We meditate upon that Divine Sun,
the true Light of the Shining Ones.
May it illuminate our minds.
The Gayatri Verse of the Vedas
That Light is not somewhere 'else', not somewhere 'beyond' our physical existence, nor is it simply a universal condition that existed in the distant past and is now gone. It shines within us right now as the very source of our being. In that Light, we are quite literally unified with the entire Universe. We always have been and always will be.
This transcendental state of unity is certainly an abstract idea, and in metaphysical languages we might have to refer to it as a higher dimension, but that higher dimension is not separate from our everyday experience of the physical world. On the contrary, it provides the very substance of our entire experience of being here now. It is the 'stuff' of both consciousness and matter, from our living bodies to inanimate rocks to the distant quasars. If that CosmicLight were not shining forth at this very moment, nothing whatsoever would exist.
The essence of mystical knowledge resonates with our deepest level of being, yet it persistently defies our logic-oriented minds. Normal objective logic is based on the knowledge of material separateness, and as far as our everyday existence is concerned, this is what reality is. To the ancient mystics, this is the classical trap.
The physical level of experience is that part of our being which makes us think we are separate, when in Reality we are not. If we think the physical is the only mode of being, we have fallen into the trap of the ego-self -- we have become so fully attached to the material realm that we think of our body as our only reality of self, and have come to think of it as the only part of our being. This causes us, for example, to fear death. We fear death because we cannot see beyond it -- we have essentially no awareness of our true multi-dimensional reality and those modes of our being which are independent of the physical body.
The material world is transient -- things come and go, bioforms included. To the mystic, all forms of impermanence are a type of non-reality, and in many of the ancient teachings, such as in the writings of one of the most highly revered nondualists, Shankara, we find the physical level being referred to as illusion. This is not to say that it doesn't really exist, but rather that we see its true form in a limited, illusory sense. There is no doubt that the physical experience is real. If we walk into a brick wall, it hurts. Both the wall and the pain are real enough, but the pain will pass, the goose-egg will heal, and the wall will eventually crumble. What is important to realize is that through all the experiences of change, the true reality which underlies and creates the physical world does not change. That level of reality which never changes is the most real -- everything else is temporary and illusory. The ultimate substance and reality of the Universe is not separate particles scattered around in space, but rather a timeless condition of Universal Light.
na chorahAryaM na cha rAjahAryaM na bhrAtR^ibhAjyam na cha bhArakArI |
vyaye kR^ite vardhata eva nityaM vidyAdhanaM sarvadhanapradhAnaM ||
It cannot be stolen by thieves, cannot be taken away by the king,
cannot be divided among brothers, and does not cause a load. |
If spent, it always multiplies. The wealth of knowledge is the greatest among all wealths. ||
The wisdom of Spiritual knowledge, vijnana (wisdom, discernment), is knowing that we are more than the physical body, and that our spiritual essence of being lives independently of the physical cycle. Such knowledge is often based on more than simple belief or book-learning and can be rooted in a life-changing epiphany, such as a revelation during meditation or other transcendental experience.
Words and Traditions
The Sanskrit classics, such as the Vedas (The Knowledge, The Wisdom) and the Upanishads, are particularly useful because their metaphysical foundation is well-preserved and the terminology is familiar to those who have studied philosophy and comparative religion. Brahman and Atman, for example, refer to the Universal Spirit and the individual spirit, or Universal Consciousness and individual consciousness. In the nondualism of Advaita Vedanta, the Atman, our spirit and seed of consciousness, is an integral part of Brahman, much like how a ring on a sphere is an integral part of the sphere. The ring is a full dimension less than the sphere and has no reality whatsoever without the sphere.
In the Hebrew mystical tradition of the Kabbalah, the equivalent to Brahman is called Ein-Sof (The Endless One). It should be understood that the underlying principles are universal and are the same for all spiritual traditions. Similarly, all bioforms that happen to share our Universe are, by necessity, part of the same Universal Lifeforce that we are. This becomes obvious as the metaphysical realities and essential Oneness of the Universe are understood.
The state of reality represented by Brahman (Ein-Sof) transcends even the Creator God, Brahma (Yahweh), and contains all three aspects of the Hindu Trinity, the Trikaya, within itself. Brahman is simultaneously Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, Creator-Preserver-Transformer, while remaining unchanged (as the Godhead, all three modes of Godhood in one). Obviously, this requires an understanding which goes beyond the idea of 'theological deities with bodies' toward purely abstract mystical principles.
As represented by the simple geometric beauty of the Roman Pantheon, a higher truth underlies all the anthropomorphized body forms of theology. Recognizing this more abstract level of spiritual understanding as being more real is called nontheism (which is not atheism) and is characteristic of Buddhism, for example, and metaphysics in general.
Metaphysically understood, the Trikaya represents the creation process, which is happening continuously. All stages of the creation process exist simultaneously, just as all higher dimensions of physics exist simultaneously. Even though Western scenarios tend to express Creation as a time-bound process, such as in Genesis and the Big Bang Theory, it is important to keep in mind that the Trikaya creation process is continuous. "This infinite fullness [the visible Universe] shines forth from That infinite fullness [the invisible Brahman]." (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad) Vedic and Kabbalistic texts do speak of pre-Creation states of Being as part of a system of cycles within cycles covering eons of time. Throughout all the cycles, the unified state of the One Reality remains unchanged.
