=pvka7xpr
Start Pass 2, Campra 1 March 99
PVK, ABODE(?), EARLY 1970's, PURIFICATION BREATHS
COPYRIGHTS PRESUMABY HELD BY SUFI ORDER, USA
This is a tape which was distributed (sold) by the SO, probably
the Lebanon Springs office, early 70s.
Original was a 60-minute tape.
But I estimate total recorded portion, 63 minutes.
This tape was listed and sold for many years by the SO - through 
the 70s anyhow, and probably early 80s --  but I don't think it's
been listed nor sold in recent years.

My copy BASF Ferro Extra I 90
is probably 3rd-generation (where Master=0th generation) ;  
Sound quality is excellent.  There is one brief section where
sound level drops; that was probably a sound-desk error..
I think I copied it, at HaOn, I think from a copy I had made of my
original.
I seem to have lost some text at the start of Side B in making the
copy.
From context, this was the first session of a 2-week retreat.  I
don't recall such at the Abode; so maybe it was elsewhere.
There's a background sound that sounds like a heavy wood door
creaking open and shut for latecomers.  I don't recall if that
could be the Abode Meditation Hall.  Or maybe tent-poles creaking,
though I don't think so.
=================================================================
START VERBATM TRANSCRIPTION, PASS 2 to last ***
PVK SO PURIFICATION BREATHS TAPE, EARLY 70s

Dear Ones:
A Retreat starts with purification:  purification of the body, of
the higher bodies, of the mind, of the emotions:  every level of
one's Being.

It's leaving the place where one was, to venture in a no-man's
land, and take the risk of losing everything, in order to find
oneself -- one's true self, below all the layers and the masks.
A quest for authenticity, a search for truth.  

And that is why there can't be anything murky or ambiguous 
     {Note (sa): ?or better?: disingenuous, or duplicitious(sa) --
as below, PVK uses the term 'guile'}.

So during these two weeks we're going to work with ourselves: 
take ourselves in hand, shake ourselves, disintegrate and re-
create ourselves.

We start with the simplest of all practices, which is breathing
practices.  It's what might be called baptisms with the different
elements; or purification through the different elements:  earth,
water, fire, air.  Which really means:  solid, fluid, igneous or
plasmic; and then volatile.

And we go through the(?) [or?: these] different stages, and of
course there are aspects of our Being, of our various bodies, that
correspond to each one of these elements.

{EARTH BREATH}

Earth, of course, implies solidity, location.  And purification
with the earth is `filtering'.  It's one of the most primitive
alchemical processes:  filtering. 

It's connnected of course with the electromagnetic field, which
holds all the molecules together:  atoms together in the
molecules.

So I think the best way of starting this practice is to become
aware of one's magnetic field --  electro-magnetic field.

That is:  Perhaps you know that:  
There are moments when we feel very magnetic, and there are
moments when we feel depleted of our magnetism.  Our magnetism is
the basic energy with which we go about life. 

[[So we can -- ]]
Of course we know that in the case of the rishis in the Himalayas,
or the hermits, or the dervishes, develop a tremendous ammount of
magnetism.  And we know that we can build up our magnetism.

So these are the methods that we're going to use in order to do
so.
It's a question of drawing the magnetism of the planet earth into
our own `center', let us say.   It's like a 'vortex'.  It's the --
a whirlpool, for example:  it is the water of the ocean that is
however, somehow centered, organized, around an invisible center -
- focal center, for example, in the case  of light.

So that's what our magnetic field is:  It is the magnetism of the
planet that is centered in a certain way, around the notion of
this personal self.

Now we can do this very well, simply by extending our
consciousness in the vastness, as we exhale, and encompassing all
the power that is unleashed in the universe.  
And then as we inhale, we realize that the same power flows in us;
and we can use it, master it, in order to mold ourselves and
transform the environment.

So there's some relationship between consciousness and energy.
By being conscious of the vastness, your energy becomes all-
encompassing.  You enhance your energy.

Oh:  Just think of the motion of the stars, and the storm at sea,
and the power of a earthquake or volcanic eruption -- it's all the
forces of nature that -- power that rises in the trunk of a tree,
in the form of the sap; or the way the power draws the sap
upwards.
And experience that in your being.  That same, self-same power. 
	
