.5 % of
cases.

Induced Regression to past lives

(1) Hypnosis: this is the commonest method used at the present. There
are different levels of hypnosis. The deeper one goes the less one is aware
of the present, until one is completely transported to the past. At this
deepest stage, one is totally in the past and the present is not in his con-
sciousness at all. The stages as graded by Hans Tendam are memory, rec-
ollection, reliving, regression and identification. Memory is like normal
memory. Recollection means you see images, hear noises and voices and
smell the food from the past. In reliving, one in addition will have emo-
tional feelings as well as thoughts. The next deeper stage is that of real
regression, in which you are totally in the past, but there is no conscious-
ness of the present. This is the stage when past life regression takes place.
In identification, which is even deeper, the past becomes your present.
There is now only one personality, which is totally in the past, and the
patient takes the past as the present. An excellent proof of real regression
is the occurrence of xenoglossy, i.e. speaking of a language that is never
learnt in this life.

(2) Trance: a trance without the classic hypnosis is now fairly common-
ly used. A deep trance may be required at the first sitting, but a lighter one
will do the trick in subsequent sittings. There may be some self-hypnosis
involved here.

(3) Imagination and Visualisation: Therapists use methods of relax-

ation together with a mild hypnosis to induce the patient to the level of
recall. From here he slowly brings the patient into reliving and then to

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regression. A garden scenery is imagined and then the patient will be
walking in this garden. It can be any other scene and in one of them an
emotional problem may arise. The physical symptom may be associated
with this scenario, and when the whole story is told, the symptom may
disappear. This is the technique of the waking dream. The feelings in
these cases must be intense to be of value.

(4) Magnetism: The therapist touches the patient with one hand and
sweeps down the body with the other. This is called making passes. The
patient goes through deeper and deeper levels. At deep levels past lives
may be recalled. This method is seldom used nowadays.

Akashic Records and Past Life Memory

The Akashic records our every thought speech and action since our first
incarnation. In fact everybody's records are thus registered, and therefore
we are all inter-linked and interconnected. Our memories do not fade and
they remain clear and brilliant as ever, even if the events are tens of thou-
sands of years ago. The Akashic registers our emotional feelings and
thoughts and senses whether we are conscious or not. This is remarkable.

There is limitless capacity, unlike the memory in our computers. We can

access this memory at any point in time, be it thousands of years ago.
There is no rewinding of the tape. These memories are also structured
around associative points. We can see the events without any feelings. We
can look at ourselves in the past as impartial observers. We can go through
the same scene and feel the emotional reactions as well as others' feelings.
We can also look at the situation from a different angle and perspectives.

In a trance or with a shift of consciousness, we can go to our past lives in

the whole of the Akashic: a recent life is just as vivid as a one from the
far past. Emotionally charged events come sooner than ordinary ones.
Traumatic death experiences usually come out first. Clairvoyants usually
can see a past situation similar to the present one. Some blockages to the
entry to a specific past situation are encountered: traumatic death experi-
ences and acts related to secrecy.

There is probably no such thing as a 'reincarnation wave' in which a whole

country of souls is reincarnated at the same time to one country. We come

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back life after life with our friends, loved ones and relatives. They come in
different combinations, but it is the intense relationship that we have
developed with each other that make us reincarnate together time and
again. In some lives, we are friendly, but in the others we are hostile with
one another. On the whole it is love and compassion that bring us back
to earth again. This is the reason for the phenomenon of 'love at first
sight'. The older souls with more awareness in population II and III are
the ones that return with their small groups of acquaintances.

In conclusion, there is enough evidence as enumerated above to state cat-

egorically that reincarnation is a fact and not a superstition. To recapitu-
late there is evidence in (a) NDE (b) OBE (c) Clairvoyants and paranor-
mal sensitives who are able to see their own as well as others' past lives.
(d) Spontaneous recall. (e) Induction by therapists using hypnosis, mag-
netism, imagination or visualisation and trance. ( f) A past life regression
heals the patient.

Then in summary, after scouring through the historical records and prop-
erly conducted research in a scientific manner we arrive at these parame-
ters:

(1) We most probably reincarnate hundreds or thousands of times.

(2) Our intermissions are between a few months to several centuries.

The older the soul, the longer the intermission.

(3) Almost all of us change sex, but the frequency varies a great deal.
There is no set rules for this. Some authors state categorically that at
least 80% of their subjects change sex.

(4) The more mature souls with awareness do have a G-plan, but this
is not hundred percent adhered to.

(5) When regressed to a past life, this process may heal the person,
especially if the symptoms have no discernible cause.

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References

1. Exploring Reincarnation by Hans TenDam Published by Arkana.

2. Edgar Cayce On Reincarnation By Noel Langley. Published by Warner
Books.
3. Many Lives, Many Loves By Gina Cerminara. Devorss Publications

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 Our G-Plan and Sacred Contracts.
"Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may.
What is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it.
This is certain. The best course is therefore, to remain silent."

Sri Ramana Maharshi

G-plan
G-plan is a blueprint or chart that we formulate for our forthcoming
incarnation while we are still in the spirit world. "G" may stand either for
God or for Ground. After spending one to two hundred years in the spir-
it world, we decide that the only way to progress further is to reincarnate
once more. Being in the spirit world there is knowledge of our own spir-
itual level or status. We also know about our past lives and how much we
have progressed or how much we have botched up our spiritual path.
Then we are also able to assess our own tendencies, habits and propensi-
ties, and then work out an incarnation in which these foibles and bad
habits can be gradually or quickly diminished. We know that our bad
habits and tendencies will inevitably recur to a greater or smaller extent in
the next incarnation. We then have to fashion a life in which we can
diminish or eradicate these foibles or negative traits. This is easier said
than done, because we have earned a certain amount of negative and pos-
itive karma hitherto. Therefore the conditions of our next life must also
fit in to the limitations of our karmic pie (see chart attached).

So in order to glean the utmost for our spiritual growth, one has to choose
a country, a type of profession and degree of education for the purpose
of promoting spiritual growth. It does not mean that the more educated
we are the greater advantage we will have in order to achieve our quest.
Sometimes we have to even choose a poorer lifestyle or a handicapped
physical body for this incarnation, remembering that our sole purpose is
to increase our vibrations. Therefore being very rich or highly educated or
extremely good looking are not necessarily conducive to our mission.
Having gauged our conditions for rebirth, we then have to fit our wishes
to our karmic balance. For instance, if we have been a banker or a broker

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for six lives in order to eradicate greed, and at the end of the six lives we
have become even greedier, then we will be denied a future life to be
banker or broker. Even though we recognise that to be a broker or banker
is ideal for eradicating greed, our karmic credit /debit does not allow us
to take on those disciplines again. Our karmic balance may not allow us
to live in a country of our choosing, and therefore we have to accept the
next best country offered to us. Also in our past lives if we have been very
cruel, and we had severely injured or maimed other people, then we may
have to come down to earth this time as a handicapped person. Or if we
have been emotionally tortured our loved ones for selfish reasons, then
our next life would be filled with emotional hardships.

Therefore, from the chart on karmic pie we can see that there is very lit-
tle free will left for us to manipulate. Thus, summarising the conditions
for our future birth, we have decided on our sex, our parents, spouse, chil-
dren and other relatives; then we have also agreed to have sacred contracts
with our close and ordinary friends, associates, our colleagues, workmates
and underlings. The sacred contracts must also include situations that will
arise with these people. Further, our race, country of birth and country
that we are emigrating to have also to be arranged. Lastly, we must also
decide on poverty or wealth, sickness or health, success or failure in life,
and emotional hardship or ease. That means our free will can only be used
to purifying our "samskaras". Samskaras is defined as impressions or
accumulated imprints of past experiences, which determine one’s desires
and actions.

Every Incarnation is Solely for Spiritual Growth

The purpose of every incarnation is for spiritual growth and increasing of
our vibrations. The methods used are essentially three-pronged (1) purifi-
cation (2) service and (3) acquisition of love and wisdom.

Purification
In this category, we try to reduce our foibles, negative tendencies, bad
habits and characteristics. These are generally categorised as

(1) Craving,
(2) Ill will,
(3) Selfishness,

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 (4) Pride and
(5) Ignorance.

1) Craving. This generally embraces (a) desire, (b) lust, (c) greed and (d)
covetousness. The attrition of these traits and foibles is slow. It is easier if
one has the wisdom to let go. The wisdom entailed is to realise that our
life is of limited duration, and every one has to die one day. The only
question is ‘when’. This ‘when’ is part of our G-plan. Besides this finality
of death, we must also realise that we cannot take anything along with us
when we go to the spirit world. So we delude ourselves by saying that we
are accumulating for our children and not for ourselves. We are lying to
ourselves and to others. Besides our children have their own karma and
G-plan, and what we give them may be squandered in one month or a
year. Similarly we cannot take our "name" or status with us. Even if a stat-
ue is erected in commemoration of our earthly achievements, the memo-
ry of our good deeds will be erased from the mind of the general public
in no time.

2) Ill Will. Ill will includes (a) envy, (b) jealousy, (c) anger, (d) hatred, (e)
irritability, (f) resentment and (g) depression. These negative traits repre-
sent self-poison. Every time we are angry or jealous we are the ones that
suffer. Every burst of anger is equivalent to a spoonful of poison. We
hurt ourselves. Anger against the self becomes depression. None of these
traits give us pleasure. Negative karma is earned at the same time. This is
the worst foible to have. We brought most of the ill will with us from our
past lives.

3) Selfishness. Whatever we do, say or think is normally for one’s own

self or one’s immediate family. That means altruism and compassion are
not a daily function of our life. We must possess the opposite trait, self-
lessness, in order to serve others. Yet again, selfishness generates negative
karma. Family selfishness gives rise to rivalry and animosity, whilst nation-
al selfishness leads to war.

4) Pride. We are proud of many things: our nationality, colour of our

skin, place of birth, intellect and education. We boast of our wealth, the
fame of our families and the positions we hold in our jobs. We are proud
of our physique and our good looks and our eloquence. We like to hear

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complementary statements of ourselves e.g. our I.Q. and our humility. We
like to tell people how pure and spiritual we are and that we are on the
spiritual path. All these boasting and accreditation are merely boosting of
our ego, which is like inflating of a balloon. This balloon must inevitably
burst.

5) Ignorance. Ignorance includes delusion, illusion, wrong views and

doctrines about spiritual paths. Most religions have been teaching wrong
beliefs especially of life after death. The concept of God and soul is also
wrongly taught. The teaching of hell and heaven cannot be further from
the truth. There is no such place as hell. Karma and reincarnation are
poorly taught or not taught at all. It is a false belief that God punishes and
rewards. It is a false belief that humans will ever reincarnate as animals.
We falsely believe that if we scrupulously learned the religious texts and
adorned a robe or religious garb, we are spiritual. By going to church every
Sunday, we can be looked upon as pure and clean. If we can quote chap-
ter and verse of Buddhist, Hindu and Christian texts, we can be deemed
to be holy. This is so because we can hide our true intentions, and nobody
can read our minds as in the spirit world. Ignorance can only be replaced
by wisdom. And wisdom can only be gained by eradication of greed, ill
will, selfishness and pride.

Therefore one can see what a tall order it is to overcome the above 5 poi-
sons. It cannot be done in one life. It requires many incarnations, and the
number of incarnations is dependent on how diligent one is in each life.
For some of us thousands of incarnations are required for this purifica-
tion. The earliest incarnations do not warrant a G-plan, because as prim-
itive people we are not aware of the existence of cause and effect. These
primitive people belong to population I, which has a short intermission
period in the spirit world of between 5 to 16 years only. Most of you read-
ing this article are in population II. Those in population II normally spend
more than 100 to 200 years in the intermission period. Of course the very
developed beings in population III with intermission periods of more
than 230 years can also come down as early as 15 years to complete their
projects on earth.

Service
Pari passu with the above purification, one has to service the human, ani-

279
mal, vegetation and mineral kingdoms. In servicing, we are practising
compassion and empathy in unselfish acts. We are now not exercising
greed and ill will. In service we promote the welfare of others at our own
expense.

Universal service means helping and not hurting humans, animals, veg-
etables, and minerals. There is consciousness in each of these kingdoms.
Mineral has the smallest and human has the largest. Humans are the only
ones that have individual souls. Animals, vegetation, and minerals have
group souls. When it comes to service we have to start with our human
race.

The first area of work must be our immediate family. If we are married
with children that should be our first port of call. If one is unmarried
then it has to be one’s parents and siblings. Charity and duty must begin
at home. Not only do we have to provide food, accommodation and
clothing to our nuclear family; we also have to ensure their peace of mind.
And ensuring their security and safety does this. But the most vital assur-
ance of confidence we can give them is being there to advise and counsel
them whenever they need it. Some parents pour money and luxuries down
their throats, but when it comes to giving them a few minutes of their
time they cannot spare the time. Parents should be available for help when
urgently required. But, of course, the children should be understanding
and catch the parent only after working hours, unless it is most urgent.
This applies to our parents as well. Whenever a parent needs us urgently
we have to make ourselves available straightaway. This is because if our
parents did not agree in the spirit world to have us as their children we
would not be reborn to practise the spiritual path. Our debt to them is
huge. Buddha said that if one carries a parent on one’s shoulders and walk
round the world with the parent, one still would not have paid back one’s
debt to the parent. Normally a parent would not bother an offspring
unless the parent is really in need of help anyway.

Beyond the nuclear family, close and distant relatives come next. Try and
service them when help is needed. After this we enlarge our circle to close
friends and working colleagues. From here onwards we have to look after
our underlings and those who work for us, e.g. maids etc. These menial
servants give up their own homes and families to look after us. The least

280
we could do is to take care of them as if they are part of our own fami-
lies. When they are sick, we should send them to see their doctors and pay
their medical fees. If they have problems in their homes we should allow
them to return to their families. The last category to be assisted is
strangers. When you assist a stranger do not be surprised by unexpected
karmic kickbacks. However, one may also be cheated every now and then.
So what? You probably owe them anyway!

As humans we have to maintain a compassionate attitude and behaviour

to animals, vegetation and minerals. These should not be abused and
should be treated with tender care and love. Our treatment of them
should not be inferior to that of humans.

Acquisition of Love (Agape) and Wisdom

Agape: This last prong of the trinity is both important and difficult. The
love to be acquired is divine and unconditional. It is not erotic or platon-
ic. It is selfless, and purely altruistic. This form of love must not demand
gratitude or thanks. It is completely bereft of selfishness. There is no
thought of reflective glory or earning of merit. It is a very satisfying com-
modity when given with wisdom. This is the divine love that Jesus advo-
cates. When performed repeatedly, it becomes second nature to the giver,
and this is engraved in the person’s character. Finally, this love becomes
universal, at which time that person is becoming at one with the universe.
The essence of God or the Universal Consciousness is agape. Therefore
if you are already imbued with agape, one becomes Godlike. This self-
lessness (anatta) automatically rights us from the horizontal stance to the
vertical. When vertical we are connected to a high powered cable and our
presence become electrified. Wherever one goes one bestows benefi-
cence. It is a natural consequence of our presence and there is no need to
try to do anything. The benevolent emanation is spontaneous.

Wisdom: This quality arises from the elimination of the five poisons
(greed, ill will, selfishness, pride and ignorance), especially ignorance. In
working towards its eradication, remember that whatever assets we accu-
mulate due to greed will last only till the end of this life. Majority of us
cannot live longer than 90 to 100 years. So if we are already 60 or 70 years
old there is very little time left. How foolish are we to continue with this
grabbing to no avail! We must also be wise enough to realize that the

281
minute we die, the memory of our existence will fade very quickly,
whether we are famous or notorious. The surest and fastest way to abol-
ish ignorance is to steadily Let Go. This letting go must be done in stages.
It is like peeling an onion. As we peel, we shed tears of our letting go.
Firstly our assets, thence our relationships and finally our egos. These are
difficult steps but they must be persistently taken with awareness. After
letting go half way, the process becomes easier because one finds that it
is really not very difficult after all and one becomes lighter throwing away
our excess baggage. Do not however broadcast your success at letting go.
It must be done in secret.

Constructing Our G-plan

From the above facts, one must then construct a G-plan accordingly.
Using what we know about ourselves, we then have to formulate a blue-
print that will promote our spiritual status:
1) Our past lives.
2) Our level of spirituality, i.e. our vibration rate.
3) Our Samskaras, (impressions; accumulated imprints of past experi-
ences, which determine one’s desires and actions) good points, foibles,
handicaps and tendencies.
4) Our major weaknesses, e.g. for money, power and sex.
5) Our strong points and our skills must be taken into account as well.
6) The state of our karmic pie (see diagram).
7) We can only bring about 10% of our total spirit down to earth for prac-
tice. This 10% is the soul for the coming incarnation. Therefore the same
proportion of good and bad karma must come down with the soul. We
also have to determine what weaknesses and habits we want to improve.
8) In a scale of 1 to 1000 units of vibration, if we know that we are at 500
units, how much do we want to increase our vibration in the next incar-
nation? 100 units? 50 units?
9) How long do we want to take to attain this increase of vibration? From
ten to ninety years on earth? That means the date of birth (DOB) and
date of death (DOD) are fixed.
10) We have to determine our sex.
11) Profession, vocation and hobbies.
12) The country of birth, nationality and country of emigration.
13) State of health and major illnesses. Our emotional makeup is also
vital.

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14) State of wealth or poverty.
15) The people that we want to go down with, e.g. family, work colleagues,
friends etc.
16) On top of all these parameters, we have to try and attain some of the
three-pronged goals: (a) purification, (b) service and (c) acquisition of
love and wisdom.

From the above parameters, one should then sit down and work out a
blueprint by which our spiritual status can be improved (by X percent).
We must then try to achieve this goal with our Curriculum Vitae as stated
above within our karmic pie. This is our G-plan. Some people would call
this the main Sacred Contract, but I call it G-plan to distinguish it from
the rest of the contracts with our tribes, friends and colleagues. Much
more time would have to be taken to draw numerous sacred contracts
with all the people, animals and plants that we will encounter in our next
incarnation. The G-plan is almost immutable. It is like we have con-
structed a tunnel of our next life, in which we have a little leeway above
and below the main path in the tunnel (see diagram). However all of us
almost never break out of the tunnel. It is through repeated breakdowns
with heinous crimes, killings, massacres and genocide or gigantic cheating
and swindling that we break out downwards of our tunnel (G-Plan).
Examples here are Hitler, Stalin, Sadam Hussein and Pol Pot. On the
other hand, we can also breakout on the upside. The examples here are
Buddha, Jesus Christ and Mohamed bearing in mind that these sages
might just be merely carrying out their G-plans. That means what has
been outlined as "G-plan" is truly our predetermined future life. When we
are born, we start at the beginning of a tunnel, which inclines upwards,
because we intend to increase our vibrations during this life. At birth, the
cells in the body have our G-plan engraved in their DNA. Our life invari-
ably has its ups and downs, and therefore range up and down within this
tunnel, and usually not breaking the borders (see diagram).

However, we may break through either upward or downward, if we per-

form admirably or dismally in the extreme. That means we either outper-
form or underperform in order to dismantle our own G-Plan. This hap-
pens very, very rarely. One may breakout upward when one suddenly
decides to give up the rat race and become totally spiritual. One then
starts to practise prodigiously to expand one’s consciousness to the aware-

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ness of no self, and at the same time one has to surrender totally to one’s
Tao. This quantum leap normally happens to those who have practised
for many lives before. In the opposite case the other individual breaks
down through his tunnel, as he persistently and repeatedly does not
uphold his aspiration of his G-plan. His spiritual guides failed over and
over again to influence him otherwise. In the astral world, before his pres-
ent incarnation, the latter has been intimated about the possibility of his
breakdown, as he has tried many times before the same path without suc-
cess. That means, he has been forewarned of the possible downturn while
negotiating the conditions of his G-plan. As soon as he has broken down
out of the tunnel, his life is full of misery. Either his health is in a total
wreck or he is in abject poverty. Nothing is right for him. Nobody
respects him including his own family. There is no way out until he
repents and jumps back onto the tract of his G-plan again. At this point
his guides and friends will come to help out. He does not have to do it
alone, but if he is adamant, then he continues to suffer.

Sacred Contracts
Now that the man has written out his G-plan, he has now to go around
in the spirit world contacting all the people who will play a part, whether
big or small, in his next incarnation. These are his parents, wife, siblings,
his children, friends, distant relatives, work-mates, colleagues, his under-
lings, superiors and casual acquaintances etc. Every one who may play a
part in his future life would have to be contacted and contracts made. Of
course his children would have to come to him instead to initiate their
contracts. Similarly, those who need his help in the next life would have to
do the same. These are spiritual contracts and are spiritually binding. They
must be beneficially to both parties or everybody concerned (e.g. all mem-
bers of the one family). These contracts must also involve all the spiritu-
al guides of every participant of the contract. That means that both the
humans and their spiritual guides must work hard to carry out the con-
tracts. Quite often it also means that the entire tribe or archetype will par-
take in the execution of the contract. If the process is a very difficult one
but is within one’s G-plan, the success of the project may appear miracu-
lous. A lot of horse-trading is carried out at this stage. Some of the par-
ticipants are unwilling partners to the contracts. That is why not all con-
tracts succeed. These contracts are not as binding as one’s G-plan.
However, the same conditions as enumerated above, karmic balance, sam-

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skaras, past relationships and the respective goals of all concerned must
be taken into account. This means that the negotiations must be meticu-
lous and all encompassing, and if possible no stone is left unturned. But
the best-laid plans may still falter or fail. These contracts will have to
involve many families and sometimes they are enacted in different coun-
tries. A world war necessitates numerous sacred contracts. A noble prize
also requires a sacred contract. Similarly, the concentration camps and
genocide of different countries need elaborate contracts drawn.

Coming down to the nitty gritty of individuals, the strongest contract

would have to be with the marriage partner. Next come the children and
parents. Siblings, distant relatives and friends then follow suit. Sometimes
a life long friend has a much stronger contract than even the spouse’s.
Then business partners, work colleagues and club or sporting mates have
also to be contracted. These contracts will have to involve the locality, the
country and the organisation that they work in. So the contract will have
to stipulate the venue as well. All and sundry must benefit. Contracts must
also be made with enemies, rivals and competitors.

At the end all events and processes must end up as experiences for every-
body concerned. It is the experience that counts the most. In other words
everybody wins. Nobody loses. We gain in experience even when we lose
out or tragedy strikes us. "Every day is a good day". For some, dying and
death is the best teacher. Although our soul and our body cells know
when we are going to die, the conscious mind does not.

If someone runs another down in a car and causes spinal injury to the
extent that the victim is paralysed from the neck downwards, this incident
warrants a contract. A handicapped child must also have a contract signed
with his parents and siblings, as everybody in the family suffer according-
ly. Sometimes the parents suffer more than the child. Any form of con-
genital disease, long standing injury or mental and physical handicap that
requires constant and prolonged help or assistance will need to have a
contract made with the caregiver. At the end some good will transpire out
of all the horrors, tragedies, pain and suffering of a war. The dead and the
maimed and their relatives must learn from war and genocide. An eco-
nomic recession or individual financial disasters must also provide lessons
to the victims. If lessons are learned, there are no victims. All these so-

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called disasters or tragedies are part of a cleansing process. A cancer strik-
ing an individual hits the whole family. The patient must know the reason
for the cancer, and the family must also learn from the victim how the
cancer came about. From this lesson, the entire family must then know
what attitudes in life one must avoid. There are no losers if one were to
look at it from a spiritual point of view.

FACTS, CONDITIONS & SITUATIONS THAT ARE AGREED

UPON BEFORE BIRTH

· Grand parents & parents

· Spouse or Spouses, mistresses and lovers
· Siblings
· Children
· Other relatives, enemies and friends.
· Race
· Country of birth
· Sex
· Profession , vocation and hobbies
· State of wealth (rich, poor or mediocre)
. State of health (deformities, blind, deaf, major illnesses like stroke and
heart diseases, cancer and autoimmune diseases.)
· Dates of Birth and Death
· Country of further study
· Country of emigration
· When and where to embark on the Spiritual Path
· Date of meeting Guru - or no necessity to have a guru
· How difficult is one’s life going to be emotionally (and mentally for
some)
· The amount of travelling and where
· Are we going to be a care-provider to a loved one or a stranger?
· Success or failure in one’s life profession or vocation.

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 Karmic Pie

Total Karma Earned Since Portion of Karma to Be

First Incarnation Resolved or Utilised In The
Before Birth Next Incarnation

At Birth At Death

either

or

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 Soul Mates and Twin Souls.
There is much confusion about soul mates and twin souls. Very often
these two terms have been used synonymously. They are not synonymous.
One can and do have many soul mates but one has only one twin soul. In
order to understand how these terms come about one must begin from
the beginning. Aeons ago, many dispatches of souls or sparks of divinity
were discharged from the Source or Godhead. These were destined to be
human souls. The numbers in each dispatch vary considerably. The least
number is a few, but the numbers may go to millions. The usual numbers
are in the hundreds or thousands. The numbers are dependent on the
maturity of the souls and the main purpose of their journey. The more
mature or spiritually advanced they are the lesser number will be in the
outburst. The first timers will be in the hundreds of thousands or mil-
lions. This process has been going on from time immemorial: there was
no beginning and it looks as if there is no end.

Take an average group of a hundred and twenty eight souls in the one dis-
charge from the Source. They begin to cool on the way down to the phys-
ical world. There are many, many worlds in just as many universes. This
group of souls has decided to target planet earth. They start to descend
through the pre-angelic and angelic realms in a very hazy and dreamy
fashion. Very little is remembered of this period. Memory of the remain-
ing journey down the celestial, spiritual, mental, astral and etheric realms
is just as blurred. The entire journey down to the etheric/physical realm
takes thousands of millions of years until they arrive at a physical planet.
In the first incarnation, the group went into rocks as minerals. The entire
group of souls took form in the same mineral, e.g. jade or calcium. They
remain in these rocks until they were about to be upgraded to vegetation
and that was when the planet had to disintegrate into smithereens. The life
span as a rock took millions of years.

In the next stage the total soul group of one hundred and twenty eight
souls would have to change planet. This time round they would go into
the vegetation kingdom. Again all of them would remain in the same fam-
ily of plants as they progressed. If the leader decides to be an orchid, the
remaining soul mates would become the same type of orchid. From

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thence onwards, the whole group would grow spiritually by dying and
being reborn into different types of vegetation, e.g. bushes, flowers and
trees of various types etc. It is in this kingdom that we first learnt about
death. We were destroyed by being trampled upon or eaten by animals or
humans. After millions of years of being in the vegetation kingdom, we
then moved on to the animal kingdom. Hitherto and including the animal
kingdom we remain as group souls although we have already been indi-
vidualized. At this stage the total group of 128 souls tend to remain as one
type of animal. As group souls we do not have self-awareness. We only
know the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Again having reincarnated
through many categories of animals, we arrive at being Australopithecus
afarensis more than 3 million years ago. Then Homo habilis (the handy
human) lived in Africa roughly 2.5 million years ago. Homo habilis walked
upright and has the same dexterity as modern man. He had a brain half
the size of modern man. This is the first precursor of man. The
Australopithecus had a brain capacity of 400 cc. Then roughly about
more than 1.5 million years ago Homo habilis evolved into Homo erec-
tus, which has an average brain capacity of 850 c.c.

The Neanderthal is the transitional stage between the H. habilis and H.

sapiens. The Neanderthal who was the first H.sapiens came about 200,000
years ago and became extinct 35,000 years ago. It has the same brain
capacity as modern man, but its skull structure is more primitive than
modern man's. The Neanderthal is the first human ancestor to bury his
dead. This is about 60,000 years ago. However, around 35,000 years ago,
the Cro-magnons completely replaced the Neanderthals and totally pop-
ulated the earth. The Cro-magnons has a brain capacity of about 1,400
c.c. At this human stage, the Cro-magnons begin to ‘know that we know’.
From this point onwards, the Cro-magnons began the human journey in
earnest. We began to feel instinctively when we met our soul mates: there
was an instant attraction to all the other 127 soul mates, but we still did
not know that each of us has a twin. In the vegetable and animal stages
we tended to move in the same group, and we were always not very far
from each other including our twins. However, as humans we may be dis-
persed thousands of miles away from our soul mates. And as soon as we
meet any one in our soul group we instantly feel an attraction to the other.
In the primitive stages of our human evolution we certainly would not be
able to differentiate between our soul mates and our twin. It is only very

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much later, nearing the time of the return journey to the spiritual realms
that we are able to recognize our twin.

The Breakdown of the Group and Its Return

Taking the example of a group of 128 souls as above, the breakdown goes
like this. It is first broken down by half i.e. 64 in each. Then these two
sub-groups are further divided into 32, then 16, 8, 4 and ultimately two.
The final division is when the last two is separated into twin souls. As the
breakdown proceeded from the total group of 128 down to the last twin,
there is pain and suffering at every separation, until the last divide the pain
is the most excruciating. At this juncture, both twins vowed to seek out
each other no matter how long and what hardship it entails. Of course,
when the twins meet and merge back again, their task will be to con-
glomerate and amalgamate the entire group of 128 back to the same orig-
inal whole again. When will this process start? It will be when the entire
group is about to finish with their education on earth. That means in sim-
ple religious language, they are about to be enlightened. Or some would
have been enlightened already, but there would also be a few stragglers left
behind on earth. There could be a long wait at this border of astral/ether-
ic realm, as some of the stragglers may take a much longer time than their
fellow soul mates. However, there is some compensation at this juncture
because most of the group would have found their twins and some would
have already merged with their twins. Although most twin souls tend to
be near each other during the last 2 lives, not all are so fortunate. So a few
souls may have to wait for their twins at the border. Every member of the
original group must be enlightened to merge together before they can
start the journey of crossing over to the spiritual realm.

So one can see that from the beginning as primitive man one is able to feel
the presence of a fellow soul mate. There is no logical reason for the
attraction or liking of the soul mate. The feeling is just there. At this prim-
itive stage, one cannot recognize the soul mate as a twin, although the
twin attraction may be the strongest of them all.. That is all. There is no
reason or accounting for it. Throughout the hundreds of thousands of
incarnations, we have wives or husbands and lovers, and if they are not
our twins or soul mates the attraction wanes in the next incarnation. One
must also marry or have lovers from other soul groups, some of whom
have been antagonistic towards our own soul group. Hence the intense

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quarrelling and bickering in marriages. However, one must remember that
no matter whom we marry or have as our family members every experi-
ence in every incarnation is part of our spiritual growth. The reason we
separated in the first place is to gather experience and learn to love uncon-
ditionally. That means we have to breakout of this mold of inbreeding
with our own soul mates and whatever knowledge and wisdom we gather
from other soul groups is to enrich our experience. Even in the same soul
group, every one of the 128 is a different soul. And although the twins are
very similar in character and have almost identical vibrations, they are
again different. Their vibrations in this cohesive total group would have
encoded the tendencies, characteristics and the level of development into
every soul of the group. In other words, the larger the group emitted from
the source, the less developed will the soul mates be and therefore the
mutual attraction is less powerful than the much smaller groups. The
smaller the group and the longer they stayed together, the more developed
they are and, therefore, the stronger will be the mutual attraction. This
principle will continue until the very Old Soul who will incarnate as an
avatar who is composed of a small group of 2, 4 or 8 souls, which do not
subdivide. These remain fused as one Old Soul, a sage or an avatar.
Although an avatar has to go through the same rounds like the rest of us,
he always takes the leading position in whichever kingdom he is in, e.g.
lion in the animal kingdom, an oak tree in the vegetable kingdom or as a
Buddha or Lao-tzu in a human.

Soul Mates
Soul mates are from a unique group that was discharged aeons ago from
the Source. They cohered and were merged for ages as they descend
through all the realms down to the physical. The older and wiser groups
would have stayed together longer and the more similar they would be,
because they would have shared more characteristics when they are
together. They would have imbibed through osmosis so many peculiari-
ties, traits, and tendencies from one another. When the 128 souls are dis-
tributed throughout the 7 billion citizens of the world, the chances of
many soul mates meeting per incarnation are fairly slim. From all the
many acquaintances and friends that we meet and know in this life, how
many have turned out to be close friends? No more than a handful.
Normally it is only one or two. This number would be the same for soul
mates.

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How do we recognize our soul mates? The best way is to improve our
own soul quality in order for our mates to appear. That means we would
recognize the soul in the person. When we meet a soul mate, there is an
instant liking. Then as we come to know him or her better, we find that
there is agreement in things that are important. Our attitude towards life
situations is the same, although our interests may be different. The quali-
ty of our soul level is very similar: we have compassion, empathy, and real-
ize that the purpose of life is to let go. There is no jealousy arising, and
the harmony and love that are flowing to and fro would make us happy in
each other’s presence. The love energy between two soul mates can only
be surpassed by the love between twin souls. Whilst the love of twin souls
is always with the opposite sex that of soul mates can be with both.
Strong and lasting homosexual love between two individuals is almost
always between soul mates and not twin souls unless one of the twins has
decided to change sex for that particular incarnation. Neither is it likely
between souls of two different groups. A twin in spirit may guide a
grounded twin.

Each soul is supposed to experience everything in the universe before its

return to the source. It is definitely impossible for a single soul to do this.
Therefore, the scheme of group soul has been formulated in order that
each soul can go out and experience as much as possible, but there is no
necessity for each to gather all the experiences. When they finally assem-
ble together they would have accumulated and aggregated enough knowl-
edge and wisdom for the whole group, as the sum of the total cargo
would be adequate for the entire group to pass the test. The total experi-
ence and knowledge is assimilated by all and sundry, and therefore every
soul in the group would be just as knowledgeable as the whole group.

The second point in the function of the grouping is the return. Alone, the
single soul cannot find its way back to the Source. They can only find their
way back when joined as the original group. The group is now greatly
enlarged because of its cargo of love and wisdom, although the numbers
are the same as before. One can see the joy and happiness of the whole
group joined together as a cohesive whole, bubbling its way back to the
Source, joining up with other groups on the way up.

As a group the karma earned must now be shared by all. When one soul

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goes astray, the entire group has to pay for it. So one soul may delay the
cross over and ascent of the whole group. However, as some of the souls
in the group have done well, so the entire group would also enjoy the
fruits thereof.

Soul Mates within a Family

Do soul mates tend to aggregate in one genetic family? The answer is not
often. If they do incarnate in one genetic family, it would be mostly two
to three in number. The usual number is two. Genetically they would be
sister and brother, father and daughter or mother and son or husband and
wife. Except as husband and wife, twin souls very rarely incarnate in the
same family. This is because of the incestuous tendencies in the other
combinations. Some cases of incest between father and daughter is due to
the fact that they are twin souls. In the other combinations, certainly
favoritism would arise, and that would lead to jealousy and guilt. The soul
mates in the same family would not know of the reason for their fond-
ness for each other, let alone for the other members outside the soul
group to realize this affinity.

Needless to say, the best arena for spiritual practice is in the earthly fam-
ily. The diversity of souls from different soul groups and the different lev-
els of maturity provide the right mix and background for all the members
in the family to practice. The more advanced members of the family will
be able to pull up the less developed members. The challenges, the
inequalities and the petty jealousies are all excellent material for growth.
Although the souls in one family usually fall into a vibrational range, some
of them may come from different soul groups and even from different
universes. In the latter cases, the number and extent of conflicts can be
quite horrendous, testing the members of the earth family to breaking
point. Then there may arise misunderstanding, tension and embittered
battles, which will be the perfect scenario for evil forces to intervene. At
this point, drug and alcohol addiction, child and wife abuse and murder
etc could enter this power play. Heavy karma is then incurred. This pre-
cipitate evolution is forced upon the family, as they were too tardy and
lackadaisical hitherto. The resistance to growth has resulted in the pain
and suffering as a wake up call. Therefore, we can now understand the
process in the genesis of family karma.

Companion Soulmates: this is a subdivision of soul mates in which cou-

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ples in the same group soul have created strong relationships over many
incarnations. They may incarnate as husband and wife, brother and sister,
father and daughter or mother and son. They may also come down as just
mere friends. These companion soulmates might have incarnated togeth-
er for hundreds of times, but they are not twin souls. Their love for each
other is the strongest amongst soul mates, but still it has not the same
magnitude as that of a twin soul.

Soul Mates as Married Couples

The love between two soul mates is very intense and strong. In fact quite
a few of these love affairs have been written up as famous love stories e.g.
"Wuthering Heights," "Romeo and Juliet" and "Gone with the Wind."

That means when soul mates marry, they appear as if they are twin souls,
but the discerning can pick up certain telltale signs, which can differenti-
ate one from the other. Although their love and harmony are usually of a
grand affair, there will still be fuel for spiritual growth. Fuel in this
instance means fodder for disagreements and misunderstandings leading
to fights and even separations. In every crisis, if one is willing to learn
from the mistakes that accrue from the crisis, then it becomes a spiritual
lesson. On the whole, there is much more harmony and peace in a house-
hold headed by two soul mates than a family headed by two souls from
different groups.

All soul mate relationships are purely for spiritual growth. We achieve this
by transforming ourselves, and we can only transform ourselves by learning
from others and by interacting with them. This learning must be repeated
over and over again until the lessons are learned especially through know-
ing ourselves. This could then lead to the soul mates loving themselves and
then one another. Both would then be able to establish a spiritual ideal that
becomes a guiding principle for the whole family to practice with. The ideal
soul-mate parents would tend to set an example to their children hoping
that the children would grow up to be uprighteous.

Lastly, the married soul mates must work up their relationship into a state
of unconditional (soul) love. This love does not ask for any return, thanks
or gratitude, but the one would always place the needs of the other above
his or her own. After achieving this type of love to our soul mates, we

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then learn to do the same with the rest of the family. This commodity of
divine love should then be spread to whoever comes into our acquain-
tanceship. And in this way we should be able to treat everybody as if they
are our soul mates even though they are not from the same soul group.

Soul Mates as Platonic Friends

There are true friendships without sexual involvement. These could be
man-woman friendships or that of the same sex. The friendship is truly
platonic and one friend would literally place the wants and needs of the
other above his or her own. Idle speculators always misunderstood this
type of soul-mate relationship, and they have been wrongly labeled as
homosexual or extramarital relationships. These friendships are invariably
life long. They often triumph over all sorts of adversities and hardships.
The divine or unconditional love of soul mates is here as much as a mar-
ried couple, but no sex is involved. Some of these are companion soul-
mates.

Soul Mates as Comrades

Within some group souls, there may be a coming together of more than
two to three soul mates for a single mission or purpose. These enlarged
gatherings may be seen in political, religious, academic and military
groups. There is also an occasional special, select unit, organized to tack-
le a unique task. You can imagine how concentrated and excited is a group
of researchers embarking on a completely new find, a break through that
is of Noble Prize status. Then, also is the secretive and subversive politi-
cal nucleus, which is enthusiastically working under cover to topple the
existing corrupt government. All the core groups in these earthshaking
endeavours are soul mates with one aim for the good of mankind.

In religion, the exemplary groups are Jesus and his 12 disciples. Jesus is
the grand old soul, the avatar. His 12 disciples are from the same group
soul. Similarly, the other avatar, Gautama Buddha, was also accompanied
by his soul mates. These were his disciples who became enlightened saints,
e.g. Sariputta and Moggallana. From these examples we can see the dedi-
cation with which these soul mates pursued their goal of forming a new
religion for the good of mankind. Near the end not all their disciples had
uniform faith. One can now question whether Judas was truly a soul mate
of Jesus. Or was he from another soul group? I prefer to believe that he

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was from the same group, or else Jesus would not have been crucified.
Because of his crucifixion and his ‘rising from the dead’ that a new reli-
gion was formed.

Groups of Advanced Souls Descending to Service

Throughout the history of the earth, there have been periods during
which groups of advanced souls descend to enrich earth’s art and scien-
tific stature. In music, the era of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and
Haydn has never been repeated. No other period has seen such giants
coming down during such a short span of time. One can also cite the
great master painters like Leonardo daVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael etc
coming down to improve the artistic quality of the earth. Then you have
the great thinkers like Newton, Copernicus, Galileo and Einstein. These
geniuses do not come down together at the same time, but they each bring
down their scientific and philosophical thoughts during a short span of
time e.g. within a couple of centuries, which is short in cosmic time. Then
in psychology one has Freud, Jung, Adler, Rank and Reich. These masters
definitely put psychology on the map. At the moment, you have the
transpersonal psychologists in California, e.g. Ken Wilber, Stanislav and
Christina Grof and Roberto Assagioli. Again throughout history, authors
of great literature came down in waves in different countries like Russia,
China, England and France etc.

These soul-mate groups may not come down at the same time, but their
theme is singular and so is their locality: e.g. Europe and the United States.
The giant musicians are mainly from Austria and Germany. The psychol-
ogists are from Europe. So one can see that their mission or purpose is to
propagate divine music or disseminate art or uplift the standard of sci-
ence. Each group has one aim, and their sole purpose is to promote that
aim. One may also guess that the great English writers appearing during
the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries may come from the same group.

Twin Souls
Twin souls are the last two souls to individualize. They are the last two
peas from the same pod. At that final separation, they vowed to be reunit-
ed after they have completed their earthly duties, before they cross over
to the spiritual realm for the ascent back to the Source. Whilst they were
still fused together in the same pod, their sexual gender is androgynous

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and not male or female. It is only when they finally separate into individ-
uals that they take on their basic gender of male and female. This basic
gender will be with the twins throughout their repeated sojourns on earth
until they meet again to merge. Once they merged they revert back to be
androgynous. Whilst they are alone, whether they are on earth or in spir-
it, although they are either basically male or female, both contain the yang
and yin elements. In other words, both contain male and female charac-
teristics in each of them, and each of them has to balance the male and
female elements to suit their sexual agenda for that incarnation. A basic
male will adjust more yang into his psyche. Similarly, a female will have
more yin in hers. A basic male who wants to be physically female for a
particular incarnation may do so, as he has both elements in his etheric
and other subtle bodies.

Another sure pointer to the fact that we have both gender elements in us
is at the stage of adolescence. A young boy growing up to be an adult
male may have homosexual tendencies like having a crush on another
male, usually someone he hero worships. Then when he finally overcomes
the traumas of adolescence, he becomes a full-blooded male again, with-
out the slightest homosexual tendency left. This is also true of female
adolescence.

We have many soul mates, but each of us has only one twin soul. A twin
soul has every ingredient to be a whole individual. He is not a soul cut into
half. However, as he has shared the same pod for the entire journey down-
ward towards the physical earth with his twin, that attachment and long-
ing for the twin is always there in the subliminal consciousness. The inces-
sant throbbing of desire for the other twin is never far beneath the sub-
conscious. It becomes more and more cogent when the soul nears the
heightened state of enlightenment. That means that as soon as we
become humans we have been working and practicing to achieve the ideal
state to merge with our twin. This could have taken us hundreds of thou-
sands of incarnations. As twin souls are so alike to start with, they must
make the rounds to develop and learn other things so that when they
merge the fused twin souls will be much richer. After the fusion, the enti-
ty will not be twosome but threesome! According to Omraam Mikhael
Aivanhov, ‘a human meets his twin soul twelve times during his incarna-
tions on earth.’ Prior to the ultimate meeting, some of the incarnations

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are fraught with suffering, like Romeo and Juliet. That means that even
though we meet our twin it does not mean a blissful marriage for us. Pain
and suffering beset the twins like the rest, but their love with one anoth-
er is always steadfast. I believe that the last incarnation is different. In this
last lifetime, both will be carrying out a mission for the benefit of
mankind, and this last life on earth should be free of health and wealth
problems. I may be wrong here, but I presume that this should be the
case. Otherwise they cannot carry out their duty or mission well. Edgar
Cayce and his twin soul, Glynn Davis are a good example. Both were
healthy until they died. Glynn died much later, and she was the one that
carried out Edgar Cayce' s work till the day she passed over. Glynn Davis
was Edgar Cayce's secretary for years. She was hard working, dedicated
and methodical and she is the one that recorded all Edgar Cayce's read-
ings for posterity. The twin souls were dedicated to the same service for
mankind.

How to Prepare for Our Twin?

We prepare by growing spiritually, so that we become whole and inde-
pendent. We have to increase our vibrations by eradicating greed, lust and
anger. From our normal selfishness we repeatedly convert it to selfless-
ness. The greatest task is to humble ourselves, otherwise pride would
blind us to our twin. Then comes a stage of divine discontent, which can
be obliterated by forgiveness. Forgive oneself first and then forgive the
others. Then learn to love oneself and then others. In the life before the
one in which we would be meeting our twins we should be well developed
spiritually. Our mission is known, and we would be pursuing our life plan
with determination and joy. There would be self-discipline. One twin
could be running parallel jobs without realizing the presence of the other.
And yet, one twin is helping the other through energy interchange. This
process is not recognized by both. The best way to increase our spiritual
status is to go inwards. Summarizing the methods for preparation to meet
our twin:

Spiritual discipline: Adopt a spiritual discipline, which includes medita-

tion. The latter would accomplish silence and stillness with emptiness of
thoughts. In that silence and stillness a small little voice will surface to let
us know what further steps to take. This discipline would also help us to
eradicate lust, greed, anger, selfishness and pride. It is of course a slow

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process, but with meditation it is faster than any other method. In the
depth of that emptiness and stillness, bliss will automatically arise, and if
one is able to retain that bliss, joy and happiness will be our lot through-
out the day. ‘Be still and know that I am God’.

Let go: While on this path, the essential goal would be to let go. One
must be satisfied with what material comfort that is available to us.
‘Enough is enough’ should be everybody’s motto. The pursuit of the 5 C’s
in the developing and developed countries has been the bugbear. They
work furiously just to acquire (1) cars, (2) condominium, (3) credit cards,
(4) career, and (5) clubs membership to neurotic proportions. They forget
that we cannot take it with us. A story here would illustrate this point bril-
liantly. A young student is sent overseas to study certain skills. This over-
seas country has a currency control. No money may be brought in or
taken out of the country. However the student may earn a living to feed
himself and pay for his tuition fees. The scholarship is for ten years. So
he took a part time job while studying the skills that he was sent to learn.
This part time job was so successful that in two years he made it a full time
job. Then he acquired a flat, a car with credit cards. He joined prestigious
clubs of that country, and he made his lucrative job his career, forgetting
what he went there for. The skills that he went to learn were compassion,
wisdom and unconditional love. All these were totally forgotten. So by the
end of ten years at which time he has to go home, he failed miserably to
acquire these skills. Neither could he bring home all his wealth because
the foreign country does not allow any expatriation of its currency, and
also his home country does not use money. The currency in his home is
karma and merit. This is exactly what happens to all of us, except that the
length of overseas study is between 50 to 80 years and not ten. And the
country of our foreign study is planet earth. Our home is the spirit world.

Our path and skills: We are all endowed with certain skills, carried over
from past lives. We follow our propensities and the one that gives us the
most happiness should be grasped and developed as a profession or voca-
tion. It may not be lucrative at all, but nevertheless it is satisfying. With
this talent as his lifework he may be able to earn a living as well as provide
a service to mankind. That means if one’s job were to help the handi-
capped, the aged sick or retarded children then one’s occupation would
also be part of one’s spiritual growth. If our work is to teach the young,

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equally one should put one’s heart and soul into the teaching and not
merely take the teaching as earning one’s keep. The teacher should also
instill spiritual qualities in his instructions.

Nature and Nurture: In our recreation, one should indulge in nature.

Exercising on the beach or in the woods or amongst the trees is par excel-
lence. Walking in the woods, swimming in the seas and gardening to grow
flowers and bushes for beauty should be actively cultivated. Other forms
of recreations should include appreciation of classical music. Mozart,
Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert and Mahler are the music of choice. If one
is not familiar with these composers, try to learn to appreciate them.
Loud, rock music especially of the hard metal variety should be avoided
at all costs, because these types of music would definitely end up in deaf-
ness and it also arouses our third chakra to unseemly proportions. Lastly,
one should care for this body and mind. Proper food, vegetables and fish,
and avoidance of alcohol, drugs and smoking constitute clean living. Then
enough rest in the form of sleep should do for the ordinary person, but
for the spiritually minded, meditation is a must.

The penultimate step: From now onwards we must behave as if every

relationship could possibly be the ultimate one. She or he may not be the
right one, but at least we know how to behave when we finally meet the
real twin. Every time we enter into a relationship, we treat the other per-
son as if he or she is our twin. The other person’s happiness must be
above our own. We go to great lengths to make the other happy and
secure even to our own detriment. One must remember that at this penul-
timate stage, both twins are on the verge of enlightenment and periods of
loneliness or solitude invariably accompanies the seekers. These periods
of loneliness are a false sense of separation from our soul. Therefore,
meditating inwards to realize our true self is an immediate solution. When
our true self is realized, bliss is there. The loneliness and sadness will van-
ish right away with the light accompanying the soul.

Recognizing the Twin

Twin souls have the same vibrations. They come form the same mould,
although not from the same womb. They are like one person bisected into
two, but not one soul divided into two. Therefore, even after millions of

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years of separation, when they meet they know instinctively that that this
is the twin. Their vision, feeling and purpose are one. They see the same
vision from the same spot, unlike two other people with two different sets
of eyes, which see the same scene juxtaposed with one another. The twin
souls see the same scene with their combined third eye. The scene arous-
es the same feeling in both, although both are of different personalities.
In fact what they see may even be complimentary. This must be the case,
as they are now brought together for a single purpose. The feeling for
each other is nothing less than divines love. The unconditionality of their
love equals loving your neighbour as thyself or loving the other as your-
self. One does not love the other despite the other’s faults; one loves the
other for the other’s faults as much as for the other’s virtues.

The love of twin souls is an ideal to be copied by all. The harmony and
care do not allow of envy, irritation or exasperation for the other. Pain
and suffering are not allowed to emerge from either party. If there is any
infliction of pain it is due to an error of omission or lack of awareness.
There is absolutely no intention to hurt.

The First Meeting

As mentioned by Omraam Mikhael Ivahov, twin souls meet about twelve
times in our human incarnations. That means before this last sojourn,
there could have been at least eleven previous meetings. Every meeting
would have been melodramatic, memorable and electric. According to
Sufi teachings, twin souls are like two Roman rings interlocking with each
other. They may come very close when they enter a relationship in an
incarnation, which means the two rings almost superimpose. But when
they separate due to disagreements or reincarnating in different countries,
the rings try to break away, but it is not possible. They remain inter-linked
throughout their sojourns on earth and during intermissions in spirit.
There is always a varying amount of common space between the two
rings. During any twin-soul encounter, it is bound to be hypnotically
momentous. A special feeling of energy seems to pass from one to the
another beyond their control. This passage of energy is both nice and
exciting. This is twin soul recognizing one another without involving the
intellect. These twin souls encounter the same feeling and the same qual-
ity of love and it means the end of their loneliness. However, not all meet-
ings of twin souls end well. Some cannot even get together. Some divorce

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after marriage, and they die without fulfillment. Of course, these are not
their last incarnations.

Now in the last meeting before their ascent to the spiritual realms, both
twins are either enlightened or nearly so. Therefore at this stage the recog-
nition must be mutual. As they are so developed their mission in this last
incarnation has a common purpose. Having the same aspirations, both
would be working for the good of humanity. Their same intensity of love
and compassion would make them persistent in their common pursuit.
One could be the leader or innovator whilst the other is the steady work-
horse. Both must be preferably, in either in arts or in science. So that the
effort is not dissipated by one being in the arts and the other in science.
However, this fact is not essential. Their common goal is generally to
uplift and enhance the quality of humanity. Both could be in the healing
profession or in the promotion of arts etc. Even if they do not work in
the same place, having the same vision their work could become compli-
mentary, since they have the same preferences, tastes and predilection.
Their mental capacity is of the same order. Their tastes in food, music and
sense of humour are all the same. Both will either like the mountains or
the sea. Their handwriting and the lines on their palms are similar. At this
stage of development, they both possess a polished sense of humour and
are good-natured. One could go on ad nauseam. You have to meet a cou-
ple of twin souls yourself to see how much in unison they behave. Of
course, as human beings there may be twin souls who still have some dif-
ferences and friendly competition may ensue. The outcome is the better-
ment of humanity. The so-called fight would not last long and the make-
up is the sweeter. Sometimes twin souls appear to be doing the same thing
at the same time, e.g. writing letters to one another at the same time.

Before the meeting, the twins usually can sense that the time is coming
near for them to meet. Then when they meet during the last incarnation,
the charged electricity and explosion would indicate in no uncertain terms
that ‘this is it’. However, this is not the end. Rather, it is the beginning of
an ongoing process in this last incarnation. Both have still to develop and
practice. Both have to continue to work at themselves so that their per-
fection will entitle them to journey in the spiritual realms forever never to
return to earth.

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When they do meet, the age difference is of no consequence to them. The
disparity could be as much as fifty years, but it is totally of no importance
to the twins. They do not try to change each other for both accept each
other as they are. Both are usually in the same state of health: both are
either healthy or both are in the same state of incapacity. Both normally
have strong telepathic linkages, and if one is sad so is the other.
Conversely, happiness in one very often infects the other even though
they may be thousands of miles apart. Lastly, both tend to incarnate into
similar social circumstances; otherwise some difficulties may arise due to
the disparate social status.

False Twin
Sometimes in our enthusiasm we see a twin when he or she is not one. In
a joyful relationship, the mistake is understandable. However, the mistake
may be stretched until both parties are hurt, more so by the dreamer. We
grab at the similarities and enlarge them to fantasy level. Then when the
relationship is dying, when everybody else can see it, the illusion is still
perpetuated to our great cost.

With our karma we formulate our G-plan (life plan) before coming down
to earth. Our G-plan can still be modified or changed because of our free-
dom of choice. On the other hand in the matter of our twin, there is no
choice. From the moment we individualize, our twin is destined to come
back to us in the final incarnation. No amount of imagination or wishing
can bring forth our twin at the time we want it.

In our loneliness, we are very vulnerable. We ourselves may construct the

delusion and the make belief will drive us further away from our true
twin. So-called gurus, who will pronounce to a lonely woman that she is
his twin soul, may also accentuate the illusion. After some time the guru
will discard this ‘twin’ and go for another. The same ploy is used. Because
he is a guru the woman tends to believe him implicitly. Sometimes the
guru even mentions that he has two twins! This false guru dazzles the dis-
ciple with his light, as the victim wants to believe because of her loneli-
ness, and it is better to have a twin who is a guru than to have one who is
an ordinary person.

The time to meet our twin is beyond our control. It entirely depends on

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the spiritual progress of the twins. After sounding the warning above, I
would like to end this section with a cheerful note. As we cross over to the
Aquarian age, there will be many meetings of twin souls, much more than
hitherto. This is the good news. That also means that at each meeting the
twosome will emit a light much brighter than the sum of two. It also
means that with so many twins joining up throughout the whole world,
there will be a great proliferation of lights across the globe, and this on its
own will change the consciousness of planet earth. We would certainly be
entering the age of enlightenment during this Aquarian age.

Twin Soul Sex

When they do meet, physical sex will not be the end all and be all of all
pleasures. Of course, they still enjoy sexual pleasure, but it is no more the
ultimate. It is love between two bodies as well as two souls. At this pres-
ent age very few twins are already consummating their union in spirit.
Physically they do not have to be together. They may be thousands of
miles apart, but their spirits meet and conjoin. The joy and pleasure is
much more satisfying than physical lovemaking. This is the opinion of all
those who have experienced it.

Twin Soul Difficulties

When twin souls first meet even in their final incarnation, some of them
will have differences in physical, emotional and intellectual content of the
two personalities. Firstly, one soul has to adjust his difficulties within him-
self. Then he has to match whatever he has to the other. That means he
has to clear all his own foibles, needs, cravings and ill will before he meets
his twin as a fully satisfied individual. He should be ready to serve the
other by putting the requirements of the other twin before his own. And
vice versa. The struggle between themselves and together will definitely
go to enhance the twinship. This is so because they have different psy-
chological background and different personalities with emotional diver-
gence. There will be normal conflicts when the two have such a close rela-
tionship, but the conflicts will be rapidly resolved. This is because their
goal is the same. The emotional conflict is almost unbearable because they
are twins. So in order not to see the other suffer, they tend to solve the
problem as soon as possible.

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As they have been travelling by themselves, they have earned good and
bad karma of their own. Once they meet and work together, they must
now try and clear both karmic debts jointly. Similarly, good karma earned
by both independently will be enjoyed by both. In fact, as karma is creat-
ed at the soul level, both have been influenced by the other’s karma imper-
ceptibly.

There will definitely be stress in some couples, and in these they may even
break up temporarily. Some couples will have to suffer together because
of joined karma. There are so many possibilities in so many combinations
and permutations. In some, the different backgrounds and karma would
have brought together two very different individuals. This fact does not
bother them at all. In this instance, "opposites do attract". All the differ-
ences go to complement their lives. So differences in physical, emotional
and psychological make up do not tear them apart irrevocably, because
their souls are joined together like Siamese twins. The compatibility here
is at the spiritual level. That alone counts.