The metaphysics of Nondualism recognizes the underlying polarity which creates the Trikaya as more fundamental, more real. In this way, duality (separateness) is recognized as an expression of polarity (represented by a vector, an arrow) and the illusion of separateness is transcended. For example, the duality of the positive and negative electric charges arises from the polarity of the electric force field, a single reality, and a more fundamental level of reality.
The polarity inherent in the Trikaya is actually the creative property of Brahman itself, and as a direct result, it is also inherent within Atman. This polarity within Atman is an expression of our force of spirit and is the source of individual consciousness. Its three-fold nature manifests in the past-present-future experience of time. The interaction between Brahman and Atman creates the field of Creation around us, and the geometric relationship between Brahman and Atman and how it initiates the emergence of a diverse Creation from the One Reality is called Sacred Geometry.
Ancient Sanskrit has metaphysically-descriptive expressions for the Trikaya and the way in which it manifests, such as in the three modes of existence, Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, and in the word Saccidananda, a combination of three Sanskrit words meaning Being-Consciousness-Bliss, or, existence, consciousness of existence, and love of existence, all inseparable aspects of Brahman.
In Western terms, and in the language of metaphysical philosophy, the Greek word Logos has been used to refer to the creative property of the transcendental Mythos. By definition, Logos (Om, the Word, Lifeforce) is the perfect expression of Mythos, and is therefore also known as the ideal 'object' of meditation.
Logos is the First Cause of Creation ("In the beginning was the Word, ..." Christian Bible, John 1:1), as well as the creative polarity which defines the laws of physics and makes everything happen. We experience it constantly. With the creation process recognized as continuous, the philosophical notion of First Cause does not refer to a time-bound phenomenon that happened in the past, but rather to the timeless (continuous and unchanging) creative cause of the Universe.
At the metaphysical level, Logos has the intrinsic property of polarity, the dynamic essence of force, the perfect expression of Mythos. The realization of Logos, in its transcendental wholeness, implies the existence of the otherwise unknowable Mythos. Geometrically thinking, if Logos was a sphere, Mythos would be its central point. As metaphysical principles, Mythos and Logos are equivalent to the first and second bodies of the Trikaya, inseparable aspects of the One Reality. (”… and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1).
In Sanskrit, Logos is called the Dharmakaya (the perfect embodiment of Divine Law, or Divine Will). In its transcendental wholeness, it is Universal Consciousness and the Lifeforce of the Universe. It is the ethereal seed syllable of Creation, known as Om (Aum).
The general aim of transcendental meditation and Yoga is a conscious state of spiritual enlightenment in which the experience of maya (the illusion of time-bound separateness) is recognized for what it is. In the Eastern traditions, the desired result of dhyana (absorption into Reality, as during yoga and meditation) is the overcoming of the illusion and fear of death, so that, at the moment of death, the individual may obtain total liberation from samsara (the time-bound process of life-death-rebirth), resulting in a total dissolution of the individual psyche into the Supreme Reality. The individual spirit, having been recognized as the only true reality by virtue of its immortality, remains in a state of blissful rapture with the wholeness of Being; where, of course, it has been all along.
This classical view has been criticized for its tendency to de-emphasize the importance of the creative expression of the Supreme in the material world. Most of the ancient teachings contain an element of material world denial and involve a systematic negation of or withdrawal from the physical level. This may have been appropriate for the day, and is still useful in meditation exercises since any connection to the 'logicalness' of the physical senses tends to contradict and otherwise distract the meditator from the higher levels of experience.
However, this can leave the meditator with the feeling that the physical world is bad and physical sensations should be shunned, or with a sense that the physical world is so unreal that we don't have to worry about it at all. Also, if a meditation begins with the classical type of material-world negation, and if a samadhic (rapture-like) state is experienced as a result, it can leave the seeker with the feeling, after 'returning' to the normal state, that the samadhic state was actually somewhere 'else', again loosing track of that essence of connection between the physical and spiritual realms, the main goal of the meditation in the first place.
Fortunately, more contemporary teachings and meditation techniques tend to stress that the sensory perception of physical objects need not necessarily be 'disconnected' during the supersensory perception of transcendental experience. In fact, the experience of physical life-senses should take on a more vivified reality, having been recognized as an integral part of the individual's ever-present connection with the transcendental Reality. This reflects an important aspect of our current stage of conscious evolution, which emerged in one form in the Integral Yoga of teachers such as Sri Aurobindo and Haridas Chaudhuri.
Individuality...is an active center of dynamic self-expression of the Supreme. In that case, true wisdom cannot consist in mere self-negation in an absolute void, or in self-annihilation in the formless absolute. The path of wisdom rather lies in the realization of one's essential oneness with the whole of existence and in the reconstruction of one's life on the basis of that realization.