?Or? you may feel it as a kind of a zone -- just like a magnetic
field of a magnet; a kind of area around your body that is also --
that also permeates your body; that's also inside -- but that
certainly extends beyond your skin.

And the more you think of it, the stronger it gets.  The more you
become aware of it.

Now we have to avoid -- how can I say, "segregating" ourselves
from the environment; it's part of the magnetism of the whole
Universe:  there's no frontier anywhere.  But it can just be drawn
and organized around the personal center.
{P100}

There's another element, which is:  ecstacy.

The ecstacy that rises when you are aware of the power of the
Universe that is in you; of the privilege of being part of this
(?)all(?).

Now [in the earth breath] one breaths out through the nose and
breathes in through the nose.  And as one breathes out through the
nose, one lets the magnetic field around one's body, and also in
one's body, be drawn into the earth.  Because at the bottom of
your spine, if you're sitting on the ground, that's where there's
the main point of contact between your magnetic field and the
magnetic field of the earth.

So that's a very important point, the Muladara chakra.
As you exhale, just feel that -- how your magnetic field is
drained into the earth.  The earth magnetism sucks your personal
magnetism into its own vast oceanic field.  And as you inhale, you
suck the magnetic field of the earth into your magnetic field,
through the Muladara, through the bottom of the spine.

So as you exhale, you're conscious of the vastness.  As you
inhale, you recover the consciousness of your center -- personal
center, individual center.  
And you could say it's like a formation within the vast, all-
encompassing reality.  It's like a focal center, or a vortex, or a
whirlpool, or a whirlwind.

Somehow as you inhale -- and you're drawing the magnetism of the
earth through the Muladar chakra, into your whole constitution --
perhaps you may be aware of -- well, the magnetism rising within
the 'field'.  
 {Note (sa):  PVK sounds  unenthusiastic about the term 'field'}

And you may be conscious of the fact that as it rises, it gets
transformed.  So that when it reaches the top of the head, it is
Pure Spirit.

So you are a transformer of energy:  You have transformed earth
mangetism into 'celestial magnetism'.  

And now as you exhale, while you're concentrating on the draining
of the -- let's say, the polluted magnetism in your field being
drained into the earth magnetism -- that means you're
concentrating on the Muladara at the bottom of the spine -- at the
same time you can be concentrating on the crown center; and you're
drawing pure spirit -- or I call it, 'celestial magnetism' --
downwards; while, as I say, the denser aspects of your magnetic
field are being drained downwards, drawn by the electromagnetic
field of the earth.

And of course as you inhale, while you're drawing the
electromagnetic field of the earth upwards along your spine, you
may turn your eyeballs upwards, and transfer your consciousness
into [[a]] higher and higher realms, so that when you exhale
again, you're able to draw very high forms of magnetism down along
your spine, while, as I said, the denser and more polluted
components of your electromagnetic field are being drained through
the Muladara.
{Pause}

---------------------------------------------------
{WATER BREATH}

Now in the second practice, we're going to do what they call the
'baptism with water', and really speaking, somehow in the
symbolism of the esoteric schools, water is associated with
spirit, as you know:  like Elijah -- well, he's looked upon as the
'green man of the desert', always associated with water.  
And he sought refuge at a source of water at a time when there was
a drought. 
{P200}

And on the other hand, he is -- he communicates Pure Spirit.

So the second practice consists in working with pure spirit,
instead of working with the magnetism of the earth.

Now we've already anticipated on this in our first practice; but
this time we're going to concentrate solely on pure spirit.  That
means -- of course, one assumes that one has gone through a
radical purification in the first practice, and so one is a pure
vehicle for that highest of all energy, which is pure spirit.

Now really speaking, of course, there are several grades of
energy, and so maybe one never reaches the end of the line; but
still --   

The way to do that is to go through a kind of purification of your
emotions, and -- we'll go into this a little further in the course
of these days, but -- 

You could think of yourself as a crystal, for example -- crystal
clear.  And I suppose it is the emotion of detatchment which helps
one to overcome hatred, jealousy.  So one's emotions have become
absolutely cleansed of anything ugly.  And one's thoughts can
become very clear, just clarified by -- because it's the emotions
that make them murky.