Obstacles to be encountered
The obstacles within the individual should mostly be solved by the time
of the meeting. However, there may be few external obstacles that pres-
ent themselves. One or both twins could have already been married when
they meet. The eternal triangle is usually dealt by the almost enlightened
individuals with accommodation to the existing families. If one were to
hear that someone has walked out on the family to be with his or her twin
soul, one can rest assured that it is not a twin soul union in their final
incarnation. The already committed twin is too responsible and would
continue to honour the pre-existing marriage. The twins will know that
there must be a very good reason for this inconvenience. It could be a test
or because of unresolved karmic obligations. The twins would then
remain as loving friends or colleagues without marriage disruptions. This
is due to fact that they are no more powered by passionate physical sex,
as their love is above that. They may meet at night in spirit for the pur-
pose of uplifting a common cause. They may meet in either the astral or
mental world. They know that their separation is temporary and nothing
in the world can stop their final union. Of course very occasionally their
meeting could precipitate a marriage breakup, but this is with a marriage
that is already collapsing. The breakup may induce some benefit to the

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aggrieved members, who can start anew with their own new partners.
With this in mind, the twins who are uniting in this last incarnation, would
have cultivated fidelity, joy, love and trust, and their union would be as
solid as a rock.

However, there may still be a few cases, where one soul has not reached
the same level as the other. One partner may outgrow the other, and the
demands of the less developed may be irksome to most other partners.
However to the developed twin this mild set back must be met with tol-
erance and patience, otherwise the growth may be stunted. At this junc-
ture it is a shame to let the stunting be a deterrent for further growth. For
instance, if one soul were to suffer from some neurotic illness, this fact
may be detrimental for both. So the care-giving partner has to sacrifice his
smooth progression to confront the neurotic partner with the truth of the
difficulty. This may rock the marriage, but it has to be done. You do not
spare the rod because you are afraid to hurt the naughty child. The soft
stance will hurt the child more at a later date. This self-sacrifice must be
persistent and long standing otherwise it will not work, for most neurotic
diseases are brought over from past lives. The effort is worth it for it is
for the mutual good of both, and the reward is enlightenment with the
ultimate union with one’s twin. Thence the cross over to the higher spiri-
tual realms never to return to earth again!

Conclusion
Every body on earth has been drawing closer and closer to his or her twin
soul, whether they know it or not, whether they want it or not. The jour-
ney of this search started the minute we individualize aeons ago. In the
earlier stages, we were ignorant of this treasure hunt. We just obeyed our
instincts and desires. It is only now when we are crossing over to the
Aquarian age that we are much more aware of the reason for this path.
There appears to be some degree of urgency in this search, just because
we are nearing the end of our search. When we are going to meet our twin
is not for us to know. It can be tomorrow or even the next life. As in the
mystic path, when one finds oneself in the ‘dark night of the soul’, one
knows that the time is nigh. At this stage of our search, the loneliness is
intense. This darkness of sadness, suffering and pain has no end in sight.
However, lo and behold one’s twin suddenly turns up at the next corner!
She could be the nurse, doctor or the social worker. Or the twin may be

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at the church gathering that you started to attend. One never knows, but
the twin will certainly appear. If it is not in this life, then it will be the next
life at the latest. So do not despair. The twin will definitely turn up. You
have no choice in this matter.

References
1. Twin Souls – A Guide to Finding Your True Spiritual Partner by Patricia
Joudry and Maurie Pressman MD. Published by Element Books.
2. Cords That Cannot Be Broken – A Study Of Twin Souls by Judith Merville.
Published by Regency Press.
3. St. Germain: Twin Souls and Soulmates channeled through Azena Ramanda
and Claire Heartsong. Published by Triad.
4. Edgar Cayce on Soul Mates—Unlocking the Dynamics of Soul Attraction. By
Kevin J. Todeschi. Published By A.R.E. Press

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 The Anatomy of the Soul.
" There are no conditions to fulfil. There is nothing to be done nothing to be given up.
Just look and remember, whatever you perceive is not you, nor yours. It is there in the
field of your consciousness, but you are not the field and its contents, nor even the know-
er of the field. It is your idea that you have to do things that entangle you in the results
of your efforts. The motive, the desire, the failure to achieve, the sense of frustration--
---all this holds you back. Simply look at whatever happens and know that you are
beyond it."

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Introduction
Every soul is pure consciousness. It arises from the Absolute, the
Parabrahman. In the Absolute everything is included and nothing is
excluded. In the Absolute there is no individuality, no individual essence
and no mind. There is absolutely no differentiation and it has been in this
state from eternity. From this Absolute (non-beingness) a Beingness
emerges. The sprouting of this droplet of pure consciousness is named
the atman, the soul. The characteristics of the soul (atman) are sat-chit-
ananda in Hinduism. Sat means Being. Chit is consciousness. And ananda
is bliss. In other words another description of the soul is ‘blissful being of
consciousness’. Beingness is at the level where gods and deities reside. On
further differentiation, Beingness becomes I am. This is the moment an
individual being is designated. As soon as I am is infused into an individ-
ual soul it is called spirit before birth. At this level before birth, Beingness
and I am are composed of pure consciousness. The second I am incar-
nates into a human body and when it identifies with the body, this con-
sciousness is contaminated by the mind. Beingness can be felt every
morning for a few seconds at the time of waking before the mind intrudes
to take over. Beingness is also present during deep sleep when there is no
self or individuality. From birth the soul begins to acquire all attributes of
an individual until the characteristics, qualities and samskaras consolidate
into an ego. Summarizing the above process, the Absolute (Cosmic
Consciousness) gives rise to Beingness (pure consciousness), which in
turn differentiate into I am (the individual consciousness). Although after
Beingness sprouts out from Cosmic Consciousness, it will develop its

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individuality only when I am comes into existence. From here on the spir-
it (composite soul) will release into each incarnation a small percentage of
itself. When this atman identifies with the body-mind as a separate indi-
vidual in the world, it becomes a jiv-atman. A general estimate is that an
average person would bring down 10% of its composite soul from the
spirit. Much later after numerous incarnations when the individual is
much more developed he can siphon more and more down into his phys-
ical body when the need requires. This may explain why some of these
developed people possess varying amount of psychic powers, depending
on their proclivity to these powers. On the other hand some enlightened
saints do not have the slightest inclination for these powers at all, but they
still may bring down more than 10% to utilize the wisdom, love and com-
passion acquired so far.

Anatomy of the Spirit

The soul is not a unified entity. It is a composite structure like that of an
orange. There are many ‘cotyledons’ in one soul. There is a suggestion
that more cotyledons are added as each spirit matures with wisdom. That
means each composite soul is multifaceted and multidimensional. Whilst
still in the spirit world, this total composite soul is called a spirit. Before
the spirit (beingness) arises from the Absolute, there is no knowledge of
individuality. It is pure universal consciousness. As soon as I am is formed
the spirit becomes an individual consciousness. Now it is time to enter
into the time-space continuum i.e. earth. This process of coming into the
world is repeated many times. However, at each incarnation only a small
percentage of the spirit is sent down to experience life. This small portion
of spirit is called jiv-atman (incarnated soul).This soul is still part of and
strongly attached to its own spirit (the composite soul). The main reason
why the spirit sends down only a small percentage is because while gath-
ering experience and love, it also has to work out the karma it has accu-
mulated from past lives. In the Absolute, there is no karma because there
is no individual. Karma can only be earned when I am exists. At the peak
of experience after many lives when suffering and sorrow are untenable
the individual decides to opt out of the rat race. At this stage his total
karma is too large to be cleared in one life. So only a portion is sent down
in each incarnation to be dealt with, but new karma earned in that life will
also be added to the total karma of the individual. During these earthly
incarnations, experiences and gathering of love and wisdom must also be

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carried out. So how does the individual spirit deal with this heavy load? It
is dealt with by apportioning out a percentage of the spirit to each incar-
nation.

Evidence that the Spirit is a Composite

The following are some of the facts and legends to suggest that the spir-
it is not a unified whole:

The Goddess of Mercy--- Kuan Yin

Although this is a legendary, celestial Bodhisattva, Buddhism expounds
the fact that this deity has multiple components. The progenitors of Kuan
Yin are the Tibetan Avalokitesvara (Chenresigs), Tara and the Chinese
Princess, Miao Shan. Kuan Yin is all these three combined and more.
Avalokitesvara (Alvalokita) was born from a ray of light that sprang from
Amitabha Buddha’s right eye. His existence was known four to five thou-
sand years ago. He is the secondary emanation of the energy of compas-
sion. According to the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, Avalokitesvara
(Avalokita) had 337 earthly incarnations. All these incarnations were males
except for one, in which he was a female Balaka horse. Therefore
Avalokitesvara is almost always male but he has the ability to assume the
female form. Avalokita has been worshipped from India, Nepal, Tibet,
and Mongolia to Cambodia in the eighth to the eleventh centuries. In the
seventh century, Avalokita was introduced into Tibet from India. The
mantra OM MANI PADME HUM has always been associated with him.
As a Bodhisattva of compassion both in India and Tibet he has often
been depicted in statues as a tall, huge male Deity composing of eleven
heads with a thousand eyes and a thousand arms, the easier to succour as
many people at the same time. On the other hand Kuan Yin has always
been a female Goddess for centuries. Avalokita is Indian and Kuan Yin is
Chinese. And yet both represent the same being. How did this transition
come about?

This came about through a tertiary embodiment of compassion, Tara, of

Indo-Tibetan origin. Tara is a beautiful female divinity who is able to man-
ifest herself in 21 different guises in order to succour sentient beings. She
was "Born of a tear shed from by Avalokita in sorrow for the world’. She
is accredited to have 2 functions: (1) rescue beings from present woes and
(2) assisting them to rid themselves of delusions binding to samsara.

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These are the very duties of Kuan Yin! As the Chinese would prefer a
more appealing deity than the multi-headed and multi-armed Avalokita,
the female representation in the form the beautiful Tara is just the embod-
iment they want. Thus the male Avalokita is now embodied in the female
form of Tara. In Tibet, there is a green and a white Tara. White Tara nor-
mally manifests during the day, whilst Green Tara usually appears at night.
There are also other Taras e.g. a Red Tara. From this lovely form of Tara,
it can be seen that there is no difficulty of assimilating the Chinese
Princess Miao Shan, a historical princess of compassion, in to the ultimate
Kuan Yin. Many stories abound with regards to Miao Shan as a possible
reincarnation of Kuan Yin. All the stories tell of the purity and the dedi-
cation of Miao Shan and her personification of compassion. Miracles
galore are also associated with these stories.

The main point to emerge from all the above stories with regard to all
these Bodhisattvas is that they can be at many different places at one time
to succour many sentient beings. This multiple component of a single
soul is what one would garner from the Kuan Yin mythology, although
most worshippers of Kuan Yin do not take Kuan Yin as a myth. They
take her as a real Bodhisattva. That means if a thousand supplications are
made to her simultaneously, she is able to help all of them all at once. As
a matter of fact multiple requests have been answered simultaneously all
the time. That means she is multidimensional in the true sense of the
word, and that her soul has at least 1,000 cotyledons.

Bilocation
Bilocation is quite often reported with normal individuals and highly
developed personalities. A wife who has just left the husband in the sit-
ting room suddenly sees him in the bedroom as well. A healer who is
sleeping peacefully in the early hours of the morning in his own bedroom
is seen visiting patients in hospitals, especially when there are cries for
help. Several friends and relatives simultaneously in different parts of the
world see the spirit of a person who has just died

Padre Pio of San Giovanni of Rotondo in Southern Italy.

This Roman Catholic priest was born on 25.05.1887 in Pietrelchina and
died on 23.09.1968 in San Giovanni. At 15 he entered the Capuchin
Novitiate at Morcone and was ordained a priest at the age of 23. On the

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20th September 1918 he was marked with 5 stigmata wounds: his two
hands and two feet and the heart at San Giovanni Rotondo. These stig-
mata bled every day for 50 years. The blood had a fragrance like a per-
fume, which usually betrays his invisible presence. He never suffered from
anaemia throughout these years. He was also endowed with bilocation,
prophecy, telepathy and the gift of tongues. He was particularly attached
to his Guardian Angel. He also had to struggle and fight with all sorts of
internal enemies of the most grotesque varieties. All these battles were his
lot to prove his love for the ones he loved. Besides his first love for Jesus,
his forte was in the confessional. With his telepathic powers he was able
to tell those that came to confess all their sins before they open their
mouths. This was a great advantage over all the other priests, and numer-
ous parishioners return to the Sacrament of Penance totally guided by
him. During the Second World War, British pilots, who were flying to
bomb an Italian city, saw him in the sky re-directing them away from the
target. These British planes finally went back to England without accom-
plishing their task. The most relevant psychic power of his is his ability to
bilocate. He is known to be praying in the chapel, but others have seen
him doing chores in different places far away from where he is praying! A
few days before he died, all his wounds disappeared. On 2nd May 1999 in
Rome, he was beatified and is now known as Blessed Padre Pio of
Pietrelcina, the place he was born.

The Five Constituents--- by Shinji Takahashi

This modern Japanese teacher was born in 1927 and died in 1976. He was
a scientist by training and had a very successful business in the electronic
trade. He was a founder of a spiritual movement called ‘God-Like
Association’. He has written several books and quite a few articles. One
of these is called ‘The Five Constituents’. The two books that are well
known are (1) The Man Shakyamuni and (2) The Nature of the Mind.

According to this modern Japanese teacher, each spirit is composed of 6

components. There is a core and 5 other constituents. Although the con-
stituents have different and distinctive physical characteristics, they share
a fair amount of common strengths and weaknesses, and the six have a
common path and goal. The core is responsible for the whole path of the
total spirit and has to correct the karma of the constituents, but each con-
stituent is only responsible only for its own karma. The core overseers the

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behaviour and activities of the entire group. He is the conductor of this
small orchestra and decides what tune is to be played at each incarnation.
The core has a much more responsible task. The core must attain enlight-
enment on its own. When each constituent comes to earth to practice, it
must choose an environment, with which it is easy to attain enlighten-
ment. The other five in spirit will act as spiritual guides to the one in
incarnation. The core or its friend or the constituents’ friends would also
be helping the one practising on earth. In this programme there are four
possible combinations of the five constituents with its core:

1. A male core with five male constituents.

2. A female core with five female constituents.
3. A female core with two female and three male constituents.
4. A male core with two male and three female constituents.

The third and fourth combinations are composed of three males and
three females each and these two combinations tend to balance the pop-
ulation of the earth. If a war depletes the male population, the first com-
bination will predominate the subsequent post war generations. The sec-
ond combination will come into play when some disease has decimated
the female population.

In normal circumstances, the core will incarnate first followed by the five
constituents in rotation. However if one of the constituents has been a
laggard or went astray, he or she will have to comedown to earth for
repeated incarnations until he or she has caught up with the group.

This combination of the core and five constituents fits in nicely to our
idea of a composite soul. In this scenario, the core is the dominant com-
ponent of the composite soul, the spirit.

Seth---As Channelled through Jane Roberts

Jane Roberts channelled this teacher, an energy essence personality in the
sixties when she was alive. Seth at that time need not incarnate into the
physical world anymore. Seth reckons that all of us are living parallel lives
at the same time. That means each spirit, which is a composite soul, is liv-
ing numerous lives simultaneously. There is no past or future. There is
only NOW. The spirit partakes of every life simultaneously. He is acting

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out many personalities in 1685, in 1755, 2050, 2000 and 3000 at this very
moment. In fact in her tapes she was able to record subjects who are able
to move from one personality in one century to another in a different
period very smoothly with no difficulty. This is done in one sitting! This
holistic viewing can only take place in the Now, not of the past or future.
In this way one can change one’s life by changing one’s belief. The present
is the point of power. By altering one’s belief, one can change the past so that
the present and the future in this new line of behaviour can totally change
one’s predicament or illness. Even in normally fatal diseases, one can
change the outcome of these diseases by changing one’s beliefs. In the
same rationale, all these parallel lives are to Seth the reincarnation lives of
that one person. So if one is suffering now, he will bring in an unwhole-
some past life to explain away his present awful life. According to Seth,
the reincarnation lives of people are really being enacted simultaneously
now in the present. While one is living this life knowingly, that individual
also has a host of lives running in a parallel fashion, but the other lives are
being suppressed, so that the present life holds the total focus of his con-
sciousness. The daydreams and normal dreams of that individual are also
the parallel lives of that individual. In other words, Seth’s teachings are par
excellence in expounding the multidimensionality of the composite soul.
The spirit is composed of numerous component souls, which are enact-
ing their realities in different centuries as different individuals, but in actu-
al fact these lives are all part of the one spirit!

The Anatomy of the Soul

Once the soul incarnates, this jiv-atman will have the protection of 5 cov-
erings (koshas).

The First Covering of Bliss

The first covering is that of bliss. Although this first covering reflects the
blissful nature of the soul, it is also the creator of our ignorance. When a
desirable object is obtained, the happiness that manifests is from this
blissful covering. When righteous people are rewarded for their good
deeds, the resulting bliss is due to this covering. When one meditates up
to the Jhanas or absorption states bliss is there. All the joy that exists in
any happy individual results from this covering. One is naturally happy. It
is also present when one is in deep sleep. It may also be present when one
is awake or in a dream state. This superficial state of happiness is an illu-

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sion. This blissful covering is fed by the soul, which is a ‘blissful being of
consciousness’.

The Second Covering of the Subtle Bodies---Auras and

Chakras
The auras with their chakras are the second covering. These are the sub-
tle bodies. They are sustained by prana, the life force. It is through these
associated chakras that prana can be fed to the individual. It is also due to
prana that the physical body is kept alive. Prana vitalises our human body.
It is as essential as oxygen. It provides us with energy, without which we
cannot act. If any chakra is blocked and no prana can be absorbed, the
organs under the influence of that chakra will be diseased.

There are at least 7 auric bodies. These auric bodies interpenetrate each
other, and each body is of higher vibration than the one beneath it. The
first auric body is the etheric body, which is the framework for the physi-
cal body. It interpenetrates the physical and extends about a quarter to two
inches beyond the physical body. The etheric body came before the phys-
ical body. It duplicates every physical organ. This is the aura that every
person can see with the naked eye. Similarly, the next aura, the emotional
aura interpenetrates the underlying etheric and physical bodies. Each aura
is more rarefied than the one beneath. Although we know that there are
at least 7 auric bodies, some clairvoyants reckon there are more. These
seven auric bodies are: (1) The Etheric Body, (2) The Emotional Body, (3)
The Mental Body (4) The Astral Body, (5) The Etheric Template Body (6)
The Celestial Body and (7) The Causal Body. Ordinarily, clairvoyants can
see only the first 3 auric bodies, but in order to see the more subtle ones,
the clairvoyant must go into meditation. If a yogi can see the 6th aura, the
Celestial Body, he probably has reached the ‘I am’ state. When he can see
the 7th body, the Causal Body, he has reached the ‘beingness’ state.
Beyond this is the Absolute.

Each auric body has at least 7 chakras attached. That means with 7 auric
bodies, there are at least 49 chakras throughout one human body. All the
chakras are located in the same anatomical positions, so that each locale
has a pile of 7 chakras packed like ice-cream cones. An 8th chakra has also
been mentioned.

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The Third Physical Covering
The moment one is conceived, the physical body is formed. Although
physically it grows the fastest, it may also be short-lived. This body can die
any day after birth, and its life span is between one second to more than
a hundred years. Food and water sustain this physical body. The moment
one identifies with the body, one is trapped into samsara, the cycles of
birth and death due to ignorance. If both arms and legs are amputated,
the person can still live. Therefore it cannot be the true self. Thinking that
the body is the self is the most delusional of all our follies. This identifi-
cation with the body coincides with the perception of objects, which will
be claimed as mine. This corporal foundation of the ego then starts to
desire material possessions and this is the beginning of a full conceptual
separation from the Absolute. This is the beginning of suffering and sor-
row.

The Fourth Covering of Emotion and Intellect

The fourth covering is composed of emotions and their associated intel-
lect. According to the teachings of Vedanta, this covering is the discrimi-
nating faculty with its powers of intelligence and the organs of percep-
tion. It has the faculty of knowing and acting. It is also this fourth cover-
ing that identifies itself with the body and it’s sense organs. In other words
it is an essential component of the ego, which is a false self. It is the indi-
vidual in the man. It acts by being propelled by emotions and it accumu-
lates karma and samskaras. With all the previous tendencies and impres-
sions the individual earns negative and positive karma, which are kept in
the auras. This 4th covering of the emotion and intellect is invariably mis-
taken for the soul, but it is only a garment of the soul. The other trap is
that this covering of the intellect shines with a bright light because of its
proximity with the shining soul, which resides in the vicinity of the heart
chakra. Again this bright light is also mistaken for the soul.

The Fifth Covering of the Mind

The fifth and last covering is the mind. Together with the organs of per-
ception, it forms the mental covering. This is the locale where ignorance
dwells. It is the mind that can differentiate objects to the extent that
desires arise, and the sense of I and mine is developed. Ignorance fuels
the mind with craving and desire, thus leading the individual to bondage

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life after life. This is the way the universe of subject and objects is formed.
The mind creates the attachment to the body and things of the world.
Paradoxically, it is also the mind that can unravel our attachment and lead
us to discrimination and dispassion. Thereby we can be free to work our
way towards enlightenment. It is the greatest delusion when the mind is
identified as the soul. Similarly, the mind causes us to be reborn time and
again in pursuit of the 5 poisons: desire, anger, pride, selfishness and
ignorance. Therefore it is paramount that we purify our minds first with
meditation. When the mind is purified by correct meditation then all lust
and desires will disappear. Thence the path leading to self-realisation is
made easier. With meditation, the mind can be seen to be transient, and
therefore cannot be the soul. Behind all thoughts there is our primordial
voidness and silence. This is Beingness.

Karma and Samskaras

Around the soul with its 5 coverings there are also the attachments of
karma and samskaras. The latter are impressions and accumulated
imprints of past experiences, which determine one’s desires and actions.

In other words, when one dies, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th coverings maybe
sloughed off at death depending on the developmental state of the indi-
vidual. The 2nd (physical) and the 3rd (auric) coverings are the first to go.
The 4th (emotional) covering will be dropped when the spirit goes to the
mental realm. Then when the spirit ascends to the spiritual realms the 5th
(mind) covering is also shed. The first, blissful covering still remains
endowed with its karmic attachments and samskaras. The minute one is
reborn the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th coverings will reconsolidate around one’s
soul (jiv-atman). These coverings are associated with one’s karma and
samskaras. That means we start life at that stage from which we ended our
past life. It is with our karma and samskaras that we worked the blue print
of our G-plan in the spirit world before birth. In other words, if we are
not yet enlightened, in the spirit world we are still deluded by maya and
the blissful covering of our soul. This is the situation even though our ego
(body, emotion and mind) is not present in the spirit world. Maya is the
principle of ignorance and the creator of illusion. It is there as long as we
do not realise our own soul.

The Ego
Let us summarise the sequence of events leading to the formation of the

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ego. The Absolute, the Ultimate State of Consciousness, sprouts out a
portion of itself to form a Beingness. This Beingness, which is destined
to be a human, then differentiates into I-am-ness. Up to this stage,
although it is destined to be separate, there is no knowledge of individu-
ality yet. The Beingness is still in spirit. It is in this realm that the G-plan
is formulated. The Hindus call the G-plan prarabdha, which is defined as
this present life’s destiny according to one’s karma. The knowledge of
individuality comes much later, after birth. After sexual intercourse by the
parents, and at the moment the ovum is fertilised by the sperm a portion
of the spirit is sent down to the new embryo. This portion in incarnation
is called jiv-atman. This newly conceived being has still no idea of indi-
viduality. After nine months in the womb, a baby is born. Even at this
stage the baby does not have the sense of a separate individual. The infant
continues to deem that it and the mother are one. This symbiotic life con-
tinues until the child is 8 weeks old. The separate feeling comes only after
he has learned to sit, crawl, walk and talk. This sense of being a separate
individual continues to be built up until adulthood. Before the child reach-
es the age of seven, he or she would have developed a personality of its
own. Before long or even before seven years, in some an ego is estab-
lished. The ego is made up of the physical body, the emotions and the
intellect. The first identification with self is the physical body. The child
feels it when he hurts himself, when he is hungry and when he wants to
urinate or defecate. Narcissism may not be exhibited before the age of
ten; but it may be implanted in him during this period. Narcissism is in
full bloom in the teens, when he or she begins to take pains over his or
her appearances. This narcissism may continue until death, although nor-
mally it subsides after middle age.

The blowing up of the ego to enormous proportion is the peak of suf-

fering

Late in adult life the idea that the body is self begins to wane with deep
reflection. He now thinks that the mind (emotion and intellect) is the true
self. ‘I think, therefore I am’ is now the credo. And this is the period
onwards when the ego is consolidated and enlarged depending on the
standard of education. The higher the education, the greater will the ego
be expanded. In the same vein, the reverse psychology is that a low stan-
dard of education may result in an inferiority complex. Whatever it is the

318
majority of people do not realise that the ego is only a projected image of
the mind. In truth it has no reality at all. With this mental projection, the
ego can be blown up, and often times it is blown out of proportion to the
individual’s real worth. It then becomes a bubble very vulnerable to pin-
pricks. The formation of the ego and the pumping up of it to such an
enormous size can only happen due to Maya, the cosmic illusion. This is
the primordial illusion of identification with the body-mind complex as
self, separate from the rest. This great pride usually accompanies the aca-
demic, the highly educated and the materially successful.

Therefore whilst in incarnation and for some even in the spirit world after
death the ego is the greatest obstacle towards enlightenment. In the astral
and mental realms, the 4th and 5th coverings of the soul are still in tact.
That means the emotions and mind are still present. The 4th covering will
be sloughed off when the spirit is promoted to the mental realm. Beyond
the mental realm the 5th covering is also shed in the higher spiritual
realms. Therefore with further development, the ego is finally destroyed
in the spiritual realms. Hitherto, this illusion of the ego life after life pre-
vents us from realising who we really are. With ignorance, there is no way
the ego will allow one to return to I-am-ness. However, long before I am
can be realised, the practitioner must absolutely disavow that the body and
mind are not self. This is essential. Contemplation of the truth and cor-
rect meditation into emptiness are crucial steps in the spiritual path.

Let us follow the steps again:

1. The Absolute (The Ultimate State of Consciousness) - Cosmic

Consciousness

2. Beingness - Pure consciousness in spirit

3. I-am-ness - Pure consciousness in embryo

4. Birth à Infant à Baby -Symbiotic life up to 8 weeks (individual

consciousness)

5. Crawling and walking child-----Sense of individuality is being

formed (individual consciousness)

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 6. 1 to 3 years a personality is formed, and the body is deemed as
self (first intimation of ego)

7. 3 to 10 years, the mind intrudes itself as a dominant force, the

ego.

8. After 7 years the body, emotion and intellect would have consoli-
dated the ego

9. Enlargement and inflation of the ego continues until the peak of

sorrow and suffering
10. Thence onwards this individual on the spiritual path would ask
the questions ‘who am I?’ and ‘why am I here?’

11. The true spiritual path is the reversal of the above sequence of
steps.

Recapitulation
Our Source is the Absolute, the Ultimate State of Consciousness, which
is also Cosmic Consciousness. The Absolute is non-dual and has no past
or future. Everything is in the Now. Everything in every universe is includ-
ed in It. Nothing is outside It. From this ocean of Cosmic Consciousness
a droplet of pure consciousness emerges. This is Beingness. This spirit
possessing no mind has no idea of individuality. It knows only It is. This
is the Causal Realm, which is free from karma or samskaras. It is thought-
free and word-free. Although there is potential to be an individual, there
is no sense of an individuality yet. The moment I-am-ness is infused into
the atman (the soul), the potential of being an individual is instituted. The
soul at this stage is called a spirit and is in the Celestial Realm. One step
down in the Etheric Template Realm, karma and samskaras of that indi-
vidual is infused into this spirit at this level. This infusion may take place
in the lower levels as well, depending on the stage of development of the
individual. So it may take place in the Astral, the Mental, the Emotional
and Etheric as well. The infusion of an individual’s samskaras and karma
fits in well with Gautama Buddha’s Annata doctrine (that is karma and
samskaras is infused into the individual only after I-am-ness is in place
within a conception). In the Etheric Template and lower realms the spirit
is a composite structure and it is termed Self by some. In these realms a

320
G-plan with its sacred contracts is formulated. When the spirit sends
down a portion of itself into a conception, the Beingness has already dif-
ferentiated into a ‘I am’. It then further descends down the next stage to
form an embryo. From the higher realms, e.g. the Celestial, the spirit has
to spiral down the other realms, (namely, the Etheric Template, the Astral,
the Mental, the Emotional and the Etheric) before the atman enters the
embryo. These are the coverings (koshas) and the garments of the atman
and they are required as equipment and vehicles to experience the earth.
As soon as that portion of atman is entrenched in the embryo it is called
jiv-atman (the atman in a body). It is only in the physical world that the
five coverings (koshas) are in place. This I-am-ness in the embryo is the
forerunner of an individual. Throughout this embryonic stage, the brain
is still not well formed, and therefore, the mind does not exist. As the
mind is not yet formed there is no conception of self. At birth, although
the infant has the sense of I-am-ness, its brain needs further development
and therefore the sense of ‘I’ includes its mother. This symbiotic life usu-
ally lasts about 8 weeks. After these 8 weeks, the child now begins to
realise it can separate itself as an individual. From thence, the child will
grow into a toddler; then it develops into a teen and finally into an adult.
Throughout this development consciousness in the guise of I am has
identified itself with the body, its emotions and finally its mind. With this
threesome the ego is formed. The jiv-atman, which is transformed from
Beingness and I-am-ness, now adds another layer in the form of an ego.
The mind deluded by Maya is now the strongest force here. The individ-
ual needs food and water to sustain the body, but prana (life force) is cru-
cial to the working of the entire body-mind. Prana acts through the
chakras of the subtle bodies. At the background of everything, it is pure
consciousness (Beingness) that sustains the soul. Without the pure con-
sciousness from the beginning, there would be no being. This prompts the
koan ‘what is your original face before you are born?’ This koan is asking
‘who am I’ in another way. All these questions would finally lead us back
to I-am-ness thence to Beingness and finally to the Absolute. In correct
meditation in emptiness, one must hold on to this I-am-ness or Beingness
as long as one can. The purpose of every soul’s journey on earth is to
learn and experience unconditional love and wisdom. To carry out this
exercise, the I-am-ness requires a body-mind. Without the body-mind,
Beingness and I-am-ness cannot be expressed, and therefore no lesson
can be learned.

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Summary
The Absolute is the ocean of consciousness, which sprouts out a
Beingness, which knows only ‘It is’. At this stage, there is still no individ-
ual, no mind and no word. This Beingness is still pure consciousness, and
it then becomes ‘I-am-ness’. This I-am-ness is now a potential individual.
It is this I-am-ness that recognises its body and then the rest of the uni-
verse. From then onwards this I-am-ness identifies with the body and the
mind, and the desire for objects follows. This is the beginning of sorrow.
So the lesson here is not to identify with the body and mind.

The primordial voidness is present in deep sleep, as well as in the I-am-

ness and Beingness. This is our daily return back to the Absolute in the
state of non-duality. And that is why when one wakes up after a good
night’s sleep, one is thoroughly fresh. In the morning when one wakes up,
the clear perception of the body is there, but the mind has not come in
to identify with it yet. This clarity is the state of Beingness (non-dual). It
is pure witnessing. It then slowly differentiates into I-am. Once I-am iden-
tifies with the body-mind one goes back to duality and becomes the usual
self with all the hang-ups. In meditation, the state of silence, stillness and
no thoughts may equate with I-am-ness, which may be transcended to
Beingness. If one is persistent enough, one may finally recede into the
Absolute! Then one’s work is finished.

References
1 Shankara’s Crest Jewel of Discrimination (Viveka-Chudamani), translated
by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood. Vedanta Press.
1947.
2. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. The Nectar of Immortality. Blue Dove Press, San
Diego, California. 1996.
3. John Blofeld. Compassion Yoga. A Mandala Book. Unwin Paperbacks.
1977.
4. Jane Roberts. Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Bantam
Books. 1974.
5. Jane Roberts. The Nature of Personal Reality. A Seth Book. Bantam Books.
1974.
6. Shinji Takahashi. The Five Constituents. Private Publication.

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 Brain, Mind and Consciousness.

“There is no way I can control the consequences. Life is an impersonal flowing and I
cannot control either my life or anybody else’s life.

This understanding is that I have no control, I am just a dreamed character and there-
fore all I can do is to function according to my natural characteristics. An even there,
the understanding is that there is truly no “I” or “ME” except the body-mind organ-
ism as a reacting agent.”

Ramesh S. Balsekar
Consciousness Speaks

Introduction
These three items are not very well delineated, and confusion abounds in
the usage of these terms. For instance, all these terms have been used
interchangeably: brain, mind, ego, intellect, mental body, thought, memo-
ry, imagination, visualisation, concepts, analysis, mental projection etc.
Then the term consciousness is equally muddled by loose usage of the
term. These are some of the terms used pertaining to consciousness: sub-
conscious, collective unconscious, super-consciousness, transcendental
consciousness, personal unconsciousness, meditative consciousness, and
transpersonal consciousness. It goes on and on.

In fact, there are only three entities to be considered. These are the brain,
which is the hardware; the mind, which is the software and Consciousness
(pure Consciousness), the originator of the hardware and the software.
The rest of the items mentioned above will fall into place at the end of
this article. The least confusing term is that of the brain.

The Brain
The brain is the hardware that is part of the physical body. It contains all
the hard disks, the floppy disks and all that go to form the personal com-
puter and the monitor screen. This hardware comes as solid pieces that
can be recognised and has a name from the manufacturer. The solid

323
pieces represent the human body and the manufacturer’s name is equiva-
lent to the name that is given by the parents. The brain (the P.C.) process-
es all the software instructions from the mind.

These instructions go into millions per day. The efficiency of the P.C., the
brain, is totally dependent on what the manufacturer (parents) put in
(I.Q.). The parents also contribute to the physical, emotional and mental
makeup of the offspring. A very important point to remember is that the
hardware itself has characteristics of its own even before the infusion of
the soul. This point would have been taken into account in the formulat-
ing of the G-plan. That means the hardware itself must contribute impor-
tant features to the final product of the offspring, more than usually
recognised. The soul is the not the only contributor to the body-mind
complex. For instance, diabetes, myopia and even more serious ones like
cystic fibrosis are well known inherited diseases. Most of the physical
characteristics can be traced to the genes of the parents. Similarly, the par-
ents may also contribute to some extent to the intellectual capacity of the
product. However, most of the emotional makeup comes with the soul,
although a small proportion may be inherited from the parents. Therefore
before the infusion of the new soul, the hardware of the offspring already
has its own characteristics to some extent. This is different from the real
P.C. in which there is no trace of what the metal was before it goes to
make up the new P.C. In other words, the physical body alone without the
soul has already some tendencies and habits inherited from the parents.

The following diagrams will indicate to you how intricate the brain comes
prepared for its functions. It is much more than any giant computer can
muster in the commercial world. One can see that all the functions of
motor and sensory activities are all mapped out when born. The motor
and sensory activities are very well delineated and any damage in a limit-
ed area would affect only certain motor, sensory, speech, auditory or visu-
al functions. (see Fig. on page 325)

The versatility of the functional brain is astounding, but it is still hope-

lessly outstripped by the multifaceted, multidimensional and multifarious
capabilities of the mind, which can process innumerable cognitive activi-
ties, memories, concepts, analysis and visualisations in one sitting!

324
The Mind
EGO
There is no software in the world that can come near the scope and
modalities of the mind. The mind is the most intricate and efficient and
the greatest software in the universe. The mind is part of the ego, and the
ego arises from Consciousness. In fact, everything emerges from
Consciousness. In order for Cosmic Consciousness to function in the
physical world a vehicle must be used. This vehicle is the ego. The ego is
composed of the physical body, the emotional body and the mental body.
Let us simplify these three instruments into two components, the body
and mind. The mind represents the emotions, feelings, thoughts, memo-
ries, intellect, all previous conditioning, samskaras and concepts. Although
we break them into two, they are really one psychophysical complex.
When the body is inflicted with pain, it is the mind that suffers.

The Parameters of the Mind

Synonymously, the mind has been called the intellect and the organ of
analysis. The parameters of the mind include memory, thoughts, con-
cepts, visualisations, and projections of the future, intellect and learning
of knowledge. There is also a wide range of emotional content like joy,

325
happiness, sadness, depression, agitation, fear of loss, anxiety and worry.
All these are the chief components of the mind. There are innumerable
more facets to the mind. So with this tremendous amount of software
content, it is no wonder that the person deems the mind as Self. The ego
is merely a psychophysical robot, which is a convenient vehicle to travel
the planet earth. Most of us mistake the body as Self. Self in this article
denotes the soul, the atman, which is an offshoot of Cosmic
Consciousness, whereas self is the ego, a necessary vehicle to function in
duality. When one drives a car, the car is not the self, neither is the chauf-
feur. The true Self is the owner of the car and the employer of the chauf-
feur.

The most disastrous consequence of taking the ego as Self is that the per-
son thinks he is a separate entity. It is quite in order if he is in duality and
has no idea of being separate, as in animals. However, if he assumes that
he is a separate entity from the rest of humanity, then he is in dualism,
and this is where the trouble begins. This is the greatest calamity. He has
forgotten that he is part of the Absolute and has never or can never be
separated from Cosmic Consciousness. Enlightenment is realisation of
this fact. In one’s spiritual path, one has to reverse the behaviour of dual-
ism to acting in duality. Once you deem yourself as separate, you begin to
feel that you are special and superior or inferior. Then you start to accu-
mulate and covet objects. This is the beginning of craving and suffering.
If one is thwarted in the acquisition process, anger will arise. Both the
craving and anger are the result of ignorance. Of all the ‘sins’ in the world,
ignorance is the greatest.

The most important component of the mind is memory. Memory teaches

us an experience from which we base our reaction to a recurrent incident.
The child who has been burnt by fire will be very wary of the next fire he
comes across. Similarly, the memory of the hot chilly will warn the diner
to go slowly on the chilly in the next meal. By the same token, a string of
memories gives us the false impression that these events are an actual
chronicle of a true Self. Therefore although memory provides us with
experience for future reference, it also falsely makes us believe that mem-
ories are the real activities of a true Self. Memories are components of the
mind, which in turn are merely facets of the ego. All are not real. The ego
is manufactured by pure Consciousness to experience and act in the phe-

326
nomenal world. Consciousness is the only true Self.

Intellect is another facet of the mind that is useful in the learning process.
This is especially so with regards to structured education and research.
Intellect is like an animal. The more you train the animal, e.g. a dog, the
more efficient it becomes. So it is with the intellect. The intellect may be
trained to be so efficient that it will expand its ingenuity to research exten-
sively into all matters pertaining to a topic. However the intellect is only
part of the mind. It is also ephemeral like the mind. Both these items are
not there in deep sleep. Intellect and memory both deteriorate in certain
diseases, e.g. Alzheimer’s disease. If these were one’s true Self, they will
not deteriorate or disappear.

Thought is the main comprehensive term, which include memories, con-

cepts, visualisations, intellect etc. It is thoughts that delude us to believe that
the mind is real. Thoughts arise from nowhere and vanish into nowhere. If
thoughts are the true self, then where is the Self when one meditates until
there are no thoughts? During these periods of emptiness of thoughts or
voidness, there is still the presence of awareness. This awareness is the true
Self. This awareness is also accompanied by bliss, which is the first covering
of the soul. Therefore, when one clears the mind of all thoughts, a pure and
empty mind will allow pure Consciousness, Self, to shine through. This hap-
pens in deep sleep, where there are no thoughts and only bliss prevails. The
Self is present in deep sleep, in dreams and in the waking state. The prob-
lem is that in dreams and waking states, the ego blocks the presence of the
Self. In deep sleep the mind is held in abeyance and the ego is absent. As
the mind is absent, there is no memory of our merging back to our true Self
during deep sleep.

As the ego has falsely presented itself as a separate individual, one tends
to protect that separate self with selfishness and acquisitions of objects.
As a separate self, one would like to believe that the false self is special
and therefore pride is used to elevate oneself. Pride reinforces the delusion.
One is proud because one forgets that one is only a bubble on the surface
of the ocean. Everything is part of the ocean. At the height of one’s
proud existence, doubt and fear will be there to remind one of the frail-
ties of the situation. Pride is the trait that inflates the ego, and thus ‘ego’
has become synonymous with pride. Ego is not pride, for all of us have

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egos, but not all of us are proud. However, if one eliminates the mind and
its machinations the Self will reveal itself. When the mind is totally
destroyed, pride, doubts, fears, anger and all the other negativities will dis-
appear with it.

The Two Minds

Now that we know about the unreality of the mind, what happens after
the total destruction of the mind? How does a person function after
enlightenment? He is left with a working (functional) mind. The enlight-
ened person is devoid of the concept of the ego as Self. There is no ‘me’
involved. He is now in duality but not in dualism. The thinking mind which
draws on memory to project worries and fears of the future, is absent in
the enlightened person. He is left with only the working (functional) mind.
These are not two different minds. It is only a notional division that facil-
itates the explanation of the remaining functional mind after enlighten-
ment. After enlightenment there is no ‘me’, ‘I’ or ‘myself ’. The non-self
merely allows Consciousness to act through his psychophysical organism.
The working mind is required because he still has to live and function in
this world. The working mind must to some extent identity itself with his
body and the person must also be able to draw on his memory to know
his environment including names of people, places and things. The work-
ing mind, however, has no anxiety or fear of the future because there is
no self-interest. These negativities are the attributes of the thinking mind.
The working mind functions only in the present. Memory is used only in
relationship to the working of the present. The working mind may also be
called the silent mind. The thinking mind is the loud one, and it instils
doubts and worries by asking about the future: ‘Are you doing the right
thing?’ ‘What if there is a recession?’ ‘Are you sure you will not be
retrenched?’ If the thinking mind keeps on intruding into the working
mind, the latter cannot function efficiently. The thinking mind tires a per-
son disproportionately and time is very laboured. On the other hand, the
working mind has no sense of time and 2-3 hours would have passed
without the individual realising it. So in the spiritual path, the individual
has to utilise the working mind more and more and oust out the thinking
mind step by step. This is part of his evolution. Of course the sooner one
dis-identifies the ego as the Self, the faster will the thinking mind be elim-
inated. In performing the present task, the working mind will also draw
on the memory to decide the present course of action, but does not worry

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about the outcome of the present task. He must also identify with the
body to function but without self-image. The working mind simply
answers to the call of his name, but he has no aggrandised idea attached
to his name. The thinking mind would have. The working mind is also the
witnessing, but if the working mind is fully occupied in the job, there is
no need for witnessing. This is because the working mind functions in the
timeless without a ‘me’. The working mind is the same as what the
Buddhists use in insight meditation. In every action, one must totally be
mindful of the action, and no extraneous thought is allowed to accompa-
ny the action. This exercise of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is to
utilise the working mind solely on the job in the ‘now’. In this exercise, the
thinking mind is prevented from intruding. The practitioner should be
totally absorbed in that particular activity. The working mind has no
judgement, no fear or anxiety and no projections into the future. Success
will also be facilitated if the practitioner also truly believes that he has no
control over the outcome of his work. Stay in the moment and work in
the now and the future will look after itself. There should not be any
thought like ‘I’ am doing this. The thought ‘I’ will drag in the thinking
mind. When the working mind is wholly on the job, it is not a blank. It
should be one hundred percent mindful. In sitting meditation, it is even
easier to distract the meditator. Random thoughts, associative thoughts,
memories and daydreaming are all devices used by the thinking mind to
prevent the working mind from its task.
Animals do not have a thinking mind. They have only a working mind. The
rabbit does not plan the night before to avoid the fox the next day. The deer
has memory of the tiger eating up its fellow deer and therefore it is running
away from the tiger as fast as it can. After escaping from the tiger the deer
goes about doing its usual things with no plans about the next attack. While
running away from the tiger, it does not worry whether it will succeed or
not. It just runs. The animals do not worry about what will happen when
the next drought hits them. Does that mean that animals are enlightened?
No. They do not have self-awareness. They are group souls and they only
know the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’. They know nothing about
self-realisation or care about it. When they are hungry they eat. When they
are tired, they sleep. They do not seek the spiritual life!

Daydreaming
Where does daydreaming come in? Just before falling asleep or during

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meditation or when somebody has nothing to do and is quite relaxed, the
thinking mind will introduce this device to distract the working mind from
the present. It may happen when the working mind is on a task, the think-
ing mind will step in to distract the working mind. In this instance the
working mind cannot be fully on the job. This is another method by the
thinking mind to prevent the functioning of the working mind.
Daydreaming begins in random thoughts and then it goes on and on in its
own trail until one realises that half an hour has passed!

The Usefulness of the Ego and the Thinking Mind

Do not confuse the ego with the thinking mind. The ego consists of the
body and the mind, which is notionally divided into the thinking mind and
the working mind. Cosmic Consciousness in order to practice and expe-
rience personal consciousness needs an ego to function in duality. That
means a body-mind complex is required for this task. Putting on the body
and using ego as a vehicle is fine, but one must not take it as the true Self.
Similarly, the working mind is required for the same purpose, but the sec-
ond the psychosomatic self deems itself as separate the thinking mind
sets in. This is the beginning of suffering. Enlightenment is the total
destruction of the thinking mind. When in deep sleep and in deep medi-
tation, the thinking mind is in abeyance and not destroyed, but it will arise
again when one is awake. When awake the thinking mind starts to take the
self as Self and to think of the past and future which will then be com-
pounded by worries and anxieties. This is how the ego experiences the
physical world. The existence of the physical body is vital, as it carries the
brain, through which the mind works. Sri Ramana Maharshi said ‘The Self
is the electric dynamo, the mind is the contact switchboard, and the body
is the lamp’. At the end of our life span, the mind switches off the cur-
rent and the life force is withdrawn from the body. Both the body-mind
complex and life force are manifestations of the Self. All these activities
are a Lila, a play, enacted by Cosmic Consciousness as an ongoing stage
production in the universe. The play involves all universes at once, and
therefore an individual who tries to see a tiny segment of the Lila from
his own point of view will not understand it. In order to protect the body,
feelings are there to sense the pain and pleasure. Finally after many incar-
nations, the mind, in despair, sees the futility of craving and acquisitions
and thereby initiates dispassion. With dispassion and with wholesome and
righteous living he begins to walk the spiritual path. This is the first step

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towards searching for his true Self. It is a difficult search, because the true
Self is already in him. The self can never find the true Self inside or out-
side of himself. The self just has to be the Self.

Consciousness
Let us start from the Absolute or Cosmic Consciousness. This Totality is
one and there is no second. Nothing is outside the Absolute. When we are
within this Totality we are Consciousness-at-rest, and we are not aware of
anything. There is no mind or individuality in this Totality. To be aware, a
Beingness will have to emerge from Consciousness-at-rest. With aware-
ness, Beingness develops the sense of I-am. When this transformation
occurs, Consciousness-at-rest becomes Consciousness-in-movement.
This is the Big Bang. So when I-am manifests in a body-mind organism,
an ego is formed to function in this duality of planet earth.
Consciousness-at-rest and Consciousness-in-movement are not two sep-
arate Consciousnesses. They are one and the same. Consciousness-at-rest
is potential energy and it becomes Consciousness-in-movement, actual
energy. That means when the individual is manifested in a body-mind
complex, the atman (soul) becomes a jiv-atman in this phenomenal world.
The jiv-atman is the soul (atman) with its five coverings. Then concepts
become the main human language. Every thought in the human mind is a
concept. In Consciousness-at-rest there is no awareness of anything in
this noumenal state. Both the sense of presence and the sense of absence
are not there. After all manifestations at the big bang, Consciousness is
still present in everything. It is present in the inanimate objects like stones
and trees. It is present in animate beings like animals and birds with sen-
tience. It is present in humans with sentience and intellect. In humans, the
intellect deludes the thinking mind into thinking that the individual is sep-
arate. The separate individual now needs security, shelter, sex and suste-
nance (food) to stay alive. Sex is required to preserve the species. In this
endeavour the individual becomes selfish with craving, with anger arising
when thwarted.

So Consciousness-at-rest in the noumenal state is non-dual and does not

know any other. Consciousness-in-movement in the phenomenal state
must contend with duality and dualism. In the dualistic world, polarity is
a mandatory condition of this phenomenal world. One cannot have white
without black, short without tall and good without bad. ‘Short’ on its own

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has no meaning. In addition the phenomenal world has only one con-
stancy and this constancy is change. The individual does not like change
and does not want change. In this climate, he is bound to suffer, especial-
ly when the thinking mind projects fear, anxiety and insecurity into his
future, as he dislikes change. In order to have no fear or insecurity one
must destroy the thinking mind whilst leaving the working mind to func-
tion. To destroy the thinking mind one either follows a spiritual path of
meditation or practices self-inquiry of ‘Who am I’. The meditation must
culminate in emptiness of thoughts and finally voidness, when the think-
ing mind is eliminated. Self-inquiry should arrive at the same goal. In both
cases, only working mind remains.

Other Types of Consciousnesses

Let us now clear the entire jargon of consciousnesses. Many names and
usages have been bandied about. The following is a whole list of them:

Superficial consciousness: This is the waking consciousness of the

individual who is aware of what is going on during waking hours. It
includes will power, temporary memory and analytical and rational facul-
ties. It also embraces all the thoughts that are brought up in the mind.

Unconscious: this includes the automatic functions of the lungs, heart

and intestines and all bodily functions without the individual being con-
scious of it.

Subconscious: Some of the components are emotions, permanent

memory, habits and protective reactions. These allow the person to be
lazy and economical with reactions. The subconscious also includes habit-
ual activities that do not warrant the conscious mind e.g. a seasoned driv-
er driving a car.

Meditative consciousness: This is the consciousness of an individual

during meditation. Obviously it varies with each individual’s expertise in
his meditative practice.

Super-consciousness: This is an expanded consciousness in which the

thinking mind is temporarily absent, and one’s consciousness is quite free
to roam. With Super-consciousness some individuals may be able to

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exhibit psychic powers, e.g. remote viewing and OBE.

Transcendental consciousness: The ultimate aim is to transcend the

body, the emotions and the intellect. The transcendence is either tempo-
rary or permanent. Permanent transcendence means enlightenment.

Pre-consciousness: This is the state when awareness or consciousness

has not set in, e.g. that short period between waking up and identification
of the ego.

Collective Unconsciousness: C.G. Jung coins this phrase. It implies that

there is a spiritual realm in which every thought, saying and action of
everybody is deposited. It includes all our samskaras, karma, archetypes
and G-plans. This library is a depository for every sentient being. It also
includes all our Akashic records.

All the above consciousnesses are in the phenomenal realms. It includes

the Collected Unconsciousness. So are Gods and Deities. In the Absolute,
there are no divisions, no mind, no individual and no movement. This is
the Consciousness-at-rest.

Self-enquiry: A Method of Eliminating the Thinking

Mind
How does one destroy all the software in all the discs of the computer?
The surest way is to introduce a virus into the system. The most potent
virus is the method of Self-enquiry as advocated by Ramana Maharshi. All
other methods require the use of the mind to eliminate the mind. For
instance take the two types of meditations: concentration and insight
(awareness). In concentration, the mind uses an object like breathing or
mantra to focus on until there is only one thought left. The outcome of
this method is that the subject and the object are absorbed into one and
both will disappear when the meditation is deep enough. This is at a very
high stage of Neither Perception nor Non-perception. However, when
returning to normal activity the mind rises again. In Insight meditation,
thoughts are looked at impartially until they disappear. The meditator is
not allowed to dwell on any thought. This process will continue until the
mind is empty of thoughts and is silent and still. In this method the sub-
ject watches the object (thoughts) until the disappearance of the object

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and the subject is left looking at an empty screen in the background. Thus,
one is left with just awareness, which could be suppression or destruction
of the thinking mind. In suppression, the mind will rise again. If it is
destruction, the yogin is enlightened. Insight meditation uses the mind to
empty its contents i.e. the subject allows the object to disintegrate by
exhaustion.

In Self-enquiry, there is no object. The practitioner has to investigate into

the origin of the subject (ego-self). The mind goes in wards and not out-
wards like concentration methods. The mind has to inquire ‘who am I’
constantly. In this way the mind has to breakthrough the coverings of the
Self. To say that ‘I am a father, a lawyer, or a husband’ is a wrong
approach, as this refers to various names given to the body. ‘I am not the
body’ must be realised and believed so implicit that it becomes second
nature. When the body is hurt, it is the mind that suffers and not the body.
After seeing corpses, the realisation that the body is not Self may sink in
somewhat. ‘I am not the emotions’ can also be tested out, as joy and sad-
ness are ephemeral and changeable. They do not remain for long. They
come as reactions to events and objects outside of us. Lastly, what about
thoughts and memories which are the main components of the mind?
These come and go, as they like. One cannot stop them. Where do these
thoughts come from? ‘Who do they belong to?’ If they are truly ‘I’, sure-
ly I can control them? Where are these thoughts when I am in deep sleep?
The crux of the investigation is to continuously go to the root of these
thoughts. They arise only when ‘I’ am awake and not in deep sleep. That
means when one is awake, the mind identifies itself as a false self. Do not
veer from this line of enquiry: keep on hammering on what is this mind?
Where does this ego come from? Do not bring in extraneous topics like
soul or God. Just continue to look for the root of the mind, the false ‘I’.
With persistence and perseverance, thoughts will start to diminish. There
will be more and more intervals between thoughts until a long stretch of
emptiness supervenes. This stretch may be only a suppression of
thoughts and not a true death of the mind. However this Self-enquiry
must now be carried over to one’s daily activity. Every free moment
should be occupied with this enquiry. There should be no let up. Every
thought must be followed to its root thought, which can be traced to the
arising of the ego or ‘I’ thought. This must be seen to be unreal and not
the true Self. It must be repeated again and again ad nauseam. Finally the

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thinking mind will be eliminated and destroyed without residue.

While this practice is being carried out, the practitioner must also exercise
dispassion, detachment and desirelessness. There should not be any crav-
ing or anger and ignorance will finally disappear.

The Spiritual Heart

During sitting meditation, after some achievement in emptying the mind,
one’s focus must be brought down to the chest, just to the right side of
the sternum. This is the spiritual Heart. The true Self resides here. And in
merging the empty mind with the Heart, the process of realisation of the
Self is hastened. The Self is located not where the physical heart is. It is
in the chest, just to the right of the lower sternum. This is the seat of the
Self and is at the Heart seed atom. When the body dies, the physical heart
stops pulsating, but this spiritual Heart continues to beat until the Heart
seed atom escapes to the etheric body above the corpse.

Recapitulation and Summary

1. The body (brain) and mind are not the true Self.

2. Pure Consciousness (soul) is the Self.

3. In order to realise the Self, turn inwards and be the Self.

4. Exercise dispassion, desirelessness and detachment.

5. Forgive yourself and others. Understand, accept the situation and

surrender to your Tao.

6. You have no control over your life. Your G-plan is your Tao and
therefore it is beyond you.

7. Do not feel guilty. As long as you are not enlightened, cause and
effect will still prevail. Once you realise your Self, you are no more in
dualism, but must continue to live in the dualistic world (in the world
but not off the world).

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 8. Polarity is the universal law pertaining to the phenomenal world.
Opposites must prevail. Therefore one cannot remain young, rich, and
beautiful without the opposites.

9. The only constancy in life is change. Nothing remains static.

Accept this.

10. Practice sitting meditation everyday: preferably insight meditation.

11. Outside of formal meditation, look in wards and practise Self-

enquiry. Persistently look for the source of your thoughts and who is
thinking those thoughts.

12. When performing any activity, be wholly mindful of that activity

without the thinking mind intruding.

13. With the practice of Self-enquiry, you will arrive at a stage when
silence and emptiness is achieved. At this point, bring down your
awareness to the spiritual Heart, which is at the right side of the chest.

14. If this practice is continuous, Self-realisation is inevitable, but no

one can foretell the time of Self- realisation. No amount of extreme
exertion will bring it on. It all depends on Grace.

References
1) Ramesh S. Balsekar. Consciousness Speaks. Advaita Press 1992.

2) Sri Ramana Maharshi. Consious Immortality. Recorded by Paul Brunton

and Munagala Venkataramiah. Sri Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai. 1998.

3) Ramana Maharshi. The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi, Edited by

Arthur Osborne.Samuei Weiser, Inc.1962

4) The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi. Forward by C.G. Jung.

Shambala Publications, Inc. 1988.

5) Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi Edited By David

Godman. ARKANA. 1985.

