The State of Isaiah's Body During His Soul Travel Experience of Ascension Through the Seven Heavens, by James Bean

 

The State of Isaiah's Body During His Soul Travel Experience of Ascension Through the Seven Heavens, by James Bean

People often bring a physical plane folktales sort of bias to stories of ascension found in old scriptures, imagining a Jesus, Paul, or Muhammad (and his horse) ascending through the stratosphere bound for space without pressurized space suits or oxygen to breathe. The reality is of course much different from the perspective of mystics, with these being solely spiritual experiences "caught up in spirit". 

Below is excerpted from the Ascension of Isaiah. The text describes Isaiah's visions of the Seven Heavens, but here I focus on the state of Isaiah's body at the beginning and at the end of his soul travel experience. Rather than flying through the sky, the nature of it was a spiritual experience Isaiah was having while sitting on a couch. The text describes Isaiah during this experience as "his eyes were open although his lips were silent, and the spirit of his body was taken up from him. And only his breath remained in him, for he was in a vision... and he was left looking like a corpse." At the end of the vision, very much reminding me of near-death experiences (NDE's) when the soul is told it still has more to do in the world and gets sent back into it's body, it says: "And this angel said to me, Isaiah, son of Amoz, I set you free; for you have seen what no mortal man has ever seen before. Yet you must return to your garments of the flesh until your days are completed."

"The Vision which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw. VI (6). In the twentieth year of the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, Isaiah the son of Amoz, and Josab, Isaiah’s son, came from Gilgal to Hezekiah in Jerusalem. And Isaiah sat down on the king’s couch; and they brought him a seat, but he would not sit on it... 

"And they gave praise to him who had thus given to a man a door into an unknown world. And while he was speaking in the Holy Spirit in the hearing of all, he suddenly became silent, and his spirit was caught up into heaven, and he no longer saw the men who were standing in front of him. But his eyes were open although his lips were silent, and the spirit of his body was taken up from him. And only his breath remained in him, for he was in a vision. And the angel that was sent to explain things to him in the vision was not of this world, nor was he one of the angels of glory of this world, but had come from the seventh heaven. And, apart from the circle of the prophets, the people who were there did (not) believe that the holy Isaiah had been caught up into heaven. For the vision that the holy Isaiah saw was not a vision of this world, but of the world that is hidden from man. After Isaiah had seen this vision he gave an account of it to Hezekiah and to his son Josab and to the other prophets who had come. But the magistrates and eunuchs and the people did not hear it, but only Samnas the scribe, and Joachim, and Asaph the secretary of state; for they were men who did what is right and were approved of by the Spirit. And the people did not hear it either, for Micah and his son Josab had sent them away when the wisdom of this world had been taken from him, and he was left looking like a corpse....

"And I saw also the angel of the Holy Spirit sitting on the left hand. And this angel said to me, Isaiah, son of Amoz, I set you free; for you have seen what no mortal man has ever seen before. Yet you must return to your garments of the flesh until your days are completed. Then will you come up here. These things Isaiah saw and told them to all who were in attendance, and they sang praises."

-- Ascension of Isaiah, H.F.D. Sparks translation, The Apocryphal Old Testament  (selected from pages 794-812, a nicer translation of the books of Enoch, Odes of Solomon, and many other key writings, published in 1984)

IMAGES: 1) Swami Ji Maharaj of Agra used to meditate in a quiet, dimly lit cave-like "room-within-a-room" on the basement floor of his home sitting on a meditation cushion resting on this chair; 2) a rather intense-looking Swami Ji Maharaj (a.k.a. Seth Shiv Dayal Singh) in an old colorized photograph;

The Empty Tomb of Satguru Kabir - Light and Sound on The Path: Sant Mat, Kabir, Radhasoami

 

The Empty Tomb of Satguru Kabir

At the time of Kabir's passing, Guru Kabir drew a sheet over his body and began chanting. Reciting the glory of the Guru, he left this body and merged into God.

