Powered By Blogger

Sunday, August 20, 2006

The Mind is Filled with the Divine Music of the Spheres

The Mind is Filled with the Divine Music of the Spheres

Sant Mat Fellowship:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SantMatFellowship
{"Come out of the circle of time,
and into the circle of love." -- RUMI}

The Lord placed the soul in the body's cave,
And the breath held the Music of Life.
He made each body with nine gates, (25)
With the Tenth Gate (26); remaining well hid.
And the Tenth Door was opened to him
Who truly loved the Guru's wisdom.
And there lives the Lord in His myriad forms,
as well as the nine treasures of the Name.
His limit cannot be found.

Says Nanak, the Lord placed the soul in the
body's cave and the breath held the Music of Life.

Listen to this Song of Bliss, you blessed ones,
And all your heart's longings shall be fulfilled.
You will reach the Transcendent Lord, and
your sorrows will depart.
All afflictions and sorrows are destroyed
at the Sound of the True Word,
And my friends, the saints were in ecstasy when
the perfect Guru revealed it.
Those who speak and those who listen are pure,
And they see the All-pervading Lord everywhere.
Nanak prays: Attaching to the feet of the Guru,
The mind is filled with the divine Music of the Spheres.

-- Guru Amar Das
Anand Sahib, Peace Lagoon translation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Amar_Das

Notes:

(25) "nine gates": The nine visible orifices of the body.

(26) "The Tenth Gate": The Tenth, or Hidden, Gate of the body: The Third Eye, in essence, is the Portal to inner realms. The Upanishads describe a human being as a city with ten gates. Nine gates (eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth, urethra, anus) lead to the outside world. The Tenth Gate, the Third Eye, opens onto inner worlds: the whole spectrum of levels of consciousness.

Monday, August 14, 2006

The Competent Living Teacher

The Competent Living Teacher

http://aura.zaadz.com/photos/3/29968/large/ShriSantSeviJi.jpg?

Those who are pure in heart,
who practice Meditation
and conquer their senses and passions,
shall attain the immortal Self,
Source of all Light and Source of all Life.

Action prompted by pleasure or profit
Cannot help anyone to cross this ocean of samsara.
Seek a teacher who has realized the Self.
To a student whose heart is full of love,
Who has conquered his senses and passions,
The teacher will reveal the Lord of Love.

Imperishable is the Lord of Love.
As from a blazing fire thousands of sparks leap forth,
So countless beings arise
From the Lord of Love and return to him.

-- Mundaka Upanishad
"The Upanishads"
Eknath Easwaran translation
Nilgiri Press

Saints and sages have unveiled all the mysteries of the spiritual journey and of self-realization in their discourses. All the techniques have been documented in books. But without an accomplished teacher, we will not be able to understand the correct technique of true knowledge just by reading.

In the Bhagavad-Gita Lord Krishna says that for learning spiritual knowledge we must seek help from an accomplished seer [male or female]:

"For learning spiritual knowledge you should go to the
one who is a seer. Pay your respect to him, serve him
and question him and express your desire for learning.
Then he will fulfill your desire and answer your questions."

Consider for a moment the nature of knowledge you wish to learn. After high school, the student thinks his direction and chooses a field of study: liberal arts, commerce, or science. If, for example, the student wants to learn liberal arts but goes to a professor of science instead, will this teacher have much to offer? The student must choose a professor proficient in the knowledge he wishes to learn. In the same manner, if you want to learn spiritual knowledge, then you must go to a spiritually competent teacher.

The appropriate spiritual teacher should be a person who has considered and discovered the realities of Atma and anatma (Spirit and matter, bondage and Liberation), and who practices a spiritual path. Such a teacher should have attained direct experience of Truth through spiritual disciplines. This is teacher you should take instruction from. The grace of teacher is also necessary for success in the spiritual pursuit. When you learn the methods for inner meditation, you should practice diligently. Moral rectitude is also very essential in this pursuit.