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 The Existence of God and soul.
I died a mineral and became a plant.
I died a plant and rose an animal.
I died an animal and I was man.
Why should I fear? When was I less than dying?
Yet once more I shall die as man, to soar with the blessed angels;
But even from angelhood I pass on.
All except God perishes.
When I have sacrificed my angel soul,
I shall become that which no mind ever conceived
O, let me not exist! for Non-existence proclaims
‘ To Him we shall return’

" Love Is Like the Sun" By Yogi Amrit Desai

Is there a God? Is there a soul? These are the questions being asked since
time immemorial. Their existence depends entirely on our definition. For
anybody who has not seen, smelt or tasted a durian fruit and starts to
describe a custard apple as a durian, then the durian does not exist as he
describes it. If religions that have never seen, smelt or felt God begin to
describe God as a bearded old man sitting up in the sky watching every-
thing we do, rewarding and punishing us, then these religions are off the
mark entirely. When Buddha said that "God does not exist", he meant that
God as defined by his peers did not exist. Now what is God? God is
everything in the universe or universes: it is in the stones, vegetation, ani-
mals and every human being. It is in everything seen or unseen, felt or
unfelt, heard or unheard. Nothing is outside of God. Everything visible
or invisible is included. It is all One and not two. Everyone of us has a
spark of God or divinity in us. That is why miracles have been and are
being wrought by some. It is because they are not miracles, but the acts of
God. God is actually in its pure and undifferentiated form an immense
source of energy, and every human, animal, vegetation and mineral has a
minute spark of this pure energy. This is also referred to by some as The
Flame Of Life, the true Self, or the soul. As God is made up of a power-
ful mass of energy of love, bliss, consciousness and power, so is our soul.
This spark of life (soul) is eternal: it never dies. There is no gender in

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God, but during the journeys of the soul, it can take on feminine, mascu-
line or androgynous characteristics. Now when we pray or talk to God, he
is not the one that answers. It is one of the sparks that is much nearer our
physical realm. It is one of our guides or soul mates. God is also known
as the Great Spirit, Godhead, or the Source. These are all synonyms.
Therefore for puny humans like us, it is quite impossible to know what
God is. Just look at the sky in a clear night and try to count the stars that
are there and multiply that at least a million times and you will only arrive
at the possibility of one universe. Now multiply that again by at least a tril-
lion times. And then you may have an indication of the magnitude of
what God is composed of. God is the sum total of all these Universes and
more, and we name all these universes The Spiritual Universe. That means
it is quite impossible for us to gauge or try to visualise what God is or its
magnitude. Nobody has any idea. Not Buddha, nor Jesus nor Mohammed
could guess it.

Although, intellectually we cannot comprehend what God is, we, on rare

occasions, may feel his love. When do we feel this emotion? After a very
good session of meditation. When we are in utter despair and about to
give up everything. Or when we are alone on a mountain looking at a glo-
rious scene or a magnificent sunset, when we are not beset with any
worldly worries. The emotion chokes us in the throat. After a very tiring,
long day, we fall into a very deep sleep, and we wake up to a world that
seemed to have changed for the better: we know that we have been with
God. Against great odds, by a miracle, we have been snatched from the
jaws of death, we know for certainty that God was instrumental in this
rescue, and a job is waiting for us. That means God is literally everything
visible and invisible and is composed entirely of love and wisdom.
Nothing is excluded. All is included in the One. There is no two, i.e. noth-
ing is outside of God. That means you are God, and so am I!

The Journeys of the Soul.

All souls or consciousness start as sparks from the Source (God). At any
one time numerous sparks or clumps of souls spurt out from the Source.
Although some times we call this the Big Bang, it is really routine explo-
sions to send off the morulas (clumps) of souls on their journeys. This is
an ongoing process. These morulas are in multiples of two. They vary
between two and thousands. They vary in their ages. The younger they

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are, the more souls are despatched together: these are the novices who are
starting on their very first journey around the universes. The more expe-
rienced they are the smaller will be the clumps. The oldest and the wisest
will appear as a unified ball, as the component souls have already fused
together from their numerous round trips across the universes, and these

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old souls or fused clumps do not divide into individual small souls. These
old clumps or souls are very rare: they are either one single total soul or
are fused twosome or fused foursomes. They are wise and powerful but
they also must go through the entire round of progression and differen-
tiation like the novice one-celled soul, but they go through the rounds at
a much quicker rate. . These rare sages are the true representatives of
God. They are what the Hindus called Avatars. In any form of incarna-
tion (mineral, animal or human) they are the leaders. They are also the
founders of religions. But we are jumping the gun here: let us start from
the beginning. At each Bang numerous soul groups break out from the
Source, and each group is composed of kindred soul mates (morulas).

When the morulas of souls start to descend down to the etheric/physical,

they spiral down the Great Pillars of Light, Consciousness of Immensity,
Cosmic Consciousness, Celestial Plane and the Astral Planes to our phys-
ical plane. Spiralling down these planes into denser and denser atmos-
phere, in the first round down, they are in a dreamy state and the memo-
ries of this downward journey is very, very hazy indeed. In fact, it is like
our visiting the astral world every night and not remembering a thing.
These morulas migrate as groups of thousands or millions until they

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become minerals on the physical plane e.g. planet earth. Therefore in their
first incarnation as minerals they remain as group souls. This grouping of
souls will continue until they graduate from animals to humans.

At this point we must accept the principle of re-incarnation. Otherwise it

is not worth while discussing the subject any further. The first incarnation
on earth is that of mineral. Masses of the same group souls will incarnate
into one type of mineral, say calcium. As in everything in the universe we
must have both the positive and the negative together, like Ying and Yang,
male and female etc. There will be benign minerals and noxious minerals.
There is no good and bad or the saint and the devil in this world of dual-
ity. These opposites coexist for the total benefit of the universes. A life-
time as a mineral in the rocks may last for million of years. This is really
not long as compared to our cosmic lives in the higher spiritual realms as
mentioned above (e.g. Consciousness of Immensity and Celestial Planes),
when we were pre-angels and angels. Going through these stages took
aeons, and therefore remaining as rocks in a dreamy stage is of no hard-
ship at all. The way to graduate from this mineral stage is by the disinte-
gration of the planet. And from that stage onwards, we began to individ-
ualise. This is the time when twin souls are formed: it is the last two cells
to break apart to formed individual cells. And in the future, when they
ever meet again there will be a strong affinity between them. The greatest
manifestation of this affinity will be in the human incarnations.

Here, although we individualise as algae, lichen and moss, we remain as

group souls, and we are almost as static as the mineral. From here
onwards, we reincarnate many times as different types of vegetation e.g.
bushes of flowers, grass, trees, vegetables etc. At this point we have to tol-
erate being trodden upon by animals, pulled out and plucked by humans
as food. The implication here is that in the vegetable kingdom for the first
time we learn about death. The souls realise this possibility during this
phase of development. They are prepared for it and are willing to go
through it for the sake of gathering experience. Every cycle and every
phase of differentiation and growth is to enrich us with experience. We
are preparing ourselves towards the peak of our career as humans. It is at
the human stage that we reincarnate many times in order to gather knowl-
edge and wisdom to return back to the source.

Now after graduating from the vegetable world, we then jumped over to

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the animal stage, starting as bacteria and viruses. In normal human under-
standing, we are now "alive". These souls are small and tiny, and quite
invisible to normal human eyes: we need microscopes to visualise these
early creatures. From these microbes we develop into larger animalistic
forms. We go through being insects, crustacean, vertebrates, invertebrates,
gorillas, monkeys, whales, dolphins, etc. After innumerable incarnations in
the animal kingdom, we would arrive as a mammal like a gorilla. And the
next incarnation would be humans. As insects, birds, fish, and other
mobile animals, we are still living in groups. If one in the group learns
something, the knowledge is passed on to the rest of the group, even
though there is no possibility of any form of communication. This is the
benefit of being group souls. However if one out of a pack of wolves is
adopted and domesticated by humans, then it is transformed into a dog.
This dog then takes on the intelligence of the master. The dog can now
read the mind and emotion of the master. It can be trained to perform all
sorts of tricks. This applies to other types of animals as well e.g. bears,
dolphins and monkeys. When one’s pet dies before the owner, the spirit
of the pet, like a cat or dog, will wait in the astral for the master to cross
over. Human spirits that are lovers of animals will look after these pets.
Again the animal also realises that at any time it could be killed and be
eaten by other animals or humans. There is no fear or foreboding until the
last moments. Of course, the yelping and squealing is only a natural
protest against death. However this does not mean we can be cruel in the
process of killing: they must be slaughtered in the most humane fashion.
It is the same with vegetation: the wanton destruction of luscious forests
by fire also incurs lots of bad karma. The greatest hurdle now is this jump
from the animal group souls to the individual soul of the human.

The Human Soul

We have now arrived at the individual soul of a human. In the past series
of progression from mineral through vegetation to animal, the souls have
been in groups. Now we have reached the final stage of self-awareness of
the individual soul. There is no going back to be reincarnated into animal again.
As we cannot retrogress from animal to vegetable, humans cannot be
reincarnated back to animals. This is one of the Universal Laws. Now that
we have this self-awareness, we begin to know that we know. Thence these
questions will arise: (1) Where do we come from? (2) What are we doing
here? (3) Where do we go from here? (4) Who am I? These are basic ques-

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tions that any thinking man would ask. However, when we first incarnat-
ed as primitive man these are of course not the questions that we asked.
We have to go through the cycles of rebirth from the physical barbarian
through the emotional, anxiety-stricken individual to the intellectual,
thinking man. We would have taken up to at least two million years to
arrive at this intellectual stage. But not all of us are in the same stage of
development. Most of us are still under the delusion that the more we
acquire materially, the happier we will be! But, we would come to the con-
clusion that no amount of material objects can make us happy. Of course,
not all of us develop equally. In the last few thousand years, Buddha,
Jesus, Lao-tzu and Mohammed have all reached this conclusion that mate-
rialism is nothing but a burden, and they all had preached the same wis-
dom. But we are too deluded, and therefore we have to keep being reborn
until we learn our lesson of being altruistic, selfless, and humble and with-
out ill will. Then with wisdom we can safely service the entire universe or
at least our planet. Purification, service and gathering of knowledge are
the main pillars of spiritual growth. Once we have completed our
sojourns on planet earth, we can then practice in the astral realm, and we
do not have to return to earth again evermore. The journey back to the
source will now begin in earnest.

Before we do that, let us digress a little. Although we have been practis-

ing as individual souls, we have been moving from the spirit realms to the
physical earth in droves of soul mates, which were originally from the
same morulas or groups of souls that started at the beginning from the
Source or the Great Spirit. There is an exception to this, and it is the wise,
old soul that did not breakdown into individual souls. It was a fused ball
of wise old souls. These rare old sages when they are in vegetation, they
are huge old solid trees (e.g. oak trees) When they are in the animal phase,
they would be lions, elephants or whales. As humans, they would be rare
sages (e.g. Lao-tzu) or avatars and appear only very occasionally to help
out with mankind. The ordinary individual soul mates will move around
in the same circles in every incarnation, and those that are not in incarna-
tion at the same time will be in the astral acting as guardian angels to their
soul mates in the flesh. At a much later time these soul mates will have to
meet up again and join up together. This joining up could start on earth
when twin souls meet. These were the remaining two souls that were the
last to break up before they individualise on planet earth. They may or

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may not meet at each incarnation. If they do meet the tendency is to
marry, and yet they may not, because they are looking for challenges in
order to learn. If they do meet in their last incarnation, then they will
probably be together. Please remember that there are other planets on
which the souls can practise. If they move to another planet, all the soul
mates will go together. The changing of planets is, however, very uncom-
mon. When they are transforming from mineral to vegetation, they have
to change planet because the former has to disintegrate. Rarely from veg-
etable to animal they may want to migrate to another plant.

Now let us concentrate on the housing of the human soul. The human
soul is covered by a physical body, and at least four layers of subtle bod-
ies which are not visible to the normal eyesight. They are the etheric, emo-
tional, mental and spiritual auras concentrically. Auras are also present
around the mineral, vegetable and the animal kingdoms. But in the
human, they are most developed, and they vary from person to person,
and they change continuously from one second to another. To the clair-
voyant eyes, they interpenetrate the adjacent bodies, including the physi-
cal, and they look like mosaics of moving stream with different colours.
The layers vary in thickness, and all the layers together extend up to our

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out stretched arms all around us. These are our armours of protection.
They change in colours and intensity with the change of physical health,
emotional moods and mental well being. When we die these housings will
extricate themselves around the soul, and each layer will drop off one by
one as we ascend the spiritual realms. Now where is the soul located in
our physical body? As it is a divine spark of energy, which is part of God,
it is not discernible even to the most powerful clairvoyant. According to
Sri Ramana Maharshi it is just to the right of the bottom tip of the ster-
num in the chest. He reckons that it is the size of the last phalanx of the
thumb. In Barbara Ann Brennan’s monograph the core of the soul is also
in the chest, but it is to the left centre of the chest cavity.

Since time immemorial, millions of seekers have been looking for the
soul, but they are unable to find it. One should not spend any effort look-
ing for it. One should travel inwards in meditation disavowing the physi-
cal body, our emotions and intellect as self. These affirmations: " I am not
my body. I am not my emotion. And my thoughts are not Me." are the
best before and after any meditation practice. In fact, when a small boy or
girl sees a dead body, it is easy for the child to realise that the body is not
self. After meditating for some time, one could also experience first hand
that our emotions and thoughts are not self. If they are you then you
could easily ask them not to intrude, but try as you may the thoughts will
still come in. If one is angry at the start of one’s meditation, and when
calm descends on the meditator, the anger automatically disappears with
no effort. Bliss will spontaneously occupy the mind, when thoughts start
to vanish. In a deep stage of insight meditation, there are no thoughts, but
there is silence and stillness and what is left is pure awareness. This is almost
the equivalent of the soul or the true self. When it is completely quiet,
silent and still with no residue of any thoughts then one truly has arrived
at the soul. Of course, this is a very difficult feat. It can only be achieved
when one does not try at all. It is a non-doing. The most important asset
to have at this time is patience. You just have to wait and wait and wait.
Once you have arrived at this stage you have come to self-realisation. When
you have self-realised then you can look forward towards going home:
there is no more earthly incarnation for you. You now have realised that
you cannot die. You will live the rest of life utilising the physical, emo-
tional and mental bodies as instruments for living, and that they are not
you. You will now call upon your higher self any time to enhance your

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sojourn on earth. You are in the world, but not of the world.

The spark of energy (soul) in the chest cavity is only a fraction of your
total soul. It is estimated that only ten percent is sent down (or encased in
the body) for purification. in the ordinary person. Of course, if you are
very developed and near "enlightenment", you can siphon down much
more, and things like the Akashic records, telepathy, clairvoyance and pre-
cognition may be available to you. But it is not necessary so, as many
enlightened saints are not interested in these psychic abilities, and they do
not posses them. What about our tendencies, habits, and characteristics?
And which of our subtle bodies or soul that our memories of past lives
reside? How do we recognise our soul mates? These are all very interest-
ing points that we should discuss.

Firstly, our Akashic records (records of everything we do, say and think) are
recorded in the Akashic. These are kept in the causal realm and the facts
are available only to our higher self. So with spiritual development, our
higher self can tap into these records and make them available to us if
required. The Akashic records date right up to our first incarnation as

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primitive man and may be even earlier e.g. animal life. Buddha, on the
night that he was enlightened was able to remember every life of his since
his first human incarnation. Since the first human incarnation, we devel-
op habits, tendencies and characteristics (samskaras) and these are lodged
mainly as emotional memories. That is why we assume these samskaras
automatically as we grow up, without any prompting from our parents or
peers. These are therefore kept in our astral emotional body. Facts and
events are kept in the mental body. At birth, we must have total mineral
amnesia, but some emotional memories do break out as we meet our soul
mates in the course of our lives.. So when we meet some one in the street
or at a party, we immediately like the person very much or we hate him
straightaway. This is emotional and not intellectual memory, because we
cannot remember the events and facts that cause us to like or hate the
other person. Before we come down from the spiritual realm in order to
be born we have to spiral down the mental and emotional (astral) realms
before we touch down to earth. This is to re-acquaint our mental-emo-
tional bodies what we are about to experience again with the new body-
mind complex. It is also to remind us of what we have been through since
our very first human incarnation: it is like a quick review of all our past
lives, so that we know what to expect when we are born again. There must
also be amnesia at birth. Otherwise it is impossible to carry on our pres-
ent life with all the memories of our enemies and love ones gushing out
every time we meet someone. Our total soul which includes the higher self
is connected to every member of our soul group, be it sixteen or sixteen
hundred thousand by an etheric thread. This etheric network holds the
entire group together so that when one soul meets another in the group,
there is an immediate attraction. Remember that the more advanced the
group, the smaller is the number. This total soul group then is in turn con-
nected to the other soul groups. It then becomes an interlacing network
that connects every soul embracing all minerals, vegetables, animals and
humans. Then this entire network further inter-connects the whole hier-
archy right up to the Godhead (Great Spirit). That means all the univers-
es and us, the tiny souls, are all part of God. Nothing is left out. There is
only One and nothing is outside it.

Now after we have graduated from the human experience, we do not

return as humans any more. We will now practice in the astral as spirits or
angels up through to the mental and the spiritual realms slowly working

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ourselves up these rarer and faster vibrational ethereal realms. On the way
up we start to join up with our twin soul; then we would look for anoth-
er pair to make a foursome. This doubles up to eight, sixteen and thirty-
two and so on until we reach our original number, with which we began
at the Big Bang. This is the reverse process of that downward path
towards earth, where we became group souls as mineral, vegetable, ani-
mals, and finally break up as individual souls at the human stage. Now
after completing the human earth life we are going home towards the
source with our cargo. What is the cargo? It is aeons of learning and expe-
rience culminating in love, compassion and selflessness. The love and self-
lessness is so great that we are happily sacrificing our individual self for
the sake of the whole group. At the end of the day we arrive at the source
to make the Godhead a better and a more evolved God! Is this possible?
It is a definite and resounding YES! If we are part of God (all be it a very
tiny fraction), when we improve God improves, when we evolve, God
evolves. Let us not forget that it is not only one soul that returns to the
source with its cargo of love, knowledge and experience. The returning
groups of souls go into millions at a time, and this is an ongoing process.
These cycles never end. After resting within the source, we would begin
all over again the journey of coming down towards the physical once
more. But this time the quest will be different. We, the souls will be dif-
ferent this time round: we are now older and wiser. Some of us may be

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leaders or subleaders. The cargo may also be different. Whatever it is,
these cycles are never ending. There is no beginning, and there is no end.
It is an interminable eternity.

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 Spiritual Practices
Beyond the Mind, I am No-thing
In order to realise the soul (atman), we must return to the Source. The
Source is Unity. It is the One without a second. The Vedanta calls it the
Parabrahman. It includes everything visible and invisible and nothing is
excluded. From the beginning, all of us are discharged from the Source in
batches (group souls). Each soul is thus a pure consciousness pinched off
from the Source, but still connected to it. In the early stages of progress-
ing as mineral, vegetable and animals we remain as group souls. However
as we graduate to humans, the souls individualise to be separate human
beings. The early humans tend to live in tribes for protection and econo-
my. At this stage, they need mainly shelter, security, sex and food. At about
35,000 years ago when the Cro-magnons totally replaced the
Neanderthals, man began to be more self-consciousness. But these Homo
Sapiens only begin to ‘know that they know’ some time later. It is from
here onwards that the law of karma came into its own in full force.

The Coverings of the Soul

As soon as each soul incarnates into the human body, each soul (atman)
takes on 5 coverings (Koshas) to house it and for protection. These are (1)
the covering of Bliss, (2) the covering of the physical body, (3) the auras,
which are the subtle bodies, (4) the emotional body associated with some
intellectual faculties and (5) the mind and its 6 sense organs. These 5 cov-
erings protect the soul as well as being the vehicles for spiritual progress.
However, the physical, emotional and mental bodies start to consolidate
as an ego of the individual by stressing its separateness from others. This
separation is facilitated by the presence of the 1st covering of Bliss and
accentuated by the 5th covering of the individual mind. The covering of
Bliss is the main source of our delusion---Maya. Following this separation
process, the ego appropriates selfishness and pride with craving and
desire. If the individual does not get what he wants, he becomes angry.
Pride, craving and anger come from the mind (the 5th Kosha), and these

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traits are karma-productive. So for at least the last 30,000 years we have
been accumulating karma. At each birth every soul brings along with it its
Samskaras together with its portion of karma to be spent in this life.
Samskaras are the tendencies, habits and imprints and impressions
accrued from past lives. That means at this stage, every discerning indi-
vidual is perpetually restless with suffering and there does not seem to be
a way out. These lives of sorrow will continue until the individual decides
to do something about it. At the peak of his sorrow he goes on to a spir-
itual search. He seeks for gurus, temples and ashrams, but to no avail until
he is asked this question of "Who Am I?"

Who Am I?
When confronted with this question most people do not know how to
answer it. They will say I am a father, a doctor, a rich man, a clever man
or a smart guy. Others will say that they are good looking, athletic, old or
young and hard working or lazy. We can go on ad nauseam but these are
all the wrong answers. Then when we look up the spiritual books, most of
them are no better. Your inquiry may take the following: Start asking what
is permanent throughout one’s life. You will find that nothing is. You can
only find what is not permanent. This is because the True Self is non-dual
and inexplicable. One cannot describe it even though at this stage it is
occasionally experienced. So we begin to earnestly question the purpose
of life. Even those who are very successful materially, there is no peace of
mind. The meticulous search brings us to the fact that the self is mainly
composed of the body and mind. Having seen that the corpse is always
left behind after death, we mistakenly believe that the mind with its emo-
tions is the True Self. On further analysis, this is also found to be false.
The realisation is that the self is nothing but a series of memories, expe-
riences and acquired knowledge. All these may be forgotten and yet the
self is carrying on as per normal. It is memory that gives us the illusion
of a continuous self. The soul is Realty and consists of pure conscious-
ness. This Presence is always there, ever bright and luminous. This
Presence is the empty background against which all our dualistic mind-set
is carried out. It is taking oneself as a separate individual that brings forth
all the suffering and sorrow. Although one’s soul is void in nature, it is
from this void deck that gives the soul its omnipotence. Let us now reit-
erate what is the false in us. The mind is the projected image of the ego
and this image is supported by memories of the past. Memories give the

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illusion of continuity, but the individual has no independent existence.
Maya consolidates this illusion of a continuous self. The mind can never
be the True Self, as the mind is composed of momentary perceptions and
experiences, which are connected to time. The True Self transcends time
and is therefore timeless. We have been falsely taught that ‘I think, therefore
I am’. This particular philosophy has been one of the greatest obstacles to
enlightenment in the history of mankind. Then we begin to acquire
knowledge and so-called truth from gurus and books? Even if these
teachings are true, they are still second hand. Second hand knowledge
cannot be the truth. Truth must arise afresh in an empty and quiet mind.
This stillness and emptiness is beyond the mind, and this silence is the pri-
mordial background where the soul resides. The soul, which is pure con-
sciousness, is really part of Cosmic Consciousness. When totally silent, it
appears as Presence. Therefore in order to return back to our soul we
have first to eradicate the ego and the self, which are obstructing the
appearance of Presence. The first possible scenario is when Presence is
seen as independent of the object and is a mere witness. Then one
becomes pure consciousness when the witness itself is finally dissolved.
At this stage, one realises that one cannot find the permanent Self
because the seeker is what is being sought. The temporary self can never
find the permanent Self. The eye cannot see itself, the eye.

Conditioning
Conditioning is the most insidious and intractable of all factors. We have
been conditioned by our (a) birth and family (parents and siblings), (b)
school, colleges and universities, (c) work mates and colleagues, (d) reli-
gious institutions, (e) social clubs and stratification of societies, (f) mem-
bers of the professions and vocations, (h) nationality, race, languages,
dialects and sex, (i) the tradition, (j) samskaras from past lives, etc.
Therefore one can see how deeply mired one is in view of all the above
conditioning. It is possible that a very heavily conditioned life 5 centuries
ago can impose upon the individual a very miserable present life. This is
especially so when so much pain and suffering is inexplicable in this life.
This is karma.

The Mind
Now trying to find out what is the mind, we have already discovered that
it is at least made up of memories, planning, experiences, beliefs, ideas and

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ideals and all the above conditioning. The latter include Samskaras from
the past. Religious conditioning may be so strong that it may goad us to
defend that religion even to the extent of killing. This historical truth has
been repeated many times. So in de-conditioning oneself, the layers to be
peeled off, as in an onion, are numerous. Every layer peeled is associated
with pain and conflict. However, the de-conditioning must continue until
all the false layers are destroyed, and then we find that in the centre of the
onion there is nothing but emptiness. Emptiness is our true nature, which
is pure consciousness. It is imbued with light and bliss. One can see now
that the de-conditioning process can be long and painful. That means it
may take several lives. Some Masters say that time is against us, as Reality
is timeless. We cannot use time to see the timeless, but the timeless can
embrace time and space. Timeless Reality is always there, being the wit-
ness of every transaction of the individual. Our True Self is really not
involved and does not partake of any activities of the individual. But if
we are so covered by our delusions and false beliefs, how can we ever go
near trying to uncover the timeless in such a short while? Therefore in
order to come to the last stages of our development, we still need time.

Time is required to clear the trash can

We can see for ourselves that the mind is filled with thousands of years
of conditioning and memories, and therefore one cannot delete all of
them at one press of a button! At the moment of practice, we have ideas,
ideals, prejudices, fears and desires of becoming. All these are the layers
of the onion. The process of peeling requires the wisdom of letting go
completely the constituents of the mind. Even if the latter are of high
philosophical content, they must also go. This is because we are dealing
with beliefs, which are not facts, experienced by ourselves. A belief is not
a fact. That means, in true meditation one must try to understand that all
contents of the mind are false and second-hand. These thoughts come
and go in the background of voidness. This voidness is the white sheet of
paper that all our thoughts and memories are written on. All thoughts
appear and disappear on the white sheet, but the white sheet remains for-
ever.

The Thinker and his Thoughts

It will help if one realises that the thinker and his thoughts are really one.
They are not separate. As long as there is a thinker looking at his thoughts,

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there is conflict in that individual. Therefore if there is no thinker sepa-
rate from his thoughts, there is then only thinking. Thinking is only a
process and not an individual. Thoughts are just images on one’s mind-
screen. And these are ephemeral and changeable. Therefore thoughts can-
not be the True Self. In the same token, if the thinker and thoughts are
one, then the thinker is also not real. It is by this process of Divine rea-
soning that one can go deeper into other states of mind and uncover the
thousands of samskaras of impressions, ideas, prejudices and fears from
the past. Our inherited tendencies since birth are also very binding, espe-
cially if they are religious in nature. It is in delving deep into these states
of mind that one can see where our beliefs and ideas came from. It is the
unfolding of the layers of our belief systems that we realise how false the
contents of the mind are. Even if they were true they were just beliefs
from memories. Therefore whether they are true or not they must be
erased, as these are merely our memories. Truth must be experienced
NOW. It is experienced and immediately released. Experiences of the past
or planning of the future cannot be Reality. One can only "Be" at the
moment and not to "Become" at a later date. The Being must be from
moment to moment. An experience of the last moment is also a memo-
ry. And looking forward to the next moment cannot be the truth.

A Glimpse of Reality is a Powerful Insight

When Reality is experienced in the "Now", although one may not know
what it is, one’s fears and apprehensions will begin to recede. This insight
of Reality is quite powerful and the person tends to erase away the fear of
death. The faith in Reality has also begun to disperse away the conflicts
and struggle of life, because one realises that there is no separation of
individuals. Every one and everything are interconnected. Nothing is out-
side this ‘Unity’. Everything and every one of us are part of Cosmic
Consciousness. There is now a certainty that there is no such thing as evil,
sin, devil and hell. All these are only present in the minds of certain indi-
viduals. There are no such entities in Reality. This is Divine reasoning.

The Demolition of Self by Attrition

At this stage of development, we have to realise that in order to be with
Reality, one must destroy the self. The self is the enemy of the truth.
Therefore, one must disintegrate the self by erasing all the components of
self. The contents of the mind must be understood to be nothing but

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intellectual fabrications and these cannot be analysed out of one’s mind.
Anything that is already in the mind is old stuff. The old is never the truth.
The new is ever fresh and one cannot anticipate it. Reality is the truth that
is living from moment to moment in the Now. That means one must be
aware all the time. While performing certain act, no thought of the past
or future is allowed to accompany the action. The action must also be
spontaneously fresh and not a reaction. Therefore always remember that
you are alive now, full of alertness and awareness, with the heart full of
unconditional love. In this way of true living, one slowly erases all mem-
ories of the past, which is the self. The final blow of killing the self is to
stop wanting and craving, and most importantly to stop becoming. Just
flow with the Tao and surrender totally to Reality. In this practice of full
awareness, the self will be slowly disintegrated by attrition. Each time a
belief or ideal is found to be false, a layer of the onion is being peeled off.
After discrediting each component of the mind by finding it to be false,
the mind becomes a little more silent. This continues until there is total
quietness in the mind. This silence and stillness can then allow pure con-
sciousness (Presence) to seep through intermittently. Depending on the
intensity of the practice, this seepage may become a flood of pure con-
sciousness. During this period, even new concepts have to be dissolved.
Otherwise a new memory bank is formed. As one goes deeper into the
silence, the Truth becomes clearer. This total silence is transformed into
complete emptiness, which is perfect Love. This voidness is not the
absence of thoughts due to suppression. It is the still and silent voidness
that is our primordial nature. We were originally void and silent, full of
love. Then the ego took over and became full of self. The True Self is
nothing but Unconditional Love. When truth is realised, nothing matters
anymore. Every day is a good day. There is now no more suffering or sor-
row. One becomes younger and younger from day to day. Living daily in
pure consciousness is like being soaked in the Infinite and the Uncreated,
and this Presence being felt every moment of the day. Every moment of
one’s life is accompanied with peace, joy and bliss. There is no more con-
flict. There is no more contention, stress or irritation. There is no more
desire to become. There is no more struggling or searching for the truth.
One is the truth!

Acquisition of Virtue
So from the above, we can see that in the past we have conditioned our-

355
selves by setting ideals, concepts and beliefs. In this way we have impris-
oned ourselves conceptually. We try to escape from this mental bondage
by becoming virtuous. As there is a lack of understanding of this dilem-
ma, controlling the mind here is totally useless. Without understanding,
one cannot escape from this deep, mental conditioning, as fear is the
underlying support of this conditioning. This is because one tries to bring
in another idea to counter balance the controlling concept, but it is of no
avail, as only mental conflict will ensue. As long as there is mental conflict
there is no peace. When there is peace without fear and confusion, silence
is the natural outcome. So without conflict, strain and struggle, one can
be creative with peace and silence. The only way to live is to be aware
moment to moment. One should not be concerned with ethics, or to
become virtuous. When one is aware one does not have to become virtu-
ous, for in living in the moment there is no fear or conflict. There is only
Love and Wisdom. One is just BE. In this way there is no more self.
Purification of the Mind
In the past, when religious doctrines teach us to be good we take a stand
against evil. Because of the ego and the self, trying to be good and ethi-
cal becomes a battle of the opposites. Having taken a stand, we are now
separated by the distinction of being in the ‘good’ camp opposed to the
‘bad’ camp. This distinction between good and bad prevents us from act-
ing spontaneously. It only permits us to react according to the rules of the
game of opposites. One can see now that the limited self must dissolve
away before Reality can express Itself. That means this image of right and
wrong is a falsehood that continues to obstruct the appearance of Reality.
In the separation of good and bad, right and wrong our mind is suffused
with self-righteous falsehoods. Using rituals like mantras, chanting,
prayers and wrong methods of meditation will only entrench us more into
a morass of deluded religious practices. One must drop every ritual, every
religious belief and wrong practices propagated by religions and ‘Gurus’.
No one in the world has an authority over the Real. Not even the ‘Holy’
books. The person must liberate himself by letting go of all beliefs and
concepts. One can only let go when there is understanding that they are
merely second hand precepts, concepts and mental fabrications. They are
not real.

The Soul is Pure Consciousness

Once the mind is emptied of its contents, then the resulting pure con-

356
sciousness can express the Real. As long as the mind is filled or partially
consumed by all the false formulations the consciousness that is percolat-
ed will be equally confused. Individual consciousness is percolated con-
sciousness. That means individual consciousness is muddied and befud-
dled consciousness. In other words, the mind is the sieve. If the holes in
the sieve are blocked by falsehood, then the consciousness that is filtered
through is of poor quality. It is tainted by the confused mind. Hardly any
creativeness can be expected from this poorly filtered consciousness.
Creativeness is beyond the mind. Consciousness does not exclusively
remain in the mind. It can move in and out of the mind. In order to clear
the mind of beliefs and formulations, one uses Divine reasoning, which
is looking at the truth with clarity. Clarity is pure perception. This is the
moment one sees an object, which is recognised and named. However,
before the mind comes in to qualify the object, this fraction of a second
is pure perception, which is clarity. Once the mind takes over the object,
it is coloured or tainted by memory. But Divine reasoning can only bring
us up to the end of the mind, as reasoning is useless beyond the mind.
Reasoning does not function in Reality, even though it is Divine.

Love is Creativeness in Action

Individual consciousness is the entry point for Divine Consciousness.
However if the mind is totally cleansed then Presence can bring in the
creativeness that is ever present in Cosmic Consciousness. That means an
individual can be overwhelmingly creative, when the mind is completely
and totally cleansed out. The mode of creation is through Love, which is
creativeness in action. Love cannot be measured or defined. It is Creative
action and not reaction. So once one is filled with Creativeness in one’s
consciousness, the only way of expressing Reality is through Love and
affection. Without Love, affection and wisdom, Reality is not expressible.
It is there, but it cannot come out without Love.

Reality is Timeless, Unknown and Ineffable

When one has penetrated beyond the mind into Reality, one realises that
it is timeless, unknown and indescribable. That means it is impossible to
put into words what has been experienced--- ineffable. It is also Eternity
and omnipotent. Although this Unknowable is indescribable, it is also
unending. The Unmanifest Reality can manifest anything. It can also make
anything visible from the Invisible. This is the extent of its omnipotence.

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It is the Unborn, the Uncreated and the Unknowable. The only expres-
sion of the Reality is Love.

The Practice
We have dealt with the theoretical side of Reality. Now what about the
practice itself ? Let us start with meditation:

Correct meditation is ‘meditating without meditation’

Meditation utilising the method of concentration by narrowing the mind
to one object or one-pointedness is not correct meditation. This narrow-
ing of the mind will not bring us to Reality. Correct meditation does not
narrow the mind down by using a mantra, chanting or visualisation. True
meditation should liberate the mind into stillness and silent openness. It
is the stillness, emptiness and silence that will allow the pure conscious-
ness to appear on its own. The stillness should not be forced. It should be
a natural process of letting go of all thoughts and the self. One should
not abide on any object, memory or ‘high thoughts’. All thoughts and
mental chatter should be allowed to die on their own naturally. In this nat-
ural death of the mind, the blissful emptiness may then appear intermit-
tently at the beginning. With practice this repeated return to our primor-
dial base of silence and stillness will allow one to widen the interval
between two thoughts. From the above then, one can conclude that all
other methods and techniques of meditation are useless towards achiev-
ing self-realisation. The only helpful systems are mentioned in my article
‘Meditation on Emptiness’. In this essay, two systems are mentioned: (1)
Dzogchen and (2) Shikantaza.

(1) Dzogchen is the theoretical reasoning and understanding of what is

beyond the mind. This teaching stipulates that the mind is empty before
the arrival of thoughts and void before we are born. It gives the same
explanation as what has been explored above. It uses Tantra to deal with
negative emotions. The practice is ‘meditation without meditating.’

(2) Shikantaza is the method of ‘merely sitting’. It is a practice of ‘think-

ing of non-thinking’. In fact it should be beyond ‘thinking and non-think-
ing’. That means every thought must be allowed to pass through the mind
without dwelling on any one of them for even a second. One should not look
at any thought or listen to any mental chatter. Just let them pass. Therefore

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thoughts are allowed to come to an end on their own accord. There
should not be any coercion or suppression of thoughts as in concentra-
tion meditation.

Before one embarks on Shikantaza, it is prudent to practice Vipassana

first. In Vipassana (Insight Meditation), one looks at one’s thoughts at the
third eye area. The pictures are looked at calmly without emotional reac-
tion and prejudice. There is no judgement, criticism or praise. There is
merely a witnessing of the memories, planning and random thoughts.
When they are fully looked at, they will eventually disappear on their own.
With this impersonal looking with an understanding of the situation,
these thoughts will die off, never to recur again. This must be done with
an emotionless viewing as if they belong to some one else. Mental chat-
ter is also a thought. It is a mental movement associated with hearing. This
mental commentary can be quite torrential and incessant. Again, if one
merely listens without fear, judgement and emotion, the chatter will die
off like a blowing away of a storm. Then stillness will arise. It is not a
forced silence as seen in concentration exercises. The emptiness is an
opening for pure consciousness to seep through. In the beginning, this
interval between two thoughts is very short-lived, but once experienced
and maintained, it can be prolonged to a length of time. This is now the
beginning of true and real meditation. If at the same time, the process of
letting go or peeling of the onion is accelerated, one can begin to practice
Shikantaza. In contrast to Vipassana, Shikantaza is not to abide on any
object at all. Do not look at any picture that appears at the third eye. At
the same time do not listen to any mental chatter. Just ignore all these pic-
tures and mental commentary. In this Shikantaza practice, there is pure
witnessing but there is no witness. This witnessing is ‘the one who knows’.
The ‘one who knows’ is the Presence that merely watches events of the
mind appearing and disappearing in the background of the white sheet.
Presence is also there when one is in deep sleep. It is also there between
2 states. It is the background for everything that occurs in the mind. The
white sheet is Presence and is also pure consciousness. Satori is the state
of break through of pure consciousness into the mind. From thence
onwards the unveiling of one’s pure consciousness progresses in stages
until the final satori or enlightenment. The Zen teaching is that even after
full enlightenment, the practice continues until death! Being in Cosmic
Consciousness daily is like being in Nirvana every day. It is living in this

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world and yet not of this world.

Meditation in Action
When one is outside of sitting meditation, what does one do? The answer
is to be mindful moment to moment. However, together with this mind-
fulness practice, one must also give up the 5 poisons of desire, anger, self-
ishness, pride and ignorance. There should not be any grasping or wanting to
be something or someone. Love and compassion should be vigorously
practised. The awareness practice is spelt out in detail in Buddha’s teach-
ing of Four Foundations of Mindfulness. In this very difficult practice,
one must be aware of every action at every moment. While acting, doing
or performing any task, one’s attention is purely on the task. The mind
should be left empty. The mind should not be wandering all over the place
trying to solve other problems or planning what to do in the next hour or
so. Neither should the mind be allowed to wander of to somewhere else
geographically. It should be left empty or concentrating on the task at
hand. Even when listening to a lecture, one can leave the mind empty if
one does not indulge in commentaries and do not allow the mind to wan-
der. When one is planning daily chores, sit down and work them out. And
that should be the sole purpose. The periods of practice need to be grad-
ually lengthened. Starting with ten minutes on the first day and prolong it
day by day until one is fully aware all day. When this final eventuality
occurs, one will be in total stillness while one is performing all activities.
One is now just a neutral witness like a mirror with no emotions and no
identification is made. There is no viewer. There is just the viewing. At this
stage there is only bliss, peace and calmness. Of course, if in one’s previ-
ous practice one has already arrived at this silent awareness, then Presence
would be automatically instituted as the mirror-witness.

Contemplation
Every day some time must be devoted to contemplating the theories
enunciated above. Slowly day by day, break down all the belief systems,
theories and mental formulations hitherto accumulated. Repeatedly know
that it is the self that is obstructing enlightenment. Realise what constitute
the ego and the self. The ego is composed of the physical body, emotions
and the mind. The ego can be inflated or deflated. Use this theme: ‘I am
not my body, I am not my emotions and I am not my mind’ as if it is a mantra,
whenever one is not in meditation or performing a task. When this theme

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is repeated often enough and believed to be true, there will come a time
when the principle is realised. Without Insight Meditation, it is more dif-
ficult to realise that emotion and thoughts are not ‘self ’. It is easy with the
physical body, as one would have seen quite a few corpses in our life time,
and this fact alone would make us realise the stark reality of ‘I am not the
body’. On a daily basis, work out what composes the mind and together
with emotions what constitute the ‘self ’. It is only with this regime of
emptying the mind on a daily basis can pure consciousness seep through.
The consciousness is made the purer day by day with the ongoing process
of letting go. The mind-sieve is being cleaned up at the same time. This
means letting go of all things material and mundane with no desire to
become anything. There should not be any craving for enlightenment.
With this process, the practitioner will come to realise that the thinker and
thoughts are one. Both are empty. There is only the process of ‘thinking’.
No one is thinking and the thoughts are just fabrications of the mind, and
they are ephemeral shadows on the mind-screen, to be erased in the next
instant when a new thought comes along. From this stage onwards there
is only seeing without a seer. There is only hearing without a hearer. There
is only thinking without a thinker. However, these contemplations must
continue even after the Truth has appeared again and again. At this stage
one has only arrived at the individual soul level. This is the Brahman stage.
There is yet a final stage to be reached, and this is the Absolute, the
Ultimate State of Consciousness. It is the Parabrahman. In this final state
there is absolutely no individuality. There is only the non-dual background
of silence and stillness from which all dual activities are enacted. We are
now in the background witnessing the flow of the river, completely unin-
volved with all activities in the dualistic world. One is now merged with
Reality. God is in me and I am part of God. I Am that I Am. Cosmic
Consciousness is Unity and includes everything in every universe and the
practitioner is part of It. He knows now that he is the same consciousness
behind the earth, the ant, the orchid, the dog and every individual. He
knows that he has never been separate. He now knows that even if he
wants to be separate, it is not possible to do so.

The analogy here is that the wave of the sea realises that it is only a wave
and has no independent existence. That means the practitioner has self-
realised himself as the soul (atman)---Brahman. But then he must go one
step further by realising that he is also the ocean---Parabrahman. After

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realising that he is also the ocean, he now just merely witnesses the antics
of the wave without identifying himself as the wave anymore.

That is why the Zen yogi does not stop meditating even after he has self-
realised himself. Self-realisation is merely at the individual soul level. The
Ultimate State must be reached. Once one is ensconced in the Ultimate
State of Consciousness, there is nothing else to do. There is nobody there.
One has now become a polished mirror.

References
1. M. Macdonald-Bayne. Beyond The Himalayas.

2. Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination (Viveka-Chudamani)

Translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood.

3. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj’ Talks on Realizing the Infinite: The Experience of

Nothingness. Edited by Robert Powell, Ph.D, Blue Dove Press.

4. Jean Klein. Open to the Unknown. Third Millenium Publications. 1992

5. Jean Klein. I Am. Third Millennium Publications. 1989.

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 What Comes After Enlightenment?
“Being is the eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are
subject to birth and death. However, Being is not only beyond but also deep within
every form as its innermost invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is
accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don’t seek to
grasp it with your mind. Don’t try to understand it. You can know it only when the
mind is still, when you are present, fully and intensely in the Now… To regain
awareness of Being and to abide in that state of ‘feeling-realisation’ is enlighten-
ment.”

Eckhart Tolle

Introduction
This essay is not to discuss methods of enlightenment but what comes
after the psychophysical organism has realised his true Self.
Enlightenment basically means to the enlightened that he is not separate
from the rest of the world and that no one is enlightened. He is still com-
posed of the same physical body, emotions and mind, but the thinking
mind is no more in existence. That means there is no more ‘me’, ‘I’ and
‘mine’. He does not think, say or do things for the sake of himself. After
enlightenment, the Absolute or Totality acts through his psychophysical
organism as an instrument.

How does he come to this state? There is no sadhana (spiritual practice)

for that individual to undertake to realise his Self. What has happened is
that he simply retraces back to his source of origin, and realises his true
Self as pure Consciousness. This moment of enlightened is almost like an
accident. There is no method, technique or path, which can bring the indi-
vidual to his source, but there are sadhanas to bring the yogin to the edge
of the river. At the edge he just waits for enlightenment to happen.
Enlightenment means destruction of the thinking mind, after which he
lives in impersonal Consciousness. When circumstances demand it he will
move back to personal Consciousness from time to time. Under these
conditions in duality he still needs a working mind. The working mind is
necessary to drawback on memories, etc for the individual to function.

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There is an old idea that when a person becomes enlightened he is quite
helpless and has to be looked after hand and foot. This is not true. We will
go into this later.

There are many similes of the process of enlightenment. Here are some
of them. (1) Cosmic Consciousness is equated with that of electricity,
which is neutral and is all-powerful. However, as soon as the electricity is
plugged into a fridge, a computer or a bulb, the electricity lights up the
individual equipment as a separate item. The computer is different and
separate from the fridge, and if there is sentience in them, they will deem
themselves as separate individuals. (2) A cabdriver in the city thinks that
he is in total control of the taxi. In reality, the owner of the taxi-compa-
ny is in full control of all the taxis and the drivers through the radiotele-
phone. He directs the drivers to the customers and pays their salaries. The
owner of the taxi-company in fact owns everything on earth, animate or
inanimate. The taxi is the body, the driver is the mind and the owner of
the firm is Cosmic Consciousness. (3) The large cinema screen is taken as
Cosmic Consciousness or the ground substance. The film projects a story
line onto the screen, and the animation makes the characters seem real.
The room has to be darkened for us to see the story. While the film is
being projected we are being deluded that the characters are real and true.
The minute the film is finished, the lights come on; we realise that they
are merely shadows on the screen. Without the screen, Cosmic
Consciousness, there would not be any characters or story. (4) The ocean
represents the universe and therefore it includes everything. When ripples
or drops of seawater come up onto the surface, the ripple or droplet
assumes that it is separate. When the droplet is evaporated by the sun to
form part of a cloud and then becomes a raindrop, it is more likely to
deem itself as separate. At the end of a long journey when it understands
that it is part of the ocean this understanding will destroy this ignorance.
Then it knows that it is not separate. When this happens the droplet
becomes self-realised i.e. enlightened. The last simile is the best. It is very
apt.

What happens at the time of enlightenment?

The descriptions here are all from recent enlightened advaitists.

The person cannot hasten the process. When it is going to happen, it will

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happen. No amount of spiritual practice, sadhana, can bring on enlight-
enment. Other people are unable to see the transformation in the enlight-
ened (jnani). Some times, the jnani himself realises it only days or months
after the event!
What transpires at this event varies from person to person. Ramana
Marhashi and Eckhart Tolle both had great fear at the time of enlighten-
ment. With Ramana it is fear of death. Ramana lies down as if his body
is dead, but his Consciousness is still aware of a current of energy play-
ing on his rigid body. The fear dropped off, and from then onwards he is
‘perpetually absorbed’ in that current of energy in his daily chores. In
Eckhart Tolle’s case, he felt reborn. His deep depression (with suicidal
tendencies) was replaced by bliss and peace. He remained in this state of
peace and bliss for the next 5 months. Tony Parsons was just walking in
the park, when it happened. The stillness and presence descended upon
him as the timeless eradicated ‘him’, the experiencer. From thence
onwards ‘he’ did not exist. R. Balshekar was translating a talk for Maharaj,
when he suddenly became almost like an automaton: the translation was
being done for him and his voice became louder and clearer. Most of
these people have various grades of bliss, rapture and peace. All of them
finally either got used to these states or they wear off. Some of them cry
out with joy. Some of them realise that they have finally returned to their
original Self. Some behave as if they are insane. There is no uniform for-
mula.
Enlightenment is an impersonal understanding that there is no 'one' being
enlightened. It is an understanding that there is no comprehender; there
is no longer a separate entity or a doer. It is a surrender to the fact that
there is nobody surrendering to anything. It is a vertical impersonal expe-
rience. It now becomes an awareness witnessing the functions of the psy-
chophysical complex. The witnessing is like a mirror with no separate
entity mirroring the events or actions of the individual. He still functions
in duality for the rest of his life, but he does not experience dualism any-
more. Duality is a condition of the phenomenal world in which the oppo-
sites are mandatory, but dualism is the delusion that one is separate. There
is only Consciousness acting through everything in all the universes.
Nothing is separate and there isn't an 'I' or 'me'.
Suffering of the corporate body.
Physically there is no change. In time to come he may age more slowly,

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because there are now no more worries, anxieties or problems of a per-
sonal nature. The Absolute functions through his psychophysical com-
plex, whether the individual realises it or not. This is true also with the
unenlightened. Physically the body suffers and feels the pain and joy, but
there is no one suffering the pain. The pain is there, but there is no suf-
fer. The psychophysical complex may even groan or scream with pain, but
there is no 'person' suffering. The pain and the screams are merely wit-
nessed by the impersonal Consciousness.

Emotions
As the psychophysical organism is free of a personal entity, there is no
involvement in others and their problems. Similarly there is no mental
projection of enjoyment in good company or listening to music or eating
good food as before. The pure awareness merely witnesses the situation
as it arises, and there is no involvement in that situation. Love and wisdom
prevail in those with these qualities prior to enlightenment. If the indi-
vidual was an angry one, after enlightenment anger still prevails as a reac-
tion when irritated, but no one is angry.

The Mind and Intellect

Mentally and intellectually, the individual may be just as intelligent as
before, but his aim in life may change. From a menial worker, he may be
transformed into a teacher of spiritual growth. The individual, who was
never interested in writing, suddenly becomes a consummate writer.
Public speaking becomes second nature to a former shy and fumbling
talker. In the religious line, they are converted into tireless workers in their
respective religions with insurmountable energy. Some may resign from
very onerous jobs to go into seclusion. Some may suddenly start to heal.
With the grace of enlightenment, most of them accept and surrender to
the Tao or G-plan.

Enlightenment means not identifying one’s psychophysical organism as a

separate doer, but its impersonal Consciousness must still continue to
identify the organism as an individual for the rest of his life. Otherwise he
cannot function. He must answer to his name and know where he is liv-
ing and who are his friends and relatives. He is now merely acting as a psy-
chic operating-centre to activate his thoughts, voice and body movements.
The Absolute is the functioning centre of his pure Consciousness. This is

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what Ramana Maharshi meant when he said that there is a centre of ener-
gy working on his body. Another good example is when a man gets an
out-of-body experience while performing a complicating task, like a sur-
gical operation. Although his spirit is not in his body, he is able to perform
the surgical operation impeccably. The spirit outside his body is the func-
tional centre and his shell of a body is the operating centre. The enlight-
ened man (jnani) is truly in this world and not of this world.

The Ego and Mind

In the unenlightened, the ego is composed of the body, emotions and a
mind, which can be notionally divided into the working mind and the
thinking mind. In the enlightened, the ego is devoid of the thinking mind.
This thinking mind is the conceptualising component, which is always sep-
arating the ‘me’ from the others. It draws on memories to project fears,
worries and anxieties. It also forms images of future successes and failures.
The working mind is only concerned with the functioning of the moment.
It also draws on memories to work for the present. It does not judge or
differentiate. So in the enlightened the thinking mind is no more in exis-
tence, and the mind becomes silent. Words just flow out without prior
imaging. The thinking mind is the source of trouble: all negative thoughts
arise from the thinking mind. It therefore interferes with the smooth func-
tioning of the working mind. When an unenlightened uses only a working
mind, as when he is totally engrossed in what he is doing, time goes by very
rapidly. In no time three hours have passed by. Neither is he tired. The
working mind does not exhaust a person. In an emergency, the enlightened
does not panic being devoid of a thinking mind. He acts quickly and
instinctively with only the working mind. The mental chattering and day-
dreaming are both of the thinking mind. The working mind is a silent wit-
ness, if there is anything to witness. If there is nothing to witness, it goes
deep into pure Consciousness. In one’s practice of the spiritual path before
enlightenment, the thinking mind gradually gets subdued on the way.
When the ‘me’ becomes less obtrusive, the working mind takes over more
and more. Of course the working mind also must use memory to bring in
judgement for the execution of the present action. In identifying with the
body and there is no image of a doer attached, then it is still the working
mind. Habits are not necessarily that of a working mind only. If there is
judging or evaluating a situation from the personal point of view it is from
the thinking mind. To help staying in the working mind is to truly believe

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that flowing of one’s G-plan or Tao is beyond one’s control. Just do it
without worrying or anticipating the consequences.

While using the working mind, one must totally be present and the mind
is not a blank. One could call it an intuitive mind. Most imaging especial-
ly when projecting the dire consequences of the future is of the thinking
mind. However, drawing images from the past to execute the task at hand
is that of a working mind.

Summarising the above, the Absolute or Cosmic Consciousness acts

through the psychosomatic organism of either an enlightened or unen-
lightened individual. The enlightened merely reacts to the situation or
external circumstances without the thinking mind and there is no 'me' or
'mine' involved. The unenlightened on the other hand will deem himself
as a separate self, acting out his experiences with a 'me' and 'mine' fully in
the background. As less and less of the thinking mind is being used, the
individual will be less and less stressed, worried and anxious until one day
he functions only through his working mind. The ego is still there, but this
ego is devoid of the thinking mind.

Can an enlightened individual perform criminal acts?

As the enlightened person does not deem himself as a separate individual
and all his actions are unselfish, it is highly unlikely that he will perform
criminal or antisocial acts. All his actions are for the benefit of other peo-
ple. If in order to save 100 people he hurts one or a few, he will not hes-
itate to do so. All his actions are spontanesous and he has no malice afore-
thought. None of his actions are premeditated except at that moment of
execution. He has no worries for his future. He does not seek gain or
fame. There is no self-gratification in his actions. In this way, humility,
compassion, love and wisdom are his guiding principles.

Although the enlightened does not resort to criminality, his reaction

sometimes do not conform to social mores, e. g. his predilection to sex.
To explain away his promiscuity, he tends to say that he is above the social
etiquette of the general public. Or a more likely explanation is that it is
merely the psychophysical organism's normal reaction to that organism's
instinct. It is like when he is hungry he just eats. When he is sleepy, he
sleeps. When he is sexy, he likes to have sex.

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His Auras
To those who can see auras, they will be able to visualise that the jnani’s
auras are much larger than normal. They are also clear without smudges.
The main colour would be purple. Any body remaining in the same room
as the jnani would be embraced by his auras, which can fill up the entire
room. This embracing aura is very healing, especially if the jnani is a heal-
er. Otherwise peace and tranquillity will be emanated by this aura.

Bliss
Enlightenment is also being with his soul, which has its 5 sheaths. The
soul is also known as Sat-Chit-Ananda. Sat is being. Chit is consciousness
and Ananda is bliss. Having disassociated oneself with the body-mind
complex (body, emotions and mind), he is left with his auras and the 1st
covering of bliss. The auras are just his normal armour, which he cannot
discharge. He is now left with bliss, which is also a component of the soul.
That is why the very first reaction of enlightenment is the utter bliss and
joy, but having entrenched himself in the pure consciousness of his soul
for sometime, the bliss becomes a normal accompaniment and it is noth-
ing special.

How does the enlightened view the world?

The enlightened realises that Totality or Cosmic Consciousness is the same
as individual consciousness, and therefore he is not a separate entity. He
and the myriad of entities, vegetation and insects are activated and pow-
ered by the same Consciousness. However, the unenlightened does not
know this, and he identifies himself with his psychosomatic organism with
its attendant suffering. He has the erroneous view that he is separate and
that he controls his life. That is why some sages deem the entire world as
unreal, because the trillions of ‘things’ are merely the manifested shadows
of the Unmanifested, Cosmic Consciousness. These diversity of beings
and other ‘things’ are the ripples on the surface of the ocean: everything is
part of the ocean. Everything in the universe is powered or activated by
the same electricity (Consciousness). All there is, is Consciousness. Every min-
eral, vegetable, animal and human has the same Consciousness. It is only
the human that has ‘self-consciousness’, and therefore he suffers the most,
because of his thinking mind. With enlightenment and the destruction of
the thinking mind, there are no more concepts with its trail of fears,
doubts and worries, because the ‘me’ is not present.

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How does the enlightened react?
He reacts spontaneously with no aforethought, but according to the genet-
ic makeup of that particular psychosomatic organism. A large dose of his
samskaras (innate tendencies) is infused into this makeup. So if the partic-
ular jnani has characteristics of impatience or anger before, he will still be
impatient or angry after enlightenment. If he is addicted to cigarette smok-
ing, he will continue to smoke cigarettes after enlightenment. If he has a
predilection to sex, he will continue to be attracted to sex. But after all his
activities are witnessed and finished with, there is no more attachment after
the event. There is no pining or stalking of the sex object in the interven-
ing period. His basic understanding is that he has no control over his reac-
tions: he cannot predict how he will react to his addiction or succumb to a
weakness, which comes with his psychosomatic organism. The Absolute or
Cosmic Consciousness simply acts through that psychosomatic organism
with that failing or addiction. He accepts the changes that come about in
his daily life. He does not plan for the event to come about and therefore
there is no disappointment. He does not follow a discipline or become a
recluse because it conforms to a jnani. As there is no personal doer and as
he may have to live with other people, his natural behaviour will have to
include co-operation and harmony. His surrender to circumstances is
spontaneous and not because of an image he has to build up. He does not
have to lead, or to teach or to heal. If doing nothing all day long is his style
of living, then he will be seen as a loafer, even if he had been a most indus-
trious worker before enlightenment. There is no telling what transforma-
tion or changes a jnani will make to his life. Every conversation, action or
thought is spontaneous and his lack of control makes him look like an
automaton, but he is not. He merely witnesses the events as a mirror.