Kabir had disciples with both Hindu and Muslin backgrounds. After the shock of realizing what had transpired, that Kabir had left the body, Kabir's initiates began to consider the funeral arrangements. There was a considerable and heated debate between his followers as to whether the rites should be Hindu or Muslim because all considered him to be their guru and spiritual master. It is said that after some time spent in this heated debate, the sheet covering Guru Kabir's body was lifted. To everyone’s amazement Guru Kabir's material body had disappeared. Lotus flowers were found under the sheet instead of his physical body. The disciples were humbled, and they divided the flowers, giving half to the Muslim followers and the other half to the Hindu devotees. The funeral rites were duly performed for the respective traditions using the flowers in place of the missing body of the great sage.

Another Account of the Missing Body of Kabir

“One of the most loved legends associated with Kabir is told of his funeral. Kabir’s disciples disputed over his body after his passing. The Muslim initiates of Kabir wanted to claim the body for burial according to their traditional customs. The Hindu satsangis wanted to cremate the body. Kabir appeared to the arguing disciples and told them to lift the burial shroud. When they did so, they found fragrant flowers where the body had rested. The flowers were divided, and the Muslims buried the flowers, while the Hindus reverently committed them to the fires [of cremation].”

Says Kabir, "I have returned the body in the condition that I received it".

Since Kabir was found among lotus flowers as an infant, just so, he departed from his life in a city called Magahar, leaving not a corpse, but a heap of lotus flowers…. It is said.

Kabir and the Sants are not big on sacred sites, tombs or samadhs, but are focused within, not upon rituals, pilgrimages and external ceremonies.

 

Says Kabir, “Do not go to the garden of flowers!

O Friend! go not there;

In your body is the garden of flowers.

Take your seat on the Thousand Petals of the lotus,

and there gaze upon the Infinite Beauty.” (Kabir)

Kabir: Plucking Flowers of Spirituality Within Your Body Through the Meditation Practice of the Sants — A Great Summary of the Spiritual Journey According to Kabir and the Sants of India

The body is a forest of blooming flowers,

But only the wise can pluck them.

How does one attain to this wisdom?

Firstly, go to the perfect Teacher,

And learn from him the inner teachings.

Contemplate on the words of the saints,

And strengthen your faith day by day.

Secondly, cast all your doubts away,

And shun the perception of duality.

See the One dwelling inside and outside.

Achieve this and you're a saint.

Thirdly, rise above outer attributes,

And take a seat at the "third eye",

This is truly the suitable throne

Where you hear the Divine Melody.

Fourthly, reign in the restless mind,

And abandon all your cleverness.

Swing on the swing of divine love,

And entreat the Teacher for the gift of devotion (bhakti).

Fifthly, acquaint yourself with the eternal elements.

And exert mastery over the senses.

Sixthly, let consciousness pierce the six chakras,

And reaching above them, see the Light.

Make perfect the left and right nerve currents,

And dwell in the cave of the Void.

Seventhly, let truth enlighten your life,

And behold the Supreme Spirit within you.

Grab hold of the silken thread of realization,

And climb to the Eternal Abode.

Eighthly, let the lotus of consciousness bloom,

And render your heart resplendent.

When in your soul you see the Eternal,

Then you're fit to be called a saint (Sant).

Ninthly, your portals of perception will open,

When you make an ally of the Perfect Master.

You will see that the soul is not the body,

When the Master shows the soul's unity with God.

Tenthly, you'll reach the door of liberation,

Where the Divine Melody resounds.

Kabir says, "Listen to me, my brothers and sisters,

Only a rare one considers my teaching."

(A Bhajan of Sant Kabir, Published in, "The Kabir Voice" Newsletter, Surry, BC Canada)

References to India in Christian, Gnostic, and Hermetic Writings

  

References to India in Christian, Gnostic, and Hermetic Writings  

 

 

 

In the Introduction to her book, The Gnostic Mystery, A Connection Between Ancient and Modern Mysticism, Prof. Andrea Diem Lane writes:

"Nearly two thousand years ago strong parallels between Gnostic thought and Indian thought had been recognized. When the heresiologist Hippolytus (died about 235 C.E.) wrote about his Gnostic opponents, he was quick to include Indian religious thought as a similar source of heresy. He asserted:

"'There is... among the Indians a heresy of those who philosophize among the Brahmins, who live a self-sufficient life, abstaining from eating living creatures and all cooked food... They say that God is Light, not like the Light one sees, nor like the sun nor fire, but to them God is Discourse, not that which finds expression in articulate sounds, but that of knowledge, or gnosis, through which the secret mysteries of nature are perceived by the wise."' [1]

"This particular passage from Hippolytus, which mentions the ideas of 'God is Light' and 'God is Discourse' (or Sound), as well as vegetarianism, brought to my attention the remarkable similarities between aspects of the Gnostic traditions and the Sant tradition of India."

