Spiritual Experiences Swami Sivananda

SPIRITUAL
EXPERIENCES
SPIRITUAL
EXPERIENCES
[AMRITA ANUBHAVA]
Sri Swami Sivananda
Published bg
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. SHvnNANDANAG aa-249 igT
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttarakhand, Himalayas, lndia
www. sivanandao n li ne. org
1--l lL I It I
FirstEdition: 1957 Fifth Edition: 1986

Second Edition: 1960 Sixth Edition: 1995
Third Edition: 1969 Seventh Edition: 2001
Fourth Edition: 1981 Eighth Edition: 2007
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Published by Swami Padmanabhananda for

The Divine Life Society, Shivanandanagar, and printed by him
at the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy Press,
P. O. Shivanandanagar, Distt. Tehri - Garhwal, Uttarakhand,
Himalayas,India
www. sivanandaonline. org
SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA
Born on the 8th September, 1887, in the illustrious
family of Sage Appayya Dikshitar and several other
renowned saints and savants, Sri Swami Sivananda had a
natural flair for a life devoted to the study and practice of
Vedanta. Added to this was an inborn eagerness to serve all
and an innate feeling of unity with all mankind.
His passion for service drew him to the medical career;
and soon he gravitated to where he thought that his service
was most needed. Malaya claimed him. He had earlier been
editing a health journal and wrote extensively on health
problems. He discovered that people needed right knowledge
most of all; dissemination of that knowledge he espoused as
his own mission.
It was divine dispensation and the blessing of God upon
mankind that the doctor of body and mind renounced his
career and took to a life of renunciation to qualify for
ministering to the soul of man. He settled down at Rishikesh
in 1924, practised intense austerities and shone as a great
Yogi, saint, sage and Jivanmukta.
ln 1932 Swami Sivananda started the Sivanandashram.
In 1936 was born The Divine Life Society. In 1948 the
Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy was organised.
Dissemination of spiritual knowledge and training of people
in Yoga and Vedanta were their aim and object. In 1950
Swamiji undertook a lightning tour of India and Ceylon. In
1953 Swamiji convened a'World Parliament of Religions'.
Swamiji is the author of over 300 volumes and has disciples
all over the world, belonging to all nationalities, religions
and creeds. To read Swamiji's works is to drink at the
Fountain of Wisdom Supreme. On l4th July, 1963 Swamiji
entered Mahasamadhi.
WHAT LIFE HAS TAUGHT ME
It was, I should say, by a flash that I came to the conclusion
early in my life that human life is not complete with its observ-
able activities and that there is something above human percep-
tion controlling and directing all that is visible. I may boldly say
that I began to perceive the realities behind what we call life on
earth. The unrest and feverish anxiety that characterise man's
ordinary existence here bespeak a higher goal that he has to
reach one day or the other.
When man gets entangled in selfishness, greed, lust and
hatred, he naturally forgets what is beneath his own skin. Mate-
rialism and scepticism reign supreme. He gets irritated by small
things and begins to fight. In short, man is miserable. The doc-
tor's profession gave me ample evidence of the sufferings of
this world. I found concrete proofs of the great saying: "Sarvam
duhkham vivekinah. " I was blessed with a new vision and per-
spective. I was deeply convinced that there must be a place-a
sweet home of pristine glory and purity and divine splen-
dour-where absolute security, perfect peace and happiness
can be enjoyed eternally. In conformity with the dictum of the
Sruti, I renounced the world, and felt that I belonged to the
whole world.
A course of severe self-discipline and penance endowed
me with enough strength to move unscathed amidst the vicissi-
tudes of the world-phenomena. And I began to feel the great
good it would be to humanity if I could share this new vision
with one and all. I called my instrument ofwork The Divine Life
Society.
Side by side, the stirring events since the advent of the
twentieth century had their effect upon all keen-minded people.
The horrors of past and possible wars and the consequent suf-
(6)
fering touched the minds of people. It was not difficult to see
that the pains of mankind were mostly brought on by its own
deeds. To awaken man to his errors and follies and to make him
mend his ways, so that he may utilise his life for attaining wor-
thier ends, was felt to be the urgent need of the time. As if in an-
swer to this need, I saw the birth of the Divine Life Mission,
with its task of rescuing man from the forces of the lower nature
and raising him to the consciousness of his true relation to the
cosmos. This is the work of rousing the religious consciousness,
an awareness of the essential Divinity of man.
Not by mere argument or discussion can religion be taught
or understood. Not by precepts or canons of teaching alone can
you make one religious. It requires a peculiar atonement with
one's vast environrnent, an ability to feel the deepest as well as
the vastest, a genuine sympathy with creation. Religion is liv-
ing, not speaking or showing. I hold that whatever be one's reli-
gion, whoever be the prophet adored, whichever be the
language or the country, whatever be one's age or sex, one can
be religious provided the true implication of that hallowed term
TAPAS, which essentially means any form of self-control, is
made capable of being practised in daily life to the extent possi-
ble for one in the environment and under the circumstances in
which one is placed.
I hold that real religion is the religion of the heart. The
heart must he purified first. Truth, love and purity are the basis
of real religion. Control over the baser nature, conquest of the
mind, cultivation of virtues, service of humanity, goodwill, fel-
lowship and amity constitute the fundamentals of true religion.
These ideals are included in the principles of The Divine Life
Society. And I try to teach them mostly by example which I
consider to be weightier than all precepts.
The modern thinker has neither the requisite time nor the
patience to perform rigorous Tapas and austere religious prac-
tices; and many of these are even being relegated to the level of
(7)
RELIGION
superstition. In order to give the present generation the benefit
of real Tapas in the true religious sense, to reveal to them its real
significance and to convince them of its meaning and efficacy,I
held up my torch of Divine Life, which is a system of religious
life suited to one and all, which can be practised by the recluse
and the office-goer alike, which can become intelligible to the
scholar and the rustic in its different stages and phases. This is a
religion which is not other than what is essential to give mean-
ing to the daily duties of the human being. The beauty in 'Di-
vine Life' is its simplicity and applicability to the everyday
affairs of the ordinary man. It is immaterial whether one goes to
the church or the mosque or the Mandir for offering his prayers,
for all prayers are heard by the One.
The average seeker after Truth is often deceived by the ca-
prices of his mind. A person who takes to the spiritual path is
bewildered before he reaches the end of his journey, and is natu-
rally tempted to relax his efforts halfway. Many are the pitfalls,
but those who plod on steadily are sure to reach the goal of life
which is universality of being, knowledge and joy. I have laid
great emphasis in all my writings upon the discipline of the tur-
bulent senses, conquest of the mind, purification of the heart,
and attainment of inner peace and strength, suited to the
different stages in evolution. CHARITY
I have learnt that it is the foremost duty of man to learn to
give, give in charity, give in plenty, give with love, give without
any expectation ofconsequence, because one does not lose any-
thing by giving-on the other hand the giver is given back a
thousandfold. Charity is not merely an act of offering certain
material goods, for charity is incomplete without charity of dis-
position, charity of feeling, charity of understanding, knowl-
edge and attitude to others. Charity is self-sacrifice in dffirent
levels of one's being. Charity in the highest sense I understand
to be equivalent to Jnana-Yajna.
(8)
GOODNESS
Similarly I consider that goodness of being and doing con-
stitutes the rock-bottom of one's life. By goodness I mean the
capacity to feel with others and live and feel as others do, andbe
in a position to act so that no one is hurt by the act. Goodness is
the face of Godliness. I think that to be good in reality, in the in-
nermost recesses of one's heart, is not easy, though it may ap-
pear to be simple as a teaching. It is one of the hardest of things
on earth, if only one would be honest to oneself.
There is no physical world for me. What I see I see as the
glorious manifestation of the Almighty. I rejoice when I behold
the Purusha with thousands of heads and thousands of eyes and
feet, that Sahasrasirsha Purusha! When I serve persons I see
not the persons but Him of whom they are the limbs. I leam to
be humble before the Mighty Being whose breath we breathe
and whose joy we enjoy. I do not think there is anything more to
teach or to learn. Here is the cream of religion, the quintessence
of philosophy, that which anyone really needs.
The philosophy I hold is neither a dreamy, subjective,
world-negating doctrine of illusion, nor a crude world-affirm-
ing theory of sense-ridden humanism.It is the fact of the divin-
ity of the universe, the immortality of the soul ofman, the unity
of creation with the Absolute, that I feel as the only doctrine
worth considering. As the one Brahman appears as the diverse
universe in all the planes of its manifestation, the aspirant has to
pay his homage to the lower manifestations before he steps into
the higher. Sound health, clearunderstanding, deep knowledge,
a powerful will and moral integrity are all necessary parts ofthe
process of the realisation of the Ideal of humanity as a whole.
To adjust, adapt and accommodate, to see good in everything
and bring to effective use all the principles of Nature in the pro-
cess of evolution towards Self-realisation along the path of an
integrated adjustment of the human powers and faculties are
some of the main factors that go to build up a true philosophy of
life. For me philosophy.is not merely a love of wisdom but ac-
tual possession of it. In all my writings I have prescribed meth-
(e) SELF REALISATION

ods for overcoming and mastering the physical, vital, mental
and the intellectual layers of consciousness in order to be able to
proceed with the Sadhana for self-perfection. The self-per-
fected ones are the sarvabhuta-hite ratah.
To behold the Atman in every being or form, to feel Brah-
man everywhere, at all times, and in all conditions of life, to see,
hear, taste and feel everything as the Atman is my creed. To live
in Brahman, to melt in Brahman and to dissolve in Brahman is
my creed. By dwelling in such union, to utilise the hands, mind,
senses and the body for the service of humanity, for singing the
Names of the Lord, for elevating the devotees, for giving in-
structions to sincere aspirants and disseminating knowledge
throughout the world, is my creed, if you call it one. To be a cos-
mic friend and cosmic benefactor, a friend of the poor, the for-
lom, the helpless and the fallen is my creed. It is my sacred
creed to serve sick persons, to nurse them with care, sympathy
and love, to cheer the depressed, to infuse power and joy in all,
to feel oneness with each and everyone, and to treat all with
equal vision. In my highest creed there are neither peasants nor
kings, neither beggars nor emperors, neither males nor females,
neither teachers nor students. I love to [ive, move and have my
being in this realm indescribable.
The first step is often the most difficult one. But once it is
taken the rest becomes easy. There is a need for more of courage
and patience on the part of people. They usually shirk, hesitate
and are frightened. All this is due to ignorance of one's true
duty. A certain amount of education and culture is necessary to
have a sufficiently clear grasp of one's position in this world.
Our educational system needs an overhauling, for it is now
floating on the surface without touching the depths of man. To
achieve this, cooperation should come not only from society but
also from the Government. Success is difficult without mutual
help. The head and heart should go hand in hand, and the ideal
and the real should have a close relation. To work with this
knowledge is Karma-Yoga. The Lord has declared this truth in
(10)
the Bhagavad Gita. I pray that this supreme ideal be actualised
in the daily life of every individual, and there be a veritable
heaven on earth. This is not merely a wish,-this is a possibility
and a fact that cannot be gainsaid. This is to be realised if life is
to mean what it ought really to mean.
J;r'""' *
(1 l)
CONTENTS
What Life Has Taught Me (6)
Chapter One
NATURE AND STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Nature of Consciousness. 19
Four Kinds of Consciousness 2l
Aspects of Consciousness 25
The Turiya State . 27
Chapter Two
COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS
An Analytical Study of Cosmic Consciousness . 31
Super Sublime State . 32
Western Concept of Cosmic Consciousness. 34
Celestial Vision 34
Supreme Awareness 36
Characteristics of Experience 36
Commonsense Approach 37
Appearances Are Questionable 38
Ramacharaka's Views on Cosmic Consciousness. 39
Bucke's Views 44
A Definite Way to Contact God . 45
Physiological Changes . 46
The Everlasting Aims 47
Non-dual Consciousness. 49
(12)
Chapter Three
EXPERIENCES IN MEDITATION
Common Experiences in Meditation 55
Various Kinds of Vision in Meditation 60
Experience of Jerks 64
Lights in Meditation . 64
Anahata Sounds 67
Feeling of Separation frotn Body and
Other Experiences 68
Astral Journey 70
Materialisation . 70
Mind Moves 70
Bhuta Ganas 7l
Rising from the Seat . 7t
Divine Light 7l
Some Doubts Clarified. 72
Guidance on the Path 74
Discomfort During Meditation Explained 77
Chapter Four
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF
SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS
What Is Samadhi? .. . 79
Jada Samadhi and Chaitanya Samadhi 81
Light on the Path of Samadhi 82
The State of Blissful Divine Experience 90
Bhakti Yoga Samadhi 93
Raja Yoga Samadhi 95
How the Yogi Comes Down from Samadhi. . 101
( 13)
Jnana Yoga Samadhi. 102
Six Kinds of Jnana Yoga Samadhis t07
Samadhi According to the Upanishads 109
Samadhi in Six Months tt2
Samadhi in Six Months as
Enjoined in the Mahabharata. . tt4
Some Experiences in Samadhi. . . tt4
Obstacles to Samadhi .. . rt7
Pseudo Samadhi 119
Prasnottari on Sarnadhi .. . t22
Chapter Five
SOME YOGIC EXPERIENCES
Experiences of a Yogi . 127
Four Classes of Yogins 127
Somapana (Amrita Srava) 128
Yogi Drinks Nectar 130
Experices of a Bhakta 130
Inner Voice 131
State of Spiritual Illumination . 132
Chapter SLr
KUNDALINI SAKTI
Prayer to Mother Kundalini 135
The Gradational Ascent of the Mind 136
Chapter Seven
PSYCHIC POWERS
Siddhis or Occult Powers 139
(14)
Eight Major Psychic Powers 139
Other Psychic Powers t4t

Levitation or Vayu Siddhi r42
Kaya Sampat. r45
Comments on Some Occult Phenomena. . t45
Samyama Leads to Occult Powers. 148
Chapter Eight
SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
Song of Spiritual Progress 152
Main Characteristics of Progress in Sadhana 152
Other Important Characteristics . 154
Signs of Progress in the Path of Meditation 155
An Anecdote on Spiritual Experience . 158
Chapter Nine
EXPERIENCES OF THE JNANA YOGI
Phases of Experience in Jnana Yoga t62
Four Types ofJnanins 163
Seven Stages ofJnana 163

Double-consciousness of a Jivanmukta . r67
Sarnadhi Jnani and Vyavahara Jnani 168
The Sage's Experience t70

Marks of a Realised Sage-An Anecdote 114
Cltapter Ten
STATE OF LIBERATION
A Detailed Analysis of the state of Moksha. 176
Four Kinds of Mukti 189
(ls)
Difference Between Jivanmukti and Videhamukti lg9
Chapter Eleven
EXPERIENCES OF SOME SOUTH INDIAN MYSTICS
Mystic Experiences of Nayanars and Siddhas 190
Saint Tirumular l9g
Saint Tirunavukkarasar 2Ol
Saint Manickavachagar 205
Chapter Twelve
EXPERIENCES OF SOME CHRISTIAN
AND MUSLIM MYSTICS
Experiences of Some Christian Mystics Z0g
Experiences of JesusChrist 2lg
Christ-Consciousness 2lg
Experiences of Muslim Mystics 221
APPENDIX
Why God Created Man 222
Seeds and Fruits of Yoga 223
Path of Karma Yoga 233
Path ofBhakti Yoga 223
Path of Hatha Yoga 224
Path of Raja Yoga 224
Path of Jnana Yoga 224
Philosophical Truths 224
A Renowned Army Officer's Experiences 22s
Spiritual Experiences 227
Song of Sadhana 227
( l6)
SPIRITUAL
EXPERIENCES
Cltapter One
NATURE AND STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Nature of Consciousness
Itis extrernely difficult to define what consciousness
means. Words and languages are imperfect. They cannot ade_
quately express your thoughts and ideas.
There are different kinds of consciousness. There are
physical consciousness, astral consciousness, mental con-
sciousness, supra-mental consciousness or lower prakamya or
Prajna consciousness, cosmic consciousness, superconscious-
ness, subconsciousness, unconsciousness, dream conscious-
ness, supra-cosmic consciousness, dual or double conscious_
ness, multiple consciousness, higher prakamya, Virat
consciousness, Hiranyagarbha consciousness, Divine con-
sciousness or Purushottama consciousness and lastly the High-
est Nirguna Para Brahman consciousness or Absolute
consciousness per se.
In the waking state (Jagradavastha of Vedantins), you are
conscious of this physical plane. you see, you feel, you think,
you know, you will, you exert (perception or sensation, cogni_
tion, emotion, or affection, or cogitation, volition, cona-
tion-Prayatna). This is the physical consciousness.
When you transcend the physical body and operate on the
astral plane with the astral body, you will have astral conscious-
ness. You will move, and talk with astral entities.
When you operate in the mental plane with the mental
body, you will have mental consciousness. you will identify
yourself now with the mind just as you identify yourself with
the physical body. You will have psychic Siddhis as clairvoy-
(le)
20 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
ance, clairaudience, psychometry, telepathy, thought-reading,

etc. You will converse here with the mental entities. Here the
language is one.
When you transcend the mind you will identify yourself
with your individual Karana Sarira or causal body. You will
have lower Divya Drishti. Here you will have an expanded con-
sciousness. You will have very subtle Etheric body and operate
in an Etheric plane. You will have tremendous powers. You will
be in union with the Divine Consciousness. The veil between
you and Brahman is very thin now' If you exert you can peep
into Brahman and can have glimpses of Brahmic conscious-
ness. This is Prajna consciousness or lower Prakamya. You will
be an occupant of Satyaloka or Hiranyagarbhaloka with the in-
dividual Karana Sarira. When you universalise now you can be-
come one with Divine consciousness. You will have the whole
cosmic consciousness. This is Purushottama consciousness
with Adi Sakti or Para Prakriti or Avyaktam. This is Higher
Prakamya.
When you throw off the veil of Adi Sakti also, you will be-
come one with pure, Nirguna, Para Brahman, Ananta con-
sciousness, the Highest end of human life (Kaivalya). It is very
difficult to rest here for a long time.
Between Hiranyagarbha and Ishvara there is the veil of
Avyaktam.
There is one school of thought that says that Ishvara is a re-
flection in Maya. This is Abhasavada or doctrine of reflection.
An objector says: "When there is only one thing, how can there
be a reflection? Further if Ishvara is a reflection in Maya, how
will He be able to control Maya? This is not right'"
Svarupa Lakshana of Brahman is Sat-ChirAnanda'
Tatastha Lakshana of Brahman is Ishvara with powers of om-
nipotence, omniscience, etc.
When we take the Tatastha Lakshana of Brahman,Ishvara
has full consciousness of Nirguna Brahman, as well as the
NATURE AND STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS 2I
whole cosmic consciousness. Here Saguna Brahman is identi-

cal with pure Nirguna Brahman. This is Avachheda Vada. This
is the doctrine of limitation.
There is only Nirguna Brahman. Saguna Brahman is a
mere appearance for the sake of pious meditation of Bhaktas.
Four Kinds of Gonsciousness
There are four types of consciousness-consciousness,

subconsciousness, superconsciousness and double conscious-
ness.
Consciousness means Prajna. There is physical conscious-
ness. One is conscious of his body and his sunoundings-the
visible objects of this universe. In mental consciousness one
feels the operations of the mind, his sentiments, thoughts and
feelings. Very few people have got mental consciousness. They
have got only consciousness of the body. It is only those who
have got subtle intellect, who have got a knowledge of psychol-
ogy, who are practising a little bit of concentration, meditation
and introspection, that will be able to know about mental
consciousness.
Then comes the subconscious wherein all the Samskaras
are stored up. It is like a lumber room. From the subconscious
through memory, ideas come to the surface of the mind, to the
conscious. Subconscious is called Chitta. In Vedanta 'Chit' is
pure consciousness, absolute consciousness, Brahmic con-
sciousness, supreme consciousness.'Chitta' is subconscious,
and Chit is Para Brahman. You do an action. You desire an ob-
ject and experience it. The experience goes to subconscious
mind. It remains there until you get a stimulus from the external
world or from within through memory. Then the ideas and
Samskaras come to the surface of the mind. Vasana becomes a
Samskara and Samskara becomes a Vasana. Action produces an
impression and impression goads you to repeat an action again.
This is a vicious circle. There is no end for it. It is the Samskaras
imprinted on the subconscious mind that force you to take re-

birth again and again. These Samskaras can only be destroyed
by knowledge of Brahman. Then alone you are free from births
and deaths and you become a Jivanmukta or Mukta Purusha.
You will have to be careful in producing impressions in the sub-
conscious mind. Do good deeds. Have sublime divine thoughts.
Do Japa and Kirtan. This will produce good Samskaras and de-
stroy the evil impressions. Be good and do good and practise
meditation. You can generate good Samskaras in the
subconscious mind.
Then we have got superconscious state. That is Para Brah-
man, where there are neither names nor forms, neither darkness
nor light, neither east nor west, nor visible objects. It is pure Ab-
solute Consciousness, consciousness per se. The goal of life is
attainment of the superconscious state. It is called Nirvikalpa
Samadhi, Asamprajnata Samadhi. We have to transcend the
body and the mind and enter into the superconscious state
through meditation. After equipping oneself with the four
means one should practise hearing, reflection and
Nididhyasana. Then he will get Atma-Sakshatkara.
Below the superconscious state according to Raja Yoga
there are various kinds of Savikalpa Samadhis. In Vedanta also
there are Savikalpa Samadhis. Savitarka, Nirvitarka, Savichara,
Nirvichara, Sananda, and Sasmita are Savikalpa Samadhis ac-
cording to Raja Yoga. Antar Drishyanuvid, Antah Sabdanuvid,
Bahya Drishyanuvid, Bahya Sabdanuvid are forms of
Savikalpa Samadhis according to Vedanta. These are lower
stages. There are Triputi or triad-the knower, knowledge and
the known, the seer, sight and the seen-and above these stages
there is Asamprajnata Samadhi or Nirvikalpa Samadhi or
Nirbija Samadhi. There are no Vrittis, no Vasanas, no imagina-
tion, no Sankalpas, in that state. There is only pure conscious-
ness. That is our goal. That is Para Brahman.
NATURE AND STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS 23
In double consciousness the sage is resting in his own

Svarupa enjoying the supreme bliss, and at the same time he
works in this world like Janaka. He has double consciousness.
He has not forgotten his own pure, Brahmic state, and at the
same time he has consciousness of the world. Just as a crow has
got only one eye, but it turns here and there its socket, even so,
the Jivanmukta resting in his own Svarupa utilises his mind for
serving humanity. If the mind is completely destroyed as in a
Videhamukta, he cannot work in this world. Then we will have
no Jivanmuktas to teach the aspirants. A certain portion of
Avidya remains, Sattvic Vasana remains, called Lesha Avidya,
where there is Svarupa Manonasa of the mind. In a Jivanmukta
the whole mind is not destroyed. Rajas and Tamas are de-
stroyed, but Sattvic egoism remains. It is through this that he be-
holds the world within himself. In a Videhamukta the whole
mind is destroyed. He is absorbed in Para Brahman completely.
Through Sadhana the aspirant raises the Brahmakara
Vritti. He thinks, "I am Akhanda-Ekarasa-Chinmatra Brahman,
(I am one indivisible, hornogeneous essence), I am Nitya-
Suddha-Svarupa, I am Nitya-Bodha-Svarupa, I am Nitya-
Tripti-Svarupa (I am ever pure, I am pure consciousness, I am
eternal satisfaction), I am Sat-Chit-Ananda-Svarupa (I am an
embodirnent of existence-knowledge-bliss." There is Achintya
Sakti (unthinkable power), there is Ananta Sakti (infinite
power) in these words. These thoughts destroy all Vishayakara
Vrittis and raise the Brahmakara Vritti. Thought of Brahman
alone remains. This Brahmakara Vritti destroys the original
Avidya, and the aspirant rests in his own Svarupa.
In Western philosophy they used the word intuition. The
understanding of the western philosophers of the word 'intu-
ition' is different from the understanding of intuition by the
eastern philosophers. Their intuition is not the same intuition
conceived of by the eastern philosophers. Intuition is a faculty,
a higher wisdom, Jnana-Chakshus, which Sanjaya and Arjuna
had. Intuition sometimes refers to Para Brahman Himself, the
SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Existence Whole. Intuition does not contradict reason. It fulfils

it, and it is above reason. It is the door or gateway to Para
Brahman, to Knowledge of Brahman.
Arjuna had Cosmic Consciousness, Visvarupa-darshan.
Above Cosmic Consciousness is Super-cosmic state. Ishvara
has got Cosmic Consciousness as well as Supercosmic Con-
sciousness. Bhaktas who go to Satyaloka and dwell with
Hiranyagarbha experience Cosmic Consciousness. They have
got full knowledge of the process of creation of this world, of
the Tanmatras, mind, Mahat. They have got the experience of
Cosmos. That is called Cosmic Consciousness.
The highest state of consciousness is Turiya. To some
Jivanmuktas the world appears like a dream. To some
Jivanmuktas it appears like deep sleep,-according to the
Sattvic egoism present in them. Gradually the sage ascends the
highest rung in the ladder of wisdom. In the last stage he has no
knowledge of the world. He would not take food by himself. He
has to be fed. Mauni Swamiji of Kumbakonam was in the last
stage. Akalkot Swamiji had also this experience. They had no
knowledge of this world. They were completely absorbed in
their Selves. They had withdrawn themselves completely from
the world-consciousness, whereas sages like Janaka had a slight
experience of the world. So Janaka was able to rule the king-
dom. Jnanins are of two kinds-Samadhi Jnanins and
Vyavaharic Jnanins. Those sages who work in this world with a
slight feeling of this world are called Vyavaharic sages. Those
sages who are absorbed in Samadhi, who cannot work for the
well-being of this world, are called Samadhi Jnanins.
So let us get ourselves,established in Para Brahman and
enjoy the bliss of the Eternal and radiate joy and bliss to the
world and work for the solidarity of the world. Through
Sadhana, meditation, discipline, constant Abhyasa and
Vairagya, may you all become Jivanmuktas in this very birth.
NATUREAND STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS 25
Aspects of Consciousness
The disciple asks:
I find that the four different aspects of consciousness,
namely, Jagrat, Svapna, Sushupti and Turiya are mutually ex-
clusive of each other in the sense that the Jivatma is not aware of
the other aspects when it is aware of one of them. The common
link, of course, is the Jivatma himself. Does it follow that all
these aspects in fact coexist all the time but that the Jivatma is
aware of only one at a time? Why so?
Do you think that this division in our consciousness made
by ancient Rishis has anything in common with the recent divi-
sions of consciousness, such as consciousness, self-conscious-
ness, subconsciousness, the unconscious and super-
consciousness?
Which division could we say is more scientific and more
true to experience?
Tlte Guru replies:
The Avasthas may be loosely stated to be exclusive but
they are not wholly so. In Turiya all the lower three states are
'included' and absorbed. For, Turiya totally resolves them on to
the pure Light of Knowledge-Consciousness. Into It they sub-
side and It transcends thern all.
However the 'Jivatrna' is not the common link beneath the
four Avasthas but Turiya is the common link. It is the substra-
tum, the basic consciousness or the Svarupa Chaitanyaunderly-
ing all. Strictly speaking, Turiya is not a state, though referred
to as the fourth. Turiya is verily Brahman. It is an embodiment
of peace and bliss. As already stated, it is the substratum for the
other three states, viz., the waking, the dreaming and the sleep-
ing. It pervades the three states. It is Absolute Being. Therefore,
it is transcendental. It is Svatah-Siddha or self-proved. Hence it
is not 'consciousness' in the ordinary sense in which that term is
used, but rather it is consciousness in its transcendental Essence
of which the lower relative states of consciousness are but

reflections.
Regarding the awareness of the Jivatma, it is true that he
experiences one state at a time. This 'compartmental experi-
ence,' as it were, is due to the fact that the three states overlap
one another so that when one functions the other is covered over
and latent, so to say. One particular Guna dominates the field of
consciousness and covers up the other two. With the dawn of
Turiya, however, this delimitation disappears. You are now
raised into cosmic consciousness. The Jivatma consciousness is
replaced by Visvatma consciousness.
The conscious, subconscious, unconscious and
superconscious states are in some respects similar to the classi-
fication of the ancient, viz., the Jagrat, Svapna, Sushupti and
Turiya states of consciousness. But they are not identical. The
!agrat state of consciousness mentioned in the Upanishads has
more metaphysical implications than the conscious state ofpsy-
chologists. Similar is the case with the Svapna and Sushupti
states. The ancient Hindu philosophers meant by the Jagrat con-
sciousness not merely the mental consciousness which when re-
flected through the psychoses of the mind is called the Jiva in
the Jagrat state. Svapna is the state where the mind functions in-
dependent of the senses on the basis of the impressions made in
it during waking experience. The Sushupti state is not really one
of absolute unconsciousness but one in which the psychoses of
the mincl get themselves wound up and are reduced to a state of
Tamas through which the consciousness of the Supreme Self
cannot be reflected. The fundamental difference between the
ancient classification made in the Upanishads and the one made
by modern psychologists is that the former takes into consider-
ation the transcendental consciousness as the basis of the ap-
pearance of the three relative states while the latter makes a
mere empirical study of the behaviour of the mind as observed
by the analytical intellect. The Superconscious state, however,
can be identified with the Turiya provided of course the former
is not taken to be the same as that higher light of the mind which
is called intuition and which is the gateway to the realisation of
Turiya, but not identical rvith it.
We cannot but admit that the division and classification
made by the ancient scientists of the spirit is the more correct
because it is not the result of inference through observation but
in the nature of an authoritative declaration based upon actual
super-sensual cognition and direct experience by the seer.
The ultimate light upon this highly subtle matter has, how-
ever, to come through personal realisation alone. perfect inward
renunciation, total purification and earnest Sadhana and medi-
tation are means to attain such realisation. The seeker has to be
resolutely bold and active in his quest through patience and per-
severance upon this spiritual path till the ultimate goal is
attained.
The Turiya State

The disciple aslcs:
Mandukya Upanishad deals more or less in a scientific
manner with the four stages, or rather aspects of our conscious-
ness. with three, we are all quite familiar. The question is of the
Turiya, which is described as 'Prapanchopashamam.,
Might it be that our consciousness, which is usually at
home with diversity, when forced by will to fix itself on abso-
lute unity, loses itself and is in the state of a kind of continuous
trance as Gheranda Sarnhita puts it? But since our conscious-
ness is not entirely independent of its physical basis, the human
brain-centre, after a time it returns and again finds the diversity
from which it had taken temporary leave.
Of course, it is open to the aspirant to force consciousness
not to retum at all, in which case the Turiya stage would be the
final stage and consciousness would not return to the body,
leaving it as a shell of dead matter.
tl
The question, however, is whether it is the individual that

can decide the return of his consciousness from Turiya, or is it
the Universal Will.
The Guru replies:
Regarding the question of Turiya, referred to as
'Prapanchopashamam,' I must say that the whole question re-
quires to be viewed from a different perspective altogether; for,
in fact, it is not so much a case of Consciousness being "usually
at home with diversity," and thence being "forced by will to fix
itself on absolute unity"; but on the contrary, it is rather a matter
of CoNSCTOUSNESS which is eternally characterised by Self-ex-
perience of Absolute Unity being enabled to revert into and re-
gain its pristine Unity-awareness, which is its essential Being,
by a constant, purposeful, and persistent negation of and with-
drawal from the phenomenal experience (and the endless diver-
sities connoted thereby) into which it has temporarily got
involved through the original Cosmic Nescience. This descent
into Ajnana is like unto a brief sleep of delusion-Moha-Nidra.
Thus it should be known that, as compared with the stupendous
state of Time-transcendent Eternity, this condition of Jiva-con-
sciousness is but a momentary, passing experience, which is un-
natural to our essential Being. THAT is the real state where our
consciousness is ever at home, for that indeed is 'Sva-SvaoPs',
that indeed the 'Nija Dhama'.
Pure Consciousness is absolutely independent of any
physical basis whatsoever. Even with reference to the individ-
ual Jiva's consciousness, here too consciousness becomes de-
pendent upon its physical basis in so far as it is called upon to be
manifest and function in physical and mental levels in the first
two states, i.e., the waking and the dream, Jagrat and Svapna'
Even in the human being, consciousness does become inde-
pendent of its physical moorings in the state of Sushupti when it
withdraws itself into the subtle supra-physical Puritat Nadi in
the Hridaya, which is not in the Sthula Sarira. Here, conscious-
ness is upon the subtler astral or psychic level. But, of course,

when it has once again to function upon the mental and physical
planes upon waking, it has inevitably to take up its stand in and
function through the mind and senses. However, all this is with
reference to the vast generality of human mind that is totally
caught up in Ajnana and which has not taken to Yoga.It is with
reference to such in whom spiritual consciousness has not yet
been awakened. All such belongings to this class (in other
words, practically the vast majority of mankind) are but aware
only ofphysical consciousness and mental consciousness. But a
definite and significant change does take place in the conscious-
ness of the individual who takes recourse to Yoga. He experi-
ences, through rising up in the Yoga Marga, an ascent into a
higher level of awareness as a result of the awakening of spiri-
tual consciousness to that degree there comes about a progres-
sive independence of the physical aspect of the man. Reaching
perfection, the Yogi attains the highest super-consciousness.
This is entirely independent of all physical basis. This is Turiya.
At this stage regarding the consciousness, return from
which it had taken "temporary leave", and regarding "whether it
is the individual that can decide the return of his consciousness
from Turiya, or is it the Universal Will?"-1[ssg points are of
particular interest, because their consideration serves to spe-
cially bring light to one or two of the most distinctive features
that characterise the Turiya Chaitanya. To take the first point,
when the experience of Superconsciousness in the highest Sam-
adhi or the Turiya experience is attained, the consciousness
never again experiences the same vision that it had previous to
this experience. Henceforth the Yogi returns with knowledge,
an Enlightened Being. It is a consciousness with the Light of
Knowledge. The Yogi's vision of the world is not the vision of
the man in ignorance, who perceives the diversity and takes it to
be real. The Yogi's vision (upon return from Turiya experience)
is based upon knowledge. It perceives not diversity, but Unity
in diversity. Thenceforth his Unity consciousness becomes the
basis of his perception. The entire world of diversity stands

before his vision, in a different light altogether. This vision is
indescribable.
Regarding the second point, actually this question does not
arise, because in the state of Turiya the individuality is no more'
It gets merged and absorbed into the Cosmic or the Universal
Consciousness. This is precisely what is implied by
'Prapanchopashamam.''Prapancha' or world-experience is, in
essence, nothing but the individuat consciousness. Thus it must
be known that in Turiya there is at-one-ment and the individual
and Universal do not exist as two factors, but a condition of
identity prevails. Hence it is the Universal Will that operates-
Chopter Two
cosMtc coNsctousNEss
An Analytical Study of Cosmic Consciousness
What ls Cosmic Consciousness
The state of Cosmic Consciousness is beyond description.
It induces awe, suprerne joy and unalloyed felicity. This state of
cosmic consciousness is below the absolute consciousness
(Nirguna-Brahmic consciousness) wherein the seer, sight, the
things seen, or the knower, knowable and knowledge, or the
subject and object, become one. In cosmic consciousness there
is yet the seer and the seen.
Cosmic consciousness is perfect awareness of the oneness
of life. The Yogi feels that the universe is filled with one life,
that there is no such thing as blind force or dead matter and that
all is alive, vibrating and intelligent. FIe experiences a sense of
universality, a consciousness of Eternal Life. He who has cos-
mic consciousness feels that the universe is all his. He is one
with the Supreme Lord, with the Universal Knowledge and
Life. He gets the eye celestial and experiences bliss beyond
understanding and description.
A Yogi of cosmic consciousness develops the cosmic
sense and has universal understanding. He is conscious ofbeing
in the imrnediate presence of God. During illumination the
flood-gate ofjoy breaks and he realises that the deep, everlast-
ing fountain ofjoy exists in every heart, that the immortal life
underlies all beings, that the eternal, all-ernbracing, all-inclu-
sive love envelops, supports and guides every particle, every
atom of creation. Sin, sorrow, death are now but words for him
without meaning. He feels the elixir of life, the nectar of immor-
tality flowing in his veins. His face shines with a radiant light.
(3 1)
His eyes are lustrous. They are pools ofjoy and bliss. He feels
that the entire world is bathed in the sea of satisfying love,
which is the very essence of life. He feels that the whole world
is his body, that all hands and all feet are his. Chair, table,
tree-all have a cosmic significance. He could never feel
strange or alien to any place.
Cosmic consciousness is an inherent, natural faculty of all
men and women. It is inactive or non-functioning in the major-
ity of human beings. Yogic training and discipline are necessary
to awaken the exalted blissful state of cosmic consciousness.
The four kinds of Mukti and the Bhava-Samadhi of
Bhaktas, the lower Sarnadhis of a Raja Yogi (viz., Savitarka,
Savichara, Nirvichara, Sananda, Sasmita, Ritambhara Prajna,
etc.), and the lower Savikalpa Samadhis (viz., Shabdanuvid,
Drishyanuvid) of a Vedantin all lead to the experience of cos-
mic consciousness. The ways of approach may be different but
the fruit is the same. The experiences are common. Intuition,
revelation, inspiration, ecstasy-are synonymous terms.
Super Sublime State

Wordsworth in his poem "Tintern Abbey" describes Sam-
adhi as follows:
"... That blessed mood,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligble world,
Is lightened:-that serene and blessed mood
In which the affections gently lead us on,
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In Body, and become a living soul.
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power ofjoy,
We see into the life of things."
COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS -, 1
The state of cosmic consciousness is grand and sublime. It

induces awe, suprerne joy and highest, unalloyed felicity, free
from pain, sorrow and fear. This state of cosmic consciousness
is below the absolute consciousness or Nirguna Brahrnic Con-
sciousness wherein the seer, sight and the things seen, or the
knower, knowable and knowledge, or the subject and object,
become one. In cosmic consciousness there is yet the seer and
the seen. It is doubtless a very subtle experience. It is divine ex-
perience. It is a revelation of the Karana Jagat wherein the types
are realised. Brahmic consciousness is the experience of
Maha-Karana wherein there is neither tirne, space nor causa-
tion. It is the unconditioned, ineffable state. Srutis describe it
negatively-Neti, Neti-not this, not this. ,,yato t,ocho
nivartante oprapya manasa saha anandambrahmano viclvan nu
bibheti kadacltana-the rnind and speech return back from it
baffled as they are not able to grasp and describe it; the wise
who knows the Brahrnan which is bliss is not afraid of anything
at any time."
Sri Sankara, Dattatreya, Vama Deva, Jada Bharata,
Mansoor, Shams Tabriez,Madalasa, Yajnavalkya had the expe-
rience of super-cosmic consciousness whereas Ramdas, Tulasi
Das, Kabir, Ramanuja, Mira, Gouranga, Maclhva, Hafiz,
Tukaram, Lord Jesus, Lord Buddha had experience of cosmic
consciousness. The pure Brahrnic consciousness is to be felt by
the Sadhaka. It cannot be described in words. The language is
imperfect. The cosrnic consciousness is the experience of
Brahma-Loka. It is the consciousness of Brahman or
Hiranyagarbha. The Yogi acquires all Divine Aishvaryas. FIe
who experiences cosmic consciousness attains many kinds of
Siddhis, which are described in Bhagavata and Raja yoga of
Patanjali Maharshi.
Arjuna, Sanjaya, Devaki had this experience of cosmic
consciousness. Yasoda saw the whole Virat in the mouth of
Bala Krishna. The Gita describes this state of consciousness
through the mouth of Arjuna in these words: "The mighty form,
with many mouths and eyes, long-armed, with thighs and feet
innurnerable, vast bosomed, set with many fearful teeth; radiant
Thou touchest heaven, rainbow-hued, with opened mouths,
eyes on every side, all-swallowing, fiery-tongued, Thou lickest
up mankind devouring all into Thy gaping mouths, tremen-
dbustoothed and tenible to see; some, caught within the gaps
between thy teeth, are seen, their heads to powder crushed and
ground."
Western Concept of Cosmic Consciousness
In the west also people have to recognise the truth about

cosmic consciousness when one rises above body-conscious-
ness. Some have also tasted and experienced this state. In
France, Professor Bergson was preaching about intuition which
transcends reason but does not conffadict it. Bucke describes
cosmic consciousness as follows: "cosmic consciousness is a
third form, which is as far above self-consciousness as is that
above sirnple consciousness. It is Supra-conceptual' The cos-
mic consci,ousness, as its name implies, is 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. To this is added a
state of moral exaltation, an indescribable feeling of elation and
joyousness and a quickening of the moral sense, which is fully
as striking and more important, both to the race and the individ-
ual, that is the enhanced intellectual power. With these comes
what may be called a sense of immortality, a consciousness of
eternal life, not a conviction that he shall have it, but the
consciousness that he has it already."
CelestialVision
The eye celestial usually comes to a Yogi (mystic) who has
advanced much in mysticism. But it is not possible for everyone
to get this celestial eye, as each and every one cannot be a mys-
tic. Sri Krishna therefore said to Arjuna, "In the form in which
COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS 35
you have seen Me, I cannot be seen even by means of Vedas, by

austerities, by gifts or by sacrifices." Gita: Ch. XI-53.
FIe rvl'ro gets the experience of supra-cosmic conscious-
ness has the feeling of Apta Kama (one who has obtained all
that he desires). He feels, "There is nothing more to be known
by me."
The Jiva-hood has gone now. The little',I,'has melted. The
differentiating mind that splits up has vanished. All barriers, alr
sense of duality, differences and separateness have disap-
peared. There is no idea of tirne and space. There is only Eter-
nity. The Jiva has realised his identity with Brahrnan. The ideas
of caste, creed and colour have gone now. When he becomes a
Brahma-Varishtha rvhen he enters the seventh stage of Jnana or
Turiyatita, even the slight body-consciousness, which was in a
state of Saruskara or mental retentum disappears. He has to be
fed by the spectators. The rvorld completely disappears for hirn.
FIe experiences the state described by Ajati-Vadin or the utter-
ance of Srutis Neha nana-asti kinchana-there is no such thing
as diversity.
The world is a mental creation. It is mere irnpression only.
There is no rvorld during sleep. You may argue that the world
exists for the rvaking rnan. Yes, quite true. If there is rnind, there
is rvorld. What is mind then? It is a bundle of irnpressions, ideas,
habits. The trvo curents, Raga-Dvesha, keep up the life of the
mind. If these two curents are destroyed, there is death for the
rnind. It is called Manonasa. That Yogi who has achieved
Manonasa cannot perceive the world. If you can consciously
destroy the mind through sarnadhi, this world disappears. Just
as you see the rope only rvhen the Bhranti of snake has van-
ished, so also you see Brahrnan only when the Bhranti of world
ancl body has disappeared by knowledge of the Self.
Many scientists and students of science may not believe
rne. Do this practice now. Shut yourself up in a rooln for a week.
Cut off all connections. Do not read ne\.vspapers. Observe per-
fect Mauna (silence) also. Then feel how far the irnpressions of
the world remain in your mind. You will feel that the world is a
dream. If you practise for a long time, you will realise the truth
of rny statement. The world is a solid reality for a man of pas-
sion and greed, for a sensualist who has gross mind. For a Yogi
of cosmic consciousness, it dwindles into an airy nothing.
Supreme Awareness
Cosmic consciousness is the fruit of Chaitanya Sarnadhi,

rvhere the Yogi feels perfect 'awareness' of a super-sensuous
plane of knowledge and intuition. He feels his existence "Aham
{s11i"-"1 exist" whereas the Jada Sarnadhi of a Hatha-Yogi
cannot bring in this super-conscious state. It is sornething like
deep sleep. There is no super-sensuous divine knowledge in this
state. The breathing stops completely. The Prana is fixed up
somewhere in the Muladhara Chakra. Even if you cut his leg, he
will not feel any pain. There will be no bleeding. But the
Sarnskaras and Vasanas are not bumt here. Whereas in Brahmic
Consciousness, the Vasanas and Sarnskaras are fried in toto.
There is Alambana (support for the mind); there is Triputi
(triad-knower, knowable, knowledge). There are subtle
Samskaras in Savikalpa Samadhi or lower Samadhi. In
Nrrvikalpa Sarnadhi there is neither Alambana nor Triputi nor
Sarnskara. The Jada Samadhi cannot give liberation. One can
enter into Jada Sarnadhi without any rnoral perfection, whereas
cosmic consciousness can never be had without ethical
perfection. Note this point very carefully.
Characteristics of ExPerience
Absolute fearlessness, desirelessness, thoughtlessness,
I-lessness, mine-lessness, anger-lessness, Brahmic aura in the
face, freedom from Harsha and Soka are some of the signs that
indicate that the man has reached the state of super-conscious-
ness. He is also always in a state of perfect bliss. You can never
see anger, depression, cheerlessness, sorrow in his face. You

will find elevation, joy and peace in his presence.
Just as a drunken man is not conscious whether he has
cloth on his body or not, when it is a state of dropping down in
the ground, so also the Yogi who is experiencing supracosmic
consciousness is not conscious of his body. A Jivanmukta who
is in the fourth Bhurnika will have slight consciousness of his
body in the fonn of a Samskara or mental retentum.
Just as a man doubts whether his old rotten shoe is clinging
to his feet or not rvhen he is sometimes absent-minded, so also
the Jivanrnukta doubts whether this body is hanging like an old
rotten shoe or not. That Sannyasi or an Avadhoota who fully
rests in Brahman and has no idea at all of the slightest difference
between a male and a female is entitled to throw off his
Kowpeena altogether. That Kowpeena also will drop by itself.
Commonsense Approach
He who is naked should not live in an Ashram or a town or
a village. He should roam about unknown not caring for food
and cast off his body as a slough in a dung-hill or dilapidated
house. So says Narada-Parivrajaka Upanishad.
Tb live naked in an Ashram and to have all sorts of com-
forts, to have disciples and to take interest in the development of
the Ashrarn does not look nice. It does not appeal to some sec-
tions of people at least. That Sannyasin or Mahatma who wants
or keeps sornething for his body in an Ashram can wear also a
small cloth along with his Kowpeena. This will not go against
his realisation or Jivanmukti. Physical nudity alone will not
constitute real Tyaga. Some persons study the description of a
Jnani in the seventh Bhumika in Viveka-Chudamani or Yoga
Vasishtha and try to imitate this external state without having
any intemal developrnent or attainment of that highest state of
consciousness. This is a mistake. This is hypocrisy. Some
Sannyasins falsely assume the state of Brahma-Varishtha. They

like to be fed by young ladies.
In Uttarakasi in the Himalayas a young man heard the
story of Yoga Vasishtha from Swami Deva Giri, wherein there
was a description of a Jnani of the seventh state of Jnana- This
young man gave up at once food for l5 days, began to pass mo-
tions and urine in his room and imagined that he was in the sev-
enth stage of Jnana. An intelligent neighbour applied a plant
called Bitchu-Kata to his body which produces severe pain like
scorpion-sting. He yelled out like anything and camebackto his
senses. He went to the Kshetra as usual for taking alms. Is this
not hypocrisy? His internal mental state has not reached the
highest zenith of Brahmic consciosness. It remained in a raw,
crude, unpolished state, though he externally put on the state of
a Paramahamsa who dwells in the absolute consciousness.
Appearances Are Questionable