The above are the views of an enlightened advaitist.

How does a jnani see the unenlightened (ajnani)?

A jnani does not differentiate between a jnani and an ajnani (unenlight-
ened). To a jnani everybody is powered by the same electricity or
Consciousness, and therefore he views all sentient beings as the same. The
ajnani, who is veiled by ignorance, cannot recognise a jnani and sees him
only as a person who performs action like any other person. So he treats
the jnani like any other person without realising that the jnani is devoid of
the essence of a personal self. This jnani is propelled and activated by

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Cosmic Consciousness without a doer performing the acts. A jnani knows
that it is the same Consciousness that acts through every sentient being
and every form in the universe. Both (jnani and ajnani) are equal to him.
Every single individual is unique in that its psychosomatic organism has
inherited characteristics from his genes. Every individual must also act out
his own G-plan with his samskaras. These do not change with enlighten-
ment. Even his addictions remain.

Is the jnani subjected to karma and cause and effect?

The psychosomatic organism definitely is subjected to karma and causal-
ity. If he breaks a law, that law will punish his psychosomatic organism.
Jesus Christ was a good case in point. He was crucified according to the
law of that country at that time. However, as there is no being or doer in
him, he went headlong into Jerusalem on that day knowing full well that
he would be crucified. Being a jnani, the ‘me’ was not there and therefore
‘he’ did not suffer. The psychosomatic organism suffered, but not ‘him’.
This reminds us of a Buddhist Zen Koan, in which a monk was asked
whether an enlightened person was subjected to karma. He answered
wrongly: ‘No’. As a consequence of this mistake, the monk had to be rein-
carnated 500 times as a fox! The retribution of course was an exaggera-
tion, but the lesson was well taught. A jnani does not create future karma,
but its psychosomatic organism is subjected to past (prarabdha) karma.
Of course after his death there is no more karmic effect because he will
not be reborn again unless he has decided to be a Bodhisattva.

Witnessing is just Being.

In witnessing, there is no observer. It is the state of Consciousness wit-
nessing when there is something to witness. If there is nothing to witness,
Consciousness goes deeper into a state of rest of non-witnessing.
Ramana Maharshi calls this the ‘natural state’. It is like the automatic gear
in a car. In witnessing, the car automatically changes gear when accelerat-
ing. But Consciousness automatically goes back to neutral i.e. non-wit-
nessing when there is nothing to witness. In this non-witnessing state, the
jnani hears the sounds and sees the sights without any personal involve-
ment at all. If this state continues, he goes into samadhi. However, when
a reaction is required, the non-witnessing state moves back into a wit-
nessing state again. It is automatically smooth and spontaneous. In the
jnani, his Consciousness is impersonal and is similar to the Consciousness

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of an ajnani in deep sleep. In deep dreamless sleep, the ajnani does not
identify his Consciousness with his psychosomatic organism but he does
so when awake. The jnani does not identify with his psychosomatic organ-
ism when awake. To him it is an awakened dream, when awake. In this
state he does not witness his thoughts. His thought gets witnessed. This
means there is no one witnessing. In this pure witnessing, there is no ‘me’
involved and therefore there is no judgement or comparison. The jnani is
just like a mirror: what is mirrored does not effect him. He mirrors only
what is presented to him, who himself is a non-entity.

The Inherent Characteristics of the Jnani

Due to his G-plan and prarabdha (karma to be spent in this life), the jnani
still has to suffer or enjoy the effects of karma. Additionally due to his
samskaras he also has desires and anger. When desires and anger arise, he
may or may not succumb to them. However he does not hold any linger-
ing anger against what makes him angry, neither does he scheme and plan
to acquire the objects of his desires. When these desires, thoughts and
anger are over, they are all totally forgotten. If the psychosomatic organ-
ism has inherent fear, the jnani may also have fear and even terror, but
then it passes. That means pain, pleasure, grief and gratification etc will
all arise depending on the individual organism. All these will be witnessed
and acted upon if necessary and then they are all cut off. If he is hungry,
he eats. If he is thirsty, he drinks. If he is sexy, he may or may not go and
look for sex, for this process involves some one else. If the above emo-
tions arise with accompanying personal involvement then he is not a jnani.
The jnani knows that these desires, emotions and anger are beyond his
control: he is merely the instrument for the Absolute to act through.
Therefore, enlightenment does not make that individual perfect. He sim-
ply becomes whole and awake. With understanding, he is peaceful, bliss-
ful and tranquil.

Lack of motivation and consistency

As the thinking mind is absent, there is no motivation for his action,
which is spontaneous, not judgmental and not confusing. His actions may
also not be reasonable or consistent. If before enlightenment, the indi-
vidual is full of love and compassion, then the transformed jnani will also
be full of love and compassion. If these are not his qualities before
enlightenment, then he may not manifest them too readily after enlight-

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enment. However, agape, compassion and wisdom are usually the basic
qualities of the Absolute. Totality is unadulterated, unconditional love!

Moral Issues concerning a Jnani

Is a jnani virtuous? Having destroyed the thinking mind he is now mere-
ly a psychosomatic organism. He is absolutely without self-interest.
Everything he does is for the benefit of others, who are not treated as
separate. He knows that he and the rest of the universe are charged by the
same electricity or impersonal Consciousness: there is no difference
between him and others. Therefore he needs not go about to be virtuous.
He simply acts. Selflessness and humility are now part of his normal char-
acter. He does not have to be selfless or humble. He simply is. This is in
contrast to the hypocritically, assumed virtue and humility of the so-called
pious people and clergy. In them, there is no spontaneity or naturalness.
The altruism of the rich is always overtly seen and advertised. The false
humility of the powerful is often too obvious. They try too hard, where-
as the jnani does not have to pretend. He just simply is what he is. He
knows what Jesus said: ‘I and my father are one. The kingdom of God is
within.’

Summary
Every unenlightened or enlightened being has a unique psychosomatic
organism, a body-mind complex. Every form in the universe is charged by
the same Cosmic Consciousness. This Consciousness is impersonal until
it inhabits a psychosomatic organism, when it becomes personal. The
jnani knows that every one on earth is propelled by the same
Consciousness, but the ajnani is veiled by ignorance and believes that he
is separate from others. In this way he thinks that he controls his own life,
and all his activities will either fail or succeed by his efforts. His ego con-
sists of his body, emotions and mind. His mind is notionally divided into
thinking and working mind. The thinking mind is the one that makes him
suffer. All negativities, fear, and anxiety arise form the thinking mind,
which always regrets the past and fears the future. In the jnani, the think-
ing mind is totally destroyed, and he knows that he is selfless. The jnani
knows that Cosmic Consciousness acts through his organism and he has
no control over it. So he flows with the Tao. He cannot explain the Tao
to his unenlightened friends, because the Tao that is named is not the Tao.
The jnani in all probability will not be reborn again when he dies, unless

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he wants to come back as a Bodhisattva. The psychosomatic organism has
its own inherent characteristics, which are derived from its samskaras and
genetics. When the organism is born angry, he may remain angry through-
out life whether enlightened or not. However, he does not carry the anger
over even to the next second. He is very natural and spontaneous. There
is no pretension at all. He does not have to put up an image of being
saintly or virtuous. In fact he is as imperfect as before enlightenment, but
he is whole. Generally, he is healthier, because there is no fear, anxiety or
worry due the absence of the thinking mind. However, if a major illness
is in his G-plan, he will suffer that illness. All his actions are for the ben-
efit of others, whom he deems as part and parcel of Self (Cosmic
Consciousness). Love and compassion are accentuated if they are there
before. He is characteristically wise because it is the wisdom of Totality
that shines through him.

References
1) Ramesh S. Balsekar. Consciousness Speaks. Advaita Press. 1992.

2) Sri Ramana Maharshi. Be As You Are. Edited by David Godman.

Arkana. 1985.

3) Tony Parsons. The Open Secret. Open Secret Publishing. 1995, 1998,
1999 and 2000.

4) Tony Parsons. As It Is. Open Secret Publishing. 2000.

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 Are Spiritual Practices Useless?
Doctrines, processes and progressive paths, which seek enlightenment, only exacerbate
the problem they address by reinforcing the idea that the self can find something that it
presumes it has lost. It is that very effort, that investment in self-identity that continu-
ously recreates the illusion of separation from oneness. This is the veil that we believe
exists. It is the dream of individuality.

The only likely effect of extreme effort to become that, which I already am, is that even-
tually I will drop to the ground exhausted and let go. In that letting go another possi-
bility may arise. Struggle in time does not invite liberation.

Life is not a task. There is absolutely nothing to attain except the realisation that is
absolutely nothing to attain.

No amount of effort will ever persuade oneness to appear. All that is needed is a leap
in perception, a different seeing, already inherent but unrecognised.

Tony Parsons

Introduction
Most modern ‘enlightened’ teachers have been teaching recently that all spir-
itual practices do not lead to enlightenment. They do not encourage medita-
tion or reading, and they reckon that all other forms of yogas do not help.
Further they also advice against any desire to be enlightened. To them most
gurus are unhelpful except themselves. Their instructions are that one con-
tinues with one’s life as usual, and if one is to be enlightened, it will come on
its own without any effort. Therefore, the teachings of Buddha, Jesus,
Krishna and Mohamed are useless and inappropriate in the modern context.
They quote the examples of a few enlightened people like Ramana Maharshi,
Eckhart Tolle and few others (the lady mentioned by Tony Parsons in his
book), who became enlightened without any practice. Remember that both
Ramana Maharshi and Eckhart Tolle were very depressed at the time it hap-
pened: both their minds were totally absorbed by the negativity of a deep
depression. The only way out is to lose their minds! This is similar to the prac-
tice of solving a Zen koan by the total eradication of the mind.

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On the whole, the above message of the modern teachers cannot be taken
seriously. If what they say are true, millions of practitioners including
monks and priests must immediately drop what they are doing and start
or continue with a secular life. That means they should continue to spec-
ulate on the stock and property markets, continue to climb the corporate
ladder with sharp knives and do not think or do anything spiritual..
Therefore no practice and no desire for enlightenment is required. Almost
exclusively, these modern ‘gurus’ are advaitists, practitioners of advaita
(non-dualism).

The Essence is Effort without trying too hard

One must remember that for the ‘enlightened’, this is the last incarnation
of a series of incarnations. With this fact in mind, it is not appropriate to
announce that all sadhanas (spiritual practices) are useless. This incarna-
tion is the culmination of many past incarnations, in which the individual
might have had numerous sadhanas. Therefore in this life he is just ripe
for the picking, and the fruit merely drops without any effort. When this
happens the modern guru says no sadhana is required. Even in this incar-
nation, earlier on the jnani (enlightened) could have tried too hard in the
past many years and failed. He failed because he did not let go enough and
not because the sadhana is useless. A classic example was Ananda,
Buddha’s cousin and attendant. Buddha predicted that he would be an
arahant (saint) before the 1st council meeting of arahants. After Buddha
died Ananda tried very, very hard to be enlightened. Up to the eve of the
council meeting, he still could not make it. So he decided to give up and
go to sleep. In the process of laying his head down onto the pillow, he
became enlightened. The lesson here is that Ananda gave up trying!

That means those who tried many methods before and gave them up dis-
illusioned and suddenly find themselves enlightened are those who stop
trying. As long as one is still unenlightened, one is subjected to karma and
rebirth. In this unenlightened state there is always a tendency to escape
from suffering by trying too hard. Even in the pursuit of liberation
Buddha’s teaching of ‘craving is suffering’ holds true. If you ‘crave to be
enlightened’ the craving becomes an obstacle. The practical examples are
the athlete who is too anxious to win or the boxer who is too up tight and
he loses the fight. These two examples exemplify that to succeed one must
be totally relaxed.

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Although sadhana does not lead one directly to enlightenment, it does
bring one to the river’s edge. At this edge, the yogin (practitioner) just
have to wait for Grace to ferry him across the river. At this stage, he must
totally surrender to his Tao. The waiting period maybe a night or life
times. It all depends on how much purification has transpired before com-
ing to the edge. He must also wait without waiting: that means no anxiety
about his goal. In fact he should forget about enlightenment altogether. If
enlightenment is going to come in this life it will come: no fuss, no agita-
tion and no stress.

Sadhanas that may bring one to the edge of the river

There are as many methods as there are countries in this world. There are
also as many techniques as there are religions. This article cannot cover
every sadhana there is in the books. However the author will try to choose
some practices that may bring the practitioner to the edge. These meth-
ods do not need a guru. The advaitists would accuse me of advocating
dualistic methods towards the goal of non-dualism. They say that this will
not work. Nevertheless, Roshi Baker said ‘Enlightenment is an accident.
However, meditation is accident-prone’. This is exactly my thesis. If you
do not have a goal and take the first step, then there is no journey. If you
embark on a journey, some one may come along for you to hitch a hike.
If you do not take the first step, then you will be reborn and suffer many
more times. If you reach the river’s edge, Grace may turn up without
warning to ferry you across. Therefore let us prepare for the journey
which may take us many life times.

One Must Maintain a Proper Philosophy

There must be some disenchantment or even disgust with the suffering of life
hitherto. Then there should be a desire at this early stage to rid oneself of
the pain of living. The journey will begin with the search for religion,
beliefs and spiritual practices. Then one may approach teachers or gurus
to guide one along. Grabbing books to read in order to find the magic
pathway becomes a voracious hobby. Travelling to temples, churches and
ashrams could be next on the agenda. The most treacherous point here is
to be caught by a religion run by fanatics. Monetary donations, charitable
works and communal helping hand promote good fellowship amongst the
members. This fellowship gives one the false sense that one is on the right
track. After many years of searching, learning and meditation, one may

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find that there is actually no improvement in one’s spiritual status. Going
through libraries of spiritual books and attending innumerable weekend
retreats still do not yield any spiritual benefits. Climbing up the ladder in
the ashram to become a senior devotee is the same as going up the cor-
porate ladder to be a senior manager in a commercial firm. Although the
goal may appear different, the acquisition movement upwards is the same.
When one tries to please the guru in the ashram it is the same as one try-
ing to please the boss in the office. So after many years or decades of sad-
hana, one is disenchanted. Hopefully the aspirant is also detached and dis-
passionate. When the disgust with life increases, his psyche is totally
imbued with detachment, dispassion and desirelessness. Now he has complete
dis-interest in worldly matters, and he should become calmer with much
less anger. His daily actions should now be more selfless and humble. He
is now slowly eroding the dominance of the ego mind. It is the ego that
previously subjected him to such suffering due to interminable wanting
and craving. Wisdom now informs him that the craving can never stop,
and after the massive acquisition of material assets and honours, when he
dies they have to be left behind. These acquired assets and honours also
do not quench the thirst and suffering.

However, while all desires must be eradicated, there will still be a lingering
expectation of enlightenment. This lingering must not be allowed to rise
to the level of a desire. In fact it is better if he forgets all about enlighten-
ment. At this level of development, he should completely surrender to the
Tao and realise that whatever will be will be. It is entirely beyond his con-
trol. His G-plan is fixed before his birth. There are no grounds for him to
worry about anything in the future. If he has to die tomorrow he will. He
cannot prevent it. If he wants to die tomorrow, but it is not his time, he
will not die tomorrow. The flow of the Tao involves even the smallest of
detail such as what he is going to have for dinner tonight.

So armed with the knowledge that he has no free will and no control, he
should now carry on earning a living and practise his sadhana without that
intense desire as before. He should just wait without waiting. The main core of
his practice now should be living in the present. The awareness should be from moment
to moment with no regrets of the past and no fear of the future.

So one’s mental attitude must be to accept the inevitability of one’s G-

plan. The practitioner must also observe detachment, dispassion and

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desirelessness. This practice is to clear the mind of anxiety and worry. So
with these armaments, let us discuss some sadhanas that may bring us to
the edge.

Concentration Meditation
Concentration meditation is concentrating exclusively on one object until
the subject and the object are merged into one. The Hindus use this tech-
nique exclusively before Buddha came onto the scene, when Insight med-
itation was introduced. Concentration meditation is an indirect method
and frown upon by most serious seekers. One chooses an object to con-
centrate on exclusively until the subject fuses with the object. In this med-
itation process, one has to reach a fairly deep stage of 4th Absorption
(Jhana) for the subject to be absorbed with the object. One now has to
transmute this fused subject-object into nothingness. By removing the
fused subject-object he ends up in Boundless Space, which is the 5th
Jhana. Then the next 6th stage is the withdrawal inwards of one’s atten-
tion to Boundless Consciousness. The 7th Jhana is that of the Base of
Nothingness. And the last (8th) Jhana is the Base of Neither Perception
nor Non-perception. In the scheme of the four Theravada stages of
Sainthood, one must be in the penultimate stage of a Non-Returner in
order to achieve the stage of 7th and 8th Jhana (see later). The essence
here is to disintegrate the subject-object element and allow one’s concen-
tration to turn inwards towards one’s own pure consciousness, the true
Self. This Self of pure consciousness is beyond even the 8th Jhana. It is
at this last step of coming home to one’s original source, which is really
beyond concentration meditation. That is why yogins tend to look down
on concentration meditation.

Hindu Meditation
1) The Hindu equivalent here is Salvikalpa Samadhi where one’s Self-
awareness must be maintained by dint of effort. As long as Self-awareness
is held on with effort, one is with realty. When Self-attention wavers, Self-
awareness is obscured. The possible equivalent of concentration medita-
tion to Salvikalpa Samadhi is up to the 2nd Jhana (absorption).

2) Kevala nirvikalpa samadhi. In this state there is no body-conscious-

ness, and there is a temporary awareness of Self or Presence without
effort. As the individual is like a block of wood, the senses and the body

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are not functioning. This is a temporary erasure of the ego, and is the
penultimate stage before enlightenment. Once out of meditation, the ego
returns. That means he cannot hold on to realty or Presence permanent-
ly. This stage is equivalent to the 3rd to the 8th. Jhana.

3) Sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi. Sahaja means ‘natural’ and nirvikalpa

means ‘no differences’. He is now an enlightened psychosomatic organ-
ism (jnani). Having destroyed the ego permanently, he sees no difference
between himself and others and the rest of the world. He can function
normally in the world with only the working mind, as the thinking mind is
eliminated. He is now in the world but not of it. He also realises that every
manifested thing arises from the Unmanifested. This state cannot be
achieved with concentration alone. One must practise a method that will
return one to its pure personal consciousness. This Being or Presence can
then return to impersonal Consciousness, which is part of the
Unmanifested Cosmic Consciousness. This stage can only be reached
when there is silence, stillness and emptiness of thoughts. That means
another technique must be used, e.g. Insight meditation.

Insight Meditation
In Insight meditation, the yogin allows thought (object) to exhaust itself
and finally retires back to the origin of the thinker (subject). He will find
that the thinker is also the thought and at the final stage of insight medi-
tation there is neither. Thence he will arrive at his true Being.

The technique of Insight Meditation

Firstly, notice what state of mind one is in: agitated, calm or joyful etc.
Then go to the objects of the mind. The procedure here is to have a
watcher to impartially see the images at the third eye on the forehead
and/or listen to the mental chatter at the ear. There should not be any
modification or suppression of these thoughts, and full attention must be
given to them, until they die on their own accord. After some time,
thoughts become fewer, and later intervals between thoughts may be dis-
cerned between them. In realty, these intervals are not intervals at all; they
are the background screen of Cosmic Consciousness, which includes our
Presence. So if one can stretch these intervals into long periods of silence
and emptiness, then the yogin is at one with Totality in these intervals. At
the beginning it is only a suppression of thoughts, but when the practi-

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tioner becomes adept at it, he truly can recede into impersonal Cosmic
Consciousness. All at once, the watcher becomes pure witnessing. He
realises that there is no one watching or witnessing. This is the state that
J. Krishnamurti repeatedly wanted his students to be in without formal
meditation. His famous phrase is ‘when thoughts come to an end’. But to
arrive at this state without meditation is almost an impossible task. This is
the state when one knows that the mind is false and unreal. He is now not
deluded by the wrong edict of ‘I think, therefore I am’ anymore. He now
knows that the mind is merely an instrument to be used while living in this
world, and that mind is not Self.

The Essence of Insight Meditation

The essence here is to have a watcher who does not take sides, criticise or
judge. It does not modify or suppress the thoughts. The fact that he can
stay away at a distance to watch the movements of his thoughts means
that sooner or later he will realise that thoughts are not Self. This also
applies to his emotions. In this context, he remains as an impartial mirror.
And when there are no more thoughts or sounds, there is nothing left to
mirror, this watcher recedes back to its original Self. Thence the watcher
becomes a witness. Witnessing is also Presence. The individual ego has
disintegrated and the yogin has come home to the Absolute. The mind
has now lost its individual identity and has literally become ‘no-mind’.
With prolonged practice of Insight meditation, the yogi’s consciousness
would have enjoyed retracement to the Absolute numerous times, and
thus has become familiar with the Absolute. This familiarity with Totality
will make it easier to empty one’s mind while performing tasks outside of
formal meditation. Having dealt with the mind, let us dwell a little on the
disidentification of the body. The practice here is in being mindful of
every action, outside of formal meditation.

Mindfulness (Meditation in Action)

The details of this technique are well set out in my essay of the same
name. Buddha said that his teaching of the ‘Four Foundation of
Mindfulness’ is the only way to enlightenment. In this treatise, being aware
of every action and feeling is the right way to practise. One must also be
aware of all reactions to any sensual input. When one is performing a task,
thoughts can also come to an end, if attention is fully placed at the task.
There should not be any thinking of the consequences of that particular

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action. There should not be any worry or anxiety of other problems not
pertaining to that particular action. When walking, just walk. While eating,
just eat. In order to avoid thinking, bring one’s attention to the physical
body. Feel the sensation, vibration or tension, if any, of the body. Do not
allow the mind to wander to other things.

Outside of formal meditation, one must be aware of emotional states.

You will be able to feel that there is an underlying emotional state of dis-
satisfaction, unease and restlessness. This feeling may be just beneath the
surface most of the time. It can augment to some form of pain when
stressed out. However, if it is not brought out, it can be felt during sitting
meditation. When the meditator encounters it, the restlessness and unease
will make it difficult for the yogin to continue meditating. When he is
active carrying out his routine chores that feeling is comfortably sub-
merged. So while sitting in a bus or train or in the doctor’s clinic, just put
your attention into your feelings. Does fear of the dental drill bring out
any more body-pain? While sitting in the waiting room or train, do your
losses in the stock market or your job situation bring out any more agita-
tion in your emotions? These feelings and emotional upset are the work-
ing of your negative thinking mind. If that is the case, stop your negative
mind. So while waiting for the dentist or doctor, just shut your eyes and
bring your attention to the body without any thoughts. Go through this
procedure with your body:

The Physical Body

1) With eyes shut and no thoughts in the mind, focus on your breathing
until you are fairly calm. Do not control or change the rhythm of your
breathing. If you can detect the heart beating, stay with the heartbeat for
a while. The third item that you can follow is the peristalsis of your gut.
Feel or listen to the movement of your gut. All these are automatic move-
ments of your internal organs that you have no control, except your
breathing. When you have spent some time with them, you will be rid of
your trepidation or anxiety.

2) Now go round the entire body, starting from the nostrils, the upper lips,
teeth, the neck, the shoulders etc until the entire body is covered. See
whether there is any tension, itch or pain anywhere. Do not do anything to
these feelings if they are present. Just simply note them. As soon as the

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nurse calls for you, these feelings are not felt any more. They are still there,
but not felt. In some people, there is much anger, which can be presented
as a bundle of energy siphoned off to certain parts of the body. When the
individual identifies with his anger, a pain will arise. Sometimes it arises cer-
tain parts of the body, say in the solar plexus or in the head. However if
the pain is simply watched and not acted upon, this will disidentify the indi-
vidual from its pain, and the pain will gradually disappear. This is invoking
the silent watcher in the disidentification of the pain-body. If in some peo-
ple the pain recurs, it means the person is attached to the pain. He is happy
to have the pain. Therefore if he ‘wants out’ he must be the silent witness
persistently to remove the pain. That means he needs many doses of
‘watching’, to be in the present to clear the pain.

3) If there is time you should go deeper beneath the skin, and feel the
‘chi’ or prana that is flowing through your body. This is most easily felt as
tingling in your fingers. Be more vigilant and feel this chi going through
various parts of the body. When you are apprehensive in a situation you
will notice ‘butterflies in the stomach’. This is the turmoil of chi at the 3rd
chakra. When you are very angry quarrelling in a traffic jam, the agitation
in the 3rd chakra is also there but the anger overwhelms the butterflies.
Sometimes when one is sitting down and is confronted with an embar-
rassing situation the 1st chakra is also activated and the individual feels it
as an opening-and-shutting movement of the anus. The butterflies and
anal movement will all disappear once the individual notices them over
time. Being aware and confronting the situations as they turn up will dis-
sipate these aberrant chi movements in due course.

From the physical outer body go into the invisible inner

body
The soul is Presence, pure consciousness. It is connected to and part of
Cosmic Consciousness, the Unmanifested. The Unmanifested supports
and gives rise to all the manifested including one’s physical body. The soul
is covered by 5 sheaths: the mental, emotional, physical and auric bodies
and bliss. The soul is Sat-Chit-Ananda, when translated it is Being-
Consciousness-Bliss. So from the above practice, one would have tran-
scended the mind, emotions and the physical body. We will now explore
the auric bodies, which are interconnected with the physical as well as
intermingling with outer space. We have come to the stage of feeling the

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chi, which is the tingling in the fingers and the rest of the body. In order
to facilitate entering the inner body, one must forgive oneself and others.
Remain still in a meditation pose with the eyes shut or open and go deep-
er into the body. We are now trying to feel the auric (subtle) bodies. Once
we have penetrated the auras we can go into a limitless and formless realm
of the Unmanifested. So starting from feeling the chi one will be able to
enter into the unfathomable Cosmic Consciousness. Chi is orgone or
prana running along one’s meridian lines of the etheric body, which is the
first of the 7th auric bodies. Starting with chi one can then feel the entire
energy field, which has no boundary. At this depth one can eventually
drop into the realm of the soul, one’s personal consciousness. From per-
sonal consciousness one then moves into impersonal Consciousness,
which is part of Cosmic Consciousness. In this realm, there is total silence
and stillness. This is temporary enlightenment. After staying in this bliss-
ful state for sometime, one will have to return to the physical and back to
the world. It is like returning back to one’s awakened dream world, which
is unreal. That is why some gurus reckon that the phenomenal world is
unreal. However, after this one episode of visiting the Unmanifested, that
person is now not the same. He is truly reborn, and knows that he will
never die. He now realises that he is truly ‘God’. Once this hideaway is dis-
covered, one can always return to it especially when one is emotionally
stressed. This is a haven for all mental and emotional traumas. However,
if one can continually be in touch with the realm of the Unmanifested,
this Presence will be with one throughout one’s waking life. This is
enlightenment. There are gradations of enlightenment. As time passes,
these roots will be more securely embedded in that foundation of the
Absolute. That means one becomes more and more enlightened as one
gets use ‘to be in this world and not of it’. The multiple satoris will eventually
lead to the final maha-satori. The physical benefits of going into the inner
body are:

(1) One ages more slowly

(2) One’s immune system is enhanced

Let us compare this process with the 4 stages of sainthood of the

Theravada Buddhism.

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 Stages of Sainthood in Theravada
Buddhism

STAGE FETTERS TO BE ABANDONED

(1) Realisation that there is no essence in the 5

heaps of body and mind (body, emotion & mind).

Stream-Enterer (2) To be convinced that rites and rituals do not lead

(Sotopana) to enlightenment.

(3) To believe in the Buddha and His teaching.

Once-Returner
(Sagadagami) (4) Partial Eradication of Craving and Hatred.

Non-Returner (5) Complete Eradication of Craving and Hatred.

(Anagami)

(6) Eradicate attachment to the realms of subtle

forms.

(7) Eradicate attachments to the formless realms.

Sainthood
(Arahant) (8) Subdue restlessness of the mind.

(9) Annihilate ego-conceit.

(10) Destruction of ignorance.

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It is interesting to see that the above practice breaks down the path to
sainthood into 4 stages. The best breakthrough is that of the Stream-
Enterer. He enters the stream when he transcends the physical, emotion-
al and the mental bodies. The practice here is Vipassana: Insight medita-
tion and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness with observance of the 5
precepts. Once he becomes a Stream-Enterer, he will be born at the most
7 more times. None of these births will be beneath a human. He may even
achieve sainthood in one life. Note also that the 2nd and 3rd stages are
solely to eradicate craving and hatred. Lastly, in the penultimate stage, he still
has restlessness and ego-conceit. This conceit is due purely to the fact that he still
considers himself separate because of his accomplishment as a Non-
Returner. This last vestige of separateness will be sloughed off after he
realises that he is merely a ripple on the surface of the ocean (removal of
ignorance).

The suggestion here is that when the modern ‘enlightened’ gurus

announce that they are enlightened, they may only have become Stream-
Enterers, and not yet fully enlightened saints. Indeed to become a Stream-
Enterer is already a wonderful break through. Another reason for this
belief is that some of these jnanis are still addicted to cigar smoking,
alcohol or sex. A few of them still have their anger, although they do not
carry over their anger to the next minute. These traits do not conform to
the Theravada’s idea of sainthood, which must be absolutely free of crav-
ing and hatred. Lastly, a few of the modern jnanis also like to maintain a
guru-disciple relationship, although they do not profess it. This is ego-
conceit, which should be eradicated in a saint.

Zen Buddhism
There are two varieties of Zen Buddhism. The first is Rinzai Zen. This
type uses a Koan, which is a riddle that cannot be solved by the rational
mind. The practitioner after many months or years trying to solve it
comes to the end of its tether and becomes almost insane. He is like a
man out of his mind, completely gives up and drops down in exhaustion.
In this total surrender he becomes no-mind, and in a flash he realises his
first satori. This is like throwing the baby out with the basin of water.

The second type is Soto Zen. This variety is almost like Theravada
Buddhism practising sitting meditation alternating with walking medita-

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tion. The last stage in this type of Zen is Shikantaza meditation. (See the
essay on Meditation on Emptiness). This method is highly recommended.
It consists of not looking at any thoughts, while sitting. Merely let the
thoughts plough through the mind without holding on to any of them.
Do not apprehend any pictures and do not listen to any mental chatter.
This is like standing at the roadside watching the cars wheeze by and not
looking at any car or the contents of the cars. Neither does one listen to
the noise of the road. At the end of the day, in the dead of the night, the
traffic would stop, and there will be no more cars or noise. This is the state
when thoughts and mental chatter die down, and the meditator is left with
emptiness of thoughts and silence. This emptiness is not a suppression of
thoughts, but a natural arrival to stillness and silence of the true Self---
Being. This is returning to the Source of the Unmanifested. In order to
manifest individuality it has to reverse the process back to the individual
mind when the whole world also comes into being.

Self- Enquiry
Sri Ramana Maharshi (1896-1950) has been the greatest advocate of this
practice. This is not a meditation, but a constant enquiry as to who is the
one behind the psychophysical complex. His famous question is ‘Who
am I?’ While doing one’s daily chores continue to hold on the feeling of
‘I’ or ‘I am’. At the beginning one may have to sit quietly to initiate this
practice. If thoughts drag one away from this ‘I’-thought, bring it back to
the ‘I’-thought. It helps if one is practising Vipassana at the same time,
where a watcher is established. The watcher is the thinker. Do not follow
the thoughts, but keep on returning to the thinker or watcher. Continue
to come back to the ‘I’, the watcher. To him this is the most direct way to
lead one to the true Self. This method may not directly bring one to the
Self, but at least it brings one near to it. At the beginning of the practice,
it is a mental perception or a thought. As the practice progresses, one
starts to feel the ‘I’ in the body. The attention here is to the feeling of the
inner body, as described above in the section of going into the inner body.
Continuing in this manner, the feeling will dissociate from thoughts. If
the attention is kept to the feeling, thoughts will cease to arise, and tem-
porarily, the individual disappears. At this juncture, one cannot use effort
any more as the individual is not present. The progress is now automatic.
Then the feeling of the inner body or subtle bodies (auras) will deepen
spontaneously to settle down into Being. The practitioner has now

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reached the source, which is Being. When this happens, the practitioner
rests with his Being. Being is the source of the I-thought. This is not
enlightenment yet, as thoughts will continue to intermittently arise to dis-
tract one. At this level of progress, the individual is no more present and
thus no more effort is necessary. Although the practice tends to be auto-
matic at this stage, the old mental conditioning of the ‘I’- thought still
arises every now and then. Self-realisation can only be established when
the ‘I’-thought with its mental tendencies is totally destroyed for good.
When this occurs, the thinking mind of the ego is completely eradicated,
and the individual can then be pronounced enlightened. From the above
description, it can seen that there is period of transition between an ajnani
(unenlightened) to a jnani. That means a period of oscillation between
Being and ‘I’-thought continues for some time before full enlightenment.
Although it looks simple, it is indeed very arduous as it has to be practised
almost every available minute of the day. This practice is not a meditation
of any kind. In fact, Sri Ramana remarked:

Do not meditate----be!
Do not think that you are----be!
Don’t think about being----you are!’

The last practice to be discussed here is surrender.

Surrender
General Considerations
Sri Ramana said: 'One must completely surrender all responsibility for
one’s life to God or the Self. For such self-surrender to be effective one
must have no will or desire of one’s own and one must be completely free
of the idea that there is an individual person who is capable of acting
independently of God.'

The difficulty in surrendering to God is that in most religions, God exists

as the superpower to whom we dedicate our lives. This practice in duality
is very tough, as bargaining and negotiations would surreptitiously intrude
into the devotee’s mind. The author prefers to use G-plan in this practice.

a) Knowing that your G-plan is constructed by you, you must yield to

your G-plan as it unfolds. The other appropriate phrases are ‘flow with

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your Tao’ and ‘thy will be done’. In this context, once you have surren-
dered there should not be any expectation of anything happening in your
favour. Questions like ‘when will my suffering end?’ and ‘will I now be
enlightened sooner?’ have no more meaning to the total surrender. In this
practice, one merely waits without waiting with no expectations. Your G-plan
would even determine the type of meal you are going to have tonight.

b) That means it is useless to worry over anything at all. So do not be anx-

ious and do not worry.

c) So understanding the above, accept everything that comes your way. Do

not desist or resist.

d) Forgive yourself and the other who caused the trouble. Truly forgive
and not just using lip service.

e) Finally, totally and completely surrender with no conditions and no bar-

gaining. This surrender must be undertaken with a positive mind, and not
‘I don’t care anymore’ attitude.

Specific situations
Having accepted the flow of the Tao, one must now see the problem of
the moment and act accordingly without recriminations. Acting positive-
ly means no anger, frustrations or despair. The Taoist phrase ‘wu wei’
does not mean doing nothing. It means no inner resistance, but be alert
to a plan of action.

Take an example of an illness. If one is stricken with a heart attack, stroke

or a cancer, how does one react? Initially the individual would panic and
go into a hysterical fear and may even freeze. Take cancer. If one is told
that one has cancer, the first thing is to remain calm and go into the inner
body. Ask the physician as many questions as feasible regarding the can-
cer. Then when you are home, meditate more often and longer. Go into
the Now or the present by constantly going into the inner body. Rally as
much support as possible from spouse or friends and sit down to a com-
prehensive plan of attack of the cancer. At this point remember to sur-
render totally with a positive mind. With weakness after surgery and side
effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy most patients would not mind

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subjecting themselves to a form of surrender. However, there is usually
some bargaining in these cases. In this instance then the surrender is not
total. The surrender must be absolutely and completely total.

Then there are situations of an abusive spouse or a dominating or a bul-

lying boss. These are perennial problems, which are quite common. So
how does one go about it? One can do one of 3 things. The first is to walk
away: that is to divorce the spouse or leave the job. The second is to with-
draw into one’s Being by going into the inner body and becoming non-
resistant. Then accept the situation, forgive and then finally, surrender.
The third option is to completely surrender and then confront the other
without recrimination, anger, despair or fear. Remain cool and calm while
discussing the problem with the adversary. This third option may have to
be repeated many times before changes can be seen.

All other crises and problems in life situations may be dealt with in a sim-
ilar manner.

Recapitulation
Looking at the menu of methods described above there are many dishes
that can be tasted and tried to bring one to the edge of the river. However,
there are also other disciplines, which are not mentioned. For instance, the
Way in Taoism, Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism (especially Dzogchen) and
Western Mysticism are all valid spiritual practices. However, the disci-
plines enumerated in this article can all be practised without any initiation
and without a guru. They can be practised with or without a spiritual
friend or guide. In order to facilitate one’s practice, there should be some
pre-conditioning in one’s mental attitude. Try to exercise dispassion, detach-
ment and desirelessness. One would have been wholly disenchanted before
embarking on any of the above practices. If one succeeds to some extend
in these 4 D’s, then there will be fewer thoughts to deal with. These absti-
nences should also help letting go of material assets, relationships and
egotism. Of course the letting go will be gradual, but if one is practising
correctly and persistently, the letting go will become self-generating at a
later stage. The letting go will also make the dispassion, detachment and
desirelessness much easier to carry out. Then this process will end with
the yogin having no desire, no ill will, no pride and unselfish. All this will
bring the practitioner to the edge with very few obstacles.

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So how does one go about it? Having the above mental attitude, start to
meditate (formal sitting). Firstly try to use concentration to reduce the
number of thoughts. Very quickly, embark on Insight (Vipassana) medi-
tation. This should be the main practice until silence, stillness and empti-
ness of thoughts are obtained. Practice this for sometime, then carry on
with Shikantaza.

Outside of formal sitting, carry out mindfulness of every action moment to

moment. One must do only one thing at a time. That means not reading and
listening to music simultaneously. Not smoking, driving and listening to
the news at the same time. While performing tasks, concentrate on the
task at hand and do not think of the consequences of the task and do not
let thoughts roam elsewhere.

Additionally, one should try to go into the inner body to feel one’s auras as
often as possible. Start with feeling the chi circulating throughout the
body. The chi pulsates with the heart. Without thoughts let one’s con-
sciousness move deeper into silence and stillness to visit one’s Being. This
Presence will be felt with joy. Try and stay in Being as long as one is able to.
Slowly and surely one will arrive at the edge of the river. Then wait. Wait
for Grace to carry one over the river, but there should not be any anxiety
about it. Wait without waiting.

Now, come to the title of this essay. Are all spiritual practices useless? Of
course not! If it is, then all spiritual practices of all religions in the past
should not produce a single enlightened person. From historical facts this is
not the case. Numerous saints and enlightened individuals erupted out of
their arduous practices and disciplines. Wayne Teasdale in his book has writ-
ten a comprehensive book (The Mystic Heart) on Saints and their spiritual
practices. These include details of all practices of all religions. These prac-
tices have not gone to waste. Without their practices we would not know
what enlightenment is all about. The reality is that every one of us is already
enlightened, but only few of us know it. Only few have removed the veil to
come to realise their true Self, whilst the rest of us are still covered by our
ignorance. That means we have to try to unveil our ignorance by removing
the deluding mind, and this unveiling constitutes spiritual practices. It is cer-
tain that those very few that encountered spontaneous enlightenment with-
out a spiritual practice must have practised for many lives before.

391
References
1) Eckart Tolle. The Power of Now. A Hodder Book. 1999.

2) Tony Parsons. The Open Secret. Open Secret Publishing. 1995.

3) Tony Parsons. As It Is. Open Secret Publishing. 2000.

4) Francis Lucille. Eternity Now. Truespeech Productions. 1996.

5) Sri Ramana Maharshi. Be As You Are. (Edited by David Godman).

Arkana. 1985.

6) Wayne Teasdale. The Mystic Heart. New World Library. 1999.

392
 Milestones on the Spiritual Path to
Enlightenment.
Actually there is no real teaching at all for you to chew on or squat over. But not believ-
ing in yourself, you pick up the baggage and go around to other people’s houses looking
for Zen, looking for Tao, looking for mysteries, looking for awakenings, looking for
Buddhas, looking for masters, looking for teachers. You think this is searching for the
ultimate and you make this into your religion. But this is like running blindly. The more
you run, the farther away you are. You just tire yourself, to what benefit at the end?

Zen Master Foyan

Introduction
Before we embark on the subject, let us pause to consider what is the spir-
itual path? Spiritual is not religious. Spirituality is open to everybody irre-
spective of his or her religion and this includes those with no religion.
Spirituality can be defined as a movement away from the external world
and it is a journey in wards towards the soul. It is usually heralded by the
‘small little voice’ within us, whether we practice meditation or not. Quite
often it is triggered by some tragic event or emotional trauma. Most times
it is initiated by feelings of disillusionment. A person might have accom-
plished his life ambition as a musician or a surgeon. Or he might even
have become a millionaire as a businessman. These successful individuals
could very well be at the peak of their careers! And yet the ennui is there.
These individuals usually would have passed their middle ages, say
between 40 to 50 years. There must also be a lack of satisfaction with
what they have achieved. ‘Is that all?’ is the usual question. Some may even
end up with disgust. Beginning with disillusionment, disgust, disengage-
ment, detachment, desireless and dispassion will follow if the individual
embarks on a spiritual path. This article is to outline the course of events
starting from the spiritual call to enlightenment.

When does one embark on the spiritual path?

Normally one does not think of these things until one has lived through
adolescence and adulthood. Quite often the feeling of dissatisfaction

393
comes only after one has achieved the peak of one’s profession or trade.
A family would have been raised successfully, and every aspect of one’s
life is in tiptop condition. But where is the paradise or heaven that has
been promised? The reason for this disillusionment is because this is only
the success of the personality but not the soul. The little small voice of
the soul has not been heeded at all. To reach the soul one’s journey must
be inwards. In some, the undercurrent of ‘dis-ease’ has always been there
since adulthood, although there is no precipitating crisis to make it sur-
face. A death of a very dear one can also bring our awareness towards the
soul, and the question of ‘why am I here’ keeps on cropping up. The per-
son himself might have been through an illness or a near-death experi-
ence. Having recovered from the harrowing episode, he questions the
futility of one’s successful external life. All his achievements have not
brought the promised ‘heaven on earth’. However, a near-fatal accident
may shake up the complacency of the individual, as he discovers sudden-
ly that life is indeed tenuous!

A rather common precedence is through a bout of depression. Ramana

Maharshi, Eckhart Tolle, Tolstoy and John Bunyan are some examples of
depression sufferers before they embarked on the path. Count Leo
Tolstoy had everything. He had fame, money and a wonderful family and
yet there was only emptiness in his life. Then he did a U-turn, and became
a simple peasant helping people that came his way daily. He serviced them
and meditated everyday. He forsook all his courtly duties and station as a
count. Then he found peace.

Some people are luckier. The wakeup call comes in the form of a book or
a lecture from a guru. Sometimes it is their love for a certain kind of
music, e.g. Mahler, and the music seems to herald a call. Or their appreci-
ation for art or nature may suddenly turn them on to a spiritual path.
Falling in love with the right person, who is already on the path is one of
the strongest motive or inducement to walk the path.

But then, not all of us take heed of these numerous wakeup calls. We keep
on saying that it is the wrong number and the call is not for us. The time
is just not ripe for them. Some have survived a mortal illness plus a close
call with a motor accident and yet they carry on merrily their usual ways
of seeking money, fame and pleasures relentlessly. Only when a cancer

394
strikes a person that he may ask the correct questions. Even then he might
still continue to buy shares and properties till the last day of his life---for
what purpose? We may read in the obituary everyday of friends and rela-
tives who have passed away but the greatest wonder is that we do not
believe that we may end up on that page one day. Normally, the calls are
mostly not dramatic. It comes as boredom and ennui after all the suc-
cesses and achievements of life: money, fame and family. There is no
trumpet and fanfare. Neither is there any electrifying vision. Everything
remains the same. Why is there no peace or satisfaction? Where is the
bright light? The world remains as drab and as unexciting as before. What
else is there?

A common trigger for women is menopause. After menopause at midlife,

there is no more necessity to serve the husband and the children. She is
now able to seek spiritual nourishment. Although there is no external sig-
nal for male menopause, nevertheless it happens. Male menopause comes
after midlife and the man becomes crotchety. After the initial period of
irritation and impatience, he will mellow towards an androgynous state.
He is willing to step down to a humbler and menial job. He enjoys the
grandchildren much more than his own children when they were young.
Then when the menopausal spouse wants to venture into spiritual paths
he is quite amenable. He may even follow suit.

Sometimes dreams or recurrent dreams may be the importuning wakeup

call from the soul. Some of these dreams are too vivid to forget especial-
ly when the recipient is ripe for the plucking. Looking at all the above call-
ing cards, the most dramatic and cogent one is great pain and suffering,
as in mental depression. Occasionally the depression can even initiate a
suicidal attempt, at which time a sudden and inexplicable U-turn happens.
So where do we go from here?

How to look for a Spiritual Path?

Normally a strident call would also provide a ready made path, e.g. after
listening to a very charismatic teacher on spirituality. If one is an agnos-
tic, one tends to follow that teacher’s lineage or discipline. If he is a Zen
Roshi, then the novitiate will become a Zen Buddhist. This practice is very
common in the 60’s and 70’s, especially amongst the Americans, English
and Europeans. These seekers may spend years in the Far East. They

395
shave their heads to become Buddhist monks and Hindu Swamis. After
ten to twenty years, they would have had enough and they disrobe to
return to their own countries either to teach or to further practise. A few
would have stayed behind in the East. Most of those that returned home
and disrobed find that the practice in the East is not practicable at home.
Thence there will be modifications of the eastern religions to fit the west-
ern style of living. However, pitfalls abound these fusion religious com-
munities. This is so because the strict ethics of the eastern religion is often
dissolved in the western free society. So new spiritual paths will evolve
with these modified eastern teachings. Some of the seekers who have left
their own religion when young may join the new eastern religions to
become ardent devotees. Some of them who were disenchanted with their
own religion when young may go back to their own religion and start
anew. They are born again. This time they appreciate the old religion with
new pairs of eyes. From this renewal they study the bible avidly and even
begin to give bible lessons themselves. Finally, there are those, who have
disavowed the standard established religions, will roam about to find a
new age teacher who does not follow any traditional religion. These are
the ones that advocate DIY (do it yourself) spirituality. If these gurus are
charismatic the following could be explosive. If these foreign gurus are
not enlightened and they come just for ego trips or more likely for mon-
etary gains, then the crowd will peter out eventually. The seeker must be
discerning. At this juncture it may be prudent to enumerate the type of
gurus we should avoid:
1) One that declares that he is enlightened.

2) One who says that he is the only teacher who can lead you to
enlightenment or to make you enlighten in a set number of months or
years.

3) One who issues certificates to students to validate their stage of

enlightenment.

4) One who exhibits supernatural powers flagrantly like materialising

ash, trinkets etc.

5) One who charges a great deal for their initiations and lessons.

396
 6) One who dresses in a far-flung fashion to attract crowds.

7) One who sleeps with his disciples.

8) One who drinks, smokes and takes drugs.

9) One who teaches only to select few on the grounds of status or

finances.

10) One who does not charge, but urges you to donate generously to
his temple or ashram or church. Or he may over charge you for some
spiritual remedy or protection.

11) Be wary of teachers who propagate abstruse theories of no-con-

cept, no-method, no-path, and no-technique. These teachings appear
highly impressive and abstract, full of sound and fury, signifying noth-
ing. How does one practise with no rules, no methods and no teach-
ings?

12) Be wary of spiritual groups that compete for power in the hierar-
chy of the organisation. Most of the organisers are in their twenties
and thirties and they are there for power and not for spirituality.

13) Be wary of organisations that put the safety of their members in

jeopardy: like rock climbing or walking in busy streets in a city waving
their hands madly or insists on forms of asceticism that break down
the health of the devotees.

Do we need to go the mountains?

The answer is a categorical ‘NO’. In fact there is also no necessity to stay
in a temple or ashram. There is no benefit in shaving your heads to be
monks or priests. It is romantic and adventurous to go into the forests or
to climb mountains, for this change of scenery is like going to a picnic. To
be spiritual is a commitment to an inward journey towards enlightenment,
and this journey is not an external one. Our every day problems are the
curriculum of the class. Our textbooks are the spiritual books written by
teachers who have been through the mill: you have to be discerning here,
as there is a lot of rubbish in the bookshops. You merely have to attend

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lectures or courses given by local or foreign teachers: the guidelines here
is that the less they charge the better they will be. Better still if it is free.
Resign from all committees including the religious or spiritual ones. Do
not be entangled by ego trips. Start practising with your own family,
friends and work mates. Find a teacher that does not need a translator, as
you will be learning from the translator and not the teacher. Follow a
teacher that teaches a simple technique of meditation. It does not have to
be a specific religion. There should not be any pressure to get you initiat-
ed or converted to a religion. Feel comfortable with the organisation. The
tempo and procedures should be leisurely and calming. Try to estimate the
wisdom and sincerity of the teacher. Sincerity and humility are the best
qualities to look for in a teacher.

The Spiritual Path itself

The path could be easy or very difficult depending on the individual’s his-
tory and character and the path he has chosen. At this stage it should be
mainly an inner journey as well as letting go of outer commitments. The
most important thing is the desire to transform oneself. Some take it as a
struggle, but others deem as a breeze. The conversion must be of both
the heart and the mind. The inner journey must begin with understanding and
awareness fortified by some form of contemplation and silence. The outer path
must start with the will to persistently walk that spiritual road reinforced
by ethics. The composite journey is like peeling an onion shedding tears all
the way, until one finds that there is only emptiness in the centre of the
onion. Eventually one ends up by completely letting go. For the uninitiat-
ed it may help to lay down a few guidelines:

1) Start with a belief and ending with a faith.

2) Purification.
3) Contemplation and silence.
4) Service.

Belief
One must start with a belief that the path one is embarking will finally
transform one. Hopefully the belief will become a faith. At the end of
this journey faith may transform into Grace. The arrival of Grace is
beyond anybody’s control. Grace does not depend on how much effort
one has put in currently. It must also take into account one’s spiritual

398
development in previous lives. Grace may come to some one who hardly
practises at all in this life. Another person may try very hard throughout
this life and he gets nowhere, but his efforts will be accredited to the next
life. One should believe that steps 2, 3, and 4 would do the transforma-
tion. That means that this inner belief should be supported by outer
effort, will and determination. The culmination of this exercise is the abil-
ity to let go. The outer effort is purely to reinforce the inward journey.

Purification
This principle is the most emphasised in all religions. This is because if one
is to proceed on to any form of contemplation, one’s unethical acts and
immorality could pose as obstacles in one’s attempt at contemplation. There
is no prudery here. It is merely a practical erasure of one’s guilt and con-
science for one’s contemplation or meditation. All forms of contemplation
should finally end up with one’s union with the soul or God or the Void.
Impure acts and immorality are like boulders, nails and potholes on the path.
The general principle here is that the practitioner should not hurt any one
else physically, emotionally and mentally on this journey. The Ten
Commandments of Christianity, the Hindu Yamas and Niyamas, and the
precepts of Buddhism are there as guidelines. All other religions have simi-
lar edicts. If one is able to obey the commandments or follow the precepts,
one feels much lighter. The following are goals in the process of purification:

Forgiveness: The main step is to forgive. Forgive oneself first, then the
others. Utmost sincerity in the forgiving is mandatory.

Simplicity: Then one should move on to simplicity. In Christian terms it

means poverty. All monastic life should be a simple one. In a religious
institution, materialism and power distract the most. These distracting
influences are eradicated by simplicity. It also makes us pay more attention
to what is essential and real in the spiritual path. In meditation, simplicity
will create fewer thoughts. Chuang Tzu said: “ The man of Tao remains
unknown. Perfect virtue produces nothing. ‘No-Self ‘ is ‘True-Self.’ And
the greatest man is “Nobody.”

Humility: Pride is spiritual materialism. Humility is the antidote to pride.

There is no way that a proud man can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only
a child can enter the Kingdom of Heaven, because he is endowed with

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these qualities of humility, simplicity and innocence. A proud man always
deems himself superior to others. That is why it is easier for a camel to enter
the eye of a needle than for a rich or proud man to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. The spiritual path is to humble oneself until there is no difference
between oneself and others. In fact until one is ‘Nobody’.

Non-craving and non-desire: When we crave and desire we want some-

thing. This wanting is opposite to simplicity and humility. Buddha said
‘Craving is the cause of suffering’. The spiritual path is mainly to get rid
of suffering. It is the disgust of the mundane life that brings us to this
path in the first place. That means we must practise the 5 D’s: desireless-
ness, detachment, dis-entanglement, dis-enchantment, and dispassion.
This is Buddha’s method of getting rid of suffering and consequently no
more rebirth. The letting go should lead us to charity and altruism.

Love: This commodity is to counter ill will, anger and hatred. There are
3 types of love: erotic, brotherly and unconditional (divine). We may start
with the first two, but we must end with unconditional love. Ill will quite
often is the result of failure to achieve our desire, which is also an obsta-
cle to simplicity and humility. When our pride is hurt, we get angry. When
we are continually hurt we turn to hatred. All these negative traits cannot
arise if our nature is filled with love.

Selflessness: This quality erases selfishness, self-centredness and self-

righteousness. Selfless service with compassion means always thinking of
other people first. It is a trait that evolves with practice: the more you
serve, the more selfless you become.

Contemplation and silence

Under this heading, we have contemplation, meditation, prayer and move-
ments leading to quietism.

Contemplation essentially includes most of the Christian practices, e.g. lec-

tio divina of the Catholic Church, active and passive contemplation of the
other Christian mystic traditions, and Centering Prayer of Thomas
Keating. We will not go into these specialised contemplation techniques
due to lack of space.

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Meditation: There are as many types of meditation as religions. There are
Christian, Zen, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhist, Transcendental meditations
and many others. The author is partial to Buddhist meditations as these
are the most structured. In the Theravada tradition, there is Samatha
(concentration) and Vipassana (insight). After accomplishing Vipassana,
one may move on to Shikantaza practice, which is the final stage of Soto
Zen meditation. Read my essays written on these subjects. Shikantaza is
found in my essay on ‘Meditation in Emptiness’. Therefore, no meditation
technique will be described here. Just remember that all meditations in the
world fall into two categories: concentration and awareness.

Meditations in action----movements towards achieving quietism

Then there are meditations in action, which include yoga, Tai Chi, Chi
Kung, Dervish dancing, Subud Latihan and martial arts. Vipassana also
includes awareness of every action outside of formal sitting, which is fully
described in Buddha’s The Four Foundations of Mindfulness. Lastly
mass, liturgy and other congressional prayer and singing of hymns and
bhajans can trigger deepening of consciousness, but this is a rare event.

The aim of all forms of meditation and contemplation is to empty the mind
of any thoughts leading to the Void, which is the essence of our true Self.
The Void is very deep and one can continue downwards for many layers
in the maturing of one’s enlightenment.

Service
“What we do for one, we do for many.” “ When we serve others, we serve ourselves.”
These statements are never truer. When a situation arises for us to help
someone it is an opportunity given to us. Never let it pass. Service must be
done because of our compassionate love to others, whoever they maybe.
It must be our instinctive response to the suffering of others. We must be
altruistically available all the time within the limits of our capability. We
must not assume a job for which we are not equipped. We must serve with
the utmost humility without condescension. The empathy must be there
even though the sufferers are strangers. It is easy to help our own kin and
friends, but we must succour our enemies with the same fervour. You may
say that it is a tall order. Otherwise one’s help is not universal. If you serve
for a fee or for status it is not pure. You must serve because it is your sec-
ond nature: ‘love thy neighbour as thyself ’ is truly very difficult to practise.

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You can serve with material things like food, clothing and lodging. You can
serve with emotional support, love and care. You can serve with wise
advice and teaching. You can also serve by just being there. You can mere-
ly sit and listen to the anguish and pain of the victim. Provide warmth to
the victim and elevate the suffering spirit.

In selfless service, we do not look for good results or expect commenda-

tion. We come in to help because a need has arisen. It is only with much
experience and education that we learn how to serve with humility. There
should not be an attitude of a well endowed helping a down and out.
There is only serving with no server and no one is being served.

The best type of service is to instruct dharma to those who have ears to
hear. The instructors need not necessarily be teachers, priests or monks.
They can be friends, relatives or even enemies. Indirectly one may utilise
animals, nature or books to instruct. This excellent service of giving dhar-
ma must have the result of letting go. Children can also teach parents and
they usually do.

The above arms of the spiritual path are well exemplified by the Hindu
tradition of the four paths (margas) of awareness. They are jnana yoga,
bakti yoga, karma yoga and raja yoga. The word yoga means to yoke one’s
soul to unite with the Godhead (Brahman).

1. Jnana yoga is intellectually learning about the true Self. Using mental
analysis, he strips away what is not self: body, emotions and mind and their
offshoots are all not the true Self. With simple meditation he is able to see
that feelings, thoughts and sensations are all false. Then with prolonged
effort he becomes a jnani. The accent here is not deep meditation but pro-
longed analytical contemplation.

