The Gnostics -- Where Are They Now? by James Bean

 

The Gnostics -- Where Are They Now? by James Bean

At the Gnostic Gospels Discord forum someone asked this question: "In this very day and age, are there new Gnostic gospels/scriptures/writing active produced? I think that gnosticism, like all religions, should evolve and there should be constantly new texts to express the gnostic experience."

My Replies: Yes, this is correct. An exciting and hopeful topic really. Gnosticism never went away, it traveled east, beyond the oppressive reach of the Roman Empire. New texts kept on being produced by living schools of spirituality, and this remains true right up to the living present.

Note. And by this I don't mean the gnostic hijackers out there abusing the term gnosticism, repurposing the term to mean new things unrelated to classic gnosticism but that are related to magic, other forms of spiritual materialism, incompatible systems of esoterica, manipulation, cults, conspirituality and so on. The Matrix metaphors are another example of an unfortunate reappropriation, where "taking the red pill" nowadays means being sold some new con-spiracy theory or new agey thing falsely rebranded as gnostic, so I've mostly given up on Matrix references in connection with gnosticism due to this hijacking.

The repurposing of the word gnostic is a modern-day plague of the blogosphere and Youtube world. But I agree with M. David Litwa that we should not give up on the word "gnostic" but reclaim it from the abusers, and reclaim it from church father propaganda as well.

But...back to your important question. The key is recognizing gnostic mystical systems that came later under other names such as Manichaeanism, Cathars, Kabbalah, certain Sufi Orders, and other living schools associated with Mystics of the East (Sant Mat, Radhasoami). There are indeed cousin schools of mysticism embodying the same basic "operating system", if you will, as those Gnostics of Alexandria. Some of these great grandchildren of Gnosticism even have published books quoting early Gnostic texts happy to acknowledge the universality of their teachings and spiritual practices... initiation into meditation and inner experience (gnosis).

Gnosticism, including a rich spiritual heritage of gnostic compatible literature did continue -- never ceased. As I've sometimes joked with people, the last gnostic text was published last Tuesday.

“Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language.” ― Meister Eckhart

"The lamps are different, but the Light is the same: it comes from Beyond. If thou keep looking at the lamp, thou art lost: for thence arises the appearance of numbers and plurality. Fix thy gaze upon the Light, and thou art delivered from the dualism inherent in the finite body." (Rumi, Masnavi, Book III)

"I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Muslim, nor Hindu, Buddhist, sufi, or zen. I belong to no religion or cultural system. I am not from the East or the West, not out of the ocean or up from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at all... I belong to The Beloved, have seen the two worlds as one and that one call to and know, first, last, outer, inner, only that breath breathing human being." (Rumi, Only Breath)

"He received the gnosis of the mysteries... that had been entrusted to the righteous before him." (on Mani, Cologne Mani Codex)

"Previously the religion was announced in many places and in many languages through Buddhas, through Jesus, and through other messengers." (Mani, Shabuhragan, a Middle Persian Manichaean scripture)

"Wisdom and the deeds of the Buddha, and the righteousness of Jesus the Splendour, and the mysteries and the images of the Light, and the true knowledge (gnosis) were revealed through the Apostle." (Kephalaia, Manichaean scripture)

"From age to age the apostles of God have brought the truth. At one time they came through the Buddha in India; at another through Zarathustra in Persia; at another through Jesus in the West. Finally this revelation came through me, Mani, the Apostle of the True God." (Kephalaia)

"That I may redeem you from death and annihilation, I will give you what you have not seen with the eye nor heard with the ears nor grasped with the hand." (Turfan fragments, translated in Gnosis on the Silk Road)

They raved in the passion of anger;

they lacked sense or coherent thought

and you assembled their thoughts,

and so they understood their origin

in the Realm of Light.

Those living beings in the five states of existence

you freed from ignorance

and gave them wisdom,

leading them to pari-nirvana....

Unendingly submerged in the dust

of forgetting rebirths

and in a state of poisonous savage animals,

they were always mad.

When the passion of greed poisoned them

and they were dying,

you prepared a medicine for them

from the herb of meditation.

