Lucky

Excellent !!!! Very balanced and rational answers..might impressed with this Babaji

Ok I see where you are at. You seem quite learned to me.

We are looking at different traditions here. They do have similarities and we might think they are the same. But these kinds of differences pop up and you don't know what to make of them.

First just realize they are different.
The tradition of Guru Granth Sahib is about worshipping Ram/Hari/Krishna. ਗੁਰਮਤਿ ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਗਹੁ ਮੀਤਾ ॥ This is the Vaishnu tradition. Guru Nanak Dev ji says in Asa Di Vaar "Ek Krishanam sarab deva, deva deva ta Atma"

Now in Dasam Granth there is a different tradition of worshipping Mahakal and Shakti. These are Shaiv and Shakat traditions respectively. That's why there are ballads of Chandi, and in Bachittar Natak talks about "Mahadev devam, Mahakal kalam".


Mahadev and Mahakal, and Chandi/Durga never appear in Guru Granth Sahib. If they do, you are told not to worship them like in Bhagat Namdev ji's shabad.
In Dasam Granth they do appear again and again, and you are told not to worship Ram/Hari/Krishna (and even Ganesh "Main na Ganesh prithm dhiaoon").

lol

If you were a Sikh of Guru Nanak Dev ji's time all the way to Guru Tegh Bahadur ji, you would just worship Ram/Hari/Krishna and it would be quite simple.

But if you are Sikh who comes during or after Guru Gobind Singh ji's time...now it's starting to get complicated. You see sikhs who belong to different traditions coming together under Guru Gobind Singh ji. And they hold different beliefs. Some sikhs worship Ram/Hari/Krishna like they used to, some worship Lakshmi/Maya, some worship Chandi/Durga, some worship Sadashiv or Mahakal, etc.

In modern times, sometimes, they interpret all these traditions as one tradition. Where all these are forms of the same Divine Being.

And I am sure you know of sikhs who will reject all the forms and just pray to the Formless. Even that's a form of the same Divine Being.

So what does this all this come down to?

In the end just go with your heart.

Whichever God/Goddess you like more, whichever form of Akal Purakh you are most attracted to, just worship that form. In the end, it's all about the relationship you build.

VaheGuru Ji Ka Khalsa
VaheGuru Ji Ki Fateh

I do completely agree with Harsharan. My intention was not to offer some sort of ritual. From what I have learnt we should ask the Guru's advice in life ie get a Hukamnama and even take out our Haume (ego) from our lives and everything we do, therefore understand only He has any power to do anything and we have no power. My intention was just to promote this understanding and hopefully once Raman made his request to WaheGuru Ji with this in mind it would help.

My sincere apologies if I caused offence or if what I said came across other than it should have done. My own knowledge is very limited but just wanted to share the little that I have and thought it may help. He is our mother and father, if we cannot ask of Him who can we ask from?

Nothing is greater than Naam being said from the heart, for Naam is also Prayer. All truth is in His Name.

Thanks. God Bless.

VaheGuru Ji Ka Khalsa
VaheGuru Ji Ki Fateh

Yes, bathing in Cold Water is very good for overall health.

Yes, there is Spiritual benefit. How? Basically, anything where you tame/discipline your mind (taking control of your mind instead of working as per the instructions of mind), it would help in spirituality (in terms of strong will).

Physical effects of Cold Water Bath
ICE cold water massage which opens up the capillaries and flushes the blood from the organs to the surface to the skin, and when the capillaries close down again (that is, return to normal), that blood goes back to the organs. The heart, kidneys, lungs, liver -- each organ has its own blood supply. In this way the organs get their flushing. When the organs get a flushing, then immediately the glands have to change their secretion. It is a law. And when the glands (which are the guardians of health and life) change, youth returns.
In general, not so ice cold treatment also has a special tonic-like magic of exerting a rejuvenative and healing effect on the entire system. It stimulates circulation and increases muscle tone and nerve force. It stimulates the entire glandular system. It improves digestion and speeds up general metabolism. It will increase resistance to infections and colds, if used regularly. It has a powerful influence on the central nervous system, on the brain and on all the vital organs of the body. It increases the blood count, as shown in actual studies. It has an electro-magnetic effect on the body, stimulating the flow of life energies and increasing intake of oxygen to a remarkable degree.

Cold water can help reduce even the highest fever, relieve thirst, act as a stimulant, diuretic, and anesthetic, relieve pain, and reduce constipation, increases blood pressure, and aid the elimination of toxins from the body. Cold water is restorative, reenergizing, and helps build resistance to disease.

The temperature of the water should be as cold as you can comfortably tolerate, or within 50-65 degree Fahrenheit. Cold water bath should not be more than 3 minutes. After bath rub your body with a coarse towel and put on dry clothes without any delay. Always start the cold water bath on the right foot, far away from the heart. Moreover, if you are taking shower, regulate the force of the water stream to be as forceful as possible. The harder the stream, the greater the therapeutic value of the shower. A cold shower can be taken twice a day.

I will just add the translations to this beautiful shabad for us with not so good gurmukhi skills.
soohee mehlaa 5.
Soohee, Fifth Mehl:

darsan daykh jeevaa gur tayraa.
Gazing upon the Blessed Vision of Your Darshan, I live.

pooran karam ho-ay parabh mayraa. ||1||
My karma is perfect, O my God. ||1||

ih baynantee sun parabh mayray.
Please, listen to this prayer, O my God.

deh naam kar apnay chayray. ||1|| rahaa-o.
Please bless me with Your Name, and make me Your chaylaa, Your disciple. ||1||Pause||

apnee saran raakh parabh daatay.
Please keep me under Your Protection, O God, O Great Giver.

gur parsaad kinai virlai jaatay. ||2||
By Guru's Grace, a few people understand this. ||2||

sunhu bin-o parabh mayray meetaa.
Please hear my prayer, O God, my Friend.

charan kamal vaseh mayrai cheetaa. ||3||
May Your Lotus Feet abide within my consciousness. ||3||

naanak ayk karai ardaas.
Nanak makes one prayer:

visar naahee pooran guntaas. ||4||18||24||
may I never forget You, O perfect treasure of virtue. ||4||18||24||

I will just add the translations to this beautiful shabad for us with not so good gurmukhi skills.
soohee mehlaa 5.
Soohee, Fifth Mehl:

darsan daykh jeevaa gur tayraa.
Gazing upon the Blessed Vision of Your Darshan, I live.

pooran karam ho-ay parabh mayraa. ||1||
My karma is perfect, O my God. ||1||

ih baynantee sun parabh mayray.
Please, listen to this prayer, O my God.

deh naam kar apnay chayray. ||1|| rahaa-o.
Please bless me with Your Name, and make me Your chaylaa, Your disciple. ||1||Pause||

apnee saran raakh parabh daatay.
Please keep me under Your Protection, O God, O Great Giver.

gur parsaad kinai virlai jaatay. ||2||
By Guru's Grace, a few people understand this. ||2||

sunhu bin-o parabh mayray meetaa.
Please hear my prayer, O God, my Friend.

charan kamal vaseh mayrai cheetaa. ||3||
May Your Lotus Feet abide within my consciousness. ||3||

naanak ayk karai ardaas.
Nanak makes one prayer:

visar naahee pooran guntaas. ||4||18||24||
may I never forget You, O perfect treasure of virtue. ||4||18||24||

Thanks for sharing that Satkirin. !!!
And Congratulations!