2. Bakti yoga is the path of pure devotion to God. He spends his whole
life totally devoted to looking after the temple or a guru and singing bha-
jans for long periods. He may travel to a site where a deity has been visu-
alised or to a shrine of Krishna. This total dedication and devotion to
God or guru has similarities in Christianity.

3. Karma yoga is selfless service to God or others as described in the sec-

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tion on service. This compassionate service has no doer. No credit is
expected. There is no merit involved. It is selfless service performed by
nobody.

4. Raja yoga is the practice of intense and persistent deep meditation. It

must also include jnana yoga, as knowledge of the map of the path is
essential. The accent here is deep and profound concentration, but final-
ly the practice of awareness must be embarked upon. It is in this practice
that one penetrates deeper and deeper into the Void.

A consummate Hindu practitioner would have to cover all four margas,

but essentially specialising in only one.

For a serious seeker, he would discover that he has to transcend all the
superficial and ritualistic practices of the traditional religions. Religions
are there for the majority, but only a few could master the intricacies and
intensity of deep meditation of a mystic. In other words, these ‘postgrad-
uates’ have to become mystics of their faiths, e.g. Sufism for Islam,
Kabbalah for Judaism, Buddhist Mysticism and Christian Mysticism.

Milestones on the Spiritual Path

Roberto Assagioli describes a breakthrough on the spiritual path as:
“A harmonious inner awakening is characterised by a sense of joy and
mental illumination that brings with it an insight into the meaning and
purpose of life; it dispels many doubts, offers the solution of many prob-
lems, and gives an inner source of security. At the same time, there wells
up a realisation that life is one, and an outpouring of love flows through
the awakening individual toward his fellow beings and the whole of cre-
ation. The former personality, with its sharp edges and disagreeable traits,
seems to have receded into the background, and a new loving and love-
able individual smiles at us and the whole world, eager to be kind, to serve,
and to share his newly acquired spiritual riches, the abundance of which
seems to him almost too much to contain. Such a state of exalted joy may
last for varying periods, but it is bound to cease. The inflow of light and
love is rhythmical, as is everything in the universe. After a while it dimin-
ishes or ceases, and the flood is followed by the ebb.”

This particular breakthrough applies to all that have the good fortune to

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experience it. To most of the recipients, this may be the first and only one.
To those on the path for a long time, they may be repeated until the indi-
vidual is transformed. To those who have been spiritually struggling all
their lives this mystical state of awakening will also wane, but the memo-
ry remains with them for the rest of their lives. The awakening can come
gradually to some, but it also can break out in an explosive manner with
others. It can come to ardent truth seekers, but it also can arise suddenly
to those who never practise at all! This act of Grace in conversion is most
enigmatic and unpredictable. Some have struggled all their lives and never
had a glimpse of it and after several decades of practice the ordinariness
of life is recognised as the ‘fruit’. It does seem unfair to the long-suffer-
ing truth-seeker not to have any breakthroughs, and yet breakthroughs
come to non-seekers. But we forget that the non-seekers might have prac-
tised hard and long in their previous lives. These old souls are merely
enjoying the fruits of their previous paths. Some of these breakthroughs
appear to be of the same quality to those who practise and to those who
do not. Majority of those in the latter category does not have lasting ben-
efit from these experiences. These psychic or mystical occurrences are
usually more startling in nature in these non-practitioners. Some of the
recipients are not on the path and so they have not the faintest clue what
hit them. These are signs that life does not consists of only the material
things that we can see and feel. Then there are also true signposts, which
herald the stages of progress on the spiritual path. These latter signposts
are of permanent value, and they seem to clock in the mileage of spiritu-
al progress, but there is no definite timing and sequence to their appear-
ances. So let us visit some of the ubiquitous phenomena which are not
cast in stone. These may be by-products of true spiritual progress.

Ubiquitous siddhis which anybody may enjoy

Siddhis These are psychic or mystical phenomena, which may or may
not be permanent. Mostly they are transient. The psychic ones are of the
paranormal variety: telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and apportation
with poltergeist effects, prophecy and cosmic healing. Divine ear and
divine sight are the other rare phenomena. These qualities have no bear-
ing on the spiritual maturity of the individual. Those who have success-
fully attained some steps up the spiritual ladder may enjoy some of these
psychic abilities as by-products. These by-products are not what were
sought. With the non-seekers, these qualities are usually not permanent.

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They come and go ad random. The more the recipients feel elated with these
psychic abilities the more elusive are these traits. These instances of precog-
nition are pure flukes. It can never be repeated at will. Each time the pre-
cognition episode happens, the mind is relatively empty. It is not crowded
with thoughts or worries. Conversely, it does not mean that every time one
experiences emptiness in meditation, a precognitive message will turn up.

Peak Experience
The next group of phenomena comes under the heading of peak experience.
This term is coined by Dr. Abraham Maslow who said: “A peak experience
is, to a degree, absolute. Emotional reactions in a peak experience have a
quality that can be characterised as awe, reverence and humility. In a mysti-
cal/philosophical peak experience, the world is seen united into a total enti-
ty; in the love or aesthetic peak experience, the experience itself is given the
quality of the complete world. Fears, anxieties, and inhibitions are momen-
tarily replaced by fulfilment, individuation, and great maturity.”

Peak experiences are our healthiest moments, clear, free and unencum-
bered, living at our optimum potential. They can come at intense emo-
tional moments like child bearing or having passionate sex, or during
meditation, in a quiet countryside or wandering in native jungle. People
experiencing it tend to lose track of time and space. However these are
not considered to be true spiritual breakthroughs. They may or may not
have lasting value. If they are the preliminary of an actual breakthrough,
then they are significant and maybe the first of a recurring phenomena--
-mini-satoris. Other peak experiences are like skiing rapidly down a snow-
clad mountain or racing a car at 300 kilometres per hour. There are also
‘mystical’ experiences as follows: Suddenly, one finds oneself in very
peaceful and tranquil environment during an ordinary moment; whatever
object one sees is lighted up; there is a distinct feeling that one is facing
God but without a face. Quite often the person zooms out of his own ego
and there is ‘nobody home’. Peak experiences maybe the starting point for
the genuine breakthroughs to follow. Majority, however, are merely peak
experiences, which are not repeated and later on to be forgotten. All peak
experiences are pleasurable and should not be taken as a true sign of spir-
itual attainment. The episode could mislead the recipient that he has
‘arrived!’ Some of these peak experiences are mere lifting of the veil for
us to have a peek at the other side. It is an encouragement to those on the

405
spiritual path. To those who are not, they give them a false boost to their
ego-spiritual status. Taking psychedelic drugs is one good example. One
gets high with it and a brief vision of the other side is witnessed, but it is
not sustainable unless one takes another dose and another. At the end of
which one becomes a junkie!

Real Signposts on the road to enlightenment

What about the real breakthrough episodes? These normally follow many
years of struggle on the path. Although they are true signposts, some of
these occur to those who are non-practitioners or to early truth-seekers,
and these breakthroughs may be squandered. After some time they are
forgotten. If the unveiling of realty happens to some one who has been
arduously struggling on the path, then the episode is received gratuitous-
ly. Comparing these real ones with the spurious ones, it is like comparing
the real person with his photograph. These real breakthroughs have the
concreteness to the extent that they appear more real than life itself.

One common example is Light. The entire environment is lit up, even
though it is night. There is no sense of time or space. Sometimes there is a
feeling of no past, or future: everything is in the now. The peace, tranquilli-
ty and calmness are immeasurable: one could happily die at this moment.
With increased consciousness, there is sensation of bliss and joy. There are
no worries or anxieties in the individual.

Quite often after the event, the perception of the world is totally different. There
are no words to describe the beauty of the world: every leaf, every insect and
even the dung in the streets are exquisite and alive. Nothing is dead. Some
of them see themselves as whatever they see: they are the road, the trees
or the dog or the lamppost. In other words, they are part of everything. Some
may see the cosmic dance in the form of energy and particles of prana. They gyrate
and move in waves like ballet dancers colliding and disappearing in
moments. Their own body molecules also partake in this Dance of Shiva.

Music and art may also bring about these moments of ecstasy when the picture
comes alive and the music brings tears of choked emotions to the listen-
er. The lasting effects would be from thence onwards. One now sees with
different eyes and hears music with enlightening ears. It is never the same
as before.
Some would suddenly be filled with love and compassion for no reason. This

406
infinite power of love would extend even to enemies. Compassion is for
everyone who is sick and poor in this whole wide world. Empathy is anoth-
er quality that is engrafted in the person’s character. Empathy is the power
of projecting one’s personality to the other, who is suffering. When total-
ly extended it also means to suffer the pain of the sufferer.

In others, they cry and laugh at the same time. These crying and laughing
episodes may last for hours, after which they normally subside. After this
kensho, much more work has yet to be done otherwise it is wasted.

Most of the above occurrences are transient. They do not last, but in a
few their characters are transformed forever. In some (those on the path),
they are repeated over and over again until they are fully enlightened.

These mini-satoris would finally culminate in a maha-satori (great enlight-

enment). To those who have been working on their path for a long time, these occur-
rences are not world shaking to them. They occur just as blips on their ascending paths.
To some, looking at a countryside scene initiates a sudden realisation that
there is a reason to everything existing. His soul is part of everything exist-
ing: no questions are necessary. But what is the structure of this spiritual
rationale is not important and this expanded consciousness will have a lasting
effect.

It must also be remembered that true and ardent seekers may not experience these phe-
nomena or psychic experiences, but their characters are transformed all the same.

The Dark Night of the Soul

Not all breakthroughs are pleasurable. Some are visions of death. Some
are reminders that we have not let go enough. The best known of these
is described by St. John of the Cross as ‘The Dark of the Soul’. At this
point the seeker is desultory, dispassionate and depressed. There is no
interest in life whatsoever. There is only sadness throughout the days. The
good thing about this syndrome is that it may be the penultimate stage
before enlightenment. This syndrome will be elaborated in another essay.

Divine Consciousness and Unity

With the advanced seekers, who have been practising for decades, their
breakthrough visions may have a higher quality. They may be vision of

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angels and spirits. They may feel or ‘see’ God. This is the state of Divine
Consciousness. Inevitably and finally they will travel inwards into them-
selves to join up with God. Once union with God is accomplished they
have achieved Unity. So from Cosmic Consciousness they upgrade them-
selves to Divine Consciousness and finally ending in Unity.

The Void
Unity is the experience of joining with God, but at this final stage there
is no experiencer. There is only the experience. And that is why these expe-
riences are ineffable: no words can explain the experience. The Void
means there is no God, no self and no experience eventually. The second
the individual is united with God, there is no more individuality. This state
is very well characterised by the Void of the Zen Buddhist:

“All things are characterised with emptiness: they are not born, they are
not annihilated; they are not tainted, they are not immaculate; they do not
increase, they do not decrease. In emptiness there is no form, no sensa-
tion, no thought, no confection, no consciousness; no eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body, mind; no form, sound, colour taste, touch, objects; no ele-
ment of vision, till we come to no element of consciousness; there is no
knowledge, no ignorance, till we come to no old age and death, no
extinction of old and death; there is no suffering, no accumulation, no
annihilation, no path; there is no knowledge, no attainment, and no real-
isation, because there is no attainment. In the mind of the Bodhisattva
who dwells depending on deep meditation there are no obstacles; and,
going beyond the perverted views, he reaches final Nirvana. All the
Buddhas of the past, present and future, depending on the deep medita-
tion used, attained to the highest perfect enlightenment.” (Suzuki, Manual
of Zen Buddhism)

In Nirvana, the emptiness is absolute: there is no form, sensations or even

consciousness. There is also no creation or dissolution. This is equivalent
to the Vedantist’s deepest meditation of unconscious samadhi or meditation
without seed.

Associating features of a genuine breakthrough

One can see now the path to awakening is not one single road. It is composed
of many roads with side lanes and many ups and downs into valleys and

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hills. One can easily get lost on the way, which gets very treacherous in
parts. Whatever it is, there is always one of these associating features in
the breakthroughs:

a) expansion of consciousness
b) a temporary loss of the limitations of the self and
c) an infusion of timelessness, divinity, knowledge, joy, peace, light
and creativity.

Light is a special subject on the spiritual path. So let us discuss it a bit

more.

Light
Light almost always signifies spiritual effluence. The haloes and white
light surrounding saints and prophets mean that they are either enlight-
ened or they have reached the Kingdom of Heaven: e.g. Buddha and
Jesus. Not only are they surrounded by light, they themselves irradiate
luminescence. Dr. Richard Bucke (author of ‘Cosmic Consciousness’)
found himself engulfed by a flame colour cloud, which actually is his own
effulgence. It was accompanied by exultation, joyousness and intellectual
illumination. With others, light can also be seen in all the objects present
or in the entire room or landscape. The objects may also be seen with
shimmering outlines at their peripheries. The light may be white, green,
blue, red or violet, in fact all the colours of the rainbow. Although ghosts
are quite often seen in white, some appear as balls of green. Balls of white
are also interpreted as from the spiritual dimension. Most times, these
bright lights are accompanied by peace and joy to the viewer. To some a
deep understanding of the complex universe comes with it. To others it
represents God. Occasionally, a sense of timelessness and joy accompa-
nies the appearance of the light. This light is the same white light at the
end of the tunnel in Near-Death Experience.

To the percipient, it is like opening of the third eye. To the mystics, it is

the lifting of the veil to have a preview of the other world. The episode
is invariably transient. In experienced meditators, the closing of the eyes
quite often is accompanied by light behind the eyelids. This is the light of
the inner eye. And at times this inner light comes as a ball of white light.
In such cases, the meditation room is seen to be brighter when the eyes

409
are opened after meditation. This somewhat brighter room is still the
effects of the inner eye. However, when the room is seen to be very bright
with or without meditation this is the light of the outer eye. It is the flood-
ing of the room by the divine. This is shifting of consciousness of the
individual. Most times, only the solitary percipient can see the light, but
very occasionally every body in the room can see that the entire room is
filled with effulgent, bright light and the effect is heavenly with everybody
kneeling down for thanks giving. In cosmic healing, very occasionally
shafts of white light can be seen directed at the patient, while the healing
is in process.

No matter how one interprets light in the above examples, it signifies the
lifting of the veil allowing us to see the next higher realm.

Insights that arise when the veil is lifted

Many insights have been recorded in the literature and these include those
received during near-death experiences (NDE). Only three such profound
understanding will be highlighted here:

1) There is no such thing as time. Now is eternity. There is no past or future.

Every incident in the whole world that has happened in the past or going
to happen in the future is actually happening now. So Now is the only door
to eternity.

2) Everything, every person, every animal and vegetable are interconnected.

Nothing is excluded. This entire composite is God. That means every-
thing visible or invisible is part of the Absolute, the Godhead. There is
nothing outside this Absolute or Unity.

3) All the mysteries of the universe are instantly understood, but this noet-
ic knowledge cannot be brought back to normal consciousness. It is ineffable.

There are many others, but we shall not go into it.

Milestones of true spiritual progress

All the above experiences and phenomena are milestones on the map of
spiritual paths. Most of them are transient experiences, and some are sign-
posts of real spiritual progress. In order for these progressive stages to be

410
engrafted onto the seeker, a transformation of the seeker’s character must take
place. And this is translated into wisdom. This is seen in his altered behav-
iour, his ability to let go and his exhibition of love, compassion and serv-
ice. So let us now elaborate a little on these consolidating features of
someone who has been converted by breakthroughs. We will name these
features as signposts.

Signposts: signs and symptoms of an awakened

individual
The seeker who has ‘arrived’ will appear to the outsider as radiant and
smiling. He is a fountain of youth. A spiritual person ages much less slow-
ly than usual or even looks younger. The radiance around him is due to
his inner light or aura shining through. He is always smiling and laughing
because life is a cinch: he knows he can never die and nothing in life is
important. In other words he has no problems. He has already let go of
everything including his ego.

He is dispassionate, detached, and desireless. Nothing awakens his desire

or greed. He knows that he has to leave this world with all its materialism
one day. He realises that to get angry is to hurt oneself. With his prowess
at meditation, he remains cool, calm and collected. Not flustered and no
panic, there is no stress in his life. Having realised that he is nothing spe-
cial and he is actually part of everything else he has become selfless.
Adding to this he also realises that the further he climbs the spiritual lad-
der, the healthier he becomes. Lately, the American doctors have found
out this obvious fact: spiritual health equals physical health. As he pro-
gresses, he finds that he is backed up all the way by Cosmic
Consciousness, deities and God. His aura or radiance will inevitably
attract all and sundry. They crowd around him for no reason. He is never
in a hurry. He does not need an audience or students. There is no inten-
tion to cause an impact and to keep a low profile is his motto. When one
scrutinises him further these qualities will be discerned:

Simplicity.
Humility.
Joy and happiness.
Calm, cool and collected.
A great sense of humour which is never at the expense of others.

411
 Shying away from publicity.
He keeps his supernatural powers to himself, except in the case of
healing.
Selflessness manifests as service, which is non-discriminatory.
Divine love, wisdom, compassion and empathy are embedded in his
bones.
There is no partiality to any religion. Every race, religion or cast is
part of one family.
There are no untouchables in his mind.

The list can go on ad nauseam.

As can be deducted from the above dissertation, the author does not
advocate any particular religion. In fact with expanding consciousness he
realises that all religions tend to prevent higher practice. At this level, all
religions must be transcended by the yogin to move up. It also means that
every path is unique to the individual. Therefore there are millions of
paths, all of which are correct as long as one is not side tracked by pow-
ers, the occult and ritualistic practices. Practices like Kundalini yoga, Chi
Kong and the sectarian esoteric disciplines must be practised with care, as
psychosis is rather prevalent amongst these practices. The gurus of these
disciplines must themselves have awakened. Never be in a hurry. One
should take decades rather than weeks for the journey. After all one has
many more lives to go!

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry

This is a book written by Jack Kornfield describing the return to the mar-
ket place after enlightenment. The Zen master has an apt koan, ‘Before
enlightenment, you chop wood, after enlightenment, you also chop wood’.
In other words, what does one do after all the beautiful excitement, ecsta-
sy, light, joy and exultation? One returns back to normal life to find that
the baby and pets still have to be fed. The laundry still has to be done.
One still has to go office to earn a living. As the splendour wanes in the
course of time, the memory tends to fade but never forgotten. Many
times the return home will precipitate slip backs and downfalls due to old
habits of behaviour. These painful periods are excruciating, because these
fallbacks are unexpected after climbing up those mountain peaks many
times.

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The Zen teaching is that after the maha-satori, one must still work hard at
the spiritual path. One continues doing zazen until death. In the case of the
Zen practitioners, there may be repeated kenshos until the final satori, after
which they continue to work at the same pattern and the same pace of prac-
tice. However, the seeker with many kenshos may still slide back. One mis-
take and the benefit of years of practice is erased. The higher one is on the
spiritual scale the smaller the margin of error and the steeper is the slide
down. Having said all that, there will be much transformative change of
character in most of those who have been practising for a long time. Some
of the above sterling qualities would still be entrenched in them.

It must be emphasised here that the old anger, craving, habits and sam-
skaras are still with the ‘successful practitioner’, even after 30 years in the
mountain. Once aroused, the emotional desire and anger may still arise. It
is the innate characteristics of the hard ware that came with the individ-
ual’s birth. What was transformed in the path was the software of the per-
sonality. The feelings of the samskaras are still in tact.

The best and most reassuring fruit is that the seeker becomes happier and joy-
ful everyday until his letting go is total. Joy and compassion are now his second
nature. With this progression, he is less likely to retrogress. He has totally
surrendered to his Tao. He is truly a nobody using only his working (func-
tional) mind. His thinking mind and self (ego) are totally eradicated. There
is no enlightened person left: there is only enlightened activity.

References
1. Roberto Assagioli. Self-realisation and Psychological Disturbances, in
Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof, eds. Spiritual Emergency. New York:
Putnam, 1989.

2. R.M. Bucke. Cosmic Consciousness. New Hyde Park, NY; University

Books, 1961.

3. J.M. Cohen and J-F Phipps. The Common Experience. Quest Books.
1992.

4. William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience. Collier Books.

1961.

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5. Jack Kornfield. After the Ecstasy, the Laundry. Rider. 2000

6. Harry R. Moody and David Carroll. The Five Stages of the Soul. Rider.
1998.

7. Abraham Maslow. Toward a Psychology of Being. Princeton, NJ: Van

Nostrand Reinhold, 1968.

8. Wayne Teasdale. The Mystic Heart. New World Library. 1999.

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 Western Mysticism I - The Dark Night
of the Soul.
"That the mind itself has a higher state of existence, beyond reason, a superconscious
state, and that when the mind gets to that higher state, then this knowledge beyond rea-
soning comes. All the different steps in yoga are intended to bring us scientifically to the
superconscious state of Samadhi… Just as unconscious work is beneath consciousness,
so there is another work which is above consciousness, and which, also, is not accom-
panied with the feeling of egoism… There is no feeling of I, and yet the mind works,
desireless, free from restlessness, objectless, bodiless. Then the truth shines in its full
effulgence, and we know ourselves-----for Samadhi lies potential in us all---- for what
we truly are, free, immortal, omnipotent, loosed from the finite, and its contrasts of good
and evil altogether, and identical with the Atman or Universal Soul."

Vivekananda
Raja Yoga, London, 1896

Introduction
The word Mysticism has numerous meanings defined by various writers.
There have been many mystics in the Christian church, which have always
been viewed with suspicion. However, it was from some of the enlight-
ened ones that a codified system of meditation (orison) had been estab-
lished. It is more a state of feeling than knowledge. In this article we
would like to define exactly what the word means. Of all the definitions
that have been used so far, the one given by Evelyn Underhill is the best.
She defines it as: Mysticism is the art of union with Reality. The mystic is a per-
son who has attained that union in greater or lesser degree; or who aims at and believes
in such attainment. The first question that arises is ‘what is Reality?’ The sec-
ond is ‘how does one unite?’ The question of uniting with God will be
clear as this article unfolds. As for the word Reality, at this moment we
will equate it approximately with God or Godhead, the Absolute, Truth.
In approaching the Ultimate, the mystic will have to traverse through
many terrain or steps upward to the Absolute (transcendence). Or he has
to go inward into emptiness, which consists of numerous layers of empti-
ness (immanence). The mystic also experiences in these intervening steps

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mystical states. A high percentage of people do undergo some psychic
states in their life times. So what constitutes a mystical state? There are
four criteria that will qualify a state to be a mystical one:

1. Ineffability. No words or expression can describe the state of

mind, which must be directly experienced, as no amount of descrip-
tion is adequate.

2. Noetic quality. There are illuminative revelations concerning

knowledge and insights of truth, which the normal consciousness
cannot fathom. These widespread pieces of information may not be
brought back when the mystic returns to normal consciousness.

3. Transiency: The mystical state does not last. Rarely it can be sus-
tained from a few minutes to one or two hours at most. After the state
has faded, memory of it is not perfect. If the mystical state recurs it
will be recognised as such. These discontinuous states will recur and
recur until the final union with God is reached. This state should then
be with the mystic until death.

4. Passivity: Once in the mystic state, the mystic’s will seems to be

controlled by a superior force. The mystic then may be associated with
a secondary or alternative personality, such as trance state, automatic
writing or prophecy. These secondary phenomena may not be remem-
bered and have no bearing on the maturing of the mystic’s inner life.
In some, however, they are remembered and they also influence the
life of the mystic between the times of their recurrences.

The first and second criteria entitle the state to be called mystic. The third
and fourth are less marked, but are usually found. When the mystic state
conforms to the above criteria, most Christians feel that they have expe-
rienced a contact with God. Dr R.M. Bucke calls it Cosmic Consciousness
about 100 years ago:

“The prime characteristic of cosmic consciousness is a consciousness of

the cosmos, that is, of the life and order of the universe. Along with the
consciousness of the cosmos there occurs an intellectual enlightenment
which alone would place the individual on a new plane of existence------

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would make him almost a member of a new species. To this is added a
state of moral exaltation, an indescribable feeling of elevation, elation,
and joyousness, and a quickening of moral sense, which is fully as strik-
ing, and more important than is the enhanced intellectual power. With
these come what may be called a sense of immortality, a consciousness of
eternal life, not a conviction that he shall have this, but the consciousness
that he has it already.”

The above preamble can be applied to all forms of mysticism. Generally,

mysticism can be classified as eastern and western. As most of my previ-
ous spiritual articles are on eastern mysticism, this essay will be largely
based on western mysticism. The eastern ones are a) Buddhism with their
meditations on one-pointedness and insight meditation. b) Zen or Chan
meditation culminating in Shikantaza. c) Hinduism’s raja yoga with
Nirvikalpa Samadhi as the goal. d) Taoism with its multifarious spiritual
practices in meditation, Chi Kung and tai chi etc. e) Sufism in Islam. f)
Kabbalah in Judaism.

Western Mysticism
Nuns and monks in the Christian religion compose most of the literature
on this subject. Roman Catholicism plays a dominant role in this topic.
The more enlightened ones laid down a codified system of mystical the-
ology. The basis of this system is ‘orison’, prayer or meditation, the
methodical elevation of the soul towards God. There are many descrip-
tions of the mystical paths towards the peak. The more popular ones are
a) Mystic Way consisting of the three steps. b) St Teresa’s seven castles
and c) Evelyn Underhill’s classification under five headings.

The most convenient classification is Evelyn Underhill’s five headings, as

follows:

1) The Awakening of the Self to cosmic consciousness of Divine

Reality.
2) The Purification of the Self.
3) Illumination which includes many stages of contemplation.
4) The Dark Night of the Soul or Mystic Death (purification of the
spirit).
5) Unitive Life: The Self is one with the Absolute.

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1. The Awakening of the Self
This is the true conversion, which is of a much higher plane than mere reli-
gious conversion. According to Starbuck it is primarily an unselfing. It is
cosmic consciousness pressing on individual consciousness. Often it
breaks in suddenly and becomes a great new revelation. The person
emerges from his own smaller limited world into a much larger world of
being. It is the most momentous alteration of consciousness in human
experience. As Omraam Mihael Aivanhov aptly puts it:

"So many people do not manage to find the meaning of life. They do not
know that to find the meaning of life is to find an element that only the
divine world can give us. And the divine world only gives it to those who
over many years endeavour to reach it. Indeed the meaning of life is the
reward for the patient, constant inner work a person has undertaken to do
on himself. When they have reached a certain state of consciousness, they
receive from Heaven an element that is extremely precious, like a drop of
light that impregnates all the matter of their being. From that moment on,
their life takes on a new dimension and intensity and they see everything
with new clarity, as if they had been given the gift of knowing the reason
for everything. And even death no longer frightens them, because this
particle they have received from Heaven uncovers before them a world
where there is no more danger or darkness, and they feel they are already
travelling the infinite road of light."

This momentous breakthrough is extremely intense as human experience

goes. It is mostly abrupt, but rarely it may be gradual. The third variety is
not a conversion as such, but a gradual and increasing lucidity intermit-
tently accompanying the pain, misery of mind, and inward struggles
towards the Way of Purgation. In this type of conversion, purgation goes
hand in hand with it sliding into the third stage of Illumination. Here,
there is already a slight swing of the pendulum between the superficial
and cosmic consciousness. Preceded by long and dim struggles and rest-
lessness, usually the conversion takes the form of a sudden and acute real-
isation of a magnificent reality of the cosmic world. Sometimes a sadness
of the heart arises for no apparent reason. No words can describe this
true awakening. The mists and veil of normal consciousness are swept
away leaving the sharp outline of the Everlasting Hills. This imposition
from without is sudden and has a supernatural feel about it. The conver-

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sion of St Paul on the way to Damascus is a good example: light, voice
and ecstasy completely transforming his life. Quite often a Light, an
Attraction and Power accompany the conversion. The light indicates the
potential of belonging completely to God, the Attraction subduing the
heart, which is delighted and the Power to resolve to carry out acts of
service. De Sanctis put it another way: a sense of liberation and victory, a
conviction of the nearness of God and a sentiment of love towards God.
It is a sudden, intense and joyous perception of God immanent in the uni-
verse, of the divine beauty and unutterable power and splendour of the
cosmic world and the promise of a new life.

Some mystics like St. Francis of Assisi are given visions. He saw the
Crucified Christ who said: ‘Francis, go, repair My house’. After this he found
himself another man, giving untiring toll to repair the Church. Having
been a lover of beauty, this man was transformed to begin associating
with beggars, tending to lepers and performing acts of charity and self-
humiliation. Catherine of Genoa had another vision of Christ. She has
been extremely wretched and has a strong hatred of herself when she
went to confession. The sudden intuition of the Absolute was followed
by an internal vision of Christ bearing the cross. During this same period,
she was internally taught the whole practice of orison (prayer, meditation
and contemplation). This divine Love increased the hatred even more,
crying out, ‘O Love. No more sins! No more sins!’ An utterly new life began at
this point.

In 1347, Rulman Merswin, a retired businessman at 36 years was having a

walking meditation in his garden in Strassburg. He swore to surrender his
own will, person and goods to the service to God. Back came the reply of
a light shining upon him and a voice of adorable sweetness. He felt as if
he was lifted from the ground and carried around his garden several times.
This new consciousness of the Divine compelled him to undertake acts
of mortification.

Merswin’s contemporary, Suso, an artist and embryonic ecclesiastic, had

an ecstasy lasting between half to an hour. When he returned, he swooned
to the ground, crying, “Oh, my God, where was I and where am I? Oh, my heart’s
great joy, never shall my soul forget this hour”. He walked like a robot after that.
His soul was full of marvels, heavenly lightnings repeatedly passed

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through his body. And it seemed that he walked on air. This foretaste of
heaven initiated a chain of mystical development.

Some of the post conversion mystical developments are: a) entering into

a new world of existence, where all objects are glorified and beauty is seen
in all material things. The woods sing heavenly music, and animals glow
with enchantment. b) To Walt Whitman the glory is permanent, “light
rare, untellable, lighting the very light.” c) This new mystical conscious-
ness is viewing now the World of Becoming, after the sharp break with
the old way of seeing things. d) Escaping from the limitation of the old
conventional world, it has broken into an unlimited divine whole of
another Reality. e) At that breakthrough he is not separate from the ‘One’.

Summarising, the awakening breakthrough is the viewing of man’s spiri-

tual consciousness usually in two directions of apprehending Reality: eter-
nal and temporal, transcendent and immanent, absolute and dynamic
aspects of Truth. This glimpse of God shows that He is both Being and
Becoming, near and far: pairs of opposite which the developed mystical
experience will carry up into a higher realms. Normally only one of the
perception will manifest at the first breakthrough. The first is the splen-
dour of the expansive, formless ineffable vision of the vague existence of
the next world. The Godhead is seen as transcendent to, yet immanent in,
the created universe. The reaction of the self is the awe and rapture of the
impersonal glory of a transfigured world. To be a spectator of Reality is
not enough. The awakened person must participate in this transcendent
life. He is required to change his life in a costly and drastic fashion.

From the above descriptions of the breakthroughs of the various people,

they all conform to the four characteristics of the mystic state. Their
knowledge of the things seen, heard and felt in the world of Reality pos-
sesses that noetic quality that was mostly ineffable. Memories are there, but
describing in detail in words is not possible. The episodes are all of short
duration (transiency), and whilst they are in the trance states they are pow-
erless to use their own body-mind faculties (passivity).

2. Purgation or Purification of the Self

This new awakened person has to embark on a slow spiritual path of tran-
scendence and of transformation of character in order to reach higher

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levels of consciousness of Reality. The path to union with God is to erad-
icate the false self and the false beliefs of this world. That means erasing
evil, illusion and all imperfections of character, which are not in harmony
with Reality. Having realised that our superficial consciousness is finite, we
have to aspire to the infinite --- Reality. Although virtue is not specifical-
ly named, the acquisition of goodness must be made a perquisite to the
spiritual marriage with God, the only Reality. That means purging of all
‘sins’ like lust, pride, sloth, anger, gluttony, envy and avarice. Humility,
charity, selflessness, meekness and calmness should replace these seven
‘sins’. For purgation to be complete pain and suffering must be endured
as a pleasure and not a chore.

After the awakening, the return to normal life shows up the contrast
between the clouded contours of our faulty life of perverse self-centred-
ness and the sharp radiance of the Real. This realisation alone brings the
mystic to look at his old world with contempt and all geared up to climb
the mountain of transcendence. In this context he is prepared to suffer
great tortures and pain. “Let me suffer or die” said St. Teresa. Whilst Suso
‘departed from outward things to go into true interior silence and bury
himself in the desert of a ‘deep contrition’. The torment of contrition
and acute consciousness of unworthiness is the first oscillation from the
mystic pleasure back to the present state of pain. In order to orientate the
mind to truth or turning the self from the unreal to the Real, one has to
get rid of self love and to erase all interests of the surface consciousness.
In other words, Purgation is self-simplification. Purgation is the cleansing
of the part that is to remain and stripping of that part to be done with. 1)
The Negative aspect is the purging away of the superfluous, unreal, and
harmful things, which dissipate the precious energies of the self. This is
the process of Detachment or Poverty. 2) The Positive aspect is the rais-
ing of the remaining permanent elements of character to the highest or
purest state. This is Mortification, a deliberate recourse to painful experi-
ences and difficult tasks.

Detachment
The Catholic Church spells out the essence of detachment as voluntary
Poverty, which is the stripping and casting off of material and immaterial
wealth, from all finite things. The next element is Chastity, which means
the total cleansing of the soul of all personal desire. Lastly, Obedience is the

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abnegation of selfhood and the mortification of the will leading to a holy
indifference to the flow of the Tao. This act of inward poverty leads us
to destroy our selfhood, which in the past has individual desires and
rights. Now the self is merely an insignificant drop of seawater in the
ocean. “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven” means detachment and purity (detachment of the heart) will lead
to that humble spirit of obedience, which expresses detachment of the
will. So these 3 aspects are manifestations of one thing --- Inward Poverty.
In other words, God being pure Good can only merge with a pure soul.
The mystic must deprive himself of all material things and fellow crea-
tures, even though the latter are themselves pure. And yet after the
Illumination stage, the mystic is encouraged to love ‘all creatures, which
are in God, as God in all creatures.’ This is a corollary of “blessed are the
pure in heart”. We can only truly enjoy the things that we neither possess
nor desire. “That thou mayest have pleasure in everything, seek pleasure
as nothing. That thou mayest possess all things, seek to possess nothing.
In detachment the spirit finds quiet and repose, and it covets nothing. For
as soon as it covets anything, it is immediately fatigued thereby.” It is lust,
not love that poisons the relation between the self and the external world.
This fatigues the soul. The division of ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’ will colour
the mind with cravings and fear of loss. We are truly slaves of our own
property. We drag along with us a chain and not a treasure. In aspiring to
the view of Reality, possessions cloud the view; claims, desires and attach-
ments pose conflicts of interest in the mind. All these detract the mind
from the silence and emptiness of contemplation.

Actually, Poverty should be solely a mental rather than a material state. St

John of the Cross says: “ The soul is not empty, so long as the desire for sensible
things remains. But the absence of this desire for things produces emptiness and liber-
ty of soul; even when there is an abundance of possessions.” Of course, this is eas-
ier said than done. This immediate answer to Antoinette Bourignan who
asked God on what to do should be used as standard practice: “Forsake all
earthly things. Separate thyself from the love of the creatures. Deny thyself.” The mys-
tic then should be crying joyously, “I am nothing, I have nothing, I lack nothing!”

Mortification
This is part of purification. It is the positive side of it. The processes here
are to erase the elements of the old character, which were subserving the

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needs and desires of the old self. The object here is to kill the attachments
and self-interests of the former self. The new being must have its charac-
ter built up to face the challenges of the transcendent self. In order to
forge the new path, the old personality must be totally sublimated. This
process must be repeated until the old habits and tendencies have faded
and died. Mortification can only stop when the new self is wholly pursu-
ing the challenges of transcendent life. The consequence of mortification
is not death of the person, but death of the old attachments. There are
many degrees of dying and there maybe many deaths per day, but there is
also a joy after each death. The greater the death, the greater the resultant
joy. All the physical and mental tortures are required to release the per-
sonality from its inclination to human pleasure and satisfaction. Once the
self is completely emptied of these cravings, then the mortification can
stop.

All cravings of the senses must be killed or mortified. Not only must there
be no thought of anything related to the flesh, there should also be no
pleasure relating to mental fantasies of any kind, including ecclesiastic and
political ambitions. The old person must also be purged of pride and prej-
udice, preferences and distaste and any form of selfhood. The desire for
penance does not only ensure all forms of austerities and the most prim-
itive of accommodation, but the slightest attempt at grooming is consid-
ered sacrilegious. The mystic must be always be willing to serve others
rather than to attend to his own needs. Ownership of any property is out
of the question. The new being must deem every person or creature as
lovable and such unhealthy habit of kissing of lepers is encouraged. All
forms of insects and animals are also part of God’s kingdom and noth-
ing is too base.

The last point is the actual process of physical torture. The olden days more
so than now, numerous ways of crucifying one-self are thought out and
experimented. Sleeping on a bed of nails and using instruments of tor-
ture are common place. The more pain these instruments incur, the more
they are egged on for more torture. When the time for them to stop, they
will be told abruptly through the spirit. These forms of self-torture and
austerities are still quite commonly seen in India. One of them is to go
about completely naked and eating of dead bodies at the funeral pyre.
When all this is practised in solitude, some mystics may have glimpses of

423
ecstatic visions near the end of the purgation period. In fact near this end
stage, Purgation and Illumination already start to alternate or exist togeth-
er --- the beginning of the swing of pendulum. This complementation of
the light and dark sides confirms the mobile or unstable nature of the
early mystic consciousness. It often sways between the extremes of pain
and pleasure. The vision of bliss to despair from now onwards tends to
dog the psychology of the mystic. In a rare case these oscillations are so
prolonged that the mystic bypasses the Illumination stage and move onto
the Dark Night of the Soul directly.

3. Illumination
After the prolong purging of the self, the mystic has arrived at the stage
of Illumination, which is peculiar only to mystics. The consciousness can
now visit and start a relationship with God intermittently (this is not
union). The essence of illumination is the successful transfer of self-cen-
tredness to a God-centred world. Having completely disentangled himself
from worldly attachments, he is now certain that God exists and is estab-
lishing a relationship with Him. The artist or poet may have also this inti-
mation of God. But his is not in a progressive stage of endeavour, but a
one-off situation when the artist or poet writes his masterpiece. The non-
mystical artist can only communicate to the living in the form of art in
this one dimension. But the mystic has succeeded in bridging the gap of
simultaneity and succession: the creator and the created. The artist’s eyes
have merely cleansed the doors of perception. The mystic’s illumination
is not only endowed with light, life, love and joy, but is also supported by
humility, surrender and charity. This stage is often mistaken for the final
union. It is not. There is still the mystic and God, two separate entities.

There are numerous attempts to present this state by artists, poets and
composers as an equal to mystics and psychics. Sometimes it is not possi-
ble to distinguish them. In connection with this stage of illumination, the
experiences may be characterised into 3 types:

(1) Consciousness of the Absolute, which is not yet union with the divine.
This is the betrothal and not marriage.

(2) The illumined vision of the world. In Blake’s words “the doors of per-
ception are cleansed: everything appears to man, as it is, infinite.”

424
(3) Increasing powers of the intuitional self: (a) auditions, (b) speaking
to God, (c) visions, and (d) automatic writing. These psychic phenomena
increase the whole tenure and perspectives of the mystic’s life. This sub-
ject will be discussed in the next article.

The first and second form of perception of the transcendent and the
immanent are expanded by the mystic so that he can apprehend the World
of Being and the World of Becoming all at once. The mystic normally
progresses under one of these 3 forms. Often all forms are present, but
one is always dominant.

A. The Consciousness of the Absolute, or Sense of the Presence of

God
This consciousness is joyous and pleasurable. It is the most consistent fea-
ture of Illumination. The mystic is certain that he is going towards God.
The happiness is not there throughout the whole period of Illumination
because periods of purgation do still turn up now and then. This ‘sense
of God’ is more real than all physical forms or other sensual feelings to
the mystic. The mystic is so sure of his touching God that even though
he is criticised by his peers or his experience is contrary to his religion he
remains steadfast in his belief. This is the immanence of God in the soul
of the mystic, as St. John says, “That He will dwell in the soul and He will make
her perceive this presence.” This ‘immanental’ presence (of St Teresa) does not
obstruct one’s normal duties in one’s daily routine. However in those artis-
tic or unstable types this infusion of Absolute into the soul may render
the individual into psychic and uncontrollable phenomena of ecstasy and
rapture. To others in deep contemplation, the mystic is lifted to this pres-
ence of God, when seeing, feeling and thinking are all suspended. This period is
filled with joy and gladness. This orison of union in the Illuminative State,
to some, is indistinguishable from true union. This is merely a foretaste of
the Ultimate State. The crucial distinguishing feature here is that in the
Illuminative Path the individual consciousness still remains separate and
in the Unitive state the individual is totally obliterated. In fact the individ-
ual’s faculties may even be heightened with regards to mundane things. To
a few, they simply wallow in the peace and tranquillity of this stage of
Illumination.

This illumination is invariably accompanied by a radiance that grows

425
brighter all the time and it never blinds the eyes. This light is full of splen-
dour and brighter than the sun and it floods all space. It is akin to the light
at the end of the tunnel in Near Death Experience. This is the transcen-
dent way when the soul ascends to the supernal plane of perception,
where all the mysteries of heaven are hidden in its silence. This cosmic
external vision of infinity is expansive and outgoing towards the Divine
Light, but the soul must first traverse the Divine Dark in its ascent. So it
is either transcendent or immanent, positive or negative and it is both near
and far. The introvert, however, turns its focus inwards to its heart, where
God pours his love into its soul, whereby the soul may return to its source.

B. The Illuminated Vision of the World

It is also shown to some that every tree, ocean, mountain and anything
that the eye can see is filled with God. There is nothing in the universe
that is not God. That means that when God visits a soul, It also exhibits
its power to the extent that the soul must respond with utter humility and
delight. This is immanence. This means that in the illuminated conscious-
ness, God is seen in all things. If one could see God in a flower, one has
already progressed somewhat in one’s spiritual path. The seeing of divin-
ity in the smallest of things, like grass and herbs, is looking with the inner
vision and not the external eye.

To know the hidden unity in the Eternal Being with great certainty espe-
cially of those we love is to live fully in the Illumined State. We then can
enjoy ‘all creatures in God and God in all creatures.’ The illumined self is
then conscious of the living reality of the World of Becoming, which
must include all things divinely created. This also means that the mystic
has reached quite an advanced state of transcendental consciousness.
Seeing beauty is simply viewing Reality through the eyes of love, and this
may mean there is radiance even in cow dung or human spittoon. This
cleansing of the doors of perception is the result of the mystic’s progress
towards the Absolute life. He is now not distracted by things of the phe-
nomenal world. His consciousness has been taken over by the New Man
of the transcendental personality. He has now new vitality and increased
intuitive powers.

This consciousness of illumination is now able to adjust the inner to the

outer life to a fine balance. He has advanced enough not to distinguish

426
between the inward personal relationships and outward apprehension of
the Real: the world is seen and known in God, and God is seen and
known in the world. The Divine Light shines on both.

However the illuminated mystic is placid because he has to indulge in the

growth process of enlightenment. Although there is peace, there must
also be an active discipline achieving higher reaches of spiritual realms.
Having felt or glimpsed the presence of God, there is no turning back.
The craving and perpetual hunger for full enlightenment or union with
God is too strong for the mystic to relax and flow with the tide. He is rest-
less to move forwards. He is now destined to plough through the turbu-
lent seas of the Dark Night.

We have completed the first part of the Mystic Life, and we will now
embark onto the Mystic Death.

4. The Dark Night of the Soul

This is the fourth stage of the mystic way. It is the penultimate stage
before the final part, The Unitive Life. The second stage was the purifi-
cation of the senses. The Dark Night is the purification of the spirit.
After the jubilant stage of Illumination, there is still a subtle identification
of one’s spirit to the mundane self, although there is no more lure or
enticement of the senses. This identification is seen in the fact that the
soul is still deemed as separate from God. The Dark Night is then the last
cleansing of the soul before merging with the Absolute. This is the begin-
ning of the second mystic life, which is the great swing back from the
Illuminative Way. The Dark Night is the pendulum swinging back to dark-
ness, stagnation, blankness, solitude and pain. The oscillations of ‘states
of pleasure’ to ‘states of pain’ start with equal duration of both states, but
as the path proceeds, there is less and less pleasure until the mood is total-
ly abysmal, depressed and bitter. There is not the slightest reprieve of joy
at this stage. After the period of Illumination, the consciousness becomes
fatigued and darkness and deprivation set in. Coupled with negativity and
misery it is the onset of The Dark Night of the Soul.

1. Psychologically, it is a period of negative reaction to the stress of a con-

tinuous and active transcendent life of Illumination. The exhaustion and
lassitude is the result of continuous strain of the brain and body of a mys-

427
tic who is in an overworked service with contemplation, perhaps accom-
panied by voices and visions. To a true mystic, this is a new purification
of the spirit to the gateway to a higher plane of transcendence. Here they
part company with the nature mystics, poets and artists. Many mystics suf-
fer the oscillations of the pendulum for years. Some call it a game of love
with God.

When the Dark Night has truly set in, they are plagued by evil thoughts
and temptations and totally lost in falsehood and illusion. This will lead to
the breakdown of mental stability and morality, both in their spiritual and
worldly life. They are deemed to have an unbalanced mind. Loss of health
and friendship kept pace with internal grief. There is no more power of
concentration or understanding. The old temptations of the world keep
creeping back to entice them.

The Dark Night of the Soul is not only a state of exhaustion, but it is also
the growing pain of an organic process of attaining the Reality of the
Absolute. It is like a child who is first attending school after its childhood
period of comfort and protection at home. The mystic feels the same loss
of confidence, as if forsaken by God. The former calmness and passion
are lost in this forsaken state, and when she tries to elevate herself she
sees only dark clouds of unknowing. There is no map of guidance. This
period of suffering may last for months or years before a new and unified
consciousness is formed. At this stage, the mystic realises that it has to
totally abandon the old self with its weakness and imperfections and to
gauge the distance to the Absolute.

2. The transcendental aspect of the Dark Night. As far as the mystical

journey is concerned, the Dark Night is merely the intervening stage
between the Illuminative and Unitive Life, no more, no less. To some it is
an emotional anguish of a lover, to others it is an intellectual darkness and
confusion and to the rest it is a passive purification. The latter amounts to
a state of utter misery with which the self can do nothing and the greater
power is allowed to do anything with the mystic. This is now the complete
cleansing of what was not touched in the first purification. After seeing
the illumined light, the self is now back to do a drastic purification of the
heart, the source of love and will, the total personality of the whole man.
The main object of the illumined man is the love of Reality. In the Dark

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Night this light is withdrawn and thereby the suffering is most bitter, more
so than the first purification.

The following are some characteristic forms by which the Dark Night
presents itself.

A. The mystic feels that God has abandoned him. The anguished soul
now suffers pains and torments of death and hell. His friends and col-
leagues have also let him down with contempt. This ‘mystic death’ and its
deprivations have not only come with the absence of God, but there is
also the loss of impersonal support of the transcendental Ground or
Spark of the soul. That means God has left one forever and one’s foun-
dation of the spiritual world has also collapsed. What is left here is the
belief that one-day he will be redeemed.

B. To the mystics, who believe that the self must conform to the tran-
scendent, the pain of the Night is less arduous. However the new vision
of the Good overwhelms one’s own sense of sin and imperfections.
Comparing the purity of God the soul can only see imperfection, aridity
and emptiness of understanding in oneself.

C. Another negation is a combination of a sense of sin and abandonment

by God. There is now no more interest or energy. There is only emotion-
al ennui and boredom, which the self detests. This lassitude is due to
emotional fatigue. This autumn period is a necessity for spiritual growth.
The previous joys, warmth, love and intimate sweetness have all but gone.
The lack of interest is reinforced by his loss of memory of his past learn-
ing and good work. At this lowest point he has only fear and misery.

1. Some mystics suffer from stagnation of will and intelligence. There is

no will to suppress or control impure thoughts and desires. Every vice is
reawakened. Vision of lust and evil are of frequent temptations.
Externally mental activity is dull and dim. The whole self seems to have
been enveloped by the Cloud of Unknowing. This form of the Dark is
not uncommon to some mystics who find themselves completely impo-
tent to this distress.

2. The highly strung and temperamental types, who rapidly oscillate

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between pain and pleasure, would like to see God urgently. Their idea for
ultimate Reality can only be satisfied by death. This negative ecstasy or
rapture causes desolate feelings of helplessness and rises to a height of
anguish. They cannot remember their own existence and the catatonia
makes action and movement very painful. This separation from the
Divine tortures mostly the soul rather than the body. Although the soul is
tormented by the supernatural fire, the body heat is failing, and this stage
can easily end one’s life. There is a thirst that cannot be quenched by any
form of fluid or water.

All the above forms of the Dark Night have but one purpose, which is to
finally purify the will and the stronghold of the self. It is to eradicate the
spiritual joys when contemplating Reality. It is also to abolish the spiritu-
al gluttony of the childish happiness hitherto engendered in illumination.
In Illumination, the soul enjoyed the divine light and its sweetness.
Though the “I” is spiritualised, the “me” was happy and rich whilst in the
transcendent divine nature, in spite of the mortification of the first pur-
gation. But before the self can merge with God, all personal joys and grat-
ification must be totally eradicated. Therefore the final purgation of the
Dark Night must come to pass. The delights and enjoyments of the
Illumination are not piety, holiness or perfection. They are incorporated
in a foundation of selfishness with a will, desires and imagination.
Between the self and God is still this selfishness of will. This last has to
be shredded and thrown to the winds. The Dark Night is a purgation of
the will or a “self-naughting” so that the soul can then have a direct con-
tact with the Absolute. This process is also called a “ passive purgation”,
because it will run its natural course whether the self wants it or not. This
has to come as a death of the mundane self in the form of deprivation,
detachment and desolation of the spirit as the first purgation did to the
senses. Having been thus stripped, the motto of “I am nothing, I have
nothing, I desire nothing” is most apt. This is total surrender, seen in mys-
tic paths of most religions. This utter humility sinks the soul into ‘noth-
ingness’, again a result achieved by some eastern religions. The essence of
the Dark Night is also to transform the realisation of multiplicity to unity,
to prepare for the union of the soul with the Absolute. This transmuta-
tion can only be accomplished by the ‘baptism of fire’, i.e. the pain and
suffering of the Dark Night. As the Dark Night takes some time to com-
plete itself into the Mystic Death, so it also takes some time for the Dark

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Night to be dissolved. Rays of light will start to pierce the Cloud of
Unknowing. The new man is now conscious of the illumination of the
Uncreated Light and he is being joined with the Absolute Life of God.
The self-naughting of the personal will has now resulted in a new stage of
reality per kindness of the Divine Will.

5. The Unitive Life

How does the mystic student know what it means by the Unitive Life? As
this life is wholly ineffable, one can only glean a little of what it is like by
the symbolic expression of those who have been there. In practical terms,
they exhibit themselves as supermen in their good works or their art, etc.
They are national heroes or social reformers with highly intuitive charac-
ters. Their energy is superhuman. Though they live in the world, they are
never of it. They act and behave at a much higher level than us. Generally,
their symbolic expressions can be subdivided into either a) the transcen-
dent-metaphysical or b) the intimate-personal. The former is called deifi-
cation, whilst the latter is named Spiritual Marriage of his soul with God.
Both terms are subjective and not an objective description of the union.
The Unitive State is the result of arduous years of suffering in the Dark
Night, and after the total destruction of selfhood. The naughted soul is
now free to participate in Eternal Life. The marks of this state are 1) a
complete absorption in the interests of the Infinite; 2) a consciousness of
sharing Its strength, which results in a complete sense of freedom and
serenity resulting in some heroic effort or creative activity; 3) the estab-
lishment of the self as a “power of life,” a centre of energy and a source
of spiritual vitality.

With these three characteristics, psychologically the Unitive Life means

the final and successful establishment of that higher form of conscious-
ness after struggling through the Mystic Way. The self, having attained the
light and freedom, is transformed and unified. There is no more stress,
and therefore the energy is released for creative purposes. The Divine Self
has replaced the old primitive self. This new personality in this Universal
Life possesses amazing strength, total calmness and intuitive power to
deal with all circumstances. This real, eternal Self has finally realised its
destiny---just to be.

The mystic’s union with God is described as a droplet being swallowed by

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the sea, the Ocean of Life and Love. “I live, yet not I but God in me.” Having
completely removed the obstacles of separation, he is now “that which he
beholds”. According to the Sufi, he is now not only travelling to God, but
is also in God.

A) Deification. To the impersonal mystic deification means he is imbued

with the Eternal Divine Light, consumed with Eternal Divine Love and is
a partaker of the Divine Nature. Deification is a symbolic metaphor hint-
ing at transcendent Reality, which is beyond the apprehension of normal
humans. To those enjoying Unitive Life, they deem themselves as co-equal
with Deity after they have annihilated their selfhood. To those who are
reborn, Reality is a place and not a person. Although frowned upon by
non-mystical types or lesser men, most Christian mystics long for deifica-
tion exemplified by the following: “the Body of God deifies me and feeds
me; it deifies my spirit and feeds my soul in an incomprehensible man-
ner”. This is a necessary corollary of the Incarnation or humanising of
God. “He became man that we might be made God.” Also one must be
deified to know the secret life of God. It truly means a divine transfusion
of the awakened soul with God-like properties. Deification is like the fir-
ing of a piece of black iron, which becomes red and white, emitting light,
and finally turns to liquid. The iron therefore is like the cold soul made
incandescent when hot, a process enacted by divine love. The values (love
and will) of the person is reduced to a minimum when divine love has car-
ried us above all things to be one with the Truth which is God. Now our
contemplation is at a plane of Beatific Vision of Goodness, Truth and
Beauty most of the time. The deified man’s consciousness being together
with the Divine Being is a forerunner to transcendental reality, a place
when ordinary men can achieve only after death or enlightenment. The
deified man after self-naughting has stripped himself off the I, the Me,
and the Mine when he attained the Unitive life. He has no personal will as
it has been swallowed up by the greater Divine Will. His being remains,
but in another form, in another glory, and in another power after his com-
plete renunciation of his worldly attachments.

B) Spiritual Marriage. The metaphysical aspect of Reality must be expe-

rienced personally and emotionally and this encounter is usually expressed
in the language of love. The usual terminology of theological philosophy
is too arid to express the intimacy of self-fulfilment of the Union with

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God. Some of the language used borders on the “erotic.” The Divine
Union in which the ‘heart speaks to heart’ is also the infusion of a greater
life into the personal consciousness of the mystic. It is a tightening of the
bond of their growing intimacy and splendour. This speaks of complete
fulfilment of Perfect Love, a one spirit with God.

In order to obviate the sexual connotation, some authors use the term
‘glue’ or ‘ghostly glue’ as in this passage, “And when in Thee I shall love
myself, nothing else but Thee do I love, because Thou art in me and I in Thee,
glued together as one and the selfsame thing, which henceforth and forever can-
not be divided.” The Mystic Way has been a growth of love to climb up
towards its source. After eradication of all worldly attachments, the final
step is union or spiritual marriage. The coupling together of the lover and
the loved also has to bring forth duties and responsibilities. This union
also confers on the mystic a new vitality for creative work and be a cause
of other good things to happen. From the history of the mystics, we find
that having been infused by the Absolute, they were superhuman in their
personal achievements of their visions. There is no more resting in the
Quiet, but there is active practising of the Eternal Life. Because of the
mystic’s union with the Absolute, he is able to receive the powerhouse of
the supernal energy and vitality infused into his human body to serve the
temporal world with acts of goodness and piety. Thence he has accepted
both the absolute World of pure Being and the active World of Becoming
as a mature mystic to “incarnate the Eternal in time.” He is enjoying the
fruits of the Divine Goodness, Truth, and Beauty” in the transcendent
Absolute and also energetically creating Eternal Wisdom as a normal cit-
izen of the temporal world. He is trying to salvage the world as well.
Although he appears as a superman outwardly, it is his knowledge that he
has earned eternal life in himself that gives him internal satisfaction and con-
fidence. As a ‘secret friend’ he has been working up the Mystic Way
towards the Godhead, and having united and married God, he himself
has now been reborn as a ‘hidden child’. This child has now inherited the
earth. “Tranquillity according to His essence, activity according to His
nature; absolute repose, absolute fecundity” is how he dominates his exis-
tence because he is the secret child of the Absolute participating in this
dual character of activity and rest. This exemplifies the richest and noblest
flavour of Western Mysticism. In this fashion, the intellect is immersed in
the vision of truth, the will, in the interest of the Transcendent, conquers

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new worlds with new strength to match and the heart begins to live upon
high levels of joy. This new-born ‘child’ is now so joyous and happy that
he is in constant laughter and playfulness so that it could be mistakenly
viewed as premature senility. The other consequences are that they begin
to love animals and nature, and songs start to spring out from their lips.
All these tend to lead to utter peace and tranquillity internally in the mys-
tic who have been lovingly ensconced in the lap of God.

