SELF REALIZATION and ENLIGHTENMENT

(one path)

The following material has been prepared 7 years after the initial insight was experienced (Vancouver, B.C., August, 1996). The reason for the delay being that I simply had no language in which to express myself other than that of science which is incompetent in relation to the task. Since that time I have read widely and progressed further but the result of this is that the terminology I use has been drawn from different sources.

It is said that Enlightenment may come from any of many forms of practice. He that comes to me from the ego-less state will I recognize as my own (or words to that effect). I find no record of the pathway herewith.

After several years of effort following a proposal that I made to myself to consider the possibility that I had lived before, I succeeded in recalling a past life. I was startled to say the least, mainly because at the time I was a practicing scientist and certainly not a person believing in god or higher powers. Later, after some time, I recovered two additional lives. Suddenly I was presented with personal evidence allowing me to see and appreciate that an aspect of myself, the soul, extended beyond time. This happened as I contemplated the three lives and related the connections among them from the standpoint of my present life. Seeing, as it were for the first time, why I had been driven to perform certain actions in this life with a dreadful logic of certainty. Suddenly I found myself floating above all of the lives and was immediately aware that in some sense, I, that is a self ascendant to the lives and somehow beyond them, had all along been involved in creating everything about them. This expanded to include not only the lives, but also the infrastructure, the "reality" that had cradled the lives. This comprehension of an "ascendant self" I now call the higher Self.

When I first started to meditate upon the meaning that had to lie behind the 3 lives that I then recalled, when they were "spread" beneath me, I suddenly realized the disposition of these lives and the entire associated infrastructure had been created by myself, my higher Self that is. From that point I went off into higher consciousness. Now that consciousness I took to be a summation.

If I dive into this sea, I first experience a ripple in myself rather like a series of electrical explosions somewhere in a "space" above my spine(one explosion would be somewhat akin to cricking one's neck but without the bodily pain), the hairs on my arms stand up and I begin to remember who I am. At first it is a bit frightening but a pure essential element of myself recognizes that it has all been a test. A self-imposed test and every single thing about it I have created, the lives, the context, everything .. and the body has long-since disappeared. I then experience a great relief but then this is superceded by a huge sense of responsibility. I regret I have left (the world) but, thankful that I have, I am overwhelmed by a sense of bliss. I am who I am, I have always been, there is no end. I expand further into a vast endless awareness, nothing else exists. After a time I begin to return. Although I know where I have been I cannot quite describe it. It was and is perfection, it goes on forever, above and beyond time. I am giddy and disoriented for days.

Now I can indeed describe perfection as that state from which any change is a retreat. But these are only words and the state in question is so much more. It is boundless, holding everything within but only in a very small speck somewhere out on the periphery and all the "time" the source, the supreme self is expanding...........It never ends because it is all there is, and, as they say, "That Thou Art"!

So, what does the earth-bound human mind describe this as? It sums up all the imperfections of individual minds across space and time and tries to imagine an origin (an apposition) that is perfect, that is without any of the aforesaid defects and says furthermore that any imaginable change is a retreat from this perfection. But this ideal of perfection is a pale shadow of the one reality, it is so much more and it never ends. The only change being that once in a while it obtains full self realization, remembers itself (so to speak)

In my view chakras of the Vedas are a series of energy points, knots I prefer to call them. One may think of them in electrical terms as expansion vortices linked together within the subtle body in such a way as to form an ascending scale of awareness and disposition of consciousness. The energy force that courses through this skein exploding into higher consciousness within each successive vortex is the Kundalini force of Vedic literature. The actual progress of the Kundalini is universal memory recall. This I call far memory recall. This energy discharge certainly affects the physical body in very distinct terms but it has absolutely nothing to do with physicality as such. It is beyond the physical, a subtle form of energy representing the act of Self-realization. This act in the last analysis is simply remembrance of one’s true Self.