-- The Great Song to Mani, Gnosis on the Silk Road

"By considering the Self one becomes a Gnostic; realising the self (to be) God (SOHAM), he comes to be satisfied in the Mystery through the Word... When a disciple realises the Self, what else is he to do or have done (for him)? He who has obtained the Treasure through love fixes (his) mind on God's feet. Night and day become pleasant (once) egoism is dispelled; I got rid of the heart's infatuation when I pleased Him; (now, Lord), graciously come into (my) house!

"Happiness is not for those who make many friends in the world; it is those who keep the mind on the One who ever enjoy happiness."  (Sikh scriptures, Gospel of the Guru-Granth Sahib: https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1918/page/146/mode/2up?q=gnostic )

The Ascension of the Soul Back to God (the Ocean of Love) - Guru Nanak's Message - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

The Ascension of the Soul Back to God (the Ocean of Love) - Guru Nanak's Message - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast

On today's satsang podcast we explore the soul's journey of separation from the One, incarnating into various bodies and lives of existence, it's eventual search for meaning, sacredness, finding spiritual awakening, and -- full circle -- returning back to the One. You'll hear many readings from the Sikh scriptures including the Morning Prayer (Jap Ji) of Guru Nanak and from other Saints of the East. As Guru Gobind Singh said in his mystic poetry and hymns: "Just as millions of sparks fly from fire; They arise separately but again unite in fire... From God’s form, incorporeal and corporeal beings are manifested and spring from Him shall all be united in Him again." (Dasam Granth)

@ Apple Podcasts: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ascension-of-the-soul-back-to-god-the-ocean/id1477577384?i=1000741497311

@ Spotify: 

https://open.spotify.com/show/5kqOaSDrj630h5ou65JSjE

@ Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast - Play or Direct Download MP3: 

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@ the Podcast Website - Permalink URL - With Buttons That Take You To the Popular Podcast APPS - Wherever You Follow Podcasts: 

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In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami (Radhaswami), 

James Bean

A Satsang Without Walls

Light and Sound on The Path

Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts

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A Stream of Light Moving Through Ages - This is What I Mean by Sant Mat, the Path of the Masters

 

A Stream of Light Moving Through Ages - This is What I Mean by Sant Mat, the Path of the Masters

There are moments in human history when certain souls appear not as isolated figures, but as expressions of a single continuous Power — a river of awakening flowing through time. Saints have long said: the path of realization is not created anew with each Teacher, but is carried by the Masters, generation after generation, like a flame passed from lamp to lamp so it never goes out.

This is the Great Tradition.

It has no beginning and no ending. It rises wherever the human heart cries out for truth.

It steps into the world whenever the world has forgotten the inner path.

It lives through many bodies, many names, many voices.

It is one Power, one Light, one Sound — expressed through countless Masters across the ages.

The Masters do not come to found religions. They come to awaken souls.

But human beings, longing for certainty, often turn mystic schools into religions — fossilized echoes of once-living truth. The Masters do not condemn this; they simply continue their work through new forms, new bodies, new eras, so that the living connection to the inner Power does not fade from the earth.

There were nights in Hathras when the hut seemed no larger than a lantern, but the light within it reached far beyond its walls. On such nights, when the air was still and the small clay lamp flickered against the mud plaster, Tulsi Sahib would speak not in prose, but in song — a stream of inner seeing shaped into verse.

-- from the very latest Sant Mat publication, Tulsi Sahib: The Hidden Flame of Hathras, December 4th, 2025: 

 https://archive.org/details/tulsi-sahib-the-hidden-flame-of-hathras/mode/2up

The Supreme Being as the Ocean of Love (“Premsagar”)

“Premsagar soi satguru, jiva tihi lahe mai.”

“When the soul is merged into that Ocean, all sorrow disappears.”

Ocean of Love-Light

“Ram-sagar jyoti-svarupa, anant prem ko dham.”

“The Lord is an ocean of light and an abode of infinite love.”

— Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras

Who Created the Nag Hammadi Library? Where the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Scriptures Came From, by James Bean

Who Created the Nag Hammadi Library? Where the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Scriptures Came From, by James Bean

I suspect the monasteries of Saint Pachomius in Egypt during the 4th century was home to many gnostics, thus all the copying of Nag Hammadi books and other gnostic writings.

The Nag Hammadi scriptures were translated from Greek manuscripts into the Coptic language used in Egypt.