This is the seventh limb of yoga, dhyana (meditation; absorption). When one has become accomplished in dhyana then one attains Samadhi (union).

-- Sri Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj
"The Harmony of All Religions"
http://www.thewayofsages.com/new_page_7.htm

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Instructions for Seekers, Shabda Yoga, Yoga of Light & Sound PT 3

Instructions for Seekers, Shabda Yoga, Yoga of Light & Sound PT 3

Sant Mat Fellowship:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SantMatFellowship
{"Come out of the circle of time,
and into the circle of love." -- RUMI}

Radhasoami Reality:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Radhasoami-Reality
{Radhaswami Dayal ki Daya Radhaswami Sahai:
"Grant Merciful Radhasoami Thy Grace and Protection"}

"Utter the Name of the Lord, Oh! do utter His Name.

Why has the soul [Surat] become oblivious?

Give up all quarrels and wranglings.

The terrible Kal beguiles you through karmas.

Shake off your illusion and flee to your Original Abode."

(from the Shabdawali [Hymns] of Param Sant Tulsi Sahib)

"When the Satguru, thus pleased by the seeker, gives away the gift of Naam [Initiation], he should cherish and preserve it in his heart and soul and become cognisant of its marvellous effect.

Service by Surat [inner hearing] and Nirat [inner seeing]:

Internal Spiritual Practice

"This done, the seeker sits in seclusion, becoming inward,

and engages in internal practice (sumiran [repeating God's Name], dhyan [visualising one's Ideal -- the form of the master] and bhajan [hearing the inner Sound]) and attains composure. Then two arches or currents (ida and pingala) must be withdrawn and reversed and turned upward towards Gagan (mystic Sky, Trikuti) so that he becomes enraptured and engrossed in listening to melodious Sound.

"On the way he will perceive the Flame (at Sahasdal Kanwal, Thousand-petalled Lotus) and then the sun (in Trikuti) and then the moon (in Sunn) and receive its soothing Light. Thence, he will make it to Sattlok and will settle down there and hearing the Sound of harp, his surat will wear a broad smile of bliss and beatitude. Then, the seeker realises the greatness and grandeur of the Satguru by whose grace and charisma he hears the melodious Sound of harp. Thence he proceeds to the Invisible and Inaccessible Spheres and meets the Nameless, where he greets and hails Radhasoami.

"When your soul begins to run inside of you, you will witness delightful scenes. Inside of your being, there is a marvellous Sky.

"The Crooked Tunnel or the Bunknaal opened up new path for my soul to move forward; everywhere I saw the image of the Triangular Sphere (Musalassi or Trikuti, i.e. the Region of Three Prominences, namely, Meru, Sumeru and Kailash). There I witnessed the Red Sun (rising sun's redness and lustre); even a hundred suns cannot claim to be on a par with its beauty." (Swami Ji Maharaj, Sar Bachan Radhasoami Poetry, Volume One, the new M. G. Gupta translation)

The Baba Faqir Chand translation of Swami Ji's Hidayatnama:

Esoteric Instructions to the Initiates, "The Yoga of Light and

Sound", by H.H. Swami Shiv Dayal Ji Maharaj

On the Astral Plane -- the First Inner Region, Soami Ji Maharaj:

It is necessary that the disciple continue the practice meticulously as a routine for two, three, or four times a day, according to his leisure. If the mind intrudes with doubts and worries by raising unnecessary questions, one should return to the master and petition his help, then try to engage in the practice wholeheartedly. With the grace, affection and support of the master and personal effort, one will make progress gradually.

Do not be disturbed. Never try to hurry, but move slowly to get real benefit. Whatever you do in haste, or under the influence of emotion, will be unstable.....With the grace of the compassionate master, you will surely be benefited eventually; and this gain will be lasting....

