=pvcm0817.txt PVK COURSE ON MEDITATION, LESSONS 8-17 INCLUSIVE Continued from =pvcm0107.txt --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lesson #8: Creative Imagination, Part I Now, let us continue putting in practice, the method that is used by the Sufis in promoting creativity by giving a certain amount of vent to the creative imagination. All creativity starts in an internal state where one is protected from the environment and one can concentrate one's energy on what is emerging in the depths of one's being. Instead of trying to earmark creativity with one's mind, with the danger of conceptualizing and therefore distorting it, one is bypassing the mind by projecting it forward in a series of images. These images are simply the way that our mind translates its impulses and nostalgia in forms that are familiar to the body, that is, landscapes on the planet earth. That is why in dreams, there is not much psychic activity; it starts really with imagery but the images give a clue to the state of one's psyche. If we try to imagine forms, they will not be expressing the moods or the attunements of our deeper selves. But if we just let go in a state of dream, of reverie, where there is no will, then that image formation will begin to take place as it does in our dreams. Now it is true, that in order to become yourself, it is important to see yourself in another yourself, who is better able to manifest what you are than you. Consequently, we are discovering ourselves in those images of the sun, or the light or the earth or the heavens. On the other hand, what is coming through is new and is trying to manifest in known forms. What I'm trying to do is unmask an error in our way of thinking, which is to think that all we have to do to be creative is to actuate what is already potentially there in our being. To be creative, one has to freewheel, do some brainstorming, and find new ways of being instead of being limited by one's inheritance, even though this inheritance contains all the levels, including one's divine inheritance. As you might have noticed, what we're doing corresponds exactly with the second phase in the alchemical retreat process which is the alchemical marriage of heaven and earth. To do this, one has to think of oneself as a hybrid in which something new is emerging. A hybrid means, of course, the product of the intermeshing of different beings, tendencies or inheritances. I find in myself, for example, a very good hybrid between the east and west. I can see in myself and you can see in yourself, that merging or interweaving or intermeshing of two very different races - the Indian and the American. One's identity becomes a composite through the manner in which one integrates many different elements, forming a homunculus reality that results not just from the interweaving and intermeshing, but even the confluence. Let us say it is a very intimate blending, so that eventually the components have lost their idiosyncrasies. Think of yourself as being a composite of all the different elements: parents, grandparents, ancestors, people coming from different parts of the world, the animal, plant and angelic realms, then, ultimately, even your divine inheritance. All those elements are intermeshed, interwoven, confluing, like a tapestry.The closer you get to the center, the more it makes sense. and the further away you are, the more you can't see what those different elements have to do with one another. Picture how, in the middle of this convergence of all those elements, there is the emergence of something totally spontaneous and unpredictable, not the result of causality but your own creativity. Suppose you were able to take an old barn and make it into a new house, or take an old composition and refurbish it so that there's something of the old, yet the new elements are coming forth strongly. There was an old melody and it's all of a sudden transfigured into a new rendering. Or take a painting that you are working with. You can recognize the old painting; still, there's something quite new in it. Speaking metaphorically, the new seems to emerge from the center and the old seems to desegregate from the jagged ends, just as in a rose. The outer petals begin to drop away but the new petals are formed in the center. There's no use trying to earmark those new elements with your consciousness. You would kill or distort them by observation but you project them. You don't try to do it but the dynamics of the psyche work in such a way that these new elements project themselves into images. This is how the unconscious attempts to tell us something that we would distort or limit by our minds and therefore it is communicating a message under the cover of images. In those images we recognize ourselves. I hope you will remember this light motif in the words of Plotinus, "That which we fail to discover in contemplation, we seek to experience in the universe." What one fails to discover of the bounty of one's being, one seeks to discover in another oneself. What we are doing now is a process of self discovery. We are using experience but purely to trigger off discovery. The images are the mirror in which you discover yourself. One is used to thinking that what one is experiencing is other than one's self and therefore, it's easier to project it on an image. What we're doing is exactly what the painters and the musicians and all different kinds of artists are doing in being creative. We have to enter into a very deep place and let unconscious and impersonal forces take over from the personal will. Let the divine operation facilitate circumstances that are favorable to the divine operation. In Egyptian mythology this is represented in a drawing where the personal ego is sitting on the top of a door, out of the way of the process. The ego is observing rather remotely without interfering in the state of reverie. Now the personal ego comes in at the end of each scene of the reverie, a kind of autopsy, if you will, like the scientist who is able to draw some conclusions from what has happened. When the reverie has been completed, at least one scene of the reverie, then you could reflect upon it as one remembers one's dreams. You can discern certain clues, for example, building a bridge betweenthe state of reverie and the nitty gritty of life. Please return to the suggested meditation practice underlined on page 2. This exercise could be extended over the next month by contemplating for several days on each of the different inheritances from which you have been created. While earmarking the element as part of your composite being, also be attentive to its expression in others and to where it manifests in your life. Lesson #9 Buddhist Teachings Inspired by the Tibetian Tradition (Part 1 of this meditation was sparked by Pir Vilayat's recent encounter with the Dalai Lama. Part 2 continues our work with creative imagination through focusing on entering into the consciousness of Buddha.) The quintessence of the Buddhist teaching transmitted in the Tibetan tradition is to be found in the Vajrayana (the vehicle, or means of the diamond). In the use of the word diamond is a tacit implication of the clarity of the clear light of bliss which is the ultimate objective of the quest. Moreover, suffice it to grasp here an inference (by anticipation of many centuries) to the hologram of light as the perfect model of the holistic paradigm of our times. The practices used are based on "mixing", that is, extrapolating several factors. The ultimate mixing being of method, which is the cause of the form body and wisdom which is the cause of the body of truth. To overcome the impact, and consequent conceptualization and conditioning of the environment, one visualizes oneself in a self-created mandala, based upon one of the traditional patterns. Likewise, to overcome one's misleading and constraining self-image, one envisions oneself as a bodhisattva in becoming. However, the motivation for this must not be for self-attainment, but in the sense of bodhicitta: for the sake of fulfilling a purpose, which involves helping others. Since one will be deriving some satisfaction from the spiritual pursuit, one must from the start, be careful to keep transmuting personal joy into impersonal bliss. Very much in Murshid's vein, rather than dismissing personal satisfaction, one may "harness" it into the pursuit of bliss, then let go of personal satisfaction. Then "harness" bliss to the edge of peace, then melt bliss into an emotional void. His holiness, the Dalai Lama, threw a revealing light on the difficult Buddhist concept of void by telling me that it meant thinking in terms of the essence of both "what appears as phenomena" and the subject. The objective is expressed as "mahamudra" which is the union or mixing of great bliss with a sense of emptiness - actually there would be satisfaction in great bliss, unless one knew how to empty oneself of the notionof being a personal self. PRACTICE: PART 1: 1. Imagine the objects and being in the environment melting into blue light. 2. Imagine that this light flows into your body. 3. Imagine that your body melts away gradually, simultaneously from the top and the bottom, like a candle burning at both ends, becoming smaller and smaller and eventually becomes a point of blue light in the heart. 4. Repeat the mantram "hum", concentrating upon the point of blue light in the heart. 5. Represent to yourself the sound without saying it aloud. 6. Enter into the inner resonance of the sound without representing it to yourself. 7. Now represent your mind as melting into a blue light hovering over a 6-petalled lotus in the heart. 8. Out of this blue light, with your powers of imagination, build a new mind-body as an emanation. 