From the Preface of, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, by Marvin Meyer:

"Since most of the tractates are Gnostic, it is assumed that there must have been a sympathetic community in the region that collected, cherished, and then buried its library. The cartonnage — the discarded papyrus used to thicken the inside of the leather covers—contains references to the region near where they were discovered and dates on receipts just before and in the middle of the fourth century. Thus, the time and place of the production of the codices coincides with the emergence of the Pachomian monastic order, with which there may be some association. In fact, fragments of a Coptic letter from a Papnoute to a certain Pahome may be from Papnoutios, the “business manager” of the nearby monastery, to its founder, Pachomius.

"In 367, Athanasius, the orthodox patriarch of Alexandria, wrote an Easter letter to be read in all the monasteries of Egypt, calling upon them to eliminate from their libraries apocryphal writings; in the letter he listed those books that were to be included as acceptable—the oldest extant list of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament. It has been suggested that the Nag Hammadi codices were among the books that had to be excluded but were buried for safekeeping in a sealed jar by those who valued them."

There are notes from monks in the Nag Hammadi itself. Scholars have been rather mindful of the fact the monks are known for copying texts. Also, the location of the discovery site of the Nag Hammadi Library was near a couple of Pachomian monasteries that existed during the same period that the books were copied. Thus we have scholars mentioning Pachomian monks as the most likely source for the Nag Hammadi codices. If we do key-word searches of "Pachomian", "Pachomius", and "monk" we will find much discussion about this in, The Nag Hammadi Library in English, edited by James M. Robinson. For instance, this on page 16:

"Dates found in such cartonnage of Codex VII are 333, 341, 346, and 348 C.E. This indicates that the cover of Codex VII was manufactured after these dates. The cursive scribal hand of some of this discarded papyrus used to line the cover of the same codex may be dated as late as 360 C.E. A document found in the cartonnage of Codex I mentions "Chenoboskeia’’ and “Dio: [polis Parva].” Other locations in.the same general region also occur in the cartonnage of other covers. Personal names, titles, forms of address, and the like that are present in the cartonnage tend to indicate it came from the Pachomian monasteries founded in this region up and down the Nile during the first half of the fourth century. In fact the cartonnage in the cover of Codex VII seems to have belonged to a monk named Sansnos who was in charge of the cattle of a monastery, which would no doubt account for his close relationship to the manufacture of the leather covers. The headquarters monastery of the Pachomian order at Pabau, where the Basilica of Saint Pachomius was located, as well as the third Pachomian monastery at Chenoboskeia, where Pachomius himself began his Christian life as a hermit, are only 8.7 and 5.3 kilometers (5.4 and 3.3 miles) respectively from the place where the library was buried." (page 16) https://archive.org/details/naghammadilibrar0000unse_d5b8

What's especially intriguing are references to Saint Pachomius using a code for secret communications. Seems a bit subversive. That's mentioned by Robinson in his Nag Hammadi Library in English.

These folks were doing their own thing out in the desert, and their library had lots of gnostic texts in it.

One can see the appeal in joining such an intentional spiritual community. Mighty sweet deal for the young monk into mystical Christianity looking for a home. Have read that the Pachomian monasteries, though claimed by Orthodoxy, were not so orthodox.

I bet many of the monks had a Valentinian background and brought Greek copies of various books with them when they joined the community.

It would have been a very sad day indeed when their leadership eventually got taken over by conservative orthodox bishop types during the fifth century. Bishopricks!

The Gnostic Gospels Community at Discord

 

The Gnostic Gospels Community at Discord

There is a Gnostic Gospels community, a forum at Discord with much content about Gnostic spirituality with access to all the key Gnostic texts and the world of apocryphal writings.

Invite Link to Join the Gnostic Gospels Server at Discord:

https://othergospels.com/discord

Gnostic Gospels is dedicated to the study and practice of books missing from the Bible. Join our community of heretics, mystics, and other spiritual wayfarers in our discussion of ancient texts!

Explore lost Gospels like Thomas, Nag Hammadi, the Apocrypha, and more!

Our focus centers squarely on scripture and the spiritual insights offered by extra-canonical sources. Become a "heretic" today!