Now I shall explain the internal levels of spiritual experience which are attained by the Saints. When you turn your gaze inward to the center of your forehead, you will see the open spaces, the Sky, and your Pure Self, or Surat [soul], will leave your body and soar upward. When you see the Sky, you are in the region of the Thousand-petalled Lotus [Sahasra dal Kanwal], where numerous petals are performing various functions of the spatio-temporal world. One moves in this region with great delight and will see the Lord of the threefold world in form and person. Most religions content themselves at this level, assuming that this lord is the Supreme God, and pleased and content to see the brilliance and the Light, so that their path beyond this level is closed and they can go no

farther.

However, there is a very fine and small aperture at the crest of the Sky ... as small as the eye of a needle. Let your Pure Self soar higher and go through that door. Passing through, you will find a winding path called Banknaal [Crooked Tunnel]. Go further for a short distance, which will be straight, then slope downward for a while and again will go upward. Passing along this narrow path, your Surat reaches the second region of space. This region is called Trikuti [three prominences, causal/Akash region]. (from Swami Ji's Hidayatnama, one of the sections of the Sar Bachan Radhasoami Poetry, Volume One)

Commentary on Hidayatnama

Yoga of Light and Sound for the Seekers

Commentary by Baba Faqir Chand:

Let me explain the inner progress of the disciple. Man is in search of the Supreme Being. Generally he is guided by the idea of the method of worshipping which he imbibes from his family. According to the political thinkers, a person needs freedom, the hungry need food, and the oppressed need justice. However, the real need of man is his spiritual development, his union with the Source and Ground, the Supreme Being. The fulfillment of this need fulfills all others.

In explaining the levels of internal experience, I want to assure everyone that what I describe is completely based on my own inner experience.....As I have experienced them, the Spiritual Levels known to the Saints are:

1. Shiva-netra, or the Third Eye.

2. Sahesradal Kamal, or Thousand-petalled Lotus.

3. Trikuti, or Trinity.

4. Sunn, or Void.

5. Mahasunn [Great Void, region of intense darkness].

6. Bhanwargufa, or Whirlpool Cave.

7. Sata-loka, or the Region of Spiritual Light, or Truth.

8. Alakha-loka; or the Region of the Invisible Supreme Being.

9. Agama-loka, or the Region of the Unfathomable Reality.

10. Anami-loka, the Transcendental and Nameless Being.

11. Radhaswami-dham, the Final Abode of the Supremely Compassionate

Self.

The inward experience of the stages from the third eye to endless space can be experienced by those aspirants who undertake the inward journey, but still have not gone beyond the stages of duality. But highly developed seekers know that these so-called visions and phenomena are nothing but the creation of their own thoughts and Samskaras, or tendencies. People living on the intellectual level believe that they have attained the Supreme Truth and indeed do enjoy mental visions and are satisfied with transitory mental bliss. However, such people still suffer from the vicissitudes of life. If people really wish to attain knowledge of Ultimate Reality and arrive at eternal bliss, they must ascend to the higher stages, attainable through the Path of Love and Devotion. The Religion of the Saints advocates taking the inward journey, to absorb one's Surat [attention-faculty of the soul] within one's own Self.

The Description of the Thousand-Petalled Lotus

Faqir: -- As I have said, whatever exists in the material world also exists within ourselves, which is why we have the perception of the universe..... The Thousand-petalled Lotus can be seen within the mind. You have only to concentrate your thought. The deeper the concentration of your mind, the greater will be your bliss. Occasionally such a vision is experienced by a true devotee when he is listening to the spiritual discourses of his master. That is why it is necessary for an aspirant to have an Ideal, or a Guru, to make spiritual progress which is not possible without loving your Ideal. In fact, spiritual experiences such as visions and colours are not created by your Ideal, but are created out of your deep love for your Ideal or Isht. People who adopt a Guru only with the motive of fulfilling their worldly desires never develop spiritually. The attainment of the desired object and the development of the inner state depends on the intensity of the love for the master.... When the desire becomes intense, it is called love.