As an example, let us go into St. John of the Cross’s Dark Night of the
Soul and find out about his method of contemplation.

Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross

Juan De Yepes Y Alvarez was born in the sixteenth century in Spain. He
was inducted as a Carmelite monk at the age of twenty-one, and was
ordained as a priest four years later. He was a junior contemporary of St.
Teresa of Avila and was asked to organise the Barefoot Carmelites in a life
of austerity and contemplation. In his effort to transform the Carmelites
he was imprisoned in Toledo, and during this confinement he wrote some
of his best verses. This was the time he attained his union with God. He
did this by renouncing the pleasures of the world so that this lover (con-
templative) could attain union with God. He became famous for his con-
cept of the Dark Night of the Soul. It is only without earthly desires that
his spirit can soar up to the heavens for the spiritual marriage. Even the
thoughts of Christ’s crucifixion or God’s resplendent qualities must not
be entertained for the union. The soul must be emptied of all forms so
that the formless spirit can attain Divine union.

In this loving thirst of the Divine, he suffered great pains with insipid
worldly life. His depression and desolation came about because of his cut-
ting out all senses and his erasure of thoughts making him dead before
death. He cut out all fetters to the world so that he could climb up high-
er and higher to the Divine realms. This difficult journey was punctuated
with bleak nights and exhaustion, but he still persevered determinedly
because of the frequent embraces of the beloved. The sweet and tender
caresses can only be described by someone who had had the actual expe-
rience.

He spent his final 5 years in solitary confinement in contemplation of the

434
Divine. He died at 49 years and was canonised in 1726. We will cite the
whole poem of the Dark Night of the Soul first and comment on it
afterwards. This is the soul’s spiritual path on the way to union with God
through love. The first two stanzas are of purgation of the 1) the senso-
ry part and 2) of the spiritual part. The last six stanzas describe the won-
derful results of the spiritual illumination and union with God.

The Dark Night of the Soul

One dark night,

fired with love’s urgent longings
----ah, the sheer grace----
I went out unseen,
my house being now all stilled.

In darkness, and secure,

By the secret ladder, disguised,
-----ah, the sheer grace----
in darkness and concealment,
my house being now all stilled.

On that glad night,

in secret, for no one saw me,
nor did I look for at anything,
with no other light or guide
than the one that burned in my heart.

This guided me
more surely than the light of the noon
to where he was awaiting me
---him I knew so well----

there in a place where no one appeared.

O guiding night!

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 O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united
the lover with his beloved,
transforming the beloved in her Lover.

Upon my flowering breast

which I kept wholly for him alone,
there he lay sleeping,
and I caressing him
there in a breeze from the fanning cedars.

When the breeze blew from the turret,

as I parted his hair,
it wounded my neck
with its gentle hand,
suspending all my senses.

I abandoned and forgot myself,

laying my face on my Beloved;
all things ceased; I went out from myself,
leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.

There are 2 levels in this poem. One is his personal experience. And the
other is his doctrinal reflection. In the first purification, God is likened to
a mother, who suckles, nurses and carries the child. Then the mother has
to wean, and teach the child to grow up in walking and learning etc until
the child has grown into an adult. This is purifying the sense. The latter
cleansing is that of the spirit and is likened to fire working and trans-
forming a log of wood.

The Dark Night of the Soul is divided into 2 books. Book One contain-
ing 14 chapters refers to the passive night of the sense. Book Two con-
sisting of 25 chapters explains the passive night of the spirit. What is at

436
stake here is the cleansing and purification of the whole individual until it
is pure enough to merge or unite with God whose holiness is immaculate.
Personal effort must be at first initiated, but latterly God must come in for
the journey to continue. That means human effort can only prepare the
self for God’s intervention. Poverty, purity, nakedness, void and death are
only emptying oneself for God’s grace. The emptying of self permits
divine intervention into the fullness of God. In the latter part of the pas-
sive night of the spirit, St. John calls it the spiritual betrothal. The last six
stanzas read more like a lover’s poem than a theological thesis.

The individual undergoing the dark night will suffer privation, erasure of
the intellect, aridity in the exercise of love, loss of memory with regards
to all possession and generally afflicted by torments. Depressed and disil-
lusioned he cannot fathom how to escape from this misery. The mental
faculties are bound and restricted; all external help is useless. The belief
that God has abandoned him appears to him a hopeless situation. This is
because the only desire left in him is his overwhelming love for God.

It is much better for the reader to study the texts of the two books of The
Dark Night of the Soul himself. St. John’s own commentary and explana-
tion of his doctrine are elaborate and lucid.

Reference
1. Evelyn Underhill. 1993. Mysticism. Oneworld Publication.

2. St. John of the Cross. (1542-1591). The Dark Night from The Collected
Works of Saint John of the Cross. Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and
Otilio Rodriguez. 1991. Institute of Carmelite Studies. ICS Publications.

3. William James.1961. The Varieties of Religious Experience. Collier Books.

Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

4. Robert Ullman and Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman. Mystics, Masters, Saints

and Sages. 2001.Conari Press. Berkeley, California.

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 Western Mysticism II - The Cloud of
Unknowing.

This essay is the continuation of Western Mysticism I. In it we will dis-

cuss the psychic phenomena that often come along with the Mystic Way
and the contemplation and meditation techniques of Western Mysticism.

Voices and Visions

These psychic phenomena have been debated as to whether they are true
supernatural happenings or are they hallucinations and neuroses. They are
so common among mystics that one must look at these phenomena ration-
ally without emotion or bias. The historical background of the mystic must
and do play a part. His thoughts of Christ may very well bring on a vision
of Christ. His prayers to God could also produce messages and instruc-
tions from God. The internal yearnings and desires can very well presage
such voices and visions. What he hopes to see or hear can turn up in a deep
and intense meditation. But still, predictions of some mystics have come
out to be true all the time. The mystic might have been given raw materi-
als from the transcendent realm, but when he re-constructs the ineffable
raw material, the visions or voices will turn up according to his education-
al background and emotional colouring. That means voices and visions are
the expressions of the creations of (a) of thought, (b) of intuition, and (c)
of direct perception. Of course the product may not fully represent the
intuitive message received, but it does not mean that the symbolism is use-
less. The common psychic phenomena of Western mystics are audition,
vision and automatic writing. We will discuss these briefly.

Audition
These are voices giving instructions, encouragement or dialogues. The
messages are crisp and clear. They are usually classified as (1) Intellectual,
the inarticulate voice, which the mystic finds it difficult to define. (2)
Imaginary, the distinct, interior voice, which is perfectly articulate speak-
ing only within the mind. (3) Corporal, the external voice of hallucination,

438
which appears to be speaking to the subject by the outward ear.

1. Most mystics find that the first variety, intellectual, is the best and most
comforting. They are mostly translated as messages from God. The con-
tent is usually of transcendental quality and is often attributed to divine
truths. It brings in new knowledge of inspiration. It sounds very authori-
tative.

2. The interior voice is not so authoritative and does not simultaneously

translate into words. They do not seem to come directly from God. It
arrives as a knowing. Sometimes the re-arrangement of one’s own
thoughts cannot be distinguished from these automatic messages from
mystic intuition. This true audition most often rises up during the absorp-
tion state of meditation when the mind is without thoughts, but the mes-
sage is most distinctly understood, more so than spoken words. It may
also break in during normal daily activities.

3. This last corporal variety is the exterior voice, which appears to be speak-
ing externally to the ear of the subject. Mystics on the whole distrust this
form of communication. St. Joan of Arc and St. Francis of Assisi are the
types that hear these voices, giving them instructions to do something.
Sometimes music is heard instead of words. Dialogues between the
Divine source and the mystic also fall into this category. The dialogue
identifies the self as separate from the Divine realty, and quite often it
takes the form of questions and answers.

Vision
Mystics on the spiritual path quite often see forms from the other world,
deities and angels. The figures are interpreted as ghosts or diseased per-
sons. They also may hear sounds and voices supposedly pertaining to the
divine. Fragrances and awful odours may also be experienced. Most of
these should not be relied upon as true occurrences from the divine
realm. Most true communications from God do not come through the
body senses. As individuals tend to bring on their own desires and fears
through their senses, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa warn us against
taking these illusions and hallucinations as true intimations of the Divine
Realm. As in audition, the mystics classify vision as (1) Intellectual, which
is substantial or inarticulate, (2) Imaginary, which is interior and distinct,

439
and (3) Corporal vision, which are exterior words. The last category is
mere externalisation of memories, thoughts and intuitions, and cannot be
depended upon.

1) The intellectual vision is presented to the mystic, who does not look for
it. The vision is encountered by a sense that is neither sight nor feeling,
but has a quality of both. It is intimate but indescribable: definite yet
impossible to define. The phrase “formless vision” is most apt.
Sometimes uncalled for, God instils into a soul love, fire and sweetness
and this delights the soul so much that she is certain that God is in her.
In this instance the feeling of the soul is much more certain than seeing
God in person. When God is in the subject, she cannot behold anything
else. This intellectual vision is connected with the consciousness of the
Presence of God. This is because it can be located precisely in space and
it is so personally and concretely defined that it is more convincing than
bodily sight. This divine presence is usually attributed to Jesus Christ. The
presence is also always there for more than a few days and even stretch-
ing to a year. This perpetual presence will definitely enhance the mystic’s
service to a higher keel. The word vision is quite a misnomer, as nothing
is seen, and everything is felt. The purer the “intellectual vision” the more
it approaches the state of pure contemplation.

2) In Imaginary Vision, it is the inner eye that sees without any sensorial
hallucination. It is the imagination that is spontaneous and automatic. It
arises like a dream from the subliminal mind from a combination of love,
belief and intuition. It may come in two forms: (a) symbolic, and (b) per-
sonal.

a) In the symbolic form an image is used to illustrate a truth. They appear

to mystics who live with symbolism. It is equivalent to a very imaginative
dream, which touches the transcendental, but the mystic interprets it as an
elaborate instruction from Divine Reality. That means there is a great
amount of poetic licence. Sometimes in this ‘dream’ voices and vision are
combined. In deep meditation, the mystics who are skilful in visualisation
can whip up elaborate dreams which depict the more accurate impression
of Reality than his own discursive mind.

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b) Personal. The vision here is very vivid and is related to the mystic’s
beliefs and spiritual passions. The vision is more of a ‘presence’, which is
frequently of Christ. Although the image is indistinct the mystic is surer
about the identity than seeing with the physical eyes. The picture is like an
impressionistic painting as a living person who sometimes speaks and
reveals deep mysteries. The vision comes and goes as fast as lightning, and
this brief encounter is interpreted as a real contact with the Absolute. The
accompanying feeling is great joy and bliss and a certainty of being
touched by God. This vision is ineffable but distinctly beautiful and irra-
diated by an unearthly white light, which is entirely different from that of
the sun.

c) This is a special category of imaginary vision, Active Imaginary Visions.

The visions here quite often follow an emotional crisis and it entails the
mystic acting out its mission. He is no more a mere observer. Quite often
it is like a dream in bizarre situations. The mystic, subsequent to these
visions, normally ends up in a new level of consciousness, strengthened
by the awareness of the Absolute. It may in some initiate them into
Unitive Life. They depict travelling to heaven or hell, or moving up the
scale in the spiritual realm. The other celebrated active vision is that of St
Teresa in, which she saw an angel piercing her with a spear of gold into
her heart. This caused pain and yet sweetness and love.

Automatic Writing
This is the rarest psychic phenomenon experienced by mystics. Most lit-
erary works penned by mystics have to some extent an element of
automatism, but we are talking of an extreme form here. Like poets, the
mystic has no control of his will and the process of writing is far removed
from his surface consciousness. It is as if the mystic is in a trance. The
work is out of character to the mystic. Its style is widely discursive; its tone
is rich with a strange mixture of intimacy and remoteness. Quite often a
touch of prophecy is included. All these suggest coursing along the edge
of subliminal consciousness of Reality. Blake insisted that he was ‘under
the direction of Messengers from Heaven.’ The automatic writing is
always spontaneous and the hand cannot keep up with the new knowledge
welling up from the deep reaches of the inner mind.

One can go on infinitum with these psychic excitements, but space does
not allow more discussion on dialogues with God, clairvoyance, clairaudi-

441
ence, telepathy and prophecy. These are but by-products of the mystic
path and their essential nature is not of paramount importance.

Non-mystics as well as mystics may experience all the above psychic phe-
nomena. And with the mystics they may appear at any stage of their
Mystic Way.

Orison
We will now discuss the meditative processes of the Western Mystics. The
general term used by mystics is orison. The overall outline is the withdrawal
of attention of all external images, duties, plans and thoughts so that the
inner mind is emptied in order to ponder on the transcendent towards
union with the Godhead. In this exercise, he must be alone, but he must
be tutored. Orison generally includes all forms of prayers and meditation
but particularly meditation. Christian meditation is called Introversion nor-
mally. Introversion can be subdivided into Recollection, Quiet and
Contemplation. Recollection actually means one-pointed concentration until
the stage of absorption with the object of meditation, which is usually
God. At this stage he is said to have arrived at the Quiet stage. The deep-
est stage of absorption is the merging or the union with the object of
meditation. One-pointed concentration is explained in detail in my article
on Samatha Meditation. The last stage of concentration with form is in
the 4th stage of absorption, where subject and object are merged into
one. The early stages consist mostly of pushing away all thoughts, desires
and planning and sticking to only that one object. Another method to
arrive at the Quiet is similar to Insight Meditation, where the awareness of
the mind finally sinks into nothingness. This nothingness or void deepens
for many layers inwards until the mystic approaches the ground of the
soul. The whole process is called Introversion. To the Christian mystic this
is the inward journey to the centre of Divine Immanence, where angels
and God are within us. To some of them, they experience flights of ecsta-
sy or rapture, a sudden Divine Transcendence surge, which is a glimpse of
God. These occasions are rare compared to the more common slow and
deliberate inward concentration towards the emptiness of Divine
Immanence.

The Christians use a term, “Orison” or degrees of prayer. It is not the

ordinary type of petition or asking for something, but it is more of a

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yearning of the soul for the Divine. This orison is an act of love or a super-
natural intercourse between the soul and the divine. Orison covers all
steps from the beginning to the merging with God. It includes all forms
of prayers, meditation and contemplation. It is a discipline of the mind,
which should be cleared of external and extraneous objects into a stage
of emptiness. Going deeper and deeper into the layers of silence and
emptiness a passage will be found, and this will lead the mystic to the
Divine. This journey is sometimes dark and bare and sometimes full of
light and joy. To the mystic it seems free and easy. This training and purg-
ing is a progressive cleaning of the mirror, a progressive self-emptying of
all that is not real. It should finally attain that consciousness that can see
Reality, which ironically is without image. It is a Void! Christians called it
naked orison. Amongst the famous mystics, terms like orison, contempla-
tion, recollection and introversion had all been mixed up and a term had
been misused for various stages of growth. So the student is totally con-
fused and bewildered. Therefore let us tabulate the degrees of orison,
which is actually the entire practice, into three divisions: Recollection, Quiet
and Contemplation. This is a continuous slope up wards and not a jagged
stairway. Recollection starts with Meditation and develops into the ‘Orison
of Inward Silence,’ which is the true Quiet. Quiet goes deeper into Ordinary
Contemplation. It then grows through Contemplation proper to that Orison
of Passive Union, which is the highest of introversive states. The object
of this contemplative prayer or orison is to develop a ‘transcendental new
man.’
Roughly the Meditative or Recollective stage goes hand in hand with
Purification (read Mysticism I). The stage of Illumination is characterised
by “Quiet” state of orison. The Unitive Way is accompanied or propelled
by Contemplation proper. During this upward path of degrees of orison,
the mystic would occasionally have a glimpse of the Absolute, but this
state is not sustainable as he has not arrived at Unitive Life proper. So in
Recollection, the unruly mind is brought into discipline by concentration.
All surface thoughts are eradicated. In Quiet imagination, will and desires
are subdued and stilled. This is the ground of the soul. In Contemplation
the mystic has finally met God without any intermediary. Now let us look
at the mechanics of these subdivisions.

Recollection
Strong will must be utilised to begin the process of recollective concen-

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tration. All thoughts, images and planning must come to an end. They
must be repeatedly pushed away by effort and will. This task of expelling
all thoughts and images is very arduous. This difficult early beginning
must be fought strenuously and persistently. In order to help, use an
object of meditation, say the breath or word or a phrase. One can visu-
alise as well, but visualisation is extremely difficult. This concentration on
one point is the beginner’s practice in all eastern religious meditation. The
term Recollection is a misnomer. It is not remembering. One should com-
pletely wipe out all memories and thoughts except one, the object of med-
itation. Continuing in this fashion, there will come a day when the con-
sciousness becomes more and more narrow and is fixed to that object.
This fixation is the beginning of absorption. The mind then enters into
itself or God enters into the mind. He cannot hear or see and does not
receive any mental messages. This stage of emptiness (except for the
object) is blissful, full of joy. He is also quite aware of his own presence
but no thoughts can enter his mind. His mind has only one thought and
that is his object of meditation and from thence he detects the Divine
Presence, but only just. Thus summarising, Recollection is the exercise
and discipline of erasing all thoughts, images, and memories and planning
in order to retreat into that ground of the soul. This ground is silent and
still but with one thought (the object of meditation) in the entire mental
field. This exercise is achieved mainly by the will and yet one feels the
presence of the Divine when entering this groundswell of the soul.

Quiet
The next stage of orison is that mental state of Interior Silence or the
Prayer of Quiet or Simplicity. This is the deeper retreat into absorption.
It is equivalent to the Buddhist third and fourth absorptions where there
are no thoughts allowed in. Even the bliss of the 3rd absorption must give
way to pure one-pointedness of the 4th absorption. From here the mys-
tic can descend deeper into boundless space and thence to pure con-
sciousness until the Void of nothingness. The last absorption is the 8th,
which has such subtlety as in ‘neither perception nor non-perception.’ In
other words it is ineffable. The mystic is now quiet, silent and at peace.
Temporarily he has no more I-hood and feels that he is no more separate.
He has power and beauty. However there is still some sense of his own
personality. That means he has not yet merged with the Absolute. He has
glided into a consciousness of the infinite, totally shut off from any sens-

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es of the body. He is only aware of the power and bliss of impending
Reality. He can just wallow in this Being and is beginning to abolish his
separateness with the Absolute. Having suspended all thoughts, memories
and planning and feelings, he is now aware of nothingness, a Void. But
this Void is not empty. If he were to concentrate harder, he will be able
to detect something omnipresent and intangible. It is ‘That’ which has
always been there since birth. So now he is able to immerse himself in this
Divine atmosphere. There are then two aspects of the summit of the
Quiet: 1) there is the deprivation of all senses onto emptiness, the Divine
Dark and 2) there is this sense of awe, an intimation of the Divine Light
full of joy. It is a sweet, calm and gentle silence. This is a supernatural
state. After depleting himself of everything of the phenomenal world, he
has now entered the silence and stillness of the Divine Ignorance. This is
“the Cloud of Unknowing.” This ignorance is not a defect but the high-
est of perfection. As it is a supernatural action of the soul, one should not
have the slightest movement of the body or the slightest flickering of the
mind. In fact, it is beyond the mystic at this stage: he cannot think nor
move in this absorption. He could have pre-timed this period of quiet
according to his availability of time. However, he must not wallow too
much on the bliss and peace of this stage. He should really be swallowing
the wisdom that is being poured into him during this period of Quiet.
This is surrender for self-renewal. Although there is no more intellect, the
personality is not lost. He is being influenced by the Absolute. In this state
he is really both active and passive. He may appear immobile, but in real-
ity he is really being fed with spiritual energy that is penetrating every fibre
of the soul. This process cannot be seen by the onlooker, but a certain
glow or shine can be discerned by the astute observer. Although he is in
this plane of utter stillness and silence, he does not desire any favours or
miracles. He must only be actively in Love with God.

From here the Orisons of Quiet and Silence will indubitably flow into
true contemplation. Knowing that the Quiet is only a transitional state the
soul’s stillness is ruffled by its joy! The self is now ready for the next stage
of contemplation.

Contemplation
The mystic has arrived at a situation where he can have a temporary union
with the Divine, which is closed to other people. He is now going to ener-

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gise himself in the area where intellectual awareness is completely shut
and his domain of work is at the heart. As he is now in the 4th Jhana and
above, he appears as if in a trance: he cannot hear, see or feel and remains
rigid. Contemplation proper then is a manifestation of that indivisible
power of knowing which is at the ground of being of all true artists and
spiritual mystics. Thought, love and will are united and feeling and per-
ception are fused. That means the whole personality is propelled by mys-
tic love leading to good, beauty and truth. The mystical literature depicts
it as contraction of the consciousness to a single focus and eventually
merging with the object of meditation: typically the 4th Jhana. Although
all faculties are suspended, the self knows that it is in this state of one-
pointedness and nothing else. Delacroix describes it as such (a) it pro-
duces a condition of indifference, liberty and peace, an elevation above
the world, a sense of beatitude. The subject ceases to perceive himself in
the multiplicity and division of his general consciousness. He is raised
above himself. A deeper and purer soul substitutes itself for the normal
self. (b) In this state, in which consciousness of I-hood and world disap-
pears, the mystic is conscious of being in immediate relation with God
Himself, in participating with Divinity. Contemplation installs a method
of being and of knowing. Moreover, these two things tend at the bottom
to become one. The mystic has more and more the impression of being
that which knows, and of knowing “that which he is.” In other words, he
knows Reality. This is because in most mystics their objects are either of
Infinite Life, God or Reality. The contemplative then knows that he is in
contact with God and his freedom is immense, where reason and logic do
not apply.

However, the mystic cannot sustain this vision for long. In a flash, for
only an instant, he is allowed to view the invisible things and how they are
made. Quickly after returning to his normal consciousness, he can only
hold to a memory of “That which Is.” This memory remains forever with
the fragrance of immortality, but it is ineffable. He just knows that he had
a temporary merging with God. The characteristics of William James
apply here: (1) Ineffability and (2) Noetic quality.

Having said all the above, contemplation really covers a whole range of
psychic conditions, depending on the temperament and emotion of the
mystic. It could be peaceful. It could be rapturous. In some, psychic phe-

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nomena are common, e.g. voices and visions. In others the Quiet is cou-
pled with darkness. From this darkness it may go out into the light. Great
Bliss is associated with this absorption. In the remainder they will realise
it only after the contemplation is over. In order to distinguish from other
introversive states, we find two marks that make them real: (1) His expe-
rience of the All is given to him. The totality is Absolute and is revealed
to him. It is not symbolic as in earlier types of meditation and in vision.
(2) This Reality is apprehended by participation and not by observation.
The passive receptivity of the Quiet is developed into an active response
to the Divine. By a free act, God is disclosed to the soul, and the soul
rushes out willingly to lose itself in Him. A divine osmosis is set up
between the finite and the infinite. This is the passive union of contem-
plation, a temporary condition of ineffable happiness and ultimate reali-
ty. Only God can choose this union and man cannot reach it by reason,
knowledge or any form of exercise. The successful contemplative would
have seen Truth by Truth.

Remoteness and intimacy, darkness and light are terms to describe these
opposites: joyful beatific vision against an unfathomable Abyss, a Divine
Dark. This is the Cloud of Unknowing, which represents the relationship
with the transcendent and not the transcendent itself. There was nothing
to observe, but it is his impression of the Absolute during this commun-
ion with Reality, which is One. The ineffability makes these descriptions
sound like feeling states, but they are not. The emotions expressed can be
classified as (a) Transcendence and (b) Immanence.

(a) The Contemplation of Transcendence. The metaphysical type

uses the unfathomable Abyss of Pure Being. This concept is born of the
mystic’s own uselessness, his unworthiness and ignorance compared to
the Absolute Godhead. He would like to lose himself into this Divine
Reality. This passionate desire governs his utmost goal for the
Unconditioned Godhead, this Wholly Other, for whom no words or
symbols can be used to describe It. This spiritual humility can only see
him through the Darkness of the Cloud of Unknowing. At this height,
the air is too rarefied for normal human beings. As for locality, it is as the
Boundless Space of the 5th Jhana. He feels simply in God, which is
Divine Ground: no form, no image, but unfathomable Abyss. This is the
dwelling place of God. It is neither heaven nor a dwelling place of man.

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No thought or emotion has ever entered here. Once the mystic has
entered here, he finds that it is familiar ground.

(b) The Contemplation of Immanence. The other avenue to God is

through the heart, where the soul resides. Where the absorption enters
this depth of emptiness, it has to proceed downwards through layer after
layer of Void. Thence when he arrives at this sacred ground of the Divine
Dark, he feels joy, confidence and affection. Utilising love as a medium,
he now has a sense of intimacy, nearness and sweetness of the Infinite
Life. This attainment of ‘That which Is’ is the most joyous communion with
the Bridegroom, a rapturous immersion in the Uncreated Light. With this
grace of contemplation, he enjoys indescribable peace and delight. In this
instant with the Divine Life, he has learnt the world’s secret, not by know-
ing but by being.

In this type of contemplation, this adorable Friendship is mostly

described as a Person and not a State. This orison of union is where God
meets the soul in his Ground, the secret depth of personality where he
partakes in the Absolute Life. Even more intimate is how Mechthild of
Magdeburg described it: “Orison draws the great God down into the small heart:
it draws the hungry soul out to the full God. It brings together the two lovers, God and
the soul, into a joyful room where they speak much of love.”

Although Christian mystics tend to be both personal and intimate with the
Lover identifying it with Christ or to the unknowable transcendent
Godhead, both are truly One. Whether they walk the path of transcen-
dence or immanence, the goal of the Godhead is the same. In some con-
templatives both types of perception exist together, light and dark occur-
ring alternatively. Both however, can enter the Divine Dark only by erad-
icating all thoughts and emotions of the phenomenal world, thence they
can ascend to that ray of Divine Dark. The latter is God, which is
unknowable in His absolute Reality. In this Cloud of Unknowing, there is
no reason, sight, sound or movement of all faculties of the mind. This
transcendence must be done by the whole man, which is then free and
unfettered (the removal of the 10 fetters of the Arahant). This surrender
with humility and intellectual ignorance is the prelude to the entrance into
the Cloud towards the Absolute. To the mystic after inhibiting thought
and rejecting images in the orison of the Quiet this is one way of enter-

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ing the Dark. Another way is by detachment and introversion in order to
enter the naked Ground of the Soul, where God lives. At the first
entrance, the darkness means ignorance, confusion and dimness, the
unknowing. One just waits in this darkness and does not fret. After with-
drawing energy from the other centres of intellect and feeling, there
remains a radiance of the heart, which comes spontaneously. This union
with Love results in the birth of mystical wisdom and the hiding of the
soul within a lovely and sweet solitude. These two facts sustain the soul in
splendour, unmatched by any pleasure on earth.
In this orison of union or Spiritual marriage, the mystics apprehend the
passionate aspect of the Infinite Life. This Divine Embrace is a personal
surrender of the finite to the Infinite, the bride to the Bridegroom, heart
to Heart. This surrender is so complete and ecstatic that it approximates
to a trance, where the soul may cross over from contemplation to ecstasy.
It is so real that there are physical as well as psychical effects. St Teresa
called it a drowsiness (the soul is asleep to the worldly things) in which she
was deprived of all emotions and thought. Being dead to the world, she
lived better in God. In this short period of time of union, the soul knows
nothing, but after the union, she was certain that her soul ‘has been in
God and God in it.’ This certitude will last for years even though the
union lasted a very short time.

Ecstasy and Rapture

Ecstasy is considered by the mystics as a more advanced stage of orison
of union, the oneness with the Absolute. Although it is deemed to be a
state above that of contemplation, it may also be experienced by all grades
of personalities, religious or otherwise. The shaman, the temple medium,
the hysterical or the psychotic and the ultra-sensitive may all go into the
trance of ecstasy. This range of persons is not equivalent to the contem-
plative mystic in their spiritual attainment. To the outsider, the body of
the subject is the telling factor, where either stiffness or tremors and
unconsciousness are the main features. In contemplation, the mystic
refuses to attend to the external world, which is a blurred vision at the
fringe of his conscious field. In ecstasy, he cannot attend to it even if he
wants to. We can study the ecstatic state in three aspects: (a) the physical,
(b) the psychological and (c) the mystical.

A) Physically it is a trance, more or less deep or prolonged. The mystic may

449
glide into it gradually from a period of absorption or contemplation. Or
the subject may go into a trance suddenly when an idea, a word, a piece
of music, some chanting or some temple bells, comes into his awareness.
These latter individuals may or may not be spiritually advanced, e.g. medi-
ums, sensitives or psychotic patients. The advanced mystic calls this sud-
den episode Rapture. There are of course gradations of Ecstasy or
Rapture.

During trance, breathing and circulation are depressed. The body is more
or less cold and rigid, remaining in the exact position of the onset of the
trance. There may also be anaesthesia, moderate to complete, and anaes-
thesia may also happen in pathological states.

The trance includes two phases --- (a) a short period of lucidity, and (b) a
longer period of complete unconsciousness, which may pass into catalep-
sy lasting for hours or days. This happens in both union as well as a non-
mystical trance. Phase two lasts longer; the breathing apparently stops and
more obviously the medium cannot speak or see. In both, the limbs
become cold and stiff. So this state of trance can happen to sensitives,
mediums or mystics in ecstasy. Per se therefore ecstasy has no spiritual
value. Ecstasy therefore occurs in those whose consciousness is very
mobile and a tendency for the subject to remain on one idea or intuition.
In the hysterical patient the ecstasy is an illness. In the mystic it is the
strength of the spirit overpowering the soul. So in the former, the reli-
gious call it the action of the devil, but the rapture in the advanced mys-
tic it is God communicating high things. In the latter, the goodness is for
life, whilst in the diseased mind it is bad for life. Sometimes the good and
the bad types of rapture are seen in one person. This happens when the
mystic is failing in health. In some sickly persons, the rapture may heal the
illness.

B) Psychologically, it is concentration on one thing to the extreme. It is with-

drawing the attention from the circumference to the centre. It is always
paid for by psychophysical disturbances or rewarded in healthy cases by
lucidity and an acute intuition on the mystic’s subject. Ecstasy is then a
mono-ideism (complete concentration on one thing to the exclusion of
everything else), which is contemplation exalted to the highest pitch cul-
minating in a trance. Will started the process, but will cannot stop the

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trance. He cannot see, hear or feel: this is the 3rd-4th Jhana of Samatha
(Buddhist concentration). Naturally, the same conditions persist in the
higher Jhanas. In order to achieve union with the Divine, everything exter-
nal must be blotted out so that the whole person’s energy can be concen-
trated in this unification of Ecstasy. In this extremis, there is no more
energy left in the body-mind complex. The energy is solely for the soul to
unite with the Divine. In both the healthy mystic and the morbid ecstatic,
a mere symbol or sight or sound or thought can trigger a sudden trance.
Thus the symbols for some mystics are very important, e.g. taking of the
Holy Communion or hearing of certain psalms. In the trance no feelings
of pain are felt, but the pain is there after they awaken. Exceptionally the
mystic may levitate whether standing or sitting.

C) Mystically speaking it is an exalted act of perception. It is the greatest

reach, which the spiritual consciousness can attain to the Pure Being or
Eternal Life. Everything concerning the phenomenal world is erased:
thought or feeling or I-hood or space or time is all suspended. This is the
7th-8th Jhana (the 7th is nothingness and 8th is neither perception nor
non-perception). He is totally free in this ‘passive union’ and is truly liv-
ing temporarily in the Eternal Life of God. It is difficult to describe in
words this Ecstasy as he can only feel in this darkness and cannot see, but
this invisible contact is much more complete than the tail end of the ori-
son of union. His certainty is made more definite by the beatific and exul-
tant feelings than in the last stage of the Cloud of Unknowing. There is
no image though, but the paradox of life is solved.

To the saints, Ecstasy is more excellent than union, because in Ecstasy,

there are greater fruits and there are more multifarious operations than
union. Union is uniform and staid. Ecstasy ends up in the higher reaches
of spirit and is truly unstoppable. In this entrancement, what was the
Object of his ecstatic perception? The mystic calls this elevation of the
soul out of the body of flesh ‘ravishing.’ It is a lifting the mind or soul
into God by contemplation. It is always agreeable and full of gladness.
What news of God can he tell us? In this short moment of Ecstasy he
enjoys supreme knowledge of or participation in Divine Reality. That
Divine Love draws out the soul into God only for a short while, but when
he comes back he is inundated with life and joy. It is because he has had
his fill of Divine Wisdom, which was given with exuberant love. Although

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he says that he is conscious of nothing, he must have knowledge that is
stupendous, but ineffable. Although he was into God, there was no room
for reflection or self-observation. He was solely in Eternity. He “knew all
and knew nought.” He was so merged with the Absolute; he could not
perceive it as an object of thought, as his faculties were all suspended. The
ecstatic consciousness is not self-conscious: it is intuitive, not discursive.
In other words, when he returns he knows that he was with God and
learned much wisdom, but he cannot translate it into normal worldly lan-
guage. While alive on earth, he cannot understand what he learnt or
deduce the meaning of Existence given to him. He knows it because of
his experience. While the soul is united with God, he forgets himself
totally. The soul disappears but not entirely. He has acquired certain qual-
ities of divinity, but he is not yet divine. The soul is rapt by the power of
resplendent Being, above its natural faculties into the nakedness of the
Nothing. According to Plotinus, “Ecstasy is another mode of seeing, a
simplification and an abandonment of oneself, a desire of contact, rest
and a striving after union.” To the Pagan ecstatics, Ecstasy is also
“Tranquil and alone with God, mingled for an instant of time, like two
concentric circles with the Divine life, perceiver and perceived made one.”
The secret of ecstasy is in self-abolishment when united with God, the
mystic receives the communication of Life and Beatitude, in which all
things are consummated and all things are renewed. At this peak, it is not
easy to distinguish between ecstasy and the last stage of contemplation
(orison of union). When the contemplation becomes expansive, out-
going and receives a definite fruition of the Absolute in return, its con-
tent is already ecstatic. This ineffable ‘awareness’ entails more of symbol-
ic vision rather than pure perception of the Absolute. Therefore one
could argue that ecstasy is more likely the name of an outward condition
rather than that of an inward experience.

Rapture
In the orison of Quiet or of union, at the end of a culminating point in
contemplation, a gradual onset of ecstatic trance begins. However, the
ecstasy may suddenly come about in someone while in normal con-
sciousness. This is strictly the meaning of Rapture. Mystic life consists of
having a relationship with the Absolute. An art of contemplation is
accomplished in the Mystic Way. This genius must begin with a voluntary
attention (concentration) to his supreme object of meditation. Sometimes

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the genius of this orison is too strong for the other elements of his char-
acter, and this ends up in psychic disturbances. The latter is abrupt and
uncontrollable, as in the ‘fine frenzy’ of the prophet, composer or poet.
This is Rapture, a violent expression of genius for the Absolute. It tem-
porarily or may permanently injure the nervous system of the self. It often
yields splendour and value for life. This is an accident and not a mystical
intent. Therefore, Rapture can occur at any stage on the spiritual path, e.g.
mystical conversion. It need not occur at the end of contemplation. There
is still the unforgettable knowledge of an exalted intuition of Perfection
and Reality: Certitude, Peace and Joy. This is quite characteristic of ecstat-
ic perception. Ecstatic trance comes on gradually, but Rapture comes as a
shock, quick and sharp, as a flight of the spirit on the wings of an eagle
to the heavens. This flight upwards sometimes is accompanied by bodily
levitation when the senses are still intact. During this period, the body
seems weightless and buoyant, not knowing when the feet touch the
ground. While sitting it is like a bout of bouncing on the buttocks.
Ironically, the body feels dead. So the outward sense of immobility coin-
cides with the sensation of the body being lifted up. In Rapture, except
for levitation just described, there is normally no bodily movement or
speech, but the power of hearing and seeing is still there except that
things heard and seen are far away. However, as in ecstasy, breathing and
pulse rate are rather slow. Sometimes the hands and feet are cold and
occasionally even breathing appears to be absent. This period of rapture
is short in duration.

These raptures increase the vitality of the person, who awakens to a more
vigorous life. Having imbibed the heavenly secrets only for a short time,
these supreme states of ecstasy can leave the mind inebriated and the per-
son incapable of normal and mundane duties for days. When he is back
to normal life, his strength is much stimulated. Thence with practice, he
now can approach new levels of Reality with greater facility. These ecstat-
ic raptures not only make them more knowledgeable but also contribute
to transforming the individual to a higher consciousness. So with a good
ecstasy, he comes back, strengthened, humbled and exultant, all ready for
more hard work of pain and sacrifice for the love of the Absolute.

This ardent love for God pulls him into the Infinite Sea. In this state all
earthly desire is absorbed in the heavenly glory. In this mystic way, ecsta-

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sy and rapture remake the soul into Goodness, Truth and Beauty, which
is God. Thence the soul is able to pass wholly into God without obsta-
cles.

I will now try and summarise two of the famous teachings on Western
Mysticism.

The Cloud of Unknowing

The most intriguing teaching is “The Cloud of Unknowing”. This small
and concise work is available in the Penguin Classics. An English monk
wrote it in the latter half of the fourteenth century. The author was only
24 years old. From analysis of the language it points to a province in the
East Midland of England. The fact that he did not put his name onto the
work meant that he was afraid to do so. This is not a casual or whimsical
work. He has thought this out thoroughly.

During that period in the 14th century, the belief is that God is inde-
scribable, but it is not unknowable. He can be reached and known by love
and love alone. We are able to approach Him only by his grace. He must
love us first especially through his revelation in Jesus Christ. We may try
to reach Him by prayer: vocal and mental. Mental prayer is usually deem
as meditation. Christian meditation is not the same as the Buddhist or
Hindu meditation. Christian meditation is usually the systematic reflection
of a truth or phrase from the bible. Ejaculatory prayer is normally short
and secret words sent up to God outside the regular times of devotion.
After a while, meditation is dispensed with and direct communication is
practised in the form of mental conversations with God. Then comes a
stage when the soul is in love with God. From here onwards it could be a
struggle. The soul thinks that he has given everything to God, but truly he
has not. Although he wants God, but he is unable to receive His grace
because the soul has not completely surrendered himself. The love must
be so absolute that there should not be anything between the soul and
God. There is not only a cloud around God, but he must also establish a
Cloud of Forgetting beneath the soul. The Cloud of Unknowing around
God prevents any direct contact. The Cloud of Forgetting must be so
solidified that nothing concerning earth and heaven should come in
between the self and God. It is God alone that one loves. One should not
even contemplate on God’s good attributes. These do not count. In fact

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they obstruct the scene. So in this journey of transcendence, there is
much pain and suffering, because it is unable to reach its loved one.

An outline of ‘The Cloud of Unknowing.

The Call with Grace
God in his love for a young disciple is calling him to ascend the scale up
the spiritual path. The disciple, although undeserved, must respond by a
great longing and love for God. This involves spiritual awareness, a for-
getting of the past and everything worldly and an intense dedicated deter-
mination to reach out to God by penetrating the Cloud of Unknowing. In
order to facilitate this penetration, a Cloud of Forgetting of all worldly
things must be constructed so that no thoughts may be entertained. It is
only through God’s grace that the soul may begin to contemplate Him.
Throughout the soul’s journey, he is also sustained by God’s grace. In this
text of 75 short chapters, the word grace appears more than 90 times.

The soul must prepare for this life by reading, prayers and meditation. He
must be a willing and co-operative soul for this privilege of grace. He
must have a naked intent directed to God.

Loving God
This purpose of loving God must be so absolute that nothing is allowed
to deflect it. “Look that nothing live in thy working mind but a naked
intent stretching into God” (Epistle of Privy Counsel, Chapter 1). This
intent is the dart of longing and love persistently piercing the Cloud of
Unknowing wrapping around God. Through love God is known, not
through the intellect: ‘He may well be loved, but not thought. By love may
he be gotten and holden, but by thought never’ (Chapter 6). In contem-
plation the mind is blank and empty, which is the Cloud of Unknowing. In
this emptiness, the soul must concentrate on God, which is the divine in
his soul. He must only concentrate on Him and not God’s qualities or
goodness. The latter practice will detract from the purity of the contem-
plation. In this fashion sin is also totally destroyed, as sin cannot be alive
in the presence of God. The by-products of this contemplation are humil-
ity and charity. The author used Martha and Mary as examples of the
above. Love begets humility and charity and encourages activity (karma
yoga). Martha is tireless in her active daily chores whilst Mary sits besides
Jesus listening with love. Jesus reckons that the contemplation of Mary is

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of a higher order than Martha’s activity. Throughout the book Love is
placed in the highest order of contemplation. Nothing can replace it.

In order for God’s grace to infuse contemplation to the mystic, he has to

read and pray first. When it comes to contemplation the book persists that
the mystic uses love to penetrate this Cloud of Unknowing over and over
again. The cloud is the emptiness after the preliminary preparation of
reading the scriptures and meditation (orison). Together with the Cloud
of Forgetting he is in total emptiness or trance to be lifted up by God’s
grace in contemplation.

Uphill Battle and Sin

All this needs hard work and discipline. Everything else in this world has
to be forgotten at the same time. This part of the practice is most diffi-
cult, because one also has to forget oneself. Then there is also the lure of
the flesh together with its seven sins of lust, pride, sloth, anger, gluttony,
envy and avarice. It serves no purpose by analysing all vagaries of sin. So
it is much more beneficial if sin can be grouped as one ‘lump’ of sin.
Although one has to be on guard with the ‘devil’ from the beginning, the
devil’s power will progressively decrease as the contemplative improves in
his climb upwards.

At this stage it is an uphill battle. Not only is the forgetting has to be

absolute, the rest of the world does not understand, including his col-
leagues in the same religious lineage. The contemplative will be criticised,
abused and reprimanded for being slothful. According to the author when
the mystic is ostracised, he would be more subjected to the tricks of the
‘devil’, and he would deviate from the path towards God. That is why,
some of these mystics have to withdraw from the task.

Peculiarly, the book suggests that those bad sinners appear to do better
than the less sinful. The U-turn must be very abrupt and finite. However
these sinners normally find the contemplation more difficult at the begin-
ning.

There is, however, some compensation with a contemplative life. The

contemplative’s aura has been transformed into brighter colours, and con-
sequently they become more attractive to other people, some of who were

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previously avoiding him. The contemplative has become more cheerful
and poised in his stance. Other people suddenly begin to come for advice.
He may also be mixing with sinners and yet uncontaminated by them. But
in order to overcome temptation there are two methods suggested: (1) to
look over the shoulders and straight towards God, and (2) when tempta-
tion is unavoidable the contemplative must totally succumb to God, who
will then come down to protect him by bringing him up into the spiritual
realms and dry his ghostly eyes. Thence he lumps all sins including him-
self into the Cloud of Forgetting as a ‘naked intent unto God’. He must
identify the soul with sin until he sees God. In the mean while this prac-
tice will bring a fresh of goodness and mercy of God; it will keep the soul
humble; and finally the separateness with God does not exist.

Contemplation
Contemplation is not an emotion. It is not a reaction to a beautiful sun-
set or a serene atmosphere in nature. It is an awareness of God at the core
of one’s being. During contemplation, this awareness may not be pleasur-
able or blissful throughout. The mystic is slowly being transformed into a
higher being sometimes with no discernible movement. Yet it is not a stat-
ic situation. The soul is growing imperceptibly but inevitably towards
God. At times he may be awed and humbled as to be entranced, exalted,
daunted and finally lured towards enlightenment.

In some of them, bliss does appear but it is ineffable. He can only allude
to its beauty and glory. He can give metaphors and to give advice as to
what course to take, the pitfalls to avoid etc. The author of the Cloud
does give a simple map of his way. In chapter 26 he did suggest the splen-
dour of this bliss of contemplation. He said that when God sent out a
beam of ghostly light to pierce the cloud between God and the soul, he
would see things so fantastic and bountiful that he cannot come to talk
about it. He does, however, get so inflamed with the fire of love that his
desire for God is redoubled. The book puts it down in Chapter 48 as ‘full
wonderful sweetness and comforts’. It is so wondrous that ‘all nature
quaketh, all clerks be foolish, and all saints and angels be blind’ can only
be known in the Cloud of Unknowing (chapter 13). Although the glory of
contemplation cannot be written, the life of it is chronicled in chapters
68-70, where it is stated that ‘Nought’ which is the ‘All’. God is ‘an
unmade ghostly thing’ and he is nothing and nowhere. We must then puri-

457
fy ourselves until we ourselves become nothing (Cloud of Forgetting).
Thence we become the unknowing itself to experience the ‘full blind and
full dark’ in this life endowed with an ‘abundance of ghostly light’.

An Outline of ‘The Interior Castle’ by S. Teresa of Avila

(1515—82)
St Teresa and St John at the Cross (1542—92) were jointly reforming and
expanding the Carmelite Order. St John was a junior colleague of St
Teresa. St. Teresa already had written in her book called Life the four stages
of mental prayer that lead to the ecstasy of Divine Union. She testified in
1577 that God showed her that the soul was like a castle made entirely of
diamond or clear crystal globe, in which there were seven dwelling places.
In the centre God dwelt in splendour. From the centre God illumined
beautifully all the dwelling places to the outer wall. The nearer the inhabi-
tants got to the centre the more light they would receive. Outside the cas-
tle all was dark with toads, vermin and vipers. While watching the castle the
light suddenly went off, the castle was covered with darkness and was ugly
with a stench. The poisonous creatures were able to enter the castle then.
This is a state when the soul is in sin. The spiritual life within the castle is
a complex matter involving the individual’s capacities, the diversities of
ways and differing spiritual depths. The seven stages represent only types
and allow for a wide range of variations. In each of these seven dwelling
places, there are many below, above and to the sides with gardens, foun-
tains and labyrinths, all of which are delightful.

The gate of entry is prayer. Prayer opens up the door of communication

with God.

The first dwelling places. Very little light from God’s royal chamber filters
into this dwelling area. At this early stage, the soul is still too distracted by
worldly things like possessions, honour and business affairs. Although the
soul has good desires and prays occasionally, it needs to have self-knowl-
edge of the beauty of grace in the soul and the ugliness of one in sin. As
the soul progresses to the centre self-knowledge and humility will grow.

The second dwelling places. The promptings of Christ’s grace is through

books, sermons and good friendships. The soul at this stage is more
receptive. The struggle with evil is more keenly felt, and one has to strive
to conform to God’s will.

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The third dwelling places. Guarding against sin, they are now fond of
ascetic practices with periods of meditation. Further they practice charity
and behave with decorum with speech and dress. Here, a threat to wealth
and honour will still be felt, and they are very careful with their preserva-
tion of health. They could still be turned away when told about the
requirements to perfection. They have not yet tasted the peace and quiet
of contemplation.

The fourth dwelling places. This is the beginning of the mystic path. In order
to explain about the supernatural infused prayer, Teresa analysed the dif-
ference between consolations and spiritual delight. The former begins
with human nature and ends with God, while the latter begins with God
and it overflows to human nature. The consolations, then result from our
own efforts accompanied by God’s grace; the spiritual delight is received
not through human efforts but passively. The first degree of infused
prayer is not the length of time required, but to love much and not to
think at all. Love here means to desire with strong determination to please
God in everything, in striving, insofar as possible, not to offend Him.

This contemplative prayer begins with a withdrawing of all faculties

inwards in passive recollection without human effort. In this prayer of
quiet, the intellect is still allowed to move about until it falls into the arms
of love. This is strikingly similar to Shikantaza.

Another analogy of infused and acquired prayer (meditation) is the way

two water troughs are filled. One is from the aqueducts, and the other is
from the springs on the spot. The true value of this meditation is the
effects and deeds that follow it.

In this dwelling place with passive prayer (meditation), the natural (active)
and supernatural (passive) are joined. Fresh souls may also enter here.

The fifth dwelling places. These rooms are where the prayer of union is held.
All faculties are silent or suspended. Teresa said: “the soul was in God and
God was in the soul.” Such certitude was not present in the last rooms.

Teresa used an analogy of the silkworm. This silkworm lives in a cocoon

of God. When the person or silkworm dies to itself and its attachments,

459
he breaks out transformed as a butterfly. He has now a new life in Christ.

Teresa made another analogy of a period of engagement, during which

the soul and God come to know each other better: did the likeness, simi-
larities and love grow between them? These experiences of union should
enhance the depth and knowledge of the soul and God.

In order not to allow love to be idle, the practice of ‘love thy neighbour’,
charity and humility etc must be included in the exercise of virtue during
this period of intimacy with God.

The sixth dwelling places. The soul needs a lot of courage in these rooms of
betrothal. Fortitude is required because of the many-fold trials and tribu-
lations. Externally, there is opposition from others, praise (itself becomes
a trial) and severe illnesses. Internally, there are inner sufferings and fears
of being rejected by God. There is also anxiety and depression. This is the
Dark Night of the Soul. There may be certain spiritual awakenings and
impulses within the soul. These are many including the wounding of love.
The latter may cause pain and delight.

In the betrothal, God gives the soul raptures that make the outward man
senseless. Although unconscious, the soul is very much awake to the
things of God, deep in enlightenment. If he is not unconscious during
these ecstasies he may die.

Divine mysteries would be divulged to the individual, but these divine

secrets are ineffable. There are real and false supernatural phenomena to
be discerned out. These include the grandeur of God, and self-knowledge
to make one humble and reject earthly things. There is so much joy
attached that the individual wants to trumpet it to the whole world.

Teresa made a point the importance of the human and divine Christ in
this spiritual path. She made a distinction between discursive meditation
about Christ and contemplative presence to Him. The former is very dif-
ficult, but forgetting Christ to live in pure divinity will not get you to the
last two dwelling places. So one must not only suffer mortification as a
human, one must also continually remember Christ’s humanity and divin-
ity.

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Through these purifications, increasing love will make the butterfly more
restless. These desires cause great torment and a final cleansing in purga-
tory is required before the seventh dwelling place. Although this ecstasy
can cause both spiritual joy as well as death, the soul knows that it is a spe-
cial favour.

The seventh dwelling places. There are no doors between the sixth and the sev-
enth dwelling places. It is because there are things in the seventh that are
not revealed in the sixth that a division is created. In the fifth and sixth,
the soul is blind and deaf and in this union the soul does not understand
anything of the nature or favour enjoyed. In the seventh God open the
eyes of the soul so that he can see and understand the favours given to
him. At this peak, he does not lose balance or go into ecstasy.

Entry into these last dwelling places is through the intellectual vision of
the Blessed Trinity, which leads the way into the deep interior. The beau-
ty of the Trinity is that it does not interfere with the daily activities of
service of the individual.

This spiritual marriage is a perfect union and the spirit is made one with
God. This union is not separable. It is like rain fallen into the river or a
stream entering the sea.

Now the butterfly is happy to die, as its new life is Christ. This union with
Christ includes His earthly adventure and His resurrection and His attrib-
utes. The purpose of the entire spiritual path is to live like Christ and to
do good deeds. With internal calm, the good work needs not be great, but
it must done with love. One must serve the company around one first, and
this small deed has the value of a great work. All the travelling through
the dwelling places could be done only through God’s love.

References
1. Clifton Wolters. (1961). The Cloud of Unknowing (translated into
English). Penguin.

2. The Interior Castle, translated by Kieran Kavanagh, O.C.D. and Otilio

Rodriguez, O.C.D. (1980). The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila.

461
Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications. Institute of Carmelite Studies.

3. Evelyn Underhill (1915). Practical Mysticism. Columbus, Ohio: Ariel

Press.

4. Gilbert, R. A. (1991). The Elements of Mysticism. Element Books.

462
 Ultimate State of Consciousness.
Enlightenment “entails casting of the bonds of concept (veils of ignorance) in order to
perceive directly the inexpressible nature of undifferentiated reality.”

(From “The Dancing Wu Li Masters” by Gary Lukav)

“Enlightenment is any experience of expanding our consciousness beyond its present

limits. We could also say that perfect enlightenment is realisation that we have no lim-
its at all.”

(From “The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment” by Thaddeus Golas)

“The Ultimate State of Consciousness is universally described in mystical literature as

union with the Absolute, where the Absolute is known not as many but one without a
second. Further, it is specified that to know the absolute is to be the absolute. It follows
that the Ultimate State of Consciousness is itself the Absolute, and thus the ultimate
state is not a state of consciousness set apart from other states, not one state among
many, but rather one state without a second ----that is to say, absolutely all-inclusive.
Hence, the Ultimate State of Consciousness is not an altered state of consciousness,
for there is no alternative.”

(From “Eye to Eye” by Ken Wilber)

‘Are you a God?’ they wondered.

‘No’ replied the Buddha.

‘Are you an angel?’

‘No’
‘Then what are you?’ they asked.

‘I am awake’

(From “The Religions of Man” by Huston Smith)

All the above quotations are about the final stage of enlightenment, but
most of us are far from that state. Most of the spiritual books on the sub-

463
ject speak of either a gradual method or a sudden one. The latter is never
an instant recipe. It is almost certainly a culmination of numerous life
times of serious practice. This final incarnation is merely the last one.
Theravada Buddhism, Hindu yogas, and Western mysticism are some of
the gradual methods. However, Zen Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism and
Islamic Mysticism claim that one can be enlightened in this incarnation, if
one practises hard enough.

Theravada Buddhism
Take the example of the gradual practice in Theravada Buddhism. It is
almost wholly based on the Four Noble Truths, including the Noble
Eight-fold Path (the 4th Noble Truth).

The First Noble Truth: The First Noble Truth of Suffering

· Birth is suffering;

· Ageing, illness and death are suffering;

· Sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and tribulation are suffering;

· Association with what one dislikes is suffering;

· Separation from what one likes is suffering;

· Not to get what one wants it suffering.

Dukkha = suffering, discomfort, unease, unsatisfactoriness

or conflict.

The Second Noble Truth: The Noble Truth Of The Origin Of

Suffering

When one is in contact with any of the 6 sense objects, one is

attracted, if it is pleasant.
If it is unpleasant, one is repelled.
In enjoying the pleasure one grows attached to it.

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 This desire causes clinging.
We suffer because we want.

The Third Noble Truth: Cessation Of Suffering Is Not To Crave

The complete fading away and extinction of craving, forsaking it

and giving it up;
The liberation and detachment from it.

This is called the noble truth of the cessation of suffering.

The Fourth Noble Truth: Noble Eight-fold Path Leading To The

Cessation To Suffering

Wisdom Morality Meditation

Right Intention Right Speech Right Effort

Right Thought Right Action Right Mindfulness
Right Livelihood Right Concentration

Following the above Eight-fold Path, the foibles of the yogin can then be
transformed:

Craving, lust and desire are transformed to altruism and charity.

Anger and resentment are turned to compassion.
Selfishness is changed to selflessness.
Ignorance becomes wisdom.

Of course, for the above processes to work themselves through would

need decades if not life times. Once a breakthrough to an Aryan (Saintly)
Path is made, four progressive stages had been recognised and repeatedly
mentioned by the Buddha in his teachings. They are:

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 STAGE FETTERS TO BE ABANDONED

Stream-Enterer (1) Realisation that there is no essence in the 5

(Sotopana) heaps of body and mind (body, emotion and intel-
lect).

(2) To be convinced that rites and rituals do not

lead to enlightenment.

(3) To believe in the Buddha and His teachings

Once-Returner (4) Partial Eradication of Craving and Hatred

(Sagadagami)

Non-Returner (5) Complete eradication of Craving and Hatred

(Anagami)

Sainthood (6) Eradicate attachment to the realms of subtle

(Arahant) forms

(7) Eradicate attachments to the formless realms

(8) Subdue restlessness of the mind

(9) Annihilate ego-conceit

(10) Destruction of ignorance.

The above table needs some explanation. In order to enter the stream,
one has to let go of the superstitious practices of rites and rituals: these
are quite useless in the acquisition of enlightenment. One must also
believe that there was a historical Buddha, namely Sakyamuni, who was
born a human and not a God. By his own efforts, he was enlightened.

466
This fact alone gives us great encouragement. However, the most impor-
tant fetter is to realise that our physical body, our emotions and mind are
not ourselves. This is the meaning of ‘there is no essence in the five
heaps’. The five heaps are composed of the body (rupa) and the mind.
The four heaps of the mind are: thoughts or mental formation (sankhara),
perception (sanna), sensation (vedana) and consciousness (vinnana). As
for the 6th fetter, a subtle form means insubstantial forms like ghosts and
spirit guides, which are seen only by few people. Formless realms in the
7th fetter mean the realms beyond that, where there are no forms at all
even to the clairvoyant. These two realms are attained by meditators when
they reach the first four Jhanas (the 6th fetter) and the 5th to the 8th Jhana
(the 7th fetter). Therefore from the above slow and gradual practice, one
can see that many life times could be consumed before one arrives at the
Ultimate State of Consciousness. In fact, there is hardly any Saint
(Arahant) that has graduated through the Theravada tradition in the pres-
ent era. The other gradual practices to be described take just as long.