Exploring the Anurag Sagar's Cosmic Conspiracy of Kal, Plus the Origin of the Anurag Sagar (Ocean of Love)

 

Exploring the Anurag Sagar's Cosmic Conspiracy of Kal, And Further Below, the Origin of the Anurag Sagar (Ocean of Love), India's Most Gnostic Scripture

The Cosmic Conspiracy of Kal Niranjan, the Gnostic Demiurge, the Negative Power

The Kal said to Kabir:

I will do something there so that nobody will believe in Your

Shabda [Word].

There I will create such karmas and illusions that nobody will find

the way out.

In every single home I will create the ghost of illusion, and deceiving

the souls, I will make them forget.

All humans will eat flesh and drink wine, and all kinds of flesh will

be the favorites.

0 brother, Your Devotion is difficult — Nobody will believe it, I’m

telling You!

That is why I say: ‘Don’t go into the world now!’”

Kabir said:

At that time I told Kal, “I know your deceptions and tricks.

HYMN

Making the souls firm in the true Shabda, I will enable them to

remove your illusions.

I will make them recognize all your tricks, and by the strength of

Naam I will liberate the souls.

Those who remember me in thought, word and deed, focusing their

attention on the Elementless,

Such souls will go to the Immortal World, putting their feet on your

head.

COUPLET

Any brave and wise soul will finish your ego.

And very happily that soul will be convinced of the true Shabda.”

Hearing this Kal felt defeated and started to think of deceptions.

The Anurag Sagar Granth (Scripture) from the Closing Chapter

By speaking the Anurag Sagar Granth, I have explained to you the Secret of the Inaccessible. I have described the Drama of Sat Purush, and the deception of Kal. Only the connoisseurs will understand the ways of living and the Word of Discrimination. One who will accept the Word after testing it, will know the Path to the Inaccessible…

The Union of Surat and Shabda - when one gets Shabda, he reaches the realm of the Saints. It is the play of the drop and the ocean. What else can one say?

After meeting the Satguru, one understands the play of Shabda and Surat. It is the union of the drop and the ocean. What else can one say?

Giving up the qualities of mind, one should follow the Path of the Master. Such a soul goes to Sat Lok and derives Happiness from the Ocean of Happiness.

Understand the jiva as the drop, and the Naam of the Satguru as the ocean, Says Kabir with proof: Dharam Das, understand this!

— Book of Anurag Sagar, the Ocean of Love:

https://archive.org/details/AnuragSagarOfKabir

Center For Anurag Sagar Studies:

https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com/anurag.sagar

ABOUT THE ANURAG SAGAR TRANSLATION - The Origin of the Anurag Sagar (Ocean of Love)

Sant Bani books published an English translation of the Anurag Sagar in 1982 based on the Swami Yugalananda edition. From the introduction to this translation Russell Perkins writes: "Our text is from the edition published in Bombay in 1914 by Swami Yugalananda, who says in his Hindi preface that he used forty-six different versions of Anurag Sagar, thirteen of them hand-written, in preparing his edition, and that he carefully and painstakingly collated all the versions and compared all variant readings in order to arrive at the present book. This edition was specially recommended by Sant Ajaib Singh as the basis for the English translation, as it is the only text available based on this kind of careful scholarship."

The Anurag Sagar is volume two in a vast granth or collection of scriptures known as the Kabir Sagar (Ocean of Kabir). All eleven volumes of the complete Kabir Sagar were compiled, translated and published back in 1914 by Swami Yugalananda.

Background Information on Swami Yugalananda, The Great Scholar of Dharam Das Kabir Writings

Yugalananda was also known as "Shri Yugalanand Bihari", "Kabir Panthi Yugalanand Bihari" or "Bharat Pathik".  Swami Yugalananda was born into a Kabir panth family, eventually became a collector of books, did much traveling around India and neighboring countries assiduously attempting to create critical editions of various Kabir publications by gathering together as many diverse copies of various Kabir related texts as he could, and was very much interested in reforming the Kabir panth. By Kabir panth (the Path of Kabir) here I'm specifically referring to the Dharamdasis (the Sant Dharam Das line of Masters), as only they recognize the Anurag Sagar and the other Kabir Sagar books as scripture. The other Kabir panth sects don't use those.

Yugalananda claimed that over time, unqualified leaders (“mahants”) had altered or distorted many original manuscripts. He aimed to revise and purify the scripture to restore authenticity, sourcing from the best available copies, especially one from Shri Ugranam Sahib. He worked to safeguard doctrinal integrity through textual criticism and editorial reform. His effort shaped how Kabir Sagar and related Sagar books are presented and studied within devotional contexts. He has become the authoritative, honest go-to-source for Kabir texts. His redaction approach influenced the Kabir Panthi community’s standardized edition of the Kabir Sagar volumes widely used today.