Disciple: -- What is the Sound which is, heard in this state?

Faqir: -- According to the laws of nature, wherever there is motion, there is Light and Sound. The moment the mind is

concentrated, after fixing its attention on the Ideal, Light is generated, or the picture of the Ideal becomes illuminated within the mind. The one-pointedness of the mind merges the fine subtle elements, which form a circle and create motion. The Sound created by this vibratory motion resembles that of a Bell. Though such sounds may be heard with even a little concentration, they are of a different kind, somewhat like the chirping of the sparrows. A person who wants to experience the focus of the mind at this stage, should detach himself from worldly desires....

Disciple: -- What should one do to go beyond this state?

Faqir: -- Now you understand that an aspirant must accept an Ideal for his spiritual development. Once satiated with the scenes of the Thousand-petalled Lotus, a keen desire to attain peace, bliss, or equanimity, arises in the mind. And so, he creates a higher Ideal, or master, and strives to rise to that level. His Surat withdraws itself from all other thoughts and becomes fixed in itself by repeating the Name of this Ideal which becomes a channel for progress. During this stability, the Surat perceives Light and hears the inner Sound from which it derives a special enjoyment. Eventually the Surat is dissatisfied with this pleasure because the level at which one experiences this kind of enjoyment is also constituted by the five subtle elements, bound to increase and decrease. Though the Surat may declare itself to be in the highest state of enjoyment, its inner knowledge cannot accept it as everlasting bliss, peace or equilibrium.

The quality of change at this state explains the dissatisfaction of the inner mind in the following way. Since the stage of the Thousand-petalled Lotus is the creation of the intermingling of the subtle elements, different currents function in the universe at this level, continuously creating and destroying the cosmos, the universes, the galaxies, the suns, and the moons. The creation of your mind is like this creation and destruction of the cosmos. Does the aspirant continue to enjoy this bliss when he is absorbed in the inward play? No, wherever there is joy, there is also sadness, or disappointment. One is bound to both extremes and cannot attain permanent peace beyond the temporary. Our ancient sages concluded that the very form of Cosmic Light was the sole ground of the cosmos. But the fact is that even this state is devoid of eternal bliss and peace. So long as the Surat is absorbed in this play, it seems to be happy, but soon becomes sad again. So it is evident that even this form of Cosmic Light, or temporal spotless brilliance, cannot grant eternal peace.

Having realized through experience that this region of the Thousand-petalled Lotus is the region of motion and change caused by the subtle elements, and that both pleasure and pain, attraction and repulsion, are present here, the aspirant progresses upward. The perception of the gross Sound of the Bells, and even of the gross Light, which has been caused by the concentration of the subtle elements in mind, begins to fade away and the attention of the Surat is drawn on.

Now it begins to experience forgetfulness of its physical awareness, causing a sort of slumber. If caught up in this slumber, the aspirant falls asleep, but if he remains aware of his Ideal, adopted in the very beginning, he is bound to ascend and become alert. This state is called the undulating Narrow Tunnel, or Bunknaal, which goes downward for a while and then turns upward. Every practitioner experiences this internal state. The sensation of descending is the state of slumber or forgetfulness caused by the temporary mental disequilibrium, which distracts the aspirant from his Ideal. In this forgetfulness, he feels as though he has descended, but concentrating on his Ideal, he must ascend from this slumber toward his cherished goal. At this point, only the Ideal of the aspirant remains in his internal vision. This is the level of Trinity, or Trikuti. Actually, the image of the Guru, experienced at this level is the result of the integration of the subtle elements of mind. The wavering mind is stabilized with the concentration on the form of one's Ideal. However, it is difficult to stay at this level also, because the feelings still function. Only when it is held there by the devotion to the Ideal, can the mind remain in this state.(Baba Faqir Chand's Commentary on Swami Ji's Hidayatnama)

Thursday, August 03, 2006

New Kabir Book

The Mind Turns Inward

Sant Mat Fellowship:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SantMatFellowship

KABIR:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KABIR

The mind is entrapped by the illusion.
The five senses are busy quarrelling.
In order to awaken from the illusory world,
Recite God's name, Realize the Absolute,
Understand his indescribable glory --
God's grace is showering on you.