And now what I advise us to do is to:  Turn one's eyeballs
upwards, and press the tongue on your palate -- so you have to
sort of curve your tongue upwards, so it's pressed against the
palate.  And try to experience yourself as being a kind of -- as I
say, like a crystal, like a kind of a vacuum -- you've cleansed
yourself, you've stripped yourself of anything that is impure --
like hatred -- and dishonesty -- guile, as one says -- and perhaps
you could recover the consciousness of the higher planes, before
your descent on the planet.  So it's like a -- retrograding,
reversing time, let's say, and getting back to an original
pristine condition -- as you inhale.

And if you can reach this point of -- it's a question of a kind of
attunement of consciousness -- you experience yourself as pure
spirit.  Whatever that means, that is something that we have very
deep in our -- very deep somewhere in our being, there's that -- 
a kind of 'proto-critic knowlege', a knowlege that is not based
experience -- of being pure spirit -- and at the same time, pure
intelligence.  And maybe also pure ecstacy.  Suspended in a kind
of a timeless spaceless condition beyond existence.

[[Now as you exhale, then of course -- ]]
Then for the second practice [the water breath], you [inhale
through your nose and] exhale through your mouth. 

You know how, in the traditions, spirit is 'blown' into matter --
like [Archeangel] Gabriel blows the Spirit into the Virgin Mary.
    {Note (sa):  Cf. Genesis 1:1  RUaCh}

So you close your lips and blow through your mouth with your lips 
as closed as they can be, while you're blowing through them -- and
so you feel a kind of coolness in your lips as you blow through
them -- and the breath is not directed forward, it's directed
downwards, so that your entire body is pervaded by pure spirit.

And it should be accompanied by a feelng of coolness of the body.
And openness.  

We started with the concept of the crystal -- actually the cells
of the body are liquid crystals -- or semi-liquid crystals.  
And so they're open, to some extent {P300} -- they're open to
radiation and they're also open to waves -- high energy waves. 
And that's what you're doing; you're energizing the cells of your
body with a very high energy; and you may feel the way they react
by radiating energy themselves -- radiating light, pulsing more
intensely, sending out supersonic oscillations into space -- all
kinds of things -- gravity waves; all kinds of things happening --
electromagnetic phenomna.  

The important thing is, to vitalize the cells, not with earth
energy, but with pure spirit.  The higher, the finer the energy
that you use, the more their vitality is going to be enhanced.     
                      
The consequence is, you feel a kind of tingling in your body.  A
sort of activation of the cells.
The higher you reach as you inhale, the stronger the impact of 
energy as you exhale.  

Or(?) you turn your eyeballs upwards, and press your tongue
against your pallet as you inhale, reaching way up; and then as
you exhale, then your breathe out through the mouth --  exhale
through your mouth --  and vitalize your body.

In your mind, of course, you're not just exhaling through the
mouth; the energy that you're sending down is not blown upon the
body from outside; it permeates the body from inside.

Now you should know that the electromagnetic field is the template
structuring the body, and holding the cells together -- and the
molecules of the cells, and the atoms and so on, everything
together.  And this template is not just a static one, it is
continually changeing, hopefully evolving.

So I think the best idea is to think of yourself as being a
magnetic field, and the physical body as just the outcome, let's
say, of this field.  Which is exactly the opposite of what mot
people think; generally one thinks one is a body that emanates a
magnetic field.  And the best way of benefitting by this practice
is to make a switch in your sense of identity, and think of
yourself as being a magnetic field.  And right away you'll find
that your magnetism increases tremendously, just by the sheer fact
of your way of thinking.
{Pause}

So that was baptism with water.  Now we have --
Or actually, we should have said, really, baptism with pure
spirit.

----------------------------                               
{FIRE BREATH}

Now the next one is:  One can call it 'baptism with fire', but it
is really baptism with fire and light, because they're the two
components of the same thing.
The infra-red and the ultra-violet components of the same thing.

{P400} {APROXIMATELY 34 MINUTES FROM START OF TAPE}

And as you know:  In the esoteric traditions of the world, there's
very much about transmuting fire into light.  There's the heat due
to the combustion of the body, which is continually burning; and
then there'e the light emanated by your aura.  And there's a
relationship between the two.

So our practice is both a baptism and a purification.  Fire is a
still more drastic form of purification than water and filtering.