I have actually had numerous OBEs when I was younger, which mostly all happened on their own. They actually scared me at first and then I realized I was ok, so I started experimenting - basically I just let go and let it happen. I actually wrote an ebook on the subject years ago and though it was before I found Sikhi, and hence you won't find any reference to Sikhi in the book, but I did do a lot of research, both scientifically and spiritually into the subject so there are references to several different spiritual paths in the book.

Feel free to take a look if you want...
http://www.spirit-quest.ca/Spirit-Quest.pdf

Those experiences ultimately led me on a spiritual journey to end up eventually in Sikhi. And I am about to take Amrit in Sept when I go back to India.

Here is my view probably little controversial. I think from panthic maryada point of view- men are only allowed in panj pyares just to keep the maryada of amrit sanchar held in 1699.

But from adhyatam aspect, if bibi has reached bhramgyan- i don't see why she cannot give amrit to others in form of panj pyares. There is no black and white rule there. It all comes down to avastha of an individual. Breaking maryada is discouraged because to keep joe blow sikhs like us in intact and discipline. But if an female bhramgyani or soceity of sant mandali sees this issue from bhramgyan perspective not from maryada perspective, this is non issue. So there is no clear cut answer to this. To make it less confusing, lets just put this in context- there are certain maryada or issues in the panth does not apply to the individuals who have reached bhramgyan.

At the end, once we start debating which maryada is correct on this issue- taksal, rara sahib, sgpc. We are really beating an dead horse here..shouldn't be concentrating on this issue too much..at the end, bhramgyan, bhramgyanis are above gender because they are merged in with nirgun paratama.

My personal opinion on this, is that the original five their gender does not matter. Amrit is beyond the phsyical realm.

There were only certain castes in the original five as well, and to use the argument that panj pyare MUST be emmulating the original five exactly, then using that argument, a jatt should also never act as panj pyare.

Then wehre do we stop? Were all five vegetarian? Were all five etc etc etc... see where this goes?

The whole idea of amrit was to bring everyone together on the SAME level as equals. The argument that there were no women in the original five is as valid as saying there were no jatts in the original five.

We have to realize that our souls are all equal. One must recognize the divine light within EVERYONE - only when one sees and recognizes this SAME divine light within everyone, will they understand. By separating people into groups of superiority based on gender, on caste etc. goes completely against what our Gurus taught.

So yes women can act as Panj Pyare... having a penis does not make someone somehow more spiritual or more qualified to bestow amrit on someone else. If a Sikh receives Amrit, and abides by the SRM then they should be able to bestow that same amrit on others. To say that one person can and another can not, is equal to saying that one person is somehow closer to God than the other... and is putting the other person in a lower light. It's the SAME amrit... our souls are the SAME... in fact we are ALL soul BRIDES. The original five... five SIKHS, five SOULS gave their heads... their gender is only transitory and their penises matter only in matters of reproduction on the physical plane.

The gender of the original five means no more than their caste did. Or else as I said no jatt would ever be able act as panj pyare either. All forms of discrimination were removed - caste, colour, etc. and yes even gender.

(Why does gender always seem to stand out as somehow being different than any other difference anyway?)

I realize many don't see it that way and I think it's because they can't see beyond the physical shells. We are told many times in SGGSJ that these bodies, they are nothing... they are only characters being played and when all the costumes are removed and the play is over - we see that it was the SAME actor who played ALL of them [God] - paraphrased from page 736 SGGSJ. If there really is only ONE, and that ONE is ALL... then how can we say any part of his creation is any less valuable or deserving than any other?

Also, just wanted to add... warriors having to be male is bunk... Mai Bhago is who I look up to, and my career is actually in the military (18 years now). I am trained in combat... small arms... etc. Women are stronger than men think. It's only the mindset of men who want to limit us. The strongest of opponents are not those who are brute muscles but those who use their mind and cunning to beat an opponent. Case in point, martial arts teaches how to use an opponents weight and strength against them. I have seen small girls beat larger guys because the larger guys are not as nimble etc. All men are not born with the warrior mentality and not all women are born with nurturing mentality. And both genders can learn both easily... it's only limitations imposed by society that lock gender into specific 'roles'. Case in point, I have never had the nurturing mentality at all... from childhood to now, nearly 40, I have always looked to military career, to lines of work that require stress, even my volunteer work as as a first responder. I have never been interested in traditional womens roles like cooking, cleaning, raising kids, knitting etc. Am I a male in a female body? (Perhaps I should go through gender transition surgery... maybe then I could act as Panj huh??)

Anyway, amrit has nothing to do with physical strength... it's entirely a spiritual initiation. And our souls are the SAME. In fact there is only ONE... we need to realize this fact that ALL is ONE. This separateness is illusion, and the more we think like this and create more separateness, then the further we get from becoming ONE.

Thinking in terms of gender superiority is EGO. btw AKJ allows women to do Panj Pyare seva...

And there are other groups who want to further limit women from even sitting behind SGGSJ. They will not allow women to participate in akhand paath, or do kirtan either. (DDT) And they quote the same arguments. The mentality spreads further... into other restrictions, women are not 'allowed' to do at Sri Darbar Sahib etc. An Amritdhari Bibi friend of mine, once tried to do some seva at Darbar Sahib and was stopped by a Singh who approached her husband, not her... and told him 'Control your Singhni' - as if she was not even a human worthy of actual interaction. This is what happens when one gender dominates the other... and this thinking is EGO.

Also regarding the original five I quoted this from another site but it makes sense... "From that conversation we worked out a plausible way out of this direct challenge by pointing out the folklore and history that as many as 80,000 people may have gathered at Anandpur in 1699 when Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth master, with a naked sword in hand, issued a call for a head. Can you imagine the consternation; surely there were no PA systems and microphones at hand over 300 years ago. If this crowd had to be fed who do you think were cooking and feeding the assembly if not the women? And if there were small children who were they clambering on if not their mothers? In the Indian culture at that time, and even today, when people sit on the floor in large assemblies men and women are somewhat segregated. It is likely that the women perhaps never even heard the call."