He is well-known for his translation and compilation of Kabir Sagar, Anurag Sagar, and other key Kabir Panthi texts. He was a prolific author who is credited with writing forty-two books, including Kabir ki Sakhi (1898) and Anurag Sagar (1914), published in Bombay by Shri Venkateshwar Press.

At the time of the publication of the Kabir Sagar volumes in 1914, Yugalananda, also known as Swami Yugalanand Bihari, for a time apparently served as the Acharya (spiritual head, guru) of a Kabir Ashram: Kabirdham (Kabir Dharma Nagar) located at Damakheda, a major center of the Kabir Panth in Chhattisgarh. In some of his other Kabir-related publications however, I've noticed that the signatures included in his introductions mention him being located at a Kabir Ashram in Bombay: "Kabir Ashram, Khagsiya Station, Yours sincerely, Bilaspur, C.P.Shri Yugalanand Bihari, Kuchar Bhawan, Rashtriyashala Road..., Vile Parle, Bombay... (Acharya Kabir Ashram)."

A list of all forty of the books included in the eleven volume set called, The Kabir Sagar, the Swami Yugalananda edition published in 1914:

Gyan Sagar

Anurag Sagar

Ambu Sagar

Vivek Sagar

Sarvagya Sagar

Gyan Prakash

Amar Singh Bodh

Bir Singh Bodh

Bhopal Bodh

Jagjeevan Bodh

Garud Bodh

Hanuman Bodh

Lakshman Bodh

Muhammad Bodh

Kafir Bodh

Sultan Bodh

Niranjan Bodh

Gyan Bodh

Bhavtaran Bodh

Mukti Bodh

Chauka Bodh

Kabir Bani

Karma Bodh

Amar Mool

Ugra Geeta

Gyan Sthiti Bodh

Santosh Bodh

Kaya Panji

Panch Mudra

Atma Bodh

Jain Dharm Bodh

Swasamved Bodh

Dharm Bodh

Kamal Bodh

Shwaans Gunjar

Agam Nigam Bodh

Sumiran Bodh

Kabir Charitra Bodh

Guru Mahatmya

Jeev Dharm Bodh

Lost Secrets of the Sethian Gnostics and Other Mystic Paths, by James Bean

 

Lost Secrets of the Sethian Gnostics and Other Mystic Paths, by James Bean

At one of the forums I belong to someone asked me about why mystic paths like the Sethian Gnostics kept the techniques of the spiritual practice a secret, for initiates only, between master and student. My reply is below.

Have attempted to find out what the Sethians used the names for according to a few scholarly texts on Sethianism: The Five Seals: Baptismal Rites in Sethian Gnosticism, by By J. Pedro Feliciano, Apocalypse of the Alien God, Dylan M. Burns, also, Sethian Gnosticism and The Platonic Tradition, by John Turner.

The five Sethian names (Harmoz-el, Oroia-el, Daveithai, El-eleth, and Autogenes, the “Self-Begotten One”) likely were used at an initiate’s baptism, five immersions in a river (living water). Since these names also correspond to five heavenly realms, one wonders if these names, these passwords of power, were also used in their spiritual practice as part of the ascension of the soul. Names corresponding to heavenly regions are used that way in other schools of spirituality (Kabbalah, Sufism, and Sant Mat). Also, even the baptism itself might have been about more than a water ritual bath and could have had a meditative component, a mystical experience. Some of the texts suggest this.

On secrecy. The downside of secrecy is that these sorts of mystic traditions do quickly get lost, are quite fragile. Usually mystic paths die off or dry up after a few generations. Without a master there are no more students and the secrets disappear. There are many reasons why esoteric paths keep their practices secret. If their methods were in the public domain such far-out talk of visions and experiencing the heavens would invite persecution from various hylic brethren committed to other religious ideologies that have no room for mysticism or a present-tense kingdom of God. The hylics seem to be really good a wielding the sword.

Another reason for the secrecy is to preserve their ways from being corrupted by those who would plagiarize and set up their own neo Sethian paths. Inner experience is something not only taught, but also caught. Students meditating with a genuine master are given a jump-start. The heavens open more easily in the presence of such saints.