So it's a matter of burning more intensely.  That's the practice
of TUMO, which is practiced by the Tibetans as you know, and many
yogis, and dervishes -- as knowing how to increase the temperature
of the body, or at least fighting the danger of being frozen by
putting more energy into the combustion of the body -- to keepthe
body warm.

And this you do as you inhale -- [in the fire breath] you inhale
through the mouth [and exhale through the nose] -- and it's, I
would say, the opposite of blowing on a fire -- you are the fire,
and therefore you are drawing air into the fire from within --
you're sucking air -- you are the braize -- 
And the consequence is, of course, an increase in the infra-red
radiation.
Now as you exhale, you radiate light in your aura.  That means in
the area of physical light, and also ultra-violet.

And so the way I suggest doing this is:  As you inhale, at first
you concentrate on the colour red, and therefore you develop
infra-red radiation.  And gradually you change --  for one thing,
you transfer your attention from the bottom of the spine to the
heart center -- anahata -- and then the physical eyes -- third eye
-- crown center.

So as you transfer your attention from the Muladara -- that means,
the bottom of the spine -- to the heart center -- anahata -- you
think of the colour yellow -- and then the eyes, blue -- third
eye, violet, and the then crown center, a kind of diaphonous
white.\\
{P472}
{END SOUND SIDE A} {P472} {Estimated 39 minutes from start of
tape}
{END TAPE SIDE A {P617}
-------------------------------------
{START TAPE SIDE B {P000}
{START SOUND {P003}
{SOME TEXT LOSS}
//colour red, concentrating on the Muladara, bottom of the spine. 
But you feel the temperature in your whole body.  It's like a
braize at the bottom of your spine, and the flames rise throughout
the body -- and gradually you're going into the yellow tips of the
flame, and it goes into blue, and violet, and then brilliant white
at the top.                                  

And now as you exhale, 
{SOUND DROPS DOWN VERY LOW, BUT AUDIBLE}
you exhale light, starting with violet, (?)to the(?) blue, yellow;
and I wouldn't go any further down.  Just up to the yellow, which
is the heart center.
{SOUND COMES BACK UP}
Of course towards the end of the inhaling you turn your eyeballs
upwards, and your tongue pressed against the palate.
{Pause}

Actually it's really a process of photosynthesis.  It's easier to
do of course when it's light outside.  But we're talking about not
just the physical light; there are several -- how can I say --
levels of reality.  There's such a thing as what the Church
Fathers called the 'uncreated light'.

Now there are two phenomena, of course.  Photosynthesis is one,
and that is drawing the energy of light-waves from the environment
to synthesize carbohydrates and oxygen.  

But the other one is simply:  burning your own substances --
substance of the body -- by the energy of that substance -- the
energy that is available -- ATP.  
And that normally falls under the control of the unconscious; but
you can do it consciously.  
And immediately your whole body feels warmed up, by a sheer act of
will.  Energized; bursting with energy.  Until you exhale, and
then of course it's a great joy to radiate this energy in the form
of light.                

Bur remember:  While we build up this energy in the body, we
transfer our consciousness upwards along the spine, right up --
high above the crown center -- and get into these colours -- until
one feels as though one is just blinded with light -- so actually,
really we have to distinguish two things -- well, there's the
radiation that is brought about by building up energy in the body,
and then there's the radiation that descends -- and that's the
uncreated light -- as one exhales, one is bringing light down and
radiating it out at the same time.  That's not the energy of the
body.

But there's a little hitch here -- one has to go into this very
carefully:  
One mustn't think that one is just the instrument that is bringing
this light down.  One is also that light; one is not just one's
body, or the magnetic field of the body, or even -- well, the
bioplasma of the body -- or the aura -- one is also pure uncreated
light.  
And so it is your own uncreated light that is coming down; that is
being brought down and radiated out as the light of the aura.

I know there's a little confusion there, which -- I'll have to
clarify that a little later, in the course of these days.

Now this light has to be very intense, so in one sense -- just
extremely intense.  In one sense one is blinded by it; on the
other hand, one is that very light that blinds one.
{P100}

You might find that you want to just not concentrate too much on
the inhaling now -- the infra-red -- but mainly on the exhaling.

And one experiences the ecstacy of light.
And you could think of the heavenly light descending.