As described by Sant Baba Isher Singh (Rare wale) and written up in Discourses on the Beyond vol. 3 by Sant Baba Waryam Singh ji.

What has been described as the primal sound is actually the Shabad (Divine Word). This is called the Anhad Nad the unstruck melody which is produced in the body without effort of the individual self and by the spontaneous vibrance of the vital airs (life breath) with the ether.

Kingri : Single String musical instrument Singi : Yogis hollow horn, a kind of trumpet Bheri : Kettle Drum Toor: An S shaped trumpet Beena : A type of string instrument, flute or lyre. Ek Shabad : Sound of One Word (The primal sound) Nessanu Drum Garud Shabad The mantra that effaces the poisonous effects Ghanta : Bell or Gong Ghungru : small tinkling bells Tanti Shabad : Sound of vibrating strings Runjhun : Tinkling sound, jingle, chime Babiha : Music of Rain bird
1. Kingri : Single String musical instrument

The Guru, the detached Yogi, has enticed the hearts of all; He plays His harp in each and every heart.
mohi ga-i-aa bairaagee jogee ghat ghat kinguree vaa-ee. 907

My mind and breath are the two gourds of my fiddle, and the Lord of all the ages is its frame.
man pavan du-ay toombaa karee hai jug jug saarad saajee. 334

The string has become steady, and it does not break; this guitar vibrates with the unstruck melody.
thir bha-ee tantee tootas naahee anhad kinguree baajee. 335

In each and every heart the Music of the Lord`s harp vibrates, night and day, with sublime love for the Shabad.
ghat ghat vaajai kinguree an-din sabad subhaa-ay. 62


2. Singi : Yogis hollow horn, a kind of trumpet

The horn of consciousness vibrates the unstruck sound current; Your Light illuminates each and every heart, Lord.
sinyee surat anaahad vaajai ghat ghat jot tumaaree. 907

3. Bheri : Kettle Drum

The sound current of the Shabad is the sounding of the temple drums. Pause
anhataa sabad vaajant bhayree. rahaa-o. 663

4. Toor: An S shaped trumpet

All desires have been fulfilled.
sagal manorath pooray.
The unstruck melody of the sound current resounds.
baajay anhad tooray. 629

Pure are the listeners, and pure are the speakers; the True Guru is all-pervading and permeating.
suntay puneet kahtay pavit satgur rahi-aa bharpooray.
Prays Nanak, touching the Guru`s Feet, the unstruck sound current of the celestial bugles vibrates and resounds.
binvant naanak gur charan laagay vaajay anhad tooray. 922

5. Beena : A type of string instrument, flute or lyre.

The Yogi who plays on the flute of Gods Shabad gains the Blessed Vision of the Infinitely Beautiful Lord.
beenaa sabad vajaavai jogee darsan roop apaaraa. 351

My mind is absorbed in loving devotional worship of the Lord,
har kee paraym bhagat man leenaa.
Within me every plays the flute of Divine bliss . Pause||
nit baajay anhat beenaa. rahaa-o. 622

then the celestial flutes play the unstruck melody in tranquil peace and poise.
ta-o anhad bayn sahj meh baa-ay. 344


6.Ek Shabad : Sound of One Word (The primal sound)

The One Word of the Shabad abides within my mind; I shall not come to be born again.
ayk sabad mayrai paraan basat hai baahurh janam na aavaa. 794
He cuts off the three branches of the three qualities, and embraces love for the One Word of the Shabad.
saakhaa teen nivaaree-aa ayk sabad liv laa-ay. 66

7. Nessanu Drum

I will meet with my Lord by the beat of the drum.
mila-o gupaal neesaan bajaa-ee. 1164

8. Garud Shabad The mantra that effaces the poisonous effects

If he hears the Surpreme Gurus charm, believing in the Name his soul becomes contented
If one, as Gurmukh, hears and believes in the Name, the charm against poison, his mind becomes content.
gurmukh gaararh jay sunay mannay naa-o santos. 1009

As with the magic spell of Garuda the eagle upon one`s lips, one does not fear the snake;
garurh mukh nahee sarap taraas. 987

9. Ghanta : Bell or Gong

His bell resounds to the four corners of the world.
ghantaa jaa kaa sunee-ai chahu kunt.
His seat is forever in heaven.
aasan jaa kaa sadaa baikunth. 393

10. Ghungru : small tinkling bells

You shall hear the vibrations of the tinkling bells, when your mind is held steady.
ghunghroo vaajai jay man laagai. 356

Making the effort, the mind becomes pure; in this dance, the self is silenced.
udam karat hovai man nirmal naachai aap nivaaray.
The five passions are kept under control, and the One Lord dwells in the mind. |
panch janaa lay vasgat raakhai man meh aykankaaray.
Your humble servant dances and sings Your Glorious Praises.
tayraa jan nirat karay gun gaavai.
He plays upon the rebeck, tambourine and cymbals, and anklet bells and the the unstruck sound resounds. Pause
rabaab pakhaavaj taal ghunghroo anhad sabad vajaavai. rahaa-o. 381

11. Tanti Shabad : Sound of vibrating strings

Make the Fear of God, and the Love of God, the two gourds of your lute, Yogi, and make this body its neck.
bha-o bhaa-o du-ay pat laa-ay jogee ih sareer kar dandee.

Become Gurmukh, and then vibrate the strings; in this way, your desires shall depart. ||5||
gurmukh hoveh taa tantee vaajai in biDh tarisnaa khandee.

12. Runjhun : Tinkling sound, jingle, chime

Whoever reaches the fearless Lords Home, He ever hears the sweet and melodious celestial strain.
anhad run jhunkaar sadaa Dhun nirbha-o kai ghar vaa-idaa. 1033

13. Babiha : Music of Rain Bird

The rainbird chirps in the ambrosial hours of the morning before the dawn; its prayers are heard in the Court of the Lord.
baabeehaa amrit vaylai boli-aa taaN dar sunee pukaar.

The order is issued to the clouds, to let the rains of mercy shower down.
mayghai no furmaan ho-aa varsahu kirpaa Dhaar.

In the Hans Upanishad, where there is the mention of Anhad Shabad (unstruck melody), it is written:

[One who does japa of the Hans Mantra (Hamsa, Hansa, Sohum, So Ham, or So Hum.), millions of times, comes to the realization of Nad. It is also stated that Nad consists of ten different types of melodies, nine of which are to be passed over, and the tenth, which resembles the sound of the thunder of distant clouds, is to be meditated upon and practiced, for It takes one to Par-Brahm.] - from my own notes and not from the book.