The Mind Turns Inward

God manifests in the heart of the devotee,
One whose body is as good as gold!
With the testing stone of devotion,
God tests the heart of the illumined,
Just as the goldsmith tests gold,
With the testing stone.
As the mind of the illumined steadies,
Divine knowledge awakens within him.

All those years of searching for God,
Outside oneself are finally ended.
The mind turns inward and meditates.
God has been found within.
The body, once valueless as tin,
Is transformed into pure luminous gold.

-- Guru Kabir, (New Book)
"Kabir -- Songs of the Divine",
Translated by Dr. Jagessar Das
of the Kabir Association,
Surry, BC Canada:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/kabirweb
Published by Urban Mystic Books:
http://www.urbanmysticbooks.com

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Sant Mat RadhaSoami Links

Sant Mat RadhaSoami Links SantMat Radha Soami Links --
Mystic Poetry and Spiritual Discourses of the Masters of the East, the Sants:

*SantMat Fellowship:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SantMatFellowship

*Spiritual Awakening Radio:
http://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com

*Radhasoami Reality:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Radhasoami-Reality

*Sant Mat Radhasoami Links Page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SantMatFellowship/links

*KABIR:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KABIR

*Kirpal Singh Satsang:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kirpal-Singh-Satsang

Name, Form, Light, Sound, and the Final Stage: Soundlessness

Name, Form, Light, Sound, and the Final Stage: Merging with the Soundless Formless God (Anadi Purush) in the Ocean of Love

Sant Mat Fellowship:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SantMatFellowship
{"Do not live even a single day without inner meditation." -- Baba Devi Sahab}

"Come, that I may teach you about secrets no person has ever seen. For there exists a Great and Boundless Realm, whose extent no generation of angels has seen, in which there is a Great Invisible Spirit,which no eye of an angel has ever seen, no thought of the heart has ever comprehended, and it was never called by any name."(Yeshua, quoted in, The Gospel of Judas, a Second CenturyGnostic Gospel written in Coptic, found in Egypt, andrecently published)

Chart Number One -- Subtle Bodies and Inner Regions:http://www.geocities.com/santmat_mystic/CHART.jpg

Chart Number Two, PDF File -- Higher Planes/Inner Regions:http://www.spiritualawakeningradio.com/chart.pdf

The Unexplored Rooms in the "Interior Castle" of the Human Body

Guru Kabir, one of India's greatest spiritual Masters and poet-mystics, put it this way:
Within this earthen vessel arebowers and groves, and within it is the Creator: Within this vessel are the seven oceans and the unnumbered stars.......Kabir says: "Listen to me my friend! My Beloved Lord is within."

Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj in his new book, The Harmony of All Religions, recently translated from Hindi into English (soon to be published), states that the early stages of meditation are a preparation for the more advanced levels. From the chapter on the Light and Sound mysticism present within Jainism he writes: "Many of the Saints discuss the need for mantra japa (simran: the recitation or repetition of God's Name) and Bindu Dhyan (visualizing a holy form). These disciplines, the recitation of a holy name and the focus on holy forms, enable the practitioner to have success with the subtlerforms of meditation." And, from the Introduction to this book: "The Saints, Prophets, Sages, all Radiant and all Benevolent Beings are myriad physical manifestations of the Divine Power on earth. Fixing their image in the mind (Manas Dhyan; focusing on a divine form) facilitates concentration of the mind and prepares it to enter in to the inner subtle realms."