As a mattter of fact, the planet earth can only unfold and evolve
and give expression to its potentialities if it is pollinated from
outer space.  And through all levels of Being.

The uncreated light becomes the light of the sun.
This is the esoteric tradition.

------------------------

{EARTH BREATH}

Now we're going to go into the next -- fourth and last
purification, or baptism -- which is -- they say, baptism with
air, or with wind, but -- personally, I think it means, with
sound, or let's say, with vibration, because vibration is much
more than sound -- I mean, beyond sound.

I think the best way of putting it is like this:  

Well, first of all:  [In the earth breath] One breaths in through
the mouth and out through the mouth.  

And perhaps the simplest approach is this:  Like:  You think of
your body as being [[a wave out of the ocean.]]  A wave that
emerges from the ocean -- but really speaking, there's no frontier
between the wave and the ocean -- and so in the same way, there's
no frontier between your body and the universe.

And what is more, it is really the whole ocean that emerges in a
wave -- it's not just a seprate thing; it's the whole ocean -- the
whole ocean has to adjust itself to the fact that part of itself
is emerging in that wave -- as a wave.  

So it isn't true to say that the wave is a part of the ocean; it
is really the ocean that is manifesting in a certain way, as a
wave.  

And in the same way you can think of your body, first of all, and
then your mind, and your personality -- in fact your whole Being,
at all levels -- as being the the total reality of the Universe,
that comes through in a certain way -- as you inhale.

{Comment (sa):  Note that this anticipates PVK's Zenith remarks on
the stages of samadhi.}

And as you exhale, you could just -- well, of course, you can
imagine the wave dissolving in the ocean -- and your personal
consciousness gets resorbed in the total consciousness.  

Or you could experience the disintegaration of your body into the
total -- well, if you like, just simply the fabric of the planet. 

It's a kind of experience of death by anticipation.  It's an ebb
and flow.  

At the end of the -- let's say, the convergence of the universe --
that means the inhaling, of course -- there's a sense of
individuality. But in the course of the exhaling, dissolution, the
sense of the idndividuality is totally dissolved.  
And somehow it emerges again when you inhale.

But it's never -- there's never a frontier.  It's never isolated. 
It's like a lot of threads -- perhaps like a network -- and
there's no frontier anywhere -- your body's like -- it's got its
ramifications -- maybe it's like -- I suppose, better example
would be like a plant, a little shoot, that is just emerging above
the surface, but its roots may be so complex -- and imagine that
its roots are contingent and perhaps even perhaps part of a whole
network of roots of all kinds of plants.

{Note (sa): PVK has more recently used the example of a lotus or
water-lilly, whose roots are entwined below the surface with those
of all the other water-lillies.}

So let's say:  In one condition, you are all things; and in
another condition, you emerge as something special within all
things.           

Or perhaps a better example is radio waves that are extended
throughout the ionosphere and -- however, those radio waves are
heard in a radio set which is localized in a particular location. 
So you yourself are spread throughout {P200} the Universe, but you
do manifest in a particular location. 

 As you inhale:  you are aware of your location, of the body being
located in space; of your individality. But as you exhale, there's
no location.  And also, you're not limited in time.  Time or
space.  Your're timeless and spaceless.  And individual-less.  You
are the totality.  

And [as previously remarked, in this earth breath] you're
breathing in through the mouth, and out through the mouth -- 

The energy that you develop doing this practice is absolutely
boundless.  Because one's energy is limited by one's concept of
oneself.  And from the time that one has been able to see oneself
as being the totality, one's energy becomes boundless.  And this
is the secret of the energy of the rishis and the dervishes.  It
is boundless.  

I think it has something to do with (?)the(?) gravitational
forces.  It's the landscaping of the Universe.

{Pause}

So:  Those are the four baptisms:  baptism with earth, baptism
with water, baptism wiht fire, and baptism with air.

So:  G_d bless ou now.  
{P253}{Estimated 24 minutes from start of Side B, my tape}
{END SESSION}
{END SOUND}
END PASS 2, 
Campra 1 March 99
=================================================================
I would like to dedicate this transcription to my aunt, Min
(Minah) (Amdur) Sack, daughter of Mollie (Malka) (Silberblatt)
Amdur.                                                           

                 Stephen Benjamin Amdur
                 Campra, 1 March 99 -- 13 Adar -- Fast of Esther

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