Chatka on hearing which all hair stand on ends Punn Punn Chann Chann on hearing all the limbs of the body are in bloom Bell on hearing mind and intellect are filled with love Conch on hearing which, ones head begins to whirl like that of an intoxicated person. Sound (note) of the harp by concentrating ones consciousness on that one feels surpreme bliss and nector seems to rain from the divine hole (top of the head). Nirakarai one feels Amrit nector in ones throat. Flute sweet note which fills every fibre of ones body with sweetness, no trace of disturbance of consciousness. Begin to get spiritual powers Pakhavaj One achieves the power to feel the musical phenomenon which is operating in ones body or that which a seeker hears within himself and begins to know its meaning. Small nafiri (energy) one is saturated with energy to the full and one acquires extremely strong power. One acquires the power to reach any place one desires physcailly or mentally. Invisibility Cloud on hearing which one sees the divine face to face.
What is commonly called the Anhad Shabad (The Divine Word, unstruck music) is the sum total of the five sounds

The five sounds are -
Tata - Sound of vibrating Strings Vitu The sound produced by percussion on a stretched lether or membrane Ghan The sound produced by striking solid broze metal Nad The sound produced by thundering clouds Shishur or Shikar - The sound produced by blowing wind (breath) through holes

I don't know about any of you, but when I first came across ''Pythagoras'' whilst being taught a2+b2=c2................I thought that my teacher said ''pai'' Thagoras as in 'Bhai Thagoras',.......so I assumed that he was a Bhai saab called 'Thagoras' !!!!

Some random search quotes:


ਸੇਜ ਸੁਖਾਲੀ ਸੀਤਲੁ ਪਵਣਾ ਸਹਜ ਕੇਲ ਰੰਗ ਕਰਣਾ ਜੀਉ ॥੩॥


ਛਾਤੀ ਸੀਤਲ ਮਨੁ ਸੁਖੀ ਛੰਤ ਗੋਬਿਦ ਗੁਨ ਗਾਇ ॥


ਮੁਦ੍ਰਾ ਮਦਕ ਸਹਜ ਧੁਨਿ ਲਾਗੀ ਸੁਖਮਨ ਪੋਚਨਹਾਰੀ ਰੇ ॥੨॥
Muḏrā maḏak sahj ḏẖun lāgī sukẖman pocẖanhārī re. ||2||
My mudra - my hand-gesture, is the pipe; tuning into the celestial sound current within, the Shushmanaa - the central spinal channel, is my cooling pad. ||2||

Come to London. See how many Hindu girls are essentially 'brown white girls' shagging white men. Why have they rebelled?

JathedarSahib I know you love posting this video everywhere but those quote do not address vegetarianism.

She also fails to address quotes like

Bhagat Kabir
ਜੀਅ ਬਧਹੁ ਸੁ ਧਰਮੁ ਕਰਿ ਥਾਪਹੁ ਅਧਰਮੁ ਕਹਹੁ ਕਤ ਭਾਈ ॥
If killing living beings is righteous action then what is unrighteous?
ਆਪਸ ਕਉ ਮੁਨਿਵਰ ਕਰਿ ਥਾਪਹੁ ਕਾ ਕਉ ਕਹਹੁ ਕਸਾਈ ॥੨॥
You call yourself a saint then who would you call a butcher?

She translates this incorrectly as well

Bhagat Kabir
ਕਬੀਰ ਭਾਂਗ ਮਾਛੁਲੀ ਸੁਰਾ ਪਾਨਿ ਜੋ ਜੋ ਪ੍ਰਾਨੀ ਖਾਂਹਿ ॥
ਤੀਰਥ ਬਰਤ ਨੇਮ ਕੀਏ ਤੇ ਸਭੈ ਰਸਾਤਲਿ ਜਾਂਹਿ ॥੨੩੩॥
ਭਾਂਗ meat of the ਮਾਛੁਲੀ fish
ਸੁਰਾ wine of the ਮਾਛੁਲੀ fish (Fish are used in wine sometimes)

Bhagat Kabir was a vegetarian, and he promoted that lifestyle in Guru Granth Sahib.


Bhai Gurdas ji says
ਜੇ ਕਾਸਾਈ ਉਧਰਿਆ ਜੀਆ ਘਾਇ ਨ ਖਾਈਐ ਭੰਗਾ।
If a Butcher (Bhagat Sadhna) is liberated, it does not mean that we should (become a butcher and) slaughter and eat meat.

Many thanks Truthseeker for sharing this gem recording. Was very interesting to hear sant ji also explaining the importance of sukhmana jaap. His technique was to keep doing the jaap until the breath naturally comes to the spot or monument in time when your breathing between both left/Ida and right/pinguala. At that centre breathing time your Surat will connect more with the shabad. Waheguru

As for the pataka/burst sound, I not sure what to say as I'm kind of left speechless at this moment in time. It's very reassuring to hear from numerous sources that it does happen on the path. I didn't appreciate it at the time and on the contrary thought something was very wrong with me. May Waheguru ji forever keep us all on the correct path all the way till we reach his lotus feet.

Dhan hai the sangat of this forum as we are all helping each other understand and progress further ahead. Waheguru di kirpa on you all.

Hey Sat,

This video Santren Daya Singh at 21:30min talks about your experience very interesting should check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe08bwKGlQM

I came across this video, just wanted to share it. Please share your thoughts.

This is not new news, Scientists have said it for ages, that plants respond to sound.

I know some people will laugh at this, but Prince Charles is known for talking to his plants, because of this scientific fact.

I will never forget that blast in my ears that night because I was awoken so suddenly to an excruciating loud pain and had to hold my ears to try and cope. It was just like described above. It happened on two consecutive nights.

Maybe he came but I couldn't handle the experience. My god that was 7 months ago and he never came back.

WaheGurooooooooooooo!!!!!!

We have truly lost the plot Veeray!! Mega LOL

When I had my experience my wife jumped up from the bed as I screamed in shock.
She said, "Whats wrong?"
"Didn't you hear that?" , I asked with my hands over my ears.
"Hear What?" she replied.
"That loud Sound!"
"No.", she said half dozed.

That's when I knew it was one sided.

Make sure you let us know what happens Lucky when your time comes. You have done it the right way with having your Rom-Rom pargat first, hopefully you will be able to withstand it.

Maybe there is some sort of physical shock when we get some kind of break-thru !
I mean we expose our bodies to so much filth around the world having to walk in public, past people smoking and spitting..etc...etc.
So, when we take some kind of spiritual leap, it probably has some sort of rebound effect physically.


Anyway, .....I was a little relieved to hear and also read your translation of the below.


Lately, because it's so hot.. we have the overhead fans on in every room about 18 hrs/day !
I have repeatedly gone from room to room and I can feel the 'waheguru' jap coming from the fan in complete sync with body rom rom !
The crazy thing is that for a few days I was just walking around room to room and changing the speeds on the fans to see if my rom rom reaction still stayed in sync.... and it would do so immediately !
Again, I was getting a little concerned because I thought that I have developed some 'oversensitivity' problem..!
I have been constantly telling myself that it's not rom rom and that i have messed up my own brain wires of sensory stimulation somewhere.
So, i was quite relieved when I heard this video the other day and then re-reading Sat's translation convinced me that I heard it correctly the first time.

Just a few days ago, I was even telling my wife and asking her if she could feel it ....I was asking her to really try hard to see if she could pick it up..... but she just gave me a weird look thinking that I'm losing the plot !

I can even feel it coming from the pump in the fish tank... but I never told her that bit !!

Here is rough translation:

First stage of simran, according to Gurmat, is to bring one’s scattered attention back. Normally it is absorbed in thoughts therefore to help bring the mind back within various points are given to help focus the mind.

Each syllable of the Gurmatar is chanted at the following points with focus/dhyaan.
Wa – Rasna/Mouth
He – Hirda/ Heart Centre/ Sunn state is also knows as Hirda when the Mind becomes pure.
Gu – Nabi / Navel / belly button / Nab Ghat where the breath originates from. There is also a knot here between the physical (astool) and non-physical (sookham) bodies via the breath. It will also be a point later on where we will come to and sit/aasan the mind.

SGGS Quote:
The breath is seated in the home of the navel; the Gurmukh searches, and finds the essence of reality.
naabh pavan ghar aasan baisai gurmukh khojat tat lahai.

This Shabad permeates the nucleus of the self, deep within, in its own home; the Light of this Shabad pervades the three worlds.
so sabad nirantar nij ghar aachhai taribhavan jot so sabad lahai.

Ru – Dharan (About 2 inches below the navel). This is the one end of the sukhman channel which has two ends. This is where parkash and Brahm Agan/fire manifest/pargat. FYI - Other end is the trikuti. ;-)

When your mind becomes free from thoughts then know that you have completed the first stage.

Now you have made the route in a down up motion, then when the breath goes in/down (i.e. Inhale) chant "Wahe" when you breath out to the Gagan/Sky (i.e. Exhale) chant "Guru". When you do simran this way again and again and when the mind looses its awareness of the body; mind separates (ateet) from the shabad and from the air/paun and when your surti begins to connect with the shabad (Shabad-Surat da mehl) then know that you have reached the stage of Swas-Giras simran.

After this when the shabad and surti merge, and when the surti breaks it's connection from the air then we need to start rom-rom simran. This is done in shej by putting the attention/surti on the heart beat (Dill Di Dharkan a.k.a Pulse). Then as the heart pumps the blood around the veins of the body in this way the shabad will also be pumped around the body.

Then when rom-rom becomes established, internal amrit drops start. It will feel like cold drops falling on the bare skin even when there are no clouds in the air. Another experience is if you go where people are doing bhagti then your rahkha - think that is what he said) chakar will make roms and stand on end. Where ever you hear any sound it will appear as it too is japing WaheGuru WaheGuru WaheGuru for example a running fan. These are indicators that your rom-rom is working.

Then we need to head towards Shej state where only dhyan remains. Then ahead we are told how to open the gate which is closed due to the imbalance of the air flowing. Sometimes we breath more through the left nostril and others times we breath more from the right. The other is the imbalance in the eyes also knows as chand (moon) & sooraj (sun) which are doors that are closed on the inside. Also the mind is lost thoughts in the trai-gun (tamogun, rajogun, and satogun). When you go to sharan of Guru he/they will tell you how to balance all these. Once balanced the gate will open and parkash will manifest and then you can enter the nij mahal, your true home.

Then you go on and merge into the parkash.

Keep watch, as sometimes some people who go to Sants and have their minds made unstable because the stay awake more during the night and day because they keep their Gyan Indriyas (5 senses – Sight, Hearing, Smell, Touch, Taste) awake because they try and do more jaap and simran. Guru Nanak’s way is different. If a person does loads of bhagti and stays awake for too long like staying awake for a few days then eventually the mind goes mental for which doctors do not have a remedy.

Quite a lot of people due to ignorance tread on this path in the wakeful/jagrath state with this wish to read this much bani, do this much simran etc. Guru Nanak’s Dev Ji's way is:

Eradicating the three qualities, dwell in the fourth state. This is the unparalleled devotional worship.
tarai gun maytay cha-uthai vartai ayhaa bhagat niraaree.

This is the Yoga of the Gurmukh: Through the Shabad, he understands his own soul, and he enshrines within his heart the One Lord.
gurmukh jog sabad aatam cheenai hirdai ayk muraaree.

In this way the mind needs to be awakened. The mind will be awakened when you enter the state of Sunn more quickly. When you leave behind the giyan indaries (5 senses) and fall asleep. Then the mind will come out again of Sunn again so take it back into the Sunn state and make it sit in the Sunn. When it merges in the Sunn it will eventually be awakened by the Shabad. It will eventually begin to look inwards at the play within, like it looks outwards today. Therefore do not stay awake too much via the giyan indaries.

Then due to ignorance when mind goes on the path of Shej and is awakened then eventually the Lord speaks and there is a very loud blast/tumbhakha. For example when a plane takes off, the blast/roar from the engine can break the glass from doors and windows. In this way when the Lord roars inside you it is louder. If one does not know this and one has not done rom-rom simran then the Mind cannot withstand it and the mind can be made unstable.

By following the stages outlined when the Lord speaks and rom-rom is manifest and one is in Shej, then he has the power to withstand it in the body. The first time it happens to a person he is shaken because it happens unexpectedly, but if one has knowledge, when the Lord speaks then he has the power/shakti to handle it in the body. Therefore on the journey anytime the Lord can speak to you and it will feel like the head is going explode, like the roof has flown off because the sound is so loud. At this time don’t panic, sometimes even light can also manifest. Just think the Lord has spoken and has come to the level of our mind in our body.

Like the pangtis:

The Panch Shabad, the Five Primal Sounds, vibrate with the Wisdom of the Guru`s Teachings; by great good fortune, the Unstruck Melody resonates and resounds.
panchay sabad vajay mat gurmat vadbhaagee anhad vaji-aa.

I see the Lord, the Source of Bliss, everywhere; through the Word of the Guru`s Shabad, the Lord of the Universe is revealed.
aanad mool raam sabh daykhi-aa gur sabdee govind gaji-aa.

Therefore don’t stay awake too much, stay in the dhyaan state. Ahead when there is Parkash, you go and sit in Truth/Sach, sometimes the Lord wants to speak with you and comes and awakens you and calls out you. Here one does not talk themselves until Waheguru himself calls out to you within. When he does call out to you, then you are in the awakened/jagrath state, you are in front of one another, then you can talk about whatever you wish.

In this way the place with Gost/Conversation takes place is ahead of Amritsar, where there is parkash of the jyot where the Lord is in the Shej ghar himself, where the Gurmukh’s go and talk with the Lord.

In this way, Gurmukhs are to do as much simran in the first and second stages so the thoughts stop and the wall of dirt is knocked down.

Gurbani starts all from the Dhiyan stage. When our dhiyan goes inwards, from inwards it starts to awaken and then from here is where the play starts which is what Gurbani tells us about. Therefore try and awaken the mind, go to the sharan of the Guru and do naam abhyaas is vital.

Then he goes through the example of Wa-He-Gu-Ru. With practice it becomes very intoxicating and mind begins to go within. With practice the Gu-Ru part can be said internally. It will forget about the body and giyan indaries and head towards Sunn.

Then he goes on to explain the Swas-Giras technique “Wahe-Guru”.

If you do this regularly you will quickly go into Sunn and amrit ras will begin to drizzle internally.

From the True Guru, contemplative meditation is obtained.
satgur tay paa-ay veechaaraa.
And then, one dwells with the True Lord in His celestial home, the Primal State of Absorption in Deepest Samaadhi.
sunn samaaDh sachay ghar baaraa.

Sitting here at work just focusing on slow nasal breathing and notice that both nostrils have opened up. Sushmana is active!The breathing feels so smooth and calming. It feels like such a natural time to just close my eyes and do gurmantar jaap, infact my eyes want to close by themselves. The breath seems to be going in very deep into both lungs and the feeling is very tranquil and cooling without any jerks. Its a damn shame I'm at work at this moment in time.

It is a beautiful sensation!!

Here some helpful tips:

Breath meditation

Sit on the chair or the floor with head, neck, and trunk in a straight line. Seated posture (asana) should be steady and comfortable in order to prevent you from shifting and adjusting the seated position. Perform Anuloma-Viloma (alternate nostril breathing). In the beginning breathing may be noisy but gradually as the nostrils open, the breathing should become soft and silent. Establish effortless quiet, slow, smooth and rhythmical breathing.
At this point you may begin mental nostril breathing, that is, without using your thumb and fingers to close and open the nostrils, you are shifting the flow of the breath from left to right nostril and vice-versa Now, bring your attention to the center of the eyebrows. Imagine and feel that your in-breath from the nostrils is going up to the center of the eyebrows and out-breath is starting from the center of the eyebrows and down and out from the nostrils.

Mentally observe and intend that your both nostrils are fully open and the breath is flowing equally from both nostrils. If one nostril feels blocked, less active or smaller than the other, mentally with a gentle will equalize them and direct the flow of breath equally from both nostrils. Observe the entire flow of in-breath and out-breath in the nose. Be aware of the tips of the nostrils and the outer walls of the nose and the inside walls of the nostrils as you breathe. Bring your attention to where the nostrils join the upper lip. Feel the in-coming and outgoing breath touching the upper lip and the edges of the nostril. This is the "breathing triangle," that is, in- coming breath is going up from the triangle base (the upper lip and nostrils juncture) and the outgoing breath initiated from the top of the triangle is going down and out touching the triangle base. . .

Now attend to the septum of the nose. Imagine as you inhale, the breath touches the inner walls of the septum and as you exhale, the breath touches the inner walls of the nostrils (another triangular breathing).
At this point, narrow your mental focus even more and become aware of the center of the tips of the septum where it joins the upper lip. Imagine there is a tiny hole at the tip of the nasal septum from where the in-breath and out-breath are entering and exiting.

You have now equalized your breath to the capacity you have at the present time. You are standing at the entrance of the Sushumna Nadi and breathing through it. According the Himalayan tradition, it is called, "Sushumana application"
My Guru Swami Rama of the Himalayan tradition taught us that "sushumna" is another name of "sukhmana" (sukha+mana) which literally means "happy and joyous mind."' Swami Rama said that with the application of Sushumna, you enter the state of a worry-free, happy and joyous mind.

Steady and comfortable seated posture, deep and silent breathing and the equalized flow of breath accompanied by joyous and peaceful state of mind (chitta prasadanam and mudita) you are set for a deep and prolonged meditation.
"Some offer prana (inhalation) into apana (exhalation)
Some offer apana (exhalation) into prana (inhalation).
By controlling the speed and course of prana and apana
They absorb themselves in pranayama" (Gita 4:29)

Prananyama can be the instrument for accessing pratyahara ("sensory withdrawal" the 5th stage, dharna (concentration, the 6th stage) meditation (dhyana, the 7th stage) or even absorption (Samadhi, the 8th stage). Such is the organic process of the 8-limb Yoga Tree.

Source : http://www.mindpub.com/art581.htm

I was reading this transcript of Ishwar Puri on How to Meditate and Go Within. I found it very inspiring so thought I would share some relevant bits. It might offer as an aid as we make our inner journeys. Its bit of a long read but worthwhile.

Great Master kept on saying, “This is not blind faith. This is not believing somebody. It is believing your own experience. Go within and find out.” Then he would quote from all the religious texts; original texts. The Bible says “The kingdom is within you.” The other texts say “The original sound is the sound that created this world.” The oldest Rig Veda of the Indian Vedas, the old text script, the Sanskrit texts say that “The original creation took place because of the Naad, the Sound.” John’s Gospel says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

How can all these different scriptures, all these different fountainheads of religion say the same thing? Who has practiced it? Who has gone inside to see if there is such a thing as the Word or a sound or a Nad or a Shabd? I said, “This has to be found out. You can’t have blind faith. You must see it yourself.” I made some progress, but I also gradually found that when you make that kind of effort which I was trying, there is a big obstacle on the way. That obstacle is your own thinking, your own mind. I discovered that the mind, which is supposed to be a great help to us, the thinking mind should be able to rationalize, think out, make a good effort, but itself it is the creator of doubt and fear.

Since then I have seen most people, my friends, when they are on the path, they suffer from the same problem. Their mind and their thinking process are creating doubt and fear. I wondered why there should be doubt of these things. The nature of the mind, human mind, is to create a doubt. It is not something unusual. The mind is designed to do it. As I discovered later on that the mind by its thinking process does not always
clarify things because it has limited data on which it works.

The mind is a logical machine. It works on logic, and as some of you might have studied logic, you know that logic is of two kinds, the deductive logic and the inductive logic. The deductive logic only deduces things, comes to conclusions based upon what is fed to the mind. You can say there is a white wall here in front of me. This is part of the wall; therefore, it is white. That is deductive knowledge. There is no additional knowledge that you get through deductive logic. The mind does not go beyond what is already known.