Haridas Chaudhuri
Being, Evolution, and Immortality
1974, The Theosophical Publishing House
The Light in Life
The metaphysical difference between the soul and the spirit is important and basically simple. The spirit is timeless while the soul evolves. The spirit is eternal, unchanging, and is as ethereal as a vector of force. It is the light, the lifeforce, within the soul. The soul has depth, higher-dimensional structure, and evolves with time, both during an incarnation and between incarnations.
It is interesting to note that since the soul is made of the higher dimensions of the Universe, it always remains within the higher dimensions. The soul never actually travels through physical space. It is the true self around which external realities manifest, even between incarnations. During a transition, the soul vacates the body by retracting from the physical and going within, into the higher dimensions, like the way consciousness retracts into the astral realm during sleep. Even though there may be a temporary experience of being outside the body within the physical world during an out-of-body experience, for example, the soul itself is never actually separated from the higher dimensions. The timeless unity of the higher dimensions is fundamental to the nondualistic nature of the One Reality.
It is our higher mind, giving us the capacity for abstract thought as well as for transcendental realization and enlightenment, that distinguishes us from the other animals of our world. According to theosophical sources, it arises from the fact that we have an individualized soul, while animals have a group soul according to their species. Without a higher mind, a chimpanzee is not likely to ponder the infinity of space, but having a group soul, it will have superb powers of species-level instinct. They each have their own individual spirit, but not an individualized soul. All souls, individual or collective, reside within and never leave the same higher-dimensional region of the Universe.
When the soul descends to Earth [meaning a 'descent' from higher dimensions], it puts on an earthly garment, according to the Zohar, the foundational set of texts of the Hebrew Kabbalah. "When Adam dwelt in the garden of Eden, he was dressed in the celestial garment, which is the garment of heavenly light, ... light of that light which was used in the garden of Eden."
Just as Big Bang cosmology is paralleled within the quantum realm, just as the entire history of cosmological evolution is ever-present in the structure of the atom, the entire history of human evolution is ever-present in the structure of the body-soul vehicle. The relationship between the heavenly Light of the Garden of Eden and the earthly world of the manifest Universe is reflected directly in the relationship between the soul and the body, mind and matter, consciousness and spacetime. In each case, both realms exist simultaneously in an intricate web of interdependence, and in each case, the higher, more ethereal levels provide the primary substance for the lower, more corporeal realms. In transcendental meditation, an increasing transcendence is a progression toward the source of conscious unfoldment and toward the central source of the Universe itself.
Spacetime and Consciousness
Ancient mysticism teaches us that spacetime and consciousness are polar aspects of the process of creation. The entire field of spacetime is like a reversed image of consciousness -- matter is literally mind-stuff. This is the subject-object polarity.
The close association of space and consciousness can also be seen from the fact that in the higher stages of absorption (dhyana) the experience of the infinity of space (akasanancayatana) immediately leads to the experience of the infinity of consciousness (vijnanancayatana). After the elimination of all thing- and form-ideas or representations, space is the direct and intuitive object of consciousness.
Lama Anagarika Govinda
Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness
1976, The Theosophical Publishing House
The apparent duality of subject and object should be recognized as resulting from a polarity, a single reality, a single plane of experience with two sides. Without the subjective side, there is no objective side. This is a difficult idea to assimilate within the logic-oriented mind. How can the vastness and diversity of the Universe exist only as the experience of consciousness?
A good way to grasp this is to consider a well-known thought experiment. If a tree falls in the forest and no ear is there to hear it, does it make a sound? With the definition of a sound being that which an ear and brain detects, the answer is no, yet the reality of what that sound would be, the compression waves moving through the air molecules, are still there just the same. Likewise, if we were not here to see the Universe as the field of matterenergy in spacetime, it would not be ‘out there’ as such, yet the actual Reality of what the Universe is, a higher dimensional Oneness, still remains.
The polarity of consciousness is the very same polarity that we experience as time, and space is its polar aspect projected outward.
In other words: we do not live in time, but time lives within us; because time is the innermost rhythm of our conscious existence, which appears outside of ourselves as space...
We could also say: space is the possibility of movement, time the actuality or the realization of movement; or, space is externalized, objectivated time, time projected outward.
Lama Anagarika Govinda
Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness
1976, The Theosophical Publishing House
The integration of spiritual and physical knowledge is a key part of the awakening process that our planet is experiencing today. It will obviously involve a fundamental paradigm shift in our understanding of space, time, and matter.
This paradigm shift began earlier this century with the birth of both relativity and quantum theory. These scientific theories deal with universal principles, and being firmly based in the objective logic of physical knowledge, their deep revelations have appeared as very strange ideas. It has taken this entire century to formulate and accept the full impact of their implications, although they have become no less strange to the logical mind.
Only when we fully integrate mystical knowledge into our worldview do the strange implications of modern science begin to make sense. At the same time, the language of modern science becomes a great help in understanding ancient mysticism.
This then is the message which we have heard of Him,
and declare unto you, that God is Light,
and in Him is no darkness at all.
Christian Bible, 1st Epistle of John (1:5)