Note 1: Hippolytus, Refutation Omnium Haeresium 1.24. Elaine Pagels briefly discusses the connection between this passage and Indian philosophy in her book The Gnostic Gospels (New York: Vintage Books, 1979), p. xxi.

 

  

Soul Travel According to Hermes in the Corpus Hermeticum

A noteworthy passage from an ancient Western text mentioning India, also affirming the practice of soul travel, be it to India in spirit, heavenly realms above, or indeed even outside the cosmos.

"Consider this for yourself: command your soul to travel to India, and it will be there faster than your command. Command it to cross over to the ocean, and again it will quickly be there, not as having passed from place to place but simply as being there. Command it even to fly up to heaven, and it will not lack wings. Nothing will hinder it, not the fire of the sun, nor the aether, nor the swirl nor the bodies of the other stars. Cutting through them all, it will fly to the utmost body. But if you wish to break through the universe itself and look upon the things outside (if, indeed, there is anything outside the cosmos), it is within your power."

-- Hermes Trismegistus, Corpus Hermeticum, Book XI, Mind (Nous) to Hermes, 19, Brian Copenhaver translation

 

 

 

Inter-Faith Love!

The following passage is from the Recognitions of Clement. This Ebionite Christian author has very nice things to say about those in India who worship One God, follow peaceful customs and laws, and are vegetarian or vegan. Imagine! Clearly he sees parallels between his own religion and that of his brothers and sisters "in the Indian countries." (India was divided into many kingdoms back then.) This is one of the most amazing passages I know of in the extra-canonical scriptures, as it is a rare example of one religion (Ebionite, Hebrew Christianity) recognizing Truth in another religion (Hinduism), a rare inter-faith moment in human history. The Recognitions of Clement, and The Clementine Homilies are surviving Jewish-Christian texts preserving an Ebionite point of view (the original Jesus movement as a sect within Judaism):

"There are likewise amongst the Bactrians, in the Indian countries, immense multitudes of Brahmans, who also themselves, from the tradition of their ancestors, and peaceful customs and laws, neither commit murder nor adultery, nor worship idols, nor have the practice of eating animal food, are never drunk, never do anything maliciously, but always revere God."

-- Recognitions of Clement, Book 9, Chapter 22, Brahmans, Volume Eight, of the, Ante-Nicene Fathers, page 187, T & T Clark Eerdmans edition

 

Didymos Judas Thomas, Thomas the Apostle in the Country of the Indians, and the Acts of Saint Thomas in India

"Among the most intriguing works of ancient Christian literature are those associated with St. Didymus Jude Thomas, apostle of the East. According to ancient tradition Thomas deserves credit for the conversion of northern Mesopotamia and India to Christianity, and had the single honor of being Jesus’ 'double,' that is, identical twin. He is the same apostle to whom the New Testament Epistle of Jude is attributed (there he is called 'brother of James'—thus, since James was Jesus’ brother, the brother of the brother of Jesus). Two of the works included in Part Four—The Gospel According to Thomas (GTh) and The Book of Thomas (BTh)—have Thomas as their central human character. A third, The Hymn of the Pearl (HPrl), is found incorporated in a longer work called The Acts of Thomas; in one episode of the Acts this hymn is chanted by St. Thomas while languishing in an Indian prison.

"Although ancient literature often refers to him simply as Thomas, the central component of the apostle’s name is Jude (or Judas, for the two names are different English translations of the same Greek form). 'Didymus' and 'Thomas,' though eventually used as proper names, also had the ordinary meaning of 'twin,' the one in Greek, the other in Syriac (Aramaic). In the Thomas tradition, Thomas is explicitly called Jesus’ 'brother' and 'double'" (BTh 138:7f, 138:19f)."