There are many ways in which the chakras can ignite but ignition for me, usually it seems to initially take the form of past life flashes or remembrances traced to shadows of the personal self. These flashes when connected serve to impress upon the personal self the fact that it is a very small focus of a phenomenally expanded being. Riding up the energy discharge results in the "view from the top" where the small personal self is eclipsed totally, drops away with the world and the being enjoys recall of itself to the extent of its karmic reclamation. That is, the individual concerned ascends to a level limited by its comprehension of itself. The discharge burns away Maya (illusion), but not all Karma, is self-earned and indelible.

The meditation to bring it into being, simply involves focus on the aspect of oneself that unites all or any of the past life fragments available to the limited ego (personal self, Jiva). Ask of yourself such questions as: What is this aspect of myself that comprehends an array of lives? What does this mean? Who am I that spans time? If I span time what am I? Seeing time thus spread before me where am I? How have I managed to observe this? To comprehend this eternal being that I am? Etc. In other words, concentrate on the Self that was and is being before matter, before time and that from which all proceeds.

I saw this when I meditated on two lives and became aware in my higher Self that I had managed or created every single aspect of these representations including the related infrastructure, the "ground" so to speak, the world of plurality. Being able to see this I could also see all the elements.

Perhaps some may make an argument that the central core of being, the ground, is "consciousness with nothing to be conscious of" but that is understating the situation. At the very least, this reality can be and is conscious of all that there is, (anyone) can realize the exact same thing. And when it happens (is induced) you will know it beyond a shadow of a doubt as infinite consciousness knowing itself – Self knowledge.

Working from the standpoint that many people are aware that they have lived several times on the earth, it is possible to construct a model of the resulting multi-dimensioned self. Simply, this model is a bundle of glass light-fibers that is overseen by the higher Self. Each light-fiber within the bundle represents one life strand and is thus the result of one incarnation on Earth at the human level. The higher Self is the aspect of consciousness that stands apart from the ego or personal self that is active within each strand. The higher Self, through the ego, organizes the personal self from incarnation to incarnation. This function is undertaken without the active participation of the higher Self in worldly life. The higher Self is an observer standing outside time. To the higher Self, neither time nor the world exists. To the ego or personal self, which is the aspect of consciousness normally expressed in life, time appears as a translucent silver fiber. This may be termed the lifeline. In effect the higher Self is able to view this thread from the end, much as one would the cross-section terminus of a glass-light-fiber. To continue the analogy, the higher Self can focus at any cross-sectional depth within that fiber and any time therein is "now". The higher Self can also view such a fiber all at once, reflect an upper section to a lower section, move instantaneously from one parallel fiber to the next to access other past-lives and so forth.

However, only the Personal Self, as comprehended INSIDE a lifeline, can act to change the degree to which that particular line obtains the character of "transluminosity". That transluminosity in turn reflects through the bundle as a whole. The radiance expressed by the terminal cross-section of the overall bundle of lives reflects the current status of the Extended Self (the soul), that aspect of the ego linking one life with another. Clarify one line and all share the reflected light there from. Change one line from dark to translucent silver and the whole undergoes an order of magnitude upward shift in luminescence.

Once a particular past life has been identified a primary objective of spiritual work is the clarification of the major issues in that strand. In general, these are the factors that induced the next life. A comparatively limited number (say 6-10) of particularly intense emotional traumas or samscaras lie submerged within past lives affecting the overall clarity of the personality. Perhaps these may be termed unresolved moral errors on the part of the ego that are of sufficient magnitude to cause the soul timeless anguish and painful regret. Once these are dissolved, by personal acceptance of the associated responsibility, the possibility of direct experience of the higher Self may be realized.

Based on the ego-sense a connection exists among the lives (from one death to another) as mediated through the soul. The ego-mind and its "shadow", the trace whispering between and among incarnations, the soul, is aware of itself as conscious and intelligent. This consciousness is not its own but a minute fraction of the consciousness, which is the Self, the Reality that transcends the mind.

Maya is the aspect of the Self that veils continuity. Due to the "stress" experienced by the ego in comprehending the result of its manifestation of and into the physical world (it is a complicated process and takes all one's attention to make a "go" of it) the personality forgets. In order to learn about its true status, the ego must be transcended in the journey of Self realization - Self remembrance.