Where We Came From -- Where We Are Going

Sant Sevi Ji: "The individual soul has descended from the higher worlds [realm of the Divine] to this city of illusion [bodily existence]. It has descended from the Soundless State to the essence of Sound, from that Sound to Light, and finally from the realm ofLight to the realm of Darkness.

"The current of consciousness which is dispersed in the nine gatesof the body and the nine senses must be collected at the tenth gate (Seat of the Soul, the sixth chakra, also known as the Third Eye, bindu, center between the eyebrows) therein lies the path for our return. This is the act of leaving the gates of the sense organs and becoming established in the soul. We travel back from the realm of Darkness to the realm of Light, from the Light to divine Sound, and from the realm of Sound to the Soundless State [The Nameless One,Ultimate Reality]".

Here Are The Stages of Meditation As Taught in Traditional Sant Mat

All of the following spiritual exercises represent a transition from outer to inner, from lower to higher, from physical to mental to spiritual, a shift in one's awareness through several different layers or regions, on the way back to Ultimate Reality or Non-duality beyond all these veils of illusion. As Sant Sevi Jiwrites: "The natural tendencies of the Soul are to move from outward to inward. The Current of Consciousness which is dispersed in thenine gates of the body and the nine senses must be collected at theThird Eye. Therein lies the path for our return."

The following is by Sant Sevi Ji's Satguru: Maharishi Mehi, from the book, Philosophy of Liberation (Moksa Darsan), also recently translated from Hindi and published in English.
"The practice involves a specific meditation taught by a qualified Teacher. Meditation has four levels of practice each building on the preceding practice:

Four Stages of Sadhana (Spiritual Practice)

"The first stage is manas japa (mental repetition of sacred name meditation [simran, zikhr, mentally repeating/chanting God'sName "with the tongue of thought"]). This is a simple technique andhas been widely taught and practiced in the East as well as the West. It has the effect of calming the restless "monkey-mind" and preparing for the following stages of meditation. [Note: In most lineages of Masters like this, it is the living Teacher that gives you the sacred words to repeat and complete details and proper guidance how to use them and other techniques within.]

"The second stage is the manas dhyana -- practice of focusing on aspecific image [Note: In Mehi's tradition, mentally contemplating orvisualizing the form of one's Teacher/Satguru is called dhyan or manas dhyana. For more on Dhyan Meditation, see Chapter Seven of thebook, The Philosophy of the Masters, Volume Two, by Huzur Baba SawanSingh.]

"The third stage is known as drishti yoga -- uninterruptedconcentration of an infinitesimal point [gazing upon inner Light orthe Radiant Form at the Third Eye Center or Single Eye -- the Yoga of Light].

"The fourth stage Surat Shabad Yoga (the art of inner hearing -- the meditation of Divine Sound) is focus on celestial inarticulatesounds within, which ultimately leads to the final goal [merging with the Soundless, Nameless One]."

"The Sounds are somewhat similar to the sounds of: the veena (stringed instrument similar to the lyre), the mridang (drum or thunder), the mrdal (cymbals), the singi (a horn), the sitar(stringed instrument), or the sarangi (similar to a lute). (Also see, the Nad Bind Upanishad, for a list of inner Sounds.)

On the power of the inner Sound, Shiv Brat Lal writes: "The devotee in his spiritual journey upwards hears sweet melodies which attract him. The melodies are a powerful magnetic force which draws the attention inwards and makes it fully attuned to proceed up and up. We hear external instrumental music like the sitar, sarangi, violin, harmonium, fiddle, flute and veena. We become attracted by them and almost acquire a semi-rapturous condition. One can well imagine how charming the Internal Music emanating from both subtle and causal regions can be. It is a thousand times more enchanting and absorbing! All one needs is to get the know-how of this simple method of the Saints."

Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj, in another new book published in January of this year called, Quintessence of Yoga: Secrets of Success, writes: "Devotee Jaydayal Goyandka taught clearly about the Yoga of Vision or Light and the Yoga of inner divine Sound. To consolidate vision and meditation with closed eyes causes:

1) steadiness of mind, 2) purity of character, 3) inner peace, and, 4) removal of ill-will.