--  Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures, page 535, School of Saint Thomas section

A good translation of The Acts of Judas Thomas (or the Twin) from the Syriac-Aramaic, including the Hymn of the Pearl, is found in, The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, by William Wright:

https://archive.org/details/apocryphalactsa00wriggoog/page/n156/mode/2up

Gnostic Tips For the Spiritual Seeker, the Explorer of Inner Space, by James Bean -- Light and Sound on The Path

Gnostic Tips For the Spiritual Seeker, the Explorer of Inner Space, by James Bean -- Light and Sound on The Path

"And there shall be others of those who are outside our number who name themselves bishop and also deacons, as if they have received their authority from God. They bend themselves under the judgment of the leaders. Those people are dry canals." (from the aptly named book, The Apocalypse of Peter, from Codex Seven of the Nag Hammadi Library of Egypt) 

"Nag Hammadi is Where They Found the Gnostic Gospels". Oddly enough, that's also the title of an episode of the television series, Gilmore Girls (Season 4, Episode 13). And absolutely nothing gnostic was said. I kid you not! 

It's important to know what Gnosticism IS as well as what it IS NOT. On the web is much, what I call, 'gnostic nonsense' (gnonsense?). People call all sorts of paranormal subjects "gnostic", lower astral something-or-another's that go bump (or beep) in the night as somehow being "gnostic". There are those who re-label countless unrelated offtopic paths as "gnostic", generic new agey this or that, or maybe crashed UAP's with "biologics". Some even desperately seek gnosticism in certain American fundamentalist denominations. Maybe gnostic wisdom can even be discovered in a bargain bin at the dollar store. 

Apparently everything's gnostic except actual Gnosticism. THAT, most don't have time for. THAT, remains the forbidden topic, the mystery always concealed as souls prefer the shiny things of distraction. The spiritual seeker soon gets weary of slog after slog searching in vain in all the wrong places, but is this not the whole point of this psyops cosmic conspiracy game of telephone in the first place, to wear you down before you can even begin? To run out the clock of...  time? I believe YES. Bishop Irenaeus the gnostic heresy hunter zealously agrees. Gnosticism remains tragically, woefully unexplored, unknown, existing in the far country, a mythic realm, Gnosticland, revealed by sages who remain unnamed, discussed in expensive unattainable books published by E.J. Brill!

"The watchmaker works all day, and long into the night

He pieces things together despite his failing sight

Though all the cogs connect with such poetic grace

Time has left its curse upon this place

Each hour becomes another empty space to fill

Wasted with the care and virtues of his skill"

(lyrics from, The Watchmaker, by Steven Wilson)

Divination tools, the roll of the dice designed to only provide a limited number of predictable outcomes, minerals, the elements, astrology, the planets -- rocks in space made of matter with varying degrees of gravity -- or at least those planets that the Babylonians knew about during the Bronze Age, also are not gnostic. The soul is beyond their influence, is above the stars. Classic Gnosticism -- people who actually were gnostics part of real gnostic schools of spirituality in antiquity -- did believe there were powers behind some of those random fate powered or providence generating divination portals, but demiurgical powers, archons (negative rulers), Yaldabaoth's Bag of Tricks, the Cruel Hand of Fate dualistically doling out ups and downs, fair weather and foul, good days and bad upon one's lower subtle-body coverings, but in the end it's all just Mercury Retrograde my friend!

There are a few Euro-colonialist esotericists who, long ago, appropriated, exploited and exported gnostic resources from Egypt setting up their edited spiritual paths in the West. And who knows, maybe their redacted esoterica combined with whatever else for cultic brewhaha craziness could represent a step forward for the seeker. There's a handful of neo-gnostic paths out there that, like spiders, build their nests near the Light!