So the purity of the path rests upon it being lead by a competent spiritual teacher who himself or herself experiences the heavens and mysteries being discussed. Thus the secrecy factor is an attempt at accreditation, to preserve the integrity of a line of masters, successors, with them and only them initiating people.

This never is a complete success however. There are opportunists in every generation giving rise to fake or deceptive gnostic teachers, fake sants, fake sufis, pseudo kabbalists, and so on. But there is at least some hope many will reach a good teacher who was legitimately appointed by their teacher and faithfully lives the path they represent.

My friend Don Howard has written about this: Evaluating Spiritual Teachers — In Search of a Worthy, Genuine, Competent, Qualified Spiritual Teacher: https://spiritualawakeningradio.com/QualifyingASpiritualTeacherByDonHoward.pdf

One of my blogs: Recognizing Genuine, Advanced Spiritual Masters of Inner Light and Sound — Helpful Points: https://medium.com/sant-mat-meditation-and-spirituality/recognizing-genuine-advanced-spiritual-masters-of-inner-light-and-sound-helpful-points-976f3f2c730d

Some Thoughts About the Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens in the Nag Hammadi Library, by James Bean

 

Some Thoughts About the Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens in the Nag Hammadi Library, by James Bean

Turned the new translation of The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth into an audio book using the Read Aloud extension, something I often do with various texts. The new translation of this Discourse is to be found online here: https://othergospels.com/89

Was fun hearing my Read Aloud extension chant the two triangle-shaped collections of vowels, the vowel chant present in the book:

ZŌXATHAZŌ

A

ŌŌ EE

ŌŌŌ ĒĒĒ

ŌŌŌŌ ĒĒ

ŌŌŌŌŌŌ OOOOO

ŌŌŌŌŌŌ UUUUUU

ŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌ

ZŌZAZŌTH

A

Ō EE Ō ĒĒĒ

ŌŌŌ III

ŌŌŌŌ OOOOO

ŌŌŌŌŌ UUUUUU

ŌŌŌŌŌŌ ŌŌŌŌŌ

ŌŌŌŌŌŌŌ ŌŌŌŌ

According to Dr. Samuel Zinner's footnote at the bottom of the page this is an esoteric divine name, various vowels arranged into the shape of triangles being chanted.

Vowel chant is present in several collections of Gnostic texts, a kind of "AUM" or "OM" of the West, even as Egypt once-upon-a-time was a kind of Tibet of the West with otherworldly monastic traditions. 

There are different ways one can sing or chant these names. In esoteric traditions of the east and west mental chant is considered to be higher, more "within" than the verbal chanting of alphabetical sacred names. Esoteric paths have mantras including sacred words that are to be repeated within one's mind, such as the mental prayer approach of doing the Jesus Prayer in Hesychasm; in Sethian Gnosticism there are the Five Names or Seals which are passwords that correspond to various higher planes; Kabbalah has various Hebrew names corresponding to higher heavenly regions, and mental zikhr is practiced at the higher stages of Sufism. In the Sant tradition this practice is called manas jap (mental chant) and is also known as simran, the remembrance and repetition of various Names of God repeated in one's mind while concentrating during meditation. 

I notice some references to mental singing and chanting in the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth: 

"O my son, return to praising, and sing while remaining silent. Silently petition for what you desire. 

Also: ”I sing a hymn inside myself." 

“I remain silent, O my father. I desire to sing a hymn to you while I remain silent.”

And: "It would be beneficial from now on to maintain silence with a reverential posture."

There are mystical visionary and auditory states recorded in the Discourse of the Eighth and Ninth. With these the-chant-chants-itself. In other words, a higher form of Name that repeats itself beyond language reverberates in the heavens, sometimes described in these old mystical texts as the Hymns of Angels:

"Language is incapable of revealing this, because, O my son, the entire Eighth and the souls that dwell inside it, as well as the angels, silently sing a hymn, and I, Mind, understand."

"When he had finished praising, he cried out: 'Father Trismegistus! What am I to say? We have obtained this Light, and I behold for myself this very same vision inside of you, and I behold the Eighth, and the souls dwelling inside of it, and the angels singing a hymn to the Ninth and to its powers, and I behold him who possesses all of their power, who creates those who dwell inside the Spirit.'"

The Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens illustrates so well that, in the Gnostic and Hermetic Nag Hammadi texts there is at the heart of these ancient schools of spirituality, the master-student relationship -- the living teacher with their inner circle of living students -- with an initiation into the mysteries being offered, the sharing of spiritual practices to be kept secret. These pertain to sacred names and meditation methods for gaining revelations of the various heavenly regions including the Eighth and Ninth heavens as described in this Hermetic discourse. 

What Mystics Mean by the Word "Meditation" - Meditation vs. Meditation

 

What Mystics Mean by the Word "Meditation" - Meditation vs. Meditation 

There is always value in pondering the wisdom of various sages. “Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death.” (Gospel of Thomas, saying one) In the case of Thomas, the goal of the pondering is discovering an existence beyond the body, beyond this world, and so one leaves behind -- transcends -- doctrine, information, theology and mind itself as one enters into the spiritual domain, becoming a gnostic, a mystic, a knower of that experience for one's self.  

I always avoid using the word meditation in connection with contemplating the meaning of verses as evangelical Christianity uses that word to mean that, and at the same time is utterly opposed to the mystical definition of meditation, which is direct experience of the spiritual dimension. When I use the word meditation, it's about this: 

"Give ear; withdraw your souls from all that appears but is not truly real; close these eyes if yours, close your ears, withdraw from actions that are outwardly seen; and you shall know the reality of Christ and the whole secret of your salvation." (Acts of Peter)

"Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) 

Evagrius of Egypt wrote: “The offspring of pure prayer is swallowed up by the Spirit. From this point on, the mind is beyond prayer, and prayer has ceased from it now that it has found something even more excellent. No longer does the mind actually pray, but there is a gaze of wonder at the Inaccessible Things which do not belong to the world of mortal beings.”

“When I have gone to the Light, preach to all the world and say to them: ‘Do not cease seeking day or night and do not let yourselves relax until you find the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Light, which will purify you and make you into pure Light and lead you into the Kingdom of Light.’ (Pistis Sophia)

"I am inviting you into the exalted, perfect Light. Moreover as for this Light, when you enter it you will be glorified ... you will become ... the way you first were when you were Light." (Trimorphic Protennoia, Nag Hammadi Library)

“Thus as a result of recollecting all these things the impulses of the mind are extended from the sphere of material things towards those impulses which are without limit, that is to say, wonder at the New World, and the faculty of vision which belongs to contemplation [of God]. For when the vision of the mind is mingled with the Light…., all its impulses become infinite. For none of the Visionaries or ‘Gnostics’ is able to distinguish the identity of the mind as a result of the vision of that glorious Light that is seen ….. for all the innermost chambers of the heart are filled by that blessed Light….”. (Joseph the Visionary)

"The stage when the mind is silenced and swallowed up in the light of the vision of lofty and sublime contemplation; the mind is mingled with the divine visitation." (paper on, Joseph Hazzaya [the Visionary] and the Spiritual Itinerary) 

“Blessed are those who have approached the divine Light, who have entered it and been absorbed by it, mingled in its brightness.” (Saint Symeon)

A parallel of the initiation saying in Thomas [saying 17] in the Mandaean scriptures: “Thou hast showed us that which the eye has not seen, and caused us to hear that which the human ear has not heard. Thou has freed us from death and united us with Life, released us from darkness, and united us with Light…. Thou hast shown us that which the eye has not seen, and caused us to hear that which the human ear has not heard.” (“Canonical Prayer Book of the Mandaeans”, E.S. Drower)

“We speak without tongue,

we see without eyes,

we hear without ears,

we walk without feet, and

we work without hands.”

(Guru Nanak)

The Divine Ground of Being, the Center of the Soul

 

The Divine Ground of Being, the Center of the Soul

"There is a speaking of God in the core of the soul where no creature can enter or speak, for only God lives there and only He speaks. God speaks there when the soul puts aside all that is created, when she silences her powers and gains a vision into the foundation of her pure essence. In this pure and silent soul God the Father speaks and she hears His voice." (The Book of the Poor in Spirit by a Friend of God, Johannes Tauler, approximately 1300-1361)

An old favorite quote. Glad to have found a copy of this spiritual classic online. Those medieval mystics go nicely together with the gnostic texts.