9. Now plant within this body the seeds of further emanation of bodies and mutations thereof. PART 2: First of all, let's start with the imagination. Can you imagine Buddha sitting through the day and the night, having left the world behind? Can you imagine the strength of his will to persevere without sleep, in the cold and the heat without food, being bitten by insects, threatened by dangerous animals, the body so weak that he had to drag himself to water? Can you imagine what happens to consciousness when there's no thought of the physical world whatsoever? When consciousness has been carried beyond the point where it is an individual consciousness, there are no personal thoughts; one has left oneself behind, as Buddha says. It is as though one were the mind of the Universe and then one has the memory of the Universe. Buddha speaks about the aeons of time when Universes were born, proliferated, destroyed, and then new universes were created, a panoramic view of the whole, infinite sequence of universes. Can you imagine that? And the consciousness of all the planes of beings, since the memory andconsciousness is no more limited by the person and is infinite. That is the consequence of letting go of everything so that Gotama could be called the Tathagatha, "the one who has become thus." In the realm of emotion, since he left everything behind, Buddha is in a state of most perfect peace. He is touching upon the peace beyond understanding that is at the source of all life. He did not descend from his state of peace to share in the fragility of people, but tried to raise others to his consciousness. He knew the cause of suffering was because people are looking at things from their own point of view. The following story illustrates this point. A lady whose child had died, went in desperation to Buddha and said, "Now I hear that you are a great master. Do you think you could bring this child of mine back to life again?" And Buddha said, "I have a practice for you to do. If you go and visit all the houses in the village, and if you can bring me back a chickpea from one of those houses, any house in which there has never been a death, I will bring your child back to life again." The lady went to the different houses and asked, "Has there been a death in your family? in this house?" And everywhere there had been a death. So what Buddha was doing was helping her to get out of her personal consciousness and realize that all people are suffering from grief. Get into the consciousness of all people. She was only thinking of her own grief. That was his way of helping her. That is the consciousness of Buddha. And we might find now, the Buddha in you. There is something in you which seeks for freedom from your own limitation, from your own vantage point, from your own ego, from your own grief, desperately longing for freedom: freedom from the tyranny of the ego, not just freedom from the world. It's freedom from one's self. That is the Buddha in you. Lesson # 10 Sufism: Transformation Through Ecstasy There is an element which is really the key to the whole process of transformation and that is ecstasy. I want to make it clear that there is no way in which we can bring about a transformation of our being simply by applying our will, any more than we could compose a work of art by sitting at a table and willing to do it. The driving force behind what we're doing is being able to capture an attunement which stirs our being to the depths andultimately opens the door to grasping meaningfulness. However, will has a place in setting the pace, in creating the external setting; for example, it is our will that enables us to sit in one position without moving, put up with cold, heat, hunger and thirst, and bypass the need of the mind to seek distraction, such as watching T.V. or talking with people - all those nice things that people like to indulge in. Buddha is a model of how to apply the will. Imagine sitting under the Bodhi tree for forty-nine days and nights. I just came back from India where I meditated under that tree and entered into the feeling of the extraordinary adventure of Buddha, leaving his palace to meditate in the jungle, no food, an ant nest built on his head, without recourse to any other human being, with only the sheer determination of finding a solution to pain. It was a scientific experiment and the only instrument he had was his mind. By the discipline of the mind, he was able to unmask the hoax in which most people are caught and the shackles of suffering. That's one experiment of human realization which is conveyed in his words, "Consciousness is carried beyond the point where it is a personal consciousness." Now the converse to be found amongst the Sufis and particularly, Hazrat Inayat Khan, is "awakening in life," fulfilling one's being in life, gaining mastery, being able to ensure the harmony of the universe in one's handling of situations. Not only that, but finding a new order within the existing order, and therefore, mutating the divine order as it is at present. That's what evolution is all about. In each one, it is our incentive that imitates the divine order, so the personal will is involved. But there is no way of attaining transformation, realization, or ensuring the mastery of our being just by an act of will. It takes a lot to bring about the transformation of a person. They say the leopard never changes his spots. It's not quite true but there is a great resilience in our being. To the extent that there is a recalcitrant attitude toward whatever you may impose upon your body and mind, there is a homeostasis whereby the mind and the body would like to fall back to their own rather slovenly, not concentrated attitude. This particular attitude is entropy. If I were to meditate on the strength of the instructions that I give, I would never be able to meditate. If I am able to meditate, it is because I have been stirred in the depths of my soul by wonderful beings. The kind of conviction that comes from actually having seen a magnificent being! To have actually witnessed what happens to a being under the influence of mastery, concentration! The faith of a person will give him/her self confidence, enabling him/her to overcome the negative, self devalidating thoughts that stand in the way of fulfilling one's purpose in life. You can see that actually happen in front of your eyes. Ecstasy unleashes the pent up emotional drive in our being, which is arrested by disillusions in life. When this latent outburst of energy is suddenly released, it acts as an all pervading power which triggers off transformation. We need to remove the obstacles that hamper us in our inherent attunement, which is the same as that behind the whole universe. That attunement is ecstasy. Creativity is born of emotion and ecstasy is the ultimate emotion which arises every time one has been freed from constraint. Ecstasy is the power that brings about transformation. Ecstasy is to the psyche what energy is to physical matter. It is something that you cannot bring about by any act of will. You'll find it in your idealism. You'll find it in your intuition about splendor. It doesn't always manifest on the physical plane, although it does break through in excellence. For it is an inherent splendor behind everything that we perceive as the universe. It's a kind of intuition, a sixth sense that we have, yet we don't always dare to believe in it when we are tested in our faith in meaningfulness, our faith in splendor, our faith in the power of love, and ultimately, of course, our faith in ourselves. I just hope that behind my words, you feel something that has come through from my communion with wonderful beings and you will find it in yourself sometimes. MEDITATION EXERCISE Using the meditation practice of creative imagination, visualize yourself walking out of a prison. You are freed from the prison of one's sense of inadequacy, realizing how relative your opinion is. You leave behind, the bars of resentment which have held your spirit captive, for freedom comes in moments of forgiveness. You are freed from the bondage of fear by visualizing yourself doing something deeply meaningful to your soul, but which you didn't believe you could do. Each of the above frees us from constraint which creates the breakthrough of ecstasy. Ecstasy is that power which brings about transformation. I'm musing upon the implications of the words of Dr. Kubler-Ross when people are about to die. The two things they regret most are: not having done the things they would have liked to do, and secondly, not having become what they felt they could have been, would have been, or might have been. It's an anticipated sense of the latent perfection lying in wait in one's being. All creativity is anticipating how things could be - a projection to future orientation. Most persons are disappointed in themselves and they put it down to their disappointment in life. Yet it really is their disappointment in themselves. One wouldhave thought that it would be simply a matter of working with ourselves and improving ourselves, but that is like the artist trying to will a work of art. It's much more complex. One needs to consider the depths of one's being. This is what happens to the artist or musician when catalyzed by facing a trauma in life, or discovering the nostalgia for beauty. One unleashes a drive. It is getting in touch with the rebirth in ourselves. One could say that it's just like the jagged ends, the leaves, the petals that are fading away as new petals are emerging. Until the new petals manifest, we can't see them and likewise, there is no way of knowing what is emerging in our being by trying to observe it. So we have to call upon a deeper form of cognizance which we call experience. In experience, we assume that we have a subject, and observing an object is different from ourselves. Now this deeper form of cognizance one could call self discovery because the object is the same as the subject. There is even a further dimension of this which is to be found in the words of the Sufi, Abdul Ansari who said, "I was looking for God and all I found was myself; then I was looking for myself and all I found was God." The subject of the self discovery is further and further withdrawn from the personal I, the personal consciousness. It is an impersonal ground of one's being that discovers itself as our being. That's the essence of Sufism. MEDITATION EXERCISE Reflect upon your life to this point and earmark any significant yearnings which you feel a deep desire to experience or accomplish. Sufism views the deepest desires as divine impulses. In realizing these desires, God experiences fulfillment in us and our soul finds expression through the enrichment of our personality. Why are these yearnings so deeply felt? What divine qualities or emotions find expression through them? How would you be enriched if you were to realize them? Contemplate the anticipated sense of latent perfection lying in wait in your being. Imagine becoming what you could be and open to the ecstasy of the promise in your being. See how the conditions of your life may assist your unfoldment. Ask yourself what kind of being you would like to be at the completion of your life. This will enable you to intuit the vision contained in the seed of you being and assist the flowering of that vision in your personality. Lesson #11: Tibetan Meditations, Part I The following is largely inspired and derived, sometimes quoted, and sometimes paraphrased from a course of meditation at theManjuri Institute by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, and published in a Wisdom Advanced Book series under the name, Clear Light of Bliss. The human body is a perfect body in which to attain illumination, which is awakening. It is a matter of galvanizing, directing, sublimating and coordinating forces latent in several interlocked vehicles of which the material body is one. It is important to know and explore the position and inner structure of the chakras, then awaken and unfurl them, and coordinate them into the network of "corridors" which link them. These corridors may just be nervous circuits within the central and autonomic nervous system, forming the underpinnings of consciousness. The objective is then to thread currents of energy called, "winds", of which breath is the more familiar form through this maze, opening the chakras and integrating their activities. No doubt most of the chakras correspond to the plexi of the autonomic nervous system, or at least may be considered as their counterpart in the etheric body. The Sanskrit word "chakra" means wheel, and indeed it is experienced as a juncture between various circuits, like the spokes of a wheel. They are also regarded as knots or strands that coil and interweave in complex ways. As the chakra unfurls, it does seem like a flower opening up, hence it is sometimes described as a lotus. Certain vowels or chakras or syllables are also used to open the chakras: "ham" (hom) for the crown center,( I have difficulty with the "a" in the head since I prefer concentrating on the "eee" in the pituitary - the bindu), and the "a" (hom) for the brain globally. Use "om" for the throat center, "hum" (hung) for the heart (also the "hu" in the heart strikes one), short "e" -ell- for the solar plexus which resembles the e of the 'illa 'llah of the Dhikr. In addition to the chakras listed in current yoga manuals, the Tibetans include the chakra situated midway between the throat chakra and the heart chakra. It is called the wheel of fire, has three spokes, and obviously corresponds to the thymus gland. The crown chakra, called by Yoga, the million petaled chakra, is regarded by the Tibetans as having 32 spokes, the third eye - two, the throat - 16, the heart - 8, and the navel - 64. In addition are the sex chakra and the lower chakra. These are considered as the ten doors or inlets of energy linking the body energy fields with the energy field of the universe, which could enter the body through any of these doors. (p. 21-22) Consider now, the corridors or inner passageways. The first practice would consist in exploring these as from inside. Imagine you are a spotlight within this maze of corridors and can move freely within this labyrinth and even beyond it, perhaps into other dimensions. Your body is, on the whole, outside you. In fact, it is the temple you inhabit. You will first explore the central channel of the nervous system which appears now as the shaft of a lift, though much narrower, or a chimney. You can course up and down it stopping at each chakra to examine the interweaving of strands (nerve pathways? the flow of neurotransmitters?). "Consistently strong and repeated meditation will gradually cause the central channel to open." You could examine each end. What a difference between the celestial energy at the top of the head with the earth energy at the bottom of the spine! Remember, each is a door opening onto the outside of the Temple. However, at the level of the solar plexus, you will notice that it tends to draw you inside into an inverted space or vacuum. Now you will discover two lateral channels (called in Yoga, Ida and Pingala). Indeed, there are two lateral trunks of the autonomic nervous system flanking the spine left and right. The right channel is described as red, the left white, while the central one is blue, though traversed by a stream described as red. The right one is supposed to be associated with verbal expression (left brain activity), the left-subjective, feeling, intuitive expression (right brain). At the juncture of each chakra, the right and left strands coil around the central channel. Step two: "The winds concentrate wherever the mind is placed." Concentrate on a particular chakra, and you will find that the life energy from the cosmos will concentrate on that spot, dynamizing and opening the chakra. Try doing this with each chakra. As you exhale, you can consciously purify the chakra by exhaling smoky, grey smoke. Inhale through the left nostril, visualizing a radiant white light streaming into you, on the right nostril, a red light. Step three: Steady concentration on a chakra and its visualization will not only cause it to awaken and open, but will induce its core to secrete a drop described as a kind of nectar. Obviously, since the chakras correspond to not only plexi of the autonomic nervous system, but also endocrine glands, by concentrating a lot of life energy in a particular chakra, one will enhance the secretion of the corresponding hormones, and what is more, one will be affecting the flow of neurotransmitters along nerve conduits, thus affecting a change of state in the body (for example, a shift from the catabolic to the anabolic state) which will have an immediate effect on our mode of thinking and also the focus of consciousness. Now imagine yourself to be within the central channel visualized as a chimney and ignite a little spark in the middle of the solar plexus which will gradually flare up into a flame rising within the chimney. When the live core of the chakra reaches the point of incandescence, a red drop will be formed within it that will drip downwards into the chimney, rather like the wax of a candle melting and dripping. Step four: Now visualize the center of the crown chakra which the Yogis call, "bindu" and which is, I believe, the pituitary gland,gently poised on the top of the hypothalamus. As we know, it is a key hormonal gland, and may be the master control station of the entire endocrine system. As a result of intense, one pointed concentration, it will be brought to the point of incandescence, this time burning into a vivid white light. The impression is of a white drop described as an ambrosia, the host produced by the transmutation of the gross chemistry of the digestive system into the esoteric chemistry of hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes, etc. We know that among the hormones secreted by the pituitary gland are endorphins, which greatly affect the psyche and also our attitude towards pain. The effect is enhanced by turning the eyeballs upwards, converging them and curling the tongue upwards, pressing it against the palate. The pressure and magnetism of the tongue as applied to the palate will enhance the flow of spino rachitic fluid in the fourth ventricle of the brain. Yogis and Tibetans and Sufis experience a "taste" not in the mouth, but in the whole body, as though it had been flushed by an elixir of life rejuvenating and causing ecstasy. One needs to check the descent of the dripping at each chakra level to give it time to invest each chakra in turn with its flavor. Step five: This step consists in learning how to transmute cosmic energy regarded as breath, into subtle energy. Suppose there is an ebb and flow between the life field and the energy, say, of the gravitational and magnetic fields of the universe. Take, for example electromagnetic energy: it could be high voltage, low wattage, or low voltage, high wattage. Transmuting the energy would consist in stepping up the voltage, called intensity. In terms of our common parlance, it is shifting from a life-giving force (as evidenced, for example, by the green fingers of a horticulturalist) into becoming pure spirit, as some holy beings have demonstrated. To bring autonomic and subconscious functions under conscious control, one pulls the energy from the lateral channels into the central one, and dissolves them into it. This is effected thus: Inhale through the left nostril, concentrating on the flow of energy upwards through the left channel; hold the breath, turn the eyeballs upwards, tongue curled upwards; exhale through the right nostril, sending the energy downwards through the right channel. Now the opposite. Now breathe through both nostrils, threading the energy up through the central channel; hold the breath, now back down through both lateral channels, now up through the central channel. Finally, down through the central channel, while you hold your breath, concentrate on an inverted space within the solar plexus. A more advanced practice: Consider the streams within the life-field that swirl upwards like intertwining spiral staircases, like the double helix of the DNA or the caduceus of Aesculapius and Hermes. As you inhale through the left nostril, the energy spirals upwards from the bottom of the spine clockwise. Hold the breath. As you exhale, it spirals downwards from the crown center, also clockwise. Then the converse. Finally, concentrateon both spirals as you inhale through both nostrils. Hold. Concentrate on both spirals as you exhale. Now you could gradually shift your attention to the central channel while being aware of the spirals. As previously, one converges the energy into the central channel and dissolves it there, and what is more, into the solar plexus. You wilfully pull the energy from the lateral channels into the central one, and dissolve them there. To do this: as you breathe in, draw the energy from both ends - the top of the head and bottom of the spine - into the solar plexus by constricting the muscles of the abdomen while visualizing that all the currents of energy from the top of the body flow downwards through the two lateral channels. All these currents both lateral and from above and below, now gather in the solar plexus. Now swallow a little saliva noiselessly. Our objective is to transmute the grosser energy of the life-field into subtler energy. Think of your life-field as a vortex (like a whirlpool). In the place of your skin, you are surrounded by a rainbow. At the center is a vacuum. Concentration on the solar plexus will increase the incandescence of the emanation body. The flaring up of the flame will suck gross matter as into a vacuum, whereby transmutation is operated in the core of your being. Visualize the contents of the body melting into light and gradually disappearing into emptiness. Concentration on the heart center will increase the radiance of your aura. Concentration on the throat center will open up a world of creative imagination - the world of metaphor - the maya world out of which we derive our enjoyment. It is, therefore, the center of the enjoyment body as opposed to the emanation body centered in the heart. Whereas in the crown center, the clear light of bliss is attained in what is called the body of truth, experienced in, though mostly not relegated to, the conscious mind in deep sleep. If you visualize an inverted space in the vacuole of your solar plexus and shift your sense of identity to being pure spirit, this will have an immediate effect on the energy of the life-field. A further practice: Concentrate on each chakra in turn, visualizing it as a vortex with a vacuum in the center, and as you inhale, consciously make the breath more subtle. In the end, your breath will shift from the gross kind to being a sheer whimper, as a light zephyr upon a cool lake. You will now become aware of your etheric or subtle body as floating gently around and above the gross physical body and see it as the mold in which the physical body was formed or is continually recast. Incidentally, this practice may rejuvenate your physical body, thereby healing it. Lesson #12: Tibetan Meditations, Part II The Tibetans discriminate between the gross mind that processes sensory impressions from the existential level of reality, from a subtle mind which grasps metaphor, and a very subtle mind which grasps truth. By concentrating on the void created by burning the inner fire culminating in the indestructible drop in the heart chakra, the life field (the winds) will become sublimated and eventually dissolve in the eye of the vortex, as it were. As a consequence, the subtler mind will take over from the gross mind. Breathing will become weaker and weaker and will eventually disappear completely. "Perhaps you will resume breathing after 5 or 6 minutes," Geyshe says. The signs that this has actually happened are described as follows. But remember that each of these mental formations are only appearances, (that is belong to the sphere of metaphor) and therefore may be made to disappear and be replaced by the next one. Each is associated with an element. 1. Earth: the "mirage" or shimmering effect; 2. Water: smoke - "thin wisps of wafting blue smoke drifting in the air in a slowly swirling haze," 3. Fire: "fireflies - a crackling fire - fireworks," 4. Air: somewhat like the appearance of "a flame in a draughtless room." This sequence is parallelled by images produced by the subtle mind: 1. a vision of whiteness - described as "an empty lake on a clear autumn night pervaded by the bright light of the full moon," 2. the mind of "red increase" - "an empty sky pervaded by sunlight," 3. the mind of "black near attainment" - described as "a black empty sky." At this stage one can clearly distinguish between the loss of thought formations and memory of the gross mind, and the emergence of the subtle mind together with the corresponding memory of a level of reality one was not previously aware of. The consequence will be that you will seem to have fallen into a swoon and will appear to others to all intents and purposes as dead. 4. With the re-emergence of the subtle mind, the "clear light" appears. Mark that the degree of brightness witnessed is proportionate to the density and duration of the prior darkness. 5. At this stage, the subtle mind itself disappears, releasing the "very subtle mind." It is this very subtle mind which is carried over in the dying process. You loose the memory of emptiness. You will have the exact experience that you would have if you were dying. The Tibetans are privy to preparing the transit into death by anticipating it while still alive in order to forestallresurrection. Summing up: One arouses the winds - one enhances the energy flow converging from the universe also the emergent energy accessed through the solar plexus; in addition the energy rises upwards and downwards in the internal pathways from chakra to chakra. Moreover one sublimates the energy of the universe drawing it into a void or vacuum inside the central channel - where the winds subside. This is done by endeavoring to move (or swirl) the energy inward from the lateral channels into the central channel in the spinal chord through the connecting afferent and efferent links; and secondly, by drawing the upwards and descending currents into the abyss of the solar plexus across the threshold, giving access into the inverted space or vacuum within. As one sublimates energy in this wise, one becomes aware of the flow of energy in the subtle body which one now identifies with. The immediate consequence is that the subtle mind takes over from the gross mind. Remember that the gross mind is preoccupied with interpreting perceptions of the gross physical world; whereas the subtle mind computes the world of metaphor of which one's self image is fashioned. At this point, one realizes the extent of the scope of incentive one enjoys in confectioning one's self-image the way one wishes, since it is the product of one's imagining faculty. Albeit that one needs to take into account the way that the harmony of the universe gets fluctuated in one's idiosyncracies, like the variation on a theme. But it is only when one realizes that these modes of being projected by the divine act of imagination (maya) are only the flittings of transient formations displaying a formless reality which avers itself finally to be basically pure meaningfulness -the ground intelligence behind all the display - that the very subtle mind takes over from the subtle mind. At this stage one 's sense of identity is shifted from the body Or energy to the body - finally one sees that bodiness was basically spirit, and consciousness, intelligence. When in one's ordinary consciousness, one has no notion of one's truth-body, therefore all that one can do is to surmise that the truth-body is that which one had experienced as clear light. If one remembers that the clue to shifting from the gross-body or emanation-body to the truth-body is by grasping the voidness of what seems to be reality, namely, by realizing that the gross body is like a play of shadows as compared with the reality behind it. Applying the above, it will be clear that in the mirage-like appearance one is not experiencing something that exists but merely an appearance. One follows the same principle regarding the appearance of smoke, of fireflies and the candle flame. It is obvious that when one approaches a sleep condition, the memory of the body persists, but having unmasked the hoax of the visions as being mere appearance one also includes the memory of one's body as being a sheer appearance; consequently, it will disappear. The result will be that the subtle memory will takeover from the gross memory. This is called by the Tibetans the "mind of white-appearance." Since it is now the subtle mind that takes over, the reasoning of the gross-mind which convinced us of the emptiness or unreality of the gross-world such as we imagined it to be, cannot function. However the subtle mind is endowed with its own reasoning which the gross-mind could not comprehend anyway. If you follow the sequence described earlier in this lesson, you will then be moving into the vision of an empty sky pervaded by the red light of the sun which is an indication for the Tibetans that a specific mind is taking over which they call the "mind of red increase." When one has visions of an empty sky pervaded by blackness, the Tibetans see in it evidence that a still more mysterious mind has taken over which they call the "mind of black attainment." Facing this blackness reminiscent of the cloud of unknowing or the dark night of understanding of St. John of the Cross, there's a tendency to black out into a trance like state like a swoon. However, it is at this stage that the very subtle-mind will arise after all memory of the impressions of the subtle-mind have petered out. Obviously one does not preserve the memory of the realization that the gross-mind had of emptiness nor even of the subtle-mind. Somehow the sense of emptiness is carried through from the gross-mind through the subtle-mind to the very subtle mind. The advent of the very subtle-mind is heralded by a vision of an appearance like that of an empty autumn sky at dawn pervaded by a clear and radiant light. When it is the very subtle-mind that meditates, it will realize that the clear light is of the nature of the truth-body. My interpretation of the foregoing in the light of Sufism is that consciousness in its personal focus processes the impressions of the physical world such as it appears, into structures in the psyche. This corresponds to the gross-mind. Secondly, that consciousness may also be aware of the metaphors of the psyche which we call creative imagination. This would be the subtle-mind. But when all notion of a physical reality or that of imaginations has been blotted out, consciousness, bereft of an object, is resorbed in its ground which is intelligence. The Sufis call this intelligence "nur'aql" (luminous intelligence) and I believe this is what the Tibetans call the clear light. Furthermore it becomes obvious that this is the core reality of our being and the psyche and the body have simply accrued to it. And just like one can't see the stars while the sun is in the sky, this luminous intelligence looming behind our consciousness only takes over when we get into a state where the physical world seems to be just an appearance, and so the elucidations of our imagination. Consequently, just like the Tibetans the Sufis call this "alam al haqiqah" (the body oftruth); precisely the same words as the Tibetans. You will note that all of the above was practiced in an awakened state, not in a sleep state, though there was a short moment of trance. Having achieved this during the wakeful state, it can be carried out during sleep. Having achieved this, it will hopefully be possible to carry the same experience over the threshold of death during this transition. Furthermore, I would like to point out that the emptiness of the gross-world, which means its illusory character, is the realization that arises when one goes to see a film and realizes that what made one laugh and cry appeared to be shadows on the screen whereas it was really the thinking of the film maker. The foregoing practices lead to this realization by systematically devalidating appearances including that which transpires behind that which appears. It is all a matter of vantage point. If it weren't for the shadows, the thought of the film maker would be ineffective. From the human vantage point, there is validity in those shadows. That is why Murshid introduces a second mode of awakening which I call the second awakening which would be like getting into the consciousness of the film maker and looking at his film, which is more than just getting into the consciousness of the film maker without his film. Lesson #13: Tibetan Meditations, Part III By this time it must be clear that since the self-image, which the Tibetans call the body of enjoyment, is a sheer product of our creative imagination, it is a notion that we could replace by whatever imaginative form we wish. After death, most people assume a self-image different from the one elaborated on earth, yet still illusory which the Tibetans call an intermediate state body. But the accomplished mediator assumes in his/her imagination, the form of the Deity of his/her choice and carries this self-image through the transit into death.It is an illusory body in that it is predicted by one's imagination as a self-image, yet being a Deity, it is not fraught with the limitations with which our usual personal image is taxed. While the mediator convinces him/herself that he/she is this person, it is hardly detectable by persons present since one would have to like to have a lot of perspicacity to see what transpires behind the appearance of the body which does not seem to have changed, except that the eyes are more luminous and the bearing more noble and the voice more sovereign. However, the Tibetans assure one that should one keep up this projection in one's creative mind, that enjoyment-body which was so precarious becomes adamant and dye-hard thus becoming the actual body of a Buddha, consequently that enjoyment-body persists in sleep so that one never returns into one's personal self-image as one passes into the threshold of sleep. The Deity is imagined as being a white form; the mediator has a feeling of whiteness, of having a white aura and seeks an immaculate state. An identical procedure can now be carried out working with the emanation body during waking. Remember, we are not talking about a self-image in the realm of one's imagination, but a body having some kind of physical reality, though obviously not to be confused with the physical body. I suppose this body would be somewhat in the nature of a poltergeist having somewhat of an etheric substantiality, which would then transpire more vividly through the features of the body, giving the illuminated being an air of sanctity - even the body is transformed by very intensity of the concentration. The way to do it is to imagine that the white gossamer body descends through the crown of the head. The Tibetans use the word pride in respect of the realization thus attained which reminds one of Hazrat Inayat Khan's words, "the greatest pride together with the greatest humility." The pride and the splendor come through and humility, in whatever measure one limits this splendor in one's bodiness, granted that one has by now overcome the limitation of the self-image. SLEEP All the above can now be carried out in sleep. The first step consists in meditating on the inner fire in the solar plexus before going to sleep. Buddha indicates an ideal position favoring the continuation of meditation during sleep lying down on the right side and lying one's right cheek on the palm of the right hand, the left arm outstretched on top. One goes through the sequence of the landscape of the soul as described earlier