Hinduism
In the Hindu tradition, there are many types of yoga practices: hatha
(physical), bakti (devotional), karma (social or charitable activity), nana
(knowledge) and raja (meditation). Seeing that this is a treatise mainly on
meditation practice, raja yoga would be used as a comparative study. The
methodology is principally that of one-pointed concentration using
breath, mantra or visualisation or any other method. Before proper med-
itation can get started, a long period of withdrawal from extraneous dis-
tractions must be practised (dyana). After decades of diligent practice one
may progress through the following stages:

Hindu Samadhi
SAVIKALPA: After many years of meditation, the aspirant (sadhaka) may
arrive at this stage of altered human consciousness, which is in another
realm, where time and space are totally different. For this period of time
in samadhi (1-2 hours) all the millions of desires are sublimated: all the
things are done. There are still thoughts & ideas but they do not affect
one. They are in a faint backdrop. There are four levels of savikalpa
samadhi: all of them require effort to sustain. Savikalpa samadhi is com-
pared to a waveless ocean whose waters are still and placid. In this
Savikalpa samadhi, the yogin has come to the background screen on

467
which all the pictures and words are projected onto it. He has transcend-
ed body-consciousness and he is acting as a mirror witnessing. He is hold-
ing on to the empty screen with or without any thoughts arising. If
thoughts appear, they are relegated to the background. Without thoughts
he can descend deeper and deeper into this emptiness until he reaches the
Void, which is Nirvikalpa Samadhi. In this descent he has to use effort.
There is no spontaneity. From this samadhi, he has to return to normal
consciousness.

The aspirant or sadhak is still bound by his sanskaric desires and wishes
of the past. This is spiritual bondage. He is still engrossed in sense objects
and relationships, although he is trying his best to disillusion himself from
them. Right up to the end of Salvikalpa Samadhi, he still needs effort and
is not spontaneous. The culminating point of this Savikalpa Samadhi
looks similar to that of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, but it is a world apart. He is
still engulfed in ignorance and wisdom is nowhere in sight. Although there
is pleasure in this path the pleasure is conditional and transient, as there is
still an individual mind. This last must be totally destroyed before Nirvana
can be enjoyed. Before Nirvikalpa Samadhi is achieved, the individual
mind is still tied to sanskaric ties and interests. This is bondage. That is
why the sadhak’s meditation is still deliberate and has to be with effort,
until the individual self is swallowed in Nirvikalpa with the annihilation of
the mind. The sadhak’s trance-meditation state may also be dependent on
attractions of the subtle realms of light, smells, colours and sounds. This
dependence is not self-sustaining. Only when he finally can eradicate the
individual mind and enter into Nirvikalpa Samadhi that it is self-sustain-
ing. Then true tranquillity and bliss become the norm.

In this higher state, the sadhak’s consciousness is not yet with his soul.
This happens only when the individual mind merges with the Absolute.
After this then he can become a Siddha. This is what Jesus meant: “I and
my Father are one”. Nirvikalpa is in the God state. Before arriving at this state
the sadhak has to transcend the body, energy and the mind states. In the
worldly body state he lives entirely for the satisfaction of the wants and
desires of the body: eating, sleeping, drinking and having sex. This physi-
cal realm is composed purely of forms.

After transcending the body, he now enters the sphere of energy. The ener-

468
gy state is a purer state of existence and is free of the world of forms. He
is now very sensitive to all forms of energy vibration. He is now able to
feel the movement of Qi within his body and the oscillations of prana
outside the body. He can also see other peoples’ auras. He can produce
light in the dark, and live only on energy for a long time. Even at this stage
he has not yet achieved perfection.

The next stage is to transcend this energy state and enter into the mind state.
This constitutes advancement towards the God State of Nirvikalpa.
Energy is an expression of the mind and transcending the energy state is not
that difficult. Consciousness is now directly linked to the mind state, which
is not synonymous with the brain. In the mind state, he can read and con-
trol other peoples’ mind. Nonetheless, this mind state is still in illusion and
within the domain of duality. The mind also has to be transcended for the
soul’s union with God. Form is consolidated energy; energy is and expres-
sion of mind; mind is the covered mirror of Cosmic Consciousness,
which is Truth masked by the mind. To get rid of the mind, one has to
use the mind and that is not easy. One must have infinite patience long-
ing for the union with God. This may last millions of years. Thus it is a
slow method. So there must be many lives of balancing infinite patience
and infinite longing before piercing the veil of Maya (ignorance) can be
attained.

Nirvikalpa Samadhi: With this union with God, the soul now knows
itself not through the mind, but through itself. The soul is now beyond
mind. He experiences Being God all the time through his intuition. This
self-knowledge of the soul is Self-realisation, which does not come and
go. It is permanent. He is enlightened forever. He has at last broken the
veil of ignorance—Maya is finally defeated. There are now no limits! This
state of God-consciousness is infinite and characterised by understand-
ing, love and happiness. He has entered Eternity!

Now there are no more thoughts or ideas. There is only peace and bliss.
The knower and the known (soul or atman) have become one. This divine
bliss is all pervading. This is the highest samadhi and can be achieved only
after self- realisation (identified with the soul). The yogin has merged with
Reality or his soul and is completely unaware of the external world. The
mind is immersed into the light of the Self. It is compared to a flame that

469
burns quiet and steady, unaffected by the external breeze. With or with-
out the help of a perfect master, the sadhak has entered spontaneously
into Nirvikalpa, after experiencing Nirvana. He can achieve that only after
he has relinquished his sanskaric ties and worldly interests. He has already
given up all his worldly fetters (c/f the 10 fetters of the Theravada
Aryan). There are now no obstacles to overcome or objects to achieve and
therefore no effort is needed. The transition is very spontaneous. His indi-
vidual mind has been annihilated and his consciousness has now merged
with the Absolute. He has attained final emancipation through breaking
the veils of Maya. He is now a Siddha (God-realised being) himself.
However, once he comes out of this Nirvikalpa State, the movement of
the body, his perceptions including sight and sound, and the arising of the
mind will bring him back to the phenomenal world. This Nirvikalpa
Samadhi State is said to have a limit of 21 days, but actually there is no
time limit. After returning to normal consciousness he has to relearn the
ways of the world again. At first, the Siddha forgets his name and age,
after returning to normal consciousness. He really does not want to come
back to the world at all. But some are given the grace to come back---pri-
marily to teach or to lead.

Sahaja Samadhi: This is the highest consciousness. It is divinity in action

and is experienced only by the Sadguru. It is preceded by Nirvana and
Nirvikalpa Samadhi. This state is beyond mind as consciousness is entire-
ly withdrawn from physical forms, subtle forms and the formless realms.
There is no thought except the ‘I am’ consciousness. He is already in the
Ultimate State of Consciousness all the time. And yet the yogin is still
working in the gross physical world at the same time. He uses the body,
emotions and mind as instruments, but there is no identification with
them. Throughout his waking hours he is a Siddha in Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
He has transcended the three instruments and is totally absorbed in God.
He is in Nirvana and the experience of the world leaves him uninvolved.
He is now God-conscious and has no individuality. When in this state of
Nirvana he is experiencing unlimited individuality. The yogin has already
realised his soul and is with Reality throughout the remainder of his life.
He is able to use his body-mind organism in the worldly activities.
Externally, he is like any ordinary man, but internally, he is with the
Absolute. The thinking mind is dead and he is immersed into the Self
throughout. It is now only impersonal Consciousness that is acting out

470
the remaining portion of his life. It is like a river discharging into the
ocean and its identity is lost. He remains in this state of bliss and happi-
ness without effort. He only uses the working (not the thinking) mind.
Out of the not too many Siddhas, very, very few of them may descend
down from the 7th plane of consciousness after achieving Sahaja
Samadhi. These very few Sadgurus become Avatars. Here they live a life
of God and experience God everywhere. The small and menial jobs that
they perform are never too little for them. Only very few Masters had
reached this state of Sahaja Samadhi. Some examples are: Sakyamuni
(Gautama Buddha), Jesus Christ, Mohamed and Lao Tse.

Western Mysticism
Evelyn Underhill was one of the greatest mystics of our times. She died
in 1941. She had written many books, and was a great teacher. Her defi-
nition of Mysticism is that it is the art of union with Reality (in this essay
Reality is equated with the Ultimate State of Consciousness). The mystic
is a person who has attained that union in greater or lesser degree, or who
aims at and believes in such attainment. Evelyn Underhill distinguishes
five stages of ascension to the Absolute or Cosmic Consciousness:

(1) Awakening or conversion,

(2) Purification of the Self,
(3) Illumination
(4) The Dark Night of the Soul,
(5) Union or Unitive life.

(1) Awakening or conversion starts with introversion. Introversion

means withdrawing from the external world and concentrating inwards
towards God. Introversion begins with what she calls recollection, which
is similar to one-pointed concentration meditation. This recollection
(samatha) practice will bring the mystic to a state of silence and stillness,
and there is an attempt at merging of one’s consciousness with God. This
is the one-pointed meditation reaching absorption states, when the medi-
tator and the object of meditation becomes one. The stillness and silence
are labelled as Quiet. This is a very intense breakthrough. Mostly the
awakening is abrupt, and rarely it is gradual. Sometimes a gradual lucidity
admixed with pain and sadness may accompany the awakening. The typi-
cal case is St. Paul on his way to Damascus. This conversion gives a

471
glimpse of God, which is transcendent and immanent, eternal and tem-
poral, Being and Becoming. He has now seen the ineffable vision of the
next realm, and he has therefore to change to participate in the transcen-
dent life. This awakened state is characterised as nothingness or empti-
ness, which is the absorption state of Buddhist concentration (Jhana). It
is equivalent to the Hindu Savikalpa Samadhi when the aspirant is called
a sadhak. The knowledge of the things seen and heard of the Absolute
world has a noietic quality and is ineffable. It is also transient, and while
the mystic is in that trance state he is powerless to utilise his body-mind
faculties.

(2) Purgation or Purification of the Self. This newly awakened person

(mystic) has to embark on a slow spiritual path of transcendence and trans-
formation of character in order to reach higher levels of consciousness of
Reality. The path to union with God is to eradicate the false self and the
false beliefs of this world. That means erasing evil, illusion and all imper-
fections of character, which are not in harmony with Reality. Having
realised that our superficial consciousness is finite, we have to aspire to the
infinite --- Reality. Although virtue is not specifically named, the acquisition
of goodness must be made a prerequisite to the spiritual marriage with
God, the only Reality. That means purging of all ‘sins’ like lust, pride, sloth,
anger, gluttony, envy and avarice. Humility, charity, selflessness, meekness
and calmness should replace these seven ‘sins’. For purgation to be com-
plete pain and suffering must be endured as a pleasure and not a chore.

In other words, Purgation is self-simplification. Purgation is the cleansing

of the part that is to remain and stripping of that part to be done with. 1)
The Negative aspect is the purging away of the superfluous, unreal, and
harmful things, which dissipate the precious energies of the self. This is
the process of Detachment or Poverty. 2) The Positive aspect is the rais-
ing of the remaining permanent elements of character to the highest or
purest state. This is Mortification, a deliberate recourse to painful experi-
ences and difficult tasks.

Detachment: The Catholic Church spells out the essence of detachment

as voluntary Poverty, which is the stripping and casting off of material and
immaterial wealth, from all finite things. The next element is Chastity,
which means the total cleansing of the soul of all personal desire. Lastly,

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Obedience is the abnegation of selfhood and the mortification of the will
leading to a holy indifference to the flow of the Tao. This act of inward
poverty leads us to destroy our selfhood, which in the past has individual
desires and rights. Now the self is merely an insignificant drop of seawa-
ter in the ocean. Detachment and purity (detachment of the heart) will
lead to that humble spirit of obedience, which expresses detachment of
the will. So these three aspects are manifestations of one thing --- Inward
Poverty. In other words, God being pure Good can only merge with a
pure soul. The mystic must deprive himself of all material things and fel-
low creatures, even though the latter are themselves pure. All these detract
the mind from the silence and emptiness of contemplation.

Mortification. This is part of purification. It is the positive side of it. The

processes here are to erase the elements of the old character, which were
subservient to the needs and desires of the old self. The object here is to
kill the attachments and self-interests of the former self. The new being
must have its character built up to face the challenges of the transcendent
self. In order to forge the new path, the old personality must be totally
sublimated. This process must be repeated until the old habits and ten-
dencies have faded and died. Mortification can only stop when the new
self is wholly pursuing the challenges of transcendent life. The conse-
quence of mortification is not death of the person, but death of the old
attachments. All the physical and mental tortures are required to release
the personality from its inclination to human pleasure and satisfaction.
Once the self is completely emptied of these cravings, then the mortifi-
cation can stop.

The mystic must now always be willing to serve others rather than to
attend to his own needs. This portion of the spiritual path is akin to
Insight meditation of the Buddhist, in which one arrives at silence, still-
ness and emptiness of thoughts. One is left with pure awareness, which is
the true Self. The union of the Self with God is the essence of Mysticism.
This union starts with brief visitations as intervals between two thoughts
and end up as long periods of glorious mingling with God. All the yogins
cannot put into words that state with God. All superlatives are used to
describe an indescribable situation.

(3) Illumination manifesting as Ecstasy and Rapture. This state

appears to be the continuation of Introversion. The Buddhist equivalent

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is at least the 3rd Jhana of one-pointed concentration. Most of the mys-
tic in illumination range from the 3rd to the 8th Jhana. The mystic is like
a block of wood. The body does not feel, the eyes do not see, the ears do
not hear and the tongue does not speak. The Western mystic is caught up
with God and is solely with God. Externally he is in a trance, mentally he
is unified in consciousness and mystically it is an exalted act of percep-
tion. The ecstasy is this identification with God. This unity of conscious-
ness excludes all conceptual and analytical thought. In fact all mental,
emotional and physical faculties are suspended in this ecstasy. He is
merged with the Absolute, which he cannot discern as an object of
thought. It is not self-conscious. It is intuitive. Rapture comes more sud-
denly. It is a violent and uncontrollable expression of genius for the
Absolute. In arts it yields results of great splendour and value for life.
Rapture comes swiftly and transports one to higher reaches of the
Majestic realms. The Hindu equivalent is Salvikalpa working towards
Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Here the yogin is absorbed with its own atman (soul),
and he is totally insensitive to anything external to his body-mind complex
while in a trance. When he descends down to normal life again, he
becomes normal as before the samadhi. The Buddhist equivalent is the
formless Jhanas.

The Consciousness of the Absolute. The Western mystic has a con-

sciousness that is full of joy and pleasure, punctuated by an occasional
period of purgation and suffering. He is certain of going towards God, as
the sense of God is more real than seeing or touching. However he is still
separate from God unlike in the Unitive State where he is totally merged
with the Absolute. This illumination is accompanied by a radiance that
grows brighter all the time as he progresses towards the Divine Light.

The Illuminated Vision of the World. The mystic’s eye sees God in
everything he perceives. All trees, mountains, streams and animals are
imbued with divinity. Being able to see God in a flower means great
advancement.

Having achieved the first part of the Mystic Life, we have to go through
the Mystic Death---The Dark Night of the Soul.

(4) The Dark Night of the Soul. After going through the last three stages

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the self is exhausted and needs to withdraw from the ecstasy and rapture
and its visitations with the Absolute. It is also the threshold of the next
stage, the Unitive Life. The feeling is like the Absolute has abandoned the
mystic who is left to fend for himself with normal earthly equipment and
no extraordinary powers. He has now all the weaknesses and fears of a
novice. Psychologically it is merely a phase between the Illuminative and
the Unitive life. That is all. It is like the anguish of a lover who has lost its
loved one. St John of the Cross states that he is in passive purification in
a state of helpless misery and the self does nothing. This feeling of aban-
donment by God is like being cast into darkness in the shadow of death
with the pains and torments of hell. As long as the subject feels that he is
somewhat a separate self, he has not annihilated his selfhood. The dark
will remain. It can lasts for months or years.

At the beginning the pendulum swings from ecstasy to sadness. Then as

days pass, the pendulum stays more and more on the dark side, until there
is now only despair, depression and desolatedness. He is alone without
friends or spiritual guides, as if he is abandoned by God. Everything he
does is a failure. There is no relief. He is constantly down and out. His
motto is now: ‘I am nothing, I have nothing, I desire nothing’. This is the final
purification where complete and utter humility is established and total
destruction of the ego has transpired. He is in despair and deprivation.
Few of them even suffer visions of demons and attacks of satanic acts.
The latter cases truly are in hell! The mystic merely has to wait and sur-
render to what comes. Grace will decide when he can enter the next stage
of the Unitive life.

The Eastern equivalent of this state is the Non-Returner of the

Theravada path in his penultimate stage. The mystic at this point suffers
from restlessness and still has remnants of ego-conceit together with
ignorance. He has to drop these three fetters before he can be enlight-
ened. In Hindu terms, he is in the penultimate stage of Salvikalpa
Samadhi.

(5) The Unitive Life. The Unitive Life is the Ultimate State of
Consciousness -enlightenment. The mystic has at last come to full realisation
of Reality. This transcendent experience allows him to live in this world
and yet not of this world. He breathes a rarefied air which normal beings

475
cannot enjoy. These mystics are ambassadors of the Absolute. He vindi-
cates that communion with Reality is achievable. The mystic refers his
attainment of the Absolute as deification (the utter transmission of the self
in God). He also refers to his communion with Reality as the Spiritual
Marriage of his soul with God. These terms are subjective temperamental
language. Deification means transmutation of self by God so that from
now onwards his life is divine: God is acting through him. The individual
soul is likened to a piece of black and dark iron, which has been heated
up by Deity to white and red-hot proportions. It is still the same iron, but
it is now a different piece of metal. It is now hot and red-white and yet
malleable to perform its task. Finally it turns liquid into an entirely differ-
ent being altogether. The fire here is the divine Uncreated Light of God.
He forgets himself, and he is no longer conscious of his selfhood; he dis-
appears and loses himself in God, and becomes one spirit with Him, as a
drop of water, which is drowned in a great quantity of wine. All human
desires are taken away from him and his is immersed in the Divine Will.
His being remains, but in another form, in another glory and in another power. Utter
renouncement means stripping the mystic of the ‘I’ the ‘me’, and the
‘mine’. This “self-naughting” to the direction of the larger Will is an
imperative condition for the attainment of the Unitive Life. "To eat and
be eaten! This is the Union”. In the language of the Spiritual Marriage it
is said: “Thou art in me and I in Thee, glued together as one and the selfsame thing,
which henceforth and forever cannot be divided”.

A great number of the Western mystics who had attained the Unitive life
had a dual character of superabundant creative energy to carry out the
work of God and at the same time had the calmness and repose of saints.
St. Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Joan of Arc, St Ignatius of Loyola, St.
Theresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena are few such examples. The
character of their work and the abundant energy put into it was certainly
super human. It was like a divine power transmitted into these enlightened
mystics who had to carry out the work of God. And yet there was tran-
quillity and peace about them. They even created music and poetry whilst
some commune with birds and nature. These personalities are behaving
as if they are in another realm. So they are!

In that final state, which is the true goal of the mystic quest, “the Absolute life is not
merely perceived and enjoyed by the self, as in illumination but is one with it”. Ignorance

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of spiritual laws is bondage; knowledge of spiritual laws is freedom; application of
spiritual laws is wisdom. The full fruition of spirituality----wise, dedicated, and loving
service that aims to elevate human consciousness---- is “The Unitive Life”.

The mystical ascent to the Godhead (Ultimate State of

Consciousness) is categorised thus:
(1) Meditation Recollection: Samatha or Dyana: This concentration
withdraws you from the external distraction until one day you get a first
glimpse of your true Self. Samatha is the Buddhist one-pointed concen-
tration towards the 8th Jhana or absorption. Dyana is the early stages of
the Hindu spiritual path where withdrawal from external objects is the
main discipline. The Hindu also embarks on the preliminary practice of
one-pointed concentration.

(2) Simplification, Purification & Non-Attachment must be practised

concurrently with dispassion and desirelessness and detachment during
one’s daily routine. It is a total withdrawal in and outside of meditation.
Resignations from all committees are mandatory. There should be no
more acquisitions of properties and money. There should not be any
attempt at climbing up any corporate or other institutional ladder. Life has
to be overly simplified.

(3) Contemplation I - Vipassana (Stream-Enterer). Savikalpa Samadhi

(Hindu): To know your emotional & intellectual self with painful memories
of the subconscious & unconscious. To know that every thing in the world
is connected to you and each and every item is essential and beautiful (veg-
etation, animal & mineral). “Not a drop of water is ever lost in the uni-
verse”. This is the realisation of interconnectedness of the universe.

(4) Contemplation II – Vipassana (Once-Returner). Advanced stage of

Savikalpa Samadhi: To come to know the true Self concretely and
undoubtedly, and that this Satchit-ananda (soul or true Self) is never born
and will never die. This same element of unity manifests in multiplicity as
diverse “Things” in the world. You have come home to realise who you
are. You are able to achieve Silence, Emptiness, Awareness & Stillness
every day. This pure awareness is your true Self or soul (Atman), but you
have not yet merged with God.

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(5) Contemplation III – Vipassana (Non-Returner). Approaching
Nirvikalpa Samadhi. The Dark Night of the Soul: You are in total dark-
ness, silence and alone. Helpless, you must not strive anymore. You just
surrender and wait for Grace to engulf you. When will it come is not
known. It could be weeks, months or years. Then when it happens, utter
bliss and joy will be your lot and then you begin to live in the world and
yet out of this world. You are transmuted into One-with-the-Universe.
The power of love manifest as light or heat and it is very healing.

(6) The Unitive Life of Enlightenment, Arahant. Nirvikalpa Samadhi

(Very, very few come down as in Sahaja Samadhi) Back to the world to
service the world: Everything you touch will turn to gold - i.e. mended
and healed within the karmic credit of the recipient. You are now a bea-
con to your community, country and the Universe! In this state of ulti-
mate reality, there is no division as inner and outer. They are only differ-
ing aspects of the One without a second. The God-realised person sees
the seamless garment of Being and, seeing it, quite naturally brings his or
her activities more and more in alignment with that awareness. Amid the
diversity of activities they may pursue, there is unity because he sees that
all is Cosmic Consciousness and there is only Consciousness.

As Meher Baba said in his Life at its Best:

“You are the eternal condition behind all conditions----The Ancient One-
---- which was never born and which never dies and from which all cre-
ation springs. The essence of all creation---God--- is as much within us
as it is within trees, mountains, stars, and the cosmic void.”

More properly speaking, you are within it. Enlightenment is simply waking
up from the dream of conventional life generated by the ego-based sense of
a separate self. And in the enlightened state, all apparently separate forms of
life and conditions of existence are seen to be masks of God--- things in
which the divine source of all worlds and beings chooses to hide a part of
itself. When you realise that, you see that God is One without a second.
Some religions say there are many gods, some say there is one god. The
enlightened, however, knows that in Reality, there is only God, the great
being, the Ancient One, the Cosmic Person---and “thou art that”. It is not so
much that you are within the cosmos as that the cosmos is within you.

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Thus when one has reached the Ultimate State of Consciousness, one
knows with full clarity that one is connected to and is also part of God,
and is also connected to everything existing in the universe. This web of
interconnectedness is God, One without a second. In this ultimate
enlightened state, the individual realises he is God and at the same time,
he is in the human form. He also knows that he has three instruments for
his usage: physical body, emotions and intellectual mind. These are mere-
ly his tools to service mankind and the earth.

Now one can answer the eternal question:

‘Who am I?’ It is simply; ‘I am God!’ Ken Wilber states in his Eye to Eye:

"In the Chandogya Upanishad, Brahman----the absolute Reality, the

Ultimate State of Consciousness-----is described in glaringly simple and
straightforward terms: the Absolute is “One without a second” That
inspired Upanishadic text does not describe the ultimate as the creator,
controller, ruler, or lord of a second. The Absolute, in other words, is that
which has nothing outside It, nothing apart from It, a fact expressed in
Isaiah as “I am the Lord, and there is none else.” All of which means that
there is really nothing outside Brahman, nothing outside the Absolute".

In the words of an old Zen master:

“All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind,
beside which nothing exists. Above, below and around you, all is sponta-
neously existing, for there is nowhere which is outside the Buddha-Mind”

Most of the above describes the slow gradual methods. The ‘sudden’
methods really began with Hui Neng, the 6th Patriarch from China. From
thence onwards, most Zen masters and the Tibetan, Vajrayana sects pro-
claim that enlightenment can be obtained in this one life. Of course, most
of us who have been practising for many years believe that it is merely the
final life of numerous lives of practice. Islamic Sufis, modern Hindus and
contemporary teachers like Krishnamurthi and Da Avabhasa (The Bright)
and others believe you can do it in one life.

I believe that most of us on the path have practised in the past to a greater
or lesser extent. Some of us could have been doing it for thousand of
years. It is almost certain that every single person has his or her unique

479
path. No two paths are alike. Be that as it may, it is important that the
knowledge of what we are looking must be realised. We must realise that
we are looking for something, which we already are. Our ‘Self ’ has always
been with us and it is part of God. Every sentient being, animal, vegetable
and mineral possess this consciousness, which is interconnected by cos-
mic strands, and everything bar none is part of God. God is even more
than that. It includes everything and nothing and the space in between.

Zen has mainly two sects: Soto and Rinzai. The former is very similar to
Theravada Buddhism, except its final method of practice is Shikantaza.
This last technique is ‘merely sitting’. One just sits with no object of med-
itation, until one’s mind becomes empty. At this point, the emptiness and
pure awareness could return us to one’s original mind. The Rinzai method
uses a Koan, which is a riddle that cannot be resolved by our rational or
logical mind. One repeats this Koan over and over again for days, months
or years until one gets rid of all rational thought, and ‘throws the baby out
with the basin of water.’ This means he eradicates the ego completely (the
ego is the baby). Again, the meditator arrives at no-mind. At this point, if
he is lucky, he may obtain a glimpse of the Ultimate State of
Consciousness, which is always there in the background. From this state
of calmness, we arrive back to our original state of voidness. This void is
our ground base, the Ultimate State of Consciousness, from which arise
all other states of consciousness. It embraces and includes all ‘higher’ or
altered or super states of consciousness. Whatever state you attained is
within the embrace of the ultimate state. You already are, all the time,
since you are born, in that ultimate state without your realising it.
Therefore no technique, method or practice can bring you to that ultimate
state, which is and always has been with you. You cannot work to enter or
leave that state, because you are already in that state from the time you left
the Source at the Big Bang.

Sri Ramana Maharshi said:

“There is no reaching the Self. If Self were to be reached, it would mean
that the Self is not here and now but it has yet to be obtained. What is got
afresh will also be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is impermanent
is not worth striving for. I say the Self is not reached. You are the Self;
you are already That.”

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The present belief of the advaitists is: There is only Consciousness, and
all phenomenal existence is illusion, maya.

The Ultimate State is not an altered state or a higher state after prolonged
meditation. It is an all-inclusive state; it includes all states, from the low-
est to the highest. It is our original face, our ground substance. It is our
true Self even before we are born. Trying to see our original face or try-
ing to reach the Ultimate State of Consciousness is like an eye trying to
see itself, or the knife trying to cut itself. It is impossible. The best chance
of realising one’s true Self is to withdraw from everything external, and
remain still, silent while emptying all thoughts and come to that pristine
awareness. This Awareness is your true Self. It is the One who knows:
who sees, hears, thinks and acts etc. This true Self is never born and never
dies. It is part of God.

Therefore, when we are able to return to this pristine awareness in our still
and silent Self, we truly have come home to this Emptiness, which is our
primordial background. It is from this Emptiness that everything arises.
Every thought, every seeing, every hearing and every action comes out
from this Emptiness. It is from this infinite, spaceless, timeless ground
substance that every mineral, vegetable, animal and human being is man-
ifested. Without this infinite Emptiness nothing can come about. Thus,
Ultimate State of Consciousness is ineffable and indescribable, because it
is non-dual. Everything is One. The Self cannot see the Self (the eye can-
not see the eye). God (our true Self) can never be seen or visualised, can-
not be felt or heard. Lastly, it also means our True Self will never die. It
is always with us, whether we are in incarnation or in spirit. The Ultimate
State of Consciousness and God (our true Self) are One and the same.
This Emptiness is completely non-dual.

“When a person rediscovers that his Nature is one with the All, he is
relieved of the burdens of time or worry; he is released from the chains
of alienation and separate self-existence. Seeing that self and other are
one, he is released from fear of life; seeing that being and non-being are
one, he is delivered from fear of death” From “Up from Eden” by
Ken Wilber.

When a person enters Cosmic Consciousness, he knows without learning

481
certain things e.g. (1) that the universe is not dead but a living presence;
(2) that in its essence and tendency it is infinitely good; (3) that individual
existence continues beyond death.

An enlightened being, is one who is in touch with his deepest uncon-

scious, which is sacred, and is the bottom line of our selfhood (the region
of the soul). When we arrive at this level it is as if the doors of percep-
tion were cleansed and every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.
For this deepest layer is no layer, it isn’t there. He lives in the presence of
the numinous. He does not necessarily get overly excited or manic. He
can be happy and he can be sad. He usually has no fear. There is peace.
He isn’t incessantly cheerful. The enlightened person does not flood the
room with sunlight as he enters. He can be angry and indignant. He does
things appropriately. His sanctity shows up as radiance. The enlightened
being performs his task meticulously and strenuously. Happiness is asso-
ciated with his activities. He is not forever sweet and full of light; neither
is he emitting energy all the time. We find his presence very soothing and
not draining. This calm and relaxed person always command attention. He
can lead or he can follow. He does not mind being a teacher but he also
does not need students to prop up his ego.

What he does is to do away with features of his finite temporal self and
work towards an impersonal sacred unconscious.

As Coomaraswamy said:
“Blessed is the man on whose tomb can be written ‘here lies no one’.”

References:

1. Evelyn Underhill. Mysticism. Oneworld Publications Ltd. 1993.

Mysticism itself was published in 1911.

2. Edited by John White. What is Enlightenment? The Aquarian

Press.1984.

3. Meher Baba. God to Man and Man to God. Sheriar Press. 1975.

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4. Meher Baba. Discourses. Sheriar Foundation. 1995.

5. William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience. Macmillan

Publishing Co., Inc. 1961.

6. Ken Wilber. Eye to Eye. Shambala 1996.

7. Ken Wilber. Up From Eden. Quest Books. 1996.

8. Edited by David Godman. Be as You Are. The Teachings of Sri Ramana

Maharshi. Arkana 1985.

9. Gary Zukav. The Dancing Wu Li Masters. Bantam Books. 1980.

10. Conscious Immortality, Conversations with Ramana Maharshi. Sri

Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai. 1998.

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 Sufism.
The true mystic goes in and out amongst the people and eats and sleeps with them and
buys and sells in the market and marries and takes part in social intercourse, and never
forgets God for a single moment.

Abu SA’id ibn Abi ’l-Khayr

Sufism is Truth without form.

LBN Jalalt

Sufism is the mystical, esoteric path of Islam. There is no Sufism without

Islam. In a similar vein, there is no Zen without Buddhism, no Vedanta
without Hinduism. Sufism is the inward mysticism of the outward expres-
sion of Islam. Islam is the outward circumference, which is the exoterism;
and Sufism is the center of the circle, which is the esoterism of the inner
Truth. The radius from the circumference to the center is the mystical
path. This means that Muslims must take this inward path of Sufism to
convert his belief to a vision.

In Arabic, the word suf means wool, the material that makes up their
robes. It signifies a poor community. A Sufi applies strictly to one who has
attained or who has awakened, but in extension it is also applied to the ini-
tiates who are travelling towards this attainment. In summary, Sufism
comprises of initiation into the esoteric path and the Islamic Law or
sharia applies to the doctrine and method of the exoteric religion of
Islam. The latter religion is for all Muslims, but Sufism is a practice of a
small number who has the necessary qualification and inclination. They
are in the minority.

In order to understand Sufism superficially, one must have a brief review

of the religion of Islam.

Islam
From my understanding, Muslims grade the importance of God, the
Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad in this order. In practice, the Qur’an is

484
of paramount importance. Muhammad is the messenger in bringing
down the teachings of Allah. There have been 124,000 prophets sent
down to humanity since civilization began. Adam was the first prophet.
Muhammad was the last.

Prophet Muhammad’s personal life

Prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in the year 571. Being an orphan
at six he was brought up by his uncle with whom he worked as a shep-
herd. He grew up in poverty until he became a long-distance trader with
caravans. As a teenager he rejected the immoral habits of his people. He
then periodically withdrew to the desert to meditate. His society was
steeped in idolatry. Mecca was an important urban center and at the same
time a place of pilgrimage. The Ka’bah was a central temple where all the
deities were worshipped. This small structure was said to have been built
by the prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael.

At the age of 25 Muhammad was employed by a wealthy widow of 40

named Khadijah. He managed her business. Khadijah found him to be
very honest and proposed marriage, which he accepted. They were hap-
pily married for 25 years with six children despite their difference in age.
After Khadijah died Muhammad married several women for political and
humanitarian reasons, as was expected of a man of his position; all but
one were widows and divorcees. He was a loving and devoted husband
and father.

It was in 611 that Muhammad received his first revelation from God with
these words: “Recite in the name of your Lord!” From thence onwards,
these revelations were given in drips and drabs in 23 years. All the utter-
ances were made through the intermediary of the Archangel Gabriel. All
these revelations were later collected to form the text of the Qur’an.
Some of these were directed to the Prophet, some were to his followers
and the remainder to everyone or to all mankind.

Slowly he collected a following of Meccans in the worshipping of one

God and rejecting of polytheism. Some thirteen years later, he and his fol-
lowers were forced into exile to Medina in 622. In Medina he expanded
the size of his Muslim community and then later raised armies to combat
battles and have skirmishes with Mecca. Finally, he conquered Mecca and

485
cleansed the Ka’bah of idols in 630. He died in Medina and was buried 2
years later at the age of 61.

The Qur'an
The language of the Qur’an is in Arabic, which is the sacred language of
Islam. Arabic is as fundamental to Islam as Sanskrit is to Hinduism or
Hebrew is to Judaism. However, reciting the Qur’an in the original Arabic
can constitute a liturgical act, as the words have been faithfully preserved
in the form in which they were originally received. It also follows that it is
the Qur’an and not Muhammad, which is the center of the Islamic reli-
gion. In Christianity, Christ is the center of the religion and therefore its
adherents are called Christians. In Islam, its adherents are called Muslims
and not Muhammadans, because the Quran is the ‘uncreated word of
God’. ‘Muslim’ means ‘one who summits’ and ‘Islam’ means ‘submission’
(to God). Muhammad is the perfect man and is the messenger of God
(Rasul Allah).

The ultimate source of the Islamic religion is the Qur’an, revealed to the
Prophet Muhammad. A secondary source is the Sunna (Wont) of the
prophet. The Sunna includes not only the customs but also the verbal
teachings (hadiths) of the Prophet. These two sources are separate and dis-
tinct.

Seeing that there is no Sufism without Islam, let us study what tenets hold
up the teachings of Qur’an. Let us first learn about the exoteric practices.

The Islamic Law (sharia)

The Islamic Law is basically characterized by the ‘Five Pillars (arkan) of
Islam: Faith (iman), Prayer (salat), Fasting (sawm), Almsgiving (zakat) and
Pilgrimage (hajj). In addition, Muslims are forbidden to consume wine and
pork. They are also prohibited from gambling and usury. Men are also not
allowed to wear gold or silver. The concept of ‘holy war’ (jihad) although
outwardly applies to the defence of the Islamic community, inwardly it is
the destruction of the ego. We will now deliberate a little on the Five Pillars.

1. Faith (Imam): This includes the ‘testimony of faith’, which bears wit-
ness to ‘There is no god but God’ and ‘Muhammad is His Messenger’.
The true believers are also: those who believe in God, His angels, His

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Holy Books as completed in the Qur’an. They should also believe His
messengers with Mohammad being the last of them all, the Day of
Resurrection and that of Final Judgement, the absolute knowledge and
wisdom of God and in destiny. They should also believe that all good and
bad come from God, and that there is life after this life.

2. Prayer (Salat): One must be clean before prayer can be offered. Both
the body and the clothes must be cleansed. The following are considered
unclean:
i) Human faeces or urine.
i) The urine and faeces of quadruped animals and droppings of birds.
ii) Blood of humans and animals.
iii) Intoxicating liquors.
iv) Semen.

The prayer room should be clean. Ablution must be performed with clean
water. Any unclean thing falling into the water pollutes the water.

Ablution (Wudhu): Ablution must precede prayer.

i) Wash the hands three times.
ii) Rinse the mouth three times, and brush the teeth.
iii) Clean the nose three times.
iv) Wash the face and beard three times.
v) Wash the arms including the elbows, the right arm first.
vi) Wipe the head, neck and ears with wet hands once. This is to
remove dust, etc.
vii) Wash the feet, right foot first, including ankles three times.

The ablution is nullified by:

i) Passing out of urine, faeces and wind.
ii) Blood and pus flowing out of the body not simply gathering at the
wound.
iii) Vomiting.
iv) Sleeping.
v) Unconsciousness, madness, intoxication to the extent of being
unable to walk.

The private parts have to be washed with water after voiding oneself.

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Other practices of personal hygiene are:
i) Regular cleaning of teeth.
ii) Keeping the nails short and clean.
iii) Growing a beard but keeping the moustache short.
iv) Removing hair from armpit and pubic area.
v) Circumcision for men.

Things which necessitate bathing:

i) Emission of semen.
ii) Coitus.
iii) Completion of menstruation and puerperal discharge.

The basic requirements of prayer are:

i) To stand and recite prayers.
ii) Bowing with recitals.
iii) Prostration with recitals.
iv) Sitting with recitals.
v) Salam at the end of prayer.

Prayer is nullified by:

i) Talking.
ii) Weeping for anything not connected with prayer.
iii) Laughing aloud.

The Five Prayers:

i) The Morning Prayer: The time of the morning prayers lasts from
dawn to sunrise.
ii) The Midday Prayer. It can be offered after the sun has past the
meridian and the time lasts until the shadow of a thing is equal to its
own length or twice its length.
iii) The Afternoon Prayer: This can be offered between the last time
of the Midday Prayer and sunset.
iv) The Sunset Prayer: This is offered between sunset and the time
the light on the horizon starts to disappear.
v) The Evening Prayer: This is given from the time the Sunset
Prayer ends to the first light of the dawn.

Besides the above five prayers, there is a night prayer is a voluntary one,

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and it is recommended for those who are pursuing enlightenment.

3. Fasting (Saum):
This third pillar of Islam is a process of purification, and is said by the
Sufis to be ‘half the journey’. As our true essence is spirit, fasting is one
way of preparing ourselves for that destination towards Allah. Fasting
during the month of Ramadhan is one way of reminding ourselves of our
spiritual essence. There should be abstinence from food, drink and sexu-
al intercourse from dawn to dusk. Refreshments and rest are allowed at
night. During the fast, one is reminded of Allah’s grace for providing us
food and drink, especially at times of poverty. All these sacrifices will
bring the Muslim nearer to Allah, who said: ‘fasting is for Me only, and I
am the Reward thereof.’

The Mode of Fasting:

1) Fasting should be done in the month of Ramadhan and it is oblig-
atory for all males and females above the age of puberty.

2) Women in menstruation or with puerperal discharge should not

fast. Those who are sick or travelling are not obliged to fast. They can
fast on other days during the year. Pregnant women and those who are
suckling children may also be excused.

4. Charity (Zakat):
Charity is the fourth pillar and it is either compulsory or voluntary. The
former is given to the poor and destitute and is at a rate of 2.5 percent of
one’s wealth. The voluntary variety is a sacrifice for the Beloved (Allah).
It is given to one’s favorite charity to prove one’s love to the Lord. It can
be given in gold, silver, cash, animals and agricultural products.

5. Pilgrimage (Hajj):
This last pillar is the pilgrimage to Mecca. This pilgrimage must be done
at least once in a lifetime if one is financially, mentally and physically fit.
Spiritual elevation can be accrued through the sacrifice of wealth and the
rigors of the journey. The visit to the Ka’bah is encouraged. The Ka’bah
was originally built by the prophets Abraham and Ishmael long ago. The
Ka’bah is the center of Islam, the religion of monotheism till the end of
time. However, the black stone was laid down by Muhammad in the

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reconstruction of the Ka’bah after he conquered back Mecca. This was
some years before the advent of Islam. The kissing of the black stone is
not obligatory, but kissing or touching it is a token of respect to the
Prophet Muhammad. This has been the action by all pilgrims who
returned from exile as a coming home gesture in remembrance of the
Prophet.

The Hajj is the annual convention of Faith of all Muslims to promote

welfare to mankind and peace with God and one’s soul and all creatures
on earth. There is no stratification or differentiation in status, dress and
utterances amongst the pilgrims. The main aim is their commitment and
devotion to God. Although visiting Muhammad’s tomb at Medina is not
obligatory it is recommended. The climax is an animal sacrifice to feed the
poor, and this sacrificial act is performed all over the world. This is sym-
bolic of Abraham’s son, Ishmael being sacrificed but spared and a ram
was substituted instead.

Sufism (Tasawwuf)
The word Sufi means wool. It refers to the clothes worn by Muhammad
and his followers. It symbolizes humility, simplicity and purity. Sufis are
Muslim mystics who can trace their beginnings to the prophet
Muhammad. Most Muslims would like to see and be with God after death,
but the Sufis are impatient. They want to be with God now. Hence the
Sufi path is the discipline and practice towards experiencing God in this
very life. There are no exclusive monasteries for the dervishes or wayfar-
ers to differentiate the Sufis from the ordinary Muslims. The first quota-
tion of this lecture describes what they are. They must look and behave
like normal people. Even the clothes they wear and food they eat must not
distinguish them from others. Humility and simplicity are their character-
istic features. Sufism is a path for the individual to unite with God. It is a
love affair with Allah (the Divine Beloved), in which the lovers merge in
mystical union. In this world of duality we mistakenly deem ourselves as
separate and in this process we miss the fact that Allah is everywhere and
everything. We are also God, but we miss the point because our egos con-
ceptualize this separateness with attributes of ourselves. This truism is
obscured by the ego’s attachments to the world. It is always there for us
to see. “Knock and the Door will be open to you,” said Salih, but the Sufi
saint Rabi’a admonished him by saying “What are you talking about, the

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Door has never been shut”. Rumi also said “I knocked and the Door
opened, but I found I’d been knocking from the inside.”

Allah
Seeing that Allah is the Supreme Reality, there are 99 names in the Qur’an
for God, which really means the 99 attributes of Allah. The name Allah
means “The Oneness of Being and Nothingness.” Allah embraces all
opposites: “He is the first and the last, the apparent and the hidden.”
Rumi calls him the ‘Soul of all souls.’ He is the one God that speaks
through all genuine religions manifesting Himself in different ways to the
individual seeker. Some of the reverential and inspiring descriptions of
God are:

i) “Allah is non-being and being, existence and non-existence. He is

the relative and the Absolute. All these concepts return to Allah. For
there is nothing we can comprehend or write or speak about that is
not Allah.” By Abd Al-Kader.

ii) “Whatever you think concerns Allah know that he is different

from that.” By Abd Al-Kader. It is similar to ‘The Tao that can be
told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the
eternal name.’

iii) God is nearer to man than the Jugular vein. Qur’an 50-16.

iv) Everything is a signpost to the oneness of God. Ahmad LBN

ATA ALLAH.

v) God said, “To reveal the secret of my abundant love, I created a

mirror whose face is consciousness and whose back is the world.”
Jalaluddin Rumi.

vi) Sometimes God says “You are Me,” and sometimes He says, “ I
am you.”

The Sufi Path

The principle underlying Sufism is that when one is born in this world of
duality, an ego is born with it. The ego is composed of body, emotion and

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mind. The ego then gets stronger and stronger with its desires and attach-
ments in order to establish and strengthen its separateness. In order for
the individual soul (lover) to merge with Allah (Beloved), it must undergo
a disciplined process of purification. This cleansing process may take
years until the ego is destroyed spiritually. However, the ego must be
maintained in order for the wayfarer to live in this world. This wayfarer is
a traveller, who has been awakened (tauba) to embark on the path, i.e. to
destroy the influence of the ego on the soul. But on the spiritual side of
the soul when the influence of the ego is totally annihilated (fana), then
the empty, purified self can merge with the Self. The Self is the Beloved
Allah who has always been waiting in the heart for the wayfarer to recog-
nise Its Presence. In this article these names are synonymous: wayfarer,
traveler and dervish. The core of Sufi spiritual practice includes meditation,
prayer, fasting and other day-to-day routines. This is on top of the five pillars of
Islam that is mandatory to the Sufi. There are four stages of practice and
understanding in Sufism:

1) Religious Law (shariah). This basically consists of morality and

ethics found in all religions. This provides the path to live properly in this
world so as not to upbraid the equilibrium of society. Shariah means ‘road.’

2) The Path (tariqah) literally means the practice or the path that the
wayfarer would follow in the desert from oasis to oasis. This path is not
clearly marked and it is not even a proper road. To travel in this trackless
desert, one needs to know the area very well. Otherwise the wayfarer must
follow a guide who knows it and has traveled many times on this bewil-
dering terrain. The guide must also recognise the landmarks amidst the
many sandstorms, which wipes away all previous tracks. This is the inner
practice of Sufism. This guide is the sheikh or the Sufi teacher. The reli-
gious law (shariah) makes the exoteric practice of Islam clean and attrac-
tive. The spiritual path (tariqah) makes the inner sojourn pure and peace-
ful. One supports the other.

3) Truth or (haqiqah). This truth refers to the direct experience of the

mystical states of Sufism, the direct experience of God within. Without
the Truth (haqiqah) the traveller is practicing blindly following or imitating
someone else who professes to know. With the attainment of the Truth
(haqiqah) the dervish solidifies the practice of the first two stages of reli-
gious law and the inner path (shariah and tariqah). Now he knows.

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4) Gnosis (marifah) is superior wisdom or knowledge of spiritual truth.
This is a deep level of inner knowing. There is now a continuous attune-
ment with God even while he is performing his daily chores. He is in con-
stant touch with Reality attainable by only a very few, like prophets and
saints.

The Sufi saint Ibn Arabi explained these four stages as the following: At
the level of the law (shariah) there is “yours and mine.” The law guaran-
tees individual rights and ethical relationship between members of socie-
ty. At the level of the spiritual path (tariqah), “ mine is yours and yours is
mine.” The dervishes open their homes, their hearts and wallets to one
another. At the level of the Truth (haqiqah), “there is no mine and no
yours.” All things are from God. They are only caretakers and they pos-
sess nothing. They have also gone beyond attachment to fame and status.
At the level of Gnosis (marifah), there is “no me and no you.” At this final
stage the advanced Sufi realizes that all is God. Nothing and no one is
separate from God.

Three modes of Union

Three modes of union with the divine are seen in every religion and these
are present in Sufism as well:

1) Ecstasy: In this instance a special visitation lifts the soul out of its
body and transports it to a higher, distinctly different level of conscious-
ness. The individual may be in a trance and the experience is dramatic and
intense, so much so that the person goes into convulsions. These are
called “spiritual drunkards” by the other Sufis who honor them.

2) Gnosis: Gnostic Sufis or intellective Sufis. These are the marifahs of the
last section. These “sober,” enlightened Sufi graduates return to normal
life with “altered traits of character”, unlike those who only enjoyed
“altered states” of consciousness.

3) Love: This class of advanced Sufis is the largest as it taps into the
strongest emotion of the heart. In testimony, the best-selling poet in the
USA is Rumi. He wrote eloquently on love. Rabi’a comes a close second.

Spiritual Practice
Spiritual practice is the core of Sufism. All the practices are to cleanse the
soul of the influence of the ego so that there is an empty space in the

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heart for the lover to await the Beloved Allah. Besides the five pillars,
there are specific techniques and practices pertaining to each individual
sheikh. One cannot cover all the practices, but we will discuss some of the
essential ones. Najm al-Din Kubra (d. 1220) was very concerned with
training of the disciples. The Bewildered Traveler is a short Persian text, from
which we have picked out the sections on silence, fasting, seclusion, recita-
tion of the first half of the Muslim profession of faith, and control of
thoughts. Other topics include purity, keeping good company, avoiding
sleep, and control of eating and drinking. The format includes the bene-
fits of each practice.

Silence of the external tongue, except for Recollection of God Most

High.
Eleven benefits are evident and the salient ones are:

1. Release from the reckoning on Resurrection Day.

2. When the external tongue is silent, the tongue of the heart begins to
speak.
3. Salvation from Hell.
4. The carnal soul is disciplined by silence, for this carnal soul is an idle
talker.
5. If one is silent, it may be that one hears the speech of angels.
6. Treasures of Wisdom are opened for him.
7. If speech is silver, silence is gold.
8. In silence, there is a continuous recollection of God by heart.

Constant Seclusion and Isolation from the People

This practice brings in 12 benefits and some of them are:

1. Protecting the sight from gazing with desire.

2. Protecting the foot from walking toward the forbidden.
3. Protecting the hand from taking and receiving the forbidden.
4. When the external senses are shut off, the internal senses, which are
the doors of the hidden world, are opened.
5. Being far away from the annoyances of the people.
6. Resembling spiritual beings, for the people do not see them.
7. Attaining concentration of the heart.
8. Banishing from the heart the images of the world and the practices,
the giving, and the taking of worldly people.

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Fasting has 22 benefits and some of the important ones are:

1. Resemblance to spiritual beings, for they do not eat.

2. Overpowering the carnal soul that commands evil.
3. Washing the psychic dirt from the seed of the pure soul so that
divine knowledge becomes clear.
4. Understanding the suffering of the hungry.
5. Attaining bodily health.
6. Emptying the worst of containers, for “no full container is worse
than the belly.”

Constant Recollection of “There is no god but God”

There are at least 18 benefits in this recollection, two of which are:

1. Whoever once honestly says, “There is no god but God,” and then
dies, will go to Heaven.
2. The Prophet said: The key to Paradise is “There is no god but God.”

The Denial of Thoughts

This practice is very difficult. It is almost similar to the Buddhist practice
of awareness of thoughts and to replace it by a mantra e. g. ‘Buddho.’ In
this Sufi practice the wayfarer uses recollection in the form of a Dhikr e.g.
Allah. In this teaching thoughts are of five kinds:

1) The first is from God, which enters the heart spontaneously. Denying
of this thought is an impossibility.

2) The second thought is from the heart and the third is from the angel.
These thoughts are close, but there is a subtle difference. The angelic
thought makes one more chivalrous than the one from the heart.

3) The fourth is the one from the carnal soul and the fifth is from Satan.
Both are close to one another with a difference. If the carnal soul desires
something and does not get it, it continues to desire it and conflicts
appear. When Satan commands something that is a sin, if a man does not
do it, Satan wants him to do something else, for his goal is to mislead.

4) Thoughts from the heart and angel seek the nearness of God and

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rewards from the next world. Thoughts from the carnal soul and Satan
avoid the nearness to God and they incline towards worldly vanities and
passionate desires. Those from the heart and angel produce peace and
quietude, whilst those from the carnal soul and Satan bring out an inter-
nal heaviness with objections from every corner. The former is praise-
worthy and the latter is blameworthy. The former thoughts always appear
at the moment of death, but the latter arise at the time of bodily health
and happiness. The former brings purity, while the latter brings forth
obscurity and heaviness of the heart.

The most powerful tools and consistent techniques in the cleansing of the
ego are the Dhikr (recollection) and meditation.

Dhikr
There is a polish for everything that taketh away rust;
And the polish for the heart is the invocation of Allah.

The moment of awakening (tauba) is an act of grace and a gift from God.
From thence onwards, the wayfarer’s task is to keep longing for the
Beloved until there is no more sense of separation. During our daily rou-
tine this recollection of union must be continuously remembered so that
the heart’s desires can be brought up into our consciousness. This is the
purpose of the dhikr. The dhikr is used like a mantra: a sacred word or
phrase to be repeated in every moment of our life. It can be a phrase like
“La ilaha illa llah,” (there is no god but God). Normally it is one of the
attributes of God, e.g. truth, patience, and love. The foremost of the 99
names is Allah, which contains all His divine attributes.

The dhikr can be repeated silently or vocally. In groups this chanting pro-
duces a very powerful effect as to propel the wayfarers into the arena of
love. To the lover only the Beloved exists and in that temporary merging
there is no more duality. Abu Sa’id said, “recollection is forgetting every-
thing else besides Him.”

Some chants Allah vocally, and some prefer a silent invocation. Nashband
said: “God is silence and is most easily reached in silence.” This silent
invocation can become a continual prayer of recollection. This practice is
continued until it goes beyond words, beyond form to the center of the

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heart, where the Beloved is always present. This dhikr at first is in words.
Then it spreads throughout one’s being and going down to the heart, after
which it rises to the soul. Thence it goes further down to the realm of
secret and then to the hidden to the most hidden of the hidden. How far
and how deep it goes down depends on Allah.
So in repeating His name we remember Him in the mind and then in the
heart until every cell in the body repeats the dhikr. “First you do the dhikr
and then the dhirk does you.” The dhikr is used to re-program our mind
to God. It alters our mental, psychological and physical bodies. Mentally
one is focussing the mind towards one-pointedness---God. The daily hap-
hazard scattering of the thoughts is re-arranged to one subject---God.
You become what you think. When we think of Allah we become one
with Allah. Here it is subtler and more powerful than that. This sacred
dhikr literally links the individual with the essence of the word---Allah.

Abu-Hamid al-Ghazali notes that remembrance or dhikr has four basic

meanings.

First, it is a constant act of being mindful of Allah. Prayer is also a recol-

lection, inviting the Sufi into Allah’s presence.

Second, the dhikr is the repetition of a Mystical Name or phrase like Allah.
This requires intention, awareness, concentration and initiation into the
practice. This is the remembrance of the tongue.

Third, the recollection means a temporary inner state in which awareness

of God overwhelms the person and he becomes divorced from all world-
ly concerns temporarily. This is the remembrance of the heart.

Fourth, remembrance is a deep and stable inner condition in which invo-

cation and mindfulness become constant. This is the remembrance of the
soul.

Weekly, the dervishes come together to perform the dhikr together. They
practice unity of breath, sound and movement (dervish dance) in the
Remembrance ceremony. Unity brings them closer to God, Who is also
Unity. They do all these activities as if they are one. During this ceremony,
remembrance descends from the tongue to the heart, thence to the soul.

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Meditation
This practice is the essential core and the principal method for the trans-
formation of the heart. In fact meditation is the end-all and be-all of all
mystic practices. The sheikh or master of a group will teach his own
brand of meditation: they differ from sheikh to sheikh. The technique
here is to see who you are and what you are. Meditation must also be pre-
ceded by a period of withdrawal of the senses. The discipline here is the
purification of the senses. Then one can embark on the meditation prop-
er. As most of my lectures are basically on spiritual growth and the pur-
suit of truth and reality, one can search for different methods of medita-
tion in my other lectures. Most techniques on meditation boil down to
two types: one-pointed concentration (samatha) and awareness (vipas-
sana). The preliminary practice of using a mantra (dhikr) is very useful and
appropriate to the practice of one-pointed concentration. In fact mantra
is one of the objects used for one-pointed concentration. The one-point-
ed concentration (samatha) makes the mind absorbed into the object.
Subject and object are fused into one, which can be dissipated or blown
away into emptiness or nothingness. In the practice of awareness (vipas-
sana), the thoughts and emotions would finally come to nought—empti-
ness or nothingness. The wayfarer has now come to a stage of stillness
emptiness and silence. Silence is a powerful tool. From this stage the med-
itator should bring his awareness of emptiness down the region of the
heart. Keeping this stance steady there will now be a deepening of empti-
ness, layer after layer until one reaches the ground of the soul. This real-
ly means that all cares and worries of the world are completely annihilat-
ed (fana). The meditator has become the lover waiting for the Beloved to
turn up. When will the Beloved turn up is wholly dependent on Allah's
grace. Finally the lover and Beloved merge into Unity. This exhilarating
moment is what the wayfarer has been waiting for years or a lifetime.

All mystical practices follow the above description: Vedanta, Zen

Buddhism, Christian Mysticism and Taoism. Not only are the practices
similar, Sufi practice mimics Christian Mysticism to the letter. The
Christian awakening is the tauba of Sufism. The Christian purification of
the senses corresponds with the Sufi path (tariqah). The Sufi Truth
(haqiqah) is the Christian Illumination--the direct experiencing of God.
Although the Christians mystics emphasize the Dark Night of the Soul,
most mystics of other religions also experience it, but it is taken as part

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and parcel of the path. The Dark Night will finally end up with Gnosis,
the marifah of Sufism, which brings up the superior knowledge and inner
knowing. This is followed by constant attunement with Allah. Finally
both end up with Unity.