You will find in Kumbha Mela at Haridwar batches of
Naga-Sadhus, young boys marching in procession in a nude
state. Are these boys Jitendriya Yogins? Is this not hypocrisy?
Hypocrisy takes various forms. One should fully understand the
subtle ways and workings of the mind. Mind is Maya.
If you take camphor or Hareetaki or Nux Vomica seed for
some time, you will lose your power of erection in the genera-
tive organ. This does not mean that you are a Jitendriya Yogi.
There are some expert old men who give a twist to the spermatic
cord and thereby paralyse the nerve erigens that causes erection
of the organ. The mind remains in the same state. Passion is the
same. Real Sannyasa is internal, mental nudity. The mind is ab-
solutely free from Vasanas and Samskaras. This is the real
Avadhoota state.
You cannot find the symptoms and signs of cosmic con-
sciousness in these pseudo-samadhists who have shut them-
selves up in underground rooms. If you take the seeds of
Apamarga (Nayurivi in Tamil) you will be free from hunger and

thirst. The use of the Apamarga seeds for destroying hunger and
thirst is as follows:-These seeds have seven subtle skins or
outer husks. Dry them in the sun and rub them on the hands.
Take l8th of a seer of this seed. Make Kheer of this seed with
rnilk and sugar, and drink. Take a purgative to start with. Live
on rnilk for two days. Take an enema also. All old faecal matter
should be evacuated. You will have pleasant sensations and
feelings ofjoy. There will be neither hunger nor thirst. There are
two varieties of Apamarga seeds. The red one is better.
There is another plant or grass that is obtainable on the way
to Kailas. It grows on rocks. You will have to pluck it before
sunrise. You can be freed from hunger for six months. The
pseudo-Samadhists use these seeds and roots. When they come
out of the room they are the same persons with worldly Vasanas
and Samskaras. They are talkative and Rajasic.
Ramacharaka's Views on Cosmic Consciousness

Yogi Ramacharaka has written about cosmic conscious-
ness in his book Raja Yoga as follows: "There is a stage still
higher than this last mentioned, but it has come to but very few
of the race. Reports of it come from all times, races, countries. It
has been called "Cosrnic Consciousness" and is described as an
awareness of the Oneness of Life-that is, a consciousness that
the Universe is filled with one Life, an actual perception and
"awareness" that the universe is full of life, motion, and mind,
and that there is no such thing as Blind Force or Dead Matter,
but that all is alive, vibrating and intelligent. That is, of course,
that the Real Universe, which is the Essence or Background of
the Universe of Matter, Energy and Mind, is as they describe. In
fact, the description of those who have had glimpses of this state
would indicate that they see the Universe as All-Mind-that all
is Mind at the last. This form of consciousness has been experi-
enced by men here and there-only a few in moments of "illu-
mination" the period lasting but a very short space of time, then
fading away,leaving but a memory. In the moment of "illumi-

nation" there came to those experiencing it a sense of
"in-touch-ness" with Universal knowledge and Life, impossi-
ble to describe, accompanied by a joy beyond understanding.
"Regarding this last, "Cosmic Consciousness", we would
state that it means more than an intellectual conviction, belief or
realisation of the facts as stated, for an actual vision and con-
sciousness of these things came in the moment of illumination.
Some others report that they have a deep abiding sense ofreality
of the facts described by the report of the illumined, but have
not experienced the "vision" or ecstasy referred to. These last
people seem to have with them always the same mental state as
that possessed by those who had the "vision" and passed out of
it, carrying with them the remembrance and feeling, but not the
actual consciousness attained at the moment. They agree upon
the essential particulars of the reports. Dr. Maurice Bucke, now
passed out of this plane of life, wrote a book entitled "Cosmic
Consciousness" in which he describes a number of these cases,
including his own, Walt Whitman's and others' and in which he
holds that this stage of consciousness is before the race and will
gradually come to it in the future. He holds that the manifesta-
tion of it which has come to some few of the race, as above
stated, is but the first beams of the sun which are flashing upon
us and which are but prophecies of the appearance of the great
body of light itself.
"We shall not here consider at length the reports of certain
great religious personages of the past, who have left records that
in moments of great spiritual exaltation they became conscious
of "being in the presence of the Absolute" or perhaps within the
radius of the "light of lts countenance." We have great respect
for these reports and have every reason for believing many of
them as authentic, notwithstanding the conflicting reports that
have been handed down to us by those who had these glimpses
ot'consciousness were not prepared or trained to fully under-
stand the nature of the phenomena. They found themselves in
COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS 4t
the spiritual presence of something of awful grandeur and spiri-

tual rank and were completely dazed and bewildered at the
sight. They did not understand the nature of Absolute and when
they had sufficiently recovered they reported that they had been
in the "presence of God," the word "God" meaning their partic-
ular conception of Deity-that is the one appearing as Deity in
their own particular religious creed or school. They saw nothing
to cause them to identify this something with their particular
conception of Deity, except that they thought that "it must be
God" and knowing no other God except their own particular
conception, they naturally identified that Something with
"God" as they conceived Him to be. And their reports naturally
were along these lines.
"Thus the reports of all religions are filled with accounts of
the so-called miraculous occurrences. The Catholic saint re-
ports that he "saw the light of God's countenance," and the
non-catholic reports likewise regarding God as he knows Him.
The Mohammedan reports that he caught a glimpse of the face
of Allah and the Buddhist tells us that he saw Buddha under the
Tree. The Brahrnin has seen the face of Brahman, and the vari-
ous Hindu sects have men who give similar reports regarding
their own particular deities. The Persians have given sim.ilar re-
ports and even the ancient Egyptians have left records of similar
occurrences. These conflicting reports have led to the belief, on
the part of those who did not understand the nature.of the phe-
nomenon, that these things were "all imagination" and fancy, if
indeed not rank falsehood and imposture. But the Yogins know
better than this. They know that underneath all these varying re-
ports there is a common ground of truth, which will be apparent
to anyone investigating the matter. They know that all of these
reports (except a few based upon fraudulent imitations of the
real phenomenon) are based upon truth and are but the bewil-
dered reports of the various observers. They know that these
people were temporarily lifted above the ordinary plane of con-
sciousness and were made aware of the existence of a Being or
Beings higher than mortal. It does not follow that they saw
"God" or the Absolute, for there are many beings of high spiri-
tual growth and development that would appear to the ordinary
mortal as the very God. The Catholic doctrine of Angels and
Archangels is corroborated by those among the Yogins who
have been "behind the veil" and they give us reports of the
"Devas" and other advanced Beings. So the Yogi accepts these
reports of the various mystics, saints and inspired ones, and ac-
counts for them all by laws perfectly natural to the students of
the Yoga Philosophy, but which appear as supernatural to those
who have not studied along these lines.
"But we cannot speak further of this phase of the subject in
this lesson, for a full discussion of it would lead us far away
from the phase of the general subject before us. But we wish to
be understood as saying that there are certain centres in the
mental being of man from which may come light regarding the
existence of the Absolute and higher order of Beings. In fact,
from these centres come to man that part of his mental "feel-
ings" that he calls "the religious instinct or intuition." Man does
not arrive at the underlying consciousness of "Something." Be-
yond the means of his intellect-it is the glimmer of light com-
ing from the higher centres of the Self. He notices these gleams
of light, but not understanding them, he proceeds to erect elabo-
rate theological and creedal structures to account for them the
work of the intellect, however, always lacking that "feeling"
that the intuition itself possesses. True religion, no matter under
what name it may masquerade, comes from the "heart" and is
not comforted or satisfied with these intellectual explanations,
and hence comes that unrest and craving for satisfaction, which
comes to man when the light begins to break through. "Miss
Laurie Bratt of America writes about an experience in cosmic
consciousness in "The Hindu Mind" as follows: "The Hindus
have written much on cosmic consciousness but in the West this
subject is much less known. However, those who have read
Doctor Bucke's 'Cosmic Consciousness' and Edward Carpen-
ter's 'Towards Democracy' know that these authors believe

that cosmic consciousness is a natural faculty of man, and that a
future race of men on this earth will be born with this faculty
well developed and not merely latent as it is now. Bucke's the-
ory is that just as man advanced from the state of simple con-
sciousness, which he shared with the animal kingdom into a
state of Self-consciousness peculiar to man alone and marked
by the development of language, so he must inevitably come
into a higher state of consciousness, distinguished by a cosmic
or universal understanding.
"Bucke maintains that the increasing number of people
who have attained some degree of cosmic consciousness in the
past few centuries is proof that these persons constitute the van-
guard or forerunners of the new race. Among those in the West
whom Bucke believes to have had the Cosmic sense more or
less well developed (in recent centuries) are St. John of the
Cross, Francis Bacon, Jacob Behman, Blaise Pascal, Spinoza,
Swedenborg, William Wordsworth, Alexander Pushkin,
Honore de Balzac, Emerson, Tennyson, Thoreau, Walt Whir
man and Edward Carpenter. He also mentions Ramakrishna as a
Hindu example.
"Besides these famous men it is doubtless true that many
hundreds of men and women in each country, unknown to fame,
have been exalted to some degree of cosmic consciousness.
There is no doubt in my mind that the message brought to
America by Hindu teachers in recent years has been the means
by which hundreds and perhaps thousands of Americans have
achieved, through the meditation practices taught by them, a
glimpse of divine consciousness. Some few students have gone
further, and attained very high illumination. Here we have an
example of how the cosmic sense is being developed in larger
and larger numbers paving the way for the great race of the
future."
Bucke's Views
Some passages frorn Bucke's book is well worth quoting
here: "In contact with the flux of Cosmic Consciousness all reli-
gions known and named today will be melted down. The hurnan
soul will be revolutionised. Religion will absolutely dominate
the race. It will not depend on tradition. It will be believed and
disbelieved. It will not be a part of life, belonging to certain
hours, times and occasions. It will not be in sacred books nor in
the mouths of priests. It will not dwell in churches and meetings
and forms and days. Its life will not be in prayers, hymns nor in
discourses. It will not depend on special revelations, on the
words of gods who came down to teach, nor on any Bible or Bi-
bles. It will have no mission to save men from their sins nor to
secure them entrance to heaven. It will not teach a future im-
mortality nor future glories, for immortality and all glory exist
in the here and now.
"The evidence of immortality will live in every heart as
sight in every eye. Doubt of God and of etemal life will be as
impossible as is now doubt of existence; the evidence of each
will be same. Religion will govern every minute of every day of
all life. Churches, priests, forms, creeds, prayers, all agents, all
intermediaries between the individual men and God will be per-
manently replaced by direct unmistakable intercourse. Sin will
no longer exist nor will salvation be desired. Men will not worry
about death or a future, about the kingdom of heaven, about
what may come with and after the cessation of the life of the
present body. Each soul will feel and know itself to be immor-
tal, will feel and know that the entire universe with all its good
and with all its beauty is for it and belongs to it for ever. The
world peopled by men possessing Cosmic Consciousness will
be as far removed from the world of today as this from the world
as it was before the advent of self-consciousness. This new race
is in the act of being born from us and in the near future will
occupy and possess the earth."
A Definite WaY to Contact God

"The fact that there is a technique such as Yoga practices,
whereby Cosmic Consciousness can be attained is in itself
proof that this higher sense is indeed an inherent faculty of all
men, needing but the necessary training to call it forth. Most
people believe that divine knowledge comes to only a few cho-
sen people, and that the average man can approach no nearer to
God than his "faith" will take him. Realisation that there is a
definite way to contact God, a technique usable by all men in all
circumstances, has come with such a liberating shock to stLt-
dents of Hindu spiritual science that they feel they lrave
undergone a new birth.
"I have one such case in rnind. An American man who, as
soon as he had heard the Yogoda message brought to America
by Swami Yogananda of Bengal was swept up into Costnic
Consciousness. This student was possessed of intense religitlus
faith and aspiration. Though well read in the sacred scriptures
of the world, especially those of the Hindu, he knew that this in-
tellectual knowledge was barren and stony; it did not feed thc
soul-hunger within him. He did not wish merely to read about
spiritual food, but to taste it. Under the even tenor of his days
there yawned a black abyss of despair---despair that he was un-
worthy of any direct contact with God, since no such experience
was given him. He finally came to doubt not God, but the possi-
bility that he would ever be able to have more than an intellec-
tual comprehension of Hirn. This conviction too struck at the
roots of his life and made it seem a worthless and meaningless
thing.
"Into this dark night of his soul came the dazzling light
brought by the teacher frorn India. The student felt the heavy
weight of despair lifting from his heart. Retuming to his home
one night from the last of the public lectures, he was conscious
of a great peace within himself. He felt that in some deep funda-
mental way he had becorne a different person. An impulse
urged him to look into a mirror in his room, that he might see the
new man. There he saw not his own face, but the face of the
Hindu teacher whose lecture he had attended that evening.
"The flood-gate ofjoy broke in his soul; he was inundated
with waves of indescribable ecstasy. Words that had been
merely words to him before-bliss, immortality, eternity, truth,
divine love-became, in the twinkling of an eye, the core of be-
ing, the essence of his life, the only possible reality. Realisation
that these deep, everlasting founts ofjoy existed in every heart,
that this immortal life underlay all the mortality of humanity,
that this eternal, all-inclusive love enveloped and supported and
guided every particle, every atom of creation, burst upon him
with a surety and divine certainty that caused his whole being to
pour forth in a flood of praise and gratitude.
"He knew not with his mind alone, but with his heart and
soul, with every cell and molecule of his body. The sublime
splendour and joy of this discovery were so vast that he felt that
cenfuries, millenniums, countless aeons of suffering were as
nothing, as less than nothing, if by such means that bliss could
be obtained. Sin, sorrow, death-these were but words now,
words without meaning, words swallowed up by joy as min-
nows by the seven seas.
Physiological Changes
"He was aware, during this first period of illumination and
during the months which followed of a number ofphysiological
changes within himself. The most striking was what seemed of
an arrangement of molecular structure in his brain or the open-
ing up of new cell-territory there. Ceaselessly, day and night, he
was conscious of this work going on. It seemed as though a kind
of electrical drill was boring out new cellular thought-channels.
This phenomenon is strong proof of Bucke's theory that Cos-
mic Consciousness is a natural faculty of man for it gives evi-
dence that the brain-cells which are connected with this faculty
are already present in man, although inactive or non-function-

ing in the rnajority of human beings at the present time.
"Another important change was felt in his spinal column.
The whole spine seemed turned into iron for several months, so
that, when he sat to meditate on God, he felt anchored for ever,
able to sit in one place eternally without motion or conscious-
ness of any bodily function. At times an influx of superhuman
strength invaded him and he felt that he was carrying the whole
universe on his shoulders. The elixir of life, the nectar of im-
mortality, he felt flowing in his veins as an actual, tangible
force. It seemed like a quicksilver or a sort of electrical fluid
light throughout his body.
The Everlasting Aims

"During the months of his illumination, he felt no need of
food or sleep. But he conformed his outward life to the pattern
of his household and ate and slept when his family did. All food
seemed pure spirit to him, and in sleep he was pillowed on the
"Everlasting arms" awakening to a joy past all words, past all
powers to description.
"He had previously suffered from heavy colds and had
been a constant smoker; now his body was purged of all sick-
ness, and desire for cigarette was wiped completely from his
consciousness. His family and friends were aware of a great
change in his appearance and manner; his face shone with a ra-
diant light; his eyes were pools ofjoy. Strangers spoke to him ir-
resistibly drawn by a strange sympathy; on the street-car,
children would come over to sit on his lap, asking him to visit
them.
"The whole Universe was to him bathed in a sea of love.
He said to himself many times: "Now at last I know what Love
is! This is God's love, [ove, unconquerable love, all-satisfying
love." He knew beyond all possibility or thought of doubt that
love creates and sustains the universe, and that all created things
human or subhuman were destined to discover this Love, this

immortal bliss that is the very essence of life. He felt his mind
expand, his understanding reach out, endlessly widening, grow-
ing, touching every thing in the Universe, binding all things, all
thought to himself. He was "centre everywhere, circumference
nowhere."
"The air that he breathed was friendly, intimate, conscious
of life. He felt all the world was "home" to him, that he could
never feel strange or alien to any place again; that the moun-
tains, the seas, the distant lands which he had never seen, would
be as much his own as the home of his boyhood. Everywhere he
looked, he saw the "atom dance" of nature; the air was filled
rvith myriad moving pinpricks of light.
"During these months, he went about his daily duties as
usual but with a hitherto unknown efficiency and speed. He was
a student at college during this period, and passed all his exami-
nations without looking at a textbook. FIis mind was bathed in a
sea of knowledge. Typed papers flew off his machine, complete
without error in a fourth of his customary time. Fatigue was un-
known to him; his work seemed like child's play, happy and
carefree. Conversing in person or over the telephone on any
business, his inward joy covered every action and circumstance
with a cosmic significance; for to him, this telephone, this table,
this voice was God, God manifesting Himself in another of His
fascinating disguises.
"In the midst of his work, he would suddenly be freshly
overwhelmed by the goodness of God who has given him this
incredible, unspeakable happiness. His breath would stop com-
pletely at such times; the awe which he felt would be accompa-
nied by an absolute stillness within and without. Time and
space were swallowed up, gone without trace like all unreality.
Underlying all his consciousness was a sense of immeasurable
and unutterable gratitude; a longing for others to know the joy
which lay within them; but most of all, a divine knowledge, past
all human comprehension, that all was well with the world, that
everything was leading to the goal of Cosmic Consciousness,
immortal bliss.
"One can well imagine, with Doctor Bucke that a race of
men possessing, as a normal and permanent faculty, this sense
of Cosrnic Consciousness would soon turn the earth into a para-
dise, a planet fit for Christs and Buddhas, and a pole star for the
wheeling universe."
In the Upanishads he who has experience in Cosmic Con-
sciousness is called "Saryavid" i.e., one who knows everything
in detail.
May we all attain the state of Cosmic Consciousness, our
birthright, centre, ideal and goal. Here is an inexhaustible spiri-
tual wealth. Here is a spiritual treasure which no dacoits can
plunder. The unemployment is solved now. The miseries of the
world are removed now. You will have a glorious and brilliant
life which is ineffable. You will have neither wants nor desires,
neither torments nor anxieties, neither worries, nor fear. you
will attain immortality and everlasting bliss. Drink the nectar of
immortality and attain the everlasting abode of peace and Im-
mortality which was attained by Tukaram, Tulasidas, Ramdas,
Mira, Kabir, Prahlada and Dhruva of yore.
May the fire of devotion grow brighter in you all. May
Lord Krishna bestow on you spiritual strength to control the
Indriyas and the restless mind! May the blessings of Bhagavatas
be upon you.
Non-dual Consciousness
Today I will talk to you on Non-dual Consciousness. This
is the consciousness of Suddha-Satchidananda Para Brahman.
It is above Cosmic Consciousness. Arjuna had Cosmic Con-
sciousness. Hiranyagarbha has Cosmic Consciousness. But this
Non-dual Consciousness is above Cosmic Consciousness. It is
Nirvikalpa Sarnadhi of Vedantins. It is Asamprajnata Samadhi
of Raja Yogins. In this Samadhi there is no Triputi, the triad,

seer-si ght-seen, knower-knowledge-knowable, meditator-med-
itation-meditated or the object of meditation. There is nothing
here. There is no Triputi. It is Christ Consciousness' There are
no names and forms. There is no sound or colour. There is nei-
ther matter nor energy. It is pure Absolute Consciousness, con-
sciousness per se. Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within
you." The Kingdom of God is not a place, but a state of con-
sciousness. It is the Non-dual Consciousness, wherein the mind,
senses and the intellect cease functioning. It is the realm of
intuition.
In deep sleep also there are no names and forms. It is like a
glirnpse of the Non-dual Consciousness, but there is ignorance,
Avidya, Karana Sarira, Anandamaya Kosha.
In Vedanta, there are two kinds of Samadhis,-Advaita
Bhavanarupa Samadhiand Advaita Avastharupa Samadhi' The
aspirant meditates on the formula 'Aham Brahmasmi' or
'Tattvamasi', the great Maha Vakyas of the Upanishads. In the
beginning stage it is called Advaita Bhavanarupa stage. He tries
to identify himself with the Non-dual Consciousness, but later
on through deep meditation and constant Nididhyasana when
he is established in his own Satchidanandasvarupa, it is called
Advaita Avastharupa Sarnadhi. He is fully established in
Non-dual Consciousness. There are no nalnes and forms, matter
and energy. The thing-in-itself, the Transcendent, alone re-
mains. Sri Slnkara and Dattatreya had this experience.
Madalasa had this experience. She sang the song "Suddhosi,
Buddhosi, Niranjanosi, Samsara Maya Parivarjitosi" to her
children in the cradle and made them Jivanmuktas, Liberated
Sages. 'suddhosi'-You are pure, O children. 'Buddhosi'
are full of knowledge, 'Niranjanosi'-You are
-You
spotless,-no lust, no greed, no Asubha Vasanas.
'samsaramaya-parivarjitosi'-not touched by Maya. This
Maya cannot touch you, Avidya cannot touch you. You are
pure, eternal, immortal Atman. Yajnavalkya had this experi-
COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS 5l
ence. Vamadeva had this experience. Even when he was dwell-

ing in the wornb of his rnother, he attained Illurnination.
Chudalai had this experience. She was a sage and Yogi. She had
powers. She walked in the sky and appeared before her hus-
band. She stood above the ground and taught him Brahma
Vidya. Sulabha also rvas a sage and Jnani. She approached
Janaka and entered his body through her Yogic power. He did
not like Dandi Swarnis. She was a Dandi Swarni. She wanted to
teach hirn a lesson. Through her Yogic power she entered in his
astral body, and he charged that Sulabha, as a Sannyasini,
should not have entered the body of a male. She taught him a
lesson: "You still have the consciousness of sex, rnale and fe-
male. You have not attained the highest illumination."
Uddalaka had this experience of Non-dual consciousness. He
taught his disciple Srvetaketu in different ways, the knowledge
of Brahman. Ashtavakra was a great sage of illumination. He
has written Ashtavakra Gita, which is soul-elevating. It raises
you to the supreme height of Brahmic splendour. Vyasa,
Vasishtha, Sukadeva, Gowdapada, Govindapada, Sanaka,
Sanandana, Sanatkufirara, Sanatsujata, Hastamalaka,
Padmapada, Trotakacharya, Sureshwaracharya, Pattinattar,
Appayya Deekshitar, Neelakantha Deekshitar, Sankarananda,
Vidyaranya, Sadasiva Brahrnendra, Jada Bharata, Akalkot
Swami,-all of thern had the experience of Non-dual
consciousness.
There are various kinds of Vakyas given in the
Upanishads: "Prajnanam Brahma", "Aham Brahmasmi",
"Tattvamasi", "Ayamatrna Brahma". The first is
Lakshanabodha Vakya of Brahrnan. What is this Brahman!
It is pure consciousness. Then colnes "Tattvamasi"
Upadesavakya. The teacher instructs the student, "Thou art
That." "You are not the body and mind. You are beyond Avidya
and all illusory nalnes and forms. If you sublate Avidya and
Maya, relnove evil Vrittis and give up body-identification, you
rest in your own Svaroopa." Then the student begins to rneditate
on 'Aham Brahmasmi' formula. This is Anusandana Vakya.

Then comes "Ayamatma Brahma"-This Atman is identical
with Para Brahman. This is Anubhava Vakya.
There is another kind of Vakya in the Upanishad. It is
called Avantara Vakya. In the plantain tree before you get the
fruits, you utilise the leaves, the stem and the flower. This is
called '[v311n13'-"in the interval", before you get the fruits,
you utilise the leaves, flower and the stem. Even so before you
attain the fullest Illumination, you meditate on
"satchidananda," "Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam Brahma." Brah-
man is "Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Abso-
lute" "Satyam"-truth, 66Jnnn46"-wisdom,'(Anantam"-
infinity.
Then there are Abhedabodha Vakyas, the great sentences
which treat of the identity of the individual soul and the Su-
prelne Soul. Dattatreya says in his Avadhoota Gita,
"Vedantasarasarveswam Jnanant Viinanameva cha,
Ahamatma Nirakarah Sarvavyapee Swabhav4ssl1"-('l am the
all-pervading, formless Self. This is the essence of Vedanta".
"Ahamatma Nirakara Sarvavyapee Swabhavatah"-you can
rneditate on this formula. There are various Abhedabodha
Vakyas and each aspirant may like one formula or another.
Bhooma, Sadasiva, Chaitanya. Chaitanya is that which
knows itself and knows others also. Jada is that which does not
know itself and knows not others also. "Aham Sakshi"-I am
the silent witness of the mind, intellect and the senses.
"Avasthatrayasakshi"-I arn the witness of the three states.
This is another beautiful formula. "Sivoham, Sivoham, Sivah
Kevaloham." "Siva" here means Para Brahman only, and not
the Siva with trident. "Sohatn"-"I 3111 He." This is another
beautiful formula. "I am He, He i5 l"-('f{311sah Soham, Soham
Hamsah." There is greater force when we repeat a formula both
in its original order and in its reverse order, just as "God is
Love, Love is God", "God is Truth, Tmth is God." There was a
sage, a contemporary of Sri Ramana Maharshi,-

Seshadriswami. He liked this formula. "Hamsah Soham, Soham
Hatnsah".
I sing the fonnula:
" Sivohant, Sivoham, Sivoham, Soham,
S at- C hit-An a ncl a Svaroop oham. "
This is a very beautiful formula. Any formula yon can
select for constant Nididhyasana and meditation.
"Sat-Chit-Ananda" is a prop for the mind to lean upon.
There are four fundamental vital verses in the Avadhoota
Gita of Dattatreya. He gives in it his own experience. It will be
very useful for Vedantic students to meditate on those formulae.
These verses are:
Jannta mrityurna te cltittam bandhamokshau subhasubhau
Katham rodishi re vatsa nanxorupam na te na me.
Why do you weep, my child? There are no names and
forms in you. There is neither bondage nor liberation, neither
good nor evil. Stand up. Gird up your loins. Fight with the rnind
and the senses and rest in your own Satchidananda Swaroopa.
There are no names and forms. The world is not in you. It is only
a Sankalpa.
A lt a rn ev avy ay o n a n t a h su d d h avij n an a vi grah ah,
Sukham ilthkham na janami katham kasyapi vartate.
I am Avyaya-imperishable, Ananta-infinite, Suddha
Vijnana Vigraha-a mass of pure consciousness, Prajnana
Ghana, Ananda Ghana. A mountain is not so solid as the mass
of knorvledge. The physical mountain appears as solid, but his
wisdom, knowledge of Atrnan, is more solid, huge, than the Hi-
malayas. So it is called Prajnanaghana, Anandaghana,
Vijnanaghana, Chidghana. I do not know what is pleasure and
what is pain.
t\
Na manasant karma subhasubham me

Na vachikam karma subhasubham me
Na kayikant karma subhasubham me
Jnanamrit am suddh amat een driyoh am.
Meditate on this third verse. You will free youself from the
bondage of Kannas. The mental actions are not in you. The ac-
tions of the body are not in you. The actions of speech are not in
you. Purity, Nectar, beyond the reach of the senses-this is your
divine, essential, Brahmic nature.
Then he denies the whole world. He who is established in
his own Svaroopa, to him the names and forms and the world
vanish.
Mahadaadi jagatsarvam na kinchit pratibhati me,
B r ah m o iv a kev al ant s arv am kath am v arn a as hr am as thitih.
Mahat is the first manifestation of the Absolute. Then

sprang up the mind, the senses, the Tanmatras, the five ele-
ments. The quintuplication of the elements gave rise to the
world. Where is Varna, where are the Ashramas, the four kinds
oforders? Everything is Brahman. There is no world. This is the
highest experience ofa sage or a Jnani.
Therefore, let us try to enter into this Non-dual Conscious-
ness through equipping ourselves with the four means of salva-
tion, by hearing the Srutis, reflection and meditation. Let us
practise constant Nididhyasana and meditation on these formu-
lae and attain the state of Jeevanmukti and highest Illumination
and rest in our Swaroopa and radiate joy and peace and bliss to
all those who come in contact with us, and radiate peace and joy
and bliss to the different comers of the whole world.
Chctpter Three
Common Experiences in Meditation
In the beginning of rneditation, lights of various colours,
such as red, white, blue, green, a mixture of red and green light,
etc., appear in the forehead. They are Tanmatric lights. Every
Tattva has its own hue. Prithvi Tattva has yellow colour.
Apastattva has while colour. Agni has red colour. Vayu has
green colour. Akasa has blue colour. The coloured lights are
due to these Tattvas.
Sometimes a big sun or rroon, or lightning-like flashes ap-
pear in front of the forehead during meditation. Do not mind
these appearances. Shun them. Try to dive deep into the source
of these lights.
Sornetimes Devas, Rishis, Nitya Siddhas will appear in
meditation. Receive thern with honour. Bow to them. Get ad-
vice frorn them. They appear before you to help and give you
encouragernent.
In the beginning of rneditation and concentration you will
see in the centre of the forehead a resplendent flashing light.
This will last for half or one minute and then disappear. The
light will flash either fonn above or sideways. Sornetimes a sun
of 6 inches or 8 inches in diameter with or without rays will be
seen. You will see the fonn of your Guru or Upasya Murti also.
When you get glirnpses of the Self, when you see the blaz-
ing light, when you get sorne other extraordinary spiritual expe-
riences, do not fall back in terror. Do not give up the Sadhana.
Do not mistake thern for a phantom. Be brave. March boldly
with joy.
(55)
Time Last
During rneditation you will have no idea of time. You will

not hear any sounds. You will have no idea of environments.
You will forget your name and all sorts of relationship with oth-
ers. You will enjoy peace and bliss. Gradually you will rest in
Sarnadhi.
In the beginning, one remains in a state of bliss for some-
time. He comes down. By constant practice of incessant medita-
tion, he continues to remain in that exalted state for ever. Later
on, the body-idea cornpletely vanishes.
When you enter into deep meditation, you will have no
consciousness of your body or surroundings. You will have
equanirnity of rnind. You will not hear any sounds. There will
be stoppage of up-going and down-going sensations. The con-
sciousness of egoisrn will also gradually vanish. You will expe-
rience inexplicable joy and indescribable happiness. Gradually
reasoning and reflection also will cease.
When you enter the silence through deep meditation, the
world outside and all your troubles will drop away. You will en-
joy suprerne peace. In this silence is the supreme Light of lights.
In this silence is undecaying bliss. In this silence is real strength
and joy.
When you practise rigorous meditation, Kevala
Kumbhaka or natural retention of breath without Puraka (inha-
lation) and Rechaka (exhalation) will come by itself. When
Kevala Kumbhaka comes, you will enjoy immense peace and
you will have one-pointed mind.
The visions of Rishis conceming the soul and such other
transcendental matters, manifest themselves to one who is de-
voted to constant duties prescribed by the Srutis and the Smritis,
who is unselfish and who seeks to know the supreme Brahman.
During deep meditation one forgets the external world and
then the body.
The feeling of rising up during meditation is a sign that in-
dicates that you are going above body-consciousness. You will
EXPERIENCES IN MEDITATION 57
feel a peculiar Ananda or bliss also when you experience this

feeling. In the beginning this feeling of rising up will last for a
minute only. After a minute you will feel that you have come
back to nonnal consciousness again.
You wilt enjoy a sort of higher type of indescribable peace
during your meditation. But it will take a long time to get real
spiritual experience or merge the mind in your Lakshya or cho-
sen object of rneditation or get over body-consciousness com-
pletely. Be patient. Persevere. You will be successful.
During rneditation the rnind becomes cahn, serene and
steady. The various rays of the rnind are collected and focussed
in the object ofmeditation. The rnind is centred on the Lakshya.
There will be no tossing of the mind. One idea occupies the
rnind. The whole energy of the mind is concentrated on that one
idea. The senses become still. They do not function. Where
there is deep concentration, there is no consciousness of the
body and surroundings. He who has good concentration can
visualise the picture of the Lord very clearly within the
twinkling of the eye. Loss of Body
When your rneditation becomes deep you will lose con-
sciousness of the body. You will feel that there is no body. You
will experience immense joy. There will be mental conscious-
ness. Sorne lose sensation in the legs, then in the spinal column,
in the trunk and the hands. When the sensation is lost in these
parts, they feel that the head is suspended in the air. The rnind
rnay try to mn back in the body.
Light
During rneditation you will see small pinpoints of light.
These rvill begin to grorv and will become as big as the sun if
you continue your practice. You will behold luminous divine
forms of Sri Krishna, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Kaali, Ganesha, Rama
and others. You will see beautiful scenes of gardens and build-
ings. When you repeat the Gayatri Mantra or any other Mantra
you will feel a spiritual current going to the anus region or
Muladhara Chakra. Then the currrents will go to the head also.
II
You will feel great joy. Your heart will be filled with intense
love. You will feel that a powerful spiritual current is going up
along the spine during meditation.
You will feel that power is radiating from you. Your con-
sciousness will be deeper now. Thoughts of God will start the
spiritual currents in the body. Do not check these currents. If
heat is produced in the head, apply butter, Amalaka or Brahmi
oil. Take cold bath three times during summer. Take butter and
sugar-candy.
Sometimes you will feel the presence of your Ishtam near
you. The image will begin to appear as living when you practise
regular meditation. While meditating with closed eyes on the
irnage placed in your heart, you will find that the image is be-
coming more and more luminous. Even with open eyes you will
see a bright sun or moon. You will see lights of different
colours.
You will experience a great upward pull on the anus and
the lower end of the spine. Sometimes you will feel great tin-
gling sensation at the lorver end of the spine. You will feel as
though some great change in your system will happen soon.
In drearn you rvill feel that you are trying to come out of
your body. You will feel great pressure at the end of the spine.
When you rneditate with closed eyes, you will see in your
body two lurninous strings in which are placed lutninous lotuses
at intervals and the strings passed through the irnage of your
Ishtam seated in one of these lotuses in the region of the heart.
The entrance into the higher meditative life depends on the
grace of God.
The higher meditative life demands tremendous humility,
serenity and courage.
In higher rneditative life the senses and the mind are com-
pletely subdued. There is no more use of the tnind, etnotions
and irnaginations.
The Yogi withdraws himself completely in higher medita-

tion and enters into the state ofconsciosness above the mind and
intellect. He is conscious only of pure being.
In Samadhi or the supreconscious state the Yogi abandons
the sense of his own being and enters only into the Being of
God.
Spiritual experience will come to you when you are ready,
but not before.
There is inner unfolding frorn level to level in your spiri-
tual experience. Wait patiently. Plod on in your Sadhana with
purity and courage. . Help from Astral Masters
Like draws like in your spiritual journey. You are never re-
ally left alone. You will get help from Yogins and Saints inter-
nally, from different parts of the worlds. Their spirinral
vibrations will elevate and inspire you.
Meditate and enter into the realm of radiant light. There
are no limitations here. There is no worry. There are no obsta-
cles here. There is no tirne or space. In this holy reahn there is
no fear, no doubt, no indecision. It is all eternal joy, bliss, peace
and happiness.
Continue your rneditation. You will feel that your anus and
a spot on thetop of the head are connected by these strings. You
may feel that you will lose your physical consciousness. Be not
afraid. Be bold and courageous. You will have rare spiritual ex-
perience. You will have cosmic vision. Do not open your eyes
now. You will corne back to nonnal consciousness.
Pure emotions will rise in your heart. You will begin to
love every creature. You will feel that the whole world is noth-
ing, but pure consciousness. The tables, chairs, men, women
and other things will all appear to contain this consciousness,
just as vessels contain their contents. You will feel that all
things are rnade of this consciousness. This rare experience will
give you great bliss. You will feel that the Lord is sporting in all
Love Everything
things as this pure consciousness. You will actually lose the

sense of material nature of things around you.
You will have Sakara realisation and Bhava Samadhi at
the Anahata Chakra. You will experience Nirvikalpa Samadhi
at Sahasrara.
May you all attain the exalted state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi
through regular and constant meditation.
Supreme Various Kinds of Vision in Meditation
Experiences
Visions and experiences come and go. They are not in
themselves the culminating point in the Sadhana. He who atta-
ches much importance to these small visions does not march
swiftly on the path. Therefore abandon the idea of these experi-
ences. The final experience, intuitional and direct, of the Su-
prerne alone is the true one.
Rise above the visions. The vision that you see in medita-
tion is a hindrance on the path to Samadhi or God-realisation.
When you see them, the mind will be fixed on these visions
throughout the day instead of on God. Avoid these visions and
the thoughts of thern. Be indifferent. Substitute the thought of
Hindrances to Path
the Lord.
At times you will see some lustrous forms of Devatas or
some other physical forms. You will see your Ishta-Devata or
your Guru, Siddhas, Rishis and others give their Darshan to en-
courage you. You can see beautiful gardens, palatial buildings,
rivers, mountains, golden temples, sceneries so lovely and pic-
turesque as cannot be adequately described.
During intense concentration, many are able to feel certain
peculiar sensations as if some electric current passed from the
Muladhara Chakra. They irnmediately disturb their body and
colne down to the physical consciousness out of fear. They need
have no fear at all. They should keep steady and wait for further
experience.
Currents
EXPERIENCES IN MEDITATION 6I
Experiences are Unique
Experiences vary in different individuals. The experience
of one man lnay not be the same as that of another man. Many
erroneously believe that they have realised the Self when they
get these experiences, stop their Sadhana and try to move with
the public to preach and do Lokasangraha. This is a serious
blunder. This is not realisation at all. These are all simple en-
couragernents frorn your Ishta Devata to convince you of a
higher spiritual life and push you in your systernatic and inces-
sant practice rvith zeal and enthusiasm. You will have to ignore
these things and drive them away just as you did with worldly
objects. You must not care a bit when you get these visions. You
must have your Lakshya or the goal. The visions may appear in
some persons within a few days, while others within six or nine
months. It depends upon the state of the mind and degree of
concentration. Some persons may not have such experience, but
they rvill be progressing in the spiritual path. No Experiences
keep progressing
Visions are either subjective or objective, your own mental
creations or of realities on finer planes of matter. Universe con-
sists of planes of matter of various degrees of density. Rhythmi-
cal vibrations of Tanmatras in various degrees give rise to the
fonnation of various planes. Visions may be of these things or
beings. Or in rnany cases they may be purely imaginary. They
rnay be the crystallisation of your own intense thinking. You
rnust discrirninate well. Visions
You will sometirnes see a vast bright golden light. Within
the light you rvill see your Ishta Devata in front. Sometirnes you
will see yourself rvithin the light. You will see a golden-col-
oured light all around.
You may see your Ishta Devata as big as a mountain shin-
ing like the sun. You rnay see the figure during eating, drinking
and working. When you enjoy the bliss of this vision, you will
experience no taste for food while eating. You will simply swal-
low the food. You will hear continuous ringing of the Veena.
You rnay see the blazing light of the sun.
The object of your meditation will come before you much

quicker if you practise regular meditation. You will feel as if
you are covered by the object on which you meditate. You will
see as if the whole space is illumined. Sometimes you will expe-
rience the sound of ringing bells. You will feel the inner peace
of the Soul. Ringing bells
When you get these experiences, when you behold these
visions, you will feel peculiar, indescribable bliss. Do not get
false contentment. Do not stop your Sadhana. Do not attach
much irnportance to these visions. You have attained only the
first degree of concentration. The highest goal or realisation is
profound Silence or Supreme Peace, wherein all thoughts cease
and you become identical with the Supreme Self. Do not attach
The beings and objects with whom you are in touch during
the early period of meditation belong to the astral world. They
are similar to human beings minus a physical overcoat. They
have desires, cravings, love, hatred, etc., just as human beings
have. They have fine bodies. They can move about freely. They
have powers of rnaterialisation, dematerialisation, rnultiplying,
clairvoyant vision of an inferior order. The lustrous forms are
higher Devatas of mental or higher planes, who come down to
give you Darshan, and encourage you. Various Saktis manifest
in lustrous fonns. Adore them. Worship thern. Do mental Pooja
as soon as they give you Darshan. Angels are beings of mental
or higher planes. They also appear before your mind's eye.
Sornetimes, you will feel an invisible help, possibly from
your Ishta Devata when you are actually pushed frorn the physi-
cal body into the new plane. That invisible power assists in your
separating from the body and going above body-consciousness.
You will have to mark carefully all these operations.
Don't waste your tirne in looking at these visions. This is
only a curiosity. These are all encouragements to convince you
of the existence of superphysical, metaphysical realities and the
Dont waste your time
solid existence of Brahman. Fix yourself on the