No doubt one can find somebody willing to invite you to go down the stairs into their dark cobweby basement where they will eagerly baptize you into their version of gnosis. If there really is a baptismal tank down there and you get to live to tell of the experience, you perhaps might believe you've made some progress. After all, religions of all strains and variants provide, at least as perceived by the seeker, some benefit. But the question remains, Is this a true manifestation of Gnosticism according to actual Gnostics of the classic gnostic variety as is represented by collections of surviving gnostic scriptures such as the Nag Hammadi Library, Pistis Sophia or the Ginza Rabba? Or, in the words of Shri Frank Zappa: "Is that a real poncho . . . I mean Is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sears poncho? Hmmm . . . no foolin' . . ." (song lyrics from Camarillo Brillo, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention)

“Gnostic” is Such an Abused Word — Let the Gnostics Define Their Own Beliefs and Practices

My take is simply to let the gnostics be gnostic, treating them equally like any other world religion and understand just what exactly the original spiritual movements labeled “Gnostic” actually taught based on what they themselves have to say about that, and not what other esoteric groups coming into being many centuries or millennia later assume they taught cooking in their own particular theological and cultural cauldron of biases in Europe or the US.

So, as I view the saga of the gnostics, the treatment of the true classic gnostics of antiquity, the only solution is to let the gnostics be gnostic, truly hear their voice embedded in the surviving texts that come directly from them, and allow them to speak for themselves, define their own beliefs, diet, and spiritual practices. Then others may truly benefit from their wisdom, and in that sense Gnosticism as a spiritual path can potentially reincarnate into the world again, or far more likely and best of all, help some to recognize those who already seem to be following something equivalent to a Living Gnosis Now in the modern age.

The Soul Passes By Many Spiritual Paths and Passes Through Many Semi-Heavenly Regions on It's Journey Towards Truth

"The servants of the first guardian came to meet me.

They said, 'Let us take this man with us as our captive.

He might serve as a companion to us.'

"They asked me, 'Hail, companion;

Where did you come from? Where do you go?'

"I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi [Mandaean name for the Supreme Being in the Eighth Heaven],

and my path is to the Place of Life.

"They said, 'This is the Place of Life;

here it is, so where are you going now?'

"I said to myself, 'I am not one of them.

If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.

This is not what my soul desires and wants.

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.

The soul within me demands Hayyi.

My goal is to reach the Place of Life.'" (Mandaean Ginza Rabba, The Gnostic Book of the Great Treasure)

Meanwhile, The Hidden Realm of Gnosticland, "the Seed of True Humanity", is Only to be Found Within You Via the Third Eye In Another Kind of Sky

Though even with some wrye humor the above-picture does sound truly bleak for our beleaguered gnostic spiritual seeker shopping for books at the dollar store. But after all, this is just another bad dream that we can awaken from!  

"Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." (Carl Jung) 

"Happy is the one who comes to himself and awakens." (Valentinus, Gospel of Truth, Nag Hammadi Library) 

"Awakened Souls always draw our attention to the fact that we are being deceived. If at all there is anything true or eternal, it is the soul or the Oversoul." (Kirpal Singh) 

"If your eye becomes single, your whole body shall be full of Light." (YesHUa)

The Seat of the Soul in This Temple of the Human Body is the Third Eye Center: "The soul is currently situated at the back of the Eye Center. And, therefore, Saints say that you start from there. You start focusing there and focus your attention where the soul and the Master stay. That is at the back of the Eye Center." (Baba Ram Singh) 

“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, Syriac Mystic on singleness of vision quoted in, The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life, translated from the Aramaic by Sebastian Brock)

"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." (Book of Pistis Sophia/Faith Wisdom)

"Meditate on the True Name, and rise within just like ascending a staircase. Listen to the Music of the Heavens... Ascend on the lifeline of the Sound Current as a spider climbs up the thread." (Baba Somanath)

"Become passers-by." (Saying 42, Coptic Gospel of Thomas) 

Some have wondered what this saying really means. Another translation renders it: "Come into being as you pass away." (The Gospel of Thomas, Wisdom of the Twin, by Lynn Bowman) In other words, by meditation practice get established in the heavenly realms during this life, finding a permanent home there instead of remaining attached to samsara, the world of changes. And there’s another version this saying found in India: "The world is a bridge. Pass over it, but do not build your dwelling there." (Arabic inscription at the site of a mosque at Fatehpur Sikri, India attributed to Isa or YesHUa)

Yes, Yes, Nag Hammadi is where they found the Gnostic Gospels but within you is where you will find the gnosis. 