The inductive logic is a guess work. It speculates. This wall is white. This wall goes around the corner, which I cannot see. Presumably, probably, it is also white. That is an inductive method. It is uncertain. What kind of activity of the mind can give me certainty? There is nothing that would give me certainty. Today the mind says this is very clear. Tomorrow a new factor comes in, you learn something new, and the old conclusion.
becomes absolutely wrong.

I discovered that the mind creates doubt by its very nature, by its very function. The mind functions in a very unique way, that it creates time and space for us. It creates thinking in us, and through thinking, it picks up the sense perceptions and translates for us. It took me some time to know that the mind is what sees things, what hears things, what touches things. All sense perceptions are merely stimuli that come to us. The mind tells what it is. If I saw a painting, I can't know it is a painting. I see just globs of color. I see different perception of sight. I look at it. The mind converts it and says, “That is a nice painting.” The interpretation of all sense perceptions is being done by the mind. Because the sense perceptions keep on changing the perceptions we are getting, the mind keeps on changing interpretation. It did not take me very long to find how unreliable the mind is to seek anything of reality or clarity. Therefore, I have to find something else. What else is there?

I found that most of us are misled into believing that we are the mind, that our consciousness consists of nothing else but the thinking self. That the thinking self is “I” and that is what the self is. We totally forget that there is some part of us which is conscious, knows it is there, and does not depend upon thinking. For example, intuition, the flash of gut knowledge that you get suddenly … there is no process of thinking involved in that, and yet you know sometimes a gut feeling seems to override what the thinking mind is saying. The mind says, “Don’t do this.” The gut says, “I have to do it.” “Why?” “I don’t know why.” The thinking mind is saying, “Don’t do it”, and the gut feeling says, “Do it”, or the reverse. The thinking mind says, “Do it”, and the gut feeling says, “No, it is not right.” Whether you call it the conscience speaking inside or if you say the second mind speaking inside, the higher mind speaking inside, there is obviously something else that does not require the process of thinking, yet is conscious in yourself.

This was a very big discovery for me, and it was made very clear by Great Master in his explanations to me. He said, “We do not have only the mind. We have the soul and the mind. They are not the same thing. The soul of a human being is pure consciousness. It does not require thinking. It can function on its own, and its own functions are intuition, love, beauty, joy. Only the soul can experience these; the mind cannot. The mind can do thinking, rationalization, logic, interpretation, but it cannot create love, it cannot create intuitive knowledge, it cannot create the sense of beauty and joy, and bliss that we get.

Once we knew the distinction, also we found out the mind functions only in time and space. Even the smallest thought takes duration, takes time. Intuition soul functions outside of it. It gives you instant knowledge, instant feeling. There is no time involved. The mind functions in time and space. The soul, the spirit of the human being, which is pure consciousness, can function without it. Once the distinction was made … and very clear … that there is a mind and a soul, that who are we? Are we mind or soul? It doesn’t take very long to discover that mind is merely an accessory, a little machine added to ourselves, like a little computer we are carrying in our heads. The mind is like a computer. Whatever you put into it, it processes and gives us results.

But the soul consciousness is the real self, that is the powerhouse that makes the mind work, that makes the senses work, that makes this body work. Our life force, our real life, our real consciousness is the soul, not the mind. Once that came into my knowledge, and Great Master emphasized it, “Don’t forget you are the soul, not the mind. What would happen then? Do not be led by the mind. Lead the mind! The process is very simple.” His teaching then became very clear to me, that we have been led by the mind all our life, that thoughts dictate to us what we should do. Instead of that, our gut feeling should dictate what to do and tell the mind, think like that, and do it. It is the soul that should make decisions, and the mind should implement them. This was a reversal of our ordinary way of living. Ordinarily, we think what to do and then somehow hope that destiny will take us along the path, something else will take us. Our consciousness will follow it. But we are putting the mind ahead and the soul to follow. The truth was that if you want to find out the reality of who you are, you must put the soul ahead and then instruct the mind what to do.

So meditation became a very simple exercise. Meditation was “Soul giving direction to the mind; do this.” Then I understood what the whole process of initiation was, why we repeat mantras, why we repeat words. It was not just because those words are special … mantra, which of course they may be, but we don’t know. At the least the initial function of repetition of words which we don’t even understand, the initial function is that the mind should be instructed to think of those words and squeeze out other words of thought. It is a control of the mind. By repetition of words, you can squeeze out the thoughts that otherwise take us astray. It is the thoughts that take us away from ourselves.

Every time we think of something, it has an association of ideas outside of ourselves. We think of our children, our work, our business, our friends or associates, our concerns and worries about what is going to happen. Every time we have a thought like that, it takes us away from our own center. We are never actually sitting in our own head. Our consciousness is proceeding from our head. Our attention flows from there, and we never spend any time there. Through our thinking process, we are spending all our time outside.

Therefore, the meditation process became simple. It is just an act of withdrawing your attention, withdrawing your consciousness from everything outside and putting it back on yourself to discover who you are as a soul, not as a mind, not as a body, not as sense perceptions. So this was a clear method that Great Master was able to explain in so many ways as time went on. When I was … it was the ‘40s, about 1942, when I had my last question and answer session with Great Master. I said, “Master, I have one more question to ask you.” That was about experiences that were being generated by His method of meditation. From 1943 I never asked any questions. All questions were answered internally.

I tell people, “Do you know all your questions have their answers inside you? There is not a single question that you can ask for which the answer does not lie inside you.” When we ask somebody else for an answer, we are only verifying the answer that is inside us is correct. When somebody gives us an answer that makes no sense, we reject it. If somebody says something, say, “I knew that! That is it!” Then we are just getting a verbal confirmation of the answer that was already in us. Through the meditational techniques of the Great Master’s teaching, we are able to see the answers before you even ask them. The answers even precede before you can put the questions.

Therefore, you discover that answers to all questions of your mind are sitting inside you, and all you have to do is go to the point where the answers lie, which is the mental region of experience, which means that there are many regions of experience that we can have access to through meditation. The regions of experience are the physical experience of the physical world. We are all sitting here in the physical world.

Our bodies are physical, material, and through the body, our sense perceptions, and our thoughts, we are connected to the rest of the physical and material world. If you were not material, there would be no material world around us. Our physical body connects us and gives us the experience of the physical and material world. This is a level of consciousness. We are experiencing consciousness by being conscious of the physical world. If we withdraw our attention in this body, if we just withdraw our attention within ourselves to the point from where it looks like attention is flowing out and connecting us with the world outside, if we just withdraw our attention to the point from where we can notionally see our attention is flowing out, which is in the head. It doesn’t take very long to introspect and see, am I putting my attention from my hands, from my feet? Of course, they are too far removed from my head. You can just by thinking about it, just by introspection find out that the attention, which is the movable part of consciousness, which is the manipulative part of consciousness, which you can move here or there, put your attention here or there, or not put attention here or there, that part is flowing out from your head through the eyes, through the thinking process. It all takes place in the head.

