Distractions And Sidepaths
In the ākāśa, he would be able to go into all sorts of psychic phenomena. We don’t want that. We don’t want to utilize the ākāśa in that way, because then we cause the growth of gross matter in the subconscious mind, which is capable of imprinting into the ākāśa things that we want to happen. Then we could go in the ākāśa and see them. We will see those forms change shape from what we have, from our own subconscious, imprinted in the subconscious. Then, through the power of the light, it takes form in the ākāśa, and we can have a little world of our own going around on the inside, and that is called psychism or occultism. We don’t want that. Nor do we want to tune in with anybody else who is also in the ākāśa, because that leads us away from the purity of yoga.
Now, for instance, if I were in the ākāśa and two other adepts were in the ākāśa, then we could tune in with one another, and I might even see their faces in the ākāśa. We would guard against this, because that would be allowing the superconscious mind to take form. When the superconscious mind takes form, then that means the consciousness is lowered and we are being led away from our goal, and the next thing we knew we would come through the subconscious back to the conscious mind. We want to avoid this. We don’t want to come through the subconscious to the conscious mind. From samādhi, we want to come directly from the superconscious into the conscious. So, we avoid all form and colors that we might see in the ākāśa.
When the sannyāsin arrives at that state, the next lesson will occur. He will be in a pure state of consciousness, pure bliss. It will appear to him as spaceless. He will be having a feeling of timelessness, a feeling of formlessness, but it is not the Self. It is taken as the Self, but it is not the Self, for it still has consciousness. In summary, we have discovered how to come out of darkness into light in the practice of samādhi, and how to go through two different stages of light into a realm of pure consciousness which we call the ākāśa.
As we have previously studied, there are seven different states in the superconscious mind, seven different states and usages. The very first is the light. And the pure consciousness state that we just discussed is the seventh state. All the others we want to avoid. It is not that it wouldn’t be possible to get into them and develop them, but we want to definitely avoid them, because they are, shall we say, deterrents to the purities in the Self. So, we shall avoid them by going from basic inner light to a more intense light and popping out into a pure state of consciousness. The sannyāsin will still have an overall consciousness of the physical body. As a matter of fact, when he is looking down at the physical body, it might just appear like a shadow to him. It is not advisable for him to look down at the physical body in consciousness, for that will lead him down into the sixth or fifth plane of consciousness, and we don’t want to be there in the superconscious. Then other things will intervene, and he won’t achieve the samādhi. He will have to come out and start over again. So, these investigations we want to avoid, because they are not necessary, ever, though they are not impossible. When he is in his pure state of consciousness, then he has to look for the continuation of the kuṇḍalinī force or, shall we say, the continuation of the nerve currents that house the kuṇḍalinī force. In conscious-mind terms, that will look like a tube or a nerve current which would be issued right from the top of the head.
In this state of pure consciousness, like in outer space, he tries to find just one nerve current right at the top of the head. When he finds this nerve current at the top of the head, he is taught to concentrate on it from where it begins at the top of the head right up to the end of it, and soon he finds the end of it. The experience of experiences. Of course if he has a mishmash in his subconscious mind, he won’t be able to hold this pure state of consciousness. The subconscious mind in its power and intensity of this contemplation will begin picking up, and he will be coming right back into outer consciousness. But if his subconscious is fairly clean and under control, then he will be able to hold it, and he will hold it quite naturally. It will be a natural state to him after Self Realization.
So, then the next thing to do is to find this nerve current. In conscious-mind terms, it may be about one-half inch in diameter. In superconscious-mind terms, it may be eleven feet in diameter, because the superconscious mind can magnify or it can diminish. It has that power almost at will. He must try to find the center of this nerve current, and then he comes into the core of this ākāśa, the very atomic structure that makes it up.