when hovering between waking and sleep. This requires on one hand, a lot of mastery of the mind coupled with a sense of the emptiness of physical existence and of the fictitiousness of the images thus projected. The sense of illusoriness and deceptiveness of the dream landscapes will cause the very subtle mind to take over, just as the stars will become visible when the sun has passed out of sight. One must be wary of misinterpreting the word emptiness; all it means is that the reality of what appears is formless and spaceless and timeless and therefore, in comparison with the manifest, it appears a void of all things ascribed to existence and which we think compose reality. Murshid has another word for that, he calls it the essence of all things. Let us compare what the Tibetans are saying with what the Sufi's teach about Samadhi, that in reality, there are several universes that are all interspersed and inter-penetrating or rather, several space-time relationships, and really, at the higher level, everything is everywhere. It is only at this lowest levelthat things are located and separated. At the emotion of splendor and the realization of meaningfulness, and then all the way down it gets differentiated, and as I say, located in space and time. So in other words, if only one knew what was behind all of this, and that's what we want to experience. But we find that as we get close to that experience, we are so unable to capture it that we space out, become a blank. On the way we lose ourselves in thoughts, and even the thoughts themselves become like in the dream, become confusing. One has to become careful as one departs from one's more solid, secure world of tangible reality. On the other hand, there is no doubt that one can reach out beyond this secure but untrue, deluding representation of the world that we make. I find it a great help to know that our usual way of looking at the world is wrong, is erroneous. One has the impression of levitation, and I dare say that the astral body, in sleep, does displace itself a little bit from the physical body. It is offset and I think that is true when you get into this practice; you do have the feeling of being unsubstantial, ethereal, and spatially, you seem to be raised as compared with the physical body. There is a greater sense of fusing with the environment and all that one has in one's body consciousness, but one has to be careful of not allowing oneself just to remain stuck between planes on the way. So I think it is one's idealism that sets one's sails, and really speaking, it is one's response to the divine glory one experiences as one's own idealism. The way of the Sufi is to, as I say,simply respond to the divine action rather than going on a quest out Or one's own motivation. Now thoughts will crop up and your best protection against them is to think, "Well, it's not important," or "These thoughts have to do with my general way of relating to the world but they are not ultimately relevant." Don't fight against them; devalue them. There will be times when your consciousness will be bouncing up into other planes. You want to try and fathom these planes, and as soon as you try to do that, you get all confused and rather disappointed and wonder whether it is not all imagination. Now here we have to be very clear about the difference between imagination and fantasy. The whole creation is active divine imagination (the meaning of the word "magic," and even "maya"). The reason that men and women are extensions of the divine imagination whereby a thought becomes physical reality is that we're organizing the physical world in conformity with our imaginations. It's the most creative thing there is and the fact is, that one cannot imagine something that does not exist. One can fantasize. And so really speaking, it's like drawing from the source from which everything emerged in the physical universe. It's that storehouse of bounty that Murshid speaks about. It is the place from which your soul arises because you yourself are the product of the divine imagination, the divine qualities that have manifested right down into existence. So just think that all of this that one experiences on the physical plane is the outcome of the world of splendor, and then the splendor behind all thisbegins to become known to one and one is delighted and full of light and glory. Here, I am not advising you to get yourself into what they call an asamprajnata samadhi condition, where, as I say, one is really blanking out into what the Sufis call the cloud of unknowing; no, just let yourself be swept into the realms of splendor. Some of you are imagining forms; splendor comes through in forms; it doesn't have a form itself. What is the beauty of a rose? This form serves the beauty, conveys it, the colors or whatever, but the splendor of the rose or the beauty is not itself a form. Something comes through and now what you are trying to attune to is that which comes through. We have plenty of opportunity of observing beautiful things, but now one's soul gets carried back to its original condition of ecstasy where it is experiencing the splendor behind all tangible forms, and that is the essence of all things of which Murshid speaks. Lesson #14: Wazifa, Part I A wazifa is a word like a mantram which acts as a catalyst, a trigger; it triggers off a process in the unconscious; it allows us to look into the awareness of a divine quality at the unconscious level so that it might blossom forth in definite, tangible qualities in our personality. It is not simply auto suggesting a quality toward the unconscious. It is furthering this quality to the universal, cosmic, transcendental mode. It is the repetition of the sounds that evoke in us, not just a thought, but an attunement. That's very important; I would stress that. It's not like a thought, a label. We impoverish the wazifa by thinking of it in terms of having a meaning that can be labeled, a concept. I would rather that we think of the wazifas in terms of emotions - emotion modes rather than concepts of the mind, for example, the emotion of truth, the emotion of compassion. If you know something about physiology, you know that pathways are frayed in the network of strands within the convolutions of the cortical area of the brain, rather like one can blast a path in the jungle. A good example is how the deer, walking in the forest, reinforce a path one deer had followed and more deer follow and eventually it really becomes a path, a trail in the forest which you can then follow. It is by repetitiveness that the path is reinforced and actually becomes more effective. That is the way the wazifa works in our unconscious, by the repetitiveness. The first stage is the saying of the word but at a later stage, one just thinks the word. And then you can go into a further stage where one simply assimilates the meaning of the wazifa. You become it and are transformed. Perhaps the key to all wazifas in the words of Hazrat Inayat Khan is to discover in yourself the same power, for example, thatmoves the universe, or the same joy that delights the universe or whatever. It's the cosmic dimension of that quality that sets the pace of the wazifa. Now if you start with Wahabbo, it's very good because Wahabbo has such a sense of unlimited bounty, vastness, all encompassingness. It is an excellent choice as a practice when on retreat but it can be used in the home when one is taking some personal, quiet time to reflect. At these times, you are making a transit from active life and so you are conscious of being pulled into two directions: one is involvement in life, and the other is seeking freedom from involvement. Wahabbo is like a very profuse outpouring of all the qualities coming through your being, becoming a reality in your personality. I would say that Wahabbo is the very epitome of what we would understand as a wazifa, that is, making God a reality. Refer to that saying of Murshid where he says, "We think that we are a plant but we are in fact a seed." The plant is a seed that has unfurled but one doesn't see the seed anymore and that which is apparent, appears now of the richness of the seed, is very little in comparison with the tremendous bounty that is pregnant in the seed. So we identify ourselves with this more limited aspect of our being that is the plant and call it our personality. But at the end of the cycle, the seed reemerges in the heart of the flower and so you could say that our personality is like a plant, and perhaps, ultimately, is a flower, and that the reality of our being, that divine dimension of our being, is latent or virtual within the flower and so the wazifa consists in discovering this latent bounty which is here, not up there, but really is truly here in our being. In the word Wahabbo (pronounced wuh-hob-bo by the Indians and wu-heb-bo by the Arabs-choose whichever feels right to you), there is profusion, bounty, divine perfection and you've had the sense of it being funneled down, consequently, limited, but getting at least concretized to the personality. It should give one a feeling of opening up to all the richness that is coming upon one. Of course, you can't hold it in. It's like a waterfall that overflows and can't be contained by the rocks or pond below so it continues to overflow. Say the word swiftly so that the syllables run together like a river passing by from left to right, in a steady stream. Repeat wahabbo fluently several times before breathing again and feel the effect in your body and your consciousness over a period of time. This wazifa is said on the exhalation. Now the counterpart of Wahabbo is Wahedo (pronounced vah-hah-do). Wahedo is one of the forms of the word, wahid, which means Thee alone. It is the Jacob's ladder that leads one into what the Sufis call the "solitude of God." Wahid, Wahadat in metaphysics, is the state in which God resorbs all things in the Oneness. He's experiencing that state of solitude. This is especially good as a practice for a pregnant woman when she needs to go inside toattune to the new being within her. She needs a zone of silence to accomplish this and Wahedo is an aid to the spirit of silence. The way that Sufis look upon things is that in His exhaling, God shifts from the state of unity into the state of multiplicity; that is Wahabbo. In His inhaling, God shifts back into unity, withdrawing all things back into the unity again. Every time that we are fraught with desire to fulfill something in life, we are partaking of the divine exhaling; every time that we are drawn into a state where we feel like withdrawing from active life, are able to get back into our roots again, then we are partaking of the divine inhaling. And that's Wahedo. These two wazifas, Wahedo and Wahabbo, can be used with the early morning purification breaths when breathing in the nose (wahedo) and out the mouth (wahabbo). Please refer to lesson #2, page 2, Baptism with Water. The next two wazifas, Batin and Zahir, are tandem wazifas which accompany the earth breath. Please refer to lesson #2, page 2, Baptism with the Earth. As one inhales, one withdraws into inner space and experiences the essence, but one also experiences oneself as the void. In the inner space, a new energy flows into the universe and into you. Through the solar plexus you back into the inner space, into the feeling of the veiled one, the conscious.. Mother of the Universe as defined in Hinduism. During the inhalation, say Ya Batin (accent on the first syllable). It helps to lower the head in order to remind oneself of one's inner space. The contrast to Ya Batin is Ya Zahir and this is said on the exhalation. Zahir is pronounced zaheer. It means the manifestation, the epiphany and is always in some way associated with light. The whole of the universe is radiant, the manifestation of God as light; that's the meaning of the word epiphany. When you say zahir you are conscious of the energy flow outward and become aware of the flow of your magnetic field, your aura. It is helpful here to raise the head and think of radiating the light outward. So that will give you a nice clearness as to the alternation between turning within, the veiled one, the simple Batin, and Zahir, the epiphany, all the stars, the radiance of t manifestation. Practically every aspect of our being is a continuity in change. You can't say my body is transient but my soul is eternal. That is the old fashioned way of thinking. No, the body is a continuity of change. There are the same cells; the cells change but the arms remain the same. For example, you say the same yet, it is never the same water. So there is a continuity in change of the body. There is a reconciliation of transiency and permanence. The same thing is true of our character, our personality. They are not the same as when we were three years old and yet we say that we are the same personality so it is a continuity in change.The same thing is true of our consciousness. The use of tandem wazifas is helpful in promoting a balanced state by developing the qualities which are in contrast to one another. Our strong qualities will grow stronger with the use of wazifas on a daily basis and so will our weak qualities be strengthened. Constant repetition will affect a change over a period of time. In the beginning, practice the wazifas out loud so that the sound is able to permeate your being. As you become familiar, say them on a breath (fikr). When they are part of your being, you need only think them. Lesson #15: Wazifa (cont.) The main accent on the wazifas is for the unfoldment of your being. Wazifa is the staple food of the meditation of the sufis, together with the dhikr, and the reason is that the Sufis attach so much importance to the unfoldment of divine inheritance into the personality. Murshid says that the only thing that will ever help you to fulfill your life is to become conscious of your divine inheritance. He's talking about the divine perfection in limitation, man being God, divine limitation; God being divine perfection all the time. Now there is a way of looking at things which is very challenging to our ordinary way of thinking. That is, to understand that in fact, what we call a physical universe, is just a way that reality appears seen from a certain vantage point. It looks as though we are dealing with discrete objects, but in fact, behind all that, is just a tremendous frequency pattern, a wave interference pattern, where everything is everywhere. So that we think this person is here, but in fact, it's only one emerging dispersed throughout the universe and interconnected with every other being. And so we could say that matter emerges out of pure vibration. I know that in science this is a whole question because, originally, one assumed that vibration is the vibration of something: the vibration of air or water or what have you. Now the scientific view is that vibration is vibration of energy. It's the oscillation of energy and energy is transported throughout the universe by vibration. What we're doing in the wazifa is that we're working with the universal vibration. So we're really getting to the source of all things. We're touching on a great secret. It brings us in contact with the language of the mind of God. We say the world of vibration is the language and that language is translating thoughts. You could say those thoughts are the divine intention behind the whole universe and that language is continually being spoken. It's what the Sufis call the secret language of the universe. Those who have ears begin to distinguish a meaning in that music, which you could call the symphony of the spheres. So the point of the wazifa isto become sensitive to that language and adjust ourselves to the feedback. We generally start by saying, "Well, you produce sound and then you listen to the echo." But in a study of the meaningfulness of the wazifa, we have to do the opposite. We have to understand that the objective is to become a very fine receptor of the language of God, the symphony of the spheres. What we're doing is simply to produce sound ourselves that is in some way connected with the sound we're about to receive so as to get things happening, to get things moving. This follows the law: a moving object is more sensitive to an impact than a still object. So, if you are starting to produce sound and you're vibrating, then you are more sensitive to the input of vibrations from the universe than if you're in a static state. This is the condition in which to become very vibrant, very sensitive to the harmony of the universe. The wazifas have developed ad hoc in the course of time from a kind of traditional knowledge of the unconscious. It developed that way and it produces results. I did try to systematize it a little bit. For example, I place the "ah" in the heart center, the "u" (yew) in the throat center, "i" (eee) in the third eye, "n" above the head, "eh" in the solar plexus. Well, it's a system and it's good to have systems but I don't want to lock you into systems. In my latest research with the wazifa I find that one can place the "u" in the crown center and even in the heart center. You can even place the "ah" higher up in the third eye. Now these are further refinements, so I think it's good to start with the system and then once you've done that, go into the refinements. So one starts the wazifa by controlling the sound, knowing how to place the sound in the different centers. That means that you get the centers to vibrate. Those centers are general plexi of the autonomic nervous system. One is literally bombarding the flesh of that very subtle center, like the cardioplexus, with vibration. And what happens when you apply the sound upon your very flesh? In order to move your arm, for example, what is it that operates the junction between mind and body? How is it that a decision in your mind can translate itself in terms of a muscular motion? It means the flesh is stirred by the action of the mind. Where is the connection? The connection is in vibration. What happens is that the influence of thought upon the cells of the nervous system, the molecules of the cells in the nervous system, will get the molecules into resonance. Consequently, they align themselves, just like the molecules in a crystal, so there's a trauma, let's say a tropic change, taking place in the cells of the body by the action of the mind. So there you see the clue to the ascendancy of mind over matter is getting matter into vibration, into resonancy, into harmonic resonance, because it's always resonating. And the art is to get matter's vibrations into harmonic relationship. This is the goalof the wazifa which results in helping a person to unfold and to grow spiritually. Let us apply this principle of sound to two sets of tandem wazifas which accompany the purification breaths given in Lesson #2, page 3: Baptism with Fire and Baptism with Air. For the Baptism of Fire: the wazifas are Ya Hu, sounds like who (on the inhalation, through the mouth) and Ya Haqq, sounds like huck (on the exhalation, through the nose). When done on the breath, eliminate the word "Ya" and just breathe in while saying Hu, at the same time, visualizing yourself as the flame, sucking air from the environment. Use a soft, windlike breath, not a noisy one and be aware of the Divine presence that makes one strong in truth. Be aware of the Divine Presence in your inner tabernacle, and in the awe of the Holy of Holies. As you visualize the color of the flame transmuting fire into the light of your being from infra red at the bottom chakra to gold in the solar plexus to green in the throat, to blue in the third eye to ultra violet that fans into white light in the crown, you will feel flashes throughout your body which will move from hot to cool as you ascend to the coolness of blue. It is important when one is healing to know how to switch over from hot energy to cool energy. (You may want to try this with someone. Place your hand onto their arm and send hot energy into their being; while you breathe in, concentrate on being pure spirit. As you breathe out again, send very cool magnetism into that person. Without telling the person what you are doing, ask that person, "How do you feel now?" If you are doing it right, that person should answer, "Very cool.") On the exhalation, say Haqq, (O Truth). "The soul on its journey, reaches a plane where it exclaims, 'I am the truth!"' (Hazrat Inayat Khan) Haqq is the truth in its absolute reality beyond the facts that may manifest in existence. It represents what happens to truth in existence as life energies. When a being becomes truth, he reads into the hearts of all beings like an open book. Haqq brings about a Baptism of Fire, courage, unswerving authenticity from the heart. There is an extraordinary energy that comes into you when you dedicate yourself to truth. It cleanses any ambiguity or diplomacy or manipulative deluding that one might be doing without realizing that one is doing it. It makes one very upfront and strong. It takes courage to own up; one loses face, but that is what truth means. Nevermind if one loses the whole world, if one has become truthful. This is a very powerful form of purification. The wazifas for the Baptism of Air are: Ya Quddus, sounds like "could uuse" with the first part of the word cut short and the dus elongated on the uuu like the French sound eu (said on the inhalation, through the mouth). Eliminate Ya when done on the breath. The vibration of Quddus should be felt in the throat when said aloud. Ya Hayy sounds like Hi (said on exhalation, out the mouth). Quddus stands for the Holy Spirit, the source of life. Concentration is on the immaculate state, purity, the waters of life. Hazrat Inayat Khan says, There is a stage at which by touching a particular phase of existence, one feels raised above the limitations of life, and given that power and peace and freedom, that light and life, which belong to the source of all beings. In other words, in that moment of supreme exaltation, one is not only united with the source of all beings, but dissolved in it; for the source is one's self. Quddus acts as a catalyst, like lightening. The Virgin Mary is a suggested archetype for this wazifa. When saying Hayy, lt's like blowing the breath of the pure spirit into the life force. Hayy acts as a catalyst, whipping up qualities existing as the life force into great intensity. Exhale on the breath as a swirling eddy or whirlpool of life. You are that whirlpool. Communicate life wherever you go. This is the energy that proliferates in nature, for example, the orbits of the planets and atoms. Perhaps the clue to the wazifa is that all qualities have their realities in beings. We have a tendency to think of archetypes like qualities as existing on their own. But they exist in beings. Ultimately, of course, there's only one being. And so the key to understanding the whole contemplation Or using the wazifas is to be found in the text of al-Hallj, where he says that every time God contemplates a quality, it is manifested into existence. It is existentiated into a being. And you could say that all beings are the divine qualities manifested so that they become knowable, objects of knowledge. So in the wazifa, you are continuing the action of God contemplating Himself. This places the whole wazifa in a totally different perspective. You are conscious as you are repeating the wazifa Or being the Divine Consciousness. You are turning the searchlight of consciousness on a particular quality. That's the one you have chosen for your wazifa, and it reveals to you its meaning. The meaning of the wazifa is something that is gradually revealed to you; the higher your consciousness, the more you are able to grasp the whole expanse of the meaning of the wazifa. The only way to discover it is to get more and more into the Divine Consciousness as you say the wazifa. Lesson #15: Wazifa, Part II The main accent on the wazifas is for the unfoldment of your being. Wazifa is the staple food of the meditation of the Sufis, together with the dhikr, and the reason is that the Sufis attach so much importance to the unfoldment of divine inheritance into the personality. Murshid says that the only thing that will ever help you to fulfill your life is to become conscious of your divine inheritance. He's talking about the divine perfection in limitation, man being God, divine limitation; God being divine perfection all the time. Now there is a way of looking at things which is very challenging to our ordinary way of thinking. That is, to understand that in fact, what we call a physical universe, is just a way that reality appears seen from a certain vantage point. It looks as though we are dealing with discrete objects, but in fact, behind all that, is just a tremendous frequency pattern, a wave interference pattern, where everything is everywhere. So that we think this person is here, but in fact, it's only one emerging aspect of that person that is here. In reality, the person is dispersed throughout the universe and interconnected with every other being. And so we could say that matter emerges out of pure vibration. I know that in science this is a whole question because, originally, one assumed that vibration is the vibration of something: the vibration of air or water or what have you. Now the scientific view is that vibration is vibration of energy. It's the oscillation of energy and energy is transported throughout the universe by vibration. What we're doing in the wazifa is that we're working with the universal vibration. So we're really getting to the source of all things. We're touching on a great secret. It brings us in contact with the language of the mind of God. We say the world of vibration is the language and that language is translating thoughts. You could say those thoughts are the divine intention behind the whole universe and that language is continually being spoken. It's what the Sufis call the secret language of the universe. Those who have ears begin to distinguish a meaning in that music, which you could call the symphony of the spheres. So the point of the wazifa is to become sensitive to that language and adjust ourselves to the feedback. We generally start by saying, "Well, you produce sound and then you listen to the echo." But in a study of the meaningfulness of the wazifa, we have to do the opposite. We have to understand that the objective is to become a very fine receptor of the language of God, the symphony of the spheres. What we're doing is simply to produce sound ourselves that is in some way connected with the sound we're about to receive so as to get things happening, to get things moving. This follows the law: a moving object is more sensitive to an impact than a still object. So, if you are starting to produce sound and you're vibrating, then you are more sensitive to the input of vibrations from the universe than if you're in a static state. This is the condition in which to become very vibrant, very sensitive to the harmony of the universe. The wazifas have developed ad hoc in the course of time from a kind of traditional knowledge of the unconscious. It developed that way and it produces results. I did try to systematize it a little bit. For example, I place the "ah" in the heart center, the "u" (yew) in the throat center, "i" (eee) in the third eye, "n" above the head, "eh" in the solar plexus. Well, it's a system and it's good to have systems but I don't want to lock you into systems. In my latest research with the wazifa I find that one can place the "u" in the crown center and even in the heart center. You can even place the "ah" higher up in the third eye. Now these are further refinements, so I think it's good to start with the system and then once you've done that, go into the refinements. So one starts the wazifa by controlling the sound, knowing how to place the sound in the different centers. That means that you get the centers to vibrate. Those centers are general plexi of the autonomic nervous system. One is literally bombarding the flesh of that very subtle center, like the cardioplexus, with vibration. And what happens when you apply the sound upon your very flesh? In order to move your arm, for example, what is it that operates the junction between mind and body? How is it that a decision in your mind can translate itself in terms of a muscular motion? It means the flesh is stirred by the action of the mind. Where is the connection? The connection is in vibration. What happens is that the influence of thought upon the cells of the nervous system, the molecules of the cells in the nervous system, will get the molecules into resonance. Consequently, they align themselves, just like the molecules in a crystal, so there's a trauma, let's say a tropic change, taking place in the cells of the body by the action of the mind. So there you see the clue to the ascendancy of mind over matter is getting matter into vibration, into resonancy, into harmonic resonance, because it's always resonating. And the art is to get matter's vibrations into harmonic relationship. This is the goal of the wazifa which results in helping a person to unfold and to grow spiritually. Let us apply this principle of sound to two sets of tandem wazifas which accompany the purification breaths given in Lesson #2, page 3: Baptism with Fire and Baptism with Air. For the Baptism of Fire: the wazifas are Ya Hu, sounds like who (on the inhalation, through the mouth) and Ya Haqq, sounds like huck (on the exhalation, through the nose). When done on the breath, eliminate the word "Ya" and just breathe in while saying Hu, at the same time, visualizing yourself as the flame, sucking air from the environment. Use a soft, windlike breath, not a noisy one and be aware of the Divine presence that makes one strong in truth. Be aware of the Divine Presence in your inner tabernacle, and in the awe of the Holy of Holies. As you visualize the color of the flame transmuting fire into the light of your being from infra red at the bottom chakra to gold in the solar plexus to green in the throat, to blue in the third eye to ultra violet that fans into white light in the crown, you will feel flashes throughout your body which will move from hot to cool as you ascend to the coolness of blue. It is important when one is healing to know how to switch over from hot energy to cool energy. (You may want to try this with someone. Place your hand onto their arm and send hot energy into their being; while you breathe in, concentrate on being pure spirit. As you breathe out again, send very cool magnetism into that person. Without telling the person what you are doing, ask that person, "How do you feel now?" If you are doing it right, that person should answer, "Very cool.") On the exhalation, say Haqq, (O Truth). "The soul on its journey, reaches a plane where it exclaims, 'I am the truth!'" (Hazrat Inayat Khan) Haqq is the truth in its absolute reality beyond the facts that may manifest in existence. It represents what happens to truth in existence as life energies. When a being becomes truth, he reads into the hearts of all beings like an open book. Haqq brings about a Baptism of Fire, courage, unwerving authenticity from the heart. There is an extraordinary energy that comes into you when you dedicate yourself to truth. It cleanses any ambiguity or diplomacy or manipulative deluding that one might be doing without realizing that one is doing it. It makes one very upfront and strong. It takes courage to own up; one loses face, but that is what truth means. Nevermind if one loses the whole world, if one has become truthful. This is a very powerful form of purification. The wazifas for the Baptism of Air are: Ya Quddus, sounds like "could uuuse" with the first part of the word cut short and the dus elongated on the uuu like the French sound eu (said on the inhalation, through the mouth). Eliminate Ya when done on the breath. The vibration of Quddus should be felt in the throat when said aloud. Ya Hayy sounds like Hi (said on exhalation, out the mouth). Quddus stands for the Holy Spirit, the source of life. Concentration is on the immaculate state, purity, the waters of life. Hazrat Inayat Khan says, There is a stage at which by touching a particular phase of existence, one feels raised above the limitations of life, and given that power and peace and freedom, that light and life, which belong to the source of all beings. In other words, in that moment of supreme exaltation, one is not only united with the source of all beings, but dissolved in it; for the source is one's self. Quddus acts as a catalyst, like lightening. The Virgin Mary is a suggested archetype for this wazifa. When saying Hayy, it is like blowing the breath of the pure spirit into the life force. Hayy acts as a catalyst, whipping up qualities existing as the life force into great intensity. Exhale on the breath as a swirling eddy or whirlpool of life. You are that whirlpool. Communicate life wherever you go. This is the energy that proliferates in nature, for example, the orbits of the planets and atoms. Perhaps the clue to the wazifa is that all qualities have their realities in beings. We have a tendency to think of archetypes like qualities as existing on their own. But they exist in beings. Ultimately, of course, there's only one being. And so the key to understanding the whole contemplation of using the wazifas is to be found in the text of al-Hallaj, where he says that every time God contemplates a quality, it is manifested into existence. It is existentiated into a being. And you could say that all beings are the divine qualities manifested so that they become knowable, objects of knowledge. So in the wazifa, you are continuing the action of God contemplating Himself. This places the whole wazifa in a totally different perspective. You are conscious as you are repeating the wazifa of being the Divine Consciousness. You are turning the searchlight of consciousness on a particular quality. That's the one you have chosen for your wazifa, and it reveals to you its meaning. The meaning of the wazifa is something that is gradually revealed to you; the higher your consciousness, the more you are able to grasp the whole expanse of the meaning of the wazifa. The only way to discover it is to get more and more into the Divine Consciousness as you say the wazifa. Lesson #16: Practices with Light, Part I When one is initiated into the Sufi Order, we say, "That you may find the path that leads you towards the purpose of your life, illumination." So ours is a way of light. One is a being of light. The task at hand is to become conscious of being a being of light and to make it real I remember one day, looking for a rishi in a cave above Rishikesh. There was a group of people, and someone said, "Yes, there he is, up there." All I could see was just an enormous white light. And up there on the top of the hill, (I didn't realize it was on the top of the hill) I thought I saw a light somewhere in space or something. I just saw this light. I noticed there was a man in the middle of this light, and he had a beautiful white aura. It was so beautiful to be in his presence. One can work with light, just like a potter can work with clay. How wonderful it would be if we would be totally luminous and radiant. We would have a wonderful effect upon people around us. as soon as one faces a person who has a lot of light in them, somehow, it brings out one's own. One tends to reflect people. So, while you're having a conversation with a person, you could just be conscious of being a being of light. I find that the clue is really just simply remembering that one is a being of light. It does something to one right away. And what is more, that the person to whom you are speaking is also a being of light, and that's what establishes the communication. That means that you have to have the strength to see the light aspect of that person even though it doesn't come through. That person may be very materialistic, manifest hatred and ugly thoughts in what he/she says or thinks, and yet somehow, you still maintain the awareness of the light there, the light of the soul. NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS AND MEDITATIONS ON LIGHT MAY AT FIRST SEEM SLIGHTLY REPETITIVE, BUT EACH ONE DIFFERS SLIGHTLY FROM THE OTHER INSTRUCTIONS ON LIGHT IN THE PREVIOUS LESSONS, IN THE MANNER OF FOCUS, THEREFORE, EACH BRINGS FURTHER INFORMATION AND REALIZATION. So we're going to do practices with light. There are different ways of approaching this and you must find out for yourself which one(s) you prefer. One is, you see, that one can distinguish at least between the light of the aura and the heavenly light or the uncreated light. ( Review Baptism of Fire, Lesson 2, #3 ) When you reach the crown center, hold your breath, turn your eyeballs upward and concentrate on the crown center and the light above it. Now you experience a cooling as you proceed up the spine so that one of the best ways of getting into the kind of consciousness that promotes the radiation of very high frequency light is to get into the same state we get into when we experience pure spirit; that is, the snow and the ice and the immaculate state. There's a feeling of great coolness, evencoldness at the top of the head, at the top of the body. At the bottom of the body, there's a feeling of heat. As you hold your breath and concentrate it in the crown center, eyeballs upwards, you tend to reach higher up into spheres of light and of course, there's no frontier between the crown center and the spheres of light. You have to overcome the idea of being the person who is experiencing that, but you are that which you experience. Of course, the great moment is when you realize that you are a being of light and that the body is just a formation that has accrued to you in the course of the descent. Together with that realization is the feeling of incredible joy. You no longer have to think of the red color, radiation, as you begin exhaling. You're just conscious of your body as a kind of infrastructure that has its own laws and you don't have to concern yourself with them. It will go on functioning the way it has to. Of course, there's a sense of dissolving totally in that light, so that you're not located in space. Now, when you exhale, do identify yourself with the celestial light which is uncreated light. You are infusing your aura with the light, just as we infuse the magnetism of the body with the energy of the Holy Spirit, exactly in the same way. So this is "the Light upon a Light." This means that at the end of the exhaling, you're conscious of your aura again. You don't identify with it but you become very conscious of it. So once again, you're conscious of the very warm radiation of the heart which is just like a sun, a radiant sun. According to the Sufis, the souls of men of light and it's light of intelligence rather than a physical light. It's a light that thrusts its light upon all things and makes things clear, so they call it "the light that sees rather than the light that is seen." The souls of men and women are the fragments of the archangels of the planets and the archangel of the sun, of the solar system, and the archangels of the galaxies. All this is part of the one and only Being, who is God, which means "the Light of Lights," that has been fragmenting itself down till that minute fragment of light that is the soul of man. I say this so that we will be able to somehow experience our relationship with the hierarchies of beings of light. Every fragment is continually in touch with the group of which it is a fragment, being the divine glance. The glance is the luminous intelligence which thrusts its light upon all things. So you know that there are two stages: one is, "I am the eyes through which God sees," and the other one is, "I am the divine glance." For this practice, you have to adopt the second stage. You're conscious of being the extension of the hierarchies of intelligence, luminous intelligences. That is the word that is used by the Sufis, hierarchies of luminous intelligences which are all the ramification of the Nur al-Anwar, the Light of Lights. What happened is that a fragment got itself alienated from its source, and all you have to do is to establish your lines of communication with the origin of your consciousness. Now instead of just thinking of very abstract lights of intelligence, you could start getting into the consciousness of the archangels of the planets and stars, rather like we did with Buddha in Lesson #9. You don't just want to get into fantasy but if you tune yourself to the sun and all the glory that accompanies a sunrise, realize that that's only the outer manifestation of the being of the sun. Of course, that doesn't mean that the archangel of the sun has a body or a figure or a countenance like that of a human being. But once you've established your connection with the being of the sun rather than just the light, the physical light such as it is experienced from the earth, then you have access to further and further and more cosmic beings of light. Remember this principle: it's not good enough just to try to contact that being; one has to experience oneself as that being. I mean, get into the consciousness of that being (sun, archangel, whatever). You have to become like the sun or bring the being of the sun through. And beyond that, still more cosmic beings, each being being a fragment of the group being who is hierarchically above. And now we pass to the next degree and see the connection between our glance and the light of luminous intelligence that becomes consciousness. We are now able to start working with the third eye. One shouldn't work with the third eye if one is projecting one's own glance, one's personal glance, but if one has connected up one's personal glance with its origin, the first thing to do is to work with the eyes. There are different practices emitted by your physical eyes. So think of your eyes as being like the headlamps of a car and project those beams forward in the dark. Imagine that those headlamps are being projected in the dark. Now connect up your glance with the whole hierarchy of beings of light and think that your glance is like an extension of the light that sees, as we called it, instead of the light that is seen, (the light of the hierarchies of the beings of light, of the pure luminous intelligences). And that should give you a tremendous intensity and also a penetration to your glance. So at the outset, of course, the glance is set now, when you open your eyes, you should be able to keep your eyes at infinity and not allow your eyes to be focussed by the objects in front of you. So you don't "see", you just cast light. It's a very wonderful practice. Just cast light. It's a very important practice because that's the way of communing with people with light. As you're talking with people, you just get into that focus and people pick it up right away. They begin to be aware of their light and before you know where you are, both of you are really high, exchanging, illuminating each other with the light of your eye. Try it. It's a very tangible way of doing what you want to do while conversing with people; you're involved with life. A very important practice. Do this every day until it becomes strong in you. You have to be stronger than the environment; you don't allow yourself to be conditioned by the environment. You are thrusting light; thelight of the heavens is coming through you. Every now and again you could, as you inhale, close your eyes, turn your eyeballs upwards, and get into that attunement of getting into the consciousness of the intelligences, the whole hierarchy of beings of light. Hold your breath and then, as you exhale, open your eyes and cast that light forward. If you get a shock when you open your eyes, (one tends to adjust oneself to the physical world) overcome that shock and just remember your attunement. It's only for a short while when you're exhaling. Then as you inhale, go back into your attunement again. Don't identify with your personal glance, with the glance of your eyes; your center is way above the crown chakra somewhere; it's not in your eyes. Your eyes are just an extension of the glance of your eyes; the light from the eyes is just an extension from all that light that you are, that which includes the hierarchies of beings of light. Don't be afraid of opening your eyes as long as you keep your concentration. And if you want to protect your glance from the shock of contact with the physical world, you just have to find yourself in a transfigured world; you mustn't let your consciousness get right down to the physical perspective of the universe. Just think that you are experiencing that which transpires as being that which appears. What appears is just an illusion anyway; it's not the way things are. It's an optical illusion. So don't let yourself be caught in it. You have to find yourself in a transfigured world. That's the meaning of transfiguration. I'll give you a clue; you get to a point when you say, "Well, what is all of this? What is this physical world? What am l? What am I doing here? What is this body?" You get very confused because it all seems so like a kind of dream; it doesn't seem real. It's what I call finding yourself in a transfigured world. It's distrusting the evidence of the senses, and only then are the spheres of light much more real than the appearance of the physical world. You see, the appearance of the physical world bullies your consciousness, so resist that pull of gravity; don't let yourself be conditioned by the appearance. And that gives you a tremendous power. Lesson #17: Practices with Light, Part II CONTINUED ON =PVCM1824.TXT ================================================================================