"Closing the ears when we hear the divine Sound within ourselves is the best approach. There is no harm in it. We can include this along with other practices. This practice of inner Sound can go on in the night, because there is no noise at that time and environment is peaceful......When the inner divine Sound merges into the imperishable Supreme Lord, there is the absolute State ofSoundlessness (the Ultimate Reality)."

You may ask, what does it mean to "close the ears"? There is a technique initiates learn to do just that in order to focus on inner Sound. Also, sometimes people use earplugs to block outer sounds during inner Sound practice [bhajan]. But there is another meaning. Some clarification is given in the book, The Harmony of All Religions, by Sant Sevi Ji, who states that closing the ears is primarily an internal reality that occurs after one's awareness has gone within: "When you focus your gaze within ajna chakra then automatically your physical ears will close and the inner ears will open."

Here is the whole paragraph containing that sentence: "The path to find God is within your heart. Enter into ajna chakra (Third Eye Center, Seat of the Soul) and you will find it. It is found not in a man-made Ka'ba (Muslim pilgrimage place), but in God made Ka'ba (holy place), which means within your own heart or self. You should listen attentively to the reverberating divine Sound. The celestialSound is coming to take you back to the Source. Listen to it attentively. Remember you cannot hear this with the physical ears.When you focus your gaze within the ajna chakra then automatically your physical ears will close and the inner ears will open. By that power you can hear the celestial Sounds. The original Sound of the creation comes from the abode of God and it will take you to God."

Maharishi Mehi: "Each stage of meditation has specific hallmarks to indicate progress. Although the above techniques may sound complex, this path is extremely simple to practice as is evidenced by the great numbers of people who have been practicing this meditation since ancient times."

To see the "specific hallmarks" or visionary and auditory markersalong the way alluded to here (moons, suns, stars, crooked tunnels, dark voids, bright Light, etc....), see "Chart Number Two, PDF File:http://www.spiritualawakeningradio.com/chart.pdf

NDE's (Near-Death Experiences) and OOBE's (Out-of-body or soul travel) via Meditation
This is a paragraph from the book, Enchanted Land -- A Journey Withthe Saints of India, published by the MSAC Philosophy Group, going over the same inner steps and stages to this inner mystical landscape, from the chapter dedicated to the teachings of a female Radhaswami Guru by the name of Yogani Mata Ji:

"How consciousness can be released from the mortal frame byattaching itself to the Stream of Celestial Music radiating from thetop of the head and beyond......

"Coupled with this physical stillness and ceaseless repetition ofGod's name, the next step is to contemplate the Light within. At first, Mata Ji pointed out, there will be only darkness but eventually Light will appear in the form of either small flashes orsmall star-like points. In any case, one should focus on the Radiance, keeping one's simran [name repetition] intact and allowing the Light to draw the soul inward. The third and most important step, Mata Ji said, is to listen to the Sound that issues forth fromthe Light. It is this Internal Music which will numb the body and allow the consciousness to leave its ordinary dwelling. By riding this Current of Light and Sound, like a fish going upstream, thesoul will be able to go back to its Original Home.......

"According to Mata Ji, what near-death patients experience is only the beginning of a vast sojourn into great universes of light, love and beauty." (ISBN: 1-56543-053-0)

Maharishi Mehi from, The Philosophy of Liberation, reveals the finalgoal of Sant Mat Meditation -- The Fifth Stage that few talk about: merging with the Soundless, Nameless One: "Upon merging the mind with the Sound, there remains only the consciousness, free of the association with the mind. The consciousness free of the mind will be drawn to the flow of sounds, ultimately merging in Soundlessness or the Supreme Sovereign God. The internal practice of meditation ends here: the Supreme God is realized and the work is completed."