Now, from my own insight, there is a descending hierarchy of consciousness (shall we say?) from something that is so profound that after merging therewith and returning one cannot find words to express - a dream, something one always knew existed, profound and limitless, peaceful. Then down through connective consciousness (prior to prakriti - the material universe), down again to "I am that from which all proceeds" (the position occupied in the thought "that thou art") which is then resolved (individuated) again into the consciousness of the higher Self, that supporting, or within which are, all incarnations of direct personality - the individual personality-egos encompassed by the higher Self. However, all these stages are in fact the one Reality, Infinite Consciousness and the only apparently clearly separated subset is the ego. I say apparently separated because the ego and the associated world of names and forms and beings are entirely false and do not exist at all from the perspective of the One Reality, the Self.

However, looking upwards from the flesh-entombed ego, the first intimation of "higher connectivity", the trace whispering between and among incarnations, is the extended self or soul. It is the ego's first grasp of the higher Self.

At what point in this descending hierarchy do the individual units split? Actually never, they are all for ever part of the whole and always view themselves as individual --- what does happen is that they progressively forget what exactly this individuality stands for……this is the veil of Maya, forgetfulness. Thus when people collectively see the commonality of their souls, they become one again (although they always regard themselves as unitary on an individual egotistical basis anyway).

In my opinion, the soul is only loosely, if at all, connected with the ego. In the normal ego-focused state there is no recall of past-life experience, the mind, a direct part of the ego therefore a primary part of the illusion, does not remember. The immediate (current) ego must be lulled into passivity and by-passed in order to reclaim past-life experience.

I agree with the image presented by Bhagavan Sri Ramana (The sage of Arunachala). Using an analogy based on the sun, as between the waking state and that of deep dreamless sleep where no trace of the world can be found, it may be said that the world and the mind arise and set together as one. But, of the two the world owes its appearance to the mind alone. That alone is real in which this inseparable pair, the world and the mind, rise and set. That reality is the one Infinite Consciousness, neither rising or setting. The personal self (ego) arises from a stream of thoughts across consciousness (the Infinite Consciousness). The first of these, "I am the body" is false and the entire world and its beings are built thereon (subsequently). The personal self (ego) is thus a strange combination of the Infinite Consciousness (the Supreme and only Self) and non-reality, that which does not exist. To some this may seem "accidental" yet it is not an accident. The thought "I am the body" is deliberate in the sense that it must arise. Yet still the result is unreal.

This elemental thought “I am the body”, is an hypothesis if you will, on the part of the Supreme Being but an hypothesis that generates the material world. The thought “I am the body” is really “false” but it thus hypothesises the pluralistic world and all therein which are then said to be “Unreal”, transient, subject to change. The world is thus “unreal” and because we are physically the result of this “hypothesis” or dream, we actually conjure our physical selves into existence. But this existence is inside the Self, we are not inside the world.

Perhaps I could have stayed in that experience and not have entertained a return into body. An interesting question, yes? But could I? Was it not that wisp of anxiety brushing me, the hint of something perhaps left undone, the last gasp of the ego pulling me back into body? Is not the ego-dream (I am the body)perhaps inevitable? It is in the nature of the Supreme Self to "dream" reality perhaps. There is no "reason" for this, it just does because this dream thereby expands life and all consciousness! But perhaps once the dream is initiated there is no inevitable return. Some personal selves seemingly report numberless incarnations without the slightest hint of Self Realization. It is indeed the Hotel California but I myself do not think that enjoyment of the comforts therein can ever light the "check out" sign. Also in this hotel you get to pay the tariff with pain, at least that’s how I see it. So far I have yet to meet anyone that does not pay. That one that has paid the most and so realizes the obligation thereby supports the world until death relieves the duty but nothing changes thereby. However, I make no claim to being this or that, I am beyond all.

The Infinite Self alone is real and the world is merely the world within, eternal and undying as am I unborn.