Often spiritual teachers describe souls who reach a breakthrough in consciousness. After the soul reaches a point in it’s mystic travels where it becomes free of all it’s coverings of mind and matter, it reaches the realization of it’s true nature as spirit and exclaims, “I am that! I am that! I am that! I am that!” The medieval mystic Kabir once said, “The Light of one soul is equal to that of sixteen suns!” But to sleeping humanity this reality remains completely hidden from view. We are gods clothed in rags.

Meditation is a kind of temporary “death” to the outer world of the five senses as well as outer images and thoughts. When one fasts from the world and enters into this kind of sabbath-rest, it becomes possible for the soul to begin to perceive something of the Other World that it inhabits. The soul’s spiritual senses begin to perceive in the heavenly realms. One becomes progressively more and more receptive to the heavenly Sound and Light with the eyes and ears of the soul.

Zekli Le's Gnostic Chart of the Heavens

The gnostic system of heavens maps out the journey of meditation through the inner regions. Who are the Living Ones who are explorers of Inner Space, the Kingdom of the Heavens within, those who practice this form of meditation and make this journey? You know, most of the living spiritual teachers who embody this kind of spirituality don't even call themselves "gnostics", even though they are the most authentic examples of living gnostic teachers on the planet. They just happen to have been part of the unbroken chain of spiritual masters that have been around for countless generations, millennia. The names of their spiritual movements keep changing as the centuries quickly go flying past but they continue to preserve and practice this kind of Living Mystic Path, The Path of the Masters.  

Everyone has their own third eye whether they realize it or not. Through the Divine Path of Initiation one will learn of the spiritual practices that make it possible to access the third eye center, the seat of the soul, within the temple of the human body. We will discover for ourselves the Mysteries of the Spirit. The Kingdom of the Heavens will open up before us on this inward journey of the soul as we travel through vast realms of Light, Sound and Love on our way back to God.

The goal of this Path is not simply going TO the various inner planes or heavens of creation but to pass THROUGH them on our way back to the Most High Supreme Being, The Nameless One given many names.

"Whoever joins the Immortal becomes Immortal.

Whoever delights in the Living One is living."

(Ode 3, Book of The Odes)  

"Look upon the Living One so long as you live, that you may not die and seek to see him, and be unable to see him." (Saying 59, Coptic Gospel of Saint Thomas)

"Saints come into this world and They enlighten us. They remind us of our True Home of God Almighty -- our True Father. They encourage us to go back. And They motivate us to go back. So, we are indeed fortunate to get this human body and get this life. And it is with the Grace of God Almighty that we have the company of the Masters. Now, we should make the most of that and follow the Teachings of the Masters and make the efforts to go back to our True Home." (Baba Ram Singh)

The Third Eye in Meditation: “Close your eyes as in sleep, and look sweetly, lovingly, intently into the middle of the darkness lying in front of you. You will see a dark veil. That which sees the dark veil within, without the help of your physical eyes, IS the inner eye.” (Kirpal Singh)

"It is in the darkness that one finds the Light." (Meister Eckhart)

"The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love." -- Meister Eckhart

“I wander about

searching after my soul,

which is worth ages and worlds to me.

I went and found my soul —

what are

all the worlds

to me?”

-- The Qolasta — Gnostic Canonical Prayer Book of the Mandaeans

"Within this earthen vessel are bowers and groves, and within it is the Creator:

Within this vessel are the seven oceans and the unnumbered stars.

The touchstone and the jewel-appraiser are within;

And within this vessel the Eternal soundeth, and the spring wells up.