Goal-Lakshya. Advance. Proceed seriously and energetically.
Sornetimes, during meditation, you will see an infinite
blue sky, ethereal space. You will see your self in the blue space
as a black dot. Your fonn will appear in the centre of the higher
vibratory, rotating particles in the light. You will see physical
forms, human fonns, children, women, adult males, Rishis with
beards, Siddhas and lustrous, Tejomaya forms also.
During meditation you will have no body-consciosness.
Even if there be body-consciousness, it will be in the form of a
mental retentum. A drunkard may not have full consciousness
that he has a cloth round his body. He may feel that something is
loosely hanging frorn his body. Even so, you will have a feeling
of the body. You will feel that something is sticking to you like
a loose cloth or loose shoes.
The aspirant during rneditation will see balls of white-col-
oured lights, sun, stars. He will experience divine taste and di-
vine fragrance. He rnay have visions of the Lord in human
form-as an old lnan, a leper, an outcast in rags. He may have
vision of the Guru, of sages and saints.
Psychic powers have no proper place in spiritual life. You
will have to shun them ruthlessly even if they manifest during
the course of your spiritual practices. Siddhis roll under the feet
of that Yogic student who has controlled the senses and who
practises concentration. The Siddhis are hindrances to
realisation.
High spiritual experiences have nothing to do with colours
or sounds. There should be inner joy, peace and poise. There
should be balance of mind in success and failure, pleasure and
pain, honour and dishonour. Attraction and repulsion should
vanish. There should be cosmic love. The whole world should
become the rnanifestation of the Lord. There should be freedom
frorn all kinds of fears and pains. This is the real nature of high
spiritual experiences.
Real Experience
Experience of Jerks
In the beginning of your practice, you may get jerks of
hands, legs, trunks and whole body. Sometimes the jerk is very
terrible. Do not be afraid. Do not be troubled. It is nothing. It
can do nothing. It is due to sudden muscular contraction from
new Pranic influence, new nerve-stimuli. Remember that new
nerve-currents are formed now owing to the purification of
Nadis frorn Sadhana. The jerks will pass off after some time. At
times there is tremor of the body during meditation. This is due
to the Prana being taken up to the brain in the process of medita-
tion from the trunk, etc. Do not be afraid. Do not stop the medi-
tation. You will have to pass through all these stages. When you
get these, you are irnproving. You are progressing. Plod on and
persevere. Be cheerful. Help is from within, from the
Antaryarnin, from the Sakshi, from Kutastha-Pratyag-Atman.
These are all new sensations. During meditation some people
draw inspiration and compose beautiful poems. Record them, if
you get this poetic inspiration.
The sudden jerks in meditation come especially when the
Prana becomes slow and the outward vibrations make the mind
conre down frorn its union with the Lord to the level of physical
consciousness.
The mind becomes very subtle by the practice of medita-
tion and thinking also gets developed.
Lights in Meditation
Various kinds of lights manifest during meditation owing
to concentration. In the beginning, a bright white light, the size
of a pin's point will appear in the forehead in the Trikuti, the
space between the two eyebrows, which corresponds tenta-
tively to the Ajna Chakra of the astral body. You will notice,
when the eyes are closed, different coloured lights, flashes like
lightning, like fire, burning charcoal, fire-flies, moon, sun,
stars. These lights appear in the mental space, Chidakasa. These

are all Tanmatric lights. Each Tanmatra has its own specific
colour. ABOUT LIGHT
Yellow and white lights are commonly seen. Red and blue
lights are very rarely noticeable. Frequently there is a combina-
tion of white and yellow lights. In the beginning, small balls of
white light float about before the mind's eye. When you first ob-
serve this, be assured that the mind is becoming more steady
and that you are progressing in concentration. After some
months, the size of the light will increase and you will see a fulI
blaze of white light, bigger than the sun. In the beginning, these
lights are not steady. They come and disappear immediately.
They flash out from above the forehead and from the sides.
They cause peculiar sensations of extreme joy, and happiness
and there is an intense desire for a vision of these lights. When
you have steady and systematic practice of two to three hours in
the morning and two or three hours at night, these lights appear
more frequently and remain steadily for a long time. The vision
of the lights is a great encouragement in Sadhana. It impels you
to stick steadily to meditation. It gives you strong faith also in
superphysical matters. The appearance of the light denotes that
you are transcending the physical consciousness. You are in a
semi-conscious state when the light appears. You are between
two planes. You must not shake the body when these lights ap-
pear. You must be perfectly steady in the Asana. You must
breathe very, very slowly.
Triangle Light in the Face
One whose food is moderate, whose anger has been con-

trolled, who has given up all love for society, who has subdued
his passion, who has overcome all pairs (heat and cold), who
has given up his egoism, who does not bless anyone nor takes
anything from others-such a man during meditation obtains
three (the triangle) in the face.
66 SPIRITUAL EXPEzuENCES
Light From Sushumna
Sometimes during meditation you will see a brilliant daz-

zling light. You will find it difficult to gaze on this light' You
will be compelled to withdraw your mental vision of this light.
This dazzling light is the light emanating from the Sushumna in
the heart.
Forms in the Lights
You will see two kinds of forms (1) lustrous forms of

Devatas, (2) physical fonns. You will see your Ishta Devata or
tutelary deity (guiding Devata) in handsome dress and with var-
ious, valuable ornaments, flowers, garlands, and with four
hands and weapons. Siddhas, Rishis, etc., appear to encourage
you. You will find a huge collection of Devatas and celestial la-
dies with various musical instruments in their hands. You will
see beautiful flower-gardens, fine palatial buildings, rivers,
mountains, golden temples, sceneries so lovely and picturesque
as cannot be adequately described.
Dazzling Light
Sometimes, during meditation, you will get very powerful

dazzling lights, bigger than the sun. They are white. In the be-
ginning, they come and fade away quickly. Later on, they are
steady, they become fixed for I 0, 1 5 minutes or half an hour ac-
cording to the strength and degree of concentration. For those
who concentrate on the Trikuti, the space between the two eye-
brows, the light appears in the forehead in the Trikuti, while for
others who concentrate on the top of the head, Sahasrara Chak-
ra, the light manifests on the top of the head. The light is so
powerful and dazzhng sometimes, that you have to withdraw
yourself from looking inward and break the meditation. Some
people are afraid and do not know what to do, how to proceed
further. They came to me for instructions. I told them that it is a
new sensation, which they have not hitherto experiehced. By

constant practice, the mind engaged in concentration will be
used to it, and the fear will vanish. I asked them to go on with
the practice. Some people concentrate on the heart, some on
Trikuti and some on the top of the head. It is a question of per-
sonal taste. It is easy to control mind by concentrating on the
Trikuti.
Anahata Sounds
Anahata sounds (or the melody) are the mystic sounds
heard by the Yogi at the beginning of his cycle of meditation.
This subject is termed Nada-Anusandhana or an enquiry into
the mystic sounds. This is a sign of purification of the Nadis or
astral currents, due to Pranayama. The Anahata sound is also
called Omkara Dhwani. It is due to the vibration of Prana in the
heart.
Inner Voice
The Divine Anahata Sabda is ever present within every
living being. Patient practice will enable the Yogi to listen to
this Inner Voice. This is generally done by sitting in a comfort-
able Asana and at the end of some Kirtan, Japa and meditation
upon the Lord's form, when the mind is thus tuned to the Infi-
nite and all other disturbing waves of thoughts upon the objec-
tive world outside are stilled, the Sadhaka closes his ears with
his thumbs and with closed eyes diverts his entire attention to
his heart and listens-poised in extreme alert awareness. Here,
listening does not mean an attempt to hear a sound by an instru-
ment other than itself.
Success is assured when concentration is sufficient. A pure
mind and intellect alone gains concentration. The purification
of mind and intellect is achieved through regular and daily
Kirtan, Japa and Dhyana, Satsanga and Nishkama Karma.
Ten Kinds of Sounds
Nada that is heard is of 10 kinds. The first is Chini (like the

sound of the word chini); the secon d rs chini-chini, the third is
the sound of bell; the fourth is that of conch; the fifth is that of
Tantri (lute); the sixth is that sound of Tala (cymbals); the sev-
enth is that of flute; the eighth is that of Bheri (drum); the ninth
is that of Mridanga (double drurn); and the tenth is that of
clouds, viz., thunder.
Before thou settest thy foot upon the ladder's upper rung,
the ladder of the mystic sounds, thou hast to hear the voice of
thy inner God (Highest Self) in 7 manners- The first is like the
nightingale's sweet voice chanting a song of parting to its mate.
The second comes as the sound of a silver cymbal of the
Dhyanins, awakening the twinkling stars' The next is as the
plaint melody of the ocean-sprite imprisoned in its shell. And
this is followed by the chant of Veena. The fifth sound of bam-
boo-flute shrills in thine ear. It changes next into a trumpet
blast. The last vibrates like the dull rumbling of a thun-
der-cloud. The seventh swallows all the other sounds. They die
and then are heard no more.
Feeling of Separation from Body and Other Experiences

During the course of practice, one day you will feel that
you have separated yourself from the body. You will have im-
mense joy mixed with fear, joy in the possession of a new, light,
astral body; fear owing to the entry in a foreign, unknown plane.
At the very outset, the new consciousness is very rudimentary
in the new plane, just as in the case of a pup with newly opened
eyes on the eighth or tenth day on the physical plane. You will
only feel that you have a light airy body and will perceive a ro-
tating, vibratory limited astral atmosphere with illumination of
golden lights, objects, beings, etc. You may feel you are rotat-
ing or floating in the air and consequently there is the fear of

being fallen.
You will never fall; but the new experience of subtlety
generates novel feeling and sensations in the beginning. How
you leave the body, remains unknown at the outset. You are
suddenly startled when you have completely separated, and
when you enter into the new plane sometimes with blue-col-
oured sphere around, sometimes with partial illumination
(Prakasha) mixed with darkness while at other times with ex-
tremely brilliant golden, yellow diffused illumination. The new
joy is inexpressible and indescribable in words. You will have
to actually feel and experience yourself (Anubhava). You are
unaware of how you have left the body, but you are fully con-
scious of your retuming. You gently feel as if you glide on a
very very smooth surface; as if you enter smoothly, gently
through a small hole or fine tube with an airy light body. You
have an airy ethereal feeling. Just as air enters through the crev-
ices of a window, you enter with the new astral body into the
physical body. When you have returned, you can markedly dif-
ferentiate the life in the gross and subtle planes. There is intense
craving to regain the new consciousness and to remain in that
state always. You are not able to stay for a period longer than 3,
5 or 10 minutes in the new region. Further, you can hardly leave
the body at will, through simple willing, in the beginning. By
chance, through efforts, you are able to separate from the body
once a month in the course of Sadhana. If you plod on with pa-
tience, perseverance, and firmness you will be able to leave the
body at will and stay for a longer time in the new plane with the
new subtle body. You are quite safe from identification with the
body. You have made conquest of Deha Adhyasa, only if you
can leave the body at will and only if you are able to stay in the
new region for 2 or 3 hours. Your position is quite secure then
and not otherwise. Mauna or the vow of silence, and solitude or
living alone are sine qua non to achieve this.
Astral Journey
You can simply by mere willing travel to any place you
like with the body (astral travel, astral journey) and there ma-
terialise by drawing the necessary materials either from Asmita
(Ahankara) or the universal store-house--ocean of Tanmatras.
The process is very simple to Yogins who know the rationale,
the detailed technique of the various operations.
Materialisation
You first separate yourself from the body, then you iden-
tiffyourself with the mind and then, you function on the mental
plane with this fine body, just as you do on this earth plane.
Through concentration, you rise above body-consciousness;
through meditation, you rise above mind and finally through
Samadhi, you become one with Brahman.
Mind Moves
After a short practice of meditation, you will feel that the
body gets lighter in a short time, say 15 or 30 minutes after you
have taken your seat on Padma, Siddha or Sukhasana according
to taste and temperament. You may be semi-conscious of the
body also. There is great deal of happiness owing to concentra-
tion. This is happiness resulting from concentration---+oncen-
tration-Ananda-which is quite different from sensual
pleasures. You must be able to differentiate these two pleasures
through Burlclhi, rendered subtle by constant Abhyasa, medita-
tion.
You can distinctly feel that the mind is moving, that it is
leaving its seat on the brain and that it is trying to go to its
Yathasthana, original state. You know that it has left its old
groove and now passing in the new groove in the avenue. As a
result of meditation, new channels are formed in the brain, new
thoughrcurrents are generated, new brain-cells are formed.
There is a transformed psychology altogether. You have got a
EXPERIENCES IN MEDITATION 7I
new brain, a new heart, new feelings, new sentiments, new sen-
sations.
Test your Courage
Bhuta Ganas
Sometimes, these elementals appear during meditation.
They are strange figures some with long teeth, some with big
faces, some with big bellies, some with faces on the belly, some
with faces on the head. They are inhabitants of the Bhuta Loka.
They are Bhutas. They are supposed to be the attendants oflord
Siva. They have terrifying forms. They do not cause any harm at
all. They simply appear on the stage. They come to test your
strength and courage. They can do nothing. They cannot stand
before a pure ethical aspirant. Repetition of few Omkaras will
throw them at a distance. You must be fearless. A coward is ab-
solutely unfit for the spiritual path. Develop courage by con-
stantly feeling you are the Atman.
Rising from the Seat

During meditation you may experience that you are rising
from your seat. Some experience that they fly in the air.
Divine Light
Divine Light comes not through open doors but only
through narrow slits. The aspirant sees the ray as a sunbeam
passing through a chik into a dark room. It is like a "flash of
lightning." This sudden illumination chokes all sounds of
words. The aspirant is spellbound in ecstasy and awe. He trem-
bles with love and awe just as Arjuna did when he had the
Visvarupa Darshan of Lord Krishna. So bright and glorious is
the Light environing the Divine that the initiate is dazzled and
bewildered.
This is a kind of vision one occasionally gets during medi-
tation. You may behold a dazzling light with abrupt motion.
You may behold a head of marvellous form of the colour of a
flame red as fire, and very awful to look at. It has three wings of
a marvellous length and breadth white as a dazzling cloud. At
times they would beat terribly and again would be still. The
head never utters a word but remains altogether still. Now and
again there is beating with its extended wings. Courage Test
Sometimes, bad spirits will trouble you. They may have
ugly fierce faces with long teeth. Drive them with your strong
will. Give the word of command "Get out." They will go away.
These are vampires. They are elementals. They will not do any
harm to the Sadhakas. Your courage will be tested. You will
come across very good spirits also. They will help you a lot in
your onward march. These are all Vighnas or obstacles on the
way.
Aspirants are eager to get spiritual experiences soon. As
soon as they get them they are afraid. They are awfully alarmed
when they go above the body-consciousness. They entertain a
passing wonder whether they will come back again or not. Why
should they be afraid at all? It does not matter much whether
they return to body-consciousness or not. All our attempts are
mainly directed towards getting over this body and being one
with the higher spiritual consciousness. Courage is needed. All
sorts of forces have to be encountered on the way.
Some Doubts Clarified

Question
During meditation, you appeared before me. Your eyes
were big, bright and penetrating. An electrifying sensation pen-
etrated my whole being; then a light appeared-it became a
point and vanished. The last thing I remembered was a click
within the body; I lost complete awareness. I was swallowed up
in an ocean of nothingness. I do not recollect anything during
the period.
(1) Is this Samadhi?
(2) There is a circle of light where the Chakras should be.
(3) Chakas change, slightly different from book illustra-

tions.
(4) Occasionally it takes five minutes to come back to nor-
mal consciousness.
(5) Sensitive nature to noise during the first l5 minutes of
meditation.
(6) A loud noise hurts occasionally retuming to conscious-
ness with a jerk.
Answer SELFLESS SERVICE

When the Nadis are purified through constant remem-
brance of the Name of the Lord (Japa) and when Chitta Suddhi
(purification of the heart) sets in through selfless service to
mankind, the student gets various kinds of Samadhi. That de-
pends on the intensity of concentration during meditation. The
experiences differ in all students. Some may get visions and
hear voices. Appearance of lights is a sort of encouragement
from astral entities. This is a sign of good spiritual progress.
(1) Yes, it is a kind of Samadhi. The student may not recol-
lect any of the experiencs, but can feel the tremendous inner
spiritual strength, power, an indescribable happiness andpeace.
(2) The light can be either circular or any other shape of
Chakra.
(3) Chakras need not be exactly like the book illustrations.
(4) After deep meditation, it may take five minutes to come
to normal consciousness. In some cases it may be more than half
an hour. In many cases constant remembrance of the State wilt
be there during the day also.
(5) Sensitive nature to sound is due to deep concentration.
(6) Loud noise is only a sort of feeling. The jerk is a sort of
feeling only. No harm can come. These are common in all stu-
dents who progress satisfactorily. They denote progress.
Steadiness in practice is needed to attain higher stages in Sam-
SPIRITUAL EXPEzuENCES
Nutrition Food
adhi. The advanced students develop a new angle of vision-to

see the Lord in all beings, to grasp the essence behind all names
and forms. Those who make such tremendous progress must
take nutritious food, plenty of fruirjuice and energy-giving
food, frequent relaxation, ample rest. Glory to such dynamic
Yogins.
Guidance on the Path
1.Bring your mind under perfect control. Make it a perfect

instrument for the reception and expression of the highest spiri-
tual experience.
2. In this world of sense-desire, Maya is the Lord. She
holds the greater power in this world. But more powerful are the
grace of the Lord, power of meditation, devotion, discrimina-
tion and dispassion.
3. When you are assailed by temptations during medita-
tion, your guiding Deity will form a protective circle around
you. Fear not. Be bold. March on courageously.
4. You will have to cross a vast void and a region of dark-
Testness during meditation. Fear not. You will get radiant light
through the Grace of the Lord. Be patient. Push on.
5. The elemental forces will try to harm you in meditation,
through the order of Maya. This is a test. God will give you
strength to overcome all obstacles. Stand firm. Be adamant.
Victory is always yours. A bed of nails will become a bed of
roses for you. Theie will be a shower of flowers on your head.
The hostile elements will be transformed into flowers.
6. You will be attacked from within through the projection
Test of dark thoughts from your subconscious mind.
7. Dark thoughts will take various, dark, terrible, hideous
forms. They will frighten you. Lower astral entities with dark
faces and long teeth will terrifr you. They will perish through
the Grace of God and the power of your meditation'
Test EXPERIENCES IN MEDITATION 75
8. You will be tested whether you are free from fear, am-
bition and passion.
9. You will get invitation from the Devatas. Thank them,
do not yield. Test
10. Beautiful, celestial damsels will appear before you.
They will sing, dance and smile and try to seduce you. Beware.
11. Be dispassionate. Detect their impurities, hollowness
and impermanence. Use the sword of discrimination and axe of
dispassion.
12. Come outvictorious, O Ram! Wearthe laurels ofpeace
and enter the self-effulgent, Infinite Realm of Immortal Bliss
which is beyond time and space.
The Sadhaka gets some experience during the course ofhis
Sadhana, sees wonderful visions of Rishis, Mahatmas, astral
entities ofvarious descriptions, etc. He hears various melodious
Anahata sounds (Nada). He smells Divya Gandha. He gets the
powers of thought-reading, foretelling, etc. The Sadhaka now
foolishly imagines that he has reached the highest goal and
stops his further Sadhana. This is a serious mistake. He gets
false Tushti or contentment. These are all auspicious signs that
manifest on account of a little purity and concentration. These
are all encouragement which God gives as a sort ofincentive for
further progress and intense Sadhana. The aspirant gets more
strength of conviction by having these experiences.
Those who have not removed the impurities of the mind
through selfless services, who have not practised the Yama,
Niyama and who have not developed the various ethical virtues,
who have taken to meditation without the above preliminary
qualifications, are not able to hold the divine light when it de-
scends. The mind is not strong enough to receive the powerful
spiritual light. They get frightened and stop their Sadhana. This
is a serious mistake. They should puriff their heart and equip
themselves with divine virtues and restart their Sadhana with
redoubled force, energy and eamestress.
SPIRITUAL EXPEzuENCES
If they are irregular in their practice, if

their Vairagya
wanes, if they mix freely with worldly people, they get a defi-
nite setback, the grace vanishes, the experiences disappear.
They are not able to rise up again to their original heights of
spiritual glory.
Therefore, regularity in Sadhana and Para Vairagya should
be always maintained.
Food The Sadhakas neglect their body on account of false
Vairagya. They do not take proper food. They become weak.
They are not able to continue their Sadhana vigorously. This is
also one of the causes for their setback.
On account of their overenthusiasm, juvenile zeal, they
overdo themselves in their Sadhana. They overexert. They go
beyond their capacity. When this is coupled with neglect of
proper and regular food, they get various diseases and give up
their Sadhana.
Always a little, congenial work should be combined with
meditation in the beginning, till one is well-established in deep
meditation. During periods of relaxation a liule study and a lit-
tle work are helpful.
A neophyte should always practise meditation under the
guidance of his Guru or a senior Sadhaka. This is vitally impor-
tant.
Then there is the experience of cosmic consciousness.
Glimpse of Brahman will not liberate you. They are Alpam
(small experience). Only experience of Bhuma will give you
salvation.
The highest experience is that in which you become identi-
cal with Brahman or the Absolute and behold Brahman every-
where.
Of course much depends upon the practice. You know that
practice makes a man perfect. Feel the thrill of extreme joy that
dawns when you are nearing the goal. You will experience a
wonderful calm now. Drink the nectar in the deep silence. In the
profound silence the mysterious Atman will be revealed unto
you like an Amalaka fruit in the palm of your hand. Avidya and
Maya and their effects-Moha, fear, etc., will take to their
heels. There will be light, knowledge, purity and bliss only
everywhere.
Some experience glimpses of the transcendent wonders of
the Atman. Some are on the borderland of the vast dominion of
Atman. Some like Dattatreya, Jada Bharata, Vama Deva and
Sadasiva Brahmedra had plunged deep in the ocean of Bliss.
The more the thinning of the Vasanas, egoism and Moha, and
Adhyasa, the greater the bliss of the Self. The more the
Sadhana, the more the experience ofjoy of the Soul.
Discomfort During Meditation Explained

If an aspirant feels somediscomfort during meditation, it is
always physical, and never otherwise. The numbness that he
feels, the jerks that he experiences, the ticklishness that he feels
in the back, and even the fears that he may have that he might
not come back to the worldly consciousness again,-are one
and all merely of the flesh. Into a poor man's thatched mud-hut
if the royal elephant were to enter, certainly there must be some
noisy shatterings. A mortal frame, equipped to house low ani-
malisms, in its circumscribed limitations may find it difficult all
at once to hold and contain within itself the mighty grandeur of
the Divine Presence. Hence the nervous twistings and muscle
tremblings. The body is getting adjusted to hold on together to
the new vibrations of Divine Potency that are now generated in
the bosom of the seeker. Never mind or worry over these physi-
cal adjustments. Whenever you feel the numbness in the
locked-up hands, untie them and massage each arm with the
other palm all the while not stirring from your Asana nor open-
ing your eyes. You may shift the pose of the hands to a position
wherein they recline from the elbow down upon the thighs.
Please do not worry over the fact that you will not come
back to the ordinary consciousness. No intelligent disciple will
ever worry over such a problem so long as he has faith in and
devotion to his Guru.
Chapter Four
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER

coNsclousNEss
What !s Samadhi?
Samadhi is inner Divine Experience which is beyond the

reach of speech and mind. There is no language or means to
give expression to it. The state of Samadhi is all bliss, joy and
peace. A11 mental activities cease now. There is no difference
between subject and object.
This state is beyond all relativity. It is not a state of inertia.
It is a condition of perfect awareness. It is not merely an emo-
tional enthusiasm or an exhilarating feeling. It is direct, unique
intuitive experience of Truth or Absolute Consciousness. It is
not an experience that can be attained through a little practice.
To attain Samadhi one should observe strict Brahmacharya, di-
etetic restrictions and must have purity of heart.
None can enter into Samadhi until he is himself a greatly
purified soul. The mind should be perfectly purified. Then only
the mechanism or vessel will be fit enough to receive the de-
scent of Divine Light. It should be sufficiently strong to bear the
pressure of sudden expansion of consciousness or cosmic vi-
sion which is above mind and which covers the whole existence
in one sweep of this new exalted, magnanimous experience..
It is only through Samadhi that one can know the Un-
known, see the Unseen, can get access into the Inaccessible.
The sum total of all knowledge of the three worlds, of all secular
sciences is nothing, nothing but mere husk, when compared to
the Infinite Knowledgp of a sage who has attained the highest
State of Samadhi.
(7e)
Samadhi is not a stone-like inert state as many people

imagine.
When the mind is completely absorbed in meditation, it is
termed Samadhi.
In Samadhi the unity of Jivatman and the Paramatman is
realised.
In Samadhi you transcend the limitations of the empirical
existence and attain a rich inner life.
In Samadhi the mind loses its own consciousness and be-
comes identified with the object of meditation.
Regular reading of religious books by itself is a kind of
Savikalpa Samadhi.
The disciple should not sit idle and expect a miracle from
the Guru to push him directly into Samadhi.
There is neither meditation nor Samadhi when one realises
the Supreme Self.
In Samadhi of positive meditation, the Jnani sees within
himself the world as a movement of ideas.
That Yogi who has experienced the pure Nirvikalpa Sam-
adhi crosses over birth and death.
The state ofcosmic consciousness is beyond description. It
induces awe, supreme joy and unalloyed felicity. The state of
cosmic consciousness is below the absolute consciousness
wherein the seer, sight, the things seen, or the knower, know-
able and knowledge, or the subject and the object become one.
In cosmic consciousness theie is yet the seer and the seen.
Cosmic consciousness is perfect awareness of the oneness
of life. The Yogi feels that the universe is filled with one life,
that is alive, vibraqing and intelligent and that there is no such
thing as blind force or dead matter. He gets the eye celestial and
experiences bliss beyondunderstanding and description. He ac-
tually feels that all is himself only, that snakes, scorpions, tigers
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS 8I
are as much part of himself as his own eyes, nose, hands and
feet-
He is one with the ether, flower, sun, ocean and sky. He
feels the elixir of life, the nectar of immortality, flowing in his
veins. He feels that the entire universe is bathed in a sea of satis-
fying love.
Jada Samadhi and Chaitanya Samadhi
Samadhi is of two kinds, viz.,Jada Samadhi and Chaitanya
Samadhi. There is a popular belief that Samadhi means sitting
with a Kowpeen in a state of absolute unconsciousness in the
Padmasana or lotus pose with perfect suspension of breath. Or-
dinary rung of mankind think that the man who is established in
Samadhi should not have consciousness of his surroundings
and should be absolutely insensible even if a knife is thrust into
his body. Such Samadhis do certainly exist. They are all Jada
Samadhis induced by Hatha Yogic Kriyas such as Khechari
Mudra, Kumbhaka Pranayama or retention of breath, etc. The
Prana is taken up and fixed in some Chakra. The man is practi-
cally dead for the time being. This is something like long deep
sleep. These Samadhis are of no value. The Samskaras and
Vasanas are not bumt up in toto. There is no perfect awareness
during this Samadhi. The man returns from his Samadhi as the
same old man with the same bundle of old Samskaras and
Vasanas. He has no superintuitional knowledge. This is a kind
of acrobatic feat or internal gymnastics. Such Samadhis cannot
give Mukti or liberation. Worldly people are deceived by such
feats.
The true Samadhi is something entirely different. It gives
supersensual knowledge. A11 doubts, delusion, the three knots
(Avidya, Kama, Karma) are destroyed by the fire of wisdom.
All Vasanas and Samskaras are fried in toto. It gives absolute
fearlessness and an unruffled state of mind. This state is de-
scribed in detail in Bhagavad Gita, Chap. II.
The state of Samadhi is maintained even during work. The

mind and body are used as perfect instruments in the service of
Atman that is seated in the hearts of all. Sri Sankara, Lord
Krishna, Lord Rama did not move an inch from their being es-
tablished in Brahman (Brahmi Sthiti) even during action. Raja
Janaka enjoyed true Samadhi even while ruling his kingdom.
He never lost sight of Brahman even for a moment. He was put
to test and he said, "Even if the whole Mithila is burnt, nothing
is lost for me. I have the inexhaustible imperishable wealth of
Atman." He who is established in Samadhi keeps his mind and
body in perfect balance and utilises them in the service of hu-
manity, with Atma Bhava. He is ever fixed in Brahman. He is
always in Samadhi. There is no tossing (Vikshepa) for him un-
der any condition. He stands adamantine on account of his
knowledge ofthe Self. Real samadhi shoultlbe as muchkeptup
in action as in meditation. This is the real test of one's inner
strength and realisation. This is real Chaitanya Samadhi. A
Samadhi that one enters into the mountain-caves and forests
with closed eyes, but that is broken or shattered during work is
no Samadhi at all.
Light on the Path of Samadhi

Mind and breath are like milk and water. Raja Yoga is con-
trol of mind. He who wants to become a perfect Yogi and to ex-
perience the wonderful Samadhi must control mind and breath.
He must continuously practise Yoga and observe the rules. He
must thoroughly overcome the five Tattvas.
Restraint of the mind (Nirodha) leads to Jnana. Nirodha is
the culmination of Sankhya and Yoga. It is Nirodha which un-
derlies all the Sadhanas or spiritual exercises. Restraint of the
mind is the essence of all worship. This is Jnana and Dhyana.
The highest end is attained by restraint of the mind. The mind
should be completely restrained from the objects. The mind
should be restrained till it attains dissolution in the heart.
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS 83
Atman or Brahman is your immortal Self. It is the only

blazingreality. If you know this Atman only you can attain per-
fection. Perfection can be yours in this very life. Atman is to be
recognised, to be known as your innermost being through Sam-
adhi. If you know this Atman, which is the Ultimate Reality,
which is perfection, then only your life becomes useful and real
existence. The knower of the Atman, with the inner perfection,
crosses all sorrows and become free. If you do not know this At-
man then there is great loss for you.
Samadhi is not a mere emotional enthusiasm or an exhila-
ration of feeling. It is the direct unique intuitive experience of
Truth or Absolute consciousness or the Ultimate Reality. It is
beyond all feeling, throbbing and thrill. There is perfect aware-
ness in Samadhi which is beyond expression and feeling. The
aspirant rests in his centre now-the goal of his search-and
realises the absolute freedom, independence and perfection.
Just as a man who anxiously seeks the means of escape
from the midst of a burning house, so also the aspirant should
have a burning desire to free himself from the fire of Samsara.
Then only he will be able to enter into deep meditation and
Samadhi.
The mind becomes the very Brahman, when it is purified
and brought into Samadhi state. In Samadhi there is no percep-
tion of duality, which is the cause for fear. Avidya is absent in
Samadhi.
Samadhi installs you in the Atman. Through Samadhi the
finite self is absorbed in the Infinite or Absolue consciousnes.
In Samadhi there is no mental tension. There is perfect stillness
or perfect poise. There is total mental inhibition. Samadhi fol-
lows meditation- Deep meditation is Samadhi. The mind that is
endowed with a finished discipline in intensive contemplation
can enter into Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
In Samadhi the mind withdraws from its natural or habit-
ual occupation and gets itself fixed upon the Atman which is not
touched by the mind. The mind does not at all function in Sam-
adhi. It gets absorbed in Brahman. If you can consciously in-
duce a state like deep sleep, it is no longer deep sleep, but it is
Samadhi. It is sleepless sleep wherein the senses and the mind
entirely cease their functioning and the veil of ignorance is de-
stroyed by the fire of knowledge. The aspirant enjoys perfect
joy of freedom and infinite, supracosmic, vast experiences and
the supreme silence of the Imperishable.
In Samadhi the purified mind withdraws itself from the ex-
ternal objects, looks within and concentrates on the Innermost
Self or the Atman. It resolves itself in the Atman, its source, and
becomes Atman itself. It takes the form of Atman, just as cam-
phor becomes the fire itself. Knowledge of Brahman or Atman
is real experience and not mere knowing. To know Brahman is
to become Brahman. "Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati"-this is
the emphatic declaration of the Upanishads.
In Samadhi there is revelation or insight or intuition. The
Jnana Chakshus or Divya Chakshus is opened. The third eye of
wisdom opens by itself when the Brahmakara Vritti is raised.
The sage born of Samadhi-experience gets established in his
own Self. He is endowed with cosmic vision and transcendental
divine knowledge.
As long as you are in Samadhi Nishtha there is only Brah-
man or the Absolute. Nirantara Samadhi does not mean sitting
blind-folded but the renunciation of attachment to the body and
regarding individual soul and supreme Soul as one and knowing
that the practitioner himself is Paramatman and acting upon this
knowledge. Samadhi means the annihilation or absorption of
the mind. Wherever he goes he beholds the one Self every-
where. Neither self-abnegation nor self-knowledge is enough,
but the co-existence of both self-abnegation and self-knowl-
edge constitutes Nirantara Samadhi. Self-knowledge is Brahma
Nishtha. He who has acquired this has no body.
The state in which the mind remains free from sensations

is Mukti. Vishaya means the function of the senses. Therefore
the state of the mind remaining unconnected with the senses or
with the mind's own functions or actions,viz.,hopes, fears, etc.,
is Mukti. Mind without mingling with Brahman cannot be dis-
connected with sensations. Mind becomes one with Brahman.
This is Mukti. This is the state of Nirvishaya.
Individual soul becomes Supreme Soul. This is Mukti. Just
as salt mingled with water becomes water, so rnind mingled
with Brahman ultimately becomes Brahman itself. When the
mind becomes Brahman, this world which is the creation of the
mind, also melts away in Brahman, and becomes Brahman it-
self. Therefore, all this Brahman will come home only to him
who has practised this Nishtha.
According to Vedanta annihilation of Avidya or ignorance
leads to Samadhi. According to Patanjali Maharshi the aspirant
attains Samadhi by removing the hold of Prakriti by practice
and discipline.
The Vedantin enjoys the Eternal Bliss and natural easiness
of Sahaja Samadhi, He remains as a Sakshi or silent witness. He
does not make any serious attempt to control the psychic stream
or thought current. He raises the Brahmakara Vritti by medita-
tion on the significance of "Tat Tvam Asi" Mahavakya. The
Chitta is modified in the form of Brahmakara Vritti. All other
modifications are withdrawn. This Vritti annihilates the igno-
rance, and dies by itself, and Brahman shines out, as the aspirant
realises his identity. When the Vritti is continous, the highest
form of Samadhi, i.e., Nirvikalpa Samadhi is attained. When it
is intermiftent, the sage attains Savikalpa Samadhi.
The Samadhi in the Jnani is effortless and spontaneous.
"Yatra yatra mano yati tatra tatra samadhayah."-wherever
the mind goes there it experiences Samadhi. He rests in Sam-
adhi always. There is no "In Sarnadhi" and "Out of Samadhi"
for a sage. He experiences Samadhi always without any effort.
Hence it is called Sahajavastha or Sahaja Samadhi. He enjoys

freedom, bliss and peace in all moments of his life. He drinks
the nectar of immortality in this very life.
Yogic Samadhi is analytical and discriminative. In this
Samadhi greater stress is laid upon the discrimination between
the Prakriti and the Purusha. In Jhana Samadhi no discrimina-
tion is needed. Brahmakara Vritti raised by an attempt to be-
come identical with the Supreme Self or Brahma Chintana
destroys Avidya and dies by itself.
Samadhi
Samadhi is union with the Lord. It is superconscious expe-
rience. It is Adhyatmic Anubhava.
A Hatha Yogi through the practice of Khechari Mudra can
shut himself up in a box which is then buried underneath the
ground for months. There is no higher supersensual knowledge
in this kind of Samadhi. In Jada Samadhi the Sadhaka is uncon-
scious. It is more or less like deep sleep. The aspirant has no
supersensuous knowledge. Doubtless this is a difficult Yogic
Kriya, but it does not give Atma Jnana. It cannot destroy the
Samskaras and Vasanas. Hatha Yogins of this type eventually
become commercial people and do not thrive at all in the spiri-
tual path. They run after name, fame and money and thus face a
hopeless downfall in spirituality. In Chaitanya Samadhi, there
is perfect awareness. The Yogi comes down with new
supersensuous wisdom.
Samadhi, Mukti, Turiya are synonymous terms. Samadhi
means superconsciousness. The meditator in Samadhi is con-
scious of his own Self. Mukti is freedom from birth and death.
Mukti is attainment of Paramananda state or the state of su-
preme bliss. Mukti is freedom from all sorts of pains. Turiya is
the fourth state. It franscends the three states, viz.,lagrat (wak-
ing state), Svapna (dream state), and Sushupti (deep sleep
state). To distinguish this state from the other three states, it is

called the fourth state.
Moksha is loss of one's personality in the Divine. It is de-
liverance from delusion of personality. There is no annihilation
by the melting of this little false personality. Just as the river be-
comes the ocean itself, the individual soul becomes the mighty
supreme Soul with higher consciousness, and transcendental
bliss, and knowledge.
The state of Samadhi is beyond the reach of mind and
speech. Even in worldly experience, you cannot express the
taste of an apple to one who has not tasted it, or the nature ofthe
colour to a blind man. The state of Samadhi is all bliss, joy and
peace. This much only can be said. One has to feel this himself.
In Samadhi or the superconscious state the meditator loses
his individuality and becomes identical with the Supreme Self.
He becomes an embodiment of bliss, peace and knowledge. So
much only can be said. You can experience this yourself,
through constant meditation.
Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the state of superconsciousness
(Godhead). There is no Vikalpa (imagination) of any sort in this
condition. This is the goal of life. All the mental activities cease
now. The function of the intellect, and the ten Indriyas, cease
entirely. The aspirant rests now in Atman. There is no distinc-
tion between subject and object. The world and the pairs of op-
posites vanish absolutely. This is a state beyond all relativity. It
is not a state of inertia. It is a condition of perfect awareness.
The aspirant gets knowledge of the Self, supreme peace and in-
finite indescribable bliss and joy. This state is indescribable. It
has to be felt and experienced by the aspirant. The triad, viz.,
knower, knowledge and knowable, disappears. Man is Brah-
man now. There is no longer Jivahood. This is also called
Yogaroodha state.
Try to enjoy that sleepless sleep wherein all the senses and
mind remain in a state of quietude and the intellect ceases func-
tioning. This sleepless sleep is Maha Nidra or superconscious

state. It is perfect awareness wherein the individual soul has
merged itself into the Supreme Soul. There is no waking from
this sleep. The show of names and forms eventually vanishes.
In Samadhi or superconscious state, the Yogic practitioner
gets himself merged in the Lord. The senses, the mind and intel-
lect cease functioning. Just as the river joins the ocean the indi-
vidual soul mixes with the supreme Soul. All limitations and
differences disappear. The Yogi attains highest knowledge and
eternal bliss. This state is beyond description. You will have to
realise this yourself.
II
Still the waves of the mind, and hold it steady in
Nirvikalpa Samadhi. This needs constant and protracted prac-
tice of meditation. There may be breaks in the meditation in the
beginning. But practice can make you perfect.Later on you can
remain absorbed in meditation. You can merge yourself in Sam-
adhi with a mind steady like a flame protected from wind. Be-
fore getting sanguine success in meditation, get victory over the
Asanas or poses first. Sit upon your seat with the steadiness of a
rock for 2 or3 hours. If the body is steady, the mind also will be
steady.
Do not mistake a little concentration, or one-pointedness
of mind for Samadhi. Simply because you have risen a little
above body-consciousness on account of little concentration,
do not think that you have attained Samadhi.
Separate the mind from the body and unite it with the Su-
preme Self. This is known as Samadhi or superconscious state.
This will give liberation or freedom from births and deaths.
Samadhi is obtained by practice for a long time with zeal and
enthusiasm.
Samadhi is the highest goal which one can attain through
meditation. It is not a thing that can be attained through a little
practice. To attain Samadhi one should observe shict

Brahmacharya, dietetic restrictions, and must have purity of
heart. If these are not attained there is no possibility of attaining
that state. These preliminary qualifications should be grasped
well and then only one must try to enter the portals of Samadhi.
None can enter into Samadhi unless he is himself a great devo-
tee of the Lord. Otherwise, the so-called Samadhi becomes Jada
to him.
If the Vasanas and attachment to the objects of the world
vanish entirely and if you are in that immovable state, you have
become a Jivanmukta. You will abide in your own Self. You
will rest in that non-dual supreme seat. The Jnana vision will
arise in you. The light of wisdom will shine unobscured, like the
sun in the absence of clouds. You will never be athacted to any
worldly objects. You will be absolutely free from delusion and
sorrow. You will actually feel that the Self alone pervades and
permeates everything in the world. You will shine wffi
Brahmic effulgence. You will possess equal vision and a bal-
anced mind. You will be free from longing for sensual objectC,
because the mind will always be made cool with Brahmic Bliss.
You will be bathed in the cool ambrosial nectar that dribbles
from a contented and quiescent mind.
Shikhidhwaja was absorbed in the Brahmic state for 2
Ghatikas (48 minutes). He was as immovable as a pillar, in
Nirvikalpa Samadhi. His wife Chudala, in the form of Kumbha
Muni, his Guru, made a lion's roar, which could not even wake
him up from his Samadhi. Though she tossed him up and down,
no impression was made on him, in the least, in spite ofhis body
falling down.
When you enter into deep meditation, the pulse beats may
come to 30. The onlooker may not be able to perceive the
breathing. The breath may not come out of the nostrils. In Jada
Samadhi of Hatha Yogins, the breathing and heart will entirely
stop. In the initial stages of Chaitanya Samadhi, the lungs and

heart will be functioning very very slowly.
Advanced aspirants should stop all sorts of work, and
study of religious books even, if they want to enter into Sam-
adhi quickly. They should observe Mauna and remain in a soli-
tary place on the banks of Ganga, Yamuna or Narmada or any
river. They should live on l/, seers milk alone or milk and
fruits. They should plunge themselves in Samadhi in right ear-
nest. They should reduce sleep to 2 ot 3 hours. They should start
the practice in the beginning of winter in November. There is
real rest in meditation. This rest is far superior to the rest that is
obtained from sleep. Sound sleep even for half or one hour will
suffice for the man who regularly meditates.
The State of Blissful Divine Experience

The meditation is Samadhi when it shines with the object
of meditation alone, as it were, devoid of itself. The thinker and
the meditated become one. The mind becomes the Dhyeyarupa.
The separate notions 'contemplation' and 'contemplated' and
'contemplator' vanish. In the state of Samadhi, the aspirant is
not conscious ofany external or internal objects. Just as the ar-
row-maker, having his mind engrossed in the alTow, knows not
the king passing by his side, so also the Yogi, knows not any-
thing, when he is deep in his meditation.
Samadhi or blissful divine experience arises when the ego
and the mind are dissolved. It is a state to be attained by one's
own effort. It is limitless, divisionless and infinite. When this
experience is realised, the mind, desires, actions, and feelings of
joy and sotrow vanish into a void.
Samadhi is of various kinds. But of all of them there are
only very few important ones.
The Samadhi experienced by a Bhakta is Bhava Samadhi.
The devotee attains the state through Bhava and Maha Bhava. A
Bhakta who meditates on the form of Lord Krishna will see
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS 9I
Krishna and Krishna only everywhere when he is established in