Love is the weapon to open up the heart

Love. Rumi said that love is the only force that can transcend reason,
knowledge and normal consciousness. Love does not only give one sen-
sual pleasure but also mental bliss. Once you are in love, you tend to
love all things and all of God’s creation. In Sufi practice love will contin-
ue to expand until one is certain of being loved and loving. Sheikh
Muzaffer the Sufi master wrote, “The essence of God is love and the
Sufi path is a path of love…. Love is to see what is good and beautiful
in everything. It is to learn from everything, to see the gifts of God and
the generosity of God in everything. It is to be thankful for all God’s
bounties.” By loving God, one gets a quick response, and finally love
brings the lover to union with the Beloved. If you take two steps
towards God, God runs to you.

While loving God, He will draw the lover to divine presence. As this
occurs, striving melts into surrender.

Transforming the Self

The goal of all mysticism is to transform the self, which has been hith-
erto endowed with greed, pride and lust. The extreme opposite is the
cleansed self, in which its purity will allow it to merge with God. The
pure self becomes Self, where no duality exists. The self-centered self is
mainly driven by the ego with its wants and desires. As the wayfarer
practices the Sufi path he will be transformed. In Sufi terms, there are
seven levels of self, ranging from the absolutely selfish and egotistical to
the spiritually pure:

1. The Commanding Self. It tends to dominate and control others to

evil ends. He is immoral without compassion. Aggression and lust are
the characteristic features with greed, wrath, passion and envy. He is
addicted to negative habits with very little chance of change. At this
stage, he is unaware and unconscious.

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2. The Regretful Self. For the first time, with deepening faith insight
starts to arise. He now realizes the previous self-centered desires and
cravings are negative and detrimental to his path. Being regretful, he
tries to raise himself above the crass animalistic desires and lust. The
battle between the self and the soul is on. At this level there will be not
much change, but the wayfarer will begin to realize that his addiction to
his desires and lust causes trouble to himself and others.

3. The Inspired Self. The wayfarer is now beginning to enjoy his spiri-
tual practices like prayers and meditation. His foibles are now being con-
verted to service and compassion. This is the real Sufi practice. Before
this it was exoteric outer performance. His baser values are now not the
mainstay of his drive. He is now trying to live in this higher plane.
Without this effort, these higher motivations will wither. His behavior
now includes compassion, gentleness with moralistic values, making him
respectable and respected.

4. The Contented Self. He is now at peace with no more struggles

with the old desires and attachments. The ego is letting go more and
more and attuning to the Divine. This contented self accepts both
adversities and benefits. This period of transition is destroying the influ-
ence of the ego and integrating with the universal consciousness.

5. The Pleased Self. He is now pleased even with all the adversities and
difficulties of life realizing they all come from God. He now no more
avoids pain or looks for pleasure.

6. The Self Pleasing to God. At this stage he realizes that all acts
come from God and he has no free will. As there is no fear, he does not
ask for anything. It is a marriage of the self with the soul. He has now
achieved inner unity and wholeness. The multiplicity has made him see
the world as one entity.

7. The Pure Self. Having transcended the ego-self he realizes that he is

not separate from God. He has realized the truth. The truth is “there is
no god but God”. The accomplished Sufi now knows only the Divine
exists and there is nothing else but God. There is no individuality and
separation is an illusion. Rumi says:

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 If you could get rid of yourself just once,
The secret of secrets would open to you.
The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe
Would appear on the mirror of your perception.

Fana
Fana is the annihilation of the lover or ego to create the holy space for
the arrival of the Beloved. This is the beginning of Divine attunement.
The attunement can start as soon as the lover is being eradicated until
there is no more lover. The lover has been dissolved into the Beloved as
sugar in water. The utmost attunement means complete detachment
from the world although compassion for fellow human beings is still
there. The more one is attuned to the Divine the more power is given to
the Sufi. The individual has become nought to the outside world, i.e.
utter humility. To become nothing is to ‘die before you die.’ This burn-
ing and destruction of the self in order to melt with the Self is the only
way to annul the pain of separation. The ego and the Self cannot live
together in the chamber of one heart. It is with the help of the teacher
or sheikh that we can eradicate the ego. It is also the traditional Sufi
practices that help to bring on the grace of God to break the links of
attachment to the world. Sometimes we have even to relinquish the
desire to merge with God. The final act is to totally ‘surrender’, which is
the surest way to empty the space for the Beloved. Once we surrender,
the Self rushes to reach us. In the act of surrender the ego and mind
just simply melt away. And when that happens we see nothing but God.
When the ego is present the mind cannot experience unity with God,
where there is no duality, no distinction between observer and observed.
When fana is achieved the individual knows that he has always been
united with God. It is the ego that veils us of this Truth.

Baqa
Unity leads us to baqa, ‘abiding in God.’ Baqa is the beginning of a new
journey. From thence he becomes more and more lost in God, as he
lives in a dual state of separation and union. We need the ego to live
and function in the world, but we also know that the Beloved is all the
time in our heart. His presence is always there, although He has no form
or image. However His Presence is always felt as a guiding force and a
sweetness that gives out a lovely fragrance. Finally in meditation we

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enter into that dark silence and stillness, which confirms that He is at
home in our heart. There we abide. In this meditation of silence the
expansion of the heart reveals its power in the state of union where,
God takes us to God. This is the deepest fulfillment any human can
experience.

During this last period of attunement and fulfillment the heart spins faster and
faster with love energy. This love energy has a much faster velocity than the material
body. Sometimes the wayfarer cannot take this pace psychologically and a psychosis
may ensue. However, the teacher and the members in the Sufi order can help to pre-
vent the psychosis. Or sometimes he goes into ecstasy, a ‘spiritual drunkenness.’ The
group accepts this state endearingly.

In the World but not of the World

Sufism is different from all the other mystical practices, in which the
groupings or sects live in monasteries, wearing robes of different attire
to distinguish themselves from the lay public. The Sufi order has one
teacher or sheikh, whose lineage can be traced back to Prophet
Muhammad. The Sufi wayfarers wear normal clothes, work in ordinary
occupations, marry and bring up families. Most of their jobs are humble
ones like artisans, schoolteachers or merely sweepers. In their occupa-
tions and dealings with the outside world, they try to be inconspicuous
and become ‘nothing.’ Because they have not been secluded in the tem-
ples or monasteries, they do not get ‘enlightened' and then return to the
market place. Most of these eastern, religious mystics get so disappoint-
ed with the return to the secular as to coin a phrase “After the Ecstasy,
the Laundry.” The Sufis never leave the common community. They
practice working as ordinary members of the community. The work and
duty to God has always been “Love and Service.” This theme remains in
baqa after ‘enlightenment.’ A Sufi prayer says it aptly:

I do not ask to see.

I do not ask to know.
I ask only to be used.

Service
Being filled with love, the enlightened Sufi wants only to serve all of
God’s creatures. Watering the plants and feeding the animals are pleasur-

502
able acts of service to God. As far as humans are concern there is not a
single enemy amongst them and to serve them is the highest act to serve
God. How to serve? Whoever asks you for help, give it within the limits
of your capability with love. Do not promise beyond your means. In
serving there should not be any distinction between friends, relatives
and strangers. Service includes helping your nearest and dearest. Do not
take to heart any hostile acts by mischievous people. Treat them as
friends who have gone astray. With love be very compassionate and
sympathetic towards those who are serving you. If one is called upon to
serve the community or nation, be enthusiastic about it, but make sure
that there is no kudos attached. If accolades or praises are given it is
equivalent to being paid. So do not take any notice of them. While per-
forming all the above acts, continue to maintain the Divine Presence in
the heart. One is not allowed to be unaware of His Presence for a sec-
ond. Love in the heart must be encouraged to bloom.

Throughout the day prayers must be performed according to the reli-

gious laws. Then go home at the right hour to be with one’s family.
After dinner and the night prayers, prepare for the evening’s meditation
practice. Look forward to the evening’s going into silence and stillness.
Be thankful that the day’s proceedings have been uneventful. If mishaps
had taken place, accept them as chores and work allocated to you by
God. Be grateful that you have been chosen for these chores. There
should not be any negative emotions accrued.

As long as one is in tune with the Beloved, the power to act and to
serve is gradually increased to super-human proportions. This fact is
seen in most of the Christian saints when they come back to the market
place to serve and work. In addition, some have greatly enhanced intu-
itive capability, telepathy, clairvoyance and healing energy. These are by-
products of enlightenment for some, but not for all.

Die Before You Die

Throughout one’s spiritual journey, one principle should be kept in
mind: contemplation of death. This is the inevitable end of every
human: the minute one is born one is walking towards one’s death.
Mindful of our mortality is the best way to be detached. Death makes
our greed and status achievement ridiculous. Nobody has ever taken

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with him his wealth and fame when he dies. Nobody knows the timing
of one’s demise, as most people do not know their G-plan (one’s life
plan that was constructed before birth). Wealth and health do not guar-
antee one’s longevity. The date and time of one’s death is inevitable and
unalterable. So don’t waste time. Walk the spiritual path at every
moment of one’s remaining days.

References
1. Hammudah Abdalati, Islam in Focus, Published by Islamic Book Trust,
46000 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. 1998.

2. William C. Chittick, Sufism, A Short Introduction. Oneworld

Publications, Oxford, OX2 7AR England.2000.

3. James Fadiman and Robert Frager, editors, Essential Sufism.

HarperCollins New York. 1997

4. Kabir Helminski, The knowing Heart, A Sufi Path of Transformation.

Shambala, Boston and London. 2000.

5. Martin Lings, What is Sufism? The Islamic Texts Society. Cambridge,

UK. 1993.

6. Wahid Bakhsh Rabbani, Islamic Sufism. Premier Publishing Company

Aligarh-India or The Sufi Foundation, Lahore, Pakistan. 1984.

7. W. Stoddart and R.A. Nicholson, Sufism. Adam Publishers and

Distributors, Delhi, India.1998.

8. Mark J. Sedgwick, Sufism, The Essentials. The American University

in Cairo Press, Cairo, Egypt. 2000.

9. A.M.A. Shustery, Early Sufis and their Sufism. Adam Publishers and
Distributors, Delhi, India. 1999.

10. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Sufism, The Transformation of the Heart. The

Golden Sufi Center, California, USA. 1995.

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 A Touch of Zen.
An ordinary man is a Buddha; illusion is salvation. A foolish thought, ----- and we
are ordinary, vulgar, stupid. The next enlightened thought, - and we are the (exalted,
poetical, and wise) Buddha.

Huineng

I do nothing meritorious,
But the Buddha-nature manifests itself.
This is not because of my teacher’s instruction,
Nor is it due to any attainment of mine.

Chang Hang Chang

The mind is not the Mind, and becoming enlightened is not becoming enlightened.

Obaku

Before your father and mother were born, what was your original face?

Daito Kokushi

While deluded, one is used by this body; when enlightened, one uses this body.

Bunan

Introduction
This essay is to go into the historical sequence of how Zen Buddhism
came about. It also intends to analyze the philosophical tenets of Zen
Buddhism. One has to start from the source, which is Gautama Buddha.
From the beginning in Northern India, Gautama became enlightened and
he started to teach how to deal with the problems of life. Then Buddhism
was brought by Bodhidharma to China about 600 years after Buddha
passed away. In China with Buddhism as the father, the indigenous
Taoism as the mother, Zen Buddhism was begotten. To some extent,

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Confucianism also played a part in the ethics and morality of Zen. Six
hundred years after Bodhidharma came to China Zen Buddhism went
over to Japan. Some sort of marriage also took place there. Chinese Zen
Buddhism merged with Japan’s indigenous religions. These were the Shin,
Nichiren, Tendai, Shingon and Jodo. All these together amalgamated with
Chinese Zen to produce Japanese Zen. In Japan Zen also split into Rinzai
and Soto sects.

In India the states of mind during meditation is designated ‘Dhyana’. In

Pali it is called ‘Jhana’. It is this ‘Jhana’ that eventually became ‘Chan’ in
Chinese. In Japan this ‘Chan’ became Zen. In other words Zen literally
means meditation.

Today, Buddhism is divided into Theravada and Mahayana. Theravada

Buddhism prevails in Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia,
Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Tibetan Lamaism and
Buddhism of Korea, China, Mongolia and Japan represent Mahayana
Buddhism. Of course, in the present day, there is quite an admixture of
Mahayana and Theravada in the South East Asian countries. Interestingly,
the difference between Zen and Tibetan Buddhism is far greater than the
difference between Zen and Theravada Buddhism. However, the dividing
principle here is Arahatship of Theravada and the Bodhisattvahood of
Mahayana.

We have to trace the historical trend of how Indian Buddhism became

Zen. It was said in some quarters that Zen began when Buddha held up
a flower and Mahakasyapa smiled. This silent smile represents transmission
from Gautama Buddha to the first Indian Zen Patriarch. There were
twenty-eight Indian Zen patriarchs all told. Bodhidharma was the 29th
Indian Zen Patriarch and became the first Chinese Zen Patriarch.

Bodhidharma
Bodhidharma was the First Chinese Zen Patriarch to have brought
Buddhism to China. His Buddhism had a fair amount of Hinduism in it.
There were still some strains of Upanishads in his mental makeup. He was
born in 440 AD in Kanchi in South India. He was a Brahmin by birth and
was the third son of King Simhavarman. He was converted to Buddhism
at a young age, receiving the Dharma from Prajnatara, who also asked him

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to go to China. Bodhidharma left the port of Mahaballipuram at the east
coast of India and skirted around the Malay Peninsula for 3 years to arrive
in South China around 475 AD.

Buddhism had already arrived in China as early as 65 AD and since then

tens of thousands of Indian and Central Asian monks had journeyed to
China by land and sea. By the time Bodhidharma arrived in China, there
were approximately 2,000 Buddhist temples and 36,000 clergy in the South.
In the North a census counted 6,500 temples and 80,000 clergy. Less than
50 years later the figures rose to 30,000 temples and 2,000,000 clergy.

According to legend, Bodhidharma also brought tea to China. In order

not to fall asleep, he cut out his eyelids, which fell to the ground. On the
ground where the eyelids fell tea bushes grew. Another legend quoted that
he crossed the Yangtze on a hollow reed and settled in the Northern Wei
capital of Pingcheng. When the Emperor Hsiao-wen moved his capital to
Loyang, most of the monks followed suit, as they were dependent on
royal patronage. In the year 496, the Emperor ordered the construction of
the Shaolin Temple on Mount Sung. It was here in Shaoshih Peak that
Bodhidharma spent nine years meditating facing the wall in a cave. He
also must have instructed his disciples in some form of yoga, but not
specifically teaching any form of martial arts. He had only a few disciples,
and one of them was Huike, to whom he entrusted the bowl and robe.
Soon after this transfer he died in 528, apparently poisoned by a jealous
monk. Again legend has it that 3 years later an official met him walking in
the mountains of Central Asia. He was carrying a staff, from which hung
a single sandal, telling the official that he was going back to India. In
respond to sundry rumors, his tomb was opened and only a single sandal
was found. There was no body!

The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

In his time, there were basically two roads that lead to the Path: reason
and practice. To enter by reason means to realize the essence through
instruction and to believe that all living things share the same true nature.
To enter by practice refers to four practices: 1) suffering injustice, 2)
adapting to conditions, 3) seeking nothing, and 4) practicing the Dharma.

1) Suffering injustice. Because of past karma one suffers in this life.

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With understanding one should accept the injustices because of one’s evil
deeds in one’s past lives. Keeping harmony with reason, one enters the
Path.

2) Adapting to conditions. The suffering and joy we experience depend

on conditions of our fruits planted in the past lives. One should not be
happy or sad as these conditions will end. The mind, however, remains
unmoved. If this is realized, one enters the Path.

3) Seeking Nothing. Craving or seeking is suffering. All things contain

nothing as their true essence. The wise does not desire and is not attached
to anything. They are on the Path, seeking nothing.

4) Practicing the Dharma. The truthful Dharma says that all natures are
pure and empty. “The Dharma includes no being because it’s free from
the impurity of being, and the Dharma includes no self because it’s free
from the impurity of self ”. The wise, that believes this truth, practices
charity, giving away all things including self without bias and vanity of the
giver. They also teach others this practice of the way to enlightenment.
This is practicing the Dharma.

Of course Bodhidharma taught a lot of things, but we will just study two
of his sermons: Bloodstream Sermon and Wake-up Sermon. These two will
give an indication of the essence of his teaching. Both sermons are taken
from the “The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma” translated by Red Pine.

Bloodstream Sermon
The mind is Buddha, nirvana or enlightenment. This is the reality of self-
nature. The mind is Buddha-nature. Whoever sees his own nature is a
Buddha. It is useless invoking Buddhas, reciting sutras, making offerings
and keeping precepts, if you don’t see your own nature. Running around
all day looking for a Buddha is a thorough waste of time. Just realize your
own nature. There is no Buddha outside your own Buddha-nature. The
nature of this mind is basically empty, neither pure or impure. This nature
is free of cause and effect. This Buddha-nature needs not practice or real-
ize. It does no good or evil; it does not observe precepts. It is not lazy or
energetic. It does nothing. A Buddha is not a Buddha. Without seeing
your nature, you cannot practice thoughtlessness all the time. This mind

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or Buddha-nature is not the sensual mind. It never lived or died through-
out the kalpas. The mind has no form and its awareness no limit. “ A
tathagata’s forms are endless. And so is his awareness”. Our mind is the
same as the mind of all Buddhas. “Everything that has form is an illu-
sion”. “ Wherever you are, there is a Buddha.” We’ve always had our
Buddha-nature. Our mind is the Buddha: don’t worship a Buddha with a
Buddha. Once a person realizes his mind or Buddha-nature, he stops cre-
ating karma.

Your mind is like space: you cannot grasp it. It has no cause or effect. No
one can fathom it. This mind is not outside the body, which has no aware-
ness. It is not the body that moves; it is the mind that moves.

This sermon speaks of the Buddha-nature, which is empty and has no

form. We always have had the Buddha-nature within us, and this sermon
also describes in detail what is the Buddha-nature. But it does not teach
us how to see our Buddha-nature.

Wake-up Sermon
Detachment is enlightenment because it negates appearances’.
Buddhahood means awareness.

To leave the three realms (poisons) means to go from greed, anger and
delusion to morality, meditation and wisdom. The three poisons are also
buddha-nature. Not thinking of anything is Zen. To see emptiness and no
mind is to see Buddha. To give oneself is the greatest charity and to tran-
scend motion and stillness is the highest meditation. Mortals keep mov-
ing whilst arhats stay still. Using the mind to look for reality is delusion.
Not creating delusion is enlightenment. No affliction is nirvana.

No appearance of the mind is the other shore. When deluded this shore
exists. When you wake up, it does not exist. Those who discover the great-
est of vehicles stay on neither shore.

Delusion means mortality. Awareness means Buddhahood.

The impartial Dharma is only practiced by great bodhisattvas and

Buddhas. To look on life and death as different and motion is different

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from stillness is to be partial. To be impartial is to take suffering as no dif-
ferent to nirvana, as both natures are empty. That means when suffering
one is in nirvana. Nirvana is beyond birth and death and beyond nirvana.
When the mind stops moving it enters nirvana, which is an empty mind.

When thought begins you enter the three realms of desire, anger and
form. When thought ends you leave the three realms.

Mortals think the mind exists whilst arhats say they don’t, but bod-
hisattvas and Buddhas say that mind neither exists nor does not exists.
This is the Middle Way.

Those who perceive the existence and nature of phenomena and remain
unattached are liberated. Not to be subjected by affliction of appearance of
phenomena is liberation. Looking at form without the arising of the mind
is the right way to look. When delusions are absent, the mind is the land of
Buddhas. When delusions are present, the mind is in hell. Bodhisattvas see
through delusions by using the mind to give birth to mind, they remain in
Buddha land. When thought arises there is good and bad karma, heaven
and hell. Where there are no thoughts, there is none of these.

When one is in nirvana, one does not see nirvana, because the mind is nir-
vana. One is deluding oneself, if one sees nirvana outside one’s own mind.

Suffering gives rise to Buddhahood: your mind and body are the field.
Suffering is the seed, wisdom the sprout, and Buddhahood the grain.

The Buddha is like fragrance in a tree: Buddha comes from a mind free
of suffering, but the mind does not come from Buddha. Whoever wants
to see Buddha must see the mind first. Once you have seen the Buddha,
you forget about the mind. However you cannot have Buddha without a
mind. If you fill a land with impurity and filth, no Buddha will appear.
Like ice and water, mortality and Buddhahood are the same nature. To be
in the three realms is in mortality: to be purified of the three poisons is
Buddhahood. When a mortal is enlightened, he does not change his face:
he knows his mind through internal wisdom and takes care of his body
through external discipline.

Mortals liberate Buddhas because afflictions create awareness. And

Buddhas liberate mortals because awareness negates affliction. Buddhas

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regard delusion as their father and greed as their mother. Delusion and
greed are different names for mortality.

When deluded you are on this shore. When aware you are on the other
shore. Once you know that your mind is empty and you are beyond delu-
sion and awareness: the other shore does not exist. The tathagata is not
on either shore. Neither is he in midstream. Arhats are in midstream.
Mortals are on this shore. Buddhahood is on the other shore.

Individuals create karma; karma does not create individuals. They create
karma in this life and receive their reward in the next. Only someone who
is perfect creates no karma and receives no reward. When you create
karma, you are reborn along with your karma. When you don't create
karma, you vanish along with your karma. That means karma has no hold
on him, who does not create karma. The present state of mind sows and
the next state of mind reaps.

“When you see that all appearances are not appearances, you see the tatha-
gata” says the sutras. The myriad doors of the truth all come from the
mind. When appearances of the mind are as transparent as space, they are
gone. When mortals are alive, they worry about death. When they are full,
they worry about hunger. Sages don’t consider the past, neither do they
worry about the future. They also do not cling to the present. They sim-
ply follow the Way from moment to moment.

In this sermon, Bodhidharma advised us not to indulge in the three poi-

sons of greed, anger and delusion. In addition, one must empty one’s
mind presumably through meditation. When one sees that the mind is
truly empty, one is free of delusion and awareness. One is in Nirvana.

The Other Patriarchs

Huike (Eka) was the Second Patriarch. Next, Sengtsan received the
bowl and robe from Huike, and became the Third Patriarch. At this time
there were periodic persecutions of Buddhism with wholesale burning of
sutras and images. Sengtsan, in order to avoid persecution, wandered all
over the country for fifteen years. Sengtsan also wrote the first treatise on
Zen - Hsinhsinming. This is a brilliant recording of the experience, knowl-
edge, and conviction of the Buddha-nature. This is a description of one’s

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Believing Mind in oneself where no doubt exists. It is deep, profound and
famous. Sengtsan died in 606 AD. In 592 AD he met Taohsin, who
became the Fourth Patriarch.

After Taohsin came Hungjen, the Fifth Patriarch. Hungjen died in 675
AD. He was renowned for having two famous and contentious disciples
named Huineng and Shenhsiu. Huineng was the notable, illiterate Sixth
Patriarch. Huineng initiated the ‘philosophy of living’ in Zen in the 7th
century. His Zen is neither Indian nor Chinese. His Zen is super-nation-
al, almost superhuman, but not supernatural.

Huineng
Huineng was born in 637 AD already an enlightened being and died in
713 AD. He was re-enlightened on hearing the Diamond sutra recited in
a house to which he had just delivered some firewood. He was enlight-
ened once again when the Fifth Patriarch, Hungjen, repeated the same
sutra. Huineng never went to school, but I suspect that he was not as illit-
erate as history would like to make him so. He was born knowing and he
knew that he knew. Zazen was the result and not the cause of his enlight-
enment. He taught the gospel that the eye can see itself. The real actor is
the action. Huineng’s Platform Sutra (Prajnaparamitahridaya) is very long.
However, two poems by Shenhsui and Huineng embody the whole histo-
ry of Buddhism. Huineng was 24 years old when he arrived at the Wang-
mei monastery of Hungjen, the Fifth Patriarch. He was asked to pound
rice in the barn. Hungjen (601-674) had asked his disciples to compose a
poem to indicate their degree of enlightenment. His foremost disciple,
Shenhsui (606-706) composed this gatha and wrote it on the temple wall:

The body is the Bodhi tree (enlightenment)

The mind is a clear mirror standing.
Incessantly wipe and polish it;
Allow no grain of dust to cling.

Huineng had Shenhsui’s gatha read to him. Unimpressed by it, Huineng

composed one himself. He asked the temple boy to write it on the temple
wall:
The Bodhi is not like a tree,
The clear mirror is nowhere standing.

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 Fundamentally not one thing exists:
Where, then is a grain of dust to cling?

Hungjen erased Huineng’s poem, stating that it was far from enlighten-
ment. He then asked Huineng to his rooms the following night. On that
night, Hungjen handed over to him the robe and alms bowl, making
Huineng the Sixth Patriarch. Huineng was also advised to flee to the
south, crossing the Yangtze River that same night. Huineng did that
straightaway.

Some features of Huineng’s teaching.

Huineng had some critical comments on zazen. He criticized Shenhsui’s
advice to his own disciples to concentrate ‘their minds on quietness as
long as possible.’ To this advice, Huineng had this to say: “To concentrate the
mind on quietness is a disease of the mind, and not Zen at all.” When asked how
he could understand the meaning of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, he
answered: “The profound meaning of all the Buddhas has no connection with words
and letters.” “The right way to recite a sutra is according to its meaningless Meaning.
To put a meaning into it is all wrong.”

Huineng was at the entrance of a monastery in southern China, and this

was what he heard and saw:

The temple flag was blowing in the wind. Two monks were arguing about it.

One said: “The flag is moving.”

The other said: “The wind is moving.”

Thus they argued back and forth, reaching no agreement. Then the Sixth
Patriarch said: “It is not the wind that’s moving; it is not flag that’s moving -- it’s
your mind that is moving.”

The two monks were awe-stricken (with enlightenment).

As a matter of reality, the mind is also not moving!

Upon his return to southern China, Huineng lived in seclusion in the

513
forests and mountains for sixteen years. Later he lived in the monastery
Pao-lin in Ts’ao-chi, Canton. Huineng passed away, seated in the lotus
position, on August 28, 713 AD at Kuo-en Temple in Hsin-chou. His
death position tells us much more about his stand on zazen than any other
postulations of his.

Huineng, thus, became celebrated as the new founder of the “Southern

Zen of Suddenness.” This contrasts with Shenhsui’s “Northern Zen of
Gradualness” where the usual practice was gradual meditation, which
means purifying one’s mind.

The Three Schools of Zen

The 6th Patriarch had many disciples, five of whom were prominent:
Seigen, Nangaku, Kataku, Nanyo and Yoka. The Rinzai and Soto
schools were both derived from two of these five Great Masters:
Nangaku and Seigen. Eisai founded the Rinzai and Dogen initiated the
Soto sect. Besides these two sects, Japanese Zen has another sect: Obaku
(Hwang-po). This is the smallest school and was introduced by the
Chinese monk, Yin-yuan (1592-1673). His teaching was very much like
the Rinzai but he emphasized zazen and repeated invocation of Buddha
Amitabha to be reborn in the Pure Land. From these three major sects,
they are subdivided into 24 subsects.

Japanese Buddhism
Although Buddhism was introduced to Japan as early as 522 AD, it was
Prince Shotoku who established Buddhism in Japan. He ruled Japan from
593 to 622 AD. He incorporated Buddhist teachings into the political and
social life of Japan. Buddhism was proclaimed as the state religion. The
foundation of Buddhism was instituted as a temple, an asylum, a hospital,
and a dispensary. He also instituted spiritual harmony by enunciating the
Three Treasures: The Buddha, The Dharma and The Sangha are to be
revered as the ultimate truth. At this period he allowed Buddhism to tran-
scend the indigenous Japanese Shitoism. In 604 AD he promulgated the
first constitution of Japan in which he stated that a single monarch
implied equality of all the people. He pronounced that Buddha was the
saviour of all mankind.

A permanent capital in Nara was established in 710 AD and this act

promised two centuries of Buddhist growth and influence in all walks of

514
social life. Temples and monasteries were built for religious functions and
communications, and these led to accumulations of wealth. At the begin-
ning this money went to social and educational purposes, but later it led
to corruption of the monkhood. A great historical event came as the ded-
ication of the Central Cathedral in Nara. It was known as the Todai-ji.
Furthermore, a magnificent temple dedicated to the Buddha Vairocana
made the relationship of the government to Buddhism even closer. It was
during this Nara period that the merging of the three major schools of
spiritual teachings took place: Shinto, Buddhism and Confucianism. Shinto
happily joined the other two because it was primarily a tribal cult with a
belief in protecting deities functioning through local rituals. Confucianism
supplied the ethical teachings basing on virtue. The ancestor worship and
filial piety of Confucianism were easily absorbed into the Hindu-influ-
enced Buddhism’s veneration of the dead. Then corruption set in. Monks
became rich and powerful. A breakdown with reformation was inevitable.

Reformation was precipitated when the capital was transferred from Nara
to Kyoto in 794 AD. Two brilliant monks rose up to entrench Japanese
Buddhism with the support of the state. Saicho (767-822) and Kukai
(774-835) tried to develop new schools of Buddhism infusing Chinese
Buddhism in their attempts. Saicho (Dengyo-daishi) founded a seat of
learning at Mount Hiei not far from Kyoto. Here he introduced the scrip-
tures and treatises of the Tendai School of Chinese Buddhism. These
teachings emphasized the universality of attainment of Buddhahood,
embracing the lowest of beings, including beasts and insects. His concept
of universal salvation and his ability to conduct mystical ceremonies won
him government support. Saicho of Mount Hiei then became the
supreme Buddhist power before the decay in the twelve and thirteen cen-
turies. At one stage he was even able to control state affairs.

Kukai (Kobo-daishi) also visited China and brought back a new form of
Chinese Buddhism—Shingon. This has a mixture of mysticism and
occultism and it was situated fifty miles from Kyoto on Mount Koya.
Kukai’s reputation as a powerful occultist earned him the respect of all
and sundry---influential nobles and simple folks alike. Eventually Shingon
became the strongest amidst all Buddhist schools because of the esoteric
aspects of its teachings.

These ritualistic and superstitious aspects of Shingon Buddhism became

515
even more powerful after Kukai died. Wealth and power were the perfect
ingredients for corruption and decay in the Buddhist hierarchy and monk-
hood in the latter part of the ninth century onwards. It even led to the
formation of monk-soldiers (sohei). From defensive these sohei became
offensive intimidating the national government. The power of the sohei
became so unmanageable that the Fujiwara clan had to bring in provincial
warriors to put down the sohei in the 11th century. The military finally
established a military government in Kamakura near Tokyo in 1185.

Buddhism was transformed visibly. The three new forms of Buddhism,

Jodo Shin, Zen and Nichiren were established in the 13th century. Now only
simple piety and spiritual excises prevailed. So finally personal experience,
piety and intuition were the mainstay of the religious practice. In this peri-
od all classes including the common people came to abide by the new
Buddhist schools. Buddhism for the common man was now available to
layman or monk, man or woman.

What is Zen Buddhism?

Let us start with the question: “who is the founder of Zen?”

Bodhidharma came to China in the 6th century and it was he that was gen-
erally credited as the founder of Zen. Some say that this was not the case.
They say that Huineng was the real founder of Zen in the 8th century.
Huineng’s enunciation that prajna and jhana should go together and that
one should not practice jhana first until proficient was a startling reversal to
the previous Patriarchs. One cannot have jhana without prajna and vice
versa. Prajna is intuitive wisdom, which is equivalent to enlightenment.

The Noble Eightfold Path is composed of three disciplines: 1) moral pre-

cepts, 2) meditation (jhana), and 3) prajna (transcendental wisdom). So
with Huineng’s teachimg, prajna (enlightenment) is synonymous with
jhana (meditation). This is Zen Buddhism. Whereas before Huineng,
meditation comes first, and when meditation succeeds wisdom and
enlightenment arise. But prajna cannot be attained with discursive knowl-
edge. It is intuitive knowledge. In other words, while we are thinking, talk-
ing and feeling, Zen and prajna are present at the same time. Zen and pra-
jna are not two different items: they are one and the same thing. When
one sees a flower, the flower must see one as well. This is then the real

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seeing. Also knowing alone is not enough. Seeing must come with know-
ing: seeing is direct experience and knowing is philosophical, knowing
about. So in Zen context, the seeing and knowing must move up to a
higher plane, and this intuitive seeing becomes prajna, which is jhana.
When Zen talks about feeling and desire it should be reminded that these
feelings should not refer to the selfish relative self. It should refer to
something higher, so that it becomes intuition---enlightenment. It must
also be collective or total intuition, which becomes real understanding of
reality i.e. enlightenment. This is what Zen tries to achieve. In practice,
Zen means doing anything perfectly: making mistakes perfectly etc. In
other words, there is no egoism in what we are doing. The whole activity
is harmonious. The perfect pain that we suffer is universal pain. The joy
is universal joy.

Zen has no dogmas, no ritual, no mythology, no church, and no holy

book. In all its varied and deep experiences of life and culture, there is
usually a similar taste of depth of oneness. But there is also separation.
Egolessness and ego are also absorbed in this depth of voidness. Zen is
interesting and has good taste. Its mountains are more mountainous.
Actually nobody understands Zen. Nobody can explain it. Zen arises
spontaneously out of the human heart: not a special revelation to anyone.
When goodness, truth and beauty are all present, as one, there is Zen. To
grasp movement in stillness, and stillness in movement, this is Zen.

Sunyata
Another crucial statement of Huineng is “Fundamentally not one thing
exists” confirms the sunyata (emptiness) of the Wisdom Sutras. This
emptiness affirms the ultimate reality that lies beyond all concepts. It also
accords with the philosophy of Nagarjuna, which is not nihilism.
Huineng’s enlightenment can only be realized when one’s consciousness
breaks through rational and dualistic thinking. Nothing is grasped because
prajna (wisdom) works in a non-objective way. This is the true, free,
dynamic mirror-play of the mind.

In the Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, the two types of meditation are exem-
plified very discriminatively by the two Chinese phrases: k’an-ching (kanjo)
and chien-hsing (kensho). K’an-ching means “paying attention to purity”, and
chien-hsing means “seeing into one’s true nature.” Paying attention is an

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ego effort, whereas seeing into one’s Buddha-nature is transcendence.
There is a world of difference here. In the quiestistic type of meditation,
one must continually wipe clean the obscurities, whilst seeing into
Buddha-nature the dust on the mirror is not a hindrance. In this latter
case, non-dualism has already been achieved. In Huineng’s teaching, dyana
and prajna are the same thing i.e. practice and enlightenment are identical.
So meditation here means that it is only a process of revealing one’s enlight-
enment: it is not indispensable to attaining enlightenment. That is why
Huineng had no specific methods of meditation. There is a great deal of
freedom and leeway in his meditation techniques. He warned against
motionless sitting because it would obstruct the Tao, obscuring true real-
ity. In paying attention to purity externally, one only inhibits his original
Buddha-nature, because one’s inner nature is not activated.

Buddha-nature
The Doctrine of No Mind
Nagarjuna in the school of the Middle Way postulates in the Diamond
Sutra the theory of Voidness. Enlightened seeing is non-seeing, knowing
is non-thinking (wu-nien), mind is no mind (wu-hsin). D.T. Suzuki uses
the word “unconsciousness” to embrace the whole concept. His Zen
Doctrine of No Mind signifies the ultimate reality with terms like “non-
thinking, non-form, no mind, suchness, Buddha-nature etc.” In the same
study, Suzuki said “self-nature which is self-being is self-seeing, that there
is no Being besides Seeing which is Acting, that these three terms Being,
Seeing and Acting are synonymous and interchangeable.”

Similarly, the sutra of the Sixth Patriarch reads: “…in this teaching of
mine all have set up no-thought as the main doctrine, non-form as the
substance, and non-abiding as the basis. Non-form is to be separated
from form even when associated with form. No-thought is not to think
even when involved with thought. No-abiding is the original nature of
man.” In Huineng’s Southern School of enlightenment it is an experience
of ultimate reality and of Transcendence and Being. This breakthrough of
duality brings the yogi to a new dimension of Being and Transcendental
Unconsciousness. Thomas Merton puts it very well: “It really makes no
difference whatever if external objects are present in the mirror of con-
sciousness. There is no need to exclude or suppress them. Enlightenment
does not consist in being without them. True emptiness in the realization

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of the light of prajna-wisdom of the Unconsciousness is attained when
the light of prajna… breaks through our empirical consciousness and
floods with its intelligibility not only our whole being, but all the things
that we see and know around us. We are thus transformed in the prajna
light, we ‘become’ that light, which in fact we are.”

Buddha-nature is not the soul. It is not consciousness. It is not the store-

house consciousness (alaya-vijnana). Dogen: ‘For all beings are Buddha-
nature.” It is part of all beings or everything that exists. This includes
humans, animals, plants and inanimate objects. The Avatamsaka Sutra
says:

The three worlds are One Mind,

Nothing exists outside the mind.
Mind, Buddha, and all living beings -
There is no difference between these three.

The three worlds are---- the world of desire, the world of form and the
world of formlessness. These signify the entire universe, the totality of
physical and mental reality. When one is enlightened, when the mind is
awakened with practice and nirvana is reached: ‘the mind is identical with
Buddha.’ Also, “Buddha-nature is all things.” All beings are Buddha-
nature to the same extent. The one Buddha-nature is completely there in
every moment. Buddha-nature does not manifest in a continuous series of
past, present and future.

One cannot see, hear or know Buddha-nature with one’s eyes, ears or
mind. Buddha-nature is open, vast, empty and lucid. The ground of the
nothingness of Buddha-nature is emptiness. The nothingness of tran-
scendence is a double weighted “absolute emptiness.” So the being of
Buddha-nature is synonymous with nothingness of Buddha-nature and
emptiness of Buddha-nature.

As everything in the universe is impermanent, so is Buddha-nature. There

is permanence only in becoming, but supreme enlightenment and
Buddha-nature are all impermanent. Zen enlightenment is an experience
of oneness (non-duality). Ma-tsu states:

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 Outside the mind there is no Buddha,
Outside Buddha there is no mind.
Do not cling to good, do not reject evil!
Purity and defilement, if you depend on neither,
You will grasp the empty nature of sin.
n every moment it is ungraspable,
For no self-nature is there.
Hence the three worlds are only mind.
The universe and all things
Bear the seal of the One Dharma.

Our mind is originally one with the Buddha’s i.e. our Buddha nature. To
the Zen Buddhists, Buddha nature is first and the historical Buddha is sec-
ond. In order to realize our Buddha-mind, one must practice zazen whole-
heartedly. It also must include every action, speech and thought in our
daily life. This Zen way of life would lead to satori or enlightenment, but
satori is not the main aim. According to Dogen, meditation practice is
enlightenment itself. It is told that meditation (zazen) is the main and cru-
cial practice of all Zen Buddhists, but the Koan is also of prime impor-
tance to the Rinzai sect.

Rinzai Zen
The Rinzai sect also practices meditation, but more importantly is the Koan.
The meditation methods used usually vary from master to master, and there
is a fair amount of freedom in their methods. Whereas Soto Zen practices
mainly zazen and mindfulness of daily activities. Eisai-zenji (1141-1215),
founder of the Rinzai sect, went to China to study Zen at the age of 28, but
he was not enlightened in this first attempt. At 49 he went to China again
and this time he was successfully enlightened. He was then able to transmit
the essence of Lin-chi (Rinzai) to Japan. He taught strict adherence to the
vinaya, the rules of discipline for the monks and nuns. This is of the utmost
importance. Zazen is secondary. He also taught that dharma, the Buddhist
teachings of Law were identical to the Buddha-mind. And in order to real-
ize the Buddha-nature, the sutras are quite useless unless one is already real-
ized. That means Buddha-mind is transmitted from Buddha to Buddha. We
are already Buddhas when born, but we do not realize it. The Rinzai method
of using koans is to progress step by step in one’s meditation. Koans get
more and more difficult as one goes on until one is enlightened.

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The Koan
The practice of koans is unique in the practice of religions of the world.
Near the end of the T’ang period the Zen masters evolved this technique
leading to enlightenment. Ruth Fuller Sasaki who was married to a
Japanese Zen master, had this to say about koans: “The koan is not a
conundrum to be solved by a nimble wit. It is not a verbal psychiatric
device for shocking the disintegrated ego of a student into some kind of
stability. Nor, in my opinion, is it ever a paradoxical statement except to
those who view it from the outside. When the koan is resolved it is real-
ized to be a simple and clear statement made from the state of con-
sciousness which it has helped to awaken.”

The psychological sequence of the koan practice.

Nan-yuan Hui-yung (d.930) was the first to apply the words of earlier
masters as a mondo (exchanges of master and disciple) in a quick and direct
way. The koans consist of sharp retorts of masters, anecdotes from the
daily life of the Zen monastery, and occasionally even verses from the
sutras. The disciple is given a koan to solve by concentrating continuous-
ly with all his energy until he loses rational thinking. In this heightened
atmosphere he breaks into the suprarational realm of enlightenment.
Heavy concentration on the koan, day and night, will finally land the prac-
titioner into a hyper-alert state, in which he is aware of only one thing---
the koan. At first he searches for a solution of the koan, to no avail. Then
he reaches a state of helplessness and he finds himself climbing up the
wall, looking for the door of exit. Again it is useless. He has to have an
about turn sometimes leading to a psychic explosion. The master is always
there to guide and to lead the disciple. This master-disciple relationship is
close and intense, like the guru in India. There are daily interviews with
the student’s reports of makyo (hallucinations), his desperateness with
corrections and guidance by the master. Whatever happens, the student is
further exhorted to continue to work harder until the glimmer of light
begins to appear. Thence to satori.

The Chinese word for koan is kung-an. It means ‘public announcement.’ It

is generally accepted that there are 1,700 cases of koans, but there are
probably many more. The best known are the Hekiganroku and the
Mumonkan of the Sung period. The hundred cases of Hekiganroku paint a
vivid picture of the koan world and the Zen movement in China. It is of

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superb literary spiritual quality. The Mumonkan collection of forty-eight
koans is simpler, more for practical use. These were compiled by Hui-Kai
(1184-1260) a hundred years later. The Zen masters seemed to prefer the
Mumonkan precisely for their simplicity.

Soto Zen
Dogen introduced Soto Zen to Japan in the early part of the Kamakura
period (1185-1336). Soto Zen says that meditation awakens the individual
to the fact that he is already and totally integrated to the Law of Buddha
(i.e. enlightened), and meditation is to realize his inherent Buddha-nature.
This principle of non-duality is known as Madhyamika in Buddhism. It
states that thoughts of duality (subject-object, being and non-being etc)
cannot arrive at the true nature of existence. The Madhyamika states that
there are two levels of truth: the ‘supreme’ and the ‘conventional’. The
supreme means insight into the transcendental, where sunyata (void or
emptiness) dissolves the opposites. In this void, opposites do not cause
any dichotomy, as they are complementary entities in the existential world.
One is all and all is one. The conventional truth however points to insight
into the phenomenal, which refers to the cause and effect in the doctrine
of dependent origin. So Dogen’s Madhyamika is the practical application
of non-duality.

Soto Zen states that Buddha-nature is inherent in our mind and the prac-
tice of zazen is merely to realize this inherent Buddha-nature. One can-
not acquire it. In this context, zazen practice is an act of enlightenment.

Seeing that Buddha-nature is universal, all men are equal with regards to
Buddha-nature. Zen is therefore not an analytical philosophy but an expe-
riential one. It also follows that man has to work, and Zen values labor in
the individual practitioner. Zen consequently emphasizes harmony with
the environment, which is cultivated by man on nature. This also symbol-
izes the Bodhisattva path, which helps to alleviate the problems of other
sentient beings. Zen does not allow the life of a hermit in which the suf-
fering of others is excluded.

Dogen
Dogen was born in Kyoto to an aristocratic family in 1200. His father was
a high-ranking government minister. At the age of four he was able to

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read Chinese poetry and by the age of nine he read a Chinese translation
of the Abhidharma. However his childhood was marred by the deaths of
his father at two and of his mother at seven. These losses made him want
to find out the meaning of life and death. Thus his determination to join
the monkhood. Early on he taught that one should not squander away
one’s transient life, and no amount of power and wealth can prevent
death. We can only take with us at death our karma.

He became a monk at the age of thirteen at Mount Hiei, the headquarters

of Tendai Buddhism. For the next several years he studied Mahayana and
Hinayana Buddhism under his master, Abbot Koen. His main conun-
drum was that “if all of us are endowed with Buddha-nature, why is it so difficult
to realize it?” He went to many monasteries to ask this question, but none
could provide him an answer, until he came to Eisai at Kennin-ji. Eisai’s
answer was that all the Buddhas themselves do not think of Buddha-
nature, but only the grossly deluded ponder over such problems. This
assuaged Dogen to some extent. He decided to stay with Eisai and learn
his Rinzai teachings, but Eisai died the next year.

After this he studied for nine years under Myozen (1184-1225), who was
a disciple of Eisai. Under Myozen he learnt all the methods of the Rinzai
sect. After so many years under Myozen, Dogen is still unfulfilled. Then
he went to China with Myozen in 1223 to further study Zen Buddhism.
After arrival in China, he stayed on the ship for sometime. It is in this ship
that he learnt from a tenzo-monk, who was a cook of a large monastery
that Zen must be expressed through our daily actions, be it cooking, cleaning or sewing.
He went to T’ien-t’ung monastery and trained under Abott Wu-chi. It was
here that he was discriminated against because he was a foreign monk. His
protest against this racial discrimination was not heeded. It was only after
he appealed to the Emperor that this racial discrimination was redressed.
In spite of this, his understanding of Zen deepened. When Abott Wu-chi
died he came back to China to study under Abott Ju-ching. The latter
taught him to practice zazen day and night without stop. Then one day he
heard Ju-ching admonishing a fellow monk next to him dozing off. “In
practicing zazen, body and mind have been cast off; you cannot attain it
by sleeping!” With this admonishment, Dogen became fully enlightened.
He continued to stay with Ju-ching for another two years, for practice after
enlightenment is just as important as before enlightenment.

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In 1227, he decided to return to Japan. On returning, he was disappoint-
ed by the standard of practice in his old temple, Kennin-ji. So he moved
to An-yo-in temple. Here he wrote “A Universal Recommendation for
Zazen”, which teaches correct zazen and essence of Zen Buddhism. It
was also here that he wrote “The Practice of the Way”, which was the first
section of his great master-piece, the Shobo-genzo.

When he moved to Kosho-ji temple, he had his first meditation hall built
for monks and lay people alike. At the same time he warned against build-
ing fine temples and carving of Buddha images. When this hall was built,
his reputation became so popular that the hall was too small when it was
completed. He had to start a new hall.

The two main points of Dogen’s teachings are 1) there is no difference

between zazen and enlightenment, maintaining that zazen itself is an
enlightenment practice and 2) right daily behavior is Buddhism itself.
However, he also stressed the importance of the sutras, which he taught
to be one with Truth. He also opposed koan practice. Nonetheless, even
to this day, some Soto masters still teach the koan practice

These are nine points that can be extracted from Dogen’s thought:
1. Identity of self and others. Zazen is the complete realization of self,
identifying with others. He said: “To study the Way is to study the self. To
study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened
by all things. To be enlightened by all things is to remove the barriers
between one’s self and others.”

2. Identity of practice and enlightenment. There is no difference

between practice and enlightenment. There should not be any attachment
to the outcome of the practice.

3. Identity of the precepts and Zen Buddhism. Novice monks must

know the 16 Bodhisattvas precepts before becoming monks. There is no
difference between the precepts and Zen itself. When enlightened he is
already endowed with the precepts.

4. Identity of life and death. Although most people love life and hate
death, nobody can avoid death. Once you come to terms with death, there
is no life or death to love or hate. Both are part of the life of a Buddha.

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5. Identity of time and being. Time is being and vice versa. Time can
only be experienced but cannot be cognized. Now is now which includes
past, present and the future. Without now there are no others. Now is
absolute and eternal. Once lost it never returns. So practice continuously
without delay.

6. Being and nonbeing. Nonbeing is not “nothing.” It is being and vice

versa. In non-dualistic terms, both are absolutes. So we have both the
Buddha-nature and we also do not have the Buddha-nature in non-dual-
istic viewpoint. Nonbeing in Zen is never the nothing of nihilism but it is
a lively and creative function of the Way.

7. Men and women. There is no gap between right and wrong, clever
and foolish, high and low social status, or men and women. All can real-
ize Buddhahood. The Way is open to men and women equally.

8. Monks and lay people. Both can practice, but monks are free from
world affairs. Lay people can pursue the Way but their practice must be
intense and persistent. Of course the best is to become monks and follow
the precepts. Remember Dogen’s teaching is that practice takes prece-
dence over theory.

9. Sutras and Zen Buddhism. The Way of the Buddha-mind is beyond

letters and sutras, because attachment to the letters and sutras is itself a
hindrance. So it is the attachment to the letters and not the letters that
must be cast away.

To Dogen the practice of zazen is of prime importance. He advised:

“You should cease from practice based on intellectual understanding and
pursuing words. Instead turn inwards and illuminate your self. Body and
mind should drop away, and your original face will be manifest. If you want
to attain suchness (Buddha-nature), you should practice suchness without
delay.

His instructions are: One should sit on two cushions, placed one on top of the other,
in a quiet room, in the full or half lotus position, the left hand placed on the right,
thumb tips touching. Thus sit upright in a correct bodily posture, neither inclining to
the left nor to the right, neither leaning forward nor backward. All efforts should be

525
directed at overcoming the inner unrest that arises from discursive thinking. Cast aside
all involvement and cease all affairs. Do not think good or bad. Do not administer pros
and cons. Cease all the movements of the conscious mind, the gauging of all thoughts
and views. Have no designs on becoming a Buddha. This has nothing to do with sit-
ting or lying down.

This … is the essential art of zazen…..It is simply the Dharma-gate of

repose and bliss. This practice requires a great deal of effort. It must be
persistent.

Zazen is enlightenment according to Dogen, when body and mind (ego)

are cast off. His first satori came when he heard Ju-ching admonishing his
fellow monk in China about sleeping. This satori was the result of casting
off of the ego from his consciousness, and this memory remained with
him for the rest of his life. This is his conscious and luminous experience
of enlightenment perceived in zazen. He had broken into the non-dualis-
tic Unconsciousness of Buddha-nature. Thus satori is an experience of
Being. This is his “taking one step beyond the top of a hundred-foot
pole”, when his normal consciousness is released and transcended during
zazen. Dogen formally instructed his students with this: The most impor-
tant point in the study of the Way is zazen. Many in China gained enlight-
enment solely through the strength of zazen… The Way of the Buddha
and Patriarch is zazen alone. When asked about the value of sutras, he
retorted: “Even though you study a thousand sutras and ten thousand sas-
tras and sit so hard that you break through the zazen seat, you cannot gain
the Way of the Buddhas and the Patriarchs without this determination to
cast off body and mind, which is the very quintessence of being enlight-
ened.

He again said: “In the Buddha Dharma, practice and realization are iden-
tical. Because one’s present practice is practice in realization, one’s initial
negotiation of the Way in itself is the whole of original realization… As
it is already realization in practice, realization is endless; as it is practice in
realization, practice is beginningless.”

This view shows that satori is a shining forth of Buddha-nature.

Achieving of satori is not the end. Practice must continue after satori
because it is practice in enlightenment, which must be continually con-

526
firmed by practice. Therefore his shikantaza (merely sitting) is the fullness
of the Buddha-way

Satori
Satori is enlightenment. It is the breakthrough from this dualistic world to
the non-dualistic realm of Reality. This is the goal of all mystics of all reli-
gions. When one is in that realm, there are signs and symptoms pertain-
ing to that state. However, it is ineffable in that when one returns to dual-
ism no words can describe that state. There are, however, mental, psy-
chological, emotional and physical signs that do not come close to pre-
senting the actual Ultimate State of Consciousness. The Ultimate State of
Consciousness is superbly glorious with bliss, joy and happiness co-exis-
tent with calmness, serenity and tranquillity.

Firstly, there are physical signs of approaching satori, but not the real
thing. Heat, vibrations up and down one’s spine, trembling all over the
body, pain, sometimes excruciating, are some of the premonitory signs.
Then the feeling of lightness, as if one is floating in the air. Makyo, in the
form of hallucinations and visions are rather often, especially after pro-
longed and intensive meditation. Some truly go into psychotic states.
Makyo must be recognized and stopped by the master or else the disciple
is led up the garden path and indelible damage is done. This is because the
student thinks he is being enlightened. Zen masters call them “devil’s
realm.” Then the surest one is Light: all objects in the room and the room
itself are lit up as if a search light is blasted on to everything in that room.
If other people are present in that room sometimes some of them can
also see the light. Students also experience different colored lights and all
modes of sound and music. Visions of Kuan Yin, Buddhist saints and
Buddha himself are not uncommon, leading to this advice: “If you see the
Buddha, kill him!” All these devil’s realms must be apprehended by the
master, who will lead the practitioners back to the path. Also pain is not
an infrequent symptom. Sharp, piercing pain like being stuck with needles
up and down the spine is also a common symptom. When satori breaks
through there is a great sense of joy and happiness. They laugh out with-
out any control. They also cry for happiness. They dance and they sing on
top of their voices. There is a freedom that is equivalent to being let out
of prison after decades of incarceration. Of course the liberation is much
more exhilarating than a breakout from prison.

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Cosmic consciousness
The nearest comparison to satori is a glimpse of cosmic consciousness.
Here in the Zen context, the most frequent exclamation is “nothingness.”
Every thought, every vision, every master, every concept is transformed
into nothingness. Before this breakthrough there is high tension. There
maybe lights or maybe total darkness. Then abruptly the infinite space
turns into nothingness. Or ‘I and the universe are one’ is a common
comment. This breakthrough may be precipitated by a sound caused by a
pebble striking a bamboo or a striking of a clock or a shout by the roshi.
After the enlightening episode, the practitioner is a bit confused and
absent-minded. He needs some time to adjust, to shout or cry it all out.
Of course he also needs to have confirmation by the master.

These satoris may start with a weak one at first. Then they are repeated
again and again, each one stronger than the previous one. These mini-
satoris gather strength as they practice into full fledge satoris. The final
one is the maha-satori. From thence onwards, there is no more doubt and
not the slightest chance of retracement. He is now established in that state
of enlightenment but he has to continue to practice. This enlightening
practice of zazen has to continue until death. However, he is now
endowed with Buddha’s Eight aspects of Enlightenment, which lead to
Nirvana. These eight aspects are: 1) Freedom from greed 2) Satisfaction
with whatever he has 3) Quiet and solitary life. 4) Diligence. 5) Right
mindfulness. 6) Samadhi: to remain undisturbed. 7) Wisdom for self-
reflection. He has now the power to see the Truth with his naked eyes. 8)
Freedom from random discussions and thoughts.

There are many more books one can read on the subject of Zen. If inter-
ested one can go to individual masters like, Matsu, Huang-po, Hakuin,
Harada and Yasutani. For English readers, Dr. D.T. Suzuki (1870-1970) is
a must. He himself was enlightened as a member of the Rinzai sect. With
his exquisite knowledge of English, his analyses of Rinzai Zen are superb
to say the least.

Bibliography
1. Aitkin, Robert. Taking the Path of Zen. North Point Press. 1982.

2. Blyth, R.H. Zen and Zen Classics. Vintage Books. 1978.

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3. Dumoulin, Heinrich. Zen Enlightenment. Weatherhill. New York. 1979.

4. Cleary, Thomas. The Original Face: An Anthology of Rinzai Zen. Grove

Press inc. N.Y. 1978.

5. Cleary, Thomas. Records of things heard (talks by Dogen). Prajna Press

Boulder. 1980.

6. Cleary, Thomas. Timeless Spring. A Soto Zen Anthology. A Wheelwright

Press Book. 1980.

7. Harada, Sekkei. The Essence of Zen. Kodansha International. 1993

8. Red Pine, translated by. The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. North Point
Press. 1987.

9. Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. Weatherhill. 1976.

10. Suzuki, D.T. The Awakening of Zen. Prajna Press. Boulder. 1980.

11. Suzuki, D.T. What is Zen? The Buddhist Society, London. 1971.

12. Suzuki, D.T. Living by Zen. Rider and company. 1972

13. Suzuki, D.T. The Zen Doctrine of No Mind. Rider and Company. 1969.

14. Yokoi, Yuho. Zen Master Dogen. Weatherhill. 1976.

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Spiritual Practices
Beyond the Mind, I am No-thing ................................................. 350
What Comes After Enlightenment? ............................................. 363
Are Spiritual Practices Useless? ..................................................... 375
Stages of Sainthood in Theravada Buddhism ............................ 385
Milestones on the Spiritual Path to Enlightenment .................. 393
Western Mysticism I - The Dark Night of the Soul ................. 415
Western Mysticism II - The Cloud of Unknowing ................... 438
Ultimate State of Consciousness .................................................. 463
Sufism ................................................................................................ 484
A Touch of Zen .............................................................................. 505

530