The Ascension of the Soul into Interior Regions of Light & Sound, Part 3: The Third Region: Daswan Dwar and the Great Dark Void
["The Tenth Door", Par-Brahm, Sunn (the Void) and, Maha Sunn -- The Great Void]
"The refulgence of this region (Daswan Dwar) is twelve times that of Trikuti. Pure pools of ambrosia, called "Mansarovar," [the Lake of Nectar] abound here. There are innumerable flowers and gardens. Spirits, like beauties, dance at various places. At every place fountains of nectar are overflowing and the streams of nectar are gushing out. How may one describe the splendour and decoration of this region! There are platforms of diamonds, beds of emeralds and plants of jewels, all studded with rubies and precious stones. Bejeweled fish, swimming in pools there, display their beauty and ornamentation, and their glitter and sheen attract attention. Beyond this, there are innumerable palaces of crystals and mirrors, in which spirit entities reside at their respective spots, as allocated by the Lord. The denizens there are spiritual and free from physical taints. Full particulars of these regions are known only to Sants. It is not meet to describe them in greater detail."
-- Shiv Dayal Singh, Hidayatnama (Sar Bachan Radhasoami Poetry, Book One)
Certain saints report that there are ten passage ways in Trikuti; the first nine are local leading the aspirant only to outlying parts of the second stage. The tenth door, though, opens up into the third region, a dimension beyond mind and matter appropriately entitled Daswan Dwar ("tenth door," so named because of the key passage way in Trikuti).
The third region is exceptionally auspicious, since the student leaves the mind plane altogether and realizes for the first time his/her true Self; as a pure drop of infinite light and love. From Daswan Dwar the pull is inherently upwards; no longer does Kal's negative power attract the free spirit. Like a butterfly liberated from its inhibiting cocoon, the soul flies forth unencumbered to its original and true abode.
The lord of this region is known as the "Detached One" and the shabd manifests as a sarangi (stringed instrument) with white light shimmering like diamonds. Daswan Dwar's refulgence is so brilliant that it dims twelve-fold the reddish light of Trikuti.
Although the sound current is one constant audible life stream, it has four major gradations: anahad (unstruck); sar (essential); sat (true); and nij (original). For instance, in the third region, the shabd transforms from anahad into sar, which is the movement from the mind to the soul current. Progressively, sar shabd leads into sat shabd, which finally ushers in the nij current of the Supreme Lord, who is absolutely beyond all expression.
One of the central attractions in the third region is Mansarovar, "a vast pool of immortality" wherein the soul is cleansed of residual samskaras (past impressions). Elucidates Sawan Singh (1970): "When the Sikh Gurus built the Golden Temple at what is now the City of Amritsar they surrounded it with a pool of water, to represent on earth the Mansarovar Pool or Lake, of the third Spiritual Region. This pool they called Amritsar, which has the same meaning as Mansarovar -- the pool of the Nectar of Immortality. In the same way, the Indian Rishis and Munis (sages and holy men of the past), called the confluence of the Ganges, Jamuna and the now vanished Saraswati, Tribeni, to symbolize on earth the meeting place of the three great streams of refulgent Light in Daswan Dwar. But the real thing that gives liberation lies within and not without."
Although Self-realization is achieved in Daswan Dwar, the student has not merged back totally with the Supreme One. Consciousness is identified with the drop/bubble, but not yet with the ocean of love in its awesome entirety. Thus, the soul must evolve even further to achieve full jivan mukti, "liberation while living." The face of the Self has been discovered -- consciousness beyond body and mind is experienced to be the true reality -- but the primordial body of the Absolute remains unattained (Sawan Singh. 1974).
Perhaps the most frightening phase in the meditator's exploration is through the region known as Maha Sunn (Great Void) which is located between Daswan Dwar and Bhanwar Gupha. Though the soul is said to contain the light of twelve suns, its brilliance is blinded by the impenetrable darkness which precedes the fourth region. In fact, saints rarely discuss this stage, as it can only be crossed with the help of the inner guru. Outlines Shiv Dayal Singh (1970) of this plane:
"Having sojourned there (Daswan Dwar) and having enjoyed the glory thereof for a very long time, the spirit of this Faqir proceeded on, in accordance with the instruction of the Guides. After traversing five arab (one thousand million) and seventy five crore yojans upwards, the spirit entity affected ingress into the bounds of Hahoot and witnessed the panorama of that region. There the expanse of ten neel (one thousand million) is enveloped in darkness. Depth of this dark region cannot be fathomed. The spirit went down one kharab yojans, still the bottom was nowhere to be found. Then it (the spirit) turned up and proceeded on the path chalked out by Guru. It was not considered advisable to go down right to the bottom of this region. This region is called Maha-sunn. There are prison cells for the condemned spirits, ejected from the Court of the True Supreme Being. Although these spirits are not subjected to any trouble, and they perform their functions by their own light, yet, as they do not get the darshan of the Lord, they are restless. However, there is a way of their remission also. Whenever Sants happen to pass that way with the spirits reclaimed from the lower regions, some of these spirits fortunately get their Darshan. Such spirits go along with the Sants who very gladly take them to the Court of the Lord and get them pardoned."