Samadhi. He will see himself as Sri Krishna. Gopis of
Vrindavan, Gouranga and Ekanath had this experience. Those
who meditate on the all-pervading Krishna will have another
kind of experience, the consciousness of the whole Virat.
Again, there are two other varieties of Samadhi, viz.,
Savikalpa and Nirvikalpa Samadhi. In the first variety there is
Triputi or the tiad, viz., knower, knowledge and the knowable
or the seer, sight and the seen. The Samskaras are not destroyed.
In the latter, the Samskaras are totally fried or destroyed. There
is no Triputi in Nirvikalpa.
Samprajnata is another name for Savikalpa Samadhi.
Asamprajnata is another name for Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
In Nirvikalpa Samadhi, there is not ego-consciousness.
Ego and mind melt and fuse in Brahman. The pure mind, as-
sumes the form of Brahman. This is known as Nirbija Samadhi.
There is no prop for the mind in this Samadhi. The Samskaras
are fried in toto. Savikalpa Samadhi deepens into Nirvikalpa
Samadhi. There is no idea of any kind in Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
There is no idea of any kind in Nirvikalpa Samadhi. It is
thoughtless, Absolute consciousness.
Nirvikalpa means, that in which there is no Vikalpa. That
which is not associated with any idea is Nirvikalpa. No imagi-
nation, no functioning of mind, or intellect. Atl Vrittis totally
cease. There is only pure Consciousness or Awareness. All the
Samskaras and Vasanas are fried in toto. All names and forms
are burnt up. Asti-Bhati-Priya only remains. Asti-Bhati-priya is
Sat-Chit-Ananda. That which ever exists is Asti; that which
shines is Bhati. This is Absolute Consciousness. And that which
gives Happiness is Priya; this is unalloyed Bliss, Ananda. In
Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the mind is freed from distraction and at-
tachments. It rests unmoved like the flame of a lamp sheltered
from the wind.
In Samadhi or Superconsciousness the student gets him-

self merged in the Lord. The senses, the mind and the intellect
cease functioning. Just as the river joins the ocean, the individ-
ual soul mixes with the Supreme Soul. The Samadhi bestows
Supreme Knowledge, and one is freed from the wheel of birth
and death and gets Kaivalya (Moksha) or Liberation.
The knowledge gained through the senses, in the relative
world, is not the highest knowledge. It cannot give you penna-
nent satisfaction and everlasting felicity and peace. It is limited
knowledge. There is always a sense of void in you, in spite of
your intellectual attainments of all sorts. There is an urge, in
your mind to attain transcendental knowledge, the knowledge
of the Eternal by which everything is known. Yasmin viinate
sarvam idam vijnatam bhavali. This divine knowledge is be-
yond the reach of the senses and the mind. The senses and the
mind cannot penetrate into the heart of the ultimate Truth or the
Infinite. They are finite instruments. The intellect and mind
have got their own limitations. They can operate only in the
earth plane. It is through intuitive insight that you can attain this
transcendental knowledge of the Absolute in Samadhi. It is only
through Samadhi that you can know the Unknown, you can see
the Unseen, you can get access into the Inaccessible.
Dharana or concentration, Dhyana or meditation, Samadhi
or superconscious state, are the inner limbs (Antaranga) of
Ashtanga Yoga or Raja Yoga. They constitute the Antaranga
Sadhana. They complete the psychic and mental discipline'
These three-Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi--constitute
Samyama. They are practised at a time. They are stages in the
mental effort of concentration. Meditation follows concentra-
tion and Samadhi follows meditation.
In Samadhi the mind becomes one with the objeit of its
concentration. The meditator and the meditated, the thinker and
the thought, the subject and the object, become one. In concen-
tration the mind is simply fixed on the object. In meditation the
mind is filled with the one idea of the object alone. All other
thoughts are shut out.
In Samadhi the mind is stilled, the Chitta is silenced and
the thoughts are controlled and all surging bubbling emotions
are subdued. The Yogi passes into the transcendental calm or
the stupendous ocean of silence and attains the transcendental
knowledge of Brahman or the Etemal.
Samadhi or ecstasy is blissful union. The mind melts in the
Eternal or Atman like salt in water or camphor in flame. It is a
state of pure consciousness. The mind has always Vrittis or
modifications. If the mind of man is freed from these through
concentration and meditation he becomes Brahman. Manaso
vrittishunyasya brahmakarataya sthitih.
Samadhi is a means of liberation or freedom from births
and deaths. It leads to the direct intuitive perception of the Truth
or the Infinite. Itputs an end to all koubles of life and the causes
of rebirth. It annihilates the impressions or Samskaras which
give rise to fresh births. It helps one to tide over even prarabdha
even though all the fruition of his past Karmas has not ended.
Faith (Sraddha) or confidence in the power ofyoga, power
(Veerya) for the concentration of mind, memory (Smriti) for
concentration, Samadhi, the final aspect of Yoga, Prajna, dis-
cernment or the direct perception brought about by medita-
tion,-become the means for the attainment of Samadhi.
BhaktiYoga Samadhi
In Bhakti Yoga there is absence of the least tinge of pride
and self-assertion. The devotee does unreserved total self-sur-
render to the Lord. He resigns himself completely to the Lord
and obtains His Grace. Grace is a mighty spiritual force. It
transforms the entire being of a devotee. It infuses in him inspi-
ration and a new divine life. Self-surrender makes the devotee
feel the reality of Divine Grace and Lord's readiness to bestow
on him help at all times. It is through grace alone that the devo-
tee's whole being is galvanised and rejuvenated. Through Di-

vine Grace there is inflow of Divine energy into the entire being
of a devotee and his whole being is properly moulded for Divine
realisation and divine instrumentality.
There are nine modes or nrngs in (Navavidha) Bhakti'
They are Sravana, Kirtana, Smarana, Padasevana, Archana,
Vandana, Dasya, Sakhya and Atmanivedana. Sravana is hear-
ing His Lilas. Kirtan is singing His Names. Smarana is remem-
brince. padasevana is service of His feet. Archana is offering of
flowers to the Lord. Vandana is prostration. Dasya is servant
Bhava. Sakhya is friendship with the Lord. Atmanivedana is
self-surrender or S aranagati.
Admiration, faith, devotion, Ruchi (taste for Name of the
Lord, for repetition and singing), Nishtha (devoutness), Rati
(intense attachment to the Lord), Sthayi Bhava (steadiness in
Prema) and Maha Bhava (premamaya or Param Prema) are the
eight steps in the ladder of Prema or Bhakti Yoga. Admiration,
devotion, worship and absorption are the four stages in Bhakti
Yoga. Salokya, Samipya, Sarupya and Sayujya are the four
kinds of Mukti of the devotees.
Surrender draws down grace- The individual becomes one
with the cosmic will through surrender. Grace makes surrender
complete. Without grace perfect union is not possible. Surren-
der and grace are interrelated. Grace removes all obstacles,
snares and pitfatls in the spiritual path.
The Bhakta gets Bhava Samadhi and Mahabhava. He en-
joys the warrn embrace of the Divine. He attains Divine
Aishvarya. All the spiritual wealth of the Lord belongs to him.
He is endowed with divine vision or Divya Chakshus. He is en-
dowed with Divya (lustrous) subtle body and Divya (divine)
senses. He does not like to have complete absorption or merging
inthe Lord. He wants to remainhimself separate in front of Him
and taste the divine honey of Prema. The absorption in the Lord
comes to him temporarily in the intensity of his love and experi-
ence in the beginning though he does not like it. He attains simi-
larity with God. He is God-like in the beginning. Eventually, he
attains Sayujya or Oneness.
Raja Yoga Samadhi
According to Raja Yoga, Samadhi is of trvo kinds, viz.,

Samprajnata and Asamprajnata. In the former, the seeds of
Samskaras are not destroyed. In the latter, the Samskaras are
fried or annihilated in toto. That is the reason why the former is
called Sabija Samadhi (with seeds) and the latter as Nirbija
Samadhi (without seeds or Samskaras). Samprajnata Samadhi
leads to Asamprajnata Samadhi.
The Samprajnata Samadhi is also known by the name
Savikalpa Samadhi or Sabija Samadhi. This Samadhis brings
perfect knowledge of the object of meditation. The mind contin-
uously and to the exclusion of all other objects assumes the na-
ture and becomes one with the object of its contemplation. The
Yogi attains all the powers of controlling the nature in this
Samadhi.
The Samprajnata Samadhi is of four kinds, viz., Savitarka,
Savichara, Sananda and Sasmita Samadhi. All these Samadhis
have something to grasp. There is Alambana or argumentation
or questioning. They give intensive joy but they are not the best
and finest forms of Samadhi. They cover the gross or the subtle
elements of nature.and the organs of sense. They give you the
direct knowledge of the elements, objects and instruments of
knowledge and some freedom.
These stages are in the form of steps of an ascending stair-
case. To begin with, meditation should be done on a gross form.
When you advance in this meditation, you can take to abstract
meditation, or meditation on subtle things or ideas. Mind should
be gradually disciplined and trained in meditation. It cannot all
at once enter into the highest Asamprajnata Samadhi or that
which constitutes the highest subtle essence. That is the reason
why Patanjali Maharshi has prescribed the practice of various

kinds of lower Samadhis. When the mind is extremely attached
to gross objects, it is not possible to fix it on subtle objects all at
once. There must be gradual ascent in the ladder of Yoga. You
should place your footstep cautiously in each rung of the ladder.
You should pass through successive stages before you attain the
highest Asamprajnata or Nirvikalpa Samadhi. But Yoga
Bhrashtas who have passed through the lower stages in their
previous births can attain to the highest stage at the very outset
through the grace of the Lord. If the Yogic student had reached
the higher state, he need not revert to the lower stages.
All the forms of Samprajnata Samadhi are Salambana
Yoga (with support) and Sabija Yoga (with seed of Samskara).
The Yogins enjoy a form of freedorn. Dharma Megha in Raja
Yoga means "the cloud of virh:e." Just as clouds shower rain, so
also this Dharma Megha Samadhi showers on the Yogins omni-
science and all sorts of Siddhis or powers. The Yogi enjoys a
form of freedom. Therefore this Samadhi is called the Shower
or cloud (Megha) of virtue (Dharma). The Yogi enjoys ex-
panded vision of God.
Ritambhara, Prajnaloka, Prasannavahita are the three
stages or Bhumikas of Samprajnata Samadhi. In Ritambara the
content of the mental Vritti is Satchidananda. There is still a
separate knower. You get Yathartha Jnana or real wisdom. In
the second, every kind of Avarana (veiling) is removed. The
third state is the state of peace in which the mind is destitute of
all mental modifications. The knowledge that you get from tes-
timony and inference is above the objects of the world; but the
knowledge thatyou obtain from Samadhi is Divine Knowledge.
It is supersensual, infuitive knowledge where reason, inference
and testimony cannot go.
Savitarka and Nirvitarka Samadhis
Savitarka Samadhi is Samadhi with reasoning. It is a su-
perficial attempt of the mind to grasp any object. In this Sam-
adhi, Sabda (sound), Artha (meaning), Jnana (knowledge) are

mixed up.
The aspirant can meditate on the body of Virat or Lord
Vishnu with four hands or Lord Krishna with flute in hand or
any ordinary object. He will obtain the direct perception of all
the peculiar features, the excellences (Gunas) and defects
(Doshas) of the object of meditation. He will have complete
knowledge of the object. He will be endowed with all the fea-
tures of the object unheard of and unthought of. He will obtain
these through Savitarka Samadhi. The Yogic student meditates
on the object again and again by isolating it from other objects.
You can meditate on the gross elements also. You will gain
power over them through intense meditation. The elements will
reveal to you their truths.
Just as the new archer first aims at big object only and then
at smaller ones gradually, so also the beginner in Yoga concen-
trates on the gross objects such as the five Maha Bhutas, Lord
Hari with fourhands, andthen on subtle ones. In this mannerthe
grasp of the objects by the mind becomes subtle. A Yogi di-
rectly perceives the real body of the Lord Vishnu as He lives in
Vaikuntha by the force of his meditation although he remains at
a great distance from the Lord.
In Savitarka Samadhi concentration is practised on gross
objects and their nature in relation to time and space. This is a
gross form of Samadhi. When the Yogi meditates on the ele-
ments as they are, by taking them out of time and space, then it
is called Nirvitarka Samadhi without questioning or reasoning
or argumentation. This is a subtle form of Samadhi.
In Savitarka there is Vikalpa or fanciful notion of word
(Sabda), object (Artha) and idea (Jneya). There is no such no-
tion in Nirvitarka Samadhi. There are three factors in the com-
prehension of a word, e.g., cow-(l) cow, the word, (2) cow,
the object, (3) cow, the idea in the mind. When the meditator
98 SPIRITUAL EXPEzuENCES
imagines these three to be one and the same, it is an instance of

Vikalpa or fanciful notion of the word, object and idea.
Savichara and Nirvichara Samadhi
If you meditate on the subtle Tanmaffas and their naturein
relation to time and space, it is Savichara Samadhi with deliber-
ation or discrimination. This is Sukshma or subtle. This is sub-
tler than Savitar(a and Nirvitarka Samadhis. Tanmatras are the
root-elements or Sukshma Bhutas. The five gross elements are
derived from the Tanmatras through the process of
quintuplication or mixing. Meditation goes a step higher in this
Samadhi than in the previous one. The Yogi will get knowledge
of the Tanmatras. He will obtain control overthe Tanmatras. He
will get the direct perception of the various subtle forms of the
object culminating in primordial matter or Mula Prakriti.
The word 'subtle' indicates cause in general. It stands for
all such causal principles as the Tanmatras or the primary ele-
ments, egoism or Ahankara, Mahat Tattva or intellect, and
Prakiti.
There is a mysterious power, Achintya Sakti, in medita-
tion. Although ordinary meditation is possible only in ways al-
ready heard and thought of, yet even such things as have not
been heard or thought of may be directly cognised by the force
of meditation.
There is no difference between the cause and its products.
All gross objects are the products of the twenty-six principles.
They are really of the same nature as that of twenty-six princi-
ples.
If you meditate on the subtle Tanmatras by taking them out
of time and space by thinking as they are it will constitute
Nirvichara Samadhi without deliberation or discrimination. As
there is pure Sattva only in the mind owing to the eradication of
Rajas and Tamas, the Yogi enjoys internal peace or content-
ment (Adhyatmic Prasad) and subjective luminosity. The mind
is very steady.
Sananda Samadhi or the Blissful Samadhi

Now we proceed to describe the joyful Samadhi. This is
joyous Samadhi and it gives intense joy. In this Samadhi the
gross and the five elements are given up. The Yogi meditates on
the Sattvic mind itself. He thinks of the mind which is devoid of
Rajas and Tamas. There arises in the Yogi a peculiar perception
in the form of intense joy through this type of Samadhi.
Sasmita Samadhi
In this Samadhi the mind is the object of meditation. It be-
stows the knowledge of the subject of all experiences. The Self
knows the Self. The Sattvic state of the ego only remains. The
Yogi can think himself now as without his gross body. He feels
that he has a fine body. This Samadhi takes the Yogi to the root
of experiences and shows the way to freedom.
The Yogi feels'iI am (Asmi) other thanthe body." He ex-
periences that the gross, subtle and joyous Samadhis are not the
highest Samdhis. He finds defects in them also and gets dis-
gusted with them. He proceeds further and practises Asmita
Samadhi. He experiences Self-consciousness (Asmita). He ex-
periences a feeling of 'enough' and develops dispassion in its
highest form (Para Vairagya). This finally leads to the develop-
ment of Asamprajnata Samadhi.
Asamprajnata Samadhi or Nirbija or Nirvikalpa Samadhi
This is the highest form of Samadhi. This comes after
Viveka-khyati or the final discrimination between Prakriti and
Purusha. All the seeds or impressions are burnt by the fire of
knowledge. This Samadhi brings Kaivalya or Absolute Inde-
pendence. This is the culmination or climax of Yoga, or final
Prasankhyana s,hich bestows the supreme, undying peace or
knowledge. The Yogi enjoys the transcendendental glories of
the Self and has perfect freedom from the mental life. The sense
of time is replaced by a sense of Eternity.
100 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES'
In this Samadhi, there is neither Triputi nor Alambana.

The Samskaras are fried intoto. This Sdmadhi alone can destroy
birth and death and bring in highest knowledge and bliss.
When you get full success or perfection (Siddhi) in Rajlr
Yoga by entering into Asamprajnata Samadhi (Nirvikalpa
State) all the Samskaras and Vasanas which bring on rebirths
are totally fried up. A1l Vrittis or mental modifications that arise
from the mind-lake come under restraint. The five afflictions
viz., Avidya (ignorance), Asmita (egoism), Raga-dvesha (love
and hatred) and Abhinivesha (clinging to life) are destroyed and
the bonds of Karma are aanihilated. This Samadhi brings on
highest good (Nisreyasa) and exaltation (Abhyudaya). It gives
Moksha (deliverance fromthe wheel of births and deaths)' With
the advent of the knowledge of the Self, ignorance vanishes'
With the disappearance of the root-cause, viz., ignorance,
egoism, etc., also disappear.
{n the Asamprajnata Samadhi, all the modifications of the
mind are completely restrained. All the residual Samskaras are
totally fried up. This is the highest Samadhi of Raja Yoga. This
is also known as Nirbija Samadhi (withot seeds) andNirvikalpa
Samadhi.
In this Samadhi the Yogi sees without eyes, tastes withot
tongue, hears without ears, smells without nose and touches
without skin. His Sankalpas can work miracles. He simply wills
and everything comes into Being. This state is described in
Taittariya Aranyaka I-ii-5.
"The blind man pierced the pearl, the fingerless put a
thread into it; the neckless wore it and the touchless praised it'"
Eventually, the Purusha realises His own native state of
Divine glory, Isolation or absolute Independence (Kaivalya).
He has completely disconnected himself from the Prakriti and
its effects. He feels his absolute freedom and attains Kaivalya,
the highest goal of Raja Yoga. All Klesha Karmas are destroyed
now. The Gunas having fulfilled their objects of Bhoga and
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS 1OI
Apavarga now entirely cease to act. He has simultaneous

knowledge now. The past and the future are blended into the
present. Everything is "Now." Everything is "Here." He has
transcended time and space. The sum total of all knowledge of
the three worlds, of all secular sciences is nothing but mere husk
when compared to the Infinite knowledge of a Yogi who has at-
tained Kaivalya. Glory, glory to such exalted Yogins!
How the Yogi Comes Down from Samadhi

Examples of Sikhidhvaya and Prahlada
Sikhidhvaya entered into Nirvikalpa Samadhi. He was im-
movable as a pillar in Nirvikalpa Samadhi. His wife (Chudalai)
made a lion's roar. This did not wake him up from the Samadhi.
Then she tossed him up and down. The body fell down, but he
was not brought down to his consciousness. Then she concen-
trated her mind and found one thing in her Yogic vision that
there was some residue of Satfva in his heart which indicated to
her that there was intelligence yet animating the body.
Like flowers and fruits latent in a seed, a residue of Sattva,
the cause of intelligence, rests always in the heart of cne who is
in Samadhi. Then she entered into the subtle body of the king
and caused that part of it which had the residue ofpure Sattva in
it to vibrate. Then she retumed to her own body and chanted the
Sama Veda songs. Then Sikhidhvaja came back to his external
consciousness. It is only through the residue of Sattva that
Jivanmuktas are awakened to an external perception of objects.
Prahlada seated himself in Nirvikalpa Samadhi for five
thousand years. Lord Hari caused his Panchanjanya to be
sounded in order to intimate Prahlada of his arrival. Prahlada
slowly recovered consciousness on the physical plane. He
opened his eyes slowly. Prana and Apana began to percolate all
throughout the Nadis. In the twinkling of an eye, the mind be-
came gross, and his eyes, mind, Prana and body began to glow
with life with their respective functions.
r02 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
In the case of Jivanmuktas the pure Vasanas exist like

burnt seeds. They will never be reproductive of rebirth. These
pure Vasanas are associated with Sattva Guna and Atmic Dhy-
ana. They exist in Jivanmuktas like Vasanas in deep sleep. Even
after the lapse of a thousand years, so long as the body is in exis-
tence, the pure Vasanas will be latent in the heart of
Jivanmuktas and will melt away gradually. It is only through
these pure Vasanas that Jivanmutas are awakened to perception
of the external world.
O Man! You are surrounded by the wild fire of Samsara
and the three fires. You are travelling in the dire forest of Moha.
The tiger-mind is threatening to devour you. You are captured
by the thieves, the six dacoits-Arishadvargas,ytz.,lust, anger,
greed, etc. You are stung by the snake, Asa or desire. Find out
the means of escape at once. Approach a spiritual preceptor.
Serve him with faith and devotion. Get from him spiritual in-
structions. Follow them to the very letter. Free yourself from the
thraldom of mind and matter by entering into Nirvikalpa
Samadhi.
Jnana Yoga Samadhi

Jnana Yoga Samadhi is of trro kinds,viz., Savikalpa and
Nirvikalpa. Again Savikalpa Samadhi is of trvo kinds, viz.,
Drishyanuvid when it is connected with an object and
Shabdanuvid when it is connected with a sound.
Meditate on the consciousness as the witness for the modi-
fications of the mind, such as desires, etc., which are to be re-
garded as perceivable objects. This is inner Antar Drishyanuvid
Savikalpa Samadhi.
When you meditate and actually feel "I am Asanga (unat-
tached) Satchidananda, self-luminous, Advaita Svarupa," it is
Antah Shabdanuvid Savikalpa Samadhi.
That steady state of the mind like the unflickering flame of
a light in a place free from wind wherein one gets indifferent to
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS IO3
both objects and sounds owing to his total merging in the reali-
sation of his own real Self (Brahman) is termed Antar
Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
Just as you practise meditation inside the heart, when you
see the Sat Vastu-Brahman only in the external objects by sep-
arating the names and forms, it is termed Bahir Drishyanuvid
Savikalpa Samadhi.
That constant reflection that the unlimited Satchidanada
Vastu which is always of one nature is Brahman, is the middle
kind of Samadhi or Bahir Shabdanuvid Savikalpa Samadhi.
By the practice and experience of the above two kinds of
Samadhi, that steady state of the mind produced owing to the
realisation of bliss (like the ocean without waves) is called the
third kind of Samadhi or Bahir Nirvikalpa Samadhi. One should
always spend his time in these six kinds of Samadhi. By these
Samadhis the identification with the body vanishes and the
highest Self is realised and the mind is always in Samadhi wher-
ever (or whatever place) and to whatever object it is directed (or
nrns on there).
When the Samadhi is associated with the sound "I am
Brahman-Aham Brahma Asmi" it is Shabdanuvid. When it is
not associated with sound of "Aham Brahma Asmi" it is
Ashabdanuvid.
In Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the mind is fixed in Advaita Brah-
man without any Triputi, i.e., any idea of knower, knowledge
and knowable, and is without recognition of subject and object.
Savikalpa Samadhi is a means (Sadhana) to the end-
Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the fruit or the result.
Though there is a perception of duality in the Savikalpa
Samadhi inasmuch as there is distinct recognition of subject and
object, yet the duality only helps to know the Advitiya Brah-
man; in the same way as in an earthen object, there is a percep-
tion ofearth, though there be an appearance ofan earthenjar,
t04 SPIRITUAL EXPEzuENCES
etc., so, too, is there the perception of the secondless Brahman

alone, even though there be an appearance ofduality.
Nirvikalpa Samadhi is of two kinds, viz., Advaita
Bhavanarupa Samadhi which is Vrittisahita (Brahmakara Vritti
is present here) and Advaita Avastharupa Samadhi which is
Vrittirahita (Brahmakara Vritti dies here). Advaita-
bhavanarupa Samadhi is Sadhana, means to an end.
Advaita-avastharupa Samadhi is the result or fruit.
In Vichara Sagar you will find: in this manner the differ-
ence between the two kinds of meditation is established: that is
to say, in the meditation with recognition of subject and object,
there is perception of duality with that of Brahman, and in the
meditation without recognition of subject and object, there is no
conscious perception of the three integral constituents, knower,
knowledge and object to be known; likewise in the state of pro-
found slumber and this second variety of meditation, there is
this difference; that in the former, there is an absence of the
modification of the mental function in the shape of Brahman
while in the latter, there is no perception of it. Thus, then, there
is an entire absence of the internal organ with its function in
profound slumber, while in the unconscious meditation there is
only a want of the perception, though the internal organ and its
function are modified into the shape of the Brahman; now this
modification proceeds from the practice of the conscious vari-
ety of meditation; hence that is reckoned as one of the best
means whose result is this meditation without recognition of
subject and object.
Unconscious meditation is of two kinds. (1) Non-dual
mental perception (2) Non-dual form of resting in Brahman.
(1) When the non-dual modification of the internal organ
after it has assumed the shape of the Brahman arises with the
unknown function it is called a form of non-dual mental percep-
tion of the unconscious meditation. Here much practice is
needed so that the functional modification of Brahman also

ceases; and
(2) When the function has been completely done away
with, it constitutes the non-dual condition of unconscious medi-
tation. Then just as water sprinkled on red-hot iron is absorbed
into the body of the metal, so by such persevering and firm prac-
tice of the non-dual perceptional form of the unconscious medi-
tation, the function merges into the extremely manifested
Brahman, and this resting on the non-dual Brahman-form ofthe
unconscious meditation is the chief result of which the first or
perceptional is a means only.
Between the non-dual resting and the profound slumber
the difference consists in the merging of the mental function in
ignorance in the latter and the merging of the same function in
the extremely tangible Brahman in tlie former;the felicity ofthe
latter is enveloped in ignorance while the blissfulness of Brah-
man perceived in the former is entirely devoid of c6vering.
There is neither darkness nor void in this experience. It is
all light. There is neither sound nor touch nor form here. It is a
magnanimous experience of unity or oneness. There is neither
time nor causation here. You become omniscient and omnipo-
tent. You become a Sarvavid or all-knower. You know every-
thing. You know the whole mystery of creation. You get
Immortality, higher knowledge and eternal bliss.
All dualities vanish here. There is neither subject nor ob-
ject. There is neither Sakara nor Nirakara. There is neither med-
itation nor Samadhi. There is neither Dvaita nor Advaita. There
is neither Vikshepa nor one-pointedness. There is neither
meditator nor meditated. There is neither day nor night.
When you are established in the highest Nirvikalpa Sam-
adhi you have nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to smell,
nothing to feel. You have no body-consciousness. You have full
Brahmic consciousness. There is nothing but the Self. It is a
grand experience. You will be struck with awe and wonder.
This experience arises when the ego and the mind are dis-
solved. It is a state to be attained by one's own effort. It is limif
less, divisionless and infinite, an experience of being and of
pure consciousness. When this experience is realised, the mind,
desires, actions and feelings of joy and sorrow vanish into a
void.
The Jivahood has gone now. The little 'I' has melted. The
differentiating mind that splits up has vanished. All barriers, all
sense of duality, differences, separateness have disappeared.
There is no idea of time and space. There is only eternity.
Sing Om. Om is your real name. Om is Atman. Om is
Brahman. Om is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Om is
Silence. Om is your centre. Om is your refuge. Om is heart
(Hridaya). Do Japa of Om. Chant Om. Feel Om. Live in Om.
Om is everything. Hum Om. Live in Truth. Feel His presence
always everywhere, in flowers and trees, in stones and chairs, in
birds and dogs, in sun and stars. Enter the Silence. Rejoice in
Atman. Rejoice in the light of Truth, Knowledge and Bliss.
There is a vast ocean of Ananda (Bliss) and knowledge at the
back of the mind. Drive the mind back to its source (Yoni) and
support (Adhisthana).
Remember Om. Remember Soham, Om Sivoham,
Sivoham, Aham Brahma Asmi, Analhuq. Truth is One. These
Mantras remind you of your identity with the Supreme Soul.
They are Mahavakyas (great sentences) of the Upanishads.
They blow out this little false ego, this illusory 'I', into an airy
nothing.
Silence is Atman. Atman is Maha Mouna (great silence).
"Ayam Atma Santah---This Atman is silence", is the declara-
tion of the Srutis. Centre in Atman. Forget not this centre what-
ever may be your avocation or circumstances. There is no room
for despair. Nil desperandum. Be up and doing, my friends.
Even the vilest of us shall attain salvation. Hear once more the
words of promises given by Lord Krishna: "Kaunteya
pratijaneehi na me bhaktah pranasyati-O Kaunteya! Know

thou for certain that my devotee perisheth never." (Gita IX-31)
Rest in the centre and draw peace and strength. Aspire and
draw. You will have to keep the knowledge of Atman steady
(Taila-Dharavat) like the steady flow of oil from one vessel to
another. You must get Brahmakara Vritti Sthiti (getting estab-
lished in the centre). When you think of Atman, when the
thoughts of objects subside, this BrahmakaraVritti arises from
the Sattvic Antahkarana (pure mind). When the flow of
Brahmic idea is quite steady, you will have Sahaja Nishtha or
natural state. This is Svajatiya Vritti Pravaha (inundation of
ideas of Self alone).
A little practice in right earnest is indispensably requisite.
Practice in Jnana Yoga can be done at all times. Sometimes
when you are free and when you have leisure, you can retire into
a room for deep meditation. For Jnana-Yoga no Asana or room
is necessary. Keep up the Brahmakara Vritti (feeling of the idea
of Infinity) while walking, talking, eating, etc.
Whenever you see objects, deny or reject the names and
forms which are changing-Jada (insentient) and Vinasi (per-
ishable)-and take out the hidden Antar-Atman
(Asti-Bhati-Priya) which is Satchidananda. In course of time
the illusory names and forms will vanish. You will enter into
Bhava Samadhi or Samyak Jnana or Bahir Nirvikalpa.
May Holiness, Glory, Splendour, Honour, Peace, Power
and Poise attend on thee for ever. Thou art Soul. Thou art Truth.
Thou art Atman. Thou art Brahriran. Thou art Existence-Knowl-
edge-Bliss Absolute in essence whenyou delete Upadhis (limit-
ing adjuncts, viz., Mind, Indriyas, Prana, body and causal
body). "Tat Tvam Asi" my dear friends!
Six Kinds of Jnana Yoga Samadhis

Antar Drishyanuvid Savikalpa, Antah Sabdanuvid
Savikalpa, Antar Nirvikalpa, Bahya Drishyanuvid Savikalpa,
Bahya Sabdanuvid, Bahya Nirvikalpa are the six kinds of

Samadhis.
The visible objects, and the Vrittis of anger, lust, etc., are
the manifestations of Brahman. The Drik or Brahman who si-
lently witnesses all the visible and the Vrittis, who is hidden in
the Vrittis and visible like the thread of a flower garland, is the
Sakshi or witness or the Knower of everything.
All the Vrittis or mental modifications are clearly seen by
the Silent Witness or Brahman. The visible (Drishya) are not
distinct from the Drik or seer (Sakshi or witness). Everything is
the manifestation or embodiment of the Drik or seer. visibles
are nothing but the Drik or seer. Investigation or enquiry like
this (Svarupa Anusandhana) is Antardrishyanuvid Savikalpa
Samadhi.
The Samadhi that is associated with the mental repetition,
reflection, Bhava and feeling and identification .,I am Asanga
Brahman", "I am self-luminous Immortal Self,, .,I am
Sat-Chit-Ananda Brahman" is Antar Sabdanuvid Savikalpa
Samadhi. The visibles are melted or dissolved or involved in
Brahman through the process of Layachintana. Layachintana is
reflection in the following manner. "The earth is involved into
its cause water, water into its cause fire, fire into air, air into
ether, ether in Tamas, Tamas in Avyaktam or Mula prakriti and
Avyaktam in Brahman. Nothing exists now. Everything is
Brahman." This is a new kind of vision or Drishti created
through a Vedantic Yukti.
If you give up the above two kinds of Samadhis along wrth
all sorts of mental activities, if you remain in a thoughtless state
(Nischinta) as an embodiment of Suddha Chinmatra Rupa
Brahman then this is called Antarnirvikalpa Samadhi. Just as
you practise the three kinds of internal Samadhis so also you
will have to practise the three kinds of external Samadhis also in
order to destroy all kinds of duality.
The world of names and forms is superimposed upon

Brahman just as snake is superimposed on the rope. Just as the
water that is mixed with foam, whiteness, etc., is called a wave
in the ocean, so also the Svarupa that is constituted of five
things collectively,viz., Sat-Chit.Ananda Nama Rupa is called
Prapancha. You wilt have to delete the superimposed names
and forms and to view the world as the Sat-chit-Ananda Brah-
man alone. This is Bahya Drishyanuvid Savikalpa Samadhi'
You will have to melt or dissolve the names and forms in the
Brahman with the flrm determination that there really exists
nothing, save Sat-ChifAnanda Brahman and then to identiff
yourself with the Brahman.
Advaita, blissful eliminating or negating the superimposed
names and forms is Bahya Sabdanuvid Savikalpa Samadhi.
That steady thoughtless state like the waveless ocean in which
the sage has become one with the Brahman without any sort of
mental or physical activity, just as the lump of salt when dis-
solved in water becomes one with water, is Bahya Nirvikalpa
Samadhi. The mind of a sage who has practised these six kinds
of Samadhis enters into Samadhi whenever it moves about.
That sage who is established in this Nirvikalpa Samadhi is a
Gunatita, Bhagavad Bhakta, Ativamashrami or a Brahmana'
Samadhi According to the Upanishads

1. Samadhi is that 5tate of pure cons0iousness, the supreme
blissful state, free from the triad (the meditator, meditated and
meditation). It is the state where the Jivatma becomes one with
the Paramatma.
2. When the Chitta oi mind is steady like the flame of a
lamp in a windless place, when it has given up the idea of
meditator and meditation, and when it constantly dwells in the
Dhyeya Vastu or Brahman, then Samadhi ensues'
u0 SPIRITUAL EXPEzuENCES
3. The mind when it is free from thoughts, desires and

emotions, merges in the Supreme Brahman. This state is sam-
adhi.
4. When, through knowledge of the Self which is seated
within one's heart, he attains vijnana or direct realisation and
when the body-idea is completely eradicated and when peace is
attained, in that state the vrittis, mind and intellect are de-
stroyed. This state of destruction of mind is Samadhi.
5. Having controlled the prana and Apana during
Kumbhaka with the gaze steady fixed at the tip of the nose, per_
forming the Shanmukhi M-udra with the fingers of the two
hands, the mind merges itself in the sound of pranava or Om.
6. After the dribbling of nectar, like the milk from the
cow's udder, the group of senses becomes calm by withdrawal,
and then results Manonasa (destruction of the mind). This is
Yoga Samadhi.
7. When the five organs of knowledge are at rest together
with the mind and when the intellect ceases functioning or be-
comes calm, that they (the seers) call the highest state.
8. When all Sankalpas (desires) of the mind become calm,
when the mind is neither waking nor sleeping, when it is mo_
tionless and calm like a stone, the highest Brahmic state of Sam-
adhi is attained.
9. When the Prana moves in the middle (the Sushumna,
leaving both the Ida and Pingala) the mind becomes steady. per-
fect state of tranquillity of the mind is the Brahmic state of Sam-
adhi called Manonmani.
10. The Jivanmukta attains Sarupamanonasa which leaves
behind a slight trace of ego. But for a videhamukta there is
complete destruction of the ego, sleep and all sins. He attains
Arupamanonasa.
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS 1I I
11. When the Chitta or mind is free from all flickering de-
sires, when the mind is destroyed, it is the peaceful state which
is like unto Sushupti or deep sleep while (the Yogi is) awake.
12. That state is neither waking nor dreaming on account
of the absence of Sankalpa or desire. It is not also Sushupti or
sleep because of the absence of inertness there.
13. Knowledge of Sattva or Brahman which is !ike the fire
which bums up the grass of Vasanas (desires) is indicated by the
word Samadhi and not the state of inertia or mere silence.
14. The complete eradication of Vrittis caused by the de-
struction of thoughts by generating the Brahmakara Vritti or
meditation on Brahman is called Samadhi.
15. When the currents of Raga-Dvesha attain a feeble state
by the knowledge that Brahman is not any of the objects seen or
heard of, the steadiness in the knowledge of Brahman is
strengthened by the practice of knowledge and dispassion, and
this state (Nishtha) is known as Samadhi.
16. "I am the Supreme Brahman; I am Brahman alone"
when this one thought remains to the exclusion of all other
thoughts, it is called Samadhi.
17. The rising ofknowledge ofthe identity of Jivatman and
Paramatman and the complete forgetfulness of meditation
(Triputi) is called Samadhi.
18. O wise man! The sages understand Samadhi to be that
state of supreme intelligence or pure consciousness attained by
the self-controlled satiated Chitta, which points out the way to
the knowledge of Brahman.
19. The state of the mind which is devoid of changing
thoughts, free from egoism and which does not follow the
course of the pairs of opposites. heat and cold, pleasure and
pain etc.,-is Samadhi. The steady position of the Merudanda
(spine) is also indicated by Samadhi.
n2 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
20. The state of steadiness of the mind, free from all crav-
ing for sensual enjoyment, free from the ideas of enjoyment,
free from the ideas of acquiring and giving up,-that state of
fullness of the mind is called Samadhi.
21. The merging of the mind into the Atman like salt put in
water is called Samadhi.
22. Destruction of all Sankalpas and knowledge of the
Sameness of Jiva and Brahman without the least difference is
called Samadhi.
23. Devoid of Vrittis, devoid of mind and intellect, devoid
of decay, devoid of all changes, is the state of Samadhi.
24. The steady flow of Brahmakara Vritti devoid of the
egoism which asserts "I am this body" "I am the mind" etc.,
caused by the practice of meditation, is called Samprajnata
Samadhi.
25. The Samadhi wherein there is destruction of all
Vasanas or Vrittis of the mind and which brings face to face the
enjoyment of the Supreme blissful state is termed Asamprajnata
Samadhi-dear to the Yogins!
26. Leaving aside all the objects consisting of names and
forms by the direct realisation of the bliss of the Atman, the
mind becomes steady like flame in a windless place. This is
Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
27. The light of consciousness lighted up by the steady
flow of Antarmukha Vritti (fixing the mind on the Atman) is the
Samadhi practised by sages wherein all desires drop away by
themselves.
28. Samadhi is that real state of direct realisation of the su-
preme Self which is all auspiciousness which is all-fuIl, all-per-
vading and fills the above, below and the intervening spaces.
Samadhi in Six Months

Samadhi is union with God or Brahman. If you are an
Uttama Adhikari, first-class aspirant, equipped with the four
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS I 13
means or qualifications and endowed with Tivra Vairagya and

an intense longing for liberation and if you have a Brahmasrotri
Brahmanishtha like Sri Sankara or Lord Krishna to back you up,
you will realise the Self in the twinkling of an eye. Within the
time taken to squeeze a flower with your fingers, you can realise
the Self. Within the time taken for a grain of gram to roll when
placed on the outer surface of a pot, you cah have Antar
Darshan. There is no difficulty at all. The aspirant shouldbe like
Hastamalaka or Padmapada of Sri Sankara or Arjuna of Lord
Krishna. He should have intense devotion towards his Guru.
Sraddha is a great qualification in the path of Jnana Yoga. It is
rational faith here, while in Bhakti Yoga it is a blind faith. If the
ground of Antahkarana is not well prepared, if there is no
'Chitta Suddhi' (purity of heart), even Isvara, even thousand
Sankaras or Krishnas cannot do anything in this matter. Be rest
assured of this. Through Ashtavakra, Raja Janaka realised
within the twinkling of an eye. Arjuna had Self-realisation in
the battlefield within an hour and a half.
Mukunda Rai (of Maharashtra) put a Badshah on Samadhi
in a second, when he was on horse-back. There are so many in-
stances.
In this Kali Yuga you need not do much Tapas as people
did in days of yore. People used to stand on one leg for several
years, before. They did many austerities. This you will find in
Mahabharata and other religious books. Ishvara has shown His
mercy on people of this age owing to the poor physique and
short duration of life. By Tapas and meditation one can realise
very quickly if he is earnest, sincere and vigilant in this age.
When you want to catch a train at 4 a.m. in the morning, how
vigilant, cautious and nimble you are. You prepare the bundles
at night. You prepare at night some sweets or eatables for the
moming 'Chota-hazri'. You adjust the alarm in the timepiece to
get up at 3 a.m. So many other things you do. If you show, even
a tenth part of this vigilance, sincerity and dexterity in the spiri-
fi4 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
tual line also, you can have Samadhi in six months. No one on
earth or heaven can prevent you from getting at it.
Samadhi in Six Months as Enjoined in the Mahabharata
Gathering his mind, the Yogi should retire to a mountain

cave, a temple or a secluded room. He should not associate with
anything through mind, speech and action; for accumulation of
and association with things cause misery to Yogis. He should
cultivate indifference towards everything. He should be regular
about his diet. Worldly gain should cause him no pleasure, nor
worldly loss any sorrow. He should lookupon with an equal eye
both one who censures him and one who bows before him.
Whether good is happening to anybody or evil, he should not re-
flect. When there is gain he should not be beside himself with
joy, nor should he worry when there is loss. He should look
upon all beings with an equal eye and should remain unattached
like the air. He who thus keeps his mind in health, works for oth-
ers, cultivates an equal eye towards everything and everybody,
and lives for six months a regular disciplined life can realise
Brahman and attain Brahmanhood (Nirvikalpa Samadhi)
himself.
Some Experiences in Samadhi

Sage Uddalaka's Experience
The Sage Uddalaka was not able to master Samadhi which

leads one into the blissful realm of Reality, because the mon-
key-mind jumped speedily from one branch to another of sen-
sual objects. He seated himself in Padmasana. and uttered
Pranava (Om) with high sounding intonation. Then he started
his meditation.
He forcibly controlled his mind. With great difficulty he
separated the senses from the objects. He dissociated himself
completely from all extemal objects. He closed the avenues:of
the body. He fixed his mind in the heart. His mind wbs f,reed
from all the Vikalpas. He destroyed all thoughts of objects just

as a warrior kills with his sword his foes who rise against him
again and again.
He saw before him a radiant light. He dispelled Moha. He
passed through the stage of darkness, light, sleep and Moha. He
eventually reached the stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi and en-
joyed perfect calmness. After six months, he woke from his
Samadhi. He would spend in one sitting, days, months.and even
years in deep Samadhi and then wake up.
King Janaka's Experience
"Till now I have not been able to bore a hole in this pearl of
mind. Now I will do so and make a rosary of it by stringing it in
the string of experience and wear it on my person. I have leamt
it all through the omniscient Siddhas, as my Gurus. I am now in
the enjoyment of that bliss which pertains to the pure Brahman.
I have gradually dispelled from my mind such unrealities as I,
you, and other differences of conception. I will never hereafter
bring them back to my mind. I am now victorious in the conflict
with my great adversary of the mind which spoiled my
Atma-Jna.na. I have completely divested myself of all the pains
which afflicted me. I have attained the life of quiescenbe. O
discriminative Jnana, which uplifted me to this tofty state, I
adore thee."
Thus did King Janaka remain statue-like in Samadhi, after
having destroyed all fluctuations of mind. After being in it for a
long time, he retumed from it and then surveyed the universe
through his quiescent mind-his impure one having been de-
stroyed past resurrection-with the following remarks: 'What
object is there in this world for me to encompass? What is illu-
sory? To my present scrutinising eye, all is pure Jnana only. I
cognise nothing but the one immaculate Atma-Jnana-my own
Reality. I will never long for any object I do not come across;
nor will I evince any aversion towards any object that I do not
come by. I will remain immutably fixed in my own Self of
Atma-Jnana. Things will happen as preordained.' So saying, the

king was absorbed with Brahmic bliss in the non-dual state.
King Bali's Experience
The king Bali fell to meditating upon the universe and be-
came convinced of the truth of the words of his Acharya, ex-
claiming thus: "This supreme earth is no other than Jnana; the
three Lokas are Jnana; my real nature is Jnana; all the ordained
Karmas are Jnana only. I have now become that resplendent
Brahmic One which shines in its real nature, devoid of the
visibles and the visual. I have now become that all-full Principle
which, being of the nature of Jnana without any objects to bind
it, pervades all objects at one and the same time, and is the qui-
escent Jnana-Akasa and intelligence itself'. Then contemplat-
ing upon (or uttering) Pranava (Om) mentally, which is the real
significance of the Absolute Jnana, he entered trance-like into
Dhyana (meditative state) and then freed from Sankalpas, Kar-
mas, the three kinds of desires (for wife, sons and wealth),
doubts, contemplation, intelligence and objects as well as their
substratum, the knower, he was statue-like in Samadhi for a
long period. Thus did the emperor Bali remain immobile like
the light of a lamp in a windless place. And sinie he shone as the
Absolute Sat, without the stains of love and hate, and with a re-
plete mind, such a state can best be likened to a clear sky in the
autumnal season when no clouds mantle it.
When the Emperor passed thus his days in Samadhi, the
courtiers serving under him repaired to the topmost storey of the
king's mansion in search of him. There they found him in
Nirvikalpa Samadhi. After a long time, he awoke and began to
perform the regal duties with a mind free from desires and ego-
ism. Through his stainless mind, he was never flurried in adver-
sity or prosperity, neither did he sink nor swim amidst pleasures
or pains. Thus was he with an equal eye over all.
However unlimited were the armies of good and bad
thoughts that cropped up unceasingly in his mind, however
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS IIl
countless were the objects, imaginary and real, that manifested

themselves before him, yet he was able to control them all in
one centre.
Kacha's Experience
Once upon a time, Kacha, after having returned from the
Supreme Samadhi he was in, exclaimed thus with an exhilarat-
ing heart and a voice that did not know how to find its expres-
sion through its ecstatic enjoyment: 'What is it that I shall have
to do? To which quarters shall I fly (there being none for me
now)? What shall I cease to perform or abstain from? Like the
flood of the deluge, my Self alone pervades everywhere in this
world. Whether in body or out of it, in the quarters or Akasa or
in the earth or any other place, my Self alone pervades. There is
no object which is not found in my own Self. The Self-shining
One is no other than my own Self and this Satchidananda alone
shines (or is).'
Obstacles to Samadhi
Be courageous friends! You will come across various ob-
stacles when you endeavour to control the mind and enter into
Samadhi. You will have to conquer Laya (mental inactivity),
Vikshepa (distractions), Kashaya (passion) and Sukharaga
(taste for pleasure).
Laya or mental inactivity is.a state which is equivalent to
deep sleep. This is as much a source of evil as passion.
Wake up the mind in Laya. Even though you have con-
quered Laya and distraction by repeated practice, by Yairagya
and Jnanabhyasa or Brahma Chintana, yet the mind will not en-
ter into a state of perfect balance or serenity. It will be in an in:
termediate stage. The mind is still not freed from Raga or
attachment which is the seed of all its activity in the direction of
external objects. There is still lurking passion or hidden
Vasanas or Kashaya. You will have to restrain the mind again
and again by Vichara and do rigorous meditation and practice of
I l8 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Samprajnata or Savikalpa Samadhi..Finally you must rest your-

self in Asamprajnata or seedless Samadhi (Nirbija Samadhi).
You are not able to enter into Samadhi, because you are
not able to practise meditation. You are not able to do profound
meditation, because you are not able to fix the mind steadily or
concentrate. You are not able to concentrate properly, because
you are not able to practise Pratyahara or the withdrawal of the
senses from the objects thoroughly. You are not able to practise
Pratyahara thoroughly, because you have not obtained mastery
over Asanas and Prana through Pranayama and you are not es-
tablished in Yama and Niyama, which are the foundations of
Yoga.
The aspirant who wants to attain Samadhi should have pa-
tience like that of the bird Tittibha which tried to empty the
ocean with its beak. Once he makes a firrn resolve, gods will
come to his help in the same way that Garuda came to the help
of Tittibha. Help invariably comes from all beings in arighteous
act. Even the monkeys and squirrels helped Rama to rescue
Sita. He who is endowed with self-control, courage, prowess,
fortitude, patience and perseverance, strength and skill, can
achieve anything. You should never give up your attempt even
if you face insurmountable difficulties.
Whenever desires trouble you, fry to attain Vairagya by
looking into the defects of sensual life. Cultivate dispassion or
indifference to sensual pleasures. Think that enjoyment pro-
duces pain and various troubles, and everything is perishable.
Withdraw the mind again and again from the objects and fix it
on the Immortal Self or the picture of the Lord. When the mind
attains a state of equanimity; when it is freed from distraction
and Laya, do not disturb it.
You must wean the mind from the pleasure of Savikalpa
Samadhi which is called Rasasvada. Rasasvada also is an obsta-
cle. This prevents the aspirant from attaining the Nirvikalpa
Samadhi. Some aspirants get false contentment from attaining
this happiness and stop their Sadhana. They do not attempt to

attain the Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
Pseudo Samadhi
At one time, in one of my unusual journeys out of Ananda
Kutir, a well-dressed gentleman sitting by my side in the rail-
way compartment held out a sheet of newspaper to me and said:
"Swamiji, do you know this Swami? He recently held a demon-
stration of Samadhi. He buried himself underground, in a box
for full forty-two days, and came out only on the 43rd day, after
the lid of the box was opened. All this happened in the presence
of the Collector, Professors of University, Doctors and others."
I personally had not seen a newspaper these two decades. But
the matter was so interesting as to grip the mind of any intelli-
gent thinker or even of a scientist. I then looked into the face of
the inquirer and said: "Well, it is no true Samadhi. It is only Jada
Samadhi; the Sadhu must have come to know of some Himala-
yan herb and must have tested its effect on him on many a previ-
ous occasion. For Samadhi is not a state to be demonstrated and
cannot be demonstrated also. Men who have purified their
hearts, men who are extremely devoted to God alone, can enter
into that highest state of Yoga and such persons do not demon-
strate it before the public." But the co-traveller did not seem to
lose his curiosity.
At another time, some aspirant hetd out before me a noted
weekly of India and pointed out to me the picture of a South In-
dian who demonstrated Samadhi for about 24 hours or so by
burying himself underground.
I desire to write about another humorous instance of a
youngster who came to me for Sadhana. One day he closed all
the doors of his Kutir, sat inside in an ordinary Asana, and went
on doing Trataka, concentration and meditation on Lord
Narayana's picture. His breath. automatically passed up the
lower cavities of the lungs and the Sadhaka was seen sitting like
a log of wood for 24 hours. His absence at the Ashram kitchen

and in the premises created some suspicion and the Ashramites
thought it wise to break open the door of his Kutir when all
other methods to open the doors failed and no amount of shout-
ing could wake him up from the sleep. On opening the door he
was found sitting with slight movement of breath about the nos-
trils, his eyelids flickering now and then, his glottis moving up
and down every few seconds. No amount of noise or shouting
could wake up the youngster and his whole body looked be-
numbed except for the above signs of life. I then suggested to
one of the Ashramites to press the bridge between the eyebrows
a little down so that his concentration might be lowered. This
has its desired effect. The breathing became regular, the subject
opened his eyes and like a Rip Van Winkle he glanced at all the
comers of the room. In his daily activities, I could hardly find
even a tinge of Satchitananda aspect either in his talk or in his
ways, or in his manners. This instance, I am forced to quote
here, to make the reader understand that this youngster too can
start such demonstrations for a few hours by getting himself
buried in a box.
Sometimes the man enters into a cataleptic stage, a state of
suspended animation during which all the normal indications of
life are suspended. The unconscious body is laid down on the
sharp edges of two scythe blades, one at his shoulders and the
other beneath his ankles. Then a large block of stone weighing
more than a hundredweight is placed ontop of him and pounded
to pieces with a sledge hammer. When the body is removed
there is no sign of a cut or bruise. Sometimes affows are struck
through his body just above the heart until they protrude at the
opposite side. His throat is pierced with a knife and his chest is
pierced by a dagger. When the weapons are withdrawn there is
no sign of a wound. He is able to make the wounds bleed or stop
bleeding at will. Such amazing feats may cause wonder in the
spectators. But such feats have nothing to do with real Yoga. It
is not a sign or indication that the Yogi has reached the highest
SAMADHI OR THE STATE OF SUPER CONSCIOUSNESS I2I
peak of perfection or realisation. A real Yogi can do such mar-

vellous feats, but generally pseudo Yogins perform such feats
through jugglery. A real Yogi will never come forward to
demonstrate such feats in public.
At one time some Sannyasins in Varanasi took into their
mind to test a Yogi. They had heard of him as one who had been
into Samadhi and knowing the Sastras themselves that the
knower of Brahman knows everything, they went to test him.
The Yogi rightly stood the test. The Sannyasins asked him to
show the way of making a shoe. The Yogin showed them the
method of stitching by biting the thread etc., and rightly demon-
strated the way of a shoemaker. It should be remembered here
that the Yogin was not a shoemaker himself in his Purvashrama
nor can it be said that he had observed the method of repairing a
shoe so minutely. They asked him "What is the taste of faecal
matter"? He replied "It tastes like onion." Then they took a herb
from the forest and asked him its name, use, etc. He at once gave
them a right answer. These instances I would not have quoted
here but to prove that one who has truly entered into Samadhi
has the knowledge of all subjects and that too in detail. He
knows all-languages and can talk in any language. He under-
stands any language. He knows all sciences. That is the reason
why in the Upanishads it is said "Kasminnu bhagavo vijanate
sarvamidam vijnatam bhavati"-what is that O Bhagavan
which being known all this becomes known? He should also
know the past, present and the future for he has transcended the
three states and the fourth state-the Turiya-also he has seen.
Samadhi is the highest fruit of Yoga. Through self-purifi-
cation, through eradication of all evil habits and Samskaras,
through the cultivation of good and virtuous qualities, through
the practice of Yama and Niyama, Asanas, regulated
Pranayama,Prutyahara, Dharana and Dhyana resembling the
steady flame of the candle, a pious Sadhaka tries to have a
glimpse of Samadhi which, through repeated attempts, becomes
a daily occurrence to him and then he gradually begins to feel
t22 SPIRITUAL EXPEzuENCES
an inner joy to devote the early morning hours to drink its am-
brosial sweetness and then comes down to the common plane to
do his normal duties. When he thus advances he prolongs his
life too with it. And when he feels that he has lived enough on
this plane, he desires himsetf to enter into it once for all never to
return back to the living abode of mortals. His breath gets stuck
into the nerves of the brain (Brahmarandhra) and the body be-
comes completely lifeless. Left to itself the body gradually de-
cays. That is why it is the usual custon in some parts of the
country to strike the head of a Sannyasin with coconut and
break the skull before the body is buried in a mausoleum. For it
is commonly believed and a fact too that Sannyasins practise
Samadhi and their final passing away is termed as entering into
Maha Samadhi or Highest Samadhi.
The reader must bear in mind that Samadhi is the culmina-
tion point in the spiritual quest of man. Just as the wealth of the
mines of Golconda cannot be assessed, the spiritual wealth of
this supreme state too cannot be assessed by anybody. It is a
state by entering which daily the fortunate Sadhaka tries to get
into it more and more. It is the Akshaya state-the state of
deathlessness.
Prasnottari on Samadhi
Query
"To have good meditation or contact with the inner world,
if you are obliged to go into Samadhi, then your normal con-
sciousness will remain always the same without changing. In
other words, people who have the higher consciousness only in
deep meditation, once they come out of it, are not worth more
than what they were before."
I do not kno.w what ydu think of this statement.
I had all along believed, and even now believe that Sam-
adhi and contact with the higher reaches of consciousness do af-
fect naturally and influence the whole of our consciousness,
outer as well as inner, and a personality does not continue to be

the same after it has contact with its own higher consciousness
either in deep meditation or in Samadhi.
This statement seems to run counter to this opinion.
If deep meditation and Samadhi do not by themselves
bring about a change for the better in the ordinary and general
consciousness of a person, it means there is no self-transcen-
dence during these experiences but only self-forgetfulness, as in
sleep or while under the influence of narcotic drugs. I am in-
clined to believe that while self.forgetfulness is mechanical and
therefore brings us back to the same condition from which we
went into self-forgetfulness, meditation and Samadhi take us
beyond ourselves to higher reaches ofconsciousness and there-
fore to self-transcendence and they do bring about by them-
selves some changes for the better in the personality.
I would very much like you to enlighten me on this point.
Answer
Such doubts and conflicting notions as have been put
down are really due to a somewhat loose and generalised use of
the term 'Samadhi'. Even in Yoga treatises this word Samadhi
is at times used in two distinct ways.
When specially used in the highest sense of the term, Sam-
adhi implies the serene state of transcendental superconscious-
ness wherein the sage has the Experience Absolute. When used
in a lower generalised.sense, the term Samadhi implies either a
definite period of continuous unbroken deep meditation, or the
total absorption of one's consciousness in the Lakshya or the
object meditated upon. Thus, when this object is any one of the
inner Chakras (other than Sahasrara), or any one of the lower
categories or Tattva (other than Atman), then the ensuing Sam-
adhi is not necessarily the high superconscious state of
self-transcendence. Certainly, even this is not mere self-forget-
fulness or sleep, yet nonetheless, these Samadhis are not the
same as the Experience Absolute. For instance, in the commen-
t24 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
tari on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika you have a specific time cal-
culation by which a unit of Samadhi is reckoned. If the
meditator keeps up an unbroken flow of deep meditation to that
extent, then he is referred to as having experienced Samadhi.
Used in this sense, it does not imply the attainment of
Atma-Jnana or Aparoksha Anubhuti which alone can make a
man a transformed being.
The above will make it quite clear to you the reason forthe
confusion that arises in this connection. A Yogi or Sadhaka who
goes into deep meditation, even to the stage of Samadhi, as per
the lower calculation just described, does not really have
Atma-Sakshatkara. In such a case, one may not find a complete
transformation of his entire consciousness but when the Yogi
(through constant repeated practice of Dharana, Dhyana and
Samadhi) pierces the veil of Maya or Avarana and attains the
stupendous experience of sublime Atmic consciousness, then it
is a mistake to say that the "normal consciousness will remain
always the same without changing." The Yogi who has reached
the highest experience in deep Samadhi is no more the same
man he was before. He returns forth an illumined being. Of
course, he may not act in any specially peculiar or extraordinary
manner. But, nonetheless, there will certainly be a subtle
change, a definite ffansformation of his total normal conscious-
ness. This may not be immediately sensed by all and sundry
who come into contact with him. But, nevertheless, this change
for the better in the ordinary and general consciousness of the
person is definitely there.
Used in the highest sense, Samadhi is neither self-forget-
fulness nor sleep. It is a powerful state of transcendental
Self-Awareness. One who comes down from it may live and
move about in the same ordinary way as before and there may
not be any strikingly perceptible change in his extraordinary life
and behaviour to the casual beholder. But all the same, the
change in his consciousness is undeniably there. What to say of
mere change; there will be positive transformation in the

personality.
QuerY
Samadhi is of not much use unless the person concemed
uses it for the purpose of the progress of his outer conscious-
ness. It is like a Ganga-bather who is quite all right when bath-
ing but his old and dirty clothes await him on the shore.
Is this the state of things?
Answer
'Samadhi is not of much use' in the absence of progress in
the outer consciousness as well is correct only with reference to
lower types of Samadhi and the Jada-avastha ofthe Hatha Yogi.
Here the Yogi has not yet attained the highest Brahma Jnana or
Supreme Kaivalya. But the opinion is incorrect if applied with
reference to the highest Advaita Nirvikalpa or Nirbija
Asamprajnata Samadhi. One who is established in this becomes
a transfigured being. Both his inner and outer consciousness are
exalted. With the attainment of the highest Nirvikalpa Samadhi,
there is progress simultaneously in the outer consciousness
also. This is the state of a Jivanmukta, who is in Sahaja Avastha.
Gold remains gold even if it is wrapped up in a rag. The per-
fected consciousness of a sage even when he comes down into
the field of normal activity, remains unaltered and unsullied. It
is not affected. Entering into'and engaging in normal Vyavahara
of Jagrat Avastha cannot in the least bit affect such a sage
established in Sahaja Avastha.
The attainment of Samadhi is never futile or without use.
The greatest benefit that an individual can bestow upon man-
kind is to attain Self-realisation and spiritual perfection. By this
he contributes in a tangible and a most vital and substantial
manner to the evolution of the total consciousness of human
race upon earth. This is the Truth.
There is, however, a view held by some that the active out-
ward manifestation (for the benefit of the vast mankind) of this
exalted inward superconsciousness is essential if this lofty ar
tainment, i.e., Samadhi, is considered to be of any real use. This
is a question of points of view. Kindly note, however, that when
a sage becomes established in Samadhi, progress of his outer
consciousness also automatically follows this attainment. The
inward perfection cannot but express itself as a distinct ffansfor-
mation in the outer consciousness also. Later, a stage is reached
when the inner and the outer consciousness partake of the very
same quality with hardly any difference between the two. This
is the state of Sahaja Samadhi.
The illustration of the Ganga-bather and his return to the
bank does not seem to be quite so appropriate. Rather, the expe-
rience is to be likened unto the contact of a piece of iron with the
philosopher's stone. The result is essential and enduring. How-
ever, certain traits of the Yogi's normal human personality may
still be present in him during the ordinary intercourse with men,
but certainly none of these will everbe such as would contradict
in the slightest degree the sublime quality of his spiritual
experience.
This exalted state of superconsciousness is a matter for ac-
tual personal experience. This is the true aim in life. Perfect
Yairagya and intense spiritual Sadhana alone can lead to Reali-
sation.
Chapter Five
SOME YOGIC EXPERIENCES

Experiences of a Yogi
When the fivefold quality of Yoga, arising from earth, wa-
ter, fire, air and ether, has been produced, then the Yogi is en-
dowed with body made strong by the fire of Yoga and so he will
not be affected by disease, old age and death.
The quality of each element, i.e., smell of earth, taste of
water, sound of ether, form of fire, touch of air, is the Yogaguna.
By fixing the mind on the tip of the nose the Yogi experiences
divine supersensuous smell (Divya Gandha). By fixing the
mind on the tip of the tongue, he experiences divine taste; by
fixing the mind on the forepart of palate, he experiences divine
taste; by fixing the mind on the palate, he experiences divine
colour; by fixing the mind on the middle of the tongue, a divine
touch, a divine sound. The mind is steadied by means of these
divine experiences because it is not attracted by the external
objects.
The Yogi obtains an adamantine body (Vajrakaya)
through the practice of Pranayama, concentration and Yogic
Kriyas. He can keep it as long as he likes. Yogi Changdev of
Maharashtra kept his body for 1400 years.
Four Classes of Yogins

There are four classes of Yogins. (1) Prathamakalpika-
He is just a beginner or a neophyte. The light is just appearing.
He has not attained any Siddhis. He is just practising Savitarka
Samadhi. (2) Madhu Bhumika-One who has entered
Nirvitarka Samadhi and who has attained Ritambhara Prajna
(intuition). This stage is also called Madhumati, because it
(r27)
brings such knowledge as gives satisfaction, just as honey does.

(3) Prajna Jyotis-The Yogi who has attained mastery over the
elements and senses. This Yogi cannot be moved or tempted by
the invitations of celestial beings even. He has attained the stage
of Madhu-Pratika; (4) Atikranta-bhavaniya-This Yogi has at-
tained the Bhumikas (stages of Visoka and Samskara-sesha).
He has attained Kaivalya or full independence.
The Raja Yogi can get all Siddhis without Samyama by
Pratibha only (by spontaneous illumination through purity).
Prasankhyanam is the highest illumination through Viveka
Khyati or fulI discrimination between Purusha and Prakriti.
Siddhis cause positive hindrance to wisdom or the attain-
ment of Self-realisation. They deter and obstruct the aspirant in
his march towards the goal. They do not produce perfect non-at-
tachment. That is the reason why Patanjali Maharshi, the author
of Raja Yoga, again and again says that the Yogic student
should kill the desire for acquiring Siddhis. If he runs towards
Siddhis, he will be caught in a big maze andit will be almost im-
possible for him to get out of the maze. He will misuse the
power and get a hopeless fall.
The mind should be perfectly purified. Then only the ves-
sel or the mechanism will be fit to receive the descent of the Di-
vine Light. It should be sufficiently strong to bear the pressure
of a sudden expansion of consciousness or cosmic-vision which
is above the mind and which covers the whole existence in one
sweep of his new exalted magnanimous experience. Therefore
wait patiently if there is delay in the descent ofthe Divine Light'
Grow in purity and strength.
Somapana (Amrita Srava)

Soma means moon in Sanskrit. Drinking of the nectar
which comes from the moon is called Soma Pana. Somajuice or
cooling nectar is situated in the lower portion of the skull at the
root of the palate. The taste of this juice is very palatable and
SOME YOGIC EXPERIENCES 129
various juices are produced during the practice. One gets new
sensations. First, one experiences a saltish taste, then alkaline,
then bitter, then astringent. With further practices he gets the
taste of butter, milk, ghee, curds, honey, palm juice and lastly
the taste of nectar. The last one has got a taste which one cannot
express in words as there is nothing to compare with the things
of the world. So it is called Nectar. This nectar is tasted by keep-
ing the tongue in the root of the soft palate. To get maximum
benefit one should try to lengthen the tongue by milking it daily.
Then it is folded and kept at the root of the palate with concen-
trated mind and restraining the breath. This is called 'Nabho
Mudra.' When the tongue enters the hole in the palate, great
heat is caused in the body. The effect of this is to make the am-
brosial stream flow from the root of the palate. This juice is also
known as Amara Varuni.
It is said in "Hatha Yoga Pradeepika" 45th Sloka in the
third Chapter the benefit of the drinking of Soma Juice.
"Those Yogins whose body is filled with nectar daily,
flowing from the moon which is situated at the root of the pal-
ate, even the poison of the serpent Takshaka does not spread
throughout his body." The poison cannot affect his system.
"Just like the fire does not go out so long as there is fire-
wood, and the light of the lamp does not go so long as there is oil
and wick, so also the Jiva remains in the body as long as it is viv-
ified by the rays of the moon." (Sloka 46) H.P. m.
"The Yogi who, with upturned face or through the practice
of Viparita Karani Mudra and closing the hole of the palate by
twisting the tongue backwards, meditates upon the Sakti
(Kundalini) and drinks the nectar of the moon in the head which
flows into the sixteen-petalled lotus situated in the throat
(Visuddha Chakra) becomes freed from all diseases, and lives
long with a body soft and beautiful as the fibres of a lotus-stem.
The moon is situated in the root of the palate and nectar
which flows from the moon is dried up by the sun which is situ-
ated in the navel. For checking this, Viparita Karani Mudra is

practised.
Viparita Karani Mudra is just like Sarvangasana. The dif-
ference between Sarvangasana and Viparita Karani is, in
Sarvangasana the chin is pressed with chest and body is straight
from the neck onward and in Viparita Karani pressure is not
given at the neck. Place the head on the ground and raise the
legs up. Keep the hands spread on the ground and remain
steady. This is called Viparita Karani which prevents the nectar
being dried up in the solar plexus situated in the navel-
Both the Nabho Mudra and Viparita Karani are very easy
to practise. Viparita Karani is not practised in the evening.
Yogi Drinks Nectar

Agnimandal, the region of the fire, is below the navel; the
Suryamandal, the region of the Sun, is in and above the heart;
the Chandramandal, the region of the moon, is in and above the
head.
Amritam or nectar oozes out in large quantities from the
Chandramandal, the brain of the Yogi. The Yogi assimilates it
in his system and keeps alive almost infinitely without partak-
ing of any other food or drink.
The nectar that flows from the Chandramandal in the head
is consumed by the fire in the Agnimandal in the navel. By prac-
tising Sarvangasana and Viparita Karani Mudra the nectar
nourishes the whole system. One attains long life. Agnimandal
is turned upwards now. The fire cannot consume the nectar.
Experices of a Bhakta
The flame of divine love burns in the heart of the thirsting
devotee day and night. The devotee never cares for his food and
drink. He is emaciated. He pines away from the separation of
the Lord. He does not sleep at night. He does not know when the
Lord will give Darshan. So he keeps vigil the whole night. He
SOME YOGIC EXPERIENCES l3l
does not care for the sarcastic remarks of the world. He pours
forth his love on the Lord.
Sometimes the devotee feels the acute pang of separation
from the Lord. He feels as if he is roasted in a hot pan over the
furnace. Immediately the divine nectar dribbles. Then he feels
as if he has taken a plunge in the cool waters of the Ganga.
The devotee cannot bear the separation from the Lord even
for a second. A second appears to him as one year. When there
is this feeling his eyes become vacant and face becomes blank.
There is a buming sensation in the heart. The devotee is restless.
He sheds profuse tears. Then his thirst is quenched a bit.
The relish of permanent joy that characterises the divine
ecstatic state when the devotee feels the presence of God is
known as Rasa. Bhava is the main basis of Rasa. It is the bliss
potency of the Lord Himsetf. It lies in a subtle, unmanifested
state within the individual soul. Vibhava is the cause or exten-
sion of Rasa. Anubhava is the effect of Rasa. Stupefaction,
horripilation and the like which constitute the Sattvic Bhava are
the specific effects of Rasa.
The nature and essence ofBhava are Pure Chitta. The mind
of the devotee is reduced to a state of pure Chitta owing to the
constant practice of devotion. The eight Sattvic Bhavas are
Stambha (paralysis), Sveda (perspiration), Romancha
(honipilation), Svarabhanga (hoarseness of the voice), Vepathu
(trembling), Vaivamya (change of colour), Ashru (tears), and
Pralaya (loss of consciousness).
lnner Voice
Einstein said that he would still his mind and listen to the
inner voice, and would hear the inner answer. The listening is
not tenseness but relaxation. It is a passivity, a state akin to
sleep, and yet you are far from being sleepy. The conscious
mind is partially submerged. Effort is reduced to a minimum. It
is a controlled and a disciplined state of mind. A11 great musi-
cians such as Mozart and others listened to the inner voice. Em-
erson says in his writings that all his works were created from
the outset and all that he did was to still his mind on the Holy
Presence, thinking of God, and listening to the voice of the
Spirit and then thoughts came into his mind, and he wrote them
down. He refers to this procedure as listening to the "primal
warblings."
State of SPiritual lllumination

The real nature of Brahma-Jnana or superconciousness re-
mains a mystery until one experiences it.
Illumination is Nirvikalpa Samadhi or union of the indi-
vidual soul with the Supreme Soul.
Illumination is cosmic consciousness or Christ Conscious-
ness or Nirvana or Beatific.
It is most difficult to explain this state of illumination in
definite and precise words because language is finite and imper-
fect.
In this exalted state the senses and the mind cease func-
tioning.
The Yogi will have to experience it directly through intu-
ition and Samadhi.
He who has no fear of death is fit for illumination.
He alone can attain the Superconscious state.
The Yogi who wants to enter into Samadhi must have a
sharp, subtle and one-pointed intellect, good physique, good
health, discrimination, dispassion, serenity and burning yeam-
ing for liberation.
The seeker who dedicates his life to the attainment of Su-
preme Knowledge should practise the fourfold Sadhana.
Meditative life is a journey over the unknown path which
is as strait and narrow as arazor. There is no other light but that
SOME YOGIC EXPERIENCES 133
of faith to guide the seeker, no sustenance but devotion, Guru's

Grace and Grace of the Lord.
The track cannot be seen, going is uncertain, and pitfalls
await the unwary. The seeker must travel in the dark. He must
not cry for a torch-light to grope in the gloom, or seek the
flash-light of reason. He must go steadily forward in the hope of
reaching a great illumination, which awaits him at the journey's
end. It is a way of life. It cannot be comprehended but it can be
realised.
It is difflcult to attain the Superconscious state. It may
come in a minute or six months for a first-class type of aspirant.
It may take years or even lives. M/ desperandun. March for-
ward, Adhyatmic hero!
Through the fourfold discipline, the seeker after Truth de-
velops an austere detachment towards the empirical world.
He who has attained illumination or superconsciousness is
absolutely free from all sorts of fear. He is born anew. He is
completely transformed into a godman. He has double con-
sciousness. He rests in Brahman. He beholds the world within
himself and works for the solidarity of the world.
A of illumined state has a changed outlook. There is
sage
nothing outside for him. He beholds the entire universe within
himself. The cosmic sense or the eye of wisdom is awakened in
him.
He who is illumined becomes speechless. He is unable to
explain his experience. Through silence he clears the doubts of
people.
A sage never loses consciousness of Atman, whatever his
physical personality may be engaged in. A small remnant of
Avidya or ignorance carries on the functions of body and mind,
but the sage or knower does not identify himself with it, and it
soon withers away like a tree that has lost its roots.
In his mere presence people feel that they are in the pres-
ence of a godman, a divine personality, without his speaking a
word. His face is angelic. It radiates brilliance, joy and peace.
His eyes are lustrous. His speech is sweet and inspiring.
The wise man (illumined sage) has neither wealth nor
property. He has neither bungalows nor cars; yet he attracts the
whole world through his wisdom and spiritual power. He is a
marvellous spiritual magnet. His spiritual wealth is inexhaust-
ible. Glory to such a wise man of superconsciousness.
Chapter Six
KUNDALINI SAKTI
Prayer to Mother Kundalini
Wake up Mother Kundalini.
Those whose nature is Bliss Eternal-The Bliss of Brahman.
Thou dwelling like a serpent asleep at the lotus of Muladhara.
Sure affected and distressed am I in body and mind,
Do Thou bless me and leave Thy place at the basic lotus.
Consort of Siva, the Self-caused Lord of Universe.
Do Thou take Thy upward course through the central canal.
Leaving behind Svadhishthana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha,
And Ajna, be Thou united with Siva, Thy Lord the God.
At Sahasrara-the thousand-petalled lotus in the brain.
Sport there freely, O Mother, Giver of Bliss Supreme.
Mother, who are Existence, Knowledge, Bliss Absolute.
Wake up, Mother Kundalini, Wake up.
Experiences on Awakening of Kundalini
During meditation you behold divine visions, experience
divine smell, divine taste, divine touch, hear divine Anahata
sounds. You receive instructions from God. These indicate that
the Kundalini Sakti has been awakened. When there is throb-
bing in Muladhara, when hair stands on its root, when
Uddiyana, Jalandhara and Mulabandha come involuntarily,
know that Kundalini has awakened.
When the breath stops without any effort, when Kevala
Kumbhaka comes by itself without any exertion, know that
Kundalini Sakti has become active. When you feel currents of
Prana rising up to the Sahasrara, when you experience bliss,
when you repeat Om automatically, when there are no thoughts
(135)
of the world in the mind, know that Kundalini Sakti has

awakened.
When in your meditation the eyes become fixed on Trikuti,
the middle of the eyebrows, when the Sambhavi Mudra oper-
ates, know that Kundalini has become active. When you feel vi-
brations of Prana in different parts inside your body, when you
experience jerks like the shocks of electricity, know that
Kundalini has become active. During meditation when you feel
as if there is no body, when your eyelids become closed and do
not open in spite of your exertion, when electric-like currents
flow up and down the nerves, know that Krrndalini has
awakened.
When you meditate, when you get inspiration and insight,
when nature unfolds its secrets to you, all doubts disappear, you
understand clearly the meaning of the Vedic texts, know that
Kundalini has become active. When your body becomes light
like air, when you have a balanced mind in perturbed condition,
when you possess inexhaustible energy for work, know that
Kundalini has become active.
When you get divine intoxication, when you develop
power of oration, know that Kundalini has awakened. When
you involuntarily perform different Asanas or poses of Yoga
without the least pain or fatigue, know that Kundalini has be-
come active. When you compose beautiful sublime hymns and
poetry involuntarily, know that Kundalini has become active.
The Gradational Ascent of the Mind

The Chakras are centres of Sakti as vital force. In other
words, these are centres of Pranasakti manifested by Pranavayu
in the living body, the presiding Devatas of which are the names
for the Universal Consciousness as It manifests in the form of
these centres. The Chakras are not perceptible to the gross
senses. Even if they were perceptible in the living body which
KUNDALINI SAKTI 137
they help to organise, they disappear with the disintegration of

organism at death.
Purity of mind leads to perfection in Yoga. Regulate your
conduct when you deal with others. Have no feeling ofjealousy
towards others. Be compassionate. Do not hate sinners. Be kind
to all. Success in Yoga will be rapid if you put your maximum
energy in your Yogic practice. You must have a keen longing
for liberation and intense Vairagya also. You must be sincere
and earnest. Intent and constant meditation is necessary for
entering into Samadhi.
The mind of a worldly man with base desires and passions
moves in the Muladhara and Svadhishthana Chakas or centres
situated near the anus and the reproductive organ respectively.
If one's mind becomes purified the mind rises to the
Manipura Chakra or the centre in the navel and experiences
some power and Joy.
If the mind becomes more purified, it rises to the Anahata
Chakra or centre in the heart, experiences bliss and visualises
the effulgent form of the Ishta Devata or the tutelary deity.
When the mind gets highly purified, when meditation and
devotion become intense and profound, the mind rises to
Visuddha Chakra or the centre in the throat, and experiences
more and more powers and bliss. Even when the mind has
reached this centre, there is a possibility for it to come down to
the lower centres.
When the Yogi reaches the Ajna Chaka or the centre be-
tween the eyebrows he attains Samadhi and realises the su-
preme Self or Brahman. There is a slight sense of separateness
between the devotee and Brahman.
If he reaches the spiritual centre in the brain, the Sahasrara
Chakra, the thousand-petalled lotus, the Yogi attains Nirvikalpa
Samadhi or superconscious state. He becomes one with the
non-dual Brahman. All sense of separateness dissolves. This is
the highest plane of consciousness or supreme Asamprajnata

Samadhi. Kundalini unites with Siva.
The Yogi may come down to the centre in the throat to
give instructions to the students and do good to others
(Lokasangraha).
Chapter Seven
PSYCHIC POWERS
Siddhis or Occult Powers
The Yogi becomes the master of all forces in Nature and

can utilise them at will. He has perfect control over the ele-
ments.
Jnanins through the power of Satsankalpa can do whatever
they like with their physical bodies.
The Yogi directly beholds through his Yogic inner eye the
Samskaras of his disciples and knows their weaknesses and de-
fects and prescribes the right kind of Sadhana for their quick
eradication. A Jnani also can do this. Whatever a Yogi can do
through his Yogic Samyama or simultaneous Dharana, Dhyana
and Samadhi, can be done by a Jnani through his power of
Satsankalpa.
Exhibition of Siddhis is no criterion for measuring one's
height of spirituality. He who exhibits Siddhi for selfish ends, is
a big worldly man. He will soon have his downfall. Sometimes
a Yogi may exhibit a miracle to his student just to convince him
of the existence of supersensual things and to encourage him in
the spiritual path.
It is stated that the Yogi attains the eight Siddhis,viz.,
Anima, Mahima, etc., and perfection of body by the practice of
meditation.
Eight Major Psychic Powers

An accomplished Purna Yogi is in possession of eight ma-
jor Siddhis, viz., Anima, Mahima, Laghima, Garima, Prapti,
Prakamya, Vashitvam and Ishatvam.
(13e)
I. Anima: The Yogi can become as minute as he pleases.

2. Mahima: This is the opposite of Anima. He can become
as big as he likes. He can make his body assume a very large
size. He can fill up the whole universe. He can assume a Virat
Svarupa.
3. Laghima.' He can make his body as light as cotton or
feather. Vayustambhana is done through this Siddhi. In
Jalastambhana also this power is exercised to a very small de-
gree. The body is rendered light by Plavini Pranayama. The
Yogi produces a diminution of his specific gravity by swallow-
ing large draughts of air. The Yogi travels in the sky with the
help of this Siddhi. He cantravel thousands ofmiles in aminute.
4. Garima: This is the opposite of Laghima. In this Yoga
he acquires an increase of specific gravity. He can make the
body as heavy as a mountain by swallowing draughts of air.
5. Prapti: The Yogi standing on the earth can touch the
highest thing. He can touch the sun or the moon or the sky.
Through this Siddhi the Yogi attains his desired objects and su-
pernatural powers. He acquires the power of predicting future
events, the power of clairvoyance, clairaudience, telepathy,
thought-reading, etc. He can understand the languages of the
beasts and birds. He can understand unknown languages also.
He can cure all diseases.
6. Prakamya.'He can dive into the water and can come out
at any time he likes. The late Trilinga Swami of Varanasi used
to live for six months underneath the Ganga. It is the process by
which the Yogi makes himself invisible sometimes. By some
writers it is defined to be the power of entering the body of an-
other (Parakaya Pravesha). Sri Sankara entered the body ofRaja
Amara of Varanasi. Tirumular in Southern India entered the
body of a shepherd. Raja Vikramaditya also did this. It is also
the power of keeping a youthlike appearance for any length of
time. Raja Yayaati had this power.
PSYCHIC POWERS t4t
7. Vashinam: This is the power of taming wild animals

and bringing them under control. It is the power of mesmerising
persons by the exercise of will and of making them obedient to
one's own wishes and orders. It is the restraint of passions and
emotions. It is the power to bring men, women and the elements
under subjection.
S.lshatvam; It is the attainment of divine power. The Yogi
becomes the Lord of the universe. The Yogi who has this power
can restore life to the dead. Kabir, Tulasi Das, Akalkot Swami
and others had this power of bringing back life to the dead.
Other Psychic Powers
The Yogi acquires the following minor psychic powers:

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst.
2. Freedom from the effects ofheat and cold.
3. Freedom from Raga-Dvesha.
4. Doora-darshan or clairvoyance or Doora-drishti.
5. Doora-sravana, clairaudience or Doora-sruti and
Doora-pravachana.
6. Manojaya, control of mind.
7. Kama-rupa. The Yogi can take any form he likes.
8. Parakaya Pravesh. He can enter into another body, can
animate a dead body and enter into it by transferring his soul'
9. Iccha Mrityu. Death at his will.
10. Devanam Saha Kreeda and Darshan. Playing with the
Devas after seeing them.
1 1. Yatha Sankalpa. Can get whatever he likes.
12. Trikaala Jnana. Knowledge of past, present and fu-

ture.
13. Advandva. Beyond the pairs of the opposites.
14. Vak Siddhi. Whatever the Yogi predicts will come to
pass by the practice ofSatya, prophecy.
15. The Yogi can tum base metals into gold.

16. Kaya Vyuha. Taking u, -uny bodies as the yogi likes
to exhaust all his Karmas in one life.
17. Darduri Siddhi. The jumping power of a frog.
18. Patala Siddhi. The Yogi becomes the Lord of desires,
destroys sorrows and diseases.
19. He gets knowledge of his past life.
20. He gets knowledge of the cluster of stars and planets.
21. He gets the power of perceiving the Siddhis.
22. He gets mastery of the elements (Bhuta Jaya) and
mastery of Prana (Prana Jaya).
23. Kamachari. He can move to any place he likes.
24. He gets omnipotence and omniscience.
25. Yayu Siddhi. The Yogi rises in the air; leaves the
ground.
26. He can point out the place where a hidden treasure
lies.
Levitation or Vayu Siddhi

Numerous aspirants are drawn towards the practice of
Yoga, specially Hatha Yoga or Kundalini Yoga, by the thought
of the extraordinary powers they are likely to acquire through it.
The idea of possessing such powers seems to exercise a strange
fascination on very many young people both of the East and the
West. An earnest and diligent practice of Yoga with the rigid
discipline and perseverance, no doubt, brings in its wake un-
usual powers and apparently strange experiences, but these
Siddhis, minor or major, it must be remembered, do not consti-
tute the essential and true Yoga in the deepest sense of the term.
They are not to be taken for the goal. But rather they are the in-
dicators of the stage reached. They are indicators of the prog-
PSYCHIC POWERS r43
ress the practitioner has made. They serve to give him his
bearings even as milestones show to the raveller where he is.
Levitation is an experience the Yogi comes to h4ve when
he begins to attain perfection in Pranayama. When the Prana be-
gins to move in the central Nadi or the Sushumna, levitation oc-
curs. Levitation happens when the Yogi has succeeded in
retaining the Pranic energy within the Sushumna, which is situ-
ated in the spinal column. In the beginning, the Pranic energy
may just enter and leave the Sushumna. It does not remain there.
However, through the combined operation of Pranayama,
Mudra, Bandha and will-power, the Yogi gradually forces the
energy to remain within the Sushumna. The practitioner makes
use of auto-suggestion also in this process. When he succeeds in
thus retaining the Prana in the Sushumna, then the body leaves
the ground and rises in the air. The Yoga texts mention the three
stages through which the practitioner passes in attaining levita-
tion. As he progresses in Pranayama, he first experiences pro-
fuse perspiration of the body. Next, he attains a state when there
is experience of tremors in the body. This is specially felt along
the course of the spine. When the third stage is reached, the
body leaves the ground and moves in the air.
The first inkling that the practitioner gets as he nears this
stage is the peculiar sensation of rising from the ground. This
sensation he feels even when actually he is still on the ground.
When the Prana is forcibly retained through will-power, strong
imagination, auto-suggestion, as well as Pranayama with
Bandha, the retained Prana begins to rise upward. Then, to-
gether with the peculiar feeling the Yogi actually leaves and
rises from the ground
Levitation is brought about by combination of several fac-
tors. The main factor is the extraordinary lightness attained by
the body when the Prana enters the Sushumna and is confined
therein. This extreme lightness is actually felt by the Yogi. He
feels like a feather. His lightness makes him rise from the
ground. Secondly, at this stage of the Pranayama, the Kundalini

is activated. The upward surge of the Kundalini Sakti propels
along with it the body, which in its extremely lightened condi-
tion, offers very little resistance. A third factor is the powerful
radiation which is set up from the Kundalini at the Muladhara
Centre. These forceful radiations which take place at this time
due to the awakened Kundalini being powerfully stimulated by
the Pranic energy go out in all directions. The direct downward
radiations hit the earth as it were and have the effect of giving an
upward push to the Yogi's body. These radiations are invisible
but tangible to the experience of the practitioner. Their action is
felt to be somewhat similar to the backward kick that the explo-
sive charge in a rocket gives and which pushes the rocket up
forcibly. The radiations act in such an effective mannerparticu-
larly due to the fact that the body is rendered almost weightless
at this stage. The weightless condition of the body, combined
with the upward propulsion of the Kundalini together with the
push of its radiations-all result in its overcoming the operation
of gravity.
For attaining Vayu Siddhi one should be a wholetimed
practitioner of Pranayama. He should practise 3 times daily
Anuloma Viloma Pranayama 40 rounds in each sitting regularly
without break, for several months or years. This will purifu the
Nadis and make it easier for the Prana to move within the cen-
tral canal or Sushumna. Then with the further practice of
Bhastrika together with the Bandhas raises the Prana in the
Sushumna. Again through the concentration and Bandhas the
movement of Prana is restricted in the Sushumna.
During the practice one should live on milk and fruits or a
kind of rice and milk diet only. The practitioner should avoid
too much walking, or pilgrimage or too much exertion of any
kind, too much sleeping, eating Rajasic and Tamasic types of
foods, basking in the sun, sitting near the fire, taking cold bath
and fasting completely. Strict Brahmacharya should be
maintained.
PSYCHIC POWERS 145
When Vayu Siddhi is attained, the practitioner has reached

the stage of Pratyahara.
Instructions from a practical guide are always necessary
even though the guide may not be near the student. In the ab-
sence of a practical guide or when one cannot get in touch with
his master, he should pray to God or his Guru for enlightenment
and removing obstacles.
Faith in the Yoga.Sastras and Guru is very essential. Oth-
erwise, when one cannot find the required results, he leaves off
Yoga stating it to be humbug.
Patience and perseverance are the next important points
for success in Yoga. One should lead a life of purity and dedi-
cate his entire actions to the Lord.
Kaya Sampat
By the process of Hatha Yoga, the Yogi attains a perfect

physical body-Rupalavanga bala vajrasamhanana kaya
sampot. "The perfection of the body consists in beauty, grace,
strength and adamantine hardness." The power to bear extreme
cold and heat (Titiksha), the power to live without water and
food and otherpowers come under the category of Kaya Sampat
(perfection ofbody).
Since the body of the Hatha Yogi is perfect and firm, his
mind also is firm and one-pointed. By the practice of Dharana
and Dhyana, he reaches the highest rung in the Yogic ladder and
attains Immortality through Yogic Samadhi. The Yogi who has
reached the highest stage will have all kinds of occult powers.
Gomments on Some Occult Phenomena

Queries
(1) There was very recently an English lady,70 years old,
here in Ranchi. She had taken Sannyasa hom that sect which
takes the title of Puri at the end of new names that are given at
the time of Sannyasa.
Her name is... She was subject to some visions etc., when
she was in England. She came over to India on the eve of the
Second World War on a caution that came to her (that England
would be in danger) in a half-dream-vision-like thing. After
coming here she took Sannyasa.
With her was staying a person who was a poker in his oc-
cupation before coming here. He too was an Englishman but he
was subject to trances. Whenever there was a sitting, if ques-
tions were asked of him, he would always give replies highly
philosophical and spiritual in character. While replies were be-
ing given, they were taken down verbatim by the Sannyasini.
Since the replies were brief or not very long, she herself wrote
down explanations and comments. The whole thing has devel-
oped into something like 80 pages of this kind of question and
reply. She says that what she calls 'Brothers' speak through
him. Much of what he says during those trances is Upanishadic
thought very well and clearly put, though briefly.
(2) As late as a month and a half before, I was in Bombay.
There was a person called Sri.... When requested by a friend of
mine there, I wrote down three questions on a piece of paper,
rolled it up and just let down on a half sheet which was spread.
He was sitting just in front of us. He did not touch either the half
sheet or the piece that I had rolled and thrown on it. Within
about 10 to 15 minutes, without moving from where he was or
doing anything out of the way, hc wrote down on another slip of
paper all the three questions exactly word to word as I had writ-
ten them, and also the replies. He did the same with another set
of questions which my friend wrote down and presented in a
similar manner.
(3) There was another gentleman who was a villager and
did not know anything of modem education. When questions
were asked, he would fix his gaze a little and would look very
much absent-minded and immediately give replies as if he had
seen them vividly. The questions need not be clear at all but to
PSYCHIC POWERS 147
those vague questions he would give concrete replies which

would tally exactly with the details of the questions which were
in our mind.
I hope that you may be able to shed some light on these
phenomena.
Answers
Such phenomena are not very unusual with Yogins and
Bhaktas who are living a life of spiritual Sadhana and Yoga.
These have been witnessed by different people in almost all
countries at various times, past as well as present. But they are
not common among all such people, if you mean by that term
(common) the general majority of persons engaged in spiritual
life.
They are occult phenomena and they have not much to do
with real spiritual illumination and Realisation. The presence of
such phenomena does not necessarily indicate that the persons
concerned possess spiritual Realisation. But, of course, it is
quite possible that such occult phenomena may accompany in-
ward Realisation as well. There is nothing to prevent a spiritu-
ally illumined being possessing or even demonstrating such
mysterious or'miraculous' things. However, most spiritual per-
sons choose not to manifest these occult processes, for definite
reasons of their own.
(1) From what I have stated above just now, you may be
able to draw your own conclusions regarding the Sannyasini
and her friend. It is quite possible that this old Swamiji might
have practised Yoga in the previous Janma and thus born with
her inherent psychic faculties awakened and active since child-
hood. Spirit communication is not spiritual Realisation.
Thought-forms issuing from the higher astral plane can be
highly philosophical and subtle. Of course, replies and instruc-
tions given by means of such occult phenomenon are not, all of
them, absolutely useless. There may be much in them that is
useful to people in general and to seekers as well. Sometimes
such utterances do issue from the trance-person's own subcon-

scious depths, where this knowledge, previously acquired, lies
embedded as hidden Samskaras.
(2) The phenomenon recently witnessed by you in Bom-
bay is just thought-transference or thought reading. It is simple
telepathy. This is common.
(3) From the brief reference made in the case of the village
gentleman, it seems to me to be something in the nature of either
Mantra Siddhi or successful Upasana of some Devata. In South
India, particularly in the West Coast region, cases of such
Upasana and Siddhi have been frequently noted. In the particu-
lar case, the venerable person is either a person of some spiritual
attainment or one who has acquired this occult Siddhi as a result
of some peculiar Upasana or Mantra Siddhi. In such cases the
replies are usually prompted by the Upasya-devata. Sometimes
the Devata speaks through the person. Here however, such
communication does not require a trance-condition of the per-
son. It occurs even when the person is in normal condition. Just
a little concentration may be done (as noted by) to invoke the re-
ply. Perhaps the person might request for perfect silence on the
part of those near about him. That is all.
There is a vast range of multiple-varied stages and stages
of experience in between the gross, body-bound, ignorance-rid-
den worldly man and the fully illumined perfected sage of tran-
scendental knowledge. Not a few of these intervening states
tend to draw away the unknowing seeker from his quest. Know-
ing them to be what they are, reverencing all, the humble seeker
extremely vigilant and intent upon his quest should ceaselessly
endeavour to reach the Truth.
Samyama Leads to Occult Powers

The three (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi) together con-
stitute Samyama.
PSYCHIC POWERS 149
The three are more internal than Yama, Niyama, Asana,

Pranayama and Pratyahara.
Even that (Samyama) is external to the seedless Samadhi.
By the conquest of Samyama comes the stage of cognition.
By Samyama on the sun comes the knowledge of the
worlds.
By Samyama on the moon comes the knowledge of the re-
gions of stars.
By Samyama on the pole star, comes the knowledge of the
movements of the stars.
By Samyama on the strength of elephants and others, co-
mes their strength.
By Samyama on the form of the body, the power of com-
prehension being checked, and the connection between the eye
and light being severed, comes the disappearance of the body.
By Samyama on the signs (of others) comes the knowledge
of their minds.
By Samyama on a small point of time comes the
discriminative knowledge.
By Samyama on the relation ofthe ear and ether, comes the
divine hearing.
By Samyama on the relation between ether and body, to
the Yogi attaining the lightness of cotton, comes the power of
the passage through ether (air).
By Samyama on the three modifications of mind, comes
the knowledge of the past and future.
By Samyama and direct perception of the Samskaras (im-
pressions of mind) comes the knowledge of the previous birth.
By Samyama on the power of cognition the essential own
nature, egoism, qualities and purposefulness or condition of
senses, comes the mastery over senses (organs).
Then comes to the body the power of quick movement like

the mind and perception with the Indriyas (senses) and mastery
over nature.
By acquiring mastery over Udana Vuyo, the Yogi will not
have any contact with water, mud, thoms and others, and can
die at will.
By mastery over Samana Vayu, comes effulgence.
By Samyama on friendliness and other virtues comes the
power to transmit the same to others.
By Samyama on the distinctive relation between Sattva
(Purity) and Purusha (the Soul) comes the powers of omnipo-
tence and omniscience.
By Samyama on (the distinctions of) the word, meaning
and knowledge which are confused wittr one another and appear
as one because of similarity, comes the knowledge of the
sounds of all living beings.
Karma (work) is of tvro kinds, viz., those that are to be
fructified and those that will bring fruits slowly (at a later date).
By Samyama over these or by portents, the Yogi gets the
knowledge of (the time of) his death.
By Samyama on the Chakra (plexus) or navel, comes the
knowledge of the body.
By Samyama on the Chakra at the pit of the throat, comes
the removal of hunger and thirst.
By Samyama on the light of the head, comes the Darshan
of Siddhas.
By Samyama on the heart, comes the knowledge of the
mind.
By Samyama on the Kurma Nadi, comes the steadiness of
the body.
By Samyama on the inner light (of the heart) comes the
knowledge of the subtle, the obscured and the remote.
PSYCHIC POWERS l5l
Experience comes from the absence of discrimination be-

tween Saffva and Purusha that are absolutely distinct from each
other. This (enjoyment) being for another (Purusha) knowledge
of Purusha comes by Samyama on himself.
From that (Samyama) arises the knowledge of
clairaudience, higher taste and higher smell through intuition.
By the power of intuition comes the knowledge of all
knowledge.
The mind (of a Yogi) enters another body by relaxation of
the cause of bondage and by the knowledge of the method of
passing.
By Samyama on the gross form, substantive nature, subtle
form, qualities and purposefulness of the elements comes mas-
tery over the elements.
From that comes the attainment of the (eight major)
Siddhis, Anima, etc., and the perfection of body and non-ob-
struction of their functions.
The perfection of body is (when it has) beauty, graceful-
ness, strength and adamantine hardness.
These Siddhis are obstacles in attaining Samadhi, but they
are for the outgoing mind.
By giving up even these (Siddhis) comes the desffuction of
the seed of bondage which brings Kaivalya (independence).
The Yogi should give up attachment and smile or happi-
ness when the celestial beings invite as there are again the pos-
sibilities of contacting with undesirables'
Chopter Eight
SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS

Song of Spiritual Progress
Cheerfulness, contentment, calmness,
Dispassion, detachment, fearlessness,
Equanimity, fi xity, non-irritability,
Serenity, tranquillity, unpqrturbability;
Santi, Santosh, silence,
Peace, poise, perfection;
Nishtha Bhava, Maha Bhava, Prema,
Horripilation, tears, tremor, Svara-bhanga;
Anahata sounds, lights, visions,
Ecstasy, rapture, joy;
Ritambhara, Madhumati, Prajna, Jyotis,
Inspiration, illumination, revelation,
Intoxication, insight, intuition;
These are the signs of Kundalini awakening,
These are the marks of spiritual progress.
These are the spiritual experiences.
Main Characteristics of Progress in Sadhana

More and more dispassion and discrimination
More and more yearning for liberation
Peace, cheerfulness, contentment
Fearlessness, unruffled state of mind
Lustre in the eyes, good smell from the body
Beautiful complexion, sweet, powerful voice
Passing of little urine and excretion
Wonderful health, vim, vigour and vitality
Freedom from disease, laziness and depression.
Lightness of body, alertness of mind
(rs2)
SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS 153
Powerful Jatharagni or digestive fire

Eagerness to sit and meditate for long time
Aversion to worldly talks and company of worldlings
Feeling of presence of God everywhere
Love for all creatures
Feeling that all forms are of the Lord
That the world is Lord Himself
Absence of Ghrina or dislike to any creature
Even to those who despise and insult you
Strength of mind to bear insult and injury
To meet dangers and calamities
Are some of the preliminary spiritual experiences
These indicate that you are steadily advancing
In the spiritual path.
You will have a healthy body and mind.
The excretions will be scanty.
The voice will be sweet.
The face will be brilliant.
The eyes will be lustrous.
You will be ever calm, tranquil and poised.
You will be ever cheerful, fearless and contented.
You will be dispassionate and discriminative.
There will be no attraction for the world.
Things that used to upset you before
Will not upset you now.
You will have Antarmukha Vritti, introversion.
You will have an unruffled mind.
Things that were used to give you pleasure
Produce disgust or a reverse effect now.
You will have a one-pointed, sharp, subtle mind
You will be longing to have more meditation.
You will experience lights, visions, Divya Gandha, Divya taste.
The idea that all forms are forms of the Lord
Will get stronger and stronger in you.
You will feel everywhere the presence of God.
You will experience the neamess of God.
You will have a very steady Asana.

You will develop a burning desire for selfless service.
Other lmportant Characteristics

Peace, cheerfulness, contentment, dispassion, fearless-
ness, unperturbed state of mind under all conditions, indicate
that you are advancing in the spiritual path.
Spiritual progress is not measured by Siddhis or powers
but only by the depth of your bliss in meditation.
These are the sure tests of your spiritual progress.
Is your interest in inner spiritual activity and outer
Sadhana increasing day after day?
Does spiritual life mean to your consciousness a matter of
great delight, a delight for transcending the happiness that the
world of vital pleasures affords you or offers you?
Have your personal awareness come to a possession of a
sense of peace and strength which men who are not aspirants do
not find in their everyday lives?
Do you feel certain that your power of discrimination and
light of thought have been steadily growing?
Is your life being gradually led to such experiences which
reveal to you the operation of a will and intelligence other than
your own, the will and intelligence of the Omnipresent Lord?
Has there come into the conscious activities of your every-
day life, the active function of a new delightful angle of vision, a
new perspective, a strong sense of self-possession, steadily
growing conviction of your dependence upon and intimate rela-
tion with the all-pervading Divinity? If your answers to all these
questions or to any one of them are in the affirmative, be abso-
lutely sure that you are progressing, and progressing speedily in
the spirifual path.
More and more dispassion and discrimination, more and
more yearning for liberation, peace, cheerfulness, contentment,
fearlessness, unruffled state of mind indicate that you are

steadily advancing in the spiritual path.
Spiritual progress is indicated by lustre in the eyes, good
smell from the body, beautiful complexion, sweet, powerful
voice, passing of little urine and excretion, wonderful health,
vim, vigour and vitality, freedom from diseases, laziness and
depression, lightness of body, alertness of mind, powerful di-
gestive fire, eagerness to sit and meditate for a long time.
There will be aversion for worldly company. There will be
love for all beings, feeling that all forms are of the Lord. There
will be absence of dislike for any creature, even to those who
despise and insult.
There will be strength of mind to meet dangers and calami-
ties, to bear insult and injury.
Signs of Progress in the Path of Meditation

Brahman, Self, Purusha, Chaitanya, Consciousness, God,
Atman, Immortality, Freedom, Perfection, Peace, Bliss, Bhuma
or the Unconditioned, are synonymous terms. If you attain
Self-realisation alone, you willbe freed from the round ofbirths
and deaths and its concomitant evils. The goal of life is the at-
tainment of final beatitude or Moksha. Moksha can be attained
by constant meditation with a heart that is rendered pure and
steady by selfless service, Japa, etc.
Meditation is the only real royal road to the attainment of
salvation. Meditation kills all pains, sufferings and sorrows.
Meditation destroys all causes of sorrow. Meditation gives vi-
sion of unity. Meditation induces sense of oneness. Meditation
is a baloon or a parachute or an aeroplane that helps the aspirant
to soar high into the realms of eternal bliss, everlasting peace
and undying joy.
Reality or Brahman can be realised by man. Many have at-
tained Self-realisation. Many have enjoyed the Nirvikalpa Sam-
adhi. Sankara, Dattatreya, Mansoor, Shams Tabriez, Jesus,
r56 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Buddha-were all realised souls who had direct perception of

the Truth or Cosmic vision or Aparokshanubhuti. But one who
has known cannot communicate it to others for want of means.
Even the knowledge acquired by the five senses which are com-
mon to all cannot be communicated to others. You cannot tell
the taste of sugar-candy to a man who has never tasted it. You
cannot communicate the idea of colour to one born blind. All
that the teacher can do is to tell his disciple the method of know-
ing the truth or the path that leads to the unfoldment of
intuitional faculty.
These are the signs that indicate that you are growing in
meditation and approaching God. You will have no attraction
for the world. The sensual objects will no longer tempt you.
You will become desireless, fearless, 'I'-less and 'mine'-less.
Deha-adhyasa or attachment to the body will gradually dwin-
dle. You will not entertain the ideas, "She is my wife; he is my
son; this is my house." You will feel that all are manifestations
of the Lord. You will behold God in every object.
The body and mind will become light. You will always be
cheerful and happy. The name of the Lord will always be on
your lips. The mind will be ever fixed at the lotus-feet of the
Lord. The mind will be ever producing the image of the Lord. It
will be ever seeing the picture of the Lord. You will actually
feel that Sattva or purity, light, bliss, knowledge and Prema are
ever flowing from the Lord to you and filling up your heart.
You will have no body-consciousness. Even if there be
body-consciousness, it will be in the form of a Samskara or a
mental retention. A drunkard may not have full consciousness
that he has a cloth round his body. He may feel that something is
loosely hanging from his body. Even so, you will have a feeling
of the body. You will feel that something is sticking to you like
a loose cloth or loose shoes.
You will have no attraction for the sex. You will have no
sex-idea. Women will appear to you as manifestations of the
Lord. Money and gold will appear to you as pieces of stone.

You will have immense love for all creatures. You will be abso-
lutely free from lust, greed, anger, jealousy, pride, delusion, etc.
You will have peace of mind even when people insult you, beat
you and persecute you. The reason why you are not perturbed is
that you get immense spiritual strength from the Indweller or
the Lord. Pain or pleasure, success or failure, honour or dishon-
our, respect or disrespect, gain or loss, are alike for you.
Even in dreams, you are in communion with the Lord. You
will not behold any worldly pictures.
You will converse with the Lord in the beginning. You
will see Him in physical form. When your consciousness be-
comes cosmic, conversation will stop. You will enjoy the lan-
guage of the silence i.e. the language of the heart. From
Vaikhari (vocal speech) you will pass on to Madhyama,
Pasyanti and Para (subtle forms of sounds) and eventually you
will rest in soundless Omkara or soundless Brahman.
Dispassion, discrimination, serenity, self-restraint,
one-pointedness of mind, Ahimsa, Satyam, purity, forbearance,
fortitude, patience, forgiveness, absence of anger, spirit of ser-
vice, sacrifice, love for all, will be your habitual qualities. You
will be a cosmic friend and benefactor.
During meditation you will have no idea of time. You will
not hear any sounds. You will have no idea of the environments.
You will forget your name and all sorts of relationship with oth-
ers. You will enjoy perfect peace and bliss. Gradually you will
rest in Samadhi.
Samadhi is an indescribable state. It is beyond the reach of
mind and speech. In Samadhi or the superconscious state, the
meditator loses his individuality and becomes identical with the
Supreme Self. He becomes an embodiment of bliss, peace and
knowledge. So much only can be said. You have to experience
this yourself through constant meditation.
Contentment, unruffled state of mind, cheerfulnesS, p&-

tience, decrease in the excretions, sweet voice, eagerness and
steadiness in the practice of meditation, disgust for worldly
prosperity or success and company, desire to remain alone in a
quiet room or in seclusion, desire for association with Sadhus
and Sannyasins, Ekagrata or one-pointedness of mind are some
of the signs which indicate that you are growing in purity, that
you are progressing in the spiritual path.
You will hear various kinds of Anahata sounds of a bell, a
kettle-drum, thunder, conch, Veena or flute, the humming of a
bee, etc., during meditation. The mind can be fixed in any of
these sounds. This also will lead to Samadhi. You will behold
various kinds of colours and lights during meditation. This is
not the goal. You will have to merge the mind in that which is
the source for these lights and colours.
A student in the path of Vedanta ignores these sounds and
lights. He meditates on the significance of the Mantra of the
Upanishad by negating all forms. "The sun does not shine there,
nor do the moon and the stars, nor does this lightning shine and
much less this fire. When He shines everything shines after
Him; by His light all these shine." He meditates also like this:
"The air does not blow there. The fire does not burn there. There
is neither sound nor touch, neither smell nor colour, neither
mind nor Prana in that homogeneous essence," "Asabda,
Asparsa, Arupa, Agandha, Aprana, Amana, Atindriya,
Adrishya-Chidanandarupah Sivoham, Sivoham. I am blissful
Siva. I am blissful Siva."
An Anecdote on Spiritual Experience
Sri Thakur Singhji, I.C.S., Commissioner of the Kumaon

Division, accompanied by the District Magistrates of six Dis-
tricts of the U.P., including Tehri-Garhwal, Dehra Dun,
Lansdowne and Nainital, had come on a brief visit. On arrival
all the officers and their families were entertained to tea. Some
of them expressed their desire to visit the Gita Bhavan

and
Paramartha Niketan; but the Commissioner alone peferred to
enjoy Sri Swamiji's company.
"I
came here specially to meet you and talk to you,
Swamiji, on the various spiritual problems I have," said Sri
Thakur Singhji, "and that is why I have declined to go with
them." Then he had a long conversation with Swamiji on vari-
ous spiritual matters like spiritual experiences, man's foremost
duty, etc., the gist of which is given below:
"In all matters with which it is connected, Swamiji, sci-
ence gives us a precise account of how a particular thing is con-
structed and how it grows: we are also given the successive
signs that mark the growth. Are there in the practice of Yoga,
Swamiji, any definite indications to measure the aspirant' s
progress-some experiences, for instance, he would have after,
say, three months ofpractice, others which he would experience
after a year, and so on?" asked Sri Thakur Singhji.
"Various Yogas give various experiences," replied
Swamiji. "The practice of Pranayama and Hatha Yogic Kriyas,
for instance, would give a graded series of psychic experiences.
Seeing all kinds of ethereal lights and hearing certain Anahata
sounds belong to this category. Here the sages who have pro-
pounded these Yogas have given very definite stages of spiri-
tual experience, As the Kundalini passes from Chakra to
Chakra, the Yogi has certain definite, verifiable, experiences.
That is because each Chakra governs some particular Tattva
and its mastery, therefore, gives specific experiences.
"Similarly in Tantrik Sadhana also, they have been able to
give a definite chart of spiritual experiences. Each Sadhana has
its own particular Siddhi and, therefore, the experiences of all
Sadhakas following that particular Sadhana are invariably the
same.
"But these are all lower experiences of an inferior type.
They are psychic experiences which need not necessarily de-
note the aspirant's spiritual progress. Even the Bhakta's experl-

ences of honipilation, shedding of tears, etc., though they are
not so perfectly graded as those ofthe Hatha Yogic experiences,
do not necessarily indicate spiritual progress.
When you enter the domain of the Spirit, you come into the
sphere of the Infinite. Infinite are the Yogas and infinite are the
experiences, too. Each man's Yoga is his own. For he has
brought his own Samskaras and Vasanas and he strives in his
own way to reach the Goal. These two interacting on each other,
give him various experiences. For instance, as he approaches
the transcendental, infinite, immortal Self, the aspirant would
enjoy great inner peace and indescribable happiness. He is not
easily affected by what goes on around him. Not only this, he is
able to radiate peace and happiness to all those who come into
contact with him. He becomes GOOD and radiates goodness.
This is the most important sign of spiritual progress. God is Per-
fect Goodness. The aspirant who progresses towards the reali-
sation of God, therefore, grows in goodness. His evil qualities
slowly vanish and are replaced by sublime virtues. If this most
essential element is not there, then all other visions and sounds
are practically useless. By his mere presence the advanced Yogi
is able to inspire people to lead a good life, free from hatred and
malice. His heart is filled with cosmic love and, therefore, he
serves all spontaneously and selflessly. These are all real signs
of spiritual progress.
"But, beyond all these is the ultimate experience. That is
indescribable. Peace and happiness, undisturbed tranquillity of
mind-these are all great signs of progress, but they do not con-
stitute the Goal. The Goal is to become God. You must become
one with God. This is achieved through ceaseless practice of
meditation, after establishing oneself in Virtue and Goodness.
That supreme experience when the Yogi feels he is one with
God, no words can describe."
SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS 16I
Sri Thakur Singhji described some instances which proved

that he had a natural power of intuition. Swamiji said, "That is
good. It shows you had practised Yoga in your previous birth
and achieved very good progress."
Chapter Nine
EXPERIENCES OF THE JNANA YOGI

Phases of Experience in Jnana Yoga
The student of Jnana Yoga destroys all thoughts of objects.
He annihilates darkness through his discrimination. Then a ra-
diant light appears before him.
He experiences dizziness.
Then he comes across void-Akasa.
Then Moha (delusion) manifests. The Jnana Yogi dispels
this Moha through enquiry or Vichara.
Passing thus through the stages of darkness, light, sleep
and Moha, the sage at last reaches the stage of Nirvikalpa Sam-
adhi. He now enjoys Absolute Quiescence. He attains real
Jnana. He becomes the ocean of eternal Jnana and the all-per-
vading Absolute Consciousness.
He is drowned in an ocean of nectar. He enjoys the eternal
bliss, where the seer alone exists without the visible objects.
His mind becomes of the nature of Jnana. It becomes
Chit-Consciousness itself. Being divested of all visions of ob-
jects, it contains Consciousness proper, like an ocean in an ordi-
nary equilibrated stage without the disturbance of waves.
The sage freed from all attraction towards objects, be-
comes of the nature of wisdom pervading everywhere. He
reaches that Jnana state which is above all and in which nothing
but Truth exists and becomes the ocean of eternal Jnana and the
all-pervading Absolute Consciousness.
The Hamsa sports itself in the permanent pool of spiritual
bliss. The sage enjoys himself in his own Atman or Self.
(t62)
EXPERIENCES OF THE JNANA YOGI 163
Four Types of Jnanins
There are four types of Jnanins, viz., Brahma Vid, Vara,

Variyan and Varishtha, according to the degree of Sattvic ego
present in the Jivanmukta.
Brahmavid, Brahmavid-Vara, Brahmavid-Variyan and
Brahmavid-varishtha are the four types of Jnanins. Brahmavid
is one who is in the fourth Bhumika (Sattvapatti)
Brahmavid-Vara is in the fifth Bhumika (Asamsakti),
Brahmavid-Variyan is in the sixth Bhumika (padartha
Bhavana), Brahmavid-Varishtha is in the seventh Bhumika
(Turiya). Brahmavid-Varishtha is always absorbed in Samadhi.
He has to be fed forcibly. He is a videhamukta. He will not be
able to do any activity for Loka Sangraha (well-being of the
world). Jada Bharata,Iate Mouni Swami of Kumbakonam,late
Akalkot Swami (Maharashtra) were all Brahmavid-Varishthas.
They had no body-consciousness. A Vid or a Vara has very
slight consciousness of the body in the form of a mental
retentum or Samskara. A Vid and a Vara can work in the world.
Some people imitate the state of an Avadhuta and throw away
the clothes. A real Avadhuta is absolutely nude. As he is always
established in Brahman, he forgets the body and surroundings
and the cloth drops by itselfjust as the cloth drops in the case of
a drunkard. One must be careful in judging.
Seven Stages ofJnana

The seven stages of Jnana are Subhechcha, Vicharana,
Tanumanasi, Sattvapatti, Asamsakti, padartha-Bhavana
Turiya.
(l) Subhechcha: When one feels that he is in ignorance
and sincerely wishes to acquire spiritual knowledge he is in
Subhechcha.
(2) Vichara: When one is convinced of the worthlessness
of the world and deeply ponders over the method of destroying
ignorance and attaining spiritual knowledge, he is said to be in

Vicharana.
(3) Tanumanasi: When the mind becomes thin like a
thread due to distaste for objects of the world and is intensely
engrossed in the contemplation of the Soul, he is in
Tanumanasi.
(4) Sattvapatti: When the mind becomes pure (Sattvic)
and is established in the Self due to prolonged contemplation,
he is said to be in SattvaPatti.
(5)Asamsakti:Whenonebecomescompletelydetached
from tlre objective world due to the knowledge of the Self, he is
in Asamsakti.
(6) Padartha Bhavana: When one realises that things of
the world are not really material things but only the One Brah-
man, he is said to be in Padartha-Bhavana.
(:7) Turiya: when one completely negates the manifold
distinciions of the world and realiies the Undivided (Akhanda),
One Essence (Ekarasa), Satchidananda (Existence-Knowl-
edge-Bliss) he is said to be in Turiya. This state of Turiya is
called the state of Jivanmukti or liberation, while-in-life.
The keen desire which rises in one to get Moksha or enjoy
the Bliss of the Self through Vairagya or indifference to sensual
enjoyments, study of Atma-Jnana Sastras and associations with
the knowers of Brahman is Subhechcha or the first state. The as-
pirant who is endowed with the four means of salvation, hears
ihe Srutis and the significance of "Tat Tvam Asi" Mahavakyaat
the feet of a Guru, and then reflects deeply on what he has heard.
This is Vicharana or the second state. By practice of the two
stages, the mind is concentrated on Brahman at his will. The
mind is rendered then like a thread. Brahmakara Vritti is gener-
ated. This is the third stage called Tanumanasi. All desires are
eradicated now by the practice of the above three processes.
Tattva Jnana is developed. The mind is filled with purity or
Sattva. This is the fourth Bhumika called sattvapatti. The mind
EXPERIENCES OF THE JNANA YOGI l6s
melts in Brahman gradually. In the fifth stage or Asamsakti he

has no connection with the objects and their Samskaras and
Sankalpas. Then comes the sixth stage, Padartha-Bhavana. All
perceptions of objects external and internal are lost (Abhava
Pratiti). The Jnani, if at all he has any perception of objects, has
it only through sheer compulsion of others. The seventh stage is
Turiya. The Jnani is drowned in the Atmic Bliss. He has com-
pletely got rid of all conceptions of heterogeneity. There is no
Triputi now either external or intemal.
One who functions in the first three Bhumikas is called a
Mumukshu. One who functions in the fourth Bhumika is called
a Brahmavid. One who functions in the fifth Bhumika is called a
Brahmavidvara. One who functions in the sixth Bhumika is
called a Brahmavidvariyan. One who functions in the seventh
Bhumika is called a Brahmavidvarishtha.
Vama Deva, Jada Bharata, Akalkot Swami (Maharashtra),
late Kumbakonam Mauni Swami are all Brahmavidvariyans
and Brahmavidvarishthas. They were perfect Avadhutas. Food
had to be thrust inside by force. They were absolutely uncon-
scious of the body and the surroundings. They could not work
for the Lokasangraha (for the well-being of the world) as Sri
Sankara did. A Jnani of the fourth and fifth Bhumikas only can
work in the world. Sri Sankara, Raja Janaka come under this
class. A Jnani from the sixth and seventh Bhumikas will have to
come down to fourth and fifth Bhumikas if he desires to uplift
the world.
A Jnani of absolute seventh Bhumika who has not even a
bit of body-consciousness cannot live for more than 14 days
(from 2 or 3 to 14 days). The body will drop down within these
14 days. Western psychologists put it down as seven days.
One School of thought says that knowledge of Brahman
dawns in the fourth Bhumika. Another school of thought says
that the real highest knowledge of Brahman can be had only in
the seventh Bhumika and the fourth, fifth and sixth are stages
only. According to the degree of annihilation of Vasanas these

different stages are termed different names.
In Turiya there is double consciousness. The Jnani identi-
fies himself with the Brahman but he is conscious of his Sakshi
state also for Jagrat, Svapna and Sushupti Avasthas. In
Turiyatita, the Sakshi Bhava vanishes. The Jnani is enthroned in
pure Nirvikalpa. There is Absolute Abhava of the world, exter-
nal and internal and everything.
Some term Turiyatita people as Videhamuktas- Some say
that Videhamukti canbe had only when the Jnani throws offhis
physical body. It is not correct. Videhamukti can be had while
one is alive. Janaka was called a Videha (one without a body).
Vama Deva, Jada Bharata and Dattatreya were all
Videhamuktas, while they were living. In Videhamukti the
Jnani is unconscious of his body. Hence it is termed
Videhamukti.
Isvara also has double consciousness. Only during Cosmic
Pralaya,He has pure Nirvikalpa consciousness. To pass on into
the seventh Bhumika, the Jnani has to give up his Lokasangraha
activities of all sorts.
People who do a little of Tapas, and have Yaitagya,
Titiksha and control of the physical body and its movements
(Kashtha Mauna) are mistaken for Sapta-Bhumika Jnani (a sage
of the seventh stage). A Jnani of the seventh Bhumika is very,
very rare. The above Tapasvin may show the external signs of a
Jnani. It is simply an induced mechanical state through change
of habits. He may have established new habits. He may sit in
one place. He may not look at anybody. He may have a steady
fixed gaze by the practice of Trataka. He may not show any
preference for food. He may roll on hot sand. He may lie down
on ice. These are all physical Titiksha practices only. They have
nothing to do with Jnana. Jnana is pure internal, Anubhava
state. The Tapasvin with Titiksha may not have an internal
Brahma-vichara state. You will have to be very, very careful in

your judgment.
You must be a pure man. You must live with a Jnani for a
long time. You must be in his company constantly. you must
know his antecedence in detail, his previous life and conduct,
his Sastric studies, his life of Tapas, his Guru, etc. Then only
you can draw a safe and right conclusion. A Shakespeare can
know a Shakespeare. A Jnani only can know a Jnani. This test-
ing business of a Jnani is a very difficult one.
Double-consciousness of a Jivanmukta
The Jivanmukta is a liberated sage. He is freed from the

trammels of birth and death. He is emancipated white living. He
has cut off all bonds of egoism, lust, anger, greed, selfishness,
pride, likes, dislikes, exhilaration and depression. He has su-
preme knowledge of Brahman. He is free from all doubts. He
has nothing more to be known or attained.
The Jivanmukta has double consciousness. He may be ab-
sorbed in Samadhi or he may work like an ordinary man for the
good of the world. Internally he has the Bhava or mental atti-
tude, "I am a witness (Sakshi), I am non-doer (Akarta), I am
non-enjoyer (Abhokta)," and thus he may be engaged for
Lokasangraha or for implementing the cosmic will, as a de-
tached agent. The world appears to him, like a mirage. He en-
joys the sense-objects offered by others like a child. They do not
taint him for his consciousness is rooted in Brahman. He be-
holds this world like one seen in a dream.
The Jivanmukta is like the man who is sitting on the wall.
On one side is the conditioned existence in the awareness of the
world. On the other side is the unconditioned awareness-whole
which is found only in the state of Self-realisation. A man sit-
ting on one side of the world cannot see what is there on the
other side. A worldly man cannot have the knowledge of Brah-
man. Likewise, a Videhamukta, whose individuality is abso-
lutely merged in Brahman, cannot have the awareness of the

world, which is non-existent to him. If his body is to be main-
tained, it has to be fed and cared for by others. The
Videhamukta is thus not in a position to engage himself for the
good of the world.
The double-consciousness of the Jivanmukta places him in
a unique position, tike the man on the wall, to be aware of both
the spheres of consciousness. His realisation of Brahman is irre-
vocable. He cannot be shaken from his supreme consciousness.
Yet, for the good of humanity, he engages a part of his con-
sciousness to function in the worldly sphere. Lord Krishna is an
ideal example who possessed double consciousness.
Samadhi Jnani and VYavahara Jnani

A Jnani is one who has knowledge of the unity of Self. He
who has Vyavahara-apeksha (desire for Vyavahara, worldly ac-
tivities) and works in the world is a Vyavahara-Jnani. This de-
sire for works is due to his Prarabdha. He uses his body and
mind as his instruments just as a carpenteruses his tools. He has
also Triputi but sees the whole world within himself. He sees
nothing outside, just as you do. He sees through His Divya
Drishti or Jnana Chakshus, and not through the physical eyes. It
is very difficult for a worldly man with practical Buddhi to men-
tally visualise how aJnani sees the physical universe while he is
working. The impression produced in the water with a stick is
not so deep and lasting as an impression made with the same
stick in loose earth. Similar is the case with these two types of
Jnanins. In Vyavahara Jnani, the impression ofNirvikalpa Sam-
adhi or Brahmakara Vritti Sthiti is not so lasting, deep and con-
tinuous as that of a Samadhi Jnani. In the former it is like that of
an impression in water. In the latter it is like that of an impres-
sion in the earth. It is deep and continuous like Tailadhara
(steady flow of oil).
EXPERIENCES OF THE JNANA YOGI t69
A Vyavahara Jnani knows that this is Vishtha (faecal mat-

ter) this a Chandana (sandal paste); this is a fool, this is an intel-
ligent man; this is an Adhikari, this is an Anadhikari; this is
success, this is failure; this is a rogue, this is an honest man. But
he is not affected in his feelings. He is neither exalted when he
gets success nor depressed when he fails. He neither loves an
honest man nor hates the rogue. In this sense, he has Sama
Drishti (equal vision).
A Vyavahara Jnani will experience pain when his finger is
cut, but a Samadhi Jnani will not experience pain even a bit
even when his leg is amputated. The case of Shams Tabriez of
Mooltan of late would serve as an example to justify the truth of
the above statement. When he was skinned out, he laughed and
uttered "Analhaq, Analhaq" (Analhaq means 'I am He' and cor-
responds to Hindu 'Soham').
A Vyavahara Jnani sees names and forms but a Samadhi
Jnani withdraws himself from the universe and does not see
names and forms at all.
Knowledge is the same in these two types of Jnanins. But
the Samadhi Jnani enjoys more Ananda than the Vyavahara
Jnani.
Samadhi Jnani is one who is ever absorbed in Brahman. He
does not see names and forms. The world has entirely vanished
for him. He is quite unable to work. He is a Muzub. He is a
Paramahamsa. Late Akalkot Swami of Maharashtra, late
Kumbakonam Mouni Swami (who remained for 25 years in an
Advaita Samadhi state), Jada Bharata, Sri Dattatreya were all
Samadhi Jnanins. They all belonged to sixth
(Padartha-bhavana) and seventh (Turiya) Jnana Bhumikas.
Late Akalkot Swami and Mauni Swami of Kumbakonam were
unconscious of the movement of the bowels and the Sevakas
(attendants) had to wash their bottoms. Janaka and Sri Sankara
were Vyavahara Jnanins. Those who are in the fourth
(Sattvapatti) and the fifth (Asamsakti) Jnana Bhumikas (stages

of Jnana) only can work.
The description given of a Jnani in Bhagavad Gita and var-
ious other books is quite inadequate, incomplete and imperfect.
His state can never be described by the finite speech. His state
can never be imagined by the limited mind. He shines in his
own pristine glory.
When you put a drop of blood under the microscope and
examine it carefully, you are struck with wonder. You see mil-
lions of red blood corpuscles, white cells, leucocytes, Iympho-
cytes, nuclei, pigments, etc.
Similarly, a Jnani with the help of the powerful lens, eye of
Atman (Divya Chakshus) sees the whole world with all details
of creations. He sees the astral body, causal body with its
Samskaras, the Pranic aura, psychic aura, magnetic aura, etc., of
a man. Food has to be thrust forcibly in the case of Samadhi
Jnani. Samadhi Jnani is either a Brahmavid-Variyan or a
Brahmavid-Varishtha. A Vyavahara Jnani is a Brahmavid and
Brahmavid-Vara.
When you are in a closed room and when you look outside
through a small hole in the door, your vision is very, very lim-
ited. You can see a few trees, one or two meR, a portion of sky,
etc. But when you come out you can have a wide range of vi-
sion. Similarly, when you see with the physical eyes, the vision
is very limited. A Jnani sees the whole world within himself (as
part andparcel of his own Self) through the cosmic eye, through
the eye of Atman.
The Sage's Experience

I am ever free. I alone am. I am taintless,
spaceless, time-
less. The world appears like a mirage within me.
I am infinite, imperishable, self-luminous, self-existent,
self-contained. I know neither pleasure, nor pain, neither joy
nor sorrow, neither happiness nor misery.
EXPERIENCES OF THE JNANA YOGI I7I
I am beginningless. I am endless. I am decayless. I am

birthless. I am deathless.
Never was I born. I am ever free. I am perfect. I am pure. I
am independent.
I am tranquil. I am Pure Knowledge, transcendent. I am
above good and evil, virtue and vice.
I am one. I go nowhere. I come from nowhere. I abide in
myself. I pervade the entire universe. I am all-permeating and
interpenetrating.
I am Absolute. I am non-dual. I am pure Wisdom. I am
pure Consciousness.
I am the limitless, infinite ocean of consciousness. The
wind of mind produces the waves of worlds.
I am Atman, impersonal and all-pervading. I am Atman,
the Self of all beings. I am the Substratum, support, source for
everything.
I am the nectar which is Knowledge Absolute. I am beyond
the reach of the mind, the intellect and the senses.
I am unattached (Asanga).I am not the doer (Akarta). I am
not the agent. I am not the enjoyer (Abhokta). I am the silent
Witness (Sakshi).
Free from subject and object am I, Satchidananda Brah-
man am I.
The one, the taintless, transcendental Truth am I. Ever sta-
ble, peaceful, immovable, immutable, inwlnerable,
unperturbable Truth am I.
The nectar of Immortality am I. The immortality-giving
knowledge am I. Ever-blissful Siva am I.
I am the taintless Nirvana. I am Turiya, the fourth stage of
consciousness. I am Be-ness.
I am Freedom Absolute. I am Supreme Peace Transcen-
dental. I am Supreme Silence Stupendous.
.There is neither space nor time in me. I am Infinity. I am

Eternity.
First.I abandoned desires, then attachment. Now I abide in
Supreme Peace.
I do not mix much. I do not move. I meditate. Now I abide
in eternal peace.
I controlled the senses and the mind. I cultivated
dispassion. Now I abide in everlasting peace.
The world is an illusion. Brahrnan is the only Reality.
Knowing this, now I abide in peace that passeth all understand-
ing.
"I am all-pervading, immortal Atman." Knowing this, now
I abide in peace immortal.
I have renounced both action and inaction. I live happily in
any state now. So I abide in perennial peace.
The sense-objects are the robbers. I have annihilated these
robbers. I am quite safe and happy.Now I abide in unalloyed
peace.
HowtheJnani;H,T""rlfl Jili;T",il,rtheuniverse
Both in waking and in dream, objects are "perceived" or
"seen" as different from the subject. The character of "being
seen" is common to both kinds of experience. There is sub-
ject-object relationship in waking as well as in dream. This is
the similarity between the two. "something is seen as an object"
means "something is other than the Self." The experience of the
not-self is illusory, for, if the not-self were real, the Self would
be limited and unreal. The illusory experience of the not-self is
corlmon to both waking and dream. In waking, the mind experi-
ences through the senses; in dream the mind alone experiences.
In both the states, the mind alone experiences, whether
extemally or internally.
Dream is transcended by waking, waking by Turiya'

Hence both dream and waking are contradicted. waking contra-
dicts dream, and dream contradicts waking. when the one is,
the other is not. Neither of the two is continuously existent.
This
proves the unrealitY of both.
Duality is not real, because duality is the opposite of eter-
nity. Without duality there is no perception. Hepce, anything
ttrat is perceived is unreal whether in dream or in waking.
Dream is real when there is no waking. Waking is real when
de-
there is no dream. Hence, both are unreal experiences. They
pend on one another for their existence. one cannot say whether
ire is dreaming or waking without referring one state to another.
Desires u." th" rulers of all experiences in waking and also in
dream. waking is physical functioning of desires; dream is
mental functioning of desires. The senses are moved by desires
in waking; the mind is moved by desires in dreaming' Both
these states are like flowing streams. They do not persist for
ever in one state. That which persists for ever is real. Dream and
waking have a beginning and an end. Change is the characteris-
tic of a'il perceiveA objects. Change implies non-existence at the
beginning and also at the end. That which does not exist at the
Uelinnin! and does not exist at the end does not exist in the
*idat" also. Therefore, waking is unreal like dream'
Reason for UnrealitY
It may be contended that waking is real, because it is the

cause of dream, and dream is not the cause of waking. But that
contention is without support. If waking is a cause, it must be
real. If it is real, it must exist for ever. waking itself without
is
reality, for it does not exist always. If the cause itself is unreal,
how can it produce a real effect? Both these are unreal states'
one who eats stomachful in waking state may feel hungry in the
dream state and vice versa. Things appear to be real only in a
particular condition. They are not real always. That which is not
il*uyt real is an appearance and so unreal'
The object is called an objectjust because there is a per_

ceiving subject. Similarly, a subject is called a subject just be-
cause there is a perceived object. Neither of the two is
self-existent. And, therefore, both prove themselves to be un-
real. Subject and object appear in the form ofcause and effect.
without an effect nothing can be a cause. The mind perceives
and recognises objects only by relating one thing to another.
There cannot be a lapse of time in which the cause remains un-
changed. If the cause can exist unchanged for sometime, there is
no reason why it should change at any time at all. Either there is
continuous causation, or no causation at all. If causation is con-
tinuous, cause and effect become identical, being inseparable
from one another. But the Jnani transcends the schime oi"u.rru-
tion. Self-realisation breaks the chain of causation, and
consequently the world of experience appears false.
Marks of a Realised Sage_An Anecdote
A learned visitor had Darshan of Swamiji today in the of_

fice, when he expressed to Swamiji certain doubts which
Swamiji readily cleared. He first said, ,.Swamiji, I want to know
something about Nirvikalpa Samadhi. The scriptures say that a
person who has attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi would not pub-
licly say that he has attained it. Then, how are we to knowthat
such and such a man has attained the highest wisdom or not?"
Swamiji replied, "We can know it by observing his actions, be_
haviour, talk, equal vision, peace, bliss, perfect serenity, bal_
anced mind under all conditions, cosmic love, and steady
wisdom (Sthitha-prajna)." "How can he himself know that he
has attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi?" was the visitor,s next ques-
tion. Swamiji answered. "Ifhis experience tallies with the expe-
rience of the seers of the Upanishads, ifhe enjoys absolute biiss
and peace, if he maintains unperturbed serenity of mind under
the worst situations, if his doubts have been rent asunder, if he
beholds unity in diversity, if he feels that he is the self in all be-
ings and the whole world is his body, ifhe is perfectly free from
for sensual objects, Raga, Dvesha, egoism, anger, lust,

desires
mineness, pride and attachment, he can be sure that he has
attained Realisation."
A Videhamukta is a Turiyatita, one who has transcended
Turiya, the seventh Bhumika. He is ever absorbed in Samadhi'
He has to be fed by others. He cannot take food himself. Jada
Bharata, late Mauni Swami of Kumbakonam, late Akalkot
Swami (Maharashtra) were Videhamuktas. A Jivanmukta is in
the state of Sattvapatti (fourth Bhumika), Asamsakti (fifth
Bhumika) or Padartha-Bhavana (sixth Bhumika). He has a
slight consciousness of the body in the form of a men-
tal-retentum or Samskara. He can take food himself. He need
not be fed. His consciousness of the body may be compared to
the consciousness of body of a sleeping person. When some
flies sit on his body, although he is sleeping, he will immedi-
ately drive them off, though he may not be conscious of them'
Such is the Jivanmukta's consciousness of the body. He attends
to his bodily wants mechanically due to force of Prarabdha and
previous Samskaras. A Videhamukta will cast away his body in
seven to twenty-one days after attaining that state.
Chapter Ten
STATE OF LIBERATION
A Detailed Analysis of the state of Moksha
Sadyo Mukti
All endeavours aim at the common Ideal of the perpetual
abolition of sorrow and the experience of unending biss. nliss
is only in the Infinite and sorrow is only in the finite. There is no
bliss in the finite and there is no sorrow in the Infinite. There-
fore, the attainment of the Infinite Life is the supreme purpose
of finite life. Knowledge and meditation have both thlir dear
aim in the realisation of the Absolute. Moksha is the highest ex-
altation of the self in its pristine nature of supreme peifection.
Emancipation is the consciousness of the Reality; not becom-
ing something which previously did not exist, not travelling to
another world of greater joy. It is the knowledge of eternal exis-
tence, the awareness of the essential nature of pure Being. It is
the freedom affained by knowing that we are always free.
Knowledge is not merely the cause for freedom, but is itself
freedom. Moksha consists in Jnana (knowledge) and is not the
effect or product of Jnana. Jnana is Existence itserf, and hence,
it cannot be a means to attain Jnana of Existence, which is
Moksha, as a thing does not attain itself. chit is the same as Sat.
To be That is what is Moksha. It is to realise one,s Self, to be
Oneself, to be the All.
"There is no consciousness after the death (of irrdividual-
ity)" said Yajnavalkya. Since Consciousness alone is the en_
tirety of being, there is no consciousness of anything objective
in the highest state. It is the Fullness of perfect Exisienci. It is,
but is not anything; it sees, but sees not anything; it hears, but
hears not anything; it knows, but knows not anything. It does
(176)
STATE OF LIBERATION 177
not go to where it was not; it does not get what it did not have.
Even the expression "It knew only Itself'(Brih. Up. I.iv.10) is
an understatement of the Truth, for it implies self-conscious-
ness which is the characteristic of Isvara and not Brahman.
Brahman does not know, for It is knowledge; It does not enjoy,
for It is enjoyment; It is not "existent" but "existence." It is
non-material, and has no contact with any objective being. "It
eats nothing, no one eats It." It is the supreme "incorporeal
which pain and pleasure do not touch." The realisation of the
Self is in a way like the shining of the sun when the clouds no
more cover him. It is the regaining of originality in the absolute
sense. It is "quenching the fire of death with the water of knowl-
edge" (Brih. Up. III.ii.10). It is deathless impersonality of con-
scious nature, not merely living as an eternal person. A person,
even the absolute person (Isvara), is non-etemal. No actual
change takes place in the realisation of the Truth, but it appears
to be all change! "Though the Full may be taken out from the
Full, the Full alone remains without change." Even the utter ex-
tinction of personality does not involve that least transforma-
tion in true existence. It is the simple knowing, the great
knowing, so mysterious and complicated, the ever-unsolved
problem, the only problem of the whole universe. And, yet, it is
the only Truth to the Knower. The curious riddle, somehow,
makes one feel that, truly, nothing happens in Infinity, though
worlds may seem to roll in It.
That which is so simply said as "Existence-Conscious-
ness" and which is so easy to understand, is, after all, the hardest
nut to crack, never understood, never known, never realised by
any individual, the supreme identity of the greatest positive
Truth and the greatest negation in one. The Absolute is really
supra-relative, supra-mental, supra-rational. Whatever is spo-
ken or thought is not the Truth as It is. Truth is the union of the
cosmic thinker and the cosmic thinking. There is no separate
object of this thinking, nothing that is thought of here, forthink-
ing itself is the object of thinking though thinks itself, all objects
are mere processes of cosmic thinking, nothing real in them-

selves. Thought and its object, knowledge and the known, see-
ing and the seen, relation and the object related to, mind and the
universe, are identical with the Universal Essence. The con-
scious transcending of the successive double relation in the cos-
mos of the thinker who is identical with the thinking, and of the
thinking which is identical with that which is thought of is Lib-
eration. The universe has no reality independent of its Universal
Knower. The original delusion of the difference between the
thinker and the thinking is greater than and is the cause of the
secondary delusion of the difference between the thinking and
the thought-of. There is the thinking because there is the
thinker; there is the thought-of because there is the thinking.
The thinking is the object of the thinker; the thought-of is the
object of the thinking. Egoism or duality-consciousness and the
world or multiplicity consciousness are the respective effects of
the mistake that the object is independent of and different from
the subject in both these cases.
Samsara is the knower-knowledge-known relationship.
But it must however be remembered here that the distinction be-
tween the thinker and the thinking and that between the thinking
and the thought-of is not made in and is not valid to the Cosmic
Consciousness of Isvara. But this distinction is superimposed
by the individual on Isvara when it perceives as an individual
knower, its own distinctness and the variety of world-manifes-
tation. Relations are meaningful to the individual alone and not
to the Universal Being. These distinctions are present even in
the superhuman individuals, even in those who have reached
Brahmaloka or the subtlest possible state which is within the ju-
risdiction of individualistic consciousness. That which is above
all distinctions and relations is Brahman, the knowledge of
which is neither thinking nor sleeping. This is that which is as-
serted through endless, denials, impossible to describe, impos-
sible to imagine, nothing, everything! The only definition of the
nature of the Reality is perhaps "That which is not anything, but
STATE OF LIBERATION t79
not nothing, that which is everything, and knows nothing but It-
self." That is Brahman! Therefore, bondage and liberation are
only a matter of forgetfulness and awareness of fact respec-
tively, and not a change in being. The complete transcendence
of one's individuality is at once the realisation of the Absolute.
The moment the Jiva is negated the cosmic play is explained
and the cosmos and Isvara sink into Brahman.
Moksha is neither a mass of consciousness nor self-con-
sciousness. It is the very life and order of the universe,
ever-present, unchanging. It transcends even the sense of im_
mortality which also is conceptual. The Light of the Absorute
puts a sudden end to all relative existence and the world does
not exist even as a remembrance. There is no such thing as inert,
inanimate, dead matter or blind force. It is all ,up."ri. Force,
Knowledge and Bliss without motion or mind. There are no
planes of existence, no states ofconsciousness, no degrees of
reality. This is the most blessed and supreme state of absolute
freedom and conscious eternal life, not a conviction but actual
being. It is the awful grandeur ofutternegation of limitation and
experience of Infinitude, not mere continued personal life. It is
the complete dissolution ofthought in simple existence which is
the mightiest nothing! It is an immediate here and now of
spacelessness and timelessness, the inexpressible, beyond joy
and sorrow, beyond knowledge and ignorance, beyond life and
death, beyond all that is beyond! It is the fullest Reality, the
completest consciousness, the immensest power, the intensest
Bliss. Truth, knowledge, power, happiness and immortality are
Its shadows. lJnseen, transcendent, uninferable, unthinkable,
ununderstandable, indescribable, imperishable, the loftiest, the
deepest, the Truth, the Great-That is the Absolute. The light of
limitless number of suns is darkness in Its presence. It oversteps
the boundaries of being and nullifies all ideas of existence. It is
the Giant-Spirit which swallows up the mind and the ego and
wipes off the individual-consciousness to the very extreme. It is
the Thunder that breaks the heart of the universe, the Lightning
that fuses all sense of empirical reality. The bubble bursts into
the ocean and the river enters the sea! The soul merges into the
extremely Real.
The Grandeur of the Absolute is grander than all other
grandeur. It is the crowning edifice of truth and glory.
Nothing is beyond That. It is neither form, nor content nor
existent. The soul sinks into It by an experience of all-fullness,
neither essence, nor kingdom, nor wisdom, neither equal, nor
unequal, neither static nor moving, neither sitting nor resting,
neither one nor two, neither true nor false, neither this-ness nor
that-ness, nothing known to us, nothing known to any existent
being. It has no name, there is no definition of It! It is That
which is. It is not love nor grace, nor world, nor soul, nor God,
nor freedom, nor light, for all these are relative conceptions. It is
not Satchidananda which is only an ideal 'other' of what we
have experience. Satchidananda is only the logical highest, a
mere intellectual prop. Reality is beyond Satchidananda also. It
is itself, the eternal sun that shines in the infinite sky ofthe abso-
lute world! It transcends cosmic consciousness. It is the su-
pra-essential essence. Eternity and Infinity embrace one
inother to form Its Centre of Experience. It is an Ocean that
sweeps away the earth and the heaven and the netherland- Sun,
moon and stars are dissolved in It' Brahma, Vishnu and Siva
vanish into It. It is the Life of tife, Wisdom of wisdom, Joy of
joy, Power of power, Real of rea[, Essence of essence.
-Birthl".r.r"ss
and deathlessness float in It like ripples. It is the
supreme Death of all, and yet, It is the highest peak of real life'
The totality of all the joys of the whole universe is merely a dis-
torted fragment of That Supreme. It puts an end to the vicious
circle of transmigratory life.
The Upanishads have left no stone unturned and have
spared no pain in attempting to give the best expression to the
maj estic Absolute-ExPerience :
"The knower of the Self crosses beyond sorrow."
STATE OF LIBERATION l8l
"He who knows that Supreme Brahmanbecomes Brahman

Itself."
"The knower of Brahman attains the Highest."
"One who is established in Brahman reaches Immortal-
ity."
"He returns not again, he returns not again."
By knowing Him alone one goes to That which is beyond
death. By knowing the Supreme Being, the wise one casts off
both joy and sorrow. They who see Him, the Self-Exis-
tent,-they, and no others, have eternal peace. Of him, whose
desires are completely satisfied, who is totally perfected, all de-
sires dissolve themselves here itself. The liberated one becomes
onefold, threefold, fivefold, sevenfold, ninefold, elevenfold,
hundred-and-elevenfold, twenty-thousandfold! He goes to the
other shore of darkness. That state is ever illumined, it is always
day there. Time, age and death, sorrow, merit and demerit do
not go there. Fearless is the state of the Bliss of Brahman. Even
the gods fear him, even Indra and Prajapati cannot obstruct him.
He becomes the Self-Emperor. The knot of the heart is broken,
all doubts are rent asunder, and all actions perish, when That is
seen, which is the Highest and the Deepest. His vital-spirits do
not depart, they are gathered up here itself. Being Brahman al-
ready, he becomes Brahman Itself. He is the maker of every-
thing, he is the creator of all, the universe is his, he himself is the
universe. This is the supreme treasure. The freed souls enter
into the Al1, they enter into Brahman, they are liberated beyond
mortal nature. The whole constitution of individuality becomes
unified in the Supreme Imperishable. As rivers enter the ocean,
leaving name and form, so the wise one, liberated from name
and form, reaches the Transcendental Divine Being. This is
Immortality.
This is Immediate Liberation (Sadyomukti), the instanta-
neous experience of the Absolute through the sudden destruc-
tion of the fabric of personality built by Avidya, Kama and
Karma. Karma is the child of Kama which is never fulfilled un-

til its source, Avidya, is transcended through the realisation of
Brahman which is unsurpassed perfection. How can, by know-
ing one thing, another thing be attained? The attainment and the
knowledge here are the same, self-identical. The supreme
Brahman is the All.
Sadyomukti is the processless immediate experience of
Brahman, spaceless and timeless, on account of one's habitua-
tion to the Non-dual knowledge of the Self. It is given to a very
few to realise Brahman in this way, for most of the aspirants
cannot proceed with their meditations without some kind of ob-
jective content in their consciousness. The quick and sudden il-
lumination, which Sadyomukti is, is a very unique experience,
and it puts an end to the relative notions of Isvara, Jiva and
Jagat. In this, there is neither the experience of the degrees of
phenomenon nor resting in the region of Isvara or Brahmaloka
after being freed. It is at once being Brahman.
Krama Mukti
There are in the Upanishads intimations of Kramamukti or
the progressive process of liberation of the soul. The soul
reaches the Saguna Brahman or Parameshvara who transcends
even the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. This great Lord of
the universe is also called "Uttama Purusha" or
"Purushottama". He is the Absolute-Individual, the Supreme
Brahman manifested as the Cause of the origin, the sustenance
and the dissolution of the universe. The Upanishads are em-
phatic in their statements that one who reaches through knowl-
edge this Supreme Cause does not return to the mortal coil, but
proceeds further to the Absolute Reality. The Mundaka
Upanishad says that the sages in the world of Brahma are liber-
ated beyond death in the end of time. Those who attain the
world of the Saguna Brahman remain there until the end of the
universe, enjoying the effects of their 'Satyakarmas' and
'satyasankalpas', the fruits of their desires and willings based
on Truth. Whatever they wish, it arises then and there instanta-

neously, for they are in harmony with the Universal Being.
They enjoy the Highest approximation to the bliss ofthe Lord of
the Universe. Their desires are not like those of the mortals in
Samsara, for the latter's desires are flames of morbid passions
based on untruth and arising out of intense selfishness and ego-
ism set in opposition to the other individuals of the universe,
whereas, the former's desires are absolute truth-willings which
are attuned with the law of the God of the lJniverse, in spite of
the individualities maintained by ihem there.
Practically the desire of the liberated soul is no desire at all
in the general sense, for it is not the effect of Avidya (mixture of
deluded passion and darkness) but of Maya (light of truth and
knowledge). The desire of one liberated soul cannot be against
that of another, for they all are co-existent with the One God;
but the desires of one man are mostly against those of others, for
they all are dissipated and cut off one from another by the sepa-
rative egos and rooted in blind darkness. The liberated souls
think and work through the higher thought of spiritual nature,
not through the mind and sense-organs of the lower nature.
They breathe the universal life and exist as partakers of the joy
of the Master of the Universe. They have the unceasing immedi-
acy of the consciousness of everything, an awareness of the in-
most objective essences of the complete universe. Their
experiences are, no doubt, objective, they being not identical
with the Absolute, but they can have an entire knowledge of the
universe through self-identification with anything in the uni-
verse, though this is different from the simultaneous Cosmic
Consciousness of God or Isvara. But they are not opposed to the
being of God; they work as God works, Iive as God lives, will as
God wills, though all this happens spontaneously there. They
are the sportive forms of the Absolute in Itself. They want noth-
ing; they are satisfied with themselves. They do not crave for an
entity second to themselves; they desire only themselves, and
even when they enjoy the objects of the universe they do so with
an identity-consciousness of the two. They are like several cir-

cles with a common centre and radii of the same length, but
comprehended within the Great Circle of the Infinite. The dif-
ferences among these souls are not detrimental to the Infinite,
since they are nearest to it. However, even truth-willings and
enjoyments with consciousness of identity of things cannot be
taken as the highest Libeation.
It is said that these souls enjoy all powers except those of
universal creation, preservation and destruction which belong
to God alone, and that conflict of actions may arise if all are en-
dowed with the same power. This statement can be intelligible
only when the relation between God and the liberated souls is
not one of the identity but of difference. If Liberation means the
highest knowledge of God, to live in the same world as God's,
to live near to God, and to have a form similar to God's, and yet
to be different from God, can only be lesser than liberation, be-
cause God is not one of many individuals, not a Samsari, but the
only existing absolute individual, and to have any relation with
Him is to know Him, and to know Him is to be one with Him,
and to be one with Him is not to perceive duality.
The knowledge of God or lsvara, which these souls in
Brahmaloka on the path of Krama Mukti have, is only an ap-
proximation to Isvara-consciousness, but is not the same as that.
Hence these souls are neither omnipotent nor omniscient,
though they have full freedom as far as their enjoyments within
their circles are concerned. There does not arise the question of
the conflict that may arise among the tiberated souls endowed
with the power of creation, preservation and destruction if all
souls are one with Isvara. To be endowed with the same power
and knowledge as God is to be non-different beings forming a
One Whole which is God. And, since no two individuals can
have identical knowledge without themselves destroying their
different forms and becoming one being, we are led to suppose a
difference in experience among these souls. Further when it is
said that the liberated souls attain Absolute Experience only at
the end of the universe, it is implied that they cannot experience

Absoluteness as long as Isvara exists as a Self-conscious being,
which means that they are still having an objective experience
and are not identical with Isvara. Otherwise there is no reason
why they should retain their individualities until the end of the
universe.
The correct view, however, seems to be that all those who
meditate upon the Absolute Individual (God) through positive
qualitative conceptions rest in the Absolute Individual who, in
the end of time, ending the space-time-universe which is His
own Body, dissolves Himself in the conscious power of the Ab-
solute, which is non-different from the Absolute. These rela-
tively liberated ones have their individualities not destroyed
here but exist in the world of the Absolute Individual, i.e., the
Absolute Individual is experienced by them not directly but as
an objective conscious universe. This Self-Dissolution of God
is, in some respects, similar to the deep sleep of the worldly in-
dividual who also, in the end of the day, ending his body-con-
sciousness, dissolves himself in the unconscious power based
on the Atman, which is superimposed on the Atman. But the
difference between the two dissolutions, however, is in the fact
that in the case of God, there is no further forced coming back to
universe-consciousness, no subsequent dreaming and waking
state, and there is Absolute Experience, whereas, in the case of
the worldly individual, there is forced coming back to
body-consciousness, there is subsequent dreaming and waking
state, and there is no Self-experience. There is Kama and Karma
in the individual because of Avidya, but in God there is Vidya,
universal consciousness or absolute Self-Conscicusness alone,
and hence, there are no concomitant Kama and Karma which
are the causes of objective multiplicity-consciousness and the
activity therefor. Desire and action in the individual are the out-
come of the darkness of ignorance, but they do not exist in
Vidya which is the light of knowledge. The souls who are in the
World of Isvara or the Absolute Individual experience it as an
Intelligence World of Suddha Sattva corresponding to their

own personalities made of the same substance. The soul is said
to reach God through the passage of the sun (Mund. Up.I.ii.11)
and, thus, pass on to the Absolute. Anywise, the imaginary
problem of the possibility of the multiple lordship of the liber-
ated souls does not arise, any more than the possibility ofthe ex-
istence of many Absolutes and Eternities. When there is
individuality there is no omniscience or omnipotence, and when
there are these there is no individuality. If we are to be alive to
the sentences which declare that the liberated soul "goes round
laughing, sporting, enjoying with women and chariots and
friends not remembering the appendage of the body" (Chh. Up.
VIII.xii.3) we can be so only by convincing ourselvcs that this
state cannot be that of the Consciousness of the Absolute, or
that this may be the condition of the Jivamnukta who does mys-
terious and ununderstanding actions, and who, though he has no
consciousness of his body, is yet made to animate his body
through a slight trace of the existent pure egoism unconnected
with consciousness. This is, in other words, the remainder of
that part of his Prarabdha Karma which is unobstructive to
Knowledge.
The state of Jivanmukti has no connection with the physi-
cal body; it is a state ofconsciousness; so it can be experienced
even when the physical body is dropped, i.e., even in
Brahmaloka. The Jivanmukta of this physical world, with his
physical body, too, is really in Brahmaloka in his conscious-
ness, though the body is in this world. Those who have not at-
tained Jivanmukti here and are not ready for Sadyo Mukti
immediately after the Prana stops functioning in the present
physical body, attain this through Krama Mukti after the death
of the physical body. This shows that a Videhamukta is not one
who exists in Brahmaloka but who has merged in the Absolute.
Or, we have to make a distinction between two kinds of
Videhamuktas-those who have individualities either in a
lower superhuman experience or in Brahmaloka and are on the
verge of Absolute Experience on the exhaustion of their

Prarabdha which is the cause of their superhuman experience
and their experience in Brahmaloka (the arising from which is
called the waking up of Brahma or Hiranyagarbha) and those
who have actually merged in Brahman. In Brahmaloka the soul
is like a perfect Jivanmukta of this world and all its actions are
spontaneous promptings of the pure Prarabdha and not con-
scious willings born of a deliberately egoistic personality. Ifwe
are to be consistent with the demands of Jivanmukti we have to
hold that even the Satyakamas and Satya-sankalpas or desires
and willings based on Truth in the liberated soul of the
Brahmaloka are really not conscious actions but spontaneous
outpourings of the remaining momentum of actions done previ-
ous to the rise of Self-knowledge, which was non-obstructive to
the rise of knowledge. If we are to think that the acts of the soul
in Brahmaloka are conscious ones it follows that they are not
even as evolved as perfect Jivanmuktas who have no conscious-
ness of individuality. The Prarabdha in the Jivanmukta is not
experienced by his consciousness; it is not a content of the Ab-
solute Consciousness; it is existent only to the other ignorant
Jivas who perceive the existence or the movements of his body.
There is also a passage (Chh. Up. VIII.xiv) which speaks
about the soul's entering into Prajapati's abode and assembly
hall. The joy which the soul experiences in the consciousness of
God is expressed in glowing terms. The Taittiriyopanishad (II.D
says that the knower of Brahman simultaneously enjoys with
Brahman-consciousness all that he desires for. The confusion
that often hampers our understanding of the exact nature of the
different stages in the process of progressive salvation is in-
creased by the fact that the Upanishads are rarely explicit about
it, and they find joy in giving intimations of immortality even
with regard to a state which we must very much hesitate to take
as the highest. Many times one is at a loss to know whether the
Upanishads are giving a metaphorical exclamation of the Expe-
rience of the Absolute or a real description of the state of one in
Brahmaloka on the way to Krama Mukti. Of course, the instan-

taneous enjoyments of everything with the Absolute conscious-
ness has to be construed as an intimation of the Ultimate Reality
itself, for one in Brahmaloka cannot have a simultaneous
experience of the entire existence, which is possible only in the
Absolute.
However, one thing is certain, that the criterion of salva-
tion lies in that "By knowing God there is a falling off of all fet-
ters, distresses are destroyed; there is cessation of birth and
death; there is breaking up of individuality (or bodily nature),
there accrues universal lordship, one becomes absolute, and all
desires are satisfied." (Svet. Up. I.l1) We cannot, somehow,
understand how there can be wish and enjoyment when all de-
sires are satisfied. It is said that "It is simple Lila" or sport ofthe
Divine, which, anyhow, is not an explanation of the mystery.
But there is no doubt that even the least wish or action, however
much universal it may be, means a state below the most exalted
Supreme Being. It is clear that all the various statements regard-
ing the different experiences which the liberated soul is said to
have must refer to an objective experience in one or the other of
the three stages of Virat, Hiranyagarbha and Isvara, or to the
realisation of Brahman Itself. The Upanishads, however, use
the word "Brahman" to mean any of the four, and it is this that
does not allow us to know much about what they actually mean
regarding the definite stages ofTruth-realisation. To us it some-
how appears that the main stages must be only four: Attainment
of (1) Universal objective multiplicity consciousness, (2) Uni-
versal subjective multiplicity consciousness, (3) Universal Self
consciousness, (4) Transcendental Experience' The
Mandukyopanishad testifies to the existence of these four
states. But the first three experiences are relative and seem to be
existent only so long as one exists as an individualised
experiencer. There cannot be any logical prooffor the existence
of these three objective states beyond an individualistic de-
mand. As a later Vedantin has said, "Those dull-witted persons
who are unable to realise the unconditioned Supreme Brahman

are shown compassion through the description of the Qualified
Brahman. When their mind is controlled through meditation on
the Qualified Brahman, the One free from all limitations reveals
Itself." Krishnananda
-Swami
Four Kinds of Mukti
The Bhakta remains in the Loka where Lord Vishnu re-
sides like an inhabitant of a state. This is Salokya Mukti. In
Samipya Mukti the Bhakta remains in close proximity with the
Lord like the attendant of a king. In Sarupya Mukti he gets the
same form like that of the Lord like the brother of a king. In
Sayujya Mukti he becomes one with the Lord like salt and wa-
ter. This is the highest rung in the ladder of Bhakti Yoga.
Difference Between Jivanmukti and Videhamukti

(An Anecdote)
The visitor asked, "Swamiji, what is the difference be-
tween Jivanmukti and Videhamukti? As long as the body lasts
how can there be Videhamukti?" Swamiji replied, "Jivanmukti
itself is Videhamukti, but there is slight difference. In a
Jivanmukta there is Svarupanasa of the mind. In him Rajas and
Tamas are destroyed, but the Sattvic frame of mind remains. It
is on account of this Sattvic mind a Jivanmukta is able to do
Lokasangraha. In a Videhamukta there is Arupanasa of the
mind (destruction of the mind without form). Even Sattva is not
there in him. So he cannot do any Lokasangraha."
Chapter Eleven

Mystic Experiences of Nayanars and Siddhas
The southern part of our great country is a land of poetry
and mysticism. Her mountain solitudes, cool and pleasant
groves, Mutts and monasteries and temples on the banks of holy
rivers, streams or tanks and stately towers pointing to Heaven
have inspired the poets and philosophers.
In the post-epic age, just as Buddhism flourished in the
northern part of our country, so about this age Jainism domi-
nated the lives of the ancient Tamils in South India. The Jains
have enriched the old Tamil literature and they wielded enor-
mous power over the church and the state in South India. Their
gift of vegetarianism to the Southerners deserves for ever to be
remembered with gratitude. Till the fifth century A.D., the
Tamils developed under Jain influence a pessimistic view of
life and looked for solace in renunciation, retirement from the
world, and severe austerities.
It was at this stage that the sixty-three Saiva Saints made
their dramatic appearance at different centres in South India and
showed, by their singular example, an entirely new way of life
towards attaining salvation. They hailed from various classes of
society, the Brahmana, the Kshatriya, the cultivator, the hunter,
etc. There were women saints, too. Their cosmopolitan charac-
ter and unconventional approach to the problem of life found
universal acceptance. To them tile was not different from gold
and they cared little for achieving salvation. But they loved to
serve humanity towards its spiritual uplift. They showed by the
life they lived that it was unnecessary to cut away from family
or society for spiritual pursuits, so long as one carried a de-
(le0)
EXPERIENCES OF SOME SOUTH INDIAN MYSTICS 191
tached attitude to life and viewed it objectively. Service of Lord

Siva--call Him by what name you will, but they chose to call
God Siva-serving Him in some way or other was all that mat-
tered to them. For instance, one served the Lord by chanting the
Maha Rudram remaining in the water; another by feeding a
guest in the Lord's Name before dining; another by cleaning the
routes to the temple, and so on. The sixty-three Saints and the
nine group-saints fit in broadly under four different categories,
according to the means which they followed: physical service
called Sariya, ritual called Kriya, communion with God called
Yoga, and spiritual enquiry called Jnana or Bodha. This four-
fold path was also known as Dasa Marga, Putra Marga, Saha
Marga and San Marga. The story of their lives contains the
lesson and the inspiration, but some of them have, in addition,
sung the glory of the Lord.
As the record of their experiences in meditation is apt to be
of interest and value to the spiritual aspirant, an attempt is made
to present some extracts which contain information on this
topic, from their works in the following paragraphs.
Of the many hymns sung in South India the "Thevaram,"
composed by Saint Appar or Thirunavukkarasu, Sundara-
murthy and Jnanasambandar, is accepted as authority by all lov-
ers of the Lord in the South, for gaining His grace and thereby
accelerating the pace of evolution. Of the lakhs of hymns sung
by the three saints only fragments have come down to us. These
were sung by their authors during critical moments of their lives
or at the shrines which they had visited. The poems have for
their background the philosophy of Saiva Siddhanta which
shows the way towards liberation from the shackles of egoism,
Karma and illusion (Maya) by the grace of the Guru who is no
less than Lord Siva Himself.
Saint Appar was, in his pre-monastic life, called
Marulneekkiyar. Although born of Saiva parents, he came un-
der Jain influence and by dint of his scholarship and ability rose
It I
to eminence in the Jain monastic order and he was called

'Dharmasena.' By the grace of Lord Siva, he was afflicted with
an incurable colic pain. Under his sister's advice he surrendered
to Lord Siva and he was rewarded with instantaneous relief.
The king of Kalinga, a Jain, under whom he administered the
Jain church, was loth to lose the service of such a valuable con-
vert. Therefore, in order to win him back to Jainism, the king
persecuted him by throwing him into a lime kiln. Saint Appar
came out of the ordeal cheerfully on account of his remaining in
communion with the Lord. This is how he described after his re-
lease what he had undergone inside the burning kiln:
"The shelter at the feet of my Lord, my Father, was like the
unerring tune of the lyre, the evening moon, the soothing
warmth of early spring, the softly-blowing southem breeze, and
the stream covered with the blossoming lotus, the home of the
honey-bees."
As the saint was in a state of ecstasy, he remained oblivi-
ous of his environment. But, as he was also in a superconscious
state, that helped him afterwards to recollect his mystic experi-
ence which was like something melodious to the ear, pleasing to
the eye and agreeable and pleasant all over. And he has put his
ideas concisely and beautifully. The lyre represents the sound,
the origin of the universe. The moon symbolises illumination or
wisdom. Then follows the breeze which caused the first stir in
the Universe, and then the Sun, the giver of light, direction, col-
our, and vital warmth and finally we have the stream, which
sustains, along with the light, air and warmth, the life of the
whole Universe. Here we have an epitome of creation sung in
just four beautiful lines. The mystic could accomplish this feat,
having come out of communion with the Lord, Who is
Omniscient and Omnipresent.
Saint Sundaramurthy, the Yogi, visited a shrine called
"Thirumazaipady." As he was in constant communion with the
Lord, although he led a life of a householder, Sundarar sang:

"Of whom else will I think, my Mother, if not Thee?"
"Thou, fair as gold, clad in tiger-skin, decked with shining
'konrai' flowers (marigold), in Thy flaming matted locks,
which dazzle like lightning. Thou Eternal Being, purest gem,
dwelling at 'Thirumazatpady' . Thou tender as Mother, if I do
not think of Thee, on whom else will I meditate?"
The poet has in the first two lines sung the glory of the
all-beautiful and Almighty Lord, and in the third line, he shows
how by remaining eternal the Lord provides for His creation
and, lastly, he confesses his steadfast devotion to the Lord.
While Saint Appar declared his communion with the Lord
in the hour of trial, Sundarar confesses his cultivating thought
of the Lord constantly as a habit.
Jnanasambandar visited a place called Panayur. He ad-
mired the groves of Panayur which presented a scene of
honey-laden flowers humming with the sound of bees. His
thought turned to the Lord and he sang:
"This is Panayur, the place of Him, Who delights in stay-
ing in the hearts of those who meditate on Him with one-pointed
devotion. Here the bees love to settle on the honey-laden flow-
ers in the groves and tune their notes to harmony."
The hymn expresses the mystic's experience of bliss,
which occurs when meditation culminated in Samadhi. Focus-
sing the thought called 'Dharana' is implied in the phrase,
'thoughts uniting'. This secret process matches well with the
colouring the poet gives. As the bees discover plenitude of their
sweet food in the flowers, they unite and join their notes in
harmony.
In the three verses quoted above the keynote struck by the
poets in common is constant communion with the Lord.
Of all the South-Indian mystics, perhaps none has revealed
in such clear details the mysteries of communion with the Lord
and the bliss arising from that as Manickavachagar has done in

his immortal verses known as "Thiruvachakam" (the sacred
text). He is not included among the sixty{hree saints or the
eighteen Siddhas of South India. He had the unique opportunity
of coming face to face with the Lord Who manifested Himself
as a supreme Master-which He really is-at a place called
"Thiruperundurai," now known as "Avudayar Koil," nine miles
south of "Aranthangi," a station in the Southern Railway. This
mystic poet loves to refer frequently inhis works to this incident
which had marked a turning-point in his life.
He sings:
"To me, who toiled and moiled 'midfools
that knew not way offinal peace,
He taught the way of pious love, so that old
deeds might cease and/lee;
Purging thefoulness of my will, made me pure
bliss, tookfor His own
'Twas thus the Dancer gave me grace,
O Rapture; Who so blest as I?"
(Translationfrom the original by Sri G.V. Pope).
In these lines the poet shows the limitations of temporal or
tuitional knowledge. It fails to take us anywhere on the road to
Freedom. The word 'moorker' does not exactly mean'fools' or
'stubborn ones'. It means 'those who scoff at spiritual culture'.
Contact with the Lord had shown him how devotion alone could
bestow on him intuition (Aparoksha Jnana), which destroys the
fruits of past Karma. His inner self became purified and he was
raised to the state of God which none can ever hope to attain.
This intensely personal note is characteristic of
Manickavachagar.
What is wanted, therefore, is not mere learning but the ca-
pacity to feel, to melt away like wax before fire at hearing the
very Name of the Lord. And that is his prayer in the following
verse:
"I ask not for kin, nor name, nor place
Nor learned man's society,
Wilt Thou one boon on me bestow,
A heart to melt in longing sweet,
As yearns her newborn calf the cow,
In yearning for Thy sacred feet?"
(Translation from the original by Ms. F. Kingsbury and
G.E. Phillips).
The above lines show that the mystic has relapsed to
worldly consciousness and prays to the Lord to lift him up to
that higher plane where he may enjoy the bliss of communion.
The Lord had already shown him the way to it during his meet-
ing at Thiruperundurai. That can be achieved only through pro-
found devotion even as the cow has for the calf she has yielded.
Having drunk of the fountain of bliss it is but natural that he
should ask for the favour again and again.
Here is a verse which discloses the bliss of communion
with the Lord.
"Thrills and trembles my frame,
Hands are lifted on high,
Here at Thy fragrant feet,
Sobbing and weeping I cry,
Falsehood forsaking, I shout,
'Victory, Victory, Praise!'
Lord of my life, these clasped hands,
Worship shall bring Thee always."
(Translation from the original by Ms. F. Kingsbury and
G.E. Phillips).
The foregoing lines are characteristic of Manickava-
chagar. He shows the measure of man and God in those expres-
sions "hands lifted on high", which could not reach beyond

"His feet". By the term 'falsehood forsaking' he implies tran-
scending the physical, astral, and other planes which, by virtue
of their fleeting existence, are necessarily false and so are the
fruits of Karma. The truimph of spirit over matter and the imma-
nence of the Lord are shown in the closing lines.
The Siddhars or the South Indian mystics, of whom eigh-
teen are popularly known, offer the highest spiritual truths in
the language of the masses. They have the gift of clothing lofty
thoughts in simple expressions. Transcending the borders of
caste and convention they may appear to be somewhat shock-
ingly heterodox in some of their songs. Beggars in South India
are often found to accost for alms with the songs ofthe Siddhars
on their lips, although they are blissfully ignorant of what they
sing!
Here is a verse of Siva Vakkiar, who says why he pre-
seryes silence before people of the world.
"For the same reason as water wells up in the ripe
cocoanut, so my Lord had entered my heart and made it His
Temple. After my Lord had found His Temple in my heart, I
ceased to open my mouth before the people of the world."
The mystic reveals to us that as water wells up in the
cocoanut when it has developed in due time, so when the aspi-
rant is sufficiently evolved, he grows conscious of the Lord's
presence in his heart. Then he does not discuss with
worldly-minded people his mystic experience. Who had it are
silent. They that talk had it not!
Pattinathar whom it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a
more determined adjurer of the world, had at one time tasted of
the bliss of communion. He yearns for it as follows:
"O Lord of Kailas, when will that state come about? The
body covered with ashes should thrill, and the heart should be
pounded and melted like soft clay for love of Thy sacred feet.
The unbroken meditation should ripen into bliss and lie down
with tears of joy flooding like a river in torrents over my

breast."
The verse is self-explanatory and needs no comments. The
advantages of controlling the mind are shown in the following
lines ascribed to Saint Agastya, although it is doubtful whether
he or anybody else is the author:
"Should the mind come under control, there is no need to
utter the spell; should the mind be controlled, it is unnecessary
to raise the breath; should mind-control be attained, it is need-
less to curb our tendencies; should the mind come under con-
trol, the spell will prove effective."
His Holiness Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj has given us
a wealth of details about mind-control in two of his outstanding
publications, viz.,'Mind, Its Mysteries and Control, and .Con-
centration and Meditation.'
Conquest of the mind is the greatest conquest, says a Hindi
proverb, "Ifyou conquer mind, you have conquered the world.,'
"Moksha does not mean physical separation from all
worldly affairs, but only a state of mind bereft of all impure
Vasanas and clinging to worldly things, but yet working as
usual amidst them. You must realise God in and through the
world. This is the central teaching of the Gita. This is the central
teaching of Yoga Vasishtha also.
"But the disciplined (lower) self, moving among sense-ob-
jects free from attraction and repulsion, and mastered by the
higher Self, goeth to Peace."
-Extract from'Mind-Its
Mysteries and Control'.
As for the songs of the eighteen Siddhars, they have left us
a fair field of spiritual crops, which lie yet unharvested, and
which are waiting to be gamered and offered to the outside
world. It is, of course, up to abler hands to undertake the task.
The claim of mystic poetry to popularity rests upon its
breathing the very soul and spirit of the author. poetry, properly
so-called, charms us by its genuine lyric impulse. This impulse

is sublimated into devotion to God in mystic poetry. Apart from
merely reporting their experiences during communion, the
mystics give this message of poetry to the world.
(Sri P.S. Varadaraia IYer)
Saint Tirumular
Tirumular's origin, the circumstances that led to his leav-

ing Kailas and to his settling down in the land of the Tamils, the
social forces that inspired him to produce the immortal
Tirumantiram,-all these are lost in the mists of antiquity. We
do not even know the real name of this great sage' Tirumular is
the name he acquired later when he became a shepherd. No his-
torical background is available. We have, therefore, to furn to
another great treatise, Periya Puranam, for what it has to say on
the story of his life.
Periya Puranam says, the sage came to Tamil Nadu from
Kailas to meet his friend Agastya. After offering worship at sev-
eral famous shrines, he reached Saffanur, a village on the banks
of the Kaveri, where he witnessed the tragic spectacle of a herd
of cows weeping over the corpse of a shepherd. Evidently, the
shepherd had met with sudden death, and the cows, feeling that
some great tragedy had befallen their master, stood hovering
about the body, unwilling to move away. They smelled it, and
tears rolled down their long white cheeks like silvery rivulets.
This moving sight struck a responsive chord in the sage,
and he decided to end the agony of the cows. As one who had
mastered the eight Siddhis, he knew the technique of moving
from one body to another. He cast aside his body in a safe place,
and penetrated into the shepherd's body. The shepherd immedi-
ately came to life and got up. The cows danced with joy on see-
ing their master alive again.
The sage who now lived in the body of the shepherd (his
name was Mulan) followed the cows back to the village in the
evening. But he stood in the street without entering Mulan's

house. Mulan's wife who was awaiting her husband,s refurn
came out, and was plzzled to find him standing in the street.
She called him in, and moved up to take his hand. But he
stepped aside, and asked her not to touch him. He denied he had
any relationship whatsoever with her. Then he entered into a
neighbouring Mutt, and was soon immersed in deep
contemplation.
Mulan's wife would not be consoled easily. How could the
poor woman know that her husband was no more and that an-
other saintly soul was now dwelting in his body? She com-
plained to her relatives against her husband,s behaviour and
cried that he had lost his senses. Some of the elders of the vil-
lage who saw him at the Mutt were wise enough to perceive that
the shepherd was in a state of Samadhi. They, therefore, asked
her not to disturb him, but to leave him alone.
When the sage emerged from contemplation the next
moming, he straightaway went to the spot where he had left his
body. But it was not to be found there! He then realised that he
was destined to spend the rest of his life as Mulan the shepherd,
that it was God's Will that he should fulfil His purpose as a
shepherd.
Known thence forth as Tirumular (derived after the shep-
herd's name Mulan), he left Sattanur and reached
Tiruvavaduthurai, where he sat under a Boddhi tree and passed
into a state of deep contemplation. Once a year he woke up, and
each time he composed a stanza containing the cream of his
spiritual experiences during the year. It took 3000 years for him
to compose the 3000 stanzas comprising Tirumantiram.
This account of his life in Peria puranam gives perhaps a
clue to the state of society which obtained at the time of
Tirumular. Why did Tirumular choose to come down all the
way to the land of the Tamils? How did it come to pass that this
great exponent of the Vedas and the Agamas was given the form
of shepherd in a lower rung of the social ladder to expound the

great Saiva Siddhanta school of philosophy? And why was
Saiva Siddhanta particularly chosen in preference to other sys-
tems of thought? It is well that we seek here some answer to
these questions, if only for obtaining a correct appreciation of
some of the stanzas in Tirumantiram, such as, for instance,
those expressing his strong condemnation of the pretentions of
impostors masquerading as saints and seers.
Presumably, early Indian thought, which gave birth to
some of the greatest metaphysical systems the world has ever
seen, received a setback, and an era ofsterility and stagnation
had commenced. True learning and character were eclipsed by
principles and practices justiffing social malpractices- The true
import of the Vedas and the Agamas was allowed to be lost in
the jungle of ritual dogmas. Tamil Nadu, the cradle of Saiva
Siddhanta, had become the breeding ground of false prophets
who used religion and philosophy for securing personal advan-
tages. Such, obviously, was the state of Tamil society which
Tirumular fett compelled to reconstruct on lines set forth in the
Vedas and the Agamas and as he understood them in the light of
his spiritual experiences.
Tirumular wanted humanity to share the divine bliss which
he himselfhad enjoyed. This sharing of his happiness, this free-
dom ofthe soul from ignorance and bondage, cannot however
be secured unless, first some of the fundamental tenets of Saiva
Siddhanta were instilled into the minds of the people.
Tirumular taught that the liberation of the Pasu (sou[) was
not dependent on the caste, high or low, of the person in whom it
dwells; that the soul can attain freedom only if one followed the
right path without allowing oneself to be diverted towards blind
alleys; that Saiva Siddhanta, which is the cream of the Vedas
and the Agamas, opens the window that reveals true
knowledge.
This account, therefore, of Tirumular's teaching

Tirumantiram as a shepherd, should serve to emphasise his ad-
vice that, inasmuch as the soul and not the body that must be
freed frorn bondage, any person, be he of high or low birth, can
seek to attain Sivananda (divine bliss). That he should have
come from Kailas to Tamil Nadu, in the extreme South may be
taken as reflecting his anxiety that the correct principles of
Saiva Siddhanta should again be taught and reinforced in the
land of its birth. where social conditions had so altered as to
obliterate the prime principles of the Vedas and the Agamas. If
the Vedas may be described as the tree of knowledge, the Aga-
mas are its branches and leaves and fruits. While the Vedas con-
tent themselves with stating that the soul is the Brahman, the
Agamas instruct and guide in leading the soul towards its union
with the Absolute Being.
Saint Tirunavukkarasar
Thirunavukkarasar was one of the four saints, the pillars of
Saivism, who re-established Siva Worship in South India, at a
time when Buddhism and Jainism threatened to wipe out the in-
digenous religion and culture of the land. A contemporary of
Jnanasambandar, one other in this group, Appar as he was oth-
erwise known lost his parents at an early age; he had an only sis-
ter, Thilagavathiar, who herself was a Saint; she had dedicated
her life to Lord Siva, having lost her fiance who died in a battle.
Thirunavukkarasar was a man of great learning and erudition;
Marulneekiar, as he was named by his parents, embraced
Jainism to the great sorrow of Thilagavathiar. Day and night she
invoked Lord Siva to bring her brother back into the fold of
Saivism. She was promised that the brother would be subjected
to a dire stomach disease, which would cause him to come back
to the religion of his ancestors. In the meantime Marulneekiar
was made the leader of the Jains, who utilised this luminary for
the propagation of their faith. Time was for Saivism to come to
its own and Navukkarasar developed the predestined stomach
disease. His co-religionists did all in their power to relieve their

leader, but of no avail. Finally in desperation he sought the pro-
tection, care and blessing of the famous sister, whose first act
was to take him to Veeraddaneshwar temple, and offer prayers
of thanks-giving to Lord Veeraddaneshwar.
"suffering though like a toad, yet wears a jewel in its
crown" said Shakespeare. The excruciating pain, incurable as
the Jains found it, was the turning point in Appar's life. He in-
vokes Lord Veeraddaneshwar and loses himself thus:
"O Lord! Veeraddaneshwar, relieve me of this dire dis-
ease. I know not of having ever been cruel. Thou hast taken me
into Thy fold; I shall invoke Thee continuously day and night; I
can no more bear this illness that has come upon me and made
me wriggle with an excruciating pain."
In the above, it is clear that Navukkarasar's surrender is
the result of desperation. Probably due to being a brilliant poet
his hymns easily excel those of Manikavachagar.
His Jain friends finding themselves in a precarious posi-
tion, planned to get him back into their fold by reporting to the
king that he feigned the illness, in order to go back to his sister
and requested the latter to have him punished. Navukkarasar's
reply to the first in the land, speaks for itself:
"He alone can be spiritual, who can deff kings and spurn
wealth and women."
"The weak man cannot realise this Atman."
"I am subject to none. I fear not Yama (the lord of death)
neither shall I suffer in hell. I am happy. I know not disease. I
pay homage to no one. I have given up myself to Him, the Su-
preme, the Shankaran, that Sovereign with the Kundalam in one
ear (the Kundalam in one ear only indicates the
Ardhanaaree shwara-Moorti. ) "
He refuses to go, but the ministers persuade him and take
him to the King, who ill-advised by the Jains, orders that he be
put in a room filled with lime. Appar's faith changed the bum-
ing atmosphere of the room into one of a cool shelter. His expe-
rience is best expressed hereunder:
"The shelter at Isvara, my Father's feet is that celestial mu-
sic of the Veena, the gentle breeze, the morning sun, the lo-
tus-covered lake with the humming of the bees."
"The potential fire in wood, the gem of the purest ray, is
beyond perception, unseen like the ghee in milk. Wittt knowl-
edge as churner and Love as the rope, churn well your heart and
He will appear to you."
Appar was a combination of Jnana (knowledge) and
Bhakti. To Thayumanavar learning was an obstacle to
God-realisation.
"The uneducated are really the good" said Thayumanavar.
But to Appar knowledge led him to love God. His faith was
founded on the rock of conviction born of knowledge.
On seeing Tirunavukkarasar, as cool as a cucumber in that
terrible room, the Jains requested the King to get him killed by
an elephant. Woe unto them they but dug their own graves, for
the elephant paid him homage and becoming turbulent de-
stroyed the evil-doers themselves. The Saint invokes the Lord.
He visualises Siva and being merged in the form automati-
cally, describes his Ishta Murti.
"I am His man, with sandal paste as white as lime, whose
head the crescent moon and the jewel adorn, whose body of
coral hue is covered with the elephant skin, a snake as big as the
one on which Krishna rests adorns his neck and on his crest is
the mighty Ganga. I fear nothing, nothing can frighten me."
Appar's faith seems to be the type that could move moun-
tains. He knew he loved. Siva was the rock of his faith.
Even this would not deter the Jains of their evil determina-
tion to liquidate the saint. They got him tied to a boulder and
pushed him into the sea. This final and last test of the Lord
l
-
proved the calibre of Appar's faith. He says, "Come whatever

may. I shall always sing the Lord's glories," and invokes Siva
with that ever-famous hymn, that immortalises the Divine
Pancha Akshara 'Namah Sivaya' the ambrosia of the Saivaites.
"The Brahman! His name is my succour! As effulgent as
the sky, if one does but surrender oneself unto his Lotus-Feet,
even if one were tied to a boulder and thrown into the sea, one's
unfailing saviour is His Name 'Namah Sivaya'."
He floats on this boulder and the waves carry him to Thiru
Pathri Puliyur. Overwhelmed by the Lord's mercy, he sings:
"He of Pathiri Puliyurthe beloved ofthe celestials, was my
invisible guide; He who delights in creating the three worlds is
in my heart; He is my mother, my father, my sisters and brothers
and all."
Later he visited various temples and reached
Thiruthoonaganar where he invokes Lord Siva to impress the
marks of the sacred bull and Trident on his body to purify it of
the sin of having been to a Jain.
"There is a request to be made at Thy golden feet; if Thou
desireth me to live, impress the mark of Thy Trident on my
body, O Lord Thiruthoonaganar of Pennar Kadanthar."
Gradually Appar's vision expands; from seeing Siva only
in images, he rises to a stage of seeing Him as the substratum of
the Universe. In Chidambaram he perceives Siva as the All or
more than All.
"He is Vishnu, Brahma, Fire, Air, Water, Mountain, the
great, the presiding Deity of Puliyur; that day which passeth
without my singing His glories, is not a day."
He is more and more absorbed in the Lord, to the extent of
rising above his physical consciousness.
In Vetharanyam he along with Jnanasambandhar, finds the
main door of the temple closed and the side-door used by the
worshippers. Requested by Sambandhar he sings:
"Thou Lord with her, of the musical voice (Nada Sakti), as

Thy one half, Thou of Maraikadu, whom the world adores, open
the doors that Thou may be seen with these eyes." He continues:
"Thou that crushed Ravana with Thy Toe, hast thou no
mercy, O Lord! Indweller of Maraikaadu overgrown with
Punnai trees! Have the doors opened, thatThoumaystbe seen."
The service Appar took upon himself was to sing the infi-
nite glories of Lord Siva, and stimulate Bhakti in all whom he
came across. At the final stages he bloomed into a Parabhakta
who saw the Lord in everything.
"Thou art the celestial regions, the earth, the sky, the erudi-
tion yearned for by the ocean girdleth world, the eye that
perceiveth the seven planes, the very pupil in that eye, the vi-
sion, the beloved music of the Bhaktas, the ambrosia of their
hymns, the Light Supreme, the sight that saved me."
Appar at best was an explorer in the spiritual world. There
is no evidence of his soul merging into the Being of God; to
Navukkarasar Siva was always a separate entity worthy of his
adoration. He might have known the noumena intellectually,
but all his experiences were of the phenomena. Even in his last
verse he experiences God as separate from himself, i.e., he had
not succeeded in annihilating his mind.
"Unto Thy feet I come, Virtuous Lord!"
Saint Manickavachagar
He is a mystic who is one with the cosmos, who realises
that his consciousness is of Divine Source, nay, Divinity Itself,
enclosed in a physical form, with a mission in life that can only
be fulfilled by meeting the conditions and carrying out the
world-duties and obligations. The realisation of the Soul-iden-
tity of God and man is the mystic's victory in his arduous
search. Discovering that reflective experience alone gives ac-
cess to a deeper life and that every thought attains the dignity of
a subtle communication between him and the Divine ministra-
tions, he begins to break down the numerous physical and men-

tal limitations. God and Soul can only meet in the sanctuary oI
Consciousness which is Truth itself. Perception of the Divine
opulence is an experience of the inner eye. Numerous such ex-
periences are immortalised in the Psalms that the Saiva Saints
of South India poured forth in their moments of ecstasy.
Saint Manickavachagar, that glorious Bhakta, one of the
most eminent of God's prophets the world all over, after that fa-
mous initiation under the 'Kuruntha' tree, makes an impression
of his Guru's Feet and continues offering his worship to the sa-
cred feet. One good day he feels that the Lord is merciful to
those who sing His praises, even if they did not love Him and
expresses his ecstasy thus:
"The peak that bestows unsatiating joy, Siva, He who for-
ever resides in my heart, by His Grace I worship His Feet."
"Thou hast melted me like water, Thou That art my very
life." This is Manickavasagar's very experience.
In Puliyur this Saint loses himself in Siva and bursts forth
with the "Keerthi Thiru Agaval."
Manickavachagar goes on the king's errand to buy horses
for his master. On the way under the Kurutha tree, he sees a
Guru along with his disciples. He forgets his errand, surrenders
himselfunto the Guru, who, he later finds, is the Lord Himself.
"You had come as a Brahmin and revealed to me the celes-
tial planes."
The saint had spent all the money he had brought with him
to buy horses, on the temple. When the king inquired as to when
the horses would be brought, he pleads to the Lord, Who Him-
self appears with the horses as a horse-trader. These horses tum
into jackals the same night. The king imprisons the minister and
subjects him to various tortures. The Vaigai river overllows and
inundates the Pandya kingdom. All subjects were ordered to
build a bund. An old woman had none to do her share of the
work. The Lord Himself offers His services to her in retum to
the spoilt 'pithrs' that she had made. All 'pittus' were unsalable.
He, the Lord, ate it all but did no work. Pandyan gets furious and
hits Him on His back. The whole universe experiences this pain,
revealing that the Lord is the substratum of the universe. The
king realises the Divine Nature of his minister and prays to him
for his forgiveness. These were a sequence of events following
Manickavachagar's initiation. Every experience was as real to
him as is hunger to the poor or pain to the sick.
Again he says:
"I saw Him, the Ambrosia that bestows mercy. I experi-
enced His Grace; He walked on earth, (for me). The Ancient,
beyond description."
Manickavachagar realised that "He is beyond thought. He
is not within the experience of the senses; He who created the
five elements, He who pervades the universe, as does the aroma
of a flower, but He, even He, reveals Himself to me today, saves
me from being born again." The saint experiences this state of
consciousness. He goes on describing how the Lord is beyond
the reach of even Brahma, Vishnu, etc.
"To me He is as real as the Amalaka fruit in my palm."
A concrete experience the saint is unable to bear: "Praise
Thee, how shall I describe this! Is this right on your part? What
have you done to me, I do not know; Oh, what Grace you have
bestowed on me!"
He experiences a state of consciousness beyond words;
"Heart overflows, too deep for words. You have made Ambro-
sia seethe through every pore."
"He made the Ambrosia flow through my very bones."
Again, in Thirusathagam, he expresses the way in which
he experiences Siva's Grace.
"He showed me the invisible, made me hear the
unhearable; protected me from being bom again."
"His Grace removed my fear, made me His devotee. He

ruled me such that the Ambrosia has melted my heart."
"The heart melts like wax in fire; I cry, I dance, I sing, I
praise; stubbornly I hold on to Thee, loving Thee incessantly,
the Oceanic Love melts my heart, hairs stand on ends, the world
laughs, thinking I am possessed.
"I weep and cry like a calved cow; I do not even dream of
another God (when) You appear to me on earth and initiate me."
The Thiruvachagam abounds with Manickavachagar's re-
membrances of his ecstasies. God to him was a concrete experi-
ence.
Chapter Twelve
EXPERIENCES OF SOME CHRISTIAN AND

MUSLIM MYSTICS
Experiences of Some Christian Mystics
I
The name of the great apostle Saint Paul was Saul. Being
the youngest child, his parents affectionately called him Paul. A
staunch Pharisee, he was a strict adherent of his Biblical law,
and hated everyone of the "Jewish Christians" who failed to ob-
serve the prescriptions and prohibitions of the Mosaic Code. He
persecuted them. On one occasion he watched the stoning of a
Christian by the name of Stephen. Instead of expressing pity at
this tragic spectacle, he resolved in buming hatred to erase the
entire sect of Christians. With this determination he set out to
the city of Damascus; but on the way his soul was possessed by
a very remarkable experience. In the twenty-second chapter of
the Acts of the Holy Bible, he tells us: "And it came to pass,
that, as I made my journey, and was come night unto Damascus
about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light
round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice
saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I an-
swered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of
Nazareth, whom thou persecutest: And they that were with me
beheld indeed the light, but they heard not the voice of him that
spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord
said unto me, arise, and go into Damascus. And there it shall be
told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And
when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the
hand of them that were with me,I came into Damascus."
(20e)
In the twelfth chapter of the II Corinthians, Saint Paul

gives the character of his revelation, thus: "It is not expedient
for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago,
(whether in the body I know not or whether out of the body I
know not; God knoweth) such a one caught up even to the third
heaven. And I know such a man (whether in the body or apart
from the body I know not; God knoweth) how that he was
caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it
is not lawful for a man to utter. On behalf of such a one will I
glory; but on mine own behalf I will not glory, save in my weak-
nesses. For if I should desire to glory I shall not be foolish; for I
shall speak the truth, but I forbear, lest any man should account
of me above that which he seeth me to be, or heareth from me.
And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revela-
tions-wherefore that I should not be exalted overmuch there
was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to
buffet me. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might
depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for
thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ
may rest upon me."
Paul says in Galatians, that the gospel he preached came to
him through revelations of Jesus Christ. "But I certi$ you,
brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after
man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but
by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Intensive poetic insight enabled the great Italian poet to
come to experience visions and revelations spiritual in charac-
ter. In his Divine Comedy, Dante says: "The glory of Him who
moves everything penetrates through the universe and shines in
one part more and in another less. In the heaven that receives
most of its light I have been, and have seen things which he who
descends from there above neither knows how nor is able to re-
count." "On a sudden day seemed to be added to day as if he
EXPERIENCES OF SOME MYSTICS 2t1
who is able had adorned the heaven with another sun.,'

"Beatrice (Divine Love) was standing with her eyes wholly
fixed on the eternal wheels, and on her I fixed my eyes from
there above removed. Looking at her, I inwardly became such
as Glaucus became on tasting of the herb which made him con-
sort in the sea of the othergods. Transhumanising cannotbe sig-
nified in words; therefore, let example suffice for him to whom
grace reserves experience. If I were only what of me thou didst
last create, O love that governest the heavens, thou knowest,
who with the light didst lift me." (Dante: Paradise. Translated
by Charles Eliot Norton.)
St. John of the Cross (John Yepes) took to excessive aus-
terities, quite early in life. During the twenties ofhis life, he suf-
fered much anguish of mind and experienced violent
temptations. His austerities were too rigorous and he preserved
himself in purity and devotion to God. At the beginning of the
thirties of his life, he experienced a paradise of interior delights
and heavenly sweetness. Whenever he came from prayer, a cer-
tain brightness always emanated from his face. When for adher-
ing to some monastic forms, he was put into prison, on a certain
night his cell became filled with heavenly light. When the day
of his release from the prison was drawing close, he heard from
the light surrounding him, the Lord say: "John, I am here, be not
afraid; I will set thee free." He said: "The soul of one who serves
God always swims in joy, always keeps a holiday, is always in
her palace ofjubilation, ever singing with fresh ardour and fresh
pleasure, a new song ofjoy and love." Of his entry into divine
awareness, Saint John of the Cross says in his poems, "I en-
tered, but I knew not where, and there I stood not knowing, all
science transcending. I knew not where I entered, for when I
stood within, not knowing where I was, I heard great things.
What I heard I will not tell; I was there as one who knew not, all
science transcending." "I stooi enraptured in ecstasy, beside
myself, and in my every sense no sense remained. My spirit was
2r2 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
endowed with understanding, understanding nought, all science

transcending."
About the poet and engraver, William Blake, William
Rosseffi writes in the Prefatory Memoir to The Poetical Works
of William Blake: "Rapt in a passionate yearning, he realised,
even on this earth and in his mortal body, a species of Nirvana:
his whole faculty, his whole personality, the very essence of his
mind and mould, attained to absorption into his ideal ultimate,
into that which Dante's profound phrase designates "il Ben
dell' intellectto." Both in his artistic productions and in his po-
etry, intuition has played a very large part. He derived his con-
ceptions from supersensuous realms of thought. He says that he
wrote his poem The Jerusalem "from immediate dictation,
twelve or sometimes twenty or thirty lines at a time, without
premeditation, and even against my will." Its authors, he main-
tains, are in eternity.
Much that Walt Whitman wrote savours of the purely spir-
itual in thoughi. His was d peculiar mystic temperament. There
is that beautiful spiritual interrogation of Whitman:
Hast never come to thee an hour,
A sudden gleam divine, precipitating, bursting
all these bubbles, fashions, wealth?
And there is that fine prose passage: "And again lo! the
pulsations in all matter, all spirit, throbbing for ever-the eter-
nal beats, eternal systole and dyastole of life in
things-wherefrom I feel and know that death is not the ending,
as we thought, but rather the real beginning, and that nothing
ever is or can be lost nor even die, nor soul nor matter." Ad-
dressing himself to God he says:
Thou knowest my manhood's solemn and visionary meditations
O I am sure they really came from Thee,
The urge, the ardour, the unconquerable will,
The potent, felt, interior command, stronger than words,
A message from the Heavens, whispering to me even in sleep,
EXPERINECES OF SOME MYSTICS 213
These sped me on.

One effort more, my altar this bleak sand;
That Thou O God my life hast lighted,
With ray of light, steady, ineffable, vouchsafed of Thee,
Light rare untellable, lighting the very light,
Beyond all signs, descriptions, languages;
For that O God, be it my latest word, here on my knees,
Old, poor, and paralysed, I think Thee.
My hands, my limbs grew nerveless,
My brain feels rack'd, bewilder'd,
Let the old timbers part I will not part,
I will cling fast to Thee O God, though the waves buffet me,
Thee, Thee at least I know.
William Wordsworth too had had his mystic moods.
And in that blessed mood
In which the burden of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened:-that serene and blessed mood
In which the affections gently lead us oD,-
Until the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and becomes a living soul.
He had felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thought; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man-
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.
Alfred Tennyson had had his own experiences of meta-

physical and mystical nature. In the Ancient Sage we find this
passage:
More than once when I
Sat all alone, revolving in myself
The word that is the symbol of myself,
The mortal limit of the Self was loosed,
And passed into the nameless, as a cloud,
Melts into heaven. I touch'd my limbs, the limbs
Were strange, not mine-and yet no shade of doubt
But utter clearness, and thro' loss of Self
The gain of such large life as matched with ours
Were sun to spark-unshadowable in words,
Themselves but shadows of a shadow-world.
In the second volume of Lord Alfred Tennyson: A Memoir
by His Son, there is this passage: "He said again, with deep feel-
ing in January, 1869: Yes it it true there are moments when the
flesh is nothing to me, when I feel and know the flesh to be the
vision, God and the spiritual-the only real and true. Depend
upon it the spiritual is ttre real; it belongs to one more than the
hand and the foot. You may tell me that my hand and my foot
are only imaginary symbols of my existence. I could believe
you, but you never, never can convince me that the I is not an
eternal reality, and that the spiritual is not the true and real part
of me. These words he spoke with much passionate earnestness
that a solemn silence fell on us as he left the room."
II
To the world of general religious experience, the contribu-
tions of Christian Mystics are as remarkable as they are varied.
The history of Western Mysticism is studded with the most illu-
minating examples of those great personages who have shifted
their lives, through unique subjective individual experiences,
from a self-centred existence to a world of rich God-centred liv-
ing. They had cast aside whatever separated them from the
deepest Ground of their inner being; and, they may be charac-

terised in the famous phrase of Plotinus, the great, Neoplatonic
philosopher of Alexandria, as those who sought the "flight of
the Alone to the Alone." Many are the forms of illumination
they came to attain; and many too are the enthralling narrations
of their conversions, their transformations, the emancipated
conditions of their soul.
The soul of Plotinus was consumed by a passion for the
transcendental Reality. His disciple Prophyry claims that on
four occasions he saw his master rapt in ecstatic union with "the
One". In an ecstatic condition of oneness with God, "the soul,"
Plotinus maintains, "neither sees, nor distinguishes by seeing,
nor imagines that there are two things; but becomes as it were
another thing, ceases to be itself and belongs to itself. It belongs
to God and is one with Him like two concentric circles: concur-
'ring they are one; but when they separate, they are two."
Of his glimpse of the Godhead, a great saint, Augustine,
says in the seventh book of his Confession "My mind withdrew
its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contra-
dictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what
that light was wherein it was bathed... And thus, with the flash
of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is."
Referring to his preconverted period he says in the same book,
"I heard Thy voice from on high crying unto me, 'I am the Food
of the full-grown: grow, and then thou shalt feed on Me. Nor
shalt thou change Me into thy substance as thou changest the
food of thy flesh, but thou shalt be changed into mine'."
The founder of the order of the Franciscan Monks, Saint
Francis of Assisi, had a strange vision in which he saw an angle
descend from heaven, with the marks of crucifixion on his
body, and that he himself felt the pains of crucifixion at the
same moment, and preserved the same marks in his flesh. This
experience had altered his entire internal life and heightened his
transcendental consciousnss.
2t6 SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
A remembrance of the experience of his individual soul in

its participation of the Nature of the Divine Being, made
Meister Eckhart, the great Dominican scholar burst into 3 crY,
"Oh, wonder of wonders, when I think of the union the soul has
with God! He makes the enraptured soul to flee out of herself,
for she is no more satisfied with anything that can be named.
The spring of Divine Love flows out of the soul and draws her
out of herself into the unnamed Being, into her first source,
which is God alone."
How very indispensable is the condition of absolute hu-
mility and self-surrender for the fiights of mystical experiences
of the highest order, the frair-preacher of Strassburg, John
Tauler, makes it clear when he says, everything depends on "a
fathomless sinking in a fathomless nothingness" He describes
the mystic's union with the Divine as finding himself to be
"simply in God."
A devoted follower of Meister Eckhart, the blessed Henry
Suso was very susceptible to extraordinary visions. One day he
was gripped in an ecstasy which lasted for half an hour to an
hour. When heavy with suffering, devoid of all consolation, and
in a mood of total surrender, of a sudden 'his soul was rapt in his
body, or out of his body;' then did he see and hear that which no
tongue can express. Was it day or night? He knew not. "It was as
it were, a manifestation of sweetness of Eternal Life in the sen-
sations of silence and of rest." He said, "If that which I see and
feel be not the Kingdom of Heaven, I know not what it can be:
for it is very sure that the endurance of all possible pains were
but a poor price to pay for the eternal possessions ofso great a
joy." He exclaimed, "Oh, my heart's joy, never shall my soul
forget this hour!"
Considered as one ofthe greatest mystics, the blessed John
Ruysbroeck has left in his writings such exquisite passages on
the true relation of the soul of man with the being of the Divine
Lord, as the Heavenly Father "says to each soul in His infinite
loving kindness, 'Thou art Mine and I am thine: I am thine and

Thou art Mine, for I have chosen thee for all eternity'!"
Known as "the mother of thousands of souls," Saint
Catherine of Siena had a peculiar receptivity for the onset of vi-
sions and ecstasies. The Voice of the Divine within her deeper
Self says, "How glorious is that soul which has indeed been able
to pass from the stormy ocean to Me, the Sea Pacific, and in that
Sea, which is Myself, to fill the pitcher of her heart." She had
had such ecstatic experiences wherein "the hand does not touch
and the feet walk not, because the members are bound with the
sentiment of Love." A great transformation came upon her,
when having heard the Divine Voice say to her, "Now will I
wed thy soul, which shall ever be conjoined and united to Me!",
she experienced oneness with the Divine, a state ofmystic mar-
riage.
Another remarkable woman of mystical experience, Saint
Catherine of Genoa, would, many times, "hide herself in some
secret place and there stay: and being sought she was found
upon the ground, her face hidden in her hands, altogether be-
yond herself, in such a state of joy as is beyond thought or
speech: and being-called-yea, even in a loud voice, she heard
not." "Sometimes," she says, "I do not see or feel myselfto have
either soul, body, heart, will or taste, or any other thing except
Pure Love."
The founder of the Society of Jesus, Saint Ignatius Loyola,
saw in two of his visions, "the most Holy Trinity as it were un-
der the likeness of a triple plectrum or of three spinet keys" and
"the Blessed Virgin without distinction of members." George
Fox, the founder of the Quakers, had received in his
twenty-fourth year, an illumination of the hidden truth of
things, a knowledge of the fundamental essence of all that is. He
describes, "Now was I come up in spirit through the flaming
sword into the Paradise of God. All things were new: and all the
creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what
words can utter. Great things did the Lord lead me unto, and
wonderful depths were opened unto me beyond what can by
words be declared; but as people come into subjection to the
Spirit of God, and grow up in the image and power of the Al-
mighty, they may receive the word of wisdom that opens all
things, and come to know the hidden unity in the Eternal Be-
ing)'
Jacob Boehme was a God-intoxicated man. Even while he
('he
was very young, a divine illumination encompassed him;
was surrounded by a divine Light for seven days and stood in
the highest contemplation and Kingdom of Joy." On a second
occasion he entered into an inward ecstasy as a result of gazing
fixedly upon a bumished pewter dish. It seemed to him as if he
could look into the very soul of all things. His own statement is
that he "looked into the deepest foundations of things." His vi-
sion of the transcendental reality informing the heart of the phe-
nomenal world, was a frequent experience. He says he "saw and
knew the Being of all beings, the Byss and the Abyss." Delin-
eating the union of the soul with the Godhead, he tells us, "I
give you an earthly similitude of this. Behold a bright flaming
piece of iron, which of itself is dark and black, and the fire so
penetrateth and shineth through the iron, that it giveth light.
Now, the iron doth not cease to be; it is iron still; and the source
(or property) of the fire retaineth its own property; it doth not
take the iron into it, but it penetrateth (and shineth) through the
iron; and it is iron then as well as before, free in itself: and so
also is the source or property of thefire.In such a manner is the
soul in the Deity; the Deity penetrateth through the soul, and
dwelleth in the soul, yet the soul doth not comprehend the De-
ity, but the Deity comprehendeth the soul, but doth not alter it
(from being a soul) but only giveth it the divine source (or prop-
erty) of the Majesty."
EXPERIENCES OF SOME MYSTICS 219
Experiences of Jesus Christ

The Gospel according to Saint Mark tells us that Jesus
came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptised of John in Jor-
dan. "And straightaway coming up out of the water, he saw the
heaven opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him;
and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my be-
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the
spirit driveth him into the wilderness and he was there in the
wilderness for forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the
wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him."
In St. Mathew, chapter seventeen, we read: "And after six
days Jesus taketh Peter, James and John his brother, and
bringeth them up into an high mountain apart. And was transfig-
ured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his rai-
ment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter,
and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou
wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for
Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright
cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud,
which said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased; hear ye him." And when the disciples heard it, they fetl
on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched
them and said, fuise, and be not afraid. And when they had
lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as
they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, say-
ing, "Tell the vision to no man until the son of man be risen
again from the dead."
Christ-Consciousness
The Golden Key of Divine Wisdom is never found in the
unillumined mortal mind. We discover it only when our con-
sciousness has risen above the unawakened little "I-me-mine"
self lost in the dark fog of materialistic values, when our con-
sciousness has become fused with the Light of the Soul.
It is only through the Light of the Soul that we are able to
enter into the illuminating Cosmic Awareness, not mere intel-
lectual assent or theory. Once awakened in the Light of the
Soul, we behold the same Light everywhere, in all things,
whether animate or inanimate, and instead of separative differ-
ences, we see the Etemal Oneness and Sameness behind all
evolving entities.
In the light of the transformed consciousness it is realised
that we are all of the same immortal divine parentage, that we
are all undying golden flames of the same holy, consuming,
life-giving fire of the Reality. The all-pervading awareness of
the illumined consciousness reveals that centre and periphery,
beginning and ending, big and little, gain and loss, are one. It is
a spontaneous rhythm that flows of itself in the effortless effort
of a calm, waveless, infinite ocean of illumined space, though,
at the same time, centred in a profound, inner, all-enveloping,
motionless Silence.
In defining the highly abstruse and controversial meaning
of Nirvana, the Buddha taught that it is that state wherein "the
Self-realisation of Noble Wisdom is fully entered into, where
the manifestation of the essential and intrinsic oneness of all life
through perfect Love expresses itself for the enlightenment of
all, where compassion for others transcends all thoughts of
self." Christ Himself teaches the same truth when he says that
he who loses his life, the fleeting little grasping life of the self-
ish personality, shall find it in the immortal life of the soul unto
Etemity. This Christ-consciousness is achieved through spiri-
tual practices and by living the teachings of Jesus Christ.
(Mark Halpern)
EXPERIENCES OF SOME MYSTICS 22r
Experiences of Muslim Mystics

The question of perfection of man, according to Muslim
mystics might be answered in different ways. In a word, a per-
fect man may be defined as a man who has fully realised his es-
sential oneness with the Divine Being in whose likeness he is
made. The essence of Muslim saintship is nothing less than di-
vine illumination, immediate vision and knowledge of things
unseen and unknown, when the veil of sense is suddenly lifted
and the conscious self passes away in the overwhelming glory
of true Light.
According to the publication titled "Persian Mystics":
"Muslim mystics declare life to be a journey over an un-
known path which is as strait and narrow as arazor. There is no
other light but that of faith to guide the seeker, no sustenance
but devotion. The track ahead cannot be seen, going is uncer-
tain, and pitfalls await the unwary. The seeker must travel in the
dark. He must not cry for a candle to grope in the gloom or seek
the rush light of reason. He must go steadily forward in the hope
of reaching a great illumination which awaits him at the jour-
ney's end. It would profit little to dwell on the system of Sufism.
Volumes have been written in Persian and other languages on
the subject. It is not a system really, it is a way of life. It is be-
yond the range of reason. It cannot be comprehended but it can
be realised."
(Dr. M.H. Syed)
APPENDIX
Why God Created Man
(An Anecdote)
Sri Thakur Singhji asked Swamiji, "swamiji! Why has
God created Man?"
"In order to realise Him," came Swamiji's quick reply.
"If it was to realise God that God created Man, then why
did He create Man, separate him from Himself, at all?"
"That is a transcendental question. It is beyond the power
of the little, finite, intellect to understand these transcendental
truths. You will have to sell the intellect, purchase intuition, and
then you will know the Why of creation-not till then. To ask
for an explanation before that is like putting the cart before the
horse. You know that somehow you have been created. You are
ever hankering after absolute peace, absolute bliss and immor-
tality. You know that these things cannot be had in the finite,
perishable objects of this world. They can be had only in God or
the Absolute. Even this incessant desire for peace and happi-
ness only indicate that the Self is of the nature of Absolute
Peace and Bliss. There is a constant inner urge to know more
and more, to live eternally, and to enjoy perpetual happiness. In
his ignorance man does not understand that this itself is proof
that there is a constant urge in him to realise the Self, to realise
God. That is man's foremost duty. There is no use trying to find
an answer to the Why of creation: what is most important is to
do something to realise God-and that something is Sadhana.
"But, man does not want to do Sadhana! Most of the peo-
ple are satisfied with the little objects of the senses' They do not
(222)
APPENDIX 223
even stop to think what their duty really is-as you have begun
to think. They take birth, earn wealth, enjoy and suffer, and then
they die. It is only a Viveki who will begin to enquire into the
nature of things, and aspire for the Eternal. When that Etemal
Truth is realised, this creation appears as the Sport of the Lord.
Therefore, in the Brahma Sutras it is declared that the Supreme
Being created this universe out of mere sport-with no other
motive.It is the Lila of the Lord. Why do they say it is His Lila?
It is only to show that it is beyond the grasp of man's little intel-
lect. Do, do, do something to realise the Lord. The heart must
expand. Faith must be deep-rooted. People should share what
they have with others. The spirit of renunciation must be awak-
ened. All good qualities like compassion, selflessness,
egolessness, must be cultivated. Then these Transcendental
Questions will be answered-by intuition."
Pradhana is not Brahman: When the visitor asked, "Is
Pradhana to be taken as Brahman?" Swamiji replied, "No.
Pradhana is Prakriti, Avyaktam or Maya. It is not Brahman.
Should a Chaprasi be taken as a king?"
Seeds and Fruits of Yoga

Path of Karma Yoga
Selfless work (service of humanity) is the seed. Narayana
Bhava (feeling that all creatures are manifestations of the Lord
and I am serving Lord in all beings) is the shower. Expansion of
the heart is the flower. Purity of the heart is the fruit.
Path of Bhakti Yoga
Devotion is the seed. Faith is the root. Service of
Bhagavatas is the shower. Communion with the Lord is the
fruit.
Nishtha is the seed. Bhava is the plant. Mahabhava is the
flower. Prema or Divine Love for the Lord is the fruit.
Path of Hatha Yoga

Asana (pose) is the seed. Pranayama (restraint of the
breath) is the root. Regular practice is the shower. Good health
is the flower. One-pointed mind (Ekagrata) is the fruit.
Path of Raja Yoga
Yama (self-restraint), Niyam a, etc., are the seeds ; Dharana
(concentration) is the root; Isvarapranidhana (self-surrender to
the Lord) is the shower. Dhyana (meditation) is the flower-
Asamprajnata Samadhi (superconscious state) is the fruit.
Path ofJnana Yoga
Viveka (discrimination) is the seed. Yairagya (dispassion)
is the root. Guru's Grace is the shower. Brahma-Jnana (knowl-
edge of the Self) is the flower. Moksha (liberation) is the fruit-
Philosophical Truths
1. Philosophy is the way, not simply of explaining what

ought to be, but of directty experiencing that which really
exists.
2. Philosophy is an examination of the implications of
experience.
3. Life is an experience meant to train the individual for
a higher, deeper and more expanded state of existence, through
the experience of the results of actions.
4. Self-realisation is not the acquirement of something
new, but is the discovery of the forgotten Treasure ever present
within.
5. Philosophy is the expression of the innerurge to know
the Self, to realise what really is.
6. Truth is eternal life and existence. Untruth is change,
decay and death.
7. Truth is unconditioned by any other experience, save
its own.
APPENDIX
8. In this universe there is but one Law, the Law of Cause

and Effect.
9. The good and evil of this world are the reactions of the
wants of individuals.
10. None really loves anything for its own sake but for
one's own sake.
1 1. Life is impossible without death. Death is another as-
pect of life.
12. Knowledge is not an action. Knowledge is Being.
13. You cannot reach yourself or attain yourself or move
towards yourself, except by knowing yourself.
14. There is no matter apart from its qualities, and no
mind apart from its functions.
1 5. There is no such thing as accident or change or fate or
luck, except only the results of one's own previous actions.

16. Perception is, in effect, the exhaustion of a desire.
Contact is not a method of spending up a desire but a means of
speeding it up.
17. All creation is the family of God.
A Renowned Army Officer's Experiences

One of the top-ranking officers ofthe IndianArmy is also a
highly evolved Yogi. He is very, very regular in his meditation
and study of scriptures; he used to meditate even on the battle-
field. He nanates the following interesting experiences during
meditation:
"A short while after I took up the practice of meditation in
all earnestness, I had avery strange experience. I always sat for
my Dhyana, with my hands on my knees, palms facing up-
wards, and fingers in chinmudra. I invariably found that after a
few minutes of meditation, my forearms began to "turn round"
so that the palms face downwards and what was more astonish-
ing, one or the other of the arms would slowly flex itself at the
elbow, that arm would raise itself, till the palm (with the fingers
still in chinmudra) would almost touch the chest'
"Ihave heard it said that the Yogi, during meditation, feels
light as a feather. The physical feeling of lightness might be
caused by the following of phenomenon: during meditation, the
back gets straightened up, and the spinal chord inside the spinal
column hangs without being unnaturally bent or pressed against
the vertebrae. This is bound to give a feeling of lightness- I have
always felt that as meditation gets deeper and deeper, one does
not even wish to breathe. The breath thins out almost impercep-
tibly. Then I feel as though I am physically lifted up from the
ground. I don't disturb myself to ascertain if I am suspended in
mid-air. But the following phenomenon makes me feel that per-
haps there is an actual levitation. I sit for my Dhyana in a
half-Siddhasana posture. Now, after a few minutes of deep
meditation I feel that the ankles have parted from each other and
that the feet tend to 'drop down.'
"The third experience is this: what we wish for at certain
moments come true. I have experienced this on several occa-
sions, even when very great personalities are concemed, who
hold their own opinion strongly. The thought that arises in our
mind somehow influences them. I have only one explanation
for it. At the moment we are very, very close to God. Then the
thought arises in our mind. The proximity of God enables the
wish to "drop into His Lup," as it were, and form part of His Di-
vine Will. Then His Will works itself out and our wish is auto-
matically fulfilled, without our striving for it even mentally.
The Yogi at this moment does not want to influence anyone and
does not even want his prayer to be heard by God. He merely
wishes it, and the wish is "taken over" by Him as part of His
will.
APPENDIX 221
Spiritual Experiences
Balls of white lights, coloured lights
Sun, stars, during meditation
Divya Gandha, Divya taste,
Vision of the Lord in the dream,
Extraordinary, superhuman experience,
Vision of the Lord in the human form,-
Sometime appearing in the form of a Brahmin,
Or old man, leper, outcaste in rags,-
Talking to the Lord,
Are the preliminary spiritual experiences.
Then comes cosmic consciousness or Savikalpa Samadhi
Which Arjuna experienced.
Eventually the aspirant enters
Into Nirvikalpa Samadhi,
Wherein there is neither seer nor seen,
Wherein one sees nothing, hears nothing,
Wherein one becomes one with the Eternal.
Song of Sadhana
(Thars: Sunaja)
Sitaram Sitaram Sitaram Bol
Radheyshyam Radheyshyam Radheyshyam Bol.
Sadhana is steadying the mind and fixing it on the Lord.
It gives freedom, bliss, peace and immortality.
Friends! Plod on patiently like the farmer at his plough,
Be persevering, be steady in your daily Sadhana.
Destroy Tandri, Alasya and building castles in the air,
Take light food and drive off sleepiness.
Be regular in your Japa, Kirtan and meditation,
Regularity in Sadhana is of paramount importance.
Just as you separate the pith from the Munja grass,
Separate this Atman from the five Koshas.
Peace, cheerfulness, contentment and fearlessness
Indicate that you are advancing in the spiritual path.
II
Purification, concentration, reflection, meditation,
Illumination, identifi cation, absorption, salvation.
Inspiration, illumination, revelation
Rapfure, ecstasy, vision of Truth
These are the experiences in meditation.
--#e
TWENW IMPORTANT
SPIRITUAL I NSTRUCTIONS
1. Get up at 4 a.m. daily; This is Brahmamuhurta which is
extremely favourable for meditation on God.
2. Asana: Sit on Padma, Siddha or Sukha Asana for Japa
and meditation for half an hour, facing the East or the North. In-
crease the period gradually to three hours. Do Sirshasana and
Sarvangasana for keeping up Brahmacharya and health. Take
light physical exercises such as walking, etc., regularly. Do
twenty Pranayamas.
3. Japa: Repeat any Mantra as pure Om or Om Namo
Narayanaya, Om Namah Sivaya, Om Namo Bhagavate
Vasudevaya, Om Sri Saravanabhavaya Namah, Sita Ram, Sri
Ram, Hari Om, or Gayatri, according to your taste or inclina-
tion, from 108 to 21,600 times daily.
4. Dietetic Discipline: Take Sattvic food, Suddha Ahara.
Give up chillies, tamarind, garlic, onion, sour articles, oil, mus-
tard, asafoetida. Observe moderation in diet (Mitahara). Do not
overload the stomach. Give up those things which the mind
likes best for a fortnight in a year. Eat simple food. Milk and
fruits help concentration. Take food as medicine to keep the life
going. Eating for enjoyment is sin. Give up salt and sugar for a
month. You mustbe able to live on rice, Dhal and bread without
any chutney. Do not ask for extra salt for Dhal and sugar for tea,
coffee or milk.
5. Have a separate meditation-room under lock and key.
6. Charity: Do charity regularly, every month, or even
daily according to your means, say six paisa per rupee.
7. Svadhyaya: Study systematically the Gita, the
Ramayana, the Bhagavata, Vishnu-Sahasranama,
Lalita-Sahasranama, Aditya Hridaya, the Upanishads or the
Yoga Vasishtha, the Bible, the Zend Avesta, the Koran, the
(22e)
Tripitakas, the Granth Sahib, etc., from half an hour to one hour
daily, and have Suddha Vichara.
8. Brahmacharya: Preserve the vital force (Veerya)
very, very carefully. Veerya is God in motion or manifesta-
tion-Vibhuti. Veerya is all power. Veerya is all money'
Veerya is the essence of life, thought and intelligence'
9. Prayer Slokas: Get by heart some prayer Slokas,
Stotras and repeat them as soon as you sit in the Asana before
starting Japa ormeditation. This will elevate the mind quickly.
10. Satsanga: Have Satsanga. Give up bad company,
smoking, meat and alcoholic liquors entirely. Do not develop
any evil habits.
I 1. Fast on Ekadasi: Fast on Ekadasi or live on milk and
fruits only.
12. Japa Mala: Have a Japa Mala (rosary) round your
neck or in your pocket or underneath your pillow at night'
13. Mouna: Observ! Mouna (vow of silence) for a couple
of hours daily.
14. Speak the Truth: Speak the truth at all costs' Speak a
little. Speak sweetlY.
15. Reduce your wants: Reduce your wants' If you have
four shirts, reduce the number to three or two. Lead a happy,
contented life. Avoidunnecessary worry. Have plain living and
high thinking.
16. Never hurt anybody: Never hurt anybody (ahimsa
paramo dharmah). Control anger by love, Kshama (forgive-
ness) and Daya (comPassion).
17. Do not depend upon servants: Do not depend upon
servants. Self-reliance is the highest of all virtues'
18. Self-analysis: Think of the mistakes you have com-
mitted during the iourse of the day, just before retiring to bed
(setf-analysis). Keep daily diary and self-correction register.
Do not brood over Past mistakes.
L(
TWENTY IMPORTANT SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTIONS 231
19. Fulfil duties: Rememberthat death is awaiting you at

every moment. Never fail to fulfil your duties. Have pure con-
duct (Sadachara).
20. Surrender to God: Think of God as soon as you wake
up and just before you go to sleep. Surrender yourself'com-
pletely to God (Saranagati).
This is the essence of all spiritual Sadhanas.

This will lead you to Moksha.
AII these Niyamas or spirifual canons must be rigidly observed.
You must not give leniency to the mind.
ruiluililffilfifiilililtwffitill

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SPIRITUAL

Sri Swami Sivananda

FirstEdition: 1957 Fifth Edition: 1986

@The Divine Life Trust Society

Published by Swami Padmanabhananda for

(e) SELF REALISATION

Other Psychic Powers t4t

An Anecdote on Spiritual Experience . 158

Seven Stages ofJnana 163

The Sage's Experience t70

NATURE AND STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

ance, clairaudience, psychometry, telepathy, thought-reading,

whole cosmic consciousness. Here Saguna Brahman is identi-

Four Kinds of Gonsciousness

There are four types of consciousness-consciousness,

imprinted on the subconscious mind that force you to take re-

In double consciousness the sage is resting in his own

Existence Whole. Intuition does not contradict reason. It fulfils

of which the lower relative states of consciousness are but

The Turiya State

The question, however, is whether it is the individual that

ness is upon the subtler astral or psychic level. But, of course,

basis of his perception. The entire world of diversity stands

Super Sublime State

The state of cosmic consciousness is grand and sublime. It

Western Concept of Cosmic Consciousness

In the west also people have to recognise the truth about

you have seen Me, I cannot be seen even by means of Vedas, by

Cosmic consciousness is the fruit of Chaitanya Sarnadhi,

see anger, depression, cheerlessness, sorrow in his face. You

Sannyasins falsely assume the state of Brahma-Varishtha. They

Appearances Are Questionable

Apamarga (Nayurivi in Tamil) you will be free from hunger and

Ramacharaka's Views on Cosmic Consciousness

fading away,leaving but a memory. In the moment of "illumi-

the spiritual presence of something of awful grandeur and spiri-

ter's 'Towards Democracy' know that these authors believe

A Definite WaY to Contact God

are already present in man, although inactive or non-function-

The Everlasting Aims

human or subhuman were destined to discover this Love, this

of Raja Yogins. In this Samadhi there is no Triputi, the triad,

ence. Vamadeva had this experience. Even when he was dwell-

on 'Aham Brahmasmi' formula. This is Anusandana Vakya.

sage, a contemporary of Sri Ramana Maharshi,-

Na manasant karma subhasubham me

Mahat is the first manifestation of the Absolute. Then

During rneditation you will have no idea of time. You will

feel a peculiar Ananda or bliss also when you experience this

The Yogi withdraws himself completely in higher medita-

things as this pure consciousness. You will actually lose the

The object of your meditation will come before you much

solid existence of Brahman. Fix yourself on the

stars. These lights appear in the mental space, Chidakasa. These

Triangle Light in the Face

One whose food is moderate, whose anger has been con-

Light From Sushumna

Sometimes during meditation you will see a brilliant daz-

Forms in the Lights

You will see two kinds of forms (1) lustrous forms of

Sometimes, during meditation, you will get very powerful

new sensation, which they have not hitherto experiehced. By

Ten Kinds of Sounds