Therefore, when you close your eyes, you are still there. The feeling that as a conscious being, if you are just a conscious thought existing, where are you existing? You will discover it is in the head behind the eyes. The rest of it is attached to you as a physical body. Therefore, the right place to withdraw your attention would be the third eye. Great Master said, “The truth is the door to all inner perception lies inside the head behind the eyes. If you want to experience all these things we are talking about, on different levels of experiences and consciousness, the door to open those levels is right behind the eyes in your head. Put your attention there.”

We haven’t realized that since we were born we have always put our attention outside. There has been no occasion for us to put our attention inside. We are used to focusing our attention. When you focus your attention, it is always external to yourself. We have never been taught to withdraw attention. We know how to put attention on things. Put your attention on this book. Put your attention on a subject. Put your attention to what I am saying. But we have never been taught how to withdraw the attention to your own self inside the head behind the eyes.

The process of the Great Master’s teaching began to teach me and I learned over time was that the withdrawal of attention is a totally different subject. It is a totally different way of doing things. The process is different than putting your attention. By focusing attention on anything, you are putting your attention out of yourself, not withdrawing, not discovering who you are. Therefore, the Great Master taught how to withdraw your attention to yourself. That is to pull back your attention to where it is flowing from. It takes some practice. It takes some doing to discover that the point where you are having this experience of putting your attention on things is not only behind the eyes, it is at the middle point between the eyes and behind it.

If my two fingers represent the two eyeballs, where the two fingers meet on my hand, if you can see this, it is almost exactly the place if you contemplate where is your attention flowing from, that is the place behind the eyes in the center. If we know that much, then we can proceed forward with the practice of withdrawing attention to our self, and we do it by a very interesting process, the process which we all use without knowing it, is called imagination. If you imagine you are there, attention goes there.

Supposing you are imagining you are sitting in that corner of the room, your attention will go there. If you imagine you are sitting on top of this house, your attention will go there. Wherever you are imagining you are going, attention is pulled there automatically. This becomes a simple method … to imagine that you are sitting inside your head behind the eyes. Make this head of yours, the forehead is a wall in front, these ears are on either side of a beautiful room, that this body is like a mansion and has many floors. The sixth floor is behind the eyes. You are sitting on the sixth floor, and you are putting your attention to where you believe is the center of the head.

This exercise alone, without doing anything else, will open up a door and give you experiences that you have never had before. It is amazing that we think this was so simple, and yet it looks so difficult. The simplicity affected me very much. This is such a simple thing that we have to withdraw attention to the point from it is flowing out, and it is flowing from that point. That point has been addressed in all the spiritual books that I have seen, called the third eye. “If thine eye be single, then your whole body shall be filled with light.” “If you have a point behind your eyes, you will see the truth.” All the scriptures say it in different ways, that there is a third eye, there is a point behind the eyes. There true light lasts. If you can reach that point by withdrawing attention, your whole body gets filled with light. You see a light which you have never seen outside in this world. We are all full of light. Our own soul, which I am talking about, the consciousness, is full of light. You see actual light at the level that you can’t even see with these eyes. A simple mechanical way of pulling your attention behind the eyes can create this kind of experience. The doors open up to all other levels.

What happens if you are steady enough to keep your attention behind the eyes and keep it there, sustain it there, what would happen? You would begin to find that you don’t know where your hands and feet are. I suggest a practice. If you go to a concert and in the concert there are many musical instruments playing. You hear the drums playing, the trumpets playing. Say, I like the drums. Put your attention on the drums. The drums become louder, the trumpets become weaker. They have not changed their pace nor volume. Your attention can pick up on anything and make that more aware in yourself and the other thing less aware. When you put your attention within yourself, the attention automatically is withdrawn from everything else, starting with the rest of the world. You forget it because your attention is here. You want to think about what is happening behind the eyes, not the rest of the world. You forget your worries. You forget your cares. You forget attachments. You are experimenting with withdrawal of attention to yourself.

Later on you will even begin to forget where your body is. The interesting part is that when you withdraw your attention in meditation behind the eyes, the withdrawal of awareness of the body is very gradual. You will notice the first part is you don’t know where your hands are, where your feet are. You don’t know … put your hands here. Your eyes are closed, attention is there. Are my hands here? I don’t know where they are. I don’t know where the feet are. Are they like this or like this? That is the first beginning, showing that your attention is being withdrawn inside. If you sustain that process, you forget the whole body where it is. And yet when you don’t know where your whole body is, you are fully aware of everything. You can see clearly, more clearly than you can see with these eyes. You can fly, walk around. You have left the body. You have a body similar to this one that is not bound by gravity, that is not bound by the limitations of this body, and yet you are the same self! It is the same self. It opens up just by becoming unaware of the outer cover of this physical body.

You can carry out this process again and again through every cover of yours, the physical body being the first cover. The second body is called sensory body, or astral body. It has all the sense perceptions of this body, in fact, more acutely working. You can withdraw attention even within that body and become unaware of that, and then the mind alone becomes your body. Then you find that the mind, the thinking mind, was not merely a thinking machine. It was actually a casing around you. It has no shape like this, yet within that you get experiences that you can never have in the physical body, the experience of how you became a physical body, the experience of what are the laws of cause and effect, the law of karma that makes your destinies in this body. You discover all that. It is all lying there.

Nobody is going to put it there. It is already there, you just have to discover it. You discover through your mind, through the universal mind, that all minds that we think of as people’s mind are proceeding from the same machine, the universal machine waiting there. You don’t stop there! Most of the teachers of spirituality in the world have stopped there or below that. There are very few teachers who will go beyond the mind because they do not distinguish between the mind and the soul. Those who go beyond the mind reach a perfection of spirit, and we call them Perfect Living Masters. The Perfect Living Masters say, “You have reached the end of your mental state, but you have not reached yourself. You are beyond the mind.”

Therefore, the causal body, which is your mind, withdrawing from that, when the mind is withdrawn and the thinking process is left aside, sitting separate from you, you discover your true self. You discover who you really are. You are pure consciousness, the ability to be conscious, the ability to be conscious and create with that ability, the power to create, all experiences of all levels…that is you. That is the real self. That is the soul. When you discover the soul, the next step is even better.

If you withdraw from individuality, the individuation of the soul, you discover there was only one soul, only one totality of consciousness from which all individuation took place within it, creating the whole drama that we call life. Such a beautiful experience. Great Master’s experience with me was so unique to lead me on to these kinds of things, and I feel that it is the greatest gift one can have to see the reality of all these things that are happening, to see how it happens, why it happens, why we are here, why our destinies are different, and why we have different kinds of lives.