Kabir says: 'Listen to me, my Friend! My Beloved Lord is within.'" (Kabir)

  

 

  

The Ascension of the Soul in Mandaean Gnosticism: The Soul Within Me Yearns For Hayyi (The Great Life, Supreme Being)

 

The Ascension of the Soul in Mandaean Gnosticism: The Soul Within Me Yearns For Hayyi (The Great Life, Supreme Being)

 

 

“From the day when I came to love the Life [God], from the day when my heart came to love the Truth, I no longer have trust in anything in the world… After my soul alone I go searching about, which to me is worth generations and worlds. I went and found my soul — What are to me all the worlds? I went and found Truth, as she stands at the outer rim of the worlds.” (Ginza Rabba, Mandaean Gnostic Scriptures)

The Gnostic soul has little trust in the religious systems not only of this realm but also of the astral, causal and mental planes. The Gnostic soul has little desire for fellowshipping with those attached to these various material and lower realms either. In Gnostic mysticism, the cosmology of inner regions, beyond the seventh heaven is the realm of The Nameless One or Supreme Being, below referred to as The Great Life (Hayyi Rabbi).

The Soul Within Me Yearns For Hayyi (The Great Life, Supreme Being)

’Bshumayhon ‘d Hayyi rabbi
In the name of the Great Hayyi

The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.
The soul within me demands Hayyi.
My goal is to reach the Place of Life.
I am flying, advancing until I reach the first guardian.
The servants of the first guardian came to meet me.
They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.
He might serve as a companion to us.”

They asked me, “Hail, companion;
Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,
and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;
here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.
If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.
This is not what my soul desires and wants.
The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.
The soul within me demands Hayyi.
My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the second guardian.
The servants of the second guardian came to meet me.
They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.
He might serve as a companion to us.”
They asked him, “Hail, companion;
Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,
and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;
here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.
If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.
This is not what my soul desires and wants.
The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.
The soul within me demands Hayyi.
My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the third guardian.
The servants of the third guardian came to meet me.
They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.
He might serve as a companion to us.”
They asked him, “Hail, companion;
Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,
and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;
here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.
If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.
This is not what my soul desires and wants.
The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.
The soul within me demands Hayyi.
My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the fourth guardian.
The servants of the fourth guardian came to meet me.
They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.
He might serve as a companion to us.”
They asked him, “Hail, companion;
Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,
and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;
here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.
If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.
This is not what my soul desires and wants.
The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.
The soul within me demands Hayyi.
My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the fifth guardian.
The servants of the fifth guardian came to meet me.
They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.
He might serve as a companion to us.”
They asked him, “Hail, companion;
Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,
and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;
here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.
If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.
This is not what my soul desires and wants.
The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.
The soul within me demands Hayyi.
My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the sixth guardian.
The servants of the sixth guardian came to meet me.
They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.
He might serve as a companion to us.”
They asked him, “Hail, companion;
Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,
and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;
here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.
If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.
This is not what my soul desires and wants.
The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.
The soul within me demands Hayyi.
My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the seventh guardian.
The servants of the seventh guardian came to meet me.
They said, “Let us take this man with us as our captive.
He might serve as a companion to us.”
They asked him, “Hail, companion;
Where did you come from? Where do you go?”

I came from the earth, I am going to Hayyi,
and my path is to the Place of Life.

They said, “This is the Place of Life;
here it is, so where are you going now?”

I said to myself, “I am not one of them.
If I stayed with them, I would endure every torment.
This is not what my soul desires and wants.
The soul within me yearns for Hayyi.
The soul within me demands Hayyi.
My goal is to reach the Place of Life.”

I am flying, advancing until I reach the House of Life.
The righteous came forward to meet me.
In thanks, I bow down and praise Hayyi.
They clothed me in radiance, covered me with light,
and numbered me among the righteous.

Soul, you must raise your lamps
to shine among the lamps of light.
The word of truth has come to you.
It came to the faithful and the righteous.

’u Hayyi zaken

— from the Left Volume of the Ginza Rabba (Mandaean Gnostic Scriptures, Codex Nasaraeus)

The Earth-realm and Then Comes the Seven Inner Realms or Heavens, and Yet None Represent the True Highest Heaven so the Soul Continues the Journey of Ascension Until It Reaches The Eighth, the Goal, the Ultimate Reality, the Real Home of The Great Life, Hayyi Rabbi.

“In the Name of the Great Life

Sublime Light be Praised”