To cross the abyss without such a guide is impossible according to the masters (Shiv Dayal Singh 1970), because the ascent is not Self-centered but God-centered involving the mauj (will/grace) of the Supreme Lord. In a sense, what we are witnessing is the ultimate surrender. First, the physical body has to be given up (sensory paralysis; out-of-body experience, etc.), then the lower and higher mind (in the stages of Sahas-dal-kanwal and Trikuti), and finally the soul itself (in Sach Khand), which is nothing but a mere bubble in the ocean of Infinity.
(Above is from, Enchanted Land, by David Lane, MSAC Philosophy Group)
Soami Ji Maharaj in Daswan Dwar and Exploring the Great Dark Void of Maha-Sunn -- From Another Translation of Sar Bachan
"Beyond this, there are innumerable palaces made of crystal (sheesh mehal) and diverse spirits inhabit them and are settled there in accordance with the allotments made by the Lord, and they see the peculiar mutual display which is so blissful, and in turn they also establish their own plays and sports. In Hindi, these spirits are described as 'circles of hamsas' (purified spirits). The engravings and the designs carved in these spheres are to be seen in order to be believed. The entire dispensation and workshop there is purely spiritual; it is not at all gross or material.
"Spirits dwelling there are characterized by excessive delicacy, subtlety, refinement and purity; they don't have a trace of physical coarseness (kasaafat) and impurity. The details of this sphere are known only to the faqirs. ['Full particulars of these regions are known only to Sants' -- Maheshwari translation.] To unfold more about it is not proper and advisable. For a long time the spirit of this faqir (i.e. Soamiji Maharaj Himself) sauntered and stayed there and then under instructions from the Teachers and Guides, moved ahead.
"Moving on and on, the spirit soared up about 5 arab (1 arab = 1 billion) and 75 crores (1 crore = 10 million) jojans (really incalculable height) and broke into the realm of Hahoot or Mahasunn (in Sar Bachan, Prose, Part I, para 13, the word Hahoot is used for Sunn, and not Maha-sunn) and sauntered around it. How shall I describe it? For ten billion miles (again, incalculable distance) there is utter darkness. How shall I describe its depth, except to say that for one kharab (1 kharab = 100 billion, i.e. incalculable extent) jojans, the soul descended and yet its bottom could not be discovered; then again it reversed and turned upward, and following the track pointed by the sages, the spirit treaded that path and then it was deemed improper to determine and find out the depth of this dark region.
"The surat then moved on..."
("The Quintessential Discourse Radhasoami" -- Sar Bachan Radhasoami, Poetry, Volume I, Translation by M. G. Gupta, M.A., D.Litt. Former Member of the Faculty of Political Science, Allahabad University, Huma Books, Agra)
"Soamiji in his Discourses has said that his surat descended into the dark regions of Maha-sunn but could neither locate the bottom or the end of it nor did it feel it worthwhile to go down any further. Thereafter, his surat [soul] adhering to the signs as revealed to him by his Gurus ascended upwards. Here Soamiji says that it was the inner Mercy of his Satguru Tulsi Saheb and that of Maharaj Girdhari Das Ji [a successor of Tulsi Sahib] whose Satsang he attended for a very long period of time."
(Sant Gharib Das, disciple in the inner circle of Soami Ji, commenting on the passage above in the book, "Anmol Bachan")
Also See:
The Ascension of the Soul, Part 1: Introduction to the Meditation Practice, And,The First Inner Region: Astral Plane:
Also:
The Ascension of the Soul, Part 2: Introduction to the Inner Regions/Heavens, And, The Causal Plane: Trikuti:
Booklet: The Ascension of the Soul, Sant Mat E Booklet, Parts 1 Through 5 Combined:
