The first great attainment of the aspirant is the experiencing of inner light. It is the soul body which reincarnates, life after life. You come out of timelessness, causelessness, spacelessness. There are three distinct goals: Realization, liberation and merger. The goal of meditative practice is to experience nirvikalpa samadhi, realization of Parasiva, on a daily basis, thusly building, maturing a new indestructible, actinic body of pure light, breaking out of the cycle of reincarnating on Earth, soul realization. The body of the soul lives in the eternity of the moment; the mind of the body of the soul is superconsciousness. For those on the family path a realistic goal is to be stable in the anahata chakra. Bestowing a Shum Language monastics' meditation: tracing the inner light to realize the Self. The next phase on the path to merger for renunciate aspirants, in this or a future life, is to sustain nirvilkalpa samadhi daily, becoming a venerable Natha Sannyasin. Vishvagrasa, the soul body merging with the Primal Soul, takes place in the Sivaloka.

Master Course Trilogy, Merging with Siva, Lesson 224.

Unedited Transcript:

Good morning everyone.

We are continuing with Chapter 33 "The Human Aura" from 1960. Lesson 224, "Soul Body, The Real You."

Text:

"Within all seven aspects of man lies the body of the soul, the actinic causal body, anandamaya kosha, the real you. The soul body has a form just as the astral body has a form, but it is more refined and is of a more permanent nature. It is this body which reincarnates, creating around itself new physical and astral bodies, life after life after life. This process matures and develops the body of the soul. Hence we have old souls and young souls, depending on the maturity and unfoldment of the soul body, or depending upon the number of lives or the intensity of maturing experience which the individual has passed through."

Our recent July "Publisher's Desk," this is a commentary, presented the idea of the maturing of the soul body. The desk is entitled "Challenges and Spiritual Progress." I'll just read from the last few paragraphs:

"The point of Gurudeva's upadesha is that the soul body, anandamaya kosha, is maturing through experience in the world. How does this happen? It happens through gaining greater and greater control over the instinctive-intellectual nature. Doing so causes the soul body to mature sufficiently to attain realization of the Self.

"Therefore, the next time you are faced with a challenge, be it major one or minor one, accept it as an opportunity to increase your understanding, strengthen your self-control, mature your soul body and move that much closer to realizing the transcendental Self within you."

Back to the text:

"The body of the soul is pure light, made of quantums. It is indestructible. It cannot be hurt or damaged in any way. It is a pure being, created by Lord Siva, maturing its way to Him in final merger."

So my commentary:

It is helpful to be clear on three distinct goals: Realization, liberation and merger. Nirvikalpa samadhi is realization of Parasiva, the transcendent Absolute also called Paramatman. Liberation is moksha or mukti which is breaking out of the cycle of reincarnating on Earth and this requires the repeated experience of nirvikalpa samadhi (That's Gurudeva's teachings) not just once. We need to repeat it.

And merger is vishvagrasa, the soul body merging with the Primal Soul which takes place in the Sivaloka. That one just happens once. Pouring water in the ocean, right? We can't get it back.

Text:

"The body of the soul is constant radiance. Its mind is superconsciousness, containing all intelligence, and is constantly aware, does not sleep and is expanding awareness as the soul body matures."

So commentary:

That's an important point to reflect upon. The mind of the body of the soul is superconsciousness.

Text:

"For the soul-realized person, (not self realized, soul realized) awareness travels through the mind as a traveler travels from city to city, country to country, never caught in any one area for longer than necessary, always consciously conscious of awareness in consciousness at every moment. The body of the soul lives in the eternity of the moment, simultaneously conscious of past and future as a one cycle. The true nature, everlasting secure personal identity, is realizing oneself as the soul body. This is truly finding our roots, our source, our indestructible, ever-maturing soul.

"In the years that follow complete illumination, or realization of the Self, in obtaining a stabilized nirvikalpa samadhi, a body of pure actinic golden energy, the svarnasharira, begins to form. I experienced this beginning to happen in me in 1955. At that time there was only enough odic force to hold the physical body together in material activities. This new actinic body is built through the consecutive practice of nirvikalpa samadhi on a daily basis, which forms one of the highest disciplines of siddha yoga."

So that's an important point there. Gurudeva has just given us the goal of a renunciate's meditative practice which is to experience nirvikalpa samadhi on a daily basis. So that's quite different than just once. Experience it on a daily basis. This repetition is needed to build the new actinic body, svarnasharira.

And the text:

"However, it should be mentioned that the first great attainment to be striven for by the aspirant is the experiencing of inner light, which is taught to family people and renunciates alike, implying that he has enough inner dominion and control over the intellect that the radiance within the head or body is actually seen. This implies also a working control of the manipura chakra and a conscious awareness of the working of the anahata chakra of cognition, allowing a burst of actinic energy to the vishuddha chakra of love."

Commentary:

As we know, one of the reasons Gurudeva created the Shum Language is he couldn't find precision enough in Sanskrit or English for what he wanted to describe. So, for example, common word in Sanskrit for light is jyoti but what does it exactly mean. Jyoti. Atma Jyoti. Different things to different teachers of course. So Gurudeva developed words in the Shum Language to describe different intensities of the inner light. Different intensities. It's all inner light but it's getting more intense.

So I'll read the monastic meditation:

Niimf balikana iftye isimnadanadi simnadanadi chaa imkaif.

So we have the explanation:

The meditation starts with the command 'niimf balikana' meaning to focus on the light and hold it without any images appearing. The meditation starts with the command 'niimf balikana' meaning to focus on the light and hold it without any images appearing. Balikana is the moon-like glow that remains where the mental pictures used to be. If the mind wanders and starts to create images, bring it back to the imageless light.

Next one:

Iftye is clear transparent white light and is a deeper experience of inner light than balikana. (And the next sentence is very helpful.) One can move into iftye through kalibasa (breathing) when balikana is located.

Isimnadanadi is the experience of bright sharp piercing actinic light in the saraswara and is a deeper experience of inner light than iftye. (More intense.)

Simnadanadi is the tantra of tracing the light of isimnadanadi to its source to realize Self.

So, that's the monastics' meditation on inner light.

Back to the text:

"The next step for aspirants is what is known as 'touching into the Self.' When this occurs, the soul body is released, made completely autonomous, so that they can then be trained in the conscious use and control. It is in this body that they attend higher plane schools and communicate through vibration with others in the soul body. From then on, it is for them to train with the guru personally so that they learn to use and control the body of the soul. With this control and altered consciousness, they eventually come into a sustained realization of the Self, nirvikalpa samadhi, in this or a future life, for the next phase on the path to merger is to make ready and then sustain renunciate life in the truest sense by becoming a Natha Sannyasin.

"It must be said that many frustrate themselves by seeking realizations beyond their abilities, while not accomplishing the realizations that are within their abilities. We must remember that savikalpa samadhi relates to the anahata and vishuddha chakras, sustained by a purified intellect and a dynamic will. Whereas nirvikalpa samadhi is of the ajna and sahasrara chakras and those above and is sustained by complete renunciation of the world to the point where the world renounces the renunciate. These are the venerable sannyasins."

So commentary:

For those on the family path a realistic goal is to be stable in the anahata chakra, the fourth chakras of cognition. So when we did the 'climbing the ladder of consciousness' one of our summary points is that, for those on the family path, we're trying to experience the anahata chakra in our morning sadhana period and then hold it throughout the day. And of course, when we first start that practice, maybe we hold it for an hour and then get into an upset condition. But after many many years we can learn how to avoid upset conditions and generally hold it throughout the day unless something really major happens. So that's the goal on the family path is first experience the anahata chakra in the morning sadhana period and then learn to hold it throughout the day.

Text:

"Control of the mind builds the intuitive nature. By directing the flow of thought, perceptively discriminating between actions, aware of attending reactions, the yoga student soon learns the use of his actinic power. In order to hold an expanded consciousness, this power must be brought into use, and when it flows through the intellect, it automatically changes the chemistry of the intellect while it begins to build the intuitive nature.

"Reverse your thinking about yourself. Feel that you come out of timelessness, causelessness, spacelessness. Visualize the pure radiant body of light, the being of the soul, the 'I Am,' the 'Watcher.' Then around that is formed the intuitive mind, and around that is formed the intellect. Then the chakras come into view, governing the highest to the lowest states of mind, and the ida, pingala and sushumna currents. The instinctive nature is formed around this, then the human aura, through which thought forms are created, then the vital health body, and then the physical body."

Commentary:

That is definitely a great visualization to practice. The point is we tend to think of ourself as an outer being going within. However, if we reverse that we are that which comes out of Parasiva, so to speak, and is the soul body which then forms around it the grosser bodies.

Thank you very much. Happy to be